The Concord Coalition’s “Facing the Future” program is kicking off a series of interviews with Sept. 11 primary candidates in New Hampshire’s First and Second Congressional Districts.
The program originates on WKXL NH Talk Radio in Concord, New Hampshire. Republican and Democratic candidates will answer questions about their policy priorities and plans regarding federal fiscal policy and related issues.
Last week the first interview in the series featured Deaglan McEachern, a Democrat from Portsmouth campaigning for the First Congressional District seat. Click here to listen to him discuss the federal deficit, health care, education, taxes, Social Security and more.
Robert L. Bixby, the executive director of The Concord Coalition, also joined the show to discuss the Trump administration’s Mid-Session Review and a report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on means-tested mandatory spending programs.
“Means-testing simply means that there is some sort of need-based connection to the benefit, and Medicaid — as opposed to Medicare — is a means-tested program,” Bixby said. “CBO said that the so-called means-tested programs comprise about a quarter of total mandatory spending and less than 20 percent of the total federal budget.”
“You can’t cure trillion-dollar deficits . . . by focusing or limiting your attention to the means-tested programs,” he said. “A) It’s not where the money is and B) it’s not where the growth is.”
I host “Facing the Future” each week on WKXL NH Talk Radio; it is also available via podcast. Join us as we discuss issues relating to national fiscal policy with budget experts, industry leaders, elected officials and candidates for public office. Past broadcasts are available here. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Google Play or through RSS.
