Education: Graduate of Salem public schools, Salem State College, and Suffolk University Law School.
Occupation: member of Congress.
Political Training and Experience: elected to Congress in 1996. Member, House Committee on Education and the Workforce; currently ranking Democrat, Subcommittee on Post-Secondary Education, Training and Life-Long Learning; member, Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations; member Committee on Government Reform.
Question: Given the current economic climate, what are your priorities for the budget surplus and why?
Answer: We should be sure to use the Social Security and Medicare trust fund surpluses for their intended purposes, thus protecting and strengthening the programs. Some portion of any surplus should be used to reduce the national debt, which in turn will reduce our interest obligation on outstanding debt and serve over time to keep retirement programs strong.
In order to keep our seniors' health care program effective and relevant, we must provide for prescription drug coverage through Medicare. It will be necessary to simultaneously act to prevent prices from skyrocketing, and I have supported several pieces of legislation that would utilize market forces to do just that, while being cautious to retain the research and development capacity for new or improved medications. If the Democratic plans for targeted tax cuts - and more reasonable and fairer provisions than the majority proposed on the "marriage penalty" and "estate taxes" are implemented, middle-class families will share a better distribution of the cuts. In addition, they will have help with education costs, job training expenses and the costs of caring for an aged spouse or parent.
Finally, we need to make necessary investments in our families to ensure their security and the nation's strength and productivity. The federal government must become a partner with states and municipalities to improve our public schools; we must make health care available and affordable to all, encourage scientific research and development, and spur development of a strong workforce for the new economy.
