CHAPMAN, JUST LIKE CHARLIE BAKER, OPPOSES CAPE WIND!
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In Own Words: 9th District candidates on Immigration
IN TODAY'S COMMITMENT 2014, WE LOOK AT THE RACE FOR CONGRESS IN THE 9TH DISTRICT. THIS INCLUDES PART OF THE SOUTH SHORE AND THE CAPE. INCUMBENT BEAT KEATING IS CHALLENGED BY REPUBLICAN JOHN CHAPMAN. HERE THEY ARE IN THEIR OWN WORDS ON THE ISSUE OF IMMIGRATION. THERE'S A SENATE BILL THAT HASN'T BEEN ACTED ON, BUT THE HOUSE BILL SHOULD BE ACTED ON BECAUSE I BELIEVE THERE'S A MAJORITY OF HOUSE MEMBERS. THE TROUBLE IS CONGRESS AND THE WAY IT'S POLARIZED AND PEOPLE NOT BEING ABLE TO CROSS THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE. SOMETHING I PRIDE MYSELF ON DOING. WE'RE LOSING, IT'S A BROKEN SYSTEM. THIS BROKEN SYSTEM HURTS ENFORCEMENT, NUMBER ONE. AND NUMBER TWO, AT THE HIGH END OF THE EDUCATION SCALE, WE'RE BRINGING THE BRIGHTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD HERE, EDUCATING THEM IN OUR COLLEGES AND THEN THEY WANT TO START A BUSINESS AND PRODUCE JOBS IN THIS COUNTRY AND WE'RE SENDING THEM BACK HOME. THEY'RE CUTTING DOWN PRODUCTION AND HURTING OUR REVENUES BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE ENOUGH WORKERS TO HELP IN THAT REGARD. THE CURRENT SITUATION IS BROKEN AND WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT COMPREH COMPREHENSIVELY. I THINK THE VOTES ARE THERE TO DO IT. THE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP SHOULD PUT IT ON THE FLOOR SO WE CAN VOTE ON IT. WE NEED IMMIGRATION AND NEED IT NOW. I THINK WE NEED TO SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST AND FOREMOST, THAT'S THE FIRST STEP. WE HAVE TO STOP THE MAGNETS ATTRACTING THE ILLEGALS IN THE COUNTRY. AND CRACK DOWN ON EMPLOYERS WHO ARE HIRING ILLEGALS. MY OPPONENT, BILL KEATING HAS AN OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE TO ENHANCE BORDER SECURITY AND HE VOTED AGAINST THAT. I WOULD HAVE VOTED FOR THAT. I BELIEVE IN LEGAL IMMIGRATION, NOT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND THAT'S SOMETHING WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON FIRST AND FOREMOST RIGHT NOW. HEAD TO WCVB.COM FOR IN DEPTH INFORMATION ON THE CANDIDATES AND THE BIG ISSUES
U.S. Rep. Bill Keating, D-Mass., gives his opening statement next to his Republican opponent John Chapman during a debate at Monomoy Regional High School in Harwich on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2014.Cape Cod Times/Christine Hochkeppel
Although the issue of health care, particularly the Affordable Care Act, pushed John Chapman into the 9th Congressional District race, the economy has driven the campaign discussion.
Chapman, a Chatham lawyer running to unseat U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., has criticized the Affordable Care Act for creating confusion. But the chief reason he has cited for repealing what he exclusively calls “Obamacare” is his belief that the law is hurting businesses.
After two terms in Congress, Keating has touted a record of voting “across party lines” to repeal the medical device tax, saving 141 jobs at Joint Base Cape Cod, and directing research and innovation grants to the district's research institutions and businesses.
Keating also points to his support for Cape Wind, an offshore wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound that Chapman opposes, as an economic boon that would not just bring jobs to the district, but supply the Cape and Islands with three-quarters of the region's electricity needs.
The two agree that investments in community colleges will fuel job growth, and both see reducing housing costs as a necessary step to attract young people to the Cape.
Here's where the congressional candidates stand on a handful of economic issues facing the region:
TOURISM
Chapman often discusses cutting back regulations on businesses, and that line of thought extends to the visa process for seasonal workers.
The seasonal workers who flock from their home countries to the Cape each summer give businesses the temporary staffing they need during the high-volume months. But recent changes to the H-2B visa program have made the process of hiring those employees more difficult, requiring employers to meet complicated requirements and file paperwork with four separate government agencies.
As part of his jobs plan, Chapman also said he would vote to reauthorize Brand USA, a public-private partnership program aimed at steering international travelers to the United States.
With his membership on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Keating said he already has worked to spur the Cape's tourism economy and to take down burdensome hurdles standing between businesses and seasonal employees.
Keating cites a proposal he has filed in each of his past two terms to streamline the visa process for returning seasonal workers who have already come to the United States. The bill struggled to pick up steam, but Keating envisions attaching it to an immigration bill should such legislation gain traction in the House.
“It allows them to go right to the top of the list and avoid all of the bureaucracy and immediately be approved to come back,” Keating said.
MINIMUM WAGE
On the proposal to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour from the current $7.25, there is a clear choice between the candidates.
Keating believes the increase is overdue. It would help restore the middle class, he said, and “take more people out of poverty, make them more independent, have them go on their own, which is what we want in this country.”
The minimum wage “now has the same buying power it had in 1950,” he said. Raising the bottom pay level “would take more people out of poverty without raising taxes,” he said.
But before a crowd of teenagers this week at Monomoy Regional High School, Chapman said now is not the right time to raise base pay.
“We have a contrast here as well. I do not believe we should be raising the minimum wage at this point. I think it's a job killer. What we should be focusing on is investing in community colleges and voc-tech high schools.”
On this point – investing in community colleges – the two agree. Keating cites the millions of dollars he has helped steer to Cape Cod Community College and Massasoit Community College for job training programs, including money to help the Cape college start an airplane mechanic program at Barnstable Municipal Airport.
FISHING INDUSTRY
Chapman said he met last week with fishermen in New Bedford. The men wished they were out fishing, he said, but with the recent struggles facing the industry, they had time to sit down with him.
Rather than strike a balance between conservation and the industry, federal regulators have gone “too far to protecting the fisheries,” Chapman said.
In his jobs plan, Chapman said, he supports economic aid to “boat owners, crew members and shoreside workers who face unemployment after natural disasters.” And he recently criticized the $75 million in relief funding as including too little for the New England groundfish fishery, which received $33 million.
Although the most given to any one of the six affected fisheries, the $33 million gives local fishermen between $30,000 and $40,000 apiece, Chapman said, calling that total a “drop in the bucket.”
Keating has highlighted his forming of the first-ever Federal Fishing Advisory Board, a panel that provides government officials, scientists and fishermen an opportunity to discuss solutions. His first proposal in Congress was the Strengthen Fisheries Management in New England Act, which calls for funding improved management of fisheries with fines collected from the region's fishermen.
On the criticism of disaster relief funding, Keating said, “what he considers a drop in the bucket is slightly below the median income of the United State of America and shows his lack of understanding for what real people go through in life.”
But Chapman, who has often sought to cast Keating as out-of-touch and “invisible to the district,” said, “When I say a 'drop in the bucket,' I'm hearing that from the fishermen.”
Follow C. Ryan Barber on Twitter: @cryanbarber.
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