We’re always talking about what things cost and what we’re willing to pay for. So let’s talk about it.

1. Cuts to education: Our “leaders” say they value education, but at the first sign of trouble that’s what gets cut. Are we really interested in investing in education? Or is that just something that legislators say — while doing something else?

2. Medicaid Expansion: Even though the governor had a plan to pay for Medicaid Expansion, as voted on by We the People, our legislators dragged their feet. Rather than using a sensible way forward, they spent their time gaslighting us and fighting against us. This is especially evident here in D33, where both the House “representatives” fought against Prop. 2 — and funding it — even though the folks in our district voted for the measure by one of the highest percentages in the state.

3. Let’s talk about property tax relief: Even though there were legislators interested in putting forth sensible solutions to property tax issues, those bills never saw the light of day. Instead, so-called “leaders” shelved the bills. Most of the legislative session was spent passing extremist bills that amount to bad policy for problems that don’t even exist.

So, how do we pay for this stuff?

Our current legislators here in House D33 like to follow the ineffectual bleating of their “leaders,” claiming that we have to make cuts. However, the reality is that it’s about priorities. Do we want to invest in our people and in our communities? Rather than tackling these issues, too many of our “leaders” claim that there’s nothing to be done, other than giving tax cuts to Idahoans who need them least and cut investments in education and health.

The reality, though, is that there are more than $2 billion in sales tax exemptions each year. While some doubtless make sense, not all of them do. In fact, we should review these sales tax exemptions to discover where we could be redirecting resources. Many of these sales tax exemptions are unnecessary and investing even a portion of that money in education, infrastructure, healthcare, and the maintenance of our public lands could do much in terms of helping us live our priorities — rather than just talk about them.