N.H. Senate candidates' quotes
"Raising (FDIC guaranteed account) limits would only increase the potential costs to taxpayers while providing benefits to a very small number of wealthy depositors." -- Republican Sen. John Sununu.
"We should tighten mortgage lending regulation by establishing minimum standards for subprime loans, including requiring mortgage brokers to prove that borrowers have the ability to pay. We need to simplify truth-in-lending disclosures and require that the cost of borrowing, especially long term, be fully disclosed to borrowers. Finally, we should require all lenders to report on the status of their loans in their annual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act filings." -- Democratic challenger Jeanne Shaheen.
"Deposits are a private contract between the customer and the bank. When the bank fails, the government has no right to steal my money to pay off depositors who have more money than I have." -- Republican challenger Tom Alciere.
ECONOMIC STIMULUS
"Congress should act now to encourage long-term growth by making lower tax rates for new Hampshire's small businesses permanent, and opposing the increases in capital gains taxes and Social Security taxes proposed by Barack Obama. We should also work to help small business provide health care coverage to more employees by allowing them to join together to negotiate better prices, and purchase insurance from providers nationwide. Finally, an economic plan should include a balanced approach to energy that includes conservation, incentives for clean renewable energy, and greater production of oil and gas deep offshore." -- Sununu.
"First and foremost, we need tax cuts for middle class families and small businesses, not for giant oil companies and companies that ship jobs overseas. ...Second, we need to invest in infrastructure development that will save us money in the long-term and create good jobs repairing and building roads, bridges and schools in the short-term. Third, as our economy is struggling, it is critical that we protect programs like Medicare that provide people affordable, essential services like health care. Finally, we need to bring our troops home from Iraq -- and take the $12 billion a month that we are spending there and spend those resources at home." -- Shaheen.
"Those checks were a scam to buy votes with stolen money, stolen by the inflation tax. Repeal all business license fees and more people can go into business." -- Alciere.
LOWERING FUEL PRICES:
"We should encourage the use of wind, solar, biomass, and other clean renewable energy by extending tax credits to homeowners and businesses investing in these technologies. ... Finally, we need to produce more energy here at home by opening up promising areas for new exploration. Current technology allows us to produce oil and gas from deep offshore, while providing better environmental protections than ever." -- Sununu.
"We need a comprehensive energy policy that focuses on investment in alternative and renewable energy sources, tax incentives for energy efficiency and increased domestic production. I believe that the oil companies should be drilling on the 68 million acres, both on and offshore, that they currently lease but do not drill. I also believe that we should end the billions of dollars in tax giveaways to Big Oil and use that money to invest in the development of alternative and renewable energy sources that are going to create jobs and move us off of our dependence on foreign oil." -- Shaheen.
"Congress needs to look at hydrogen powered cars for federal agencies such as the Armed Forces. That would stimulate private research because investors would know there's a ready market. Mostly, however, it's state governments and their subdivisions imposing zoning restrictions that prevent people from living closer to work, shopping and drinking places, and preventing energy-efficient apartments where single-family homes are allowed. Houses have more exposed sides than apartments. Zoning dilutes population density so fewer people wait at each bus stop, preventing bus lines from breaking even." -- Alciere.
