Lance Stresses Desire for Certainty in Economy

Attending town hall meetings around his district during the August congressional recess, U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon County) said he keeps hearing about the economy. 

Lance, who was recognized as an expert on state finances while in the state legislature, has been stressing economic issues during his reelection campaign this year. He cites a need for certainty on economic policy, which he said, is currently missing from the federal government.

Lance is currently battling Democrat Ed Potosnak in his bid for a second term in Congress. Lance, a former state senate minority leader, was first elected in 2008 defeating Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood). In 2008, Lance also prevailed in a seven way Republican primary.

Prior to taking on Potosnak, the moderate Lance defeated three Tea Party aligned primary challengers, including Hunterdon County businessman David Larsen in a Republican primary which saw Lance stressing his fiscal conservative credentials. While Lance has been identified by some Democratic leaders as a frontrunner to capture a second term, the fall campaign has been identified by CNN as one of 50 races to watch in the country.

In an interview with Patch, Lance outlined his thoughts on the issues currently facing Congress.

Economy

Lance has discussed a need for certainty in economic policy, which he said, will allow for more businesses to be created. He said the current 9.5-percent unemployment rate would be able to be lowered if the business community would have a level of certainty in the area of taxes, along with other economic factors jobs would be created.

Specifically Lance cited four areas of uncertainty. The first is the pending expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the end of the year, which he notes he would like to see extended. The second is the ramifications of the recently passed health care bill, which Lance characterized as expensive for small business. Lance's third area is the creation of the consumer protection agency as part of reforming the financial services sector. His fourth area is what he sees as the lack of lending by banks.

Lance traces many of the issues back to the debate over the future of the Bush tax cuts. Stressing his support of the extension, he said he finds it unlikely it will be addressed in the near future.

"I think Congress should add this in September when we will be back for three to four weeks," he said. "I doubt Congress will add this issue. It will be addressed in the lame duck session."

Lance has been stressing the creation of new small businesses as part of economic push over the last several weeks. In the area of small business, Lance wants to reform the current lending policies, which he said have been harming the creation of new small businesses.

While Potosnak has criticized Lance for his vote against an unemployment benefits extension bill, which also included small business proposals, Lance defends the vote. He said his no vote came primarily in terms of the lack of clarification of how the unemployment aid would be funded. 

Lance remains bullish on the economic prospects for his district. He explained that the implementation of his economic proposals would help stimulate jobs in the district and support the district's main industries within health care and medical devices.

"There is not more highly qualified workforce in America than this district," he said. 

Lance stressed his continued opposition to further stimulus funds, citing what he sees as the lack of results from the original stimulus legislation. He said that while he heard President Obama promise an unemployment rate lower than eight percent,he said unemployment has stayed above nine percent, particularly within the district.

Federal Deficit 

Lance has been priding himself on his work on state finance issues while in Trenton and has been promoting his authorship of the state constitutional amendment that requires voter approval of all future state government borrowing. Lance has been citing his opposition to the approximately $14 trillion dollar national debt, along with an increase in the debt in recent years,.

Lance said the continued deficit spending proposals would be harmful to the children in the country, by passing the money owed on to future generations.

"This is the fundamental issue confronting the American people," Lance said. "Unless we get control over these huge deficits, we will give to the next generation will receive lower standard of living." 

In the area of reducing the deficit, Lance said he believes the key to lowering the deficit is to lower federal spending to the 2008 levels used by former President Bush. He said he places the blame with the Obama administration and Congress in terms of the current deficit level.

Consumer Protection and Housing

Lance, who is a member of the House financial services committee, said he supports reforming the policies surrounding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their role in the collapse of the real estate sector. He said the committee needs to find a balance between regulation and the need to not overly regulate the industry.

In the area of housing, Lance said there is a need to ban subprime mortgages and move back to a simplified mortgage structure. 

Lance stressed his opposition to the creation of a new consumer protection agency, to address issues surrounding the problems in the financial services sector. Lance stressed the need to keep the consumer protection functions of the new agency within the same agency as the safety and security functions of the securities industry. He said these functions could remain within the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Health Care

Lance said that while he supports some provisions within the health care act, he wants to overhaul the entire law to addressed economic and business related issues that he has been working on in the Senate.

Lance said the current law will be harming small businesses by taking too much money out of budgets to cover the health care costs. 

The centerpiece of Lance's health care plan includes a bill to limit the amount of funds to push forward a change to the health care law, including the purchase of health insurance in a consortium approach to reduce health insurance costs. Lance said that he plans to continue lobbying to get the malpractice bill to the president's desk. 

Potosnak has endorsed the current health care plan, noting his desire to see some changes made, including more of a focus on prevention of health problems and not just on the treatment of health issues.

Foreign Affairs

Lance and Potosnak have been in agreement on the principal area of the current foreign policy debate. Both have expressed strong support for Israel and against Iran's quest to build a nuclear weapon.

"I am a strong supporter of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East," he said. "If Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon it would be an existential event."

Lance said he disagrees with Obama with regards to Iran, saying he believes the Obama administration needs to adopt a pattern of sanctions towards the country in an attempt to force the country to stop development of nuclear weapons. 

In terms of Afghanistan, while Potosnak stressed a desire to support the troops mission while bringing the troops home as soon as possible, Lance is taking a different approach. Stressing bipartisanship, Lance said he supports the current goals of the Obama administration along with the president's decision to place Gen. David Petraus in charge of the Afghanistan war. Lance did stress his opposition to nation building he would only support further military action if the need is in the best national security interests of the country.

Campaign

Lance stressed his belief of a win in November, saying he has been hearing supportive comments as he talks to district residents. He said he has been living in towns that are in the district his entire life and plans to build upon his first term if he is reelected. 

He said he will continue to bring his belief system to Washington if reelected.

"I believe in American exceptionalism," he said. "I believe this country is different from other countries. I believe that our rights come from the hand of God and not from the government. I believe that the critical question of the day is whether you want the next generation that will live in an America that is preeminent in the world or a diminished America. I have thought deeply about these issues and intend to be contributing to them."