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Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Mia Love spoke Wednesday to the Utah Legislature, giving similar messages of Utah pride and a commitment to reducing the size of the federal government.
"I'm always looking for ways in which we can transfer more power back to the states, where it belongs," Lee said.
He and Love both touched on a bill that Love is sponsoring that would remove federal restrictions that states often have to comply with before receiving education funding.
"When all is said and done, I'm actually doing more undoing than doing," Love said, noting that her biggest shock upon arriving in Washington, D.C., was how much power federal bureaucracies have. "I'm removing a lot of these layers of federal regulatory burdens on businesses, states and people. … If I can make Washington less powerful, then I would see that my time there would be a success."
In addition to the overarching issue of federal power, the two lawmakers commented on a few important issues that are currently being discussed on both the state and federal level, including health care.
Both are fierce opponents of the Affordable Care Act. "When you are trying to solve these problems on a federal level, you end up, inadvertently, choosing winners and losers," Love said.
Lee said while he thinks ACA will be changed eventually when Republicans can rally around a replacement plan, he doesn't anticipate any changes until President Barack Obama and his veto power are out of office.
Lee also spoke about legislation he is pushing on federal sentencing reform, an issue that has also been a hot topic for Utah lawmakers on the state level.
"This is an issue that's neither Democratic nor Republican, it's neither liberal or conservative, it's simply an American issue," Lee said, noting that he is sponsoring the bill with two fairly liberal Democrats.
The proposed Smarter Sentencing Act would adjust the minimum mandatory penalties in the federal system, which are currently much stricter than those of the state level.