League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
Hamilton, Butler County, OH November 2, 2004 Election
	Greg Harris Answers Questions Candidate for United States Representative; District 1

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. What are your qualifications for office?

My professional background includes teaching and extensive work in community development. After teaching for six years at Miami University, where I also earned my PhD, I served as Program Manager for an inner-city youth development and apprenticeship program called Public Allies/Americorps. I was then hired as Executive Director of a regional public policy and advocacy organization called Citizens for Civic Renewal (CCR), founded by former Ohio Governor John Gilligan. During my tenure, CCR worked with citizens and public officials to identify solutions to some of the more pressing problems facing the region, including school equity, campaign finance reform, urban sprawl, and poverty.

I currently work as a consultant to non-profit agencies in areas of project development and grant writing, and have done communications work for local political campaigns.

Due to my substantial work in the advocacy field, I have a strong grasp of effective public policy ("best practices") that can be applied at the federal level in response to some of the more pressing issues facing our region.

2. How would you implement your top priority?

Healthcare Reform:

Our nation currently provides healthcare for the elderly (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid), but inexcusably allows over 44 million people, most of whom are members of working families, to fall through the cracks.

According to the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Healthcare, "The United States is the only industrialized country in the world in which health care is not a right of citizenship. As a result the United States has the worst health care statistics in the industrialized world. We rank 18th in longevity, 16th in infant mortality, and around 67th in immunizations. All because our citizens can't access health care due to money."

I support the single payer plan endorsed by the 8,000 physicians from the American Medical Organization (AMA). The plan "would save at least $200 billion annually by eliminating the high overhead and profits of the private, investor-owned insurance industry and reducing spending for marketing and other satellite services. Administrative savings would fully offset the costs of covering the uninsured as well as giving full prescription drug coverage to all Americans."

Universal health coverage plan will pay for itself by removing the expensive middleman (e.g. the insurance companies), increasing preventative care and decreasing administrative costs.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2003/august/doctors_call_for_nat.php

3. What do you see as the two most pressing issues you would address if elected? What plans do you have relative to those issues?

1. Quality affordable healthcare for every American: I support the single payer Universal health coverage plan endorsed by 8,000 physicians and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
2. Jobs and Unemployment: I support tax breaks for companies that create jobs in the U.S.A; investment in labor-intensive public works projects to create two million American jobs immediately; education tax credits for retraining laid-off workers; 75% healthcare tax credits for laid-off workers.

4. How would you address the federal deficit?

President Bush's tax cuts have plunged us into the largest deficit in our history. As a result, we have been forced to rely on massive deficit spending and raids of the social security trust fund. We must make certain that tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans do not rob working families or their children of a better tomorrow. The best and only way to guarantee economic growth is to put money back into the pockets of working families. That's why I support keeping tax breaks that are geared towards the middle class while repealing the nearly trillion dollars in tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. These dollars can be better invested in areas of more pressing concern, including healthcare, homeland security, and a reduced national debt. Reducing health care inflation will also shrink the federal deficit. See my health care plan below.

5. What should be the federal government’s role with respect to health care?

Over 40 million Americans, mostly members of working families, can't afford health care. According to the Connecticut Coalition for Universal Healthcare, "The United States is the only industrialized country in the world in which health care is not a right of citizenship. As a result the United States has the worst health care statistics in the industrialized world. We rank 18th in longevity, 16th in infant mortality, and around 67th in immunizations. All because our citizens can't access health care due to money." It is time to guarantee every American access to affordable quality health care. I support the single payer plan endorsed by 8,000 physicians and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Administrative savings would fully offset the costs of covering the uninsured as well as giving full prescription drug coverage to all Americans.

6. What plans do you have to promote a more balanced transportation system?

In a region crippled by one of the highest rates of sprawl in the nation, it is time to seek alternatives to sprawl highways. As director of the non-profit public policy organization, Citizens for Civic Renewal, an agency that has done much work on "best practices" for building a stronger region, I learned the integral role light rail plays in bolstering the socioeconomic outlook of several metropolitan regions throughout the nation. I am also a strong supporter of Amtrak. The overwhelming public demand for a national intercity rail passenger network (a demand that has increased dramatically since 9/11) indicates that the majority of Americans would be willing to support Amtrak as a not-for-profit public service. An accessible and affordable national intercity rail passenger network would be especially valuable to senior Americans and to the 70% of Americans who do not fly. I oppose any effort to privatize portions of Amtrak.

U.S. Senate: Total words in answer to the question may not exceed 100 words. The word limit must be observeds. Words over the limit will be cut off in published information.