John Raese on Government Reform Republican Challenger

I think we need less government

Manchin said he isn't about more government but rather making government easier to work with. "Government should be your partner. It shouldn't be your adversary, it should be your ally," said Manchin. "That's what we don't have in Washington and that's what I've been working for."

End the coalition of taking & government control

Raese disagrees with that. In 2010, Raese fully supported a full repeal of the bill. And he still does. "This country, right now, I call it a coalition of taking. They are taking our money, they are taking our power, and they are taking our freedom, and they are giving it government to control. That's unacceptable," Raese said.

Federal earmarks create career politicians

But Manchin said states depend on the federal government for key infrastructure like roads, water and sewage lines, and broadband Internet access. Without government, he said, poor, rural states would suffer. "The free enterprise system is not going to go there. They're only going to go where the market is," Manchin said. "And for all of us to have an opportunity there has to be a partnership. The federal government and state government should be your partner, not your provider."

Supports line-item veto & balanced budget amendment

Both men called for a balanced budget amendment that would require Congress to balance the nation's books every year and not run up debt.

Neither candidate provided details about how they propose balancing a multi-trillion-dollar budget, but Raese said he favors giving presidents line-item veto power--something that Byrd staunchly opposed. Manchin said the only time the amendment should be suspended was during war or a national emergency.

Earmarks are taxation without representation

Asked whether they would continue Byrd's tradition, Raese indicated he would not, calling earmarks taxation without representation. "That is something that career politicians are very effective at," he said. "It services them, but it doesn't service Americans."

Manchin said he suspended earmarking at a state legislative level when he first took office as governor. He said earmarking was one reason why there needed to be a balanced budget amendment.

Increase limits on donations to political campaigns

Indicate which principles you support regarding campaign finance and government reform.
• Increase the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns.
• Q: Should Election Day be a national holiday?
  A: No.

Supports line-item veto to reduce deficit

Signed term limit pledge: 6 years House; 12 years Senate.

Organizational Self-Description: U.S. Term Limits, the nation's oldest and largest term limits advocacy group, announced that 14 new signers of its congressional term limits amendment pledge have been elected to the 114th Congress. The group includes five new senators, eight new House members and one House incumbent who signed the pledge for the first time this cycle. The pledge calls for members to co-sponsor and vote for a constitutional amendment limiting House members to three terms (six years) and Senators to two terms (12 years). The USTL President said, "The American people are fed up with career politicians in Washington and strongly embracing term limits as a remedy. Gallup polling shows that 75% of Americans support term limits."

Opposing legal argument: [ACLU, Nov. 7, 2014]: In U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton (May 22, 1995), the Court ended the movement to enact term limits for Congress on a state-by-state basis. The Court held that the qualifications for Congress established in the Constitution itself could not be amended by the states without a constitutional amendment, and that the notion of congressional term limits violates the "fundamental principle of our representative democracy 'that the people should chose whom they please to govern them.'"

Opposing political argument: [Cato Institute Briefing Paper No. 14, Feb. 18, 1992]: Several considerations may explain political scientists' open hostility to term limitation:

• Political scientists were instrumental in promoting the professionalization of legislators.
• They are cynical about the attentiveness, general knowledge, and judgmental capacity of the average voter.
• They are committed to the conservation of leadership.
• They perceive attacks on professional politicians as a threat to their own self-proclaimed professionalism.
• And political partisanship may encourage them to oppose term limits.