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Change or status quo? 1st Congressional candidates debate Congress’ work and spending

A screencap from the 1st Congressional District debate organized by the Utah Debate Commission and held at Utah State University in Logan, Oct. 8, 2024. From Left to right, Democrat Bill Campbell, Libertarian Daniel Cottam and Republican incumbent Blake Moore.
Courtesy Utah Debate Commission
A screencap from the 1st Congressional District debate organized by the Utah Debate Commission and held at Utah State University in Logan, Oct. 8, 2024. From Left to right, Democrat Bill Campbell, Libertarian Daniel Cottam and Republican incumbent Blake Moore.

The 118th Congress has been marked by a fractious and slim GOP majority, one that historically ousted out its Speaker of the House, along with the fights that followed over stopgap budgets, foreign aid, the border and immigration. All the while, President Joe Biden worked through the last two years of his term as the presidential election closed in — which has had its own surprises.

That’s the backdrop in which Democrat Bill Campbell, Libertarian Daniel Cottam and Republican incumbent Blake Moore made their pitch to represent Utah’s 1st Congressional District. The debate, organized by the Utah Debate Commission and held at Utah State University, was largely civil and honed in on what Congress has been up to.

Rep. Moore wants a third term in the House, where he has served since 2021, to fight inflationary spending and reduce the deficit.

“We have to create a pro-growth environment that lets you live the American Dream,” Moore said.

Campbell, a certified public accountant by trade, ran against and lost to Moore in the 2022 Republican primary. Since then, he switched to the Democratic Party. If elected, Campbell pledged to prioritize the people and “not special interests.”

“My platform includes … progressing unity, not divisiveness. Promoting Utah values – family, faith and freedom and protecting U.S.A interests [and] border security,” he said.

Cottam, a surgeon, tried out both parties but said he gave himself a “birthday present” when he turned 50 by becoming a Libertarian. He said a vote for him would send an “independent voice” to Congress and help break up the “duopoly.”

“In a divided Congress, a lone voice becomes more important, [not] less important,” he said.

Federal spending

If there was one thing the candidates agreed on it was that the federal government needs to cut spending. Moore framed the discussion as Republicans were acting as a barrier to the Biden administration’s spending.

When Democrats had a slight majority during his first term, he said Biden added “$5 trillion net new dollars” to the deficit, which resulted in “the worst inflation that we've seen in my, at least my lifetime” — incidentally, the previous time the U.S. saw a spike in inflation was 1980, the year Moore was born.

Moore said the tables turned when his party won a slim majority in the 2022 midterms.

“We have basically eliminated [Biden’s] entire ability to be able to do and enact those types of policies that directly affect the 1st District residents every single day,” he said.

In the last three years, Biden approved $4.3 trillion in 10-year debt according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. While former President Donald Trump approved $8.8 trillion during his term. The national debt grew 24% over the four fiscal years while Trump was in office, and 8% in Biden’s last three years.

Overall, Congress has been less productive. As Moore sees it, when it comes to the budget, that gridlock is sometimes “a good thing” because it can “stop that massive spending.” To curb the problem, Moore wants Congress to pass his Comprehensive Congressional Budget Act that would require reform and dictate a vote on the budget every year.

Campbell said there needs to be a bipartisan effort on spending. He pushed back against the notion that gridlock can be positive.

“When we have candidates that are already in the majority saying they can't get things done in the majority, they need a greater majority, and they need full control over all the branches of government to get anything done, that's just setting up an excuse for failure,” he said.

He believes the government needs to say ‘no’ to spending more often and “reverse a lot of the programs already in place” as a means to reduce the deficit. Campbell would prefer sunset dates on government programs instead of automatic renewals.

He added the government needs to “take great control” over certain sectors to help the deficit, including housing and energy – and it can “take the lead” by using artificial intelligence to “reduce the trade deficit.”

While Libertarians traditionally believe in an incredibly limited government, Cottam said its biggest role is to reduce inflation. To him, the parties are the ones driving it to unattainable levels. Even to the point where, even though he backs the Libertarian platform to audit the Federal Reserve, he thinks the agency has “been so amazing” handling inflation “with these out of control parties going nuts on the budget.”

“I'm just here to say that both parties have failed at that so many times,” he said of lawmakers inability to balance the budget. “You can't keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome.”

The status quo isn’t the way to fix America’s budget problems. Instead, Cottam said Moore and Campbell are selling voters a “fairy tale” about being able to solve the deficit.

“The Republican Party grows government at exactly the same rate as the Democrat Party,” Cottam said. “Neither of them can say no when they get in power.”

Immigration

Cottam, who believes “immigration isn’t a complex issue,” would like to see America grant more work visas to skilled workers, like doctors and lawyers.

“The answer is more work visas that allow people to come and go, and if we don't address this, we're going to continue to get illegal immigration,” he said.

By offering more work visas, Cottam said they wouldn’t be “tied to welfare benefits.” He added that America can’t function without immigrants in the workforce.

“We should acknowledge that and give out a lot more worker visas. We should have a big wall and a big door that swings both ways.”

The most recent bipartisan immigration bill failed to make it out of the Senate and Moore said it was because it was missing “three major aspects.”

First, he counted off the Trump-era “remain in Mexico” policy which made asylum seekers wait for their case to be heard before they were allowed to cross the border. Second, ending “catch and release,” the policy that allows immigrants to stay in the United States while they await their asylum hearing. And third, the lack of action on border security.

“I have not been able to see my Democrat colleagues be willing to actually enact effective border policy,” he said. And we need that change to happen.”

While the border package wasn’t perfect, Campbell said “it was an improvement and we should have progressed the improvement.” He believes Congress didn’t want to pass a border plan because of the election and the talking point of immigration on the campaign trail.

“If people were trying to score political points for the election and not progressing a better solution, that is not the way we should run our government,” he said, “and right now, we're suffering the consequences.”

Campbell said immigration is “part of the nation’s DNA.” Although, he thinks illegal immigration is impacting Utah schools and its health system.

Foreign Aid

As global conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza rage on, the candidates believe Congress should continue to aid Israel and Ukraine to some extent.

Campbell said the United States needs to support its allies and that includes Israel and Ukraine. He would, however, alter the nature of the U.S.’s involvement and wouldn’t approve the amount of money Congress is currently spending.

“It would be less [and] it would be more strategic. It would not be as offensive. It would be more defensive to protect them,” he said.

He would redirect some of the funds earmarked for Ukraine and Israel to things like the southern border, homelessness and health care.

Cottam said the U.S. needs to stick to their word and provide aid for Israel and Ukraine, even though he doesn't think the U.S. should have agreed to protect those countries. Despite that, he wouldn’t give money, soldiers or weapons away for free.

“We can sell them arms, and they should be able to defend themselves,” Cottam said. “I support them as they defend themselves, but we don't need to give them anything, they can buy it.”

Moore veered away from Ukraine and focused on creating a “deterrence” in the South Pacific so China doesn’t invade Taiwan.

In the Middle East, Moore said he’s “seen humanity erode” since the Oct. 7 surprise attack by Hamas against Israel. The focus, he said, should be on the wider culprit, Iran.

“The solution to the Middle East problems is to stand firmly against Iran [and] to run away from the Iran nuclear deal.”

Saige is a politics reporter and co-host of KUER's State Street politics podcast
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