Congresswoman Betsy Markey of Colorado’s 4th District brought the message of Blue Dog Democrats to a largely conservative audience at Wellington (Colorado) Ace Hardware on Jan. 30.

Responding to a demand that government just cut taxes, Markey said, “When you cut taxes, you also have to cut spending.”

That earned her enthusiastic applause from an otherwise cool audience during her “Congress on Your Corner” event.

Markey warmed to the shared sentiment and further derided federal tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 that were not matched with spending cuts.

“We had two wars,” she said, “and we didn’t pay for those wars. …We got into a financial mess, and we have to deal with it.”

A year ago, Markey voted to block the release of $350 billion from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program funds, which were the second installment of the $700 billion in bailout funds approved by Congress in 2008 before she took office.

However, she supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included tax cuts along with efforts to create and save jobs. She defended that decision by saying, “We were looking at unemployment well into the double digits. I supported it because we were the last resource.”

Markey also touted support from schools around her district that called the recovery act “a lifesaver.”

She added that Americans need to realize large entitlement programs will have to be cut to reduce the federal deficit.

“This is not a political game anymore,” she said. “… We have got to cut spending.”

Markey became an official member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition in December. The coalition, formed in 1995, has 52 members.

She was one of the House Democrats who voted against the health-care reform bill in November. She told the Wellington crowd of nearly 100 people that she favored many parts of the bill, but she didn’t think it focused enough on containing health-care costs.

“There’s no government takeover,” she insisted, though that remark met with jeers from the crowd. She then reminded the audience that Medicare and Medicaid are government programs.

Health-care reform is now stalled as the House and Senate have been unable to work out a compromise on their different bills.

Markey agreed with one voter that reform legislation could be broken into smaller parts. In particular, she wants to eliminate the antitrust exemption for insurance companies that allows them to have a monopoly in some states. She wants a law that would allow the government to negotiate for better prices, and she thinks small groups should be able to band together to get lower insurance premiums.

When one man accused her of having “a pass” in Congress because the majority Democrats don’t need her vote, Markey bristled and said she takes her job seriously.

“I’m in it because, like you, I have kids,” she said.

Markey, who lives in Fort Collins, is in the second year of her first term in Congress. She plans to seek re-election. Four 4th District Republicans are currently competing to represent the opposition.