Congressman Gil Gutknecht, in a teleconference Friday, emphasized his support for the president’s tax cut as well as reform on prescription drug costs and dairy industry policies.

The $330 billion tax cut package passed through Congress Friday and President Bush is expected to sign it next week.

The cut includes taxes on individual income and business as well as investment dividends and capital gains. While the Republicans think the bill will put people back to work, many Democrats criticize it, saying it will benefit the rich more than the poor.

Gutknecht, who had opposed the President’s $726 billion initial cut, said he is pleased with the compromise made in the Congress.

“On balance, I think this is a very good compromise. I think it’ll have positive economic consequences,” Gutknecht said. He added that he also hoped the administration will support the economic stimulus package that, he said, would create one million jobs over the next 18 months and reduce government spending.

For prescription drugs Gutknecht said he would push Congress to open the market to foreign manufacturers to reduce the price.

“More and more of my colleagues realize that we cannot provide a prescription drug benefit whether it’s under the Medicaid or Medicare until we deal with the affordability issue,” Gutknecht said. “There are only two ways to deal with that. One is to create our own very complicated price control regiment, or we can open markets.”

Gutknecht pointed out that a good portion of research and development costs for drugs are paid by tax dollars, while consumers overseas benefit from lower drug prices without that cost. He said the lower price would mitigate burdens on the Medicare and Medicaid budgets.

“Why should Americans who paid for all the research through tax dollars be forced to pay six times more than people in Munich in Germany?”

Gutknecht, the Chairman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry, also referred to the recent development of milk-based drinking product by Cola-Cola. Along with marketing efforts including overseas and supply control by producers, he expects the American dairy industry would stay competitive in the market place.

For Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), known as the mad caw disease, detected in Canada, Gutknecht said the authorities in the both countries responded correctly and the ban on Canadian meat imports would be lifted in a few days.