Grant Bosse signs AFTR pledge back in April (GG file photo)
Next up in GraniteGok’s Congressional Candidate Q & A Series, we have Grant Bosse, Republican candidate for New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District. As with Senator Sununu, we thank Grant for taking time out of his campaign schedule ("I may be outspent but I’ll never be outworked") and further continue to appreciate NH’s candidates acknowledging the growing importance of the readers in the blogosphere (and our little niche of it).
Grant’s responses are below and as always, feel free to leave a comment!
QUESTIONS
Grant’s response: What steps can Congress take to aid our military and diplomatic efforts to make Iraq a stable and sustainable democracy, able to provide its own security and serve as a positive influence in the Middle East.
2. Do you favor Oil recovery in the newly found fields in Montana & the Dakotas?
• Drilling in ANWR?
• Drilling in the deep waters off Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico?
• Creating a fast track process to license and build new nuclear plants?
Grant’s response: Yes, I support using domestic energy reserves that Congress has unreasonably placed off-limits. I have also called for the streamlining of the complex regulatory process that prevents new refineries and nuclear power plants from being built, and for an end to the frivolous lawsuits that prevent the construction of new electric power lines. These proposals are all included in my comprehensive, ten-point Energy Plan.
3. In the area of healthcare, are you in favor of:
• Giving tax credits for policies to individuals / families as well as businesses?
• Allow policies to be purchased across state lines?
• Allow individuals to buy lower cost policies by "unhooking" legal mandates
Grant’s response: Self-employed, small business owners, and stay at home parents should receive the same treatment under the tax code as those of us who go to work for someone else. There is no reason why health insurance should be bought exclusively through the workplace. We should also allow consumers to choose the best health plan for them. State regulators should ensure that insurance companies under their jurisdiction are financially solvent, and able to pay claims. Restricting insurance companies from offering policies across state lines is an ill-advised restraint of trade. Increasing competition among insurance companies will increase choice and lower the cost of health insurance.
Likewise, increased mandates on insurance coverage have decreased choice and driven up prices. Patients and doctors should be making health care decisions, not politicians and bureaucrats. I strongly favor reducing mandates in health insurance.
4. British Prime Minister Brown said that the US must give up the idea of absolute sovereignty in order to better cooperate in the global community. Agree or disagree, and why?
Grant’s response: I strongly disagree. The United States would not gain anything from the global community by ceding its sovereignty, through such poorly drafted agreements as the Kyoto Protocol or the Law of the Sea Treaty, or through submission in the International Criminal Court.
5. Guantanomo military prison:
• Keep it open or close it?
• If closed – where would you send those enemy combatants?
• Would you be willing to try those enemy combatants in our civilian courts (with its accompanying mandatory rights as due to citizens)?
Grant’s response: I see no reason to close Guantanomo, but if it is closed, Congress should pass legislation clarifying that enemy combatants do not have the same due process rights as American citizens. We should ensure that prisoners captured on the battlefield are treated humanly, which is far better than our enemies treat the soldiers and civilians they capture. We should take steps to ensure that the prisoners we hold are threats, and not civilians caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. But most importantly, we should ensure that captured terrorists are not released back onto the battlefield to again threaten American forces or innocent civilians.
Grant’s response: No, but if he does, the President should use the appearance to highlight China’s abysmal record of mistreatment of its own people, as well as its oppression of Tibet and continued threat to Taiwan. Such a forceful protest might be more effective than a simple boycott, but I support any effort to protest China’s oppressive regime.
Grant’s response: No. Congress should pass legislation that permanently prohibits the taking of private property in order to expand the tax base.
Grant’s response: Yes, in fact, I’m the only candidate in the Second Congressional District to sign the FreedomWorks “No Earmarks Pledge”. I will not seek or support any earmarks if elected. The only way to stop Congressional abuse of our tax dollars to is abolish the current corrupt system, which uses earmarks to buy votes for bloated budgets.
Grant’s response: I would eliminate Federal programs, and limit spending across the board. Among the specific programs I would eliminate are:
–>ethanol subsidies
–>the Advanced Technology Program
–>Federal flood insurance
–>subsides for Amtrak’s long-distance routes
–>NOAA’s satellite program
–>the tourism promotion programs within the Department of Commerce
–>any funds from the Highway Trust Fund not directly related to transportation infrastructure.
I would also favor cutting funding for any agency which could not adequately account for its spending or show quantifiable results. I would also oppose funding for any program that has never been authorized by Congress, and would be very skeptical of funding programs whose authorization has lapsed.
10. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are “demographic time bombs” in waiting. What steps should be taken to avoid future failures of these entitlements?
Grant’s response: Congress’s failure to address entitlement spending threatens to dwarf the current budget deficit and national debt. We have just nine years until Social Security pays out more each year than it brings in, which will force Congress to stop raiding Social Security to pay for other programs. We need to get changing demographics on our side, and allow younger workers to save towards their own retirement. Modernizing Social Security would save the program for future generations. Private pension plans are shifting from the pay-as-you-go model to self-funded mechanisms like IRA’s and 401(k)’s, and we should not ignore the benefits of such a chance in our public pension system
Medicare and Medicaid are facing similar pressure from rising health care costs. These costs stem from more advanced care, and the cost of frivolous lawsuits on malpractice insurance. But the primary cost driver in health care is the disconnect between patients and the costs of their health care decisions. By shifting all health care services to third parties such as Medicare and private health insurance, patients have no idea of the costs of their health care decisions. We can help restore this relationship through Health Savings Accounts and other free market reforms. Such steps will help bring down costs for health insurance and for Medicare and Medicaid.
Grant responds: Spend less money.
Grant responds: I would gladly support a Flat Tax. I would also work to make the tax code flatter, fairer, and smaller. We should reduce Congressional meddling with the tax code, and streamline deductions and tax credits into lower tax rates overall. We should be paying less in taxes at all levels of government, and that requires less government spending.
The “Fair Tax”, which is a sales tax levied at only the retail level, would work if and only if the Income Tax were repealed, and could not come back. I am skeptical that this would happen, and would not support any consumption tax without guarantees that we would not end up paying both. Europe has shifted to a Value Added Tax, which is levied several times throughout the supply chain, but has not abolished income taxes. The well-intentioned shift to the “Fair Tax” could end up in higher taxes for all Americans if we’re not careful.
~~~~~~ Visit Grant Bosse’s website here.
[note: original posting by Skip]
