{"id":30697,"date":"2011-07-28T08:32:30","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T14:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=30697"},"modified":"2011-07-28T10:08:59","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T16:08:59","slug":"lewis-says-republicans-must-make-a-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/07\/lewis-says-republicans-must-make-a-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis says Republicans must make a stand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Dan Lewis (Courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

As many Republicans in the U.S. House push for a cuts-only approach to addressing the nation\u2019s deficit problem, 1st Congressional District candidate Dan Lewis<\/a> says they must reject any tax increases or other revenue raisers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur economy is in serious trouble. We have a spending problem,\u201d the Republican Lewis said in a recent interview with NMPolitics.net.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to make choices \u201cthat are going to get us back on track,\u201d he said, because the United States\u2019 borrowing \u201cis not a one-time problem related to unforeseeable circumstances in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a result of years and years of mismanagement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

With the Aug. 2 deadline approaching, Lewis said he would only favor raising the debt ceiling if such a deal includes \u201cserious reductions in our spending, including a balanced budget amendment and including forcible caps on spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis, an Albuquerque city councilor, is joined by former State Rep. and gubernatorial candidate Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a> in the GOP primary for the Albuquerque-area congressional seat. Economic Development Secretary\u00a0Jon Barela<\/a>, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2010, is considering joining the race.<\/p>\n

Two Democrats \u2013 former Albuquerque Mayor\u00a0Martin Ch\u00e1vez<\/a> and State Sen.\u00a0Eric Griego<\/a> \u2013 have entered the race. Terry Brunner, U.S. Sen.\u00a0Jeff Bingaman\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0former state director who now heads USDA Rural Development in New Mexico, has publicly said he\u2019s considering running.<\/p>\n

A more hardline stance on economic issues<\/h3>\n

The congressional district has more registered Democrats than Republicans, and its seat in Congress is usually one of the more hotly contested in the nation. Former U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, a Republican, built a moderate voting record over the years she held the seat.<\/p>\n

Lewis\u2019 words may indicate a more hardline stance, at least on economic issues. But he said staying true to his principles should help him win the seat. He represents the largest city council district in Albuquerque and says the council has \u201cbrought fiscal sanity back to city hall\u201d with a 6 percent cut in spending.<\/p>\n

Lewis is quick to point out that Republicans have held the congressional seat for most of its history, and that the mayor and most city councilors in Albuquerque are Republicans for the first time in 30 years. And he said redistricting might make the congressional district more Republican by moving a few right-leaning precincts in Bernalillo County and parts of Rio Rancho from the 3rd Congressional District into this district.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, Lewis said Republicans, Democrats and independents have voted for him to represent them on the city council.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know the people of this district,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that they love this nation, and they want to preserve it, and I believe that they\u2019ll make the right choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis said the United States can get back to being a nation of prosperity and innovation. He said he feels \u201ca great responsibility to lead,\u201d and he wouldn\u2019t be running unless he felt he could do a good job.<\/p>\n

Preserving the nation<\/h3>\n

Preserving the nation is what\u2019s at stake, Lewis said. Out-of-control spending threatens America\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a spending addiction,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re on a path that\u2019s not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis isn\u2019t opposed to debt. He says there\u2019s a purpose behind it \u2013 for example, the United States went into debt during the Civil War. But it paid that debt off afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem now is we got into this debt because we couldn\u2019t control our spending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked, Lewis didn\u2019t name specific programs he would cut, with the exception of repealing the health-care reform legislation he calls \u201cObamacare.\u201d He said there are hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud, waste and duplication in the federal budget, \u201cand we have to start there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis said he respects U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan \u201cfor at least having the initiative and leadership to take a stand and try to solve the problem as he sees it,\u201d though he said he \u201cmay not necessarily agree with (Ryan) on all his points<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The role of the national laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base must be protected, Lewis said. Budget cuts should not break promises to those who have already paid in to Social Security and Medicare.<\/p>\n

Lewis pastors a Christian church in Albuquerque, and he said there\u2019s a \u201chuman side\u201d to budget discussions. He said he believes in individual responsibility, but people, churches and other groups have a responsibility to help their neighbors. Government\u2019s role, he said, should be to \u201cwork together to make sure people have the resources and churches have the resources and the freedom to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018A sunset on major regulations\u2019<\/h3>\n

Lewis owns an upholstery supply company, and he said he said he has personally experienced Washington\u2019s overregulation, which is \u201cputting a chokehold on the people and businesses that are the engine of our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cited new regulations since Barack Obama became president on banks and lending and many put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an example of Congress abdicating its duty, giving decision making away to bureaucrats,\u201d he said. \u201cThe solution to that is we need to put a sunset on major regulations\u2026 and make Congress vote up or down on any major new regulation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bottom line is we need to increase domestic production, increase productivity and our jobs here in America. There do need to be reasonable regulations,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to preserve endangered species, but remember that the No. 1 endangered species right now is small businesses, and if we allow small businesses to die, then we put America out of business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many House Republicans push for a cuts-only approach to addressing the nation\u2019s deficit problem, 1st Congressional District candidate Dan Lewis says they must reject tax increases and other revenue raisers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[156,118,116],"class_list":["post-30697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2012-election","tag-economy","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}