Q&A with Rep. Larry Bucshon on retiring from Congress
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U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon this month announced plans to retire at the end of the 118th Congressional session. The Republican will leave his Indiana 8th District seat in the House of Representatives after seven terms and 14 years in office.
Bucshon serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and previously served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The former heart surgeon also served as president of Ohio Valley Heart Care in Evansville.
Bucshon spoke with Inside INdiana Business about his time in the House, the current state of Congress and the state’s economic climate.
Why did you decide to retire from Congress?
When I first came to Congress, I thought I’d do about five or six terms. I firmly believe that people should come to Congress, represent their district and then give somebody else an opportunity.
I’m looking at doing something after Congress. I was a heart surgeon beforehand, and I still have things to offer out there for other jobs. I won’t be going back to practicing medicine, but I feel like the time is right for me and my family.
What has the reaction been from your colleagues, friends and family?
From my family, it’s been positive. We had this discussion over the last couple of years about when I might retire. Then over the Christmas holiday, my adult kids were home in Evansville, and my family’s been very supportive of my efforts, including my wife, Kathryn. They’re happy for me. They understand that I served my time in Congress, and I still have this year left, but that I’m looking forward to other opportunities.
Colleagues have been very gracious. People in Congress understand that most of the time when members retire from Congress, it’s for personal reasons. So they’ve been very supportive. And people in the state of Indiana, including the 8th district, have been very gracious about my time in Congress and thanked me for serving our country.
Who would you like to see fill your seat?
There are going to be a lot of people who run. I know there are some state senators, state representatives and people who are not in politics who are looking at it. I really am positive that we’ll get a good person. There are a lot of people out there who can do this job and represent the people well.
What do you consider to be your greatest successes during your time in Congress?
A lot of it was related to health care. I’ve had a substantial impact on trying to make sure that providers are properly compensated for the care that they provide to their patients. But also working behind the scenes, trying to get the cost of health care down, doing things that increase transparency in the health care system.
When you talk to doctors who are in Congress, it’s about access to quality health care for the people we represent. And whatever promotes that and improves that, I’m for it. Whatever makes it more difficult for people to get access to care, I’m against it.
That’s the thing I’m hoping to be remembered for, that I fought for people in this country to have high quality, more affordable health care. And we’re not quite there. Health care is very expensive. There are a lot of reasons for that, and I regret not staying in Congress and continuing to improve on that. But there’s been a lot of groundwork laid to get that accomplished.
People should be able to move from job to job and not lose their health care. That’s one thing we haven’t been able to get accomplished, but we’re trying to improve on that, and we’re going to get there ultimately.
What were your greatest challenges during your time in Congress?
If you ask members on a day-to-day basis, they’ll say the biggest struggle is trying to bring an idea from yourself, get that to a committee, get the committee to take it up and then get it through the House and the Senate. The biggest challenge for most members is getting your ideas actually into law and accomplished. I’ve had 13 or 14 pieces of legislation that I was involved in myself that have made it across the finish line.
Some of those are really small, but some of those have been impactful, like surprise medical billing. A lot of people were getting these bills months later because it turns out one of their providers was out of network. They didn’t know it. We’ve ended that. I spent years working on that with my colleagues. Things like that are a big deal. But getting that across the finish line is the biggest challenge that you have.
How do you feel about the current state of Congress?
We’re in a difficult place. The country has been in this place before. We’ve had challenges where we are very divided. The American people are very divided, and that is reflected in Congress. In the House of Representatives right now, [Republicans] have a two-seat majority. It’s basically evenly divided. And in the Senate, it’s essentially equal.
What we need to do, both political parties, people like myself and my Democrat friends, is be leaders and try to get the country back to a place where you can go to a party and talk to your friends and they don’t want to try to figure out which political party you’re in. We need to get back to where we’re all Americans.
We can have these disagreements, but we ultimately need to find common ground and solutions that are compromises. When I announced I wasn’t running, I said exactly that. We’re not in a good place right now. We’ve got a lot of good people on both sides of the aisle who are trying to navigate that.
What about the current state of business in Indiana?
There are a lot of positive things in the state. The regulatory climate, the taxation climate, those are very positive. One of the challenges, no matter who you talk to, not only in Indiana but around the country, is workforce. Every business is struggling to find people to work in their business. We’re moving forward on that. Places like Ivy Tech or Vincennes University are getting more training for people to have the skills that they need to be employed.
What will you miss about representing Indiana’s 8th district?
The people, that’s the thing you miss. I still miss the patients and the families and that daily interaction from when I was a surgeon. The thing I’ll miss most about representing the 8th district is the people that I’ve gotten to meet and over the years traveling around to the counties I represent, whether that’s individuals at a coffee shop or people at Toyota in Princeton where I’m meeting with the leadership, it’ll be the people that I’ll really miss.
My colleagues are part of that. In Congress, you really develop a pretty collegial relationship with people not only on your own side of the aisle but with Congress in general. There are only 435 of us in the House for the entire 330 million people who are in this country. That’s what I’ll miss the most, the people in the district as well as my colleagues in Washington.
What are your retirement plans?
I don’t have any at this point. It’s kind of a leap of faith. I’ll see what my opportunities are. When we get into the late summer and the early fall, it’s very possible I’ll end up doing something that’s related to health care policy. Whether that’s a think tank, whether that’s someone who is trying to influence policy on Capitol Hill, I really don’t know. We’ll see.
I love the state of Indiana. My wife’s parents live in Evansville. So we’ll have to see how it works out and where I’ll end up. I want to continue in some way to try to influence health policy in the United States and in the state of Indiana to get the cost down. Get to [the point where] no matter where you live, what zip code you’re in, you can afford to get health care. And it’s accessible to you, and it’s good quality. Whatever I do, that’s my goal.