Mark Amodei and Kate Marshall focus on budget, deficit

Amodei: Federal spending can't continue

Mark Amodei says the federal government can't continue spending the way it has, borrowing 40 cents of every dollar in the budget.

Even the plan presented by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., he said, doesn't end deficit spending.

"It still grows the budget every year, still adds to the deficit a half trillion a year," Amodei said.

But the Republican said Friday taking more in taxes from business in this fragile economy isn't the answer.

That's why he said he felt comfortable signing Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge.

He said it wasn't logical when he was a state legislator because Nevada's constitution requires a balanced budget and a two-thirds vote of each house to raise taxes.

"There are safeguards here but not at the federal level."

So he signed up:

"Saying you won't vote for taxes is a logical place to start," he said. "Business needs stability and predictability and they don't have that right now from the federal government."

He said instead of increasing spending every year, the federal government needs to do what Gov. Brian Sandoval and the 2011 Nevada Legislature did this year and actually cut total spending.

"The federal government needs to be smaller than it is and that's not going to happen until you break the cycle," Amodei said.

Amodei has proposed a 4 percent cut a year for the next five years.

"I think you could make half that with a federal hiring freeze," he said.

Asked if his cuts would include the military, he said, "there's room for economizing everywhere."

"Don't tell me we have to spend what we didn't spend five years ago," he said.

Amodei said the federal budget has increased by more than a third in the past 60 months.

"I don't know how you can say that's all necessary," he said. "The answer to every question is not money from Washington, D.C."

Asked about his position on compromise on issues including spending and cuts, he said, Congress needs to, "quit trying to turn everything into a drama contest."

"Let's get back to telling the truth," he said. "Every budget has winners and losers."

He described the Ryan plan as "a start." But he said he can't flatly support everything there.

Amodei pointed to Medicare funding as an example saying in rural Nevada the existing funding doesn't work because the services just aren't available in part because the low medical reimbursement rates leave providers refusing service.

"If you're going to say, 'yes, we have that service,' you have to fund it at some level where they have it," he said.

But Medicare, he said, will have to change otherwise it'll be bankrupt in a decade.

"If you're my age (53), maybe you're not eligible at 65. Maybe you're eligible at 68."

If elected in the Sept. 13 special election, he said he will take nothing for granted.

Amodei said he'll have just 16 months to make a difference.

He said he has his legislative experience in Nevada to bring to the table - two years in the Assembly and 12 in the Senate.

"I have 14 years experience attempting to play well with others, with colleagues and that's something that's in precious shortage right now," he said.

The constant negativity, he said, "adds nothing to the discussion."

He said he likes to think of himself as "a guy who's driven by facts." Some days, he said he'll support the Republicans, some days he'll be with the Democrats depending on the issue. He said that doesn't mean just sitting in a committee room putting agency officials on the record on issues important to Nevada.

Instead, he said he'll probably be in places like Bureau of Land Management district offices trying to resolve problems for Nevadans and Nevada businesses. Honest communication, he said, can resolve a lot of problems without hearings, accusations and new laws.

Marshall: End polarization to fix gov't

Kate Marshall says the nation can't fix the federal government just by cutting; that it also needs to bring in more revenue.

She said a good start would be eliminating tax breaks, subsidies and loopholes that rich corporations don't need.

The Democrat said she believes people in general and Nevadans specifically are about done with the polarization and refusal to work toward solutions in Washington, D.C.

"People are ticked off," she said. "People are angry at the lack of vision."

She said they want help with the issues important to them.

"This election is about the people of Nevada" she said. "It's about jobs, about education, about Social Security and Medicare."

Marshall said Congress can't find solutions when the two sides start every discussion from polar

opposites.

"You can't start at the far end," she said. "You have to start incrementally from the middle. What are the small steps you can take to start?"

She said that means getting people to sit down together and stop what she called "relentless brinkmanship."

Marshall draws that experience from her private equity bill that allows the state to provide businesses loans from the Permanent School Fund to come to Nevada, expand existing Nevada companies and add jobs.

Marshall said that the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce and the teachers union - not normally seen in agreement - both backed the plan because she worked out the details with them.

"You bring these groups that are normally at odds together by crafting solutions," she said.

Marshall objected to the Republican push for cuts to Social Security and Medicare. She said even the Wall Street Journal blasted Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan's plan saying it would "gut" Medicare.

Marshall said while she supports keeping the Bush tax cuts, for most, she would eliminate them for the truly wealthy. She said part of the cost issue could be fixed by allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies and providers like private healthcare does.

She called for an end to loopholes she said allow corporations to send jobs and hide assets overseas to avoid taxes.

Marshall called for an end to "tax credits to companies that don't need them," saying corporations including Exxon-Mobil are making billions and paying almost nothing.

Instead, she said, both parties in Congress appear ready to let a payroll tax cut expire, which she said would take a bite out of every American worker's take home paycheck.

"You're going to let companies keep subsidies and make sure every American who works for a living pays more taxes?"

She said if corporations want tax breaks, tie them to job creation.

Marshall said Medicare isn't doing what it promises, especially in rural Nevada.

"People need to have access to medical care in rural areas and it needs to be affordable," she said. "They really have neither now."

Marshall, the current state treasurer, said government "needs to spend smarter and that's something I have a track record of doing in this office."

She was criticized for increasing her office budget but points out those critics ignored the fact that the $115,000 increase was to hire staff that let her eliminate $463,000 in outside fees.

National GOP television ads have also accused her of losing $50 million through reckless investments in Lehmann Bros. She said even on the Friday before Lehmann went into bankruptcy, she and her staff were questioning that investment.

"We were told your money is 100 percent good, absolutely safe," she said. "The world was defrauded by Lehmann."

In addition, she said the state hasn't lost that money yet, that its value is recovering slowly and the case still is in court.

She said despite the recession, earnings by her office have surpassed earnings in the market every quarter since she took office.