Fourth Congressional District: Vicky Hartzler
Party: Republican
Age: 58
Place of residence: Harrisonville
Education: Bachelor of science in education, University of Missouri; master’s in education, Central Missouri State University
Occupation: U.S. representative
Political experience: State legislature from 1995-2001; U.S. Congress for eight years
Opponent: Renee Hoagenson
What is the biggest issue facing the Fourth Congressional District?
I think health care is still a major need for the people in this area. They can’t find health insurance that they can afford and we need to do better.
In Washington we’ve been focused on trying to address this by going after the cost drivers and getting the costs down so that people can afford insurance. Some ways we’ve done that is to encourage competition across state lines, associated health plans, providing more transparency in pricing and the use of health savings accounts so people can spend their money and know where it’s going, and also tort reform.
But we’ve also been giving more health care coverage back to the states by allowing them to control and increase the number of policies in their states that are available. This is something I’ve been working on but it hasn’t passed in the Senate so it’s still a priority of mine next year.
Trump administration tariffs led to changes in demand for American farm exports. Do you think the administration handled the situation appropriately?
Well we have been unfairly treated by many countries for years. And our farmers can produce crops and compete with anyone but it needs to be fair, it needs to be free and it needs to be reciprocal.
So the farmers in our area appreciate the president standing up for them and saying “no more.” And with the recent renegotiation of NAFTA it proved that his efforts paid off and Canada removed the barrier for our dairy products after many years and people thinking a candidate would never cede on that, but they did. The EU has now come out and met with the president and said we want to get down to zero tariffs and we want to increase our trade with your agriculture products. China, we’re still in a conflict with them and hopefully they will also come to terms soon and be willing to open more of our markets for our farmers.
Has the Affordable Care Act helped the average American?
I think most people have found the Affordable Care Act to not be affordable. Unfortunately, too many people in our district have told me their policy was canceled or that the cost and the premiums have increased so much they can hardly afford it, and they’ve been given a very high deductible, of like $6,000, and they say “we can’t afford that.”
So, we can do better, and that’s what we need to focus on is driving down the cost by increasing the competition, making it more affordable, more accessible, while still protecting pre-existing conditions.
Have federal income tax cuts helped the average American?
Oh absolutely. It’s very exciting to see the benefits already that we are seeing from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The average family of four in the Fourth District will pay $2,122 less in federal taxes. We’ve had over 400,000 businesses that have given bonuses or wages and that’s about 4 million Americans that have seen a bonus or increased pay. And the jobs are just exploding.
We’re seeing a lot of job growth because of that. In fact we have a record 7.1 million available jobs right now in this country. So it’s an exciting time and I’m really glad we were able to pass these tax cuts so that Americans can keep more of their hard-earned money and our businesses can grow and expand and provide more opportunities for families.
Are we doing enough to address climate change?
Our country has been really focused on this and we have seen a reduction in carbon emissions over the last several years here in America.
Other countries, they need to do more. There’s still a real problem with the carbon emissions, so this is something that everyone still needs to be focused on. We’ve seen increased an increased amount of renewable fuels and solar and wind that has been built in the last few years and I think it’s going to continue to grow in this country.
