GOP Budget Out of Step with North Carolina's Values
Kissell Would Have Rejected
Kissell for Congress
Friday, February 3, 2006

BISCOE, NORTH CAROLINA - Citing a national debt of $8 trillion and growing, Larry Kissell, Democratic candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 8 th district, said he would have voted against the federal budget cuts of $39 billion over 5 years that passed the House of Representatives Wednesday.

"If Congress were serious about cutting the deficit, they should be having a serious conversation about liberating taxpayers from the enormous monthly expenses associated with the Iraq war. I am of the belief that if we can stage our way into Iraq over a year, then surely we can stage our way back out in a year," said Kissell.

Kissell also criticized the proposed Republican agenda to provide another round of tax cuts totaling $70 billion, with the bulk going to the affluent, rather than working families working harder, but falling further behind.

"It's high-time Washington politicians take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves if borrowing billions of dollars from foreign nations like China is the best way to pay for a budget that seeks to increase the deficit further, while placing all the burden on working families," said Kissell.

Kissell is a high-school civics teacher who made a lateral transition after 27 years in textile management just prior to his former employer moving operations overseas in search of cheap labor. He has a degree in economics from Wake Forest University. Kissell is making his first run for public office this year vying for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Robin Hayes in November's general election.

"I'm not a politician, and I may not be savvy in the ways of Washington special interests, but I know economics and I know a raw-deal when I see one. This budget is a raw deal for working families in the 8 th district. The budget that the House approved yesterday increases premiums and co-pays for 13 million Americans who depend on Medicaid health insurance, but doesn't make a dent in the deficit given the proposed tax cuts. I'm no math teacher, but Washington's numbers don't seem to make sense," said Kissell.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget office estimates that 65,000 Americans will be driven off the Medicaid health insurance plan because they can't afford the co-payments or increased premiums.

In addition to funding cuts in Medicaid, Kissell pointed out that funds dedicated to tracking down "dead-beat Dads" who refuse to pay child-support were cut in the Republican budget.

"I believe in taking care of your commitments. When fathers refuse to pay child-support, the government should have the resources to help mothers by holding these dead-beat Dads accountable. Evidently Republicans don't share this belief," said Kissell.

If Kissell is successful in the Democratic primary, the budget vote could be a point of contention with Robin Hayes who proved decisive in passing the narrowly approved budget (216-214).

"For a man who claims to take our values seriously, Robin Hayes has really hung us out to dry on this vote. Hayes' vote gave special interests the goldmine and working families the shaft. Taking money away from the working-poor and giving it to the wealthy is not a North Carolina value," said Kissell.

Kissell advocates a commitment to working families and Real Family Values in the government's approach to economics.