Bobby Schilling and Cheri Bustos tangled in a “no rules” ping pong match Wednesday at the Rockford Register Star Editorial Board. The hour-long session was broadcast live at rrstar.com/ustream; the telecast, along with other candidate debates and joint appearances, will remain there through Election Day, Nov. 6.
Schilling, a Republican businessman and freshman congressman from Colona, and Bustos, a former East Moline alderman and former health system executive, are fighting for the seat in the new 17th district of northern Illinois. Their hotly-contested race is one of the few that will decide which party runs the next Congress.
On how to create jobs, Bustos supports a plan to reward corporations that keep jobs here instead of outsourcing, but Schlling thinks lower taxes and fewer regulations are a better way to anchor American jobs and “re-shore” jobs that have been sent to foreign countries.
Bustos interprets the district as a “manufacturing triangle” anchored by Caterpillar in Peoria, John Deere in Moline, and “major aerospace companies in Rockford.”
She said the district has the educational and transportation infrastructure in place, as well as “Midwest work ethic,” to make the 17th a competitive district for manufacturing job retention and creation. About 23 percent of Rockford jobs are in manufacturing.
Bustos said it’s important to “have tax policies that incentivize manufacturers to keep jobs here. Outsourcing has become a high profile issue, which is so important because we have an unemployment problem and we have jobs that can’t be filled because of the training necessary. (We should) partner education with manufacturers to make sure (they) are incentivized to keep jobs here.”
Bustos said she’s pro-trade, “but pro-fair trade.”
Schilling shot back: “You can’t have it both ways. My opponent supports tax hikes that come in January from President Obama’s tax extenders. In Illinois, that’s going to cost us 31,000 jobs, It will cost 700,000 jobs across America.”
Schilling said it’s a bad time to raise taxes on manufacturers because the recovery from the recession is fragile. His message: Make a pro-business economic climate and re-shoring of jobs will pick up speed.
“The reason big manufacturers of our area support me is that we cannot continue overregulation and over taxation … When you have a federal government that wants to regulate farm dust, and tell a farmer that their 17-year-old kid can’t ride on a combine, that’s total overreach.”
Bustos supports ending Bush era tax cuts, with this caveat: The president would raise taxes for couples and Sub chapter “S” corporations making more than $250,000 a year; Bustos would keep rates the same for those earning under $1 million. She also breaks with the president on the Keystone XL pipeline. Obama blocked it; she’s for it.
I asked Bustos and Schilling if they support a two-state solution to the perennial Israel-Palestine ongoing crisis, and whether they would support whatever Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu wants to do to end Iran’s potential nuclear threat to his country’s existence.
“I stand firmly behind Bibi Netanyahu,” said Schilling, adding that Israel “is our only friend” in a dangerous region.
“I support (Israel and Palestine) being separated,” Schilling added. But he doesn’t support Obama’s plan to return to 1967 borders (with modifications) “and give back a bunch of land, especially with the missiles these folks have that would desecrate Israel. I think Israel should be able to defend itself … and we should be there for them … Iran wants to take them out. The president of Iran has said he wants to eliminate Israel. They’re our friends,” Schilling said.
Bustos favors a two-state solution, but she didn’t mention where the borders should be.
“Israel is in a position where if it needs to defend itself it can do so without our approval,” Bustos said. “I hope that we can work together and make sure that through diplomacy and sanctions, we can deal with this issue (with Iran.) It’s critical for the security of the U.S. and Israel,” she said.
President Obama said he will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons and has ruled out no options to stop them from doing so.
There’s a lot more in the debate than I have space to cover, so I recommend you watch the video at rrstar.com/ustream.
Next up: 68th Illinois House District candidates Carl Wasco, Democrat, and John Cabello, Republican, mix it up Thursday as our Rock River Rumble continues.
Watch it live at 11 a.m. at rrstar.com/ustream.
@chucksweenyChuck Sweeny: 815-987-1366; csweeny@rrstar.com; @chucksweeny
Source Article from http://www.rrstar.com/insight/x1238769168/Chuck-Sweeny-Bobby-Schilling-Cheri-Bustos-on-Rock-River-Rumble
