Sure, they're all for getting rid of Obamacare. But one wants to switch power to the states, while another has plans for a "health empowerment account." The key takeaways from the 8th GOP debate.
The field has narrowed, with Rand Paul and Rick Santorum dropping out after poor returns in the Iowa caucus.
Seven remaining Republican presidential hopefuls duked it out on the debate stage Feb. 6 in New Hampshire, striving to set themselves apart from each other for the party nomination.
The event, the eighth GOP debate, aired on ABC, and drew in an average of 13.2 million viewers—up from the 12.5 million for the last debate (the one Donald Trump skipped), according to CNN Money.
The debate took place a few days before the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary.
It was a rough night for the front-runners, said David A. Graham in The Atlantic. “Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump all hit rough patches, while three often-overshadowed governors—Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich—delivered some of their strongest moments of the campaign so far.”
Here’s what the candidates had to say about the issues that matter most to small business owners:
During the debate, Cruz, coming off his surprise win in the Iowa Republican caucus, reiterated his opposition to Obamacare, saying he would repeal every word of it.
“And once we do that, we will adopt common sense reforms,” he added. “Number one, we’ll allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines that will drive down prices and expand the availability of low-cost catastrophic insurance.”
Other candidates took a similar stance on Obamacare. Trump said he would repeal Obamacare and replace it with something “so much better. And there are so many examples of it.”
While Bush favored repealing Obamacare, he added that the country needs to shift the power of healthcare—“the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes”—over to states.
“Allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty,” Bush said.
Ben Carson proposed a “health empowerment account” in which people can shift money so that each family basically becomes its own insurance company, without a middleman.
“That saves you an awful lot of money,” he said. “And that will lower the cost of your catastrophic insurance tremendously, because the only thing coming out of that is catastrophic healthcare.”
It was a no-brainer on where the candidates stood on taxes. During the debate, the governors touted their record of either cutting taxes or not caving in to tax increases.
As Florida governor, Bush said his administration cut taxes and reduced government.
“I took on very powerful interests, forged consensus, fought for my beliefs, implemented them, and the state was better off,” he said.
Christie, the governor of New Jersey, spoke about his tax battles with the state’s teachers’ union and Democratic Legislature, which had threatened to shut down the state government.
“They didn’t pass a tax increase because I vetoed it and they never closed the government because they knew I would fight for what I believed in,” he said.
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio also played up his track record.
“The fact of the matter is I’ve cut taxes more than anybody in the country this year,” he said. “I have balanced budgets, the federal budget, the state of Ohio budget. We’re running a $2 billion dollar surplus; we’re up 400,000 jobs.”
Trump proposed slashing taxes not only for the middle class but also for corporations, saying the U.S. is the highest taxed country in the world.
Regulations and Limited Government
Rubio said limited government, a free enterprise system and a strong national defense make up the core principles of conservatism.
“The federal government is a limited government, limited by the Constitution, which delineates its powers,” he said. “If it’s not in the Constitution, it does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to states, local communities and the private sector.”
Bush shared the view that states and local communities should have more control.
“EPA delegated authority back to the states. Education dollars, back to the states. I would like to see reform take place all across the country, where there’s more vouchers, more freedom,” he said.
Kasich proposed legislation to freeze federal regulation during his first 100 days as president. During that time, federal regulations would be reviewed by the vice president.
*Note: This news coverage does not equate to an endorsement of any candidate by NFIB.
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