State of Arkansas Archives: on Budget & Economy

Mark West: Market-led recovery better than stimulus

A: Oppose

Jared Henderson: Bring new ideas and out-of-the-box thinking to economy

Curtis Coleman: Work tirelessly to reduce our deficit & pay back $18T debt

As a small businessman and entrepreneur, I will be a champion of small business in the Senate. I will never vote for crony capitalism, nor subsidies for politically connected friends, and will significantly reduce the red tape which is choking our economy.

Conner Eldridge: Start doing something about $18 trillion in debt

He said both political parties are to blame. `The facts are that somebody who has been there for over a decade does bear responsibility for much of what has happened,` he said.

French Hill: Cut low-priority spending; smaller federal government

The federal government must reform entitlements, cut low-priority spending, and stop performing functions best left to state and local governments or the private sector. We need a cultural change in which the federal government is a smaller, less significant, and much less expensive and intrusive part of everyone's lives. We must enact a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and a line-item presidential veto power that could pass constitutional muster. These types of reforms are a necessary antidote to Congress's failures to exercise self-control.

Nathan LaFrance: Politicians CANNOT control government spending; time for BBA

Since it is proven that our politicians CANNOT control government spending, it is time for the U.S. voters to control it for them. A vote for Nathan LaFrance to the U.S. Senate is a vote for a constitutional amendment which forces the federal government to adhere to a balanced budget every year.

A balanced budget will be achieved by phasing out and eliminating the vast federal wealth-transfer programs and by significantly reducing the size and scope of the multitude of federal agencies and administrations in existence today.

Asa Hutchinson: Free enterprise is key to national prosperity

Hutchinson: Strongly Agree

Mike Ross: AdWatch: Voted for $7 trillion in new debt and bailouts

• Mike Ross and his Washington record.
• Record Washington debt. Runaway Washington spending.
• Mike Ross helped bring liberal Nancy Pelosi to national power.
• Ross voted with Pelosi and liberals for $7 trillion in new debt.
• Ross voted with Pelosi for the Wall Street bailout, the mortgage bailout, and the auto bailout.
• And Ross voted with Pelosi to waste billions on Obama's stimulus.
• Mike Ross. His Washington record doesn't sound very good. Because it isn't.

Asa Hutchinson: AdWatch: Worked for lobbying firm after leaving Congress

Hutchinson's campaign criticized the Democratic group's new ad. "This ad is misleading and hypocritical. They need to check their facts. Asa was practicing law in Arkansas while Mike Ross was voting for these very bills in Washington."

The ad says Hutchinson and the firm where he worked after leaving Congress benefited from the stimulus program. "While Hutchinson and his lobbying firm were cashing in on a stimulus bill and the Wall Street and Detroit bailouts, Mike Ross was fighting for a balanced budget amendment and voting against congressional pay raises," a Ross spokesman said.

Mike Ross: AdWatch: Trillions of things in common with Pelosi & Obama

Ross is the only Democrat to announce a run for governor, while Hutchinson, who lost the 2006 governor's race to Mike Beebe, who is term-limited, is running against Little Rock businessman Curtis Coleman for the GOP nomination. The filing season opens next Monday.

Over the last two election cycles, the GOP has made gains by tying Democratic Party candidates to Obama and Pelosi, who are unpopular in Arkansas. In 2012 the GOP won control of the state Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction

Bruce Westerman: Favors economic growth and cuts as opposed to raising taxes

Q: Establishing a "rainy day" fund?

A: Yes.

Q: Issuing the early release of certain non-violent offenders?

A: Yes.

Q: Increasing tuition rates at public universities?

A: Yes.

Q: Instituting mandatory furloughs and layoffs for state employees?

A: No.

Q: Reducing benefits for Medicaid recipients?

A: Yes.

Q: Privatizing certain government services?

A: Yes.

Westerman adds, "If state employee jobs are necessary then I do not support mandatory furloughs and layoffs for those jobs. If the state jobs are unnecessary then they should be eliminated to help stabilize the budget. Since Arkansas must have a balanced budget then cuts will be required in many areas, taxes will have to be raised, or more income generated through economic growth. I favor economic growth and cuts as opposed to raising taxes."