On campaign trail through Sidney, McLeay emphasizes budget, tax goals

Over the past few days, Bart McLeay’s campaign for U.S. Senate took him through western Nebraska where he spoke to locals in favor of tax reform.

“I have heard from them that they want to see a financial fix that they want done, even if it’s imperfect and I agree with that,” he said.

This lawyer, who was raised in Omaha, hopes that a committee led by Paul Ryan will formulate some positive recommendations to share with congress this December. He expects that Ryan will have a plan to keep the government open for another year and get the U.S. back on track toward a more balanced budget.

Although McLeay, who says he values limited government, fiscal responsibility and conservatism thinks a balanced budget amendment would be the best solution to the country’s current fiscal woes, he does not think that it’s feasible politically at the moment. One alternative, in McLeay’s mind, is $4.6 trillion in budget reductions over 10 years, which would help lead the country to non-deficit spending in a fair time frame. If this is not acceptable to other members of the Senate, McLeay would be willing to consider the Simpson-Bowles proposal, as long as it doesn’t contain tax increases. It does identify $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction.

He’s willing to accept this proposal, which was a bipartisan effort.

“The most important thing here is for us to reach an agreement on a structure,” McLeay said. “If we have a structure and a plan for dealing with the deficit, even an imperfect one that Nebraskans had been talking to me about, we will bring certainty to our economy.”

He believes certainty will facilitate growth in the business sector, in turn contributing to more tax revenue which would help to reduce the deficit. He calls the federal debt “mammoth.”

“I believe that everyone, including Democrats, can be persuaded to growing the economy without tax increases if we put some time-table for accomplishing our goal,” McLeay said.

Democrats might be coaxed to delay further tax increases and allow a Republican-dominated proposal to go forward if the party sets clear goals such as a lower unemployment rate and increased tax revenues over a given period of time.

He believes the two parties can come together to work on legislation in a bipartisan way.

“There are areas of agreement,” McLeay said.

All congressmen and women desire job growth and to spur the economy, they simply see different ways of accomplishing this goal.

“I think all of us would agree that we need capital investment,” McLeay said. “That capital investment is determined by business people, not by politicians.”

He hopes both parties can look to businesses for guidance and that they will find that businesses need tax reform in order to grow and create more jobs.

“Most importantly, the business community needs certainty,” McLeay said.

McLeay asserts that federal assistance programs should be limited and that charities and local governments will step in if these programs are cut.

“I wanna help people that are in need,” McLeay said. “I want to help free them from the government. People who are on food stamps and subsidized housing may have temporary needs, but what we have to do is to work toward freeing them from having the government tell them what to eat and how much to eat and where they live and the terms and conditions of their living arrangements.”

The government needs to help these people by providing job opportunities and by telling those currently enrolled in assistance programs that American believes in them and that they can be contributing members of society, he said.

McLeay does not believe the government shutdown was a beneficial move.

“I think the government shutdown was unfortunate for Americans,” McLeay said. “We found ourselves in a near financial crisis and it is taking extraordinary efforts to communicate to those who are not listening that we cannot sustain this path.”

McLeay is not sure how the shutdown will effect Americans’ outlook on either party.

“I don’t know who will suffer politically from the government shutdown more,” McLeay said. “But I do know that it is clearly unfortunate that we have to come to this position because some of us are not looking in the mirror and identifying that we have a financial crisis.”

The candidate believes Congress as a whole has failed to acknowledge the country’s financial woes.

In agreement with those in his own party, as well as some Democrats, McLeay thinks the Affordable Care Act is detrimental to United States citizens.

“The rollout of Obamacare has been a disaster,” McLeay said.

The underlying policy is even worse, he said. He’s traveled the state listening to the issues Nebraskans have encountered regarding the law. Some of these problems include tripled co-pays, doubled premiums and canceled policies, McLeay said.

“The rollout of the website appears to reflect the underlying health care policy that’s contained in the law itself,” McLeay said.

He would have liked Republicans to push harder for a delay of the individual mandate. The president delayed the employer requirement and a cap on expenses for individuals, so now individuals must buy insurance and aren’t protected from high prices, he said. McLeay thinks the law can and should be repealed.

He believes there is a strong possibility that the Senate could gain a super majority of Republicans in 2014. If this happens, and Republicans also maintain control of the House, congress could vote to repeal the law.

“There would be sufficient votes to override the expected presidential veto,” McLeay said. “So, yes, I do think that there is a political route toward repeal of Obamacare.”