Pearce talks national policy on visit to area

CLOVIS — U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce came through town Wednesday morning on a visit through the state, speaking to the area impacts of national policy and eyeballing a potential gubernatorial bid in 2018.

"When I come into Clovis, people say 'I can't vote for you, but you can vote for us,'" said Pearce, who serves the 2nd Congressional District including much of the southern half of the state, but not Clovis.

Pearce, a Republican, emphasized the importance of revitalizing the state's economy through an effort focused on attracting businesses, returning to old industries, and keeping work contracts local.

That begins with an attitude change, he said, and the change will ripple outward.

"The attitude should be that we as New Mexicans are lucky to have you as a business owner here providing jobs for us," he said. "We just make it so hard for businesses to do their work here."

Apart from new enterprises, Pearce said he would like to "absolutely put people back to work doing the things that we used to do in New Mexico."

For example, a return to timber harvesting in the western part of the state could stimulate the economy and address the issue of recent forest fires there, he said.

Military contract spending could be better managed to "start breaking these big bundled contracts up" so that some of the smaller contracts can be awarded directly to local workers and professionals rather than first being sent across the country, he said.

Pearce also spoke to the topics at the center of continued debate on Capitol Hill - immigration, health care, and the national budget.

In a press release Tuesday, Pearce said the nation's budget had "spiraled out of control" and President Trump's recent budget proposal "forces a much needed conversation on our nation's spending priorities," though it is "nowhere near perfect."

Pearce noted the budget's recommended boost in defense spending as a promising sign, and added Wednesday he had high hopes for the stability of Cannon Air Force Base in the coming years.

"It's not only that (Cannon) is a good base," he said. "It's that the people here are doing a mission that is vital and exactly in line with the view of where our military needs to go. We used to have large, large armies, and so big bases with large movements of people. Now we're all set up in strike forces and special operations and things like that."

If the topic of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) were to take any real hold in Congress there would be ample notice, he added, and the possibility of BRAC impacting Cannon would still be distant at that point.

Pearce said he believes it is partly the combined influence of representatives from southwestern states that has modified the Trump administration's vision of a border wall and mass deportation. Walls have already proven ineffective at places on the border, he said, and there should be more focus on reforming the pathways to legal immigration or acquiring work visas.

"We should be the ones that are kind of leading the discussion. We see the pluses and minuses so let us be the voice," he said. "We're not going to send 30 million people home. We're not going to send 11 million people home. We need the workers if they're out working productively."

"We've been peppering (the Trump administration), saying why are you going to spend 15 billion dollars when it's going to be defeated so easily?" he added.

Regarding health care, Pearce said there is still much work to be done but he believes progress is being made. After voting against Trump's first health care proposal, he said he accepted the second one with reservations.

The specifics of the new proposed coverage will result in a lower price for most people in the state, he suggested, but "neither Republicans nor Democrats have a total lock on the path forward."

Pearce stopped Tuesday in Lee, Eddy, and Chaves counties, and continued his tour Wednesday afternoon in Portales, speaking to community members.

"We're very aware that people are asking us if we will run for governor," he said, noting he would not make that decision for at least a couple of more weeks.