In a radio interview with Dan Caplis (KNUS, 710am) last Thursday, U.S. Representative Ken Buck from Colorado’s 4th Congressional District pointed to Social Security as a target for cuts in attempts to balance the federal budget, Buck’s legislative priority for a pending Trump administration and GOP-led Congress.
I’ll tell you. It has been my passion in running for office since 2009, and it is just my absolutely strong belief, that we need to balance our federal budget. And I understand how [Trump] wants to do it, and that is to grow the economy and create more revenue. We have also got to reduce spending on the federal side, and that includes looking at Social Security for younger workers, and other programs that make those viable in the long term.
Earlier in the interview, Congressman Buck voiced his preference for potential Supreme Court Justice nominees to fill the seat left open following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Specifically, Buck likes Thomas Lee from the Utah Supreme Court, upon the recommendation of Buck’s D.C. housemate and colleague, Mike Lee (R-UT)—Thomas’s brother.
Buck also likes the three western potential nominees from Trump’s list of candidates for SCOTUS: Allison Eid, a Colorado Supreme Court justice, and from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Tim Tymkovich and Neil Gorsuch.
(In a separate interview with Krista Kafer (KNUS, 710am) on Monday, U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) also expressed his support for Eid, Tymkovich, and Gorsuch.)
For cabinet appointments in the Trump administration, Buck highlighted former Alaskan Governor and Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and retired Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) as a strong picks for Interior Secretary.
In what might be perceived as an uncanny premonition to the turbulent transition currently underway, Buck iterated the importance of filling “those positions quickly with really good people.”
