U.S. House District 2 Election (NH): Charlie Bass on the issues

JOBS:

Strengthening New Hampshire's economy and getting the country moving forward again so businesses of all sizes can grow and hire more workers remains his top priority. The Granite State has a diverse economy built by entrepreneurs, hard workers and a willingness to innovate and take risk. He believes we must promote these qualities, not stifle them through government regulation, high taxes and other policies that will keep our economy stagnant. As a former small business owner, he understand the challenges and obstacles job creators face every day as they compete in the global marketplace. During his time in Congress, he has supported a wide range of legislation aimed at putting people back to work by eliminating unnecessary regulations and taxes, and providing the tools necessary for businesses to grow and hire more workers.

VETERANS:

Charlie is committed to ensuring veterans and their families have the benefits that they have earned serving our country and protecting our freedom. He has fought for concurrent receipt to allow military retirees to collect VA disability and earned retirement benefits. For the servicemen and women who make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom, we owe them and their families a debt we can never repay but we can make certain they can be remembered with the dignity they earned. As such, he introduced legislation that would protect military funerals from protesters and other disruptions. In addition, based on the counsel from his Veterans Advisory Board, he is working with the New Hampshire delegation to get a full service VA hospital in New Hampshire, and introduced legislation that would allow all veterans access to an ID card to verify their service to our nation. Serving those that have served our nation is an honor that he holds deeply.

TAXES:

Bass believes the tax code must be reformed and we must move beyond partisan rhetoric and political gimmicks so hardworking taxpayers can keep more of the money they earn and American businesses can compete in the global economy. Charlie supports reforming our tax code by eliminating special interest loopholes so that we can lower tax rates for individuals and businesses across the board but at the same time broaden the base – we can no longer have a tax code that allows individuals and companies the ability to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. By doing so we will lower tax rates, generate new revenue, lower the deficit and stimulate economic growth. Inaction will guarantee taxes on everyone will rise as the current tax cuts expire at the end of 2012.

Every working New Hampshire family has to balance their budget, and Washington should be doing the same. Instead Washington continues to spend money it does not have without any real plan to change. As we watch many European countries today find themselves near insolvency, we need to learn from their mistakes and prevent America from going a path of unchecked deficits and skyrocketing debt. Our national debt is over $15 trillion and growing as we borrow 40 cents for every dollar we spend. This must stop and we must make tough decisions now to ensure that our children and grandchildren have the same shot at the American Dream that our parents and grandparents gave to us. Charlie supported the largest discretionary spending cut in our nation’s history and opposes earmarks. He supported a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and cosponsored a bipartisan budget plan based on the Simpson-Bowles Commission, which would reduce our deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years by cutting $3 trillion in spending and generating $1 trillion in new revenue through comprehensive tax reform. New Hampshire families want action now to solve our government’s spending problem.

HEALTH CARE:

Bass does not believe Obama’s health care law is the answer and has only led to more uncertainty, increased costs, less choice, and mandates on the type of health care coverage you must have. This is having a negative impact on our economy as employers do not know what the cost of the new law will be on their business. It gave us billions of dollars of cost, higher taxes, cuts to Medicare, and is leading to the elimination of the popular Medicare Advantage program already. Charlie voted to repeal this law, but does not believe we can go back to the status quo. We need to ensure access to quality, low-cost healthcare. He supports increasing access and lowering cost by increasing competition, and allowing individuals and families to purchase health plans that meet their needs regardless of what state they reside in. He opposes any discrimination based on preexisting conditions and supports universal deductibility of premiums so that individuals have the same tax advantage as employers. He also believes that we must reform our medical malpractice system as frivolous lawsuits add billions of dollars in costs to the system.

FOREIGN POLICY:

Charlie is committed to combating terrorism and preventing countries like Iran from ever developing nuclear weapons. Regarding current engagements, late last year Charlie visited our troops and military leaders in Afghanistan and supports redefining our role in that country in order to bring our troops home now, but believes that we must maintain a strategic presence in the region to the prevent it from becoming a safe-haven for terrorists again. We must continually monitor our progress in this region of the world and listen to the guidance from our military leaders, while working to get our soldiers home.