GOP U.S. Senate candidates give views on 5 issues

The Associated Press

The three Republicans running in Michigan’s Aug. 7 primary election for the U.S. Senate answered a series of five questions posed by The Associated Press. Here are their answers. Some have been edited for length.

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HEALTH CARE: Congressional Republicans have said they’ll repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Do you agree with that decision, and what do you think a replacement plan should look like?

CLARK DURANT: We must repeal and replace Obamacare. ... A patient-centered plan to bring down costs, expand choice, bolster religious liberty, and increase innovation would consist of, in part, the ability for insurance companies to offer policies across state lines tailored to the needs of people, not politicians; giving people the same tax-free break as companies when buying a health care plan; health savings accounts; acceleration of quality reviews, innovation and drug approvals by the FDA; and letting doctors and health care institutions compete more on prices, services and innovation rather than government price controls and limitations. If patients control the dollars, costs come down and services get expanded to meet patient needs.

PETE HOEKSTRA: We need to repeal the law and replace it with common-sense reforms based on free-market principles. I have released a Solutions Policy Paper that outlines reforms that are starting points to reduce costs to improve affordability and access to health care. The seven common-sense solutions include allowing Association Health Plans, expanding Health Savings Accounts, selling health insurance across state lines, reforming medical malpractice laws, creating pre-existing condition high-risk pools, allowing tax credits for individuals to purchase insurance and establishing multi-share health care programs to cover low-income individuals.
RANDY HEKMAN: I definitely believe the first order of business in the new Congress in 2013 should be the repeal of ObamaCare. ObamaCare was the wrong answer to a good question. After its repeal, our health care system will still be in need of reform. ... America has traditionally been a leader in providing the best products in every industry, including health care. The key is to encourage healthy competition allowing American ingenuity and creativity to be maximized. For health care, this would require greatly reducing government’s role in the system, and driving costs down and quality up by placing the purchasing power for health care where it belongs: in the hands of those seeking health care services. Health Savings Accounts would accomplish this. Also, passing tort reform.

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AFGHANISTAN: Do you support the current drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the U.S.-led coalition’s plan to handover security to Afghan forces at the end of 2014? If not, what would your alternative be?

DURANT: I support the current timetable for drawdown of troops, though it may need adjustment if the facts on the ground change. The United States has just signed a long-term (through 2024) strategic agreement with Afghanistan for the purpose of maintaining the gains that have been made by our troops. According to a recent Brookings report based on on-site investigations, “too fast a reduction in U.S. military presence will critically undermine the military transition in Afghanistan, inhibit the growth and much-needed improvement of the Afghan National Security Forces, and risk undermining whatever military successes have been achieved since the surge of U.S. troops in 2009.” Whether the current timetable needs to be adjusted ... should be driven by facts on the ground, not electoral politicking.

HOEKSTRA: When the President outlined his surge strategy with a firm withdrawal date, I voiced my opinion that it was a flawed strategy. Our military needs to be given benchmarks and the resources and support to achieve them, not withdrawal dates that disregard conditions on the ground. That given, now that the president is fully implementing this flawed strategy, there is little if any opportunity to alter the strategy. It should now be completed as quickly as possible.

HEKMAN: I am very frustrated with the current administration’s handling of the war in Afghanistan. The reality is we are not prevailing in that conflict and need to face that reality. American military men and women are being maimed and killed; valuable resources are being wasted. But we don’t seem to have a clear military objective there other than a timetable to leave. You don’t wage a war with a calendar; you have a clear military objective, accomplish that objective and then end the campaign. Our military should not be used to nation-build. If our only rationale for being there is to save face while our men and women are in harm’s way, we should withdraw immediately

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INTERNET SALES TAX:
Should Congress continue the moratorium on Internet sales taxes? Why or why not?

DURANT: I do not support the Main Street Fairness Act, though I agree it is not fair for states to force brick-and-mortar retailers to have higher costs and then ask them to compete on an uneven playing field with online retailers. But rather than “leveling up” by increasing sales taxes for online businesses, states should be seeking to “level down” by reducing sales taxes and regulations on “Main Street” businesses. This would also keep states from abusing their taxing and regulatory power, as they would have to lower taxes and regulations on their brick-and-mortar businesses in order for them to be better able to compete.

HOEKSTRA: The federal government should not raise taxes by implementing a federal sales tax on Internet sales. However, I do support fundamental tax reform that encourages investment and growth. In regards to states collecting sales taxes from purchases over the Internet, states already have the ability to collect those taxes. This is an issue that will preferably be handled by the states.

HEKMAN: When people avoid state sales taxes through Internet purchases, this is a practice that skirts current tax laws and I believe needs to be addressed. Nobody likes taxes, but such are needed to pay for beneficial public services and should be applied uniformly regardless of how the purchase was made. I would support the ability of states, working together, to collect sales or use taxes from purchasers of products over the Internet and given to the state in which the purchaser resides. This action ... will tend to make products purchased in stores in the state of residence a bit more competitive with products purchased over the Internet.

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ASIAN CARP: What course of action should the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pursue to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, and what should the timeline be?

DURANT: Asian carp are a major threat to the natural wildlife of the Great Lakes, as well as to the livelihood and property rights of the citizens of Michigan (as well as Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania). The steps taken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so far (i.e. the electric barrier in the Des Plaines River) seem to have been inadequate. Current legislation does not require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to have a plan for another 17 months, nor does it guarantee that they will block the carp from using the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to get into Lake Michigan. I support ... requiring the Corps to expedite the feasibility study evaluating options for permanent physical separation.

HOEKSTRA: The threat posed by Asian carp is real and needs to be addressed. Experts have been sounding the alarm for years, yet bureaucrats have dragged their feet in addressing the matter. The bureaucracy must be streamlined and the appropriate authority granted in order for immediate action to take place. Solutions must be based upon managerial, chemical, engineering and structural components. We must also develop a comprehensive strategy for short and long term. First we need to install new barriers for short-term prevention immediately. Long term, we must pursue an eco-separation strategy that separates the Great Lakes and Mississippi basins.

HEKMAN: Keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes is important to our sport and other fishing interests in the Great Lakes. Congress should insist that the Army Corps of Engineers close the Chicago canal that now allows Asian carp to enter Lake Michigan by the end of 2013, if not before.

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GETTING ALONG
: If Democrats hold onto the Senate majority, what do you think the relationship between Republican and Democratic senators should be? How do you envision that would work?

DURANT: Politics is polarized because we have lost a shared understanding of the purpose and principles of our constitutional republic, and the growth of government has raised the stakes of the fight over money, power and control. ... Our founders developed a constitutional framework ... which safeguards freedom by building in checks and balances on partisan overreaching. We need to work to rediscover and restore these constitutional principles, and work within the system to lower the stakes of political conflict in our country. Though I am a Republican, I have spent 35 years of my life working outside of politics with Democrats and independents to save jobs and create schools using market-based solutions. I look forward to building partnerships in the Senate to get the right things done.

HOEKSTRA: It’s about relationships and leadership. In many regards, the tone is set from the top. Depending on who is in the White House, they will set a tone of how to achieve legislative accomplishments. The first two years of Obama’s presidency, he chose to work strictly with Democrats with wide margins in the House and Senate. After the 2010 election, he pursued his policies through regulations rather than working with Congress. I am willing to work with anyone that is interested in reforming government, creating jobs through free market principles, protecting the unborn and reducing wasteful spending. It can be accomplished, as seen when I served on the Budget Committee and we created surpluses with President Clinton and passed welfare reform.

HEKMAN: We absolutely cannot allow another year, much less another two or four years, go by with the sort of gridlock we have seen in Washington. I place much of the blame for this lack of progress on our current president ... (who) has been dividing our nation by pitting the rich against the poor and using his political capital on his own pet agenda items like national health care rather than saving our nation from fiscal ruin. If I am elected, I will use all my abilities to work with Democrats, independents and Republicans to save our nation. We are Americans first, and members of our respective parties second. We must hold to our principles, but the top principle is to preserve our nation for generations to come. I will work with anyone who genuinely desires that goal.