Published: April 24, 2008 10:03 am         

Rep. Souder has Republican challenger

Incumbent Rep. Mark Souder is facing a Republican challenger in the May 6 primary.

Souder has represented the 3rd District since 2002, before which he represented the 4th District for eight years.

Here are his answers to some questions about issues.



Immigration

“It is an absolutely essential step to secure the border, and it will likely take several years,” Souder said.

Delays in the wall’s construction have also been created or exacerbated by the resistance of mayors and locals. Souder noted the Texas towns of Eagle Pass, Laredo and Presidio as particular examples. Along with necessary environmental waivers, just getting approval for each section of the wall is proving difficult.

“We’re talking about the safety and security of the country and people are worried about field mice taking shelter in a non-native invasive species. It’s absurd.”

Once the border wall is in place, Souder believes the Real ID program will seal the remaining loopholes in security enforcement.



Energy

“I favor everything and more of it,” Souder said. “We need to drill for oil in Alaska, we need the expansion of the BP refinery (in Whiting), we need clean coal, nuclear, solar, wind and hydropower. I also favor corn ethanol until cellulosic becomes viable.”

He argues that an increase in the amount of competition would be helpful in stabilizing energy prices as well. Taxing oil companies, he said, only pushes prices up while decreasing American global competitiveness, as we cannot tax foreign governments.



Iraq

“We need to have a draw-down so we are not the main occupying power,” Souder said. “Right now, we’ve got 120,000-plus soldiers in one country, although there are more troops in Europe than in Iraq. Implementation is an issue.”

To follow a “cut and run” approach, however, would be devastating according to Souder. As the threat is flexible, our military must be flexible moving forward.

“We need to look at combat deployment vs. base deployment and what we’re doing with China,” he said.



Health Care

“We should have as much of a private-based system as possible,” Souder said. “People want the government to step in, but look at defense hospitals, the VA, Medicare and Medicaid. Then ask them how great the federal government is handling it right now.”

Souder believes cities and states should be allowed more flexibility with the issue. He also supports the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), vetoed twice by President Bush.

“I backed the bill to allow experimentation with it, which I prefer to a national health care takeover,” he said.



Social Security

“There will always be a Social Security,” Souder said. “At one point it looked like Social Security was going to be broke pretty soon, but then the economy picked up and (its estimated demise) was moved about 20 years out.”

Changes in social behavior are partly to blame for the increasingly heavy burden on Social Security, he said. Whereas children used to take care of their parents, now parents are being forced to spend their savings on their own care and are running out of money, eventually depending on Social Security for their livelihood.

“It will always take care of basic, minimal care, but we need to find a way to get people to work longer,” he said.