Medicaid is becoming quite a burden to Western North Carolina counties. Do you see a role for the federal government regarding local Medicaid costs?

Taylor: Medicaid is already a federal/state program. North Carolina and New York are the only states that require county funding of all Medicaid services. The federal share of Medicaid ranges from 50-77 percent, with an average match rate of 57 percent. SCHIP matching rates vary from 65-85 percent. About $3.2 billion is available to states for SCHIP programs, in addition to almost $11 billion in unspent funds from previous years. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, more than a million additional people have gained Medicaid or SCHIP coverage since Jan. 1, 2001.The FY2002 federal medical assistance percentage for NC was 61.46 percent, and the FY2003 FMAP, or federal share of NC Medicaid costs, is 62.56 percent. In 1967, Medicaid was a $1 billion program; in 2001, Medicaid cost approximately $226 billion ($130 billion federal share) and covered 40 million Americans. Medicaid will cost roughly $280 billion ($159 billion federal share) in 2003.

As baby boomers age, long-term care costs could bury some programs in the next 10 years and nearly all of them in the next 30 years. State Medicaid spending will eat spending for every other state program in 20 years and cannot remain solvent in its current form. The need for Medicaid reform is very real. We must look at ways to stabilize and reform long-term care and to move Medicaid away from institutionalized care. The administration is continuing to work with the waiver approach, and we should support this, but we also must utilize congressional oversight to make sure accountability exists and the programs meet their intended objectives. (I also continue to support community-based efforts to provide health care access for the uninsured, like Buncombe County's Project Access, for which I was able to secure funding in FY02.)

Neill: I think we need to assist the states and do some additional funding. Also, a prescription drug coverage plan would reduce costs to our seniors. Unfunded federal mandates destroy the planning done by local and state governments.

How do you propose keeping the Social Security Trust Fund solvent? How do you feel about privatization?

Taylor: By balancing the federal budget, which we did before the war on terrorism. In the past three years, we paid down over half a billion in federal debt instead of borrowing from Social Security. The problem with Social Security is not the solvency of the trust fund today, or current benefits for anyone over the age of 50. It’s the future — 2040 and beyond — when the system drops to less than two workers for every beneficiary, and the outgo begins to exceed the income of the trust funds. Acting now, as we did in the early 1980s under the leadership of Ronald Reagan, can ensure the future of the program for all future retirees, as it is now ensured for current retirees. I do not favor privatization of Social Security. I do favor providing younger workers the option of placing some of their contribution into private accounts, such as those which federal and state employees now enjoy.

Neill: I totally oppose privatization of Social Security funds. I believe we should go to lockbox system so that the money paid in goes to Social Security payments only and not for other spending. Social Security is not a government program, it is something you pay for. It should be guaranteed, not a gamble.

Does the federal government have a role to play in stimulating economic growth in Western North Carolina? What kind of jobs is WNC most likely to land and how will you help?

Taylor: Because of my position on the Appropriations Committee, I have been key in getting funding for infrastructure development across WNC. We have won $50 million funding for numerous educational/technological projects through the Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas, which will bring high tech jobs to the district. One of the highlights of that program will be a fiber optic network for high speed Internet access that will help lure new businesses to the area. I have won funding for projects to spur tourism, such as on Fontana Lake, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Magnet Triangle, and also introduced a bill to clean up the air (thus the views) by reducing TVA emissions.

Neill: I think the federal government does have role, and I support a three-pronged approach. Number one, we need additional funding for our community colleges and distance learning programs through our universities. Number two, we need to set up a better system through our tax code, through depreciation and tax credits, to retain our existing industry. Very little has been done to retain those jobs. And number three, we need to try and recruit more traditional, non-polluting industries into our region. Taylor has not tacked any of these issues.

Taylor has worked to attract high-tech industries, but that’s not going to work. The 33,000 workers in our district who have lost their manufacturing jobs aren’t employable in those industries. Also, those firms aren’t going to come here because we don’t have the doctoral and research-granting institutions like in the Research Triangle Park. We also don’t have the money centers, the banks, that is where those industries will go. To say we can transform our economy is giving false hope.

Our congressman has just stood by while our economy has been devastated and done little or nothing.

H.R. 5468, a bill to “effect the land exchange” between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was recently introduced by Rep. Taylor. What motivated the introduction of the bill? Will this bill circumvent a couple of years of public debate and public hearings?

Taylor: After many meetings with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and touring the proposed site, I feel it is time to effect this change so the students of Cherokee can get their long overdue educational facilities. I do not feel that introducing a bill in the greatest deliberative body in the history of mankind circumvents anything. The legislative branch of government was designed to be the people’s voice. While the executive branch, through the NPS, follows its process in this matter, let the representative branch follow its process.

Neill: We need to follow the normal process here, but I think we know what motivated the bill. These rules and public hearing procedures are there for a reason. This is certainly a shift because Taylor has voted against Native Americans on issues concerning education, sovereignty, health care, and now there is this sudden shift.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most polluted parks in the nation with regards to air quality. How would you address this problem? What is the likelihood of any federal action to significantly address the problem?

Taylor: After bringing in the GAO to study our air pollution and issue their scientific findings, I introduced the Great Smoky Mountains Clean Air Act of 2000, which is still alive in the House. Although the state’s Clean Smokestacks Act will aid portions of the state, the GAO report found that the vast majority of WNC air pollution comes from TVA coal-burning plants to our west. That is what my bill aims to clean up.

Neill: The pollution issue can be solved with a federal clean smokestacks act requiring all coal-fired plants to install scrubbers. I would sponsor such a bill as soon as I got to Congress and would fight loosening the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Our pollution is coming from the Ohio River Valley, more than 70 percent of it.

We live in the most acidic place in North America. It’s a health issue when we lead the state in pulmonary-related diseases. It is also an economic issue when our manufacturing base is gone and we have to rely on tourism. The tourism and retirees won’t come if they can’t see the mountains. Air pollution is a growing cancer that will wreck our economy and our health. It is our most pressing problem and Taylor has introduced two bills that have gone nowhere.

What separates you from your opponent, and why should Western North Carolina voters cast their ballot for you?

Taylor: The people of WNC have chosen me as their representative for six terms, for which I am very grateful. I’m proud of my record of success as their representative, and strive to ably reflect in Congress the values of the majority of WNC voters. My constituent service has been lauded by members of both parties as among the best in Congress. I have plans to continue taking legislative action aimed at improving education, health care, air quality, and job development across WNC.

Neill: My approach is try and find a consensus. I listen to all sides and try to find a solution that gives groups validity. Taylor uses wedge issues and only listens to his side.

I don’t believe Taylor has been paying attention to the district and the plight of the people here. That is reflected in our lost jobs. Last election Taylor talked about job training but he has only funded 12 percent of what he promised. He is out of touch.

There are three issues I am running on: jobs and the poor state of our economy; access to medical care and the high cost of prescription drugs; and air quality. These are kitchen table issues important to voters but Taylor is simply out of touch.