Brownback samples barbecue, prospects

Thursday, 16 August 2007

Page 2 of 2 In the Senate, Brownback serves on the Appropriations, Judiciary and Joint Economic committees. He is the ranking member on the latter. He also serves on the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations subcommittees. In view of his public policy background, one might expect Brownback to have wide-ranging opinions on business and the economy—and he does. One of the pillars of his campaign is his vow to reform the nation’s tax code, not by doing away with the current system but by giving people a choice of continuing to pay taxes under that system or opting into an alternative “flat-tax” system that would offer a generous personal income exclusion indexed for inflation. The candidate also calls for private and portable Social Security savings accounts and a systematic elimination of government programs that are wasteful or simply no longer needed. “What we need is a BRAC-style (Base Realignment and Closure) commission that would prepare an annual report on agencies and programs that no longer serve a viable purpose,” Brownback explained. “It’s a culling process that’s desperately needed.” On the issue of health care costs for small business, the senator said he disagrees with the Democrats running for president who have advocated some form of universal health care. “What they’re all saying, essentially, is that they’re all for expanding the federal government at a time when we should be reining in its spending,” he said. As an alternative, Brownback endorsed an expansion of heath care savings accounts. “Under my system, you’d save money to cover your health care costs in a tax-exempt account, and then purchase insurance with a high deductible to keep your premiums low,” he said. “Then you finally have to really think about what you used your insurance for, so you’re achieving the goal of everyone having health care coverage while also encouraging them to think in a fiscally responsible way.” Brownback also wants to make it possible for individuals and businesses to purchase health insurance across state lines, and for more businesses to be able to join together in large pools to get better rates from health care providers. Asked how he would strike a balance between the benefits of free trade—as evidenced by the vitality of port communities like Charleston—with the cost of having businesses move operations overseas, Brownback said he preferred to discuss trade much more narrowly. “I think above and beyond anything else, we need to go at China and get them to play by the rules,” he said. “I support free trade, but China continues to manipulate its currency and continues not to respect and protect intellectual property rights and that has to end. “Toward that end, I believe we need to impose a new regime of tariffs on them. Until we hit them in the pocketbook, I just don’t see them doing anything in those two areas,” Brownback continued. “Of course, they will retaliate; that’s how the game is played,” he said. “Placing tariffs on politically sensitive products that will affect producers in numerous states—I think if you prepare the business community for it, and we all recognize that there’s a greater good to be achieved here—we will prevail,” he said. Brownback said stops like the one he made at Sticky Fingers are now vital to his campaign and serve as an effective vehicle for getting his message across. “I’ve gotten precious little national coverage, but all the same, I can tell you that the base of the party is dissatisfied with the front-runners,” he said. “If we just keep reaching out to voters the way we’ve been doing, we’ll be fine.” Of course, the larger question at that moment was what he thought of Sticky Fingers fare. “It’s good barbecue,” he said. “And that’s coming from someone from Kansas who can really appreciate good barbecue.” << Start < Prev 1 2 Next > End >>