Mark Barrett

mbarrett@citizen-times.com

Here's what incumbent U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and challenger Deborah Ross had to say about key issues in their race.

Richard Burr

Party: Republican

Home: Winston-Salem

Current job: U.S. Senator

Experience: After working for a wholesale commercial products company, elected to the U.S. House in 1994; served 10 years in the House and elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004 and is now seeking his third term.

Education: Bachelors degree, Wake Forest University

Age: 60

What would be your top priorities if you are elected?

Solving the serious challenges we face requires leadership and an ability to work together. I have a proven record of reaching across party lines to deliver real results for North Carolina. I have authored bipartisan laws to make our communities and country safer, to make college and child care more affordable, to improve education, and to honor our promises to our veterans. As your senator, I will continue working to keep our country safe from the global threat of terror, to create jobs by restoring our economy and expanding opportunity for all Americans, and to tackle our national debt.

Do you support any changes in foreign trade policies?

Before the United States agrees to enter into any new trade agreement, we must first make sure that the agreement is a fair deal for American workers, businesses, and consumers. When a trade deal is a raw deal for North Carolina, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), I will oppose it.

We also need to strengthen and enforce our fair trade laws. When a country engages in an unfair trade practice – like currency manipulation or illegal dumping – and causes harm to our economy, we need to respond swiftly and directly.



How should the U.S. deal with the threat of terrorism?

As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I am briefed regularly on the growing threats we face. The threats to America are real, and the enemies are unlike any that we have seen.

To defeat terrorism, we must devise and execute a comprehensive strategy that clearly identifies our enemies and the resources required to eliminate their capabilities. We must take the fight to where terrorists recruit and train so that they cannot bring the war to us. And we must equip our law enforcement and intelligence professionals with the tools they need to thwart terrorist plots.

What, if any, changes should be made to Social Security and Medicare?

I believe seniors have a right to expect that the benefits they’ve earned through decades of hard work are safe and secure. I have received awards from AARP and the 60 Plus Association for my work on behalf of seniors. I have consistently voted to protect and strengthen Social Security and Medicare so that Americans can continue to count on these programs being there for them. I believe that any changes to these programs should only be done in a bipartisan manner. And we should honor our promises by protecting the benefits of current retirees and those nearing retirement.

Deborah Ross

Party: Democrat

Home: Raleigh

Current job: Candidate

Experience: Formerly executive director of the N.C. Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; served in the state House 2003-13 and worked in private practice and taught at Duke Law School during that time; was general counsel for GoTriangle, the regional public agency for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, before resigning in 2015 to run for office.

Education: B.A., Brown University, law degree, UNC-Chapel Hill

Age: 53

What would be your top priorities if you are elected?

My top priorities are protecting seniors, educating our children, creating good jobs and keeping our country safe.



We need to make sure that people have economic security. For our seniors, that means making sure Social Security and Medicare are there for them. It means good schools and affordable college for our children. And it means good jobs that pay fair wages for workers.



I will also be steadfast in taking on ISIS and other threats – foreign and domestic – to our national security.



To achieve these priorities, we must make Washington work for the people again, not the special interests.

Do you support any changes in foreign trade policies?

North Carolina has seen too many jobs get shipped overseas because of trade deals that didn’t work for us. Our trade policies should focus on commonsense proposals that help our homegrown businesses compete on a global stage and sell their products abroad. We must protect American workers and stop trade agreements that hurt the middle class. I am against the TPP deal because it doesn’t do enough to protect North Carolina workers or the world’s environment. My focus in the Senate will be on doing everything we can to bring jobs back into our state.

How should the U.S. deal with the threat of terrorism?

Keeping America safe starts with defeating ISIS. We must declare war on them, which Congress and Senator Burr have refused to do. We should increase our airstrikes in the region and destroy high-value targets, deprive ISIS of financial resources and territory, boost our domestic security to protect our country, and increase the number of well-trained allies in the region.

To help stop terrorism here at home, I support closing the loophole that allows suspected terrorists to buy guns and expanding our background check system to prevent dangerous people – including terrorists and criminals – from buying guns online or at gun shows.

What, if any, changes should be made to Social Security and Medicare?

Social Security and Medicare are contracts with our seniors. I will work to protect these programs.

We can make sure these programs are solvent without cutting benefits or raising the eligibility age. We can do this by taking steps like cracking down on inefficiencies in our Medicare system and making sure those earning over $1 million pay more into Social Security.

We must also look at expanding these programs for groups who rely on Social Security for the majority of their retirement savings – people like women who never worked outside the home or earned less than their male counterparts.