Union Leader - Ayotte Talks about Medicare, Deficit During Town Hall Meeting in Goffstown

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By Cassidy Swanson

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., held a town hall-style meeting at the Odd Fellows Hall on Friday, giving her constituents in Hillsborough County a chance to ask questions and get updated on what's happening in Washington.

"I like town halls because people ask me questions that I hadn't thought about, or that I can follow up on and get more information on," Ayotte said.

Ayotte began the meeting with a presentation on the fiscal state of the country. She informed the crowd that the federal debt had reached $18 trillion.

"I always like to put the deficit in perspective," Ayotte said, equating the 2014 deficit to the cost of 40 gallons of New Hampshire maple syrup for every person in the United States.

But Ayotte said she is not out to blame one party over the other for the nation's debt.

"It took two parties to get us this far into debt," she said. "It's going to take two parties working together to get us out of this."

Ayotte also said she wanted her constituents to be aware that Medicare would be insolvent by 2030, and Social Security by 2033.

Fixing these issues will also require bipartisan efforts, Ayotte said. "The last time there was major reform on Social Security, we had Ronald Reagan as president, and we had Tip O'Neill (in the House)," she said. Republicans and Democrats must collaborate again for reform, Ayotte said.

Ayotte also said America's status as having the world's highest corporate tax rate wasn't doing the economy any favors.

"You probably have heard a lot of discussion about companies deciding to move their headquarters overseas," she said. "Growing our economy helps the debt. Having a competitive tax code that encourages investment here, instead of somewhere else, is critical."

Aside from economic issues, Ayotte spoke out strongly against the recent release of five Yemeni detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

She said many of those released from Guantanamo have gotten "back in the battle of terrorism against us."

Ayotte has co-signed legislation with three other Republican senators to slow down President Obama's power to release Guantanamo detainees.

"The notion that we would send Gitmo detainees (back) to Yemen is crazy," Ayotte said, saying that Yemen is the center of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and "the wild, wild West for terrorists."

Hillsborough County residents in attendance covered a wide swath of topics with their questions for Ayotte. Gary Ellsworth said he was concerned about energy infrastructure company Kinder Morgan's intentions to put a natural gas pipeline in New Hampshire.

"One of the pipelines is (planned) to be 50 feet from my house," Ellsworth said. "My house would be worth nothing."

Ayotte said Kinder Morgan would have to receive approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee in order to enter the state.

"There needs to be hearings everywhere (before this is approved)," Ayotte said, adding that FERC needed to provide justification for the pipeline in order for it to be approved. "I will be fighting for your rights to weigh in, your views are taken into account, and they have to explain to us why does this project make sense for New Hampshire."

Carmen Nadeau asked Ayotte what she thought about President Obama's recent proposal to make two years of community college free to all students who meet requirements.

"I think all of us want affordable education for our children and want access to it, but I ... don't fully understand (the President's) fiscal proposal for how this is going to be paid for," Ayotte said. "I hope that they will come with more details as to how this can be paid for in a way that makes sense to all of us."

Mark Harrington asked Ayotte what the top three things were that she hoped to see accomplished in the new Congress.

"Number one: a budget," Ayotte said, adding that needed to be done "in a timely manner."

"Number two: appropriations, and regular order on those," she continued. Her third priority, she said, is the Highway Trust Fund, which expires in May.

"We're going to have to work across the aisle to come to a resolution that's fiscally responsible and really gets it done, to make sure that we're obviously continuing to fix our bridges and roads," she said.

Ayotte also spoke about Republican presidential hopefuls for 2016.

"I'm going to be talking to all of the candidates," Ayotte told reporters after the meeting. "Jeb Bush has reached out to me as well (as Mitt Romney), and so have some of my colleagues in the Senate who are looking to run for president. While I have a lot of respect for Gov. Romney, and I think he's eminently qualified to serve as president, I think there's going to have to be the vetting process in New Hampshire again, and I want to know what's his vision for the country, just like I'm going to want to know from all the candidates. So I think this field is wide open still."

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