Republican U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta bemoaned that New Hampshire receives what he said is a patently unfair 72 cents back for every tax dollar sent to Washington.
But, he added, he has helped to pass two transportation bills that ensure the state recoups more of its money for infrastructure improvements.
His Democratic opponent, former congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, countered at a Manchester forum Wednesday for the 1st Congressional District candidates that it was unwise for the 2015 transportation bill that Guinta approved to pay for roads and bridges by selling off strategic oil reserves.
She reiterated her support for the creation of a federal infrastructure bank that offers low-interest loans for public-private partnerships to develop projects in the public interest. President Obama first backed that concept in 2008.
When it was businessman Shawn O’Connor’s turn, he said both candidates have already had ample opportunity to improve the situation for residents of the 1st District. He’s running as an independent for the seat that Shea-Porter, 63, won in 2006, 2008 and 2012 and that Guinta, 46, won in 2010 and 2014.
“We heard from the last two speakers about the fact that we only get 72 cents on the dollar,” O’Connor said, “but the fact of the matter is: for the last decade, one of the two of them has been representing us.”
O’Connor’s appearance Wednesday morning at Saint Anselm College marked the influence he had in a district with two well-known candidates representing the major parties. Other third-party candidates in major races have been unable to make the stage.
O’Connor, 39, who first ran as a Democrat before dropping the party, injected $1 million of his own money into his campaign and told the Portsmouth Herald he’s spending $100,000 a week on television advertising.
Each candidate appeared solo along with moderator Scott Spradling for the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce forum. The questioning about infrastructure was one facet of the business-focused theme of the forum.
Another topic of conversation was the Affordable Care Act. Guinta said after five years of “an experiment” under the law, he believes it has failed its two goals of making health care more affordable and accessible.
He said insurance premiums are “dramatically increasing” in New Hampshire and residents regret that their options are diminished.
“You have to bring choice back to the state and the only way to do that is to erase the state lines, you’ve got to have HSAs, you’ve got to give the individual the buying power once again,” he said.
The political analysis blog FiveThirtyEight, however, studied American Community Survey figures last month and found that Obama’s signature law seems to have been successful in at least one area: coverage.
Between 2013 and 2015 in the 1st Congressional District, the uninsured rate dropped from 10.7 percent to 6.9 percent, meaning nearly 24,000 people got insurance, according to the analysis.
Shea-Porter stood up for the ACA. She said it helped to get people insurance for the first time, to fight opioid addiction, to eliminate lifetime maximums and to maintain insurance for people in their early 20s.
“These are good, good things that have been done. Yes, we need to improve it. But voting against it almost 70 times and then saying the state will pick up the costs? I don’t think that works,” she said.
O’Connor, who said he buys his health insurance on the public exchange, proposed to allow regional exchanges to promote better competition and allow people to buy into a Medicare plan if they choose.
The independent candidate said he sought to be a nonpartisan problem solver, adding that both his opponents “have voted with their parties over 95 percent of the time.”
He also pledged that he would sleep in his office and return $160,000 of his salary to a charity of voters’ choice.
(Nick Reid can be reached at 369-3325, nreid@cmonitor.com or on Twitter at @NickBReid.)