GoLocalProv Exclusive: Scott Brown Interview

GoLocalProv Exclusive: Scott Brown Interview

He's one of the hottest tickets in town, and this weekend, U.S. Senator Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, spoke with GoLocalProv in an exclusive interview about health care, jobs, and Patrick Kennedy’s seat in Congress. Brown spoke with GoLocalProv during a visit to Bristol for a fundraiser for Republican John Loughlin, who is running for the seat.

The health care reform bill

“Many states are concerned about it—the cost to their municipal and state governments,” Brown said. “They’re finding out what the real numbers are and they’re very concerned about the government control and interference in that process and they really would like to have states’ rights play a role. They would like to develop, like Massachusetts did, their own individual plans for their own states and not have a one-size-fits-all."

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What can Congress do to help create Jobs?

“That’s easy—I mean they tried two stimulus bills, the bailouts, etc. They should do an across-the-board tax and payroll cut to immediately put money back into the hands of corporations, and individual small businesses, and people’s pockets so they have the ability to determine their own destiny. Listen, there’s absolutely a role for government in our lives, but the government also needs to know when step out of the way, let free enterprise, good investment, people’s creativity and ingenuity to start to work.”

Brown: House seat is not Kennedy’s

“Obviously it is not the Kennedy seat as was referenced in the Boston Globe recently. It’s not the Democrats’ seat. It’s the people’s seat,” Brown said. “And the issues are just the same whether they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents who are tired of business as usual in Washington. And they want balance. They want change. They want new ideas - fresh ideas.”

Brown said he supported Republican John Loughlin in his race for the seat because he stood for small government, lower taxes, and more personal freedom.

But he acknowledged Loughlin faced a touch battle in the election. “John, don’t be discouraged, it’s really you against the machine,” Brown said. “You’re going to be attacked, you’re going to be vilified, but just know that the people are very concerned about their wallets and their pocket books and they want to send somebody there who is going to be honest, straightforward with them.”

What have you found most surprising about Washington?

“Well, certainly the amount of out-of-control spending is probably the most interesting thing, because instead of finding ways to pay for programs and projects, they declare everything an emergency,” Brown said.

He noted that the national debt had gone from $11.95 trillion to $13.2 trillion in approximately 100 days since he’s been in Washington—and he warned it would be at $19.2 trillion in 2015. He said payments on debt was taking money away from funding for roads and bridges as well as police and fire services.

“That money’s now going to debt service to China and where do we draw the line—where do we start to get our fiscal house in order?” Brown said.

Any ambitions for higher office?

In 2007, a certain Illinois Senator who had been in office just two years announced he was running for President. We wanted to know if Brown had any interest in doing the same on the Republican side.

“My number one goal is to get re-elected as a senator from Massachusetts and I’m going to leave all that stuff to the political pundits, but no - I have no intention of running for president,” Brown said.