Congressional candidates debate health care, I-69

The three candidates for Indiana's 8th congressional district faced off Sunday night in Evansville for the next-to-last debate of the election season. Republican incumbent John Hostettler, Democrat Dr. Paul Perry and Libertarian Thomas Tindle met at the WNIN studio and spent an hour wrestling issues including a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens, the extension of Interstate 69 and campaigning. \nPerry, a hand surgeon, used patients' rights and prescription drugs as his core issue during the debate. During his opening statement, he reiterated the need for a prescription plan to ensure senior citizens have access to needed medicines.\n"Big government is not the answer, but if a prescription drug plan comes before Congress, I would vote for it because insurance companies are not the answer either," he said. \nBoth Hostettler and Tindle blasted Perry for his stance. Hostettler said 63 percent of seniors currently have access to medicine through private companies. He also cited a Congressional Budget Office report that stated three out of four seniors would be forced off their current programs if a federal plan was enacted. Tindle said prescription companies could moderate themselves to keep prices down if expansive federal regulatory legislation was dialed down. \nHostettler and Perry also squared off regarding the congressman's television campaign ads on the issue. Perry said the facts Hostettler quotes in his article, including 2 million people losing their health insurance if a patients' bill of rights is enacted, are false and misleading. Hostettler said studies by both the General Accounting Office and the Congressional Budget Office prove this fact. \nAnother hotly-debated issue was the potential expansion of I-69 from Indianapolis to Evansville. Two plans currently exist: the creation of a new road directly linking the two cities, or improvement of the already-existing roads on U.S. 41, which links Evansville to Terre Haute. Hostettler said while improved infrastructure was vital to Southwestern Indiana's economic prosperity, the ultimate outcome of the I-69 debate still rests in the state's hands.\n"As we continue to grow ... we will need more arteries for traffic," he said. "(But) the law says it's ultimately up to the governor and the Indiana Department of Transportation to get the correct routes and build the highway."\nPerry said he believed the creation of I-69 in the area was necessary for economic growth, but said he would continue to keep an open mind and would like to wait for environmental studies to be complete. \nTindle also expressed concern over the highway, mostly about the possible impact a new road could have on the communities it would intersect.\n"I'm not strictly opposed to it, but we need to be careful about taking lands, splitting farms and cutting through the Hoosier National Forest," he said.\nA question about eliminating the "marriage penalty" tax led to a discussion regarding the national debt. Hostettler said the Republicans' six years of fiscal control has led to a reduction of the national debt, but Tindle blasted the government for trying to fix its own problems with more government intervention. Perry said reducing the debt now would greatly benefit the next generation of taxpayers.\n"We ought to make a commitment to pay down the federal debt ... to pass down a tax cut for our children," he said. \nThe debate can be viewed in its entirety at www.decision2000.evansville.net.The final congressional debate will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 at the University of Evansville.