Rep. Smith, a Democrat who represents the state’s 9th District, which includes parts of Pierce and Thurston counties, shared those comments about the economy with the 200 people who attended the forum. Smith originally was scheduled to attend the forum in person, but after being called back to Washington, D.C., he spoke and answered audience questions via a videoconference. In addition to the economy, Smith also talked about health care reform and the war in Afghanistan.
Smith acknowledged that the economy has made some progress since last fall, but said he still is concerned about the possibility of a jobless recovery. National unemployment is at 10 percent and the statewide jobless rate is above 9 percent, he said.
“We need innovative ideas to make sure our economy can create jobs,” Smith told the audience.
Small businesses also are struggling to get access to credit, a problem he partly attributed to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which he feels has been too aggressive in regulating small, community banks. That overregulation by the FDIC has made it hard for those banks to get lending again, he said.
On health care, he said he supports the need for reform because of costs that continue to go up for individuals and businesses. Although he voted in support of recent health care legislation, he also called the House bill “deeply flawed.”
“It needs to address the regional disparity with (Washington’s and other states’) Medicare reimbursement rates,” he said, adding that he voted for the bill because he doesn’t want health care reform to die. Smith also said his office has been contacted more than 12,000 times about proposed health care legislation.
After his opening comments, about seven people in the audience asked Smith questions, including about Afghanistan and the “government takeover of health care,” as one small-business owner put it.
Doug DeForest, a former executive officer of the Olympia Master Builders, asked whether there was legislation in the works to prevent another economic meltdown, so taxpayers don’t have to “spend money bailing out Wall Street.”
Smith said that there is, although it has taken too long because every idea proposed to prevent another meltdown has been met by stiff resistance. He took issue, though, with the notion that money spent to help the economy last year simply was a bailout of Wall Street, noting that the entire country was dependent on some of the large financial institutions that were helped.
“In hindsight there’s things we could’ve done better, but standing back and watching the entire economy collapse wouldn’t have been the wise choice,” Smith said.
Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403
rboone@theolympian.com
