Utah Sen. Mike Lee updated members of the press Tuesday afternoon in his weekly “Utah Press Teleconference.” Lee reconfirmed his commitment to a balanced budget amendment and expressed disappointment over the Supreme Court’s decision to reject an appeal on a recent ruling banning Utah Highway Patrol memorial crosses.
“Recent polling by CNN and other sources indicate that those [members of Congress] who won’t support it [balanced budget amendment] will do so at their own political expense,” Lee said. “We’ve got this hole…and we need to stop digging, we need to put down the shovel.”
Lee was a one of many newly elected members of Congress supported by the Tea Party Movement in Utah and across the nation, winning his election with 63 percent of the vote in 2010. The Tea Party movement has called for a balanced budget amendment since its inception.
A CNN poll conducted in July found nearly 74 percent of Americans support a balanced budget amendment.
Lee also expressed his dissatisfaction with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the 10th District Court of Appeals’ 2010 ruling that declared crosses in memorial of fallen Utah Highway Patrolmen unconstitutional.
“It’s always a long shot that the court will take a case,” Lee said. “I was disappointed that the court didn’t take it.”
The decision that the 10th Circuit District Court found could have further and unknown impact on other religious symbols on public property.
Lee has also supported and introduced legislation that would allow the sale of surplus public land.
“This land is considered surplus and when we have a debt that’s 14 trillion dollars, we need to look at all of our options,” he said. “There is opposition to selling public land. The opposition comes from states that don’t have as much federal land and isn’t an issue. This is a long-term goal.”
The first-term senator recently teamed with Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, to tackle the problems facing the nation’s legitimate immigration procedures. The “Visa Improvements to Stimulate International Tourism to the United States of America Act” or “VISIT-USA Act” can be found on-line at lee.senate.gov.
