Ronald J. Hansen|The Republic | azcentral.com
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In what is expected to be their final joint appearance of the congressional campaign, Debbie Lesko and Hiral Tipirneni on Thursday outlined their sharply different views on health care, gun violenceand the recently enacted federal tax cuts.
Lesko, the Republican nominee for the vacant West Valley seat, assailed the AffordableCare Act, noting repeatedly that it passed under President Barack Obama without any GOP support. She said she wants health care to be "free and open, but I do not believe in universal health care."
Tipirneni, theDemocratic nominee, said she sees the ACA as an improvement on the former health care system and wants to offer everyone the option of buying coverage through Medicare to spur competition in the private insurance industry.
Both candidates sketchedout their positions on the issues for about 70 people at the Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce ahead of the 8th Congressional District's April 24special election to replace former Rep. Trent Franks, a veteran Arizona Republican who resigned his seat in disgrace in December.
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"Health care, I think it needs to be free and open," Lesko told the audience. "I think the difference between me and my opponent is that I would like patient choice for freedom."
The Lesko campaign later clarified that she favors free-market health insurance markets.
"I do not believe in universal health care," she said. "I would vote to repeal 'Obamacare.' We need to provide health care to the people that are in need. We need to provide a good system, but 'Obamacare' is not the answer."
Tipirneni, a physician, does want universal health insurance coverage, emphasizing that health care is an inevitability for everyone.
"We're all going to need health care and access to good, affordable, quality health care," she said. "And I do believe that every American has theright to quality, affordable health care.
"When you have Medicare competing in the free market with private insurance players, not only does that enhance competition, which gives all of us greater choice, but it automatically reduces costs," she continued. "It's actually a very fiscally conservative plan."
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Lesko cheers tax cuts,Tipirneni boos
Lesko said she would have voted for President DonaldTrump's tax cuts, saying the legislation has helped Arizona businesses give their employees bonuses. She wants to make permanent the tax cuts for individuals that currently are set to expire within 10 years.
Without acknowledging the tax cuts as a source of the nation's growing debt, Lesko also said she wants a constitutional amendment requiring balanced budgets.
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"On the federal level, there has to be a lot of areas where we can cut spending because we do need to reduce the deficit and the debt. That's a problem," she said.
Tipirneni said the Trump tax cuts are skewed toward the wealthy and will add $1.5 trillion to the national debt in a time of good economic growth.
"That's not economically responsible or fiscally conservative," she said. "We've given the largest corporations massive tax cuts ... and we have forgotten the middle class, the working families, the small-business owners."
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Enforcing gun laws vs. safetyreforms
Lesko said she supports limited measures to temporarily restrict access to guns by those with documented histories of instability, but doesn't want wholesale changes to gun laws.
"I think there's enough laws. The laws need to be enforced," she said.
"The people that follow the laws are law-abiding people. There's probably a sticker in here that says you can't bring in guns, right? But if someone really wanted to kill somebody here, if they are willing to break that law, do you really think they're going to look at the window and say, 'Oh, I can't break that law?'"
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Tipirneni said she saw the "horrific" effects of gun violence up close as a doctor.
She called for research into who is most likely to be victimized by guns and policies that would likely reduce those cases.
"Isupport the Second Amendment," she said. "But Ialso think we can implement common-sense gun-safety reforms. Those two things are not mutually exclusive."
The forum in Surprise came as early voting in the special election so far shows ballots from registered Republicans outnumber ballots from registered Democrats by more than 20 percentage points.
A new poll of likely voters by OH Predictive Insights and ABC15 found Lesko leading by 10 percentage points in the race. Republicans have a 17-percentage point advantage in the district. Trump won there by 21 percentage points in 2016.
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