(Host) Republican candidates around the country have been challenging incumbent Democrats on a variety of "hot button" issues.
But in Vermont, the race between Republican U.S. Senate candidate Len Britton and Democratic senator Patrick Leahy is a little different story.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) One of the hottest issues in Congressional campaigns this fall involves the continuation of income tax cuts that were proposed by former president George W. Bush.
Most Democrats want to extend these tax cuts but only for people with incomes below $250,000. They argue wealthy people don’t need a tax cut and that the plan will increase the national debt.
Many Republicans have a very different point of view. They say it makes no sense to raise tax rates on anyone during a deep recession.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Len Britton says he thinks there’s merit to the Democrats’ position:
(Britton) "As far as raising taxes on maybe the top 2% of earners in the country, that’s a discussion that we can have…I would be open to that possibility."
(Kinzel) Democratic candidate Patrick Leahy agrees and says the cuts should be targeted at the people who need them the most.
(Leahy) "The tax cuts should go to the middle class – they can use it. They never really benefited by the Bush tax cuts because they’re still paying Social Security and everything else."
(Kinzel) The second hot button issue is whether or not the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution should be changed. This amendment gives citizenship to anyone born in this country including the children of adults who are here illegally.
Britton says amending the Constitution for this purpose is a bad idea.
(Britton) "I’m loathe to do anything that messes with our Constitutional document. And I’ve heard some of the cases that have been made because people have been coming into this country illegally and having children and they’re here but I think that we tinker with the Constitution at our own peril and I would be against it."
(Kinzel) Leahy says he’s appalled by this plan and that as long as he’s chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee, the proposal is dead.
(Leahy) "Where do you draw the line? One of the reasons the 14th amendment was put in there was to make sure that you couldn’t tell people who were born as slaves, for example, here in the United States – you had to make sure they were now citizens. It is one of the things that sets us apart from other countries. It’s one of the things that really makes the Statute of Liberty and its promise real to people around the world."
(Kinzel) Congress is expected to have an extensive debate over the tax cut issue when it returns to Washington D.C. next week.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier.