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Anderson challenges Boozman on prescriptions, taxes, fuel Wednesday, Sep 6, 2006 By Doug Thompson Arkansas News Bureau FAYETTEVILLE - Third District congressional challenger Woody Anderson of Fort Smith announced that he would support a simpler, more understandable prescription drug plan, alternative energy sources and an end to "corporate welfare" on capital gains taxes and subsidies. Incumbent John Boozman of Rogers replied that the existing federal prescription drug plan needs refining instead of replacing, that Congress is pushing alternative energy but that the only short-term relief for high fuel prices is more exploration and more refinery capacity. Anderson, a Democrat, presented his plans at a campaign stop at Uncle Gaylord's Mountain Cafe in Fayetteville on Tuesday. Boozman, a Republican, replied to them Tuesday in a telephone interview. On prescription drugs and Medicare, Anderson said that there needs to be a single drug plan instead of offering customers a complex series of options. The head of the Medicare program needs the power to negotiate prices through large-scale, nationwide contracts, and subsidies to pharmaceutical companies need to end, he said. Boozman said the current federal plan is giving assistance to many Arkansans and that completely rewriting it would cause disruption. The existing federal plan needs improvement and that will be addressed, he said. Anderson also proposed that capital gains tax breaks only be extended to the first $5 million of an estate's worth, saying that going beyond that was excessive. Boozman voted for a House plan that did not cap the tax cut. On the topics of high energy prices, alternative fuels and exploration for more oil, Anderson said he supported an "American Energy Independence Act" that would emphasize alternative fuels such as fuel-from-farm products. "Farmers have been hit hardest by high fuel prices," Anderson said. It would be both fitting and economically effective to have them benefit from a market for alternatives, he said. Domestic fuel from farm products would have more predictable prices and be a safer source than oil, which is bought largely from the Middle East, among other volatile regions of the world, Anderson said. He also said that federal incentives for exploring for more oil are excessive and that the money from those "subsidies" needs to be put into finding alternatives. Congress is encouraging alternative energy but nothing can get these projects to supply significant amounts of fuel overnight, Boozman said. There will be no short-term relief on fuel prices until and unless significant new deposits of oil are found and increased refining capacity is built, he said. New refineries should also be built outside of the Gulf Coast area, he said, because hurricanes can shut refineries for days or even weeks. Anderson has said that building more oil refineries will do nothing to reduce dependence on foreign oil, the major problem with fuel prices and security. Anderson said he will continue to press Boozman for more debates. Currently, the only scheduled debate is a forum set for Oct. 23 for the Arkansas Educational Television Network, to be broadcast from AETN in Conway. "He may consider me a mosquito, but I'm going to be the peskiest mosquito he's ever seen," Anderson said. |
