Leading up to the state primary on Sept. 10, NHPR is speaking with the top candidates running in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District to learn more about where they stand on some of the biggest concerns we’ve heard from voters.
Read on for NHPR All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa’s interview with incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas. He’s seeking his fourth term in Congress.
What questions do you have for the candidates running for Congress and governor in the 2024 election? What issues do you want them to address while seeking your vote? Share your thoughts here.
Editor’s note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Transcript
Many voters we've talked with are concerned about the high cost of living here in New Hampshire. What kind of policies would you propose or support to make the state a more affordable place to live?
Well, this is a top concern, and it speaks to the need to have problem solvers in Washington and not folks that are going to engage in extreme politics. This should be about how we can get things done for the people of New Hampshire, and I focused on that during my time in Congress over the last three terms. And I think we have to continue to work to address the high cost of housing in New Hampshire. This is a top concern.
I'll be up in Laconia touring affordable housing developments later today [Aug. 16], hear a lot on the ground from folks and recognize that we need a whole-of-government solution if we're going to be able to continue to make progress. It's about making sure that we have additional capacity in terms of our affordable housing supply, that we're allowing communities to reevaluate their local zoning and supporting them directly with grants, that we're expanding critical programs that are often the difference maker for developers, like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and community development block grants. Those two programs in particular are oversubscribed. We need to expand their capacity. I've been supporting legislation that would seek to do that.
And again, I think we need to make sure that we understand that the solutions just won't come from Washington alone. But the tools that the federal government can put on the table are really helpful in terms of us addressing the issue around supply. We also have to make sure that families can make it. And that's why I support an expansion of the child tax credit. That was something we had in place during the pandemic, which cut child poverty in half in this country. And so as we're thinking about high energy bills, high grocery costs, this will allow working families to put more money back in their pockets to be able to deal with these day-to-day expenses.
Republicans have been critical of President Biden's economic policies, saying there's been too much federal spending under his administration. Are there any spending plans that you feel have gone too far? And if you had to cut spending, where would you start?
Well, we have to focus on lowering the deficit. We're over $2 trillion now in terms of our annual deficit. That is unsustainable for us as a country, and as we're in a period of sustained economic growth right now, it's important for us to think about how we can bring fiscal discipline with respect to the budget. That's why I've supported budgets over the last few years that have reduced the growth in spending.
That's why I supported a bill called the Inflation Reduction Act that actually began to pay down the deficit by doing a number of things, including ensuring that big multinational corporations are paying at least 15% in taxes. That's not too much to ask of them. And that we're negotiating lower prescription drug prices. And just recently we heard an announcement about those drug prices being negotiated — the first 10 — that's going to save Medicare billions of dollars a year.
So these are the kinds of ideas that can help make a difference with respect to reducing the deficit. And we have to stay focused on where we can go for the future together. We've got to make sure that we're not crowding out key priorities for Granite Staters, that we're making smart investments, that we're doing it in a way where we're paying for these programs over the future.
Immigration and border policy are a top concern with many voters too, in the upcoming election. What's one specific immigration policy that you could point to that you would want to support?
I do support the bipartisan border legislation that has come out of the United States Senate and unfortunately, has not been taken up by the House of Representatives yet. It's been blocked because of political reasons, because too many folks in Washington want to keep this alive as a political issue as opposed to solving the problem, and that's just wrong.
We are facing a crisis on the border. I have continued to push members of my own party, including the Biden administration, to sharpen their pencils with respect to their planning and their preparedness for the surge of illegal crossings that we've been seeing. I welcome the executive action that the Biden administration has taken, which has helped reduce the number of folks migrating into this country. But we've got to make sure we're making smart investments for the future. And Congress has a role to act here. So we should be investing in expanding Border Patrol investments in technology that will help in terms of security and order at the border, but also in terms of interdiction of deadly substances like fentanyl that are killing far too many people here in New Hampshire.
And the only way we can get this done is by parties coming together and working together. And so I think that the changes to the asylum system, the investments that this bipartisan legislation makes, and the conversation we need to keep alive about how we have a legal immigration system that meets the needs of our communities and of our economy over the long run. All that can only happen if you're willing to work across the aisle. That's exactly the kind of congressman that I've been.
Many people we've talked to, frankly, do not have much hope in Congress or the U.S. government in combating climate change. If Democrats gain control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, what policies would you hope to prioritize when it comes to climate change?
Well, we already have begun to act in a significant way. And we do look at the evidence all across New Hampshire of the way that a changing climate is impacting our day-to-day lives. We see increasing severity of storms, especially along our Seacoast, the changing winters — that has implications for people's health and for the strength of our economy. We spent over $250 million over the last decade just responding to climate related disasters and rebuilding. And so what we're looking to do is make smart investments for the future that can help us build more resilient communities in terms of our infrastructure, but also help mitigate the impacts of a changing climate on New Hampshire, and hopefully lower emissions in a way that staves off the worst impacts over the long run.
And so our legislation will begin to rebuild domestic energy production in a cleaner and greener way in this country. We have great promise for homegrown renewable energy sources, including right here in New Hampshire, that can lower costs, create good paying jobs, and ensure that we're more responsible stewards about our climate and our planet. And so this legislation is a first effort to be able to address that. But there's much more we have to do, and we have to galvanize the global community to address this. The United States can't do it alone, but it's our responsibility to make sure we're leaving this planet in a better place than we found it, that it can continue to be habitable. And there are implications again, for public health, for national security and certainly for our quality of life.
Democratic voters here in New Hampshire and nationwide are divided over President Biden and Congress's response to the war in Gaza. Should the U.S. continue to support or provide military aid to Israel amid the rising civilian death toll among Palestinians? In the minute or so we have left.
Well, Israel is an enduring ally of the United States. They are a democracy. They are the Jewish homeland. I support Israel's right to exist and defend itself. At the same time, I also support the right of Palestinian people to have self-determination and support a two-state solution. I did support security legislation that allows Israel to be able to pursue Hamas, to destroy their capabilities to attack Israel. We need to keep alive the prospect here of a cease fire, and it’s being negotiated right now in Qatar. I'm hopeful that there's a positive resolution that will return the hostages, provide Israel with security guarantees, and ensure that the humanitarian assistance can get to the people that are in harm's way.
