Bob Turner, Queens’ newest congressman, has been in office two months, and in that time he’s come down firmly in support of a balanced budget amendment and New York’s in-house handling of some counter terrorism. But when it comes to more contentious negotiations, Turner is leaving himself plenty of wiggle room.
Congressman Turner (R-Queens) spoke to The Forum Monday as part of a round of interviews he did with local media. On the day the Congressional “super committee” sent the message it was deadlocked on how to cut $1.2 trillion out of the deficit, Turner sent a message of his own — one he also branded his campaign with — it’s time to balance the budget.
“We borrow 40 cents on the dollar, and if we continue with this, we’re going to derail every program we have,” he said. “Social Security, Medicare, everything is in danger if we continue on this path. I think any practical businessman or even practical person knows this.”
Turner is one of 238 members of the House to sign the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge to never raise taxes, but he was less firm on that stance Monday, saying he’s not rejecting any idea at this point.
“Politically, in our negotiations it’s probably better if I said, we’ll leave our options on the table,” he said. “We have to get the job done.”
But Turner wouldn’t commit to the idea that raising taxes is a tool on the table that could be used.
“I have found the opposition seems very anxious to get that one sentence out of some Republicans about raising taxes,” he said.
Turner continually returned to the themes of simplicity and moderation in regard to the budget, — not ideological purity — but he did follow the party line that the expiration of Bush tax cuts or milking top earners is not the way to economic prosperity.
“One of the things that we might have to look at seriously is this notion that this top 1 percent is going to save the day by taxing them. There’s just not enough of them,” he said. “The fact that the president is continually hopping on this as a solution is nonsense.”
Instead, rolling back rules Turner said damaged jobs and the economy is the answer. As he has before, he focused on the financial industry regulatory reform in the Dodd-Frank Act and health care.
“I think the way to fix jobs is to undo some of the damage that’s been done whether it’s Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and other regulation along with a better tax structure for business to encourage growth and development,” Turner said.
One place he hopes to reach across the party lines is revamping parts of the tax structure to close loopholes.
“That would certainly be a help, and on both sides of the aisle we can find some common ground there I’m sure,” he said.
Turner, who sits on the Homeland Security Committee as well as Veterans’ Affairs and Foreign Affairs committees, was split in his support for how New York has taken some security into its own hands in recent cases.
On Sunday, NYPD arrested what it said was a lone suspect intent on building bombs to attack government targets. The FBI had declined to pursue the subject.
Turner praised the local police force for making the arrest, saying the federal government should offer the NYPD more support.
“I think the NYPD does a better job than any other agency, and they are very often attached to homeland security,” he said. “I think what you need to do here is give them a little more funding and let them continue to do the great job they’re doing.”
The city in general though, may be another story. Turner wasn’t so happy with Int. 656, a recent bill that passed the city council limiting what illegal immigrants New York detention facilities will hold in order to hand them over to feds for deportation.
“This is a very poorly thought-out piece of legislation,” he said. “During 9/11 we had a lot of trouble because one department couldn’t talk to each other and we couldn’t share information. Here we have the city council doing the same thing again, reversing the little progress we’ve made in this regard.”
Turner’s positions may be complicated by the fact that he will be running for his seat in 2012, just a year after he won it in a special election to replace Anthony Weiner.
The upcoming election was something that was clearly on his mind when he said he’s trying hard to focus on local services for his voters.
“Any time I’m in town, like this week, we’re pretty busy at it making all the outreach and getting up on all the issues and helping everybody where we can,” Turner said. “The re-electability is often in how well you perform those constituent services.”
The Congressman is staying on the sidelines in the presidential race in the meantime as well. He’s waiting for it to shake out more before throwing any support.
“I’m kind of watching it. The process will probably play itself out around March or April, and I’m hoping the best candidate emerges,” he said with a chuckle.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
