The two candidates running for U.S. Senate in Arkansas traveled to the northwest corner of the state on Tuesday and talked about taxes and Medicare.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton held a news conference at Republican headquarters in Springdale, while incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat, was holding a similar event at the Fayetteville Senior Center.
With a dozen Republicans standing behind him, Cotton said he would cut taxes. Tuesday was the deadline to file federal income tax returns.
“I’m here to talk about the implications of Tax Day,” said Cotton. “April 15 is a day that many Arkansans dread. It means many hours that are stressful and very frustrating trying to sort through a tax code that’s too complicated for an end result that often angers them. More of their money leaves their pocketsand goes to Washington, D.C., to line the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats there in ways that don’t benefit us here in Arkansas.”
At the end of the eight-minute news conference, Cotton said he’s the clear choice for Arkansas
“Do they want a senator like Mark Pryor who’ll continue to support the Obama agenda of higher taxes and more spending, or do they want a senator who’ll let them keep more of their money because he trusts them with their money?” Cotton asked. “That’s the kind of senator I’ll be. And, unlike Mark Pryor, when I say I won’t raise your taxes, I actually mean it.”
However, Erik Dorey, deputy campaign manager for Pryor, said the senator has helped pass into law more than $5 trillion in tax cuts since he was first elected in 2002.
“Mark Pryor is always looking for bipartisan fiscal solutions that will get our fiscal house in order,” said Dorey. “At the same time, he refuses to do that on thebacks of Arkansas seniors. Seniors earn these benefits through a lifetime of hard work, and it’s irresponsible for them to be first on the chopping block when Mark knows there are more responsible ways to get to a balanced budget.”
With about 75 seniors at the center in Fayetteville, Max Richtman, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, announced that the nation’s second-largest senior advocacy organization was endorsing Pryor in the Senate race. The group held a similar news conference Tuesday morning in Little Rock.
Cotton voted for a budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and the Republican Study Committee Budget. Both budget plans would immediately cut benefits for 555,000 Arkansas seniors and reopen the Medicare “doughnut hole,” or coverage gap, forcing seniors topay more out of pocket for prescription drugs, according to a news release from Pryor’s campaign.
“I have followed Congressman Cotton’s voting record, and I’m sorry to say that he’s voted the wrong way every time when it comes to protecting seniors,” the release quoted Richtman as saying. “Congressman Cotton has repeatedly voted to get rid of benefits that seniors today are receiving, reopen the prescription doughnut-hole and shorten the life of Medicare.”
Richtman and Pryor both said that just last week, Cotton was the only member of Arkansas’ all-Republican U.S. House delegation to vote for two separate budget proposals that “end Medicare as we know it,” according to the release.
“What we have seen in the last week is two plans in Congress that fundamentallychange Medicare, and Congressman Cotton supported both of those,” Pryor was quoted as saying. “My Medicare Protection Act makes it harder for irresponsible politicians to fundamentally change Medicare by increasing the age of eligibility, by cutting benefits and by turning it over to insurance companies.”
After his news conference in Springdale, Cotton confirmed that he has voted twice to raise the eligibility age for Medicare to 70. But he said Pryor voted to raise it to 69.
“If he wants to pin his entire campaign on the difference of one year for people who are going to be working 20, 30, 40 or 50 years in the future, that’s a pretty sad indictment of his time in the Senate,” Cotton said.
Dorey disagreed, saying Pryor never supported raising the age for Medicare eligibility .-
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 04/16/2014