Two of the candidates running in Iowa’s second congressional district disagreed on tariffs and how to fix Social Security during a debate last (Thursday) night on Iowa P-B-S. Republican Joe Mitchell of Clear Lake says President Trump has changed the G-O-P’s perspective on trade.
Democrat Lindsay James of Dubuque says Trump’s tariffs should be rolled back.
The Congressional Budget Office reported yesterday (Thursday) that the federal budget deficit rose to nearly two TRILLION dollars in the last fiscal year and both candidates said they support a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget. Another fiscal issue facing federal lawmakers is the solvency of the Social Security system. James has proposed waiving the cap on taxable income, so higher income people pay Social Security payroll taxes on all their annual earnings, not just the first 185-thousand.
Mitchell says there is plenty of work to do on the waste, fraud and abuse front.
There are two other candidates in the second district race, but independent Dave Bushaw and Libertarian Rick Stewart did not meet the qualification requirements for last (Thursday) night’s debate or for the debate James and Mitchell had last week on K-G-R-N in Cedar Rapids.
