Tsongas and Golnik Talk Business, the Economy with Carmen Christiano

Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, D-Lowell, and one of her Republican challengers, Jon Golnik, stopped by Chelmsford Telemedia yesterday to tape Carmen Christiano's "Politically Incorrect" local TV show.

Tsongas and Christiano discussed some recent issues as well as the upcoming campaign and the economy.

"We are doing better than many other parts of the country but we still have a long way to go," Tsongas said of the economy and job creation. "We have to focus on manufacturing in this country, too many businesses are going abroad."

Tsongas said businesses should receive tax credits to encourage them to stay in the United States.

"It's not good to invent things than have them made elsewhere," she said. "And we've heard we are not educating young people to the jobs that are manufacturing in nature…we also need a lot of engineers and we have to be persisent in that in high school and college we have equeate workforce training."

Tsongas said she is also committed to giving students a break on the interest on student loans.

"Interest rates are now 3.4 percent but they're due to rise to 6.8 percent at the end of June if we do nothing. That’s $1000 per student extra, and that’s a precious $1,000 in which there are demands," she said.

Tsongas said she supports the "buffet rule" in which people who earn more are taxes at a higher rate. People who earn more than $1 million in income would be taxed at no less than 30 percent, Tongas said.

"Nobody quarrels with right to be successful, that’s who we are, but it has to be fair and it addresses an unfair rate," she said. 

Tsongas mentioned she was glad to see President Barack Obama's support for gay marraige. She said she supports a timetable for combat troops to leave Afghanistan, though President Obama's timetable is not as fast as she would like to see.

"I'd like a more aggressive timetable than that. I've been to Afghaistan four times and I think tremendous progress has been made in training Afghan security and police," she said. "They are not at the level of professionalism that we are in our military or police but strides have been made and we should begin to ask those forces to be responsible for ... facing challenges."

Golnik said when it comes to the economy, government is part of the problem.

"We need lower taxes and less regulation, the private sector is not hiring and they have billions of dollars sitting on balance sheets because we have unclear tax and regulatory policy," he said. "And we have political risk where nothing is getting done in Washington due to the toxic atmosphere … I believe regulations are necessary but we know increasing regulations increases cost of doing business."

Golnik said he is against the idea of a consumer protection agency.

"It is going to increase layers of regulations and cost of doing business. You only need to look at fees at the ATM and no more free checking...we need to do more with less and the federal government isn’t doing that," he said.

Golnik said he's stronly agains the "buffet rule."

"I strongly believe we have a spending problem in Washington, not a revenue problem. I don’t believe we should give revenue to Washington, whov'e shown they can't spend it wisely," he said. " ... How can you tax more when private sector is already scared to make business decisions? And also, this is class warfare. Why are we punishing success? When have we become a nation of envy? I think we need to get our spending under control."

When it comes to gay marraige, Golnik said he believes it is between a man and a woman, but it is an issue for the states to decide themselves.

"I think same-sex couples should receive the same rights, I don't believe in discrimination," he said. "I believe marraige is between a man and a woman ... (but gay marraige) is law in this state."

One main focus of his, Golnik said, will be getting veterans back to work.

"We can't look for cost savings by cutting the VA, we have benefits we give these vets ... these are not benefits, they are obligations, and you can't change the deal of a contract you’ve made with someone … I think we need to address this. Sen. Scott Brown has done a great job with encouraging tax credits for businesses who hire veterans," he said.

Politically Incorrect will air at 7:30 p.m. tonight and repeat for two weeks.