Loebsack Talks Campaign For Re-election
Congressman Dave Loebsack (D), front right, was invited to a moment of prayer at Smokey Row Coffee during his campaign stop in Oskaloosa.
OSKALOOSA- Congressman Dave Loebsack recently swung through Oskaloosa for a campaign stop. Loebsack is running for a sixth term in office. He is running against libertarian-turned Republican, Christopher Peters. Loebsack said that if he wins re-election, he doesn’t believe there will be a mandate.
“I don’t know what kind of a mandate there will be, I will just take back their [constituent] concerns,” he said.
Loebsack said that one common concern he has heard on the campaign trail is jobs and the economy.
“There’s a lot of concern about that, just making sure that the economic recovery continues and that it deepens and gets better,” he said.
He said that in regards to jobs, he believes there needs to be more training programs for creating a skilled workforce.
“The real challenge is to make sure there are workforce development programs in place to get folks the types of training, especially in community colleges, they need to take those jobs that are available,” Loebsack said.
In regards to the recent announcement that those on the federal health insurance exchange will be experiencing rate increases, Loebsack acknowledged that it is a problem.
“There’s no question that that is a problem for that small percentage of folks who do get their health insurance on the exchange here in Iowa and other places,” he said.
He said that he believes there needs to be more competition on the exchange.
“I don’t have a problem for example with allowing companies to cross states lines so long as they play by the same rules as everybody else in the state of Iowa,” Loebsack said.
He also advocated his support for a public option.
“Have a government sponsored option, not a single payer system, but just be an option that would be competing with the other insurance companies,” Loebsack said.
He clarified that he is not advocating for a single payer system, rather a government run public option. He also expressed support for lowering the age for Medicare eligibility, something he noted that presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has proposed.
“I think it’s a good idea actually,” Loebsack said.
On national security, Loebsack stated his belief that one of the biggest threats to national security is one of the presidential nominees.
“The first thing is I would hope we don’t elect Donald Trump as President because he is a threat, what he proposes,” Loebsack said. “I am very fearful of the Donald Trump presidency,” he also said.
Loebsack claimed that Trump expressed support for North Korea and China to possess nuclear weapons, and doesn’t know how NATO operates.
“I think he would alienate our allies from day one,” he said.
Speaking of Hillary Clinton’s controversies while running for office, such as her use of a private e-mail server while she was Secretary of State, Loebsack said that he doesn’t believe people care about the controversies.
“They don’t talk to me about Hillary’s e-mails, they don’t talk to me about that stuff,” he said. He also said that should Clinton win on November 8, the nation should come around behind her.
“I think that those who decide from day one, on November 9, if they’re going to investigate, if they’re going to take her on, if they’re going to consider impeachment, those persons need to resign,” Loebsack said.
Dave Loebsack will square off against Christopher Peters on November 8.
