RIDGWAY — U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Kerith Strano Taylor were in Ridgway on Tuesday night to discuss some of the issues facing the 5th Congressional District ahead of next month’s general election.
Thompson is running to be re-elected to Congress, while Strano Taylor is looking to be elected to her first term.
Prior to answering a variety of questions, each candidate made opening statements.
Thompson said his goal as a congressman has been to listen, to learn and to make a difference by taking his constituents’ voices to Washington.
Thompson said he was with the victims of the Ridgway flooding and worked to lower flood insurance costs after seeing the need in the district.
For her part, Strano Taylor said there has been a lot of discontent with the federal government over the past 10 years, giving rise to a lot of Independents.
She pointed to the presidential election and said the large amount of supporters for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have raised concerns about who government is serving.
Strano Taylor said that big money is controlling government as 63 people have spent more than $500 million on this year’s presidential campaign.
“If anybody doesn’t think that big money is buying and controlling our politics, I don’t know what else to tell you,” Strano Taylor said.
She said a big reason that she decided to run again was to serve the people and not the largest donors.
When it came time to answer questions, both candidates identified jobs as the biggest issue in the district.
Strano Taylor said that she supported the reclaim act, which would reclaim abandoned mines, put coal miners back to work and bring $340 million into Pennsylvania over the next decade.
She added that she would support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
“More money in our pockets drives the economy,” Strano Taylor said. “When people that are earning minimum wage have money in their pocket, they spend it.”
Thompson said the funds in the reclaim act are designated to cleaning up scars from previous mines.
He added that putting coal miners back to work was important but said that it needed to be done with newer, cleaner and safer technology.
Thompson’s approach to jobs would be to focus on job training.
He said that career and technical education is an avenue that can be used to prepare workers for a career.
Addressing another major issue, the two candidates discussed the state of healthcare in the state.
Thompson said that he worked in the healthcare industry for 28 years prior to being elected as a congressman and has worked on legislation to put the patient first. The lawmaker said that he has worked on legislation to ensure that employees can retain their healthcare if they transition to a new job.
Thompson added the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) is not effective, calling it the “unaffordable care act.”
To illustrate this, Thompson recalled a phone call from earlier in the day from a family in the 5th District.
Thompson said this family paid $750 a month before the Affordable Care Act, but next year, they are expected to pay $1,871 per month. He added that some people have decided to risk not getting treatment due to high premiums and deductibles brought on by the ACA.
“What we have today isn’t working,” Thompson said, adding there are a lot of problems that need addressed.
Strano Taylor said she is in favor of a single-payer system and offering “cradle to grave coverage.”
She added that she never supported the Affordable Care Act as it was written, but added the country wasn’t in a great position before the Affordable Care Act.
“The Affordable Care Act was a flawed experiment,” Strano Taylor said. “Where we were before the Affordable Care Act wasn’t great, either.”
Strano Taylor said the only people making money on healthcare are the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. She added the system needs overhauled.
The candidates also touched on the issue of term limits for Congress.
Strano Taylor said she supports a term limit of two terms of four years.
For his part, Thompson said term limits would cause Congress to lose a lot of knowledge and would allow knowledgeable staffers to gain a lot of power. He said that he is against term limits as the voters decide each election whether to re-elect their officials or not.
Thompson said he believes the Founding Fathers were against term limits for Congress, adding the people decided the term limits through their votes.
Touching on amnesty for illegal immigrants, Thompson said that amnesty was not a good option. He said a focus needs to be put on the efficiency of the system to address how people can enter the country legally.
Thompson said some people have been approved to come into the country but have been waiting decades due to an inefficient system.
Strano Taylor said she did not support blanket amnesty but added that some individuals have been raised in the country since infancy and have graduated from the country’s universities only to risk deportation. She said the country is authorizing work visas that could be used to retain these graduates.
She said that employers need to be prosecuted for failing to employ legal workers.
