A: We cannot fool around with defaulting. It's part of what's created the uncertainty that we know, at least economically, the threats of shutting down, the threats of default. Business needs certainty in order to invest and it's important that our leaders act responsibly around this issue.
Q. What did you make of the House Republican's last attempt to tie debt ceiling to restoring the sequester cuts to veteran pensions?
A: What I would say is we need to, as much possible, ask our leaders to act without brinksmanship or gamesmanship around these issues.
Q. So you're against the sequester?
A: As people have said repeatedly, sequestration is the absolute wrong way of making the cuts. Nobody in business would cut across the board, they would cut strategically. And we are going to have to make difficult cuts but we are not going to do it effectively when we do it through sequestration.
Equal pay is respect for hard work, and every minute we let go by without it hurts Georgia families.
We should be able to come together in a bipartisan way to make life better for millions of Americans--and grow our economy in the process.
But Congress isn't going to act on its own. That's why it's crucial for all of us to speak out about how important it is to support equal pay, and to do it now.
Urge Congress to support equal pay now, without delay: Families in Georgia and across the nation need our help today.
A: I have studied it and I do believe it's something we should move forward with based upon the practical economic imperatives, energy independence and also that many of the environmental concerns have been addressed.
During the 2008 economic downturn, they decided instead to preserve it with a "conservation easement contract" with a land trust--and allows them to get tax breaks for preserving the marshland.
David Perdue (R) has sought to paint Nunn as a "Washington insider" because of her and her father's connections, and slammed her for the land deal. Nunn's campaign pointed out that conservation easements are backed by politicians in both parties & that former Gov. Sonny Perdue (R), David's cousin, has easements of his own. A Nunn spokesman said, "Michelle was able to protect beautiful land in Glynn County for future generations through a program supported not just by Gov. Perdue but a broad swath of Georgia leaders including Senators Chambliss and Isakson."
I also believe that we should be judicious before employing the awesome power of America's military and sending our fighting men and women into harm's way on our behalf. Our military is but one element of our national power; we have significant resources, such as our economic strength, our global competitiveness, and our diplomatic power that allow us to secure our interests.
Perdue's campaign fired back: "The true Michelle Nunn is starting to show. Instead of debating the issues that matter to Georgians, she is recycling old attacks against David that have already been dismissed. We expected no less from the hand-picked candidate of Barack Obama and Harry Reid," said Perdue's campaign manager.
A: There's blame on both asides of the equation for the failure of getting things done in Washington.
Q. So are you equally happy to run against Democratic dysfunction as you are Republican dysfunction?
A: I'm running against dysfunction in Washington and I'm running against the polarization and I'm running for a spirit of focus on common ground and problem solving, which I think would be helped by sending more people to Washington with those commitments also with a lens that's outside of Washington and brings a new perspective.
A: I'm not saying that I don't want people in Congress to not continue to influence things for the public good. I think what I'm pointing out is that we should not have congressmen and women use the privilege that they have through their service and apply it parochial or special interests.
Nunn's campaign fired back. "These ads are exactly the type of dishonest attacks Georgians have come to expect from our broken political system," said a Nunn spokesman. "There's no better contrast to these attacks from deep-pocketed special interests than Michelle's own story of working with businesses, charities and religious organizations to make change."
The ad has a small $150,000 buy behind it, according to a source tracking the buy.
A: I am running as someone who ran an organization and understands the responsibilities and the difficulties of providing health care for employees. I also believe that we need to fix what's broken and there are clearly some things that have not worked well in the Affordable Care Act rollout. Some ideas include adding a tier of coverage for more affordability for families, ensuring that we extend the tax credit for small businesses. Here in Georgia--because we did not accept Medicaid expansion--a number of our rural hospitals are now having cuts that are really problematic. So I am running as someone who wants to fix the things that are broken in the health care system and build upon the things that are good, including ensuring that people who have preexisting conditions have access to health care, that kids up to age 26 have the opportunity to be covered by their parents.
After MSNBC followed up to ask if she would have voted yes or no, Nunn dodged again: "I think it's impossible to look back retrospectively and say what would you have done if you were there," she said.
Nunn has been running to the center in conservative-leaning Georgia. She's likely to be pressed on the issue going forward.
The families I meet are putting in the hours, trying to provide for their families, and while they are focused on the home front, they need leaders in Washington who are looking out for them--not special interests. They need leaders who are good listeners and in touch with their concerns.
In my work as the CEO of Points of Light, the largest non-profit in the world dedicated to volunteer service, I found that collaboration was critical to getting things done. That's a lesson I will put to use in the U.S. Senate to increase the minimum wage, and help lower the unemployment rate.
In contrast, David Perdue's experience includes outsourcing American jobs to other countries and walking away with $1.7 million shortly before another company went bankrupt, costing 7,500 workers their jobs.
"It gives me an entry point with people who remember my dad," Nunn said of her last name. "It gives me a hearing. And then as I talk to a lot of young people, they're interested in my non-profit career and work with volunteers. So I think I'm able to have an entry point with voters in both ways."
Never far removed from the tongues of Democrats and Republicans alike in attendance were comparisons between the younger and elder Nunns. "She has the stamina and the tenacity that he has," said a Senate aide to Nunn's father for 14 years. [The elder Nunn] "could speak up to his party when he needed to and cross the aisle to work with Republicans. I think Michelle can do that, too--she says she can."
A: Congress needs to confront the issue of mandatory spending programs, including Social Security and Medicare, which take up approximately 60% of the budget. The trustees of the Medicare trust project that the hospital insurance portion of Medicare could be depleted by 2026; and Social Security will be forced to cut benefits by 23% in 2033 if nothing is done. We must undertake bipartisan entitlement reform to preserve Medicare and Social Security for those currently in or near retirement, take action to strengthen these programs for the future.
A: We need government policies that promote a strong middle class, build self-sufficiency for low-income families, and ensure that every Georgian has a chance to become a productive and engaged citizen. We must invest in our infrastructure, ensure that our educational system at every level is teaching the skills our young people need to succeed in a rapidly changing economy, and reverse the downward trends in basic research and development funding. We also have to create a simpler tax code and roll back unnecessary regulations that impede business development.
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The above quotations are from State of Georgia Politicians: Archives.
Click here for other excerpts from State of Georgia Politicians: Archives. Click here for other excerpts by Michelle Nunn. Click here for a profile of Michelle Nunn.
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