Brown Calls For Common Sense On Budget Debate
PHOTO/BRANDON BUTLER
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., addresses members of a chamber breakfast.
U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., told a standing-room only crowd of area chamber of commerce members in Westminster that "common sense" solutions are needed to solve the nation's "financial emergency."
Brown spoke to a gathering of more than 300 business leaders and local officials at the Wachusett Village Inn during an event Tuesday morning organized by the Worcester Regional, Wachusett, North Central and Nashoba Valley chambers of commerce.
The lack of certainty about federal regulations and tax provisions is one of the major problems in the United States, Brown said, noting that new regulations are constantly being added that impact businesses. He said the overall high cost of doing business - from unemployment insurance to electricity costs - is "very difficult" in the commonwealth.
Brown, who took office in January 2010, said President Barack Obama has expressed a willingness to discuss "opt-out" provisions that would allow states like Massachusetts to be exempt from meeting some of the new federal health care mandates.
But Brown added that he still opposes Obama's national health care plan.
Political Matters
There are other initiatives that Brown said he looks forward to fighting for this year. Specifically, Brown said he is looking to repeal, a tax that an estimated 225 medical device manufacturing companies in Massachusetts will be subject to pay. It's a tax that was passed as part of federal health care reform.
Brown also said he's happy to see debate beginning on U.S. budget deficit proposals, one of which has been offered by Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and another by Obama. Brown said each proposal is a "positive step." Brown was reluctant to support either though, saying that he's waiting to see what type of plan is proposed in the U.S. Senate.
Brown spoke for about 25 minutes then took questions from the audience.
Douglas Starrett, president and CEO of The L.S. Starrett Co. in Athol, asked Brown about high corporate tax rates and a hydroelectricity plant he wants to install at his business, but is being held up by government approvals.
Browns said he was interested in the hydroelectric issue but was unfamiliar with it, then said that America's corporate tax rate puts the United State at a competitive disadvantage.
"We're competing against the world now," Brown said.
Another questioner asked Brown how he felt about entitlement reform, to which Brown responded that "no areas of the budget are off limits" in the upcoming budget debate and reiterated that "everything must be on the table."
Brown will be up for re-election next year to win his first full term as a U.S. Senator. Democrat Alan Khazei announced today he would run against Brown in the November 2012 election.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments