First-term U.S. Rep. French Hill is touting his 35 years of business experience as he vies for re-election against Dianne Curry, a Democrat, and Chris Hayes, a Libertarian.
The victor of the Nov. 8 election will represent the 2nd Congressional District, comprising Van Buren, Conway, Faulkner, White, Perry, Pulaski and Saline counties. The U.S. House seat is a two-year term with an annual salary of $174,000, plus benefits.
Hill, a Republican, said he wants to use that experience to enact policies that would improve central Arkansas' economy.
"I've spent my first term working on those kind of policies. That what I want to continue to do," he said. "We've got the most anemic recovery since Harry Truman was president. Much of this tepid recovery that we've had since 2009 has been experienced in the big urban areas, and much of America has not shared in their job growth."
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Hill, who serves on the House Committee on Financial Services, said changing the tax code and reducing regulation were ways to improve economic development. He opposes a policy change that would expand the number of workers eligible for overtime pay because of the pressures the changes would place on small businesses.
"I'm humbled by the work," he said of his first term in office. "I love getting up every day and going to work for almost a million people in the 2nd Congressional District. I value the trust that they've placed in me for this important job."
Curry did not respond to multiple requests made over the phone, via email and in person for an interview for this report. According to her campaign website, she's interested in protecting Social Security, veterans' benefits and early childhood programs.
"From the people that I met, they were concerned about ... education for their children, whether or not they can pay their medical bills, whether or not they have a hospital in their community," she said during a debate hosted on the Arkansas Educational Television Network. "You have a choice today, at this election, to vote a person that will be a voice for the 2nd Congressional District."
During that debate, she said she would like to raise the minimum wage to somewhere below $15 an hour.
In an interview, Hayes said he's running to reduce the size of government and also to return power to the people. He believes the country should stay out of foreign wars and that the federal government should narrow its focus to duties specified in the Constitution.
He said Libertarians want people to run "who believe that your individual freedom is first and that nobody has a right to force you to do anything from the government. We don't have to conform to the government. The government is supposed to conform to what the will of the people is."
He criticized Hill for voting for a budget that included funding for Planned Parenthood and the Affordable Care Act. Hayes said it would be worth shutting down the federal government to try to remove those items from the budget.
Hayes also said Hill should have participated in efforts to remove John Boehner of Ohio from the House speaker's post. Boehner stepped down last October.
On the Affordable Care Act, popularly called Obamacare, Hill said he would like to repeal the mandate that people have insurance. He wants to work on legislation to allow insurance companies to sell plans across state lines and to remove the requirements that insurance cover certain expenses.
"I get mail all the time from constituents that are lost on the exchange, lost on the Obamacare website, [say] it doesn't work," he said. "It was a giant waste of federal resources to duplicate the insurance brokerage system that we already have."
During the debate, Curry said she supported the Affordable Care Act.
"We need to continue to move in that effort to get the support that's needed," she said. "I agree that it needs to be tweaked and we need to do that."
Hayes said the Affordable Care Act should be repealed.
"Repealing it is still going to leave a vacuum and a hole, so there needs to be a temporary replacement -- and when I say temporary, I'm talking with a definitive end, say two years -- in order to give all the companies an opportunity to start going across state lines," he said. "Then people can pick and choose what's truly right for them, because having a one-size-fits-all has never worked in anything."
Hill said he is generally supportive of free trade -- though he has not reached a final decision on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership and believes it would be a good exercise for policymakers to look at improving the North American Free Trade Agreement.
"Arkansans have a real interest in that outcome as Canada and Mexico are the leading recipients of Arkansas exports," Hill said. "We have many, many jobs in Arkansas tied to exports to Canada and Mexico."
In November 2015, Curry said on Facebook she opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership "because trade agreements like this contribute to income inequality in high-wage countries by promoting cheaper goods from low-wage countries."
She continued: "One issue I look at is the entrepreneur who has the drug that reportedly cures HIV and he markets it at an exorbitant rate. With agreements like this regarding low-income [patients], it will reduce the availability of cheap generics, making many drugs more expensive. Also, I do not support this agreement as I feel it gives an unfair advantage to the People's Republic of China and India, while enriching American CEOs, but not the American workers. So I do not support TPP."
The Trans-Pacific Partnership includes neither China nor India.
Hayes said some trade deals --including the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the North American Free Trade Agreement -- have been bad for America.
"Our manufacturing has gone down to such a level and it has hurt small-town America," he said. "It's hurt large-town America -- just look at Detroit."
Hill said he planned to vote for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
"I have reservations about some of the ways Donald Trump conducts himself, some of the things he says from time to time," Hill said. "I believe that if we want to get the economy moving forward and reduce these barriers to innovation, and more jobs, and higher wages in the country, House Republicans would be better off having that discussion with a Republican president and one who has a business background."
Hayes declined to say whom he planned to vote for in the presidential race, but said he supported Libertarians up and down the ballot. The Libertarian presidential candidate is former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson.
During the debate, Curry said Trump's behavior was dividing the country.
"I feel that it's appalling that the Republicans in this state and across the nation could support the effort, especially with the slighting that's been done to women, Muslims, Latinos and the disabled," she said. "I'm about inclusion. I would never be not about all people."
Ads that began running last week on TV and online are critical of Hill for supporting legislation that would allow banks to exempt themselves from some Dodd-Frank regulations so long as they maintain a high enough level of cash. Dodd-Frank was a regulatory overhaul of the financial system enacted in 2010 after the economic crisis. The legislation also would rename the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau the "Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission," replace its director and end its authority to ban bank products it deems abusive, among other provisions.
The ad buy cost $70,000, according to federal records.
Stacey Mink, national media manager for the New York-based Working Families Organization and Working Families Party, said the Working Families Party Independent Expenditure Committee is "running television and digital ads to let voters know that French Hill, who is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, is supporting legislation that works against their interests and in favor of Wall Street."
The group is spending $300,000 total against Hill; Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Wis.; and Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J. Duffy and Garrett also are on the House Financial Services Committee.
In a statement, Hill said, "As a local businessman and community banker in Arkansas I have worked tirelessly to bring common sense solutions that help families and businesses have access to free checking and credit for expansion, homes and everyday expenses denied them by the Dodd-Frank Act and its unconstitutional, big government Consumer Bureau.
"Liberal outside special interest groups can falsely attack me all they want, but I will continue fighting to empower Arkansans to start and grow businesses, creating jobs and opportunities for all."
Metro on 10/30/2016