L-R: Mike McIntyre, David Rouzer
Reducing burdensome regulations is one of the ideas both candidates in North Carolina’s 7th District Congressional race support in plans to address challenges with jobs and the economy.
Improving access to capital, speeding up time for permitting infrastructure and construction projects, prioritizing career training, simplifying the tax code, creating science and technology jobs and emphasizing coastal opportunities for tourism were other ideas favored by incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., of Robeson County.
When asked what would be his first piece of legislation if re-elected, McIntyre, who is serving his eighth term, said he would again file his Veterans Outreach Improvement Act to help ensure veterans are aware of their benefits.
“There are still a lot of military veterans out in the rural areas, and we want to make sure that we have rural transportation offered to them,” McIntyre said. “Many of them still do not realize the help that they can get, whether it’s through medical devices or pharmaceutical help or diagnosis and treatment.”
Rouzer said his plans would include a cost-benefit analysis regarding new rules and regulations from the executive branch.
“If it’s going to cost us jobs and cost the economy it must come back to Congress for a vote of final approval,” Rouzer said.
McIntyre also called for repealing the North American Free Trade Agreement, prioritizing Make it in America legislation to help increase U.S. manufacturing jobs with tax incentives, working toward a marine biotechnology cluster in the coastal region and investing in biofuels. (See related story page B5.)
“That’s looking ahead, using our natural resources to use biofuels, which will help wean our dependency off of foreign fuel dependence,” McIntyre said during a telephone interview Monday, Oct. 15. “It will be environmentally safe, and it will help create jobs here at home.”
His challenger, North Carolina Sen. David Rouzer, R-Johnston and Wayne, said the nation should permanently extend Bush-era tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of the year.
“That will help bring about some stability that the small businesses and farm families need,” Rouzer, who was serving his second term in the state Senate, said in a telephone interview Tuesday, Oct. 16.
Both candidates have said President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act should be repealed.
“Then we need to work to put in place measures to create more transparency in the health care market,” Rouzer said.
Other measures should include enabling people to carry insurance from one employer to the next, allowing professionals to pool resources together to have more purchasing power for insurance at a lower price and developing savings accounts where people can set money aside tax-free to help pay for their health care needs, Rouzer said.
“We need to get the government out of the way so that the private sector can do what it does best, and that’s create jobs,” Rouzer said.
Rouzer serves as co-chairman of the state Senate’s committees on Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources and Appropriations on Natural and Economic Resources. He previously worked as a senior advisor for U.S. Sens. Jesse Helms and Elizabeth Dole and served as a senior level appointee with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
McIntyre serves as a member of the U.S. House’s committees on Agriculture and Armed Services and has received Legislator of the Year awards from several organizations over the years.
Both candidates also said issues concerning veterans and beach renourishment were important.
McIntyre, who also co-sponsored the Tax Code Termination Act to rewrite the tax code, said, “If we could make the tax return as simple as putting it on a postcard, so much the better. Let’s get rid of the onerous regulations that are costing individuals, families and small businesses unnecessary time and expense.”
Rouzer recommended cutting some money from federal agencies and using it for block grants to states to help address the nation’s approximately $16 trillion debt.
“We’ve got to deal with the long-term entitlement issues,” Rouzer also said. “Medicare goes bankrupt in 12 years. We need to make reforms to the program so that we protect everybody’s investment.”
