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SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Ben McAdams, the incumbent in Utah’s 4th District congressional race, spoke with the combined KSL and Deseret News editorial boards Thursday about addressing the national debt and how Congress failed the American people in its COVID-19 response.
The representative is being challenged by former NFL player and Republican Burgess Owens, who spoke with the editorial boards last week.
We break it down for you here.
'I'm working to fix what's broken about Washington'
McAdams, who has served as the only Democratic member of state’s delegation since being elected in 2018, said he’s serving to fix what he called a broken Washington.
“I will put principles before politics to get things done,” he said. “I’m really proud to be someone who works with both parties to get stuff done.”
McAdams said he considers himself a bipartisan member of Congress without extreme party loyalties. On Thursday, he said the polarization and political divide in the country are at an all-time high, and added Americans need leaders who bring people together rather than finding the pressure points to push people apart.
“I have a big track record as someone who puts Utah first in big issues and small issues,” he said.
Addressing the national debt is crucial, McAdams says
Balancing the budget and maintaining transparency in spending will continue to be areas of focus for McAdams if re-elected, he said.
As Salt Lake County mayor from 2013-19, McAdams said he strove to get the best bang for the taxpayer’s buck and he wants to see the federal government take a similar approach. With the national debt estimated to increase from 2019’s 79% of GDP to 104% of GDP by 2021, according to new data from the Congressional Budget Office, McAdams said spending needs to be addressed.
He noted that some lawmakers have been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to continue spending on things that aren’t needed under the guise of pandemic-related stimulus — basically using it as a “political wishlist,” he said.
One such example is the HEROES Act, a multitrillion-dollar Democratic-sponsored coronavirus stimulus package which McAdams voted against in May; the bill passed the House then but has not advanced in the Repulican-controlled Senate. He was hospitalized with COVID-19 during the vote on the CARES Act, another stimulus package that ultimately was passed and gave eligible Americans $1,200 per adult and $500 for each child in a home, up to $3,400 for a family of four.
Congress failed the American public in COVID-19 response, McAdams says
“I think that there’s a lot we should be doing and we haven’t, unfortunately," McAdams said Thursday. "I think Washington has failed Utah. We failed the American public. And I would say that’s Democrats and Republicans who have retreated into partisan corners and not done the job that we need to do for the American people.”
McAdams, who previously was hospitalized with COVID-19, said going forward officials need to “be focused on a smart plan to slow the spread of the virus and make sure that we stabilize the economy and help people who are really struggling right now.”
He added there are other pressing matters that aren’t being discussed, such as reopening schools. While he feels those decisions should be locally-driven, he said he thinks Congress could make sure schools are getting the necessary resources needed to open safely such as personal protective equipment.
“There’s nothing more important than educating our kids,” he said. “I think there’s things that we should be doing.”
He noted some things were done well with managing the pandemic, namely getting PPP loans to small businesses who needed it — something he said Utah did well with.
Looking forward, McAdams said vaccine distribution needs to be discussed and those conversations should happen now. On that point, he said officials should seek advice from public health professionals when making those decisions.
“It would probably be the frontline caregivers — our doctors and nurses, probably teachers, people like that — and then people who are vulnerable” who would get the vaccine first, McAdams said, emphasizing he is not an expert on the subject.
When asked why Congress has failed in its response, McAdams said there was blame on both sides of the aisle.
“The priority has been politics, not people, and it’s awful,” he said. “We can do better. I’ve called on Congress to do better."
Correction: A former version incorrectly reported that McAdams voted against the CARES Act; this article has been updated to show he voted against the HEROES Act.
