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Q: Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew as President Barack Obama’s nominee to be Commerce Secretary, citing irreconcilable differences over the census and other issues. You were also highly critical of the White House’s decision to directly oversee the census. Why?
The president’s chief political hand – and one of the most partisan men in Washington – is White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. For him to have direct control of the census would further politicize what should be an apolitical process.
If you politicize the process of counting the American people, it will have skewed results. That would lead the American people to not trust the census – and all the things that are based on the census, like the allocation of government money and congressional districts.
Q: You and House Republicans opposed the economic stimulus package, calling instead for a larger package of tax cuts. At his first press conference, Obama said the last administration tried that approach and it didn’t work, so it was time to give his ideas a try since he won the election. Does he have a point?
The Republican proposal to stimulate the economy cost half as much in government tax dollars as the current plan, and the Republican plan would create twice as many jobs.
Tax reductions will have greater benefits for the American people. My concern with the stimulus package is that does not provide enough tax relief for small businesses and not a large enough percentage of the spending goes to transportation and infrastructure. We should focus more on those things and less on pork barrel projects.
Q: Were there any specific spending programs in the stimulus package you liked?
The expansion of broadband – ensuring we have fiber optic cable distributed across this country – would create jobs in Western North Carolina immediately and help get rural areas connected to the Internet. I think that’s a proper investment. I think it’s a wise investment.
But there’s so much extraneous spending in there. That’s the frustration the American people have. They see billions of dollars of wasteful spending programs. The American people get frustrated when they realize they could have further tax relief.
Q: How soon will you be able to judge whether the stimulus package helped the economy?
I think we can look back four or five years from now and see whether it’s effective. But you can see in the numbers of Americans who oppose it, they already think it’s a failure.
I want to grow jobs and get Americans working again. I don’t think this package does it. Unfortunately we’ll be paying this price tag for at least another generation.
Q: From A to F, how would you grade Obama’s performance so far?
I was never a teacher, so I’m not good at giving grades. I think everyone wants the president to succeed. I do. The American people are hurting. We want our economy to be strong. We want to be safe and secure. So, I’m hopeful that he’s successful.
He’s had a tough first month. A number of his appointees have failed to pay their taxes, which has been a major embarrassment to him and his new administration.
--Sean Mussenden
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About Five Questions
Each week when Congress is in session, Washington correspondent Sean Mussenden sits down with a different member of the North Carolina delegation for an in-depth interview on issues of importance to you.
The answers have been condensed for space and are not direct quotes. Watch a video of the extended interview by clicking on questions in the player above.
Got a burning question for your North Carolina member of Congress? Email smussenden@mediageneral.com or 202-662-7668.
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