By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Friday, June 23, 2017, Republican US Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore took time to speak with The Alabama Political Reporter (APR) and answer a number of issues across a wide spectrum of issues likely to face the Senate.
APR: You recently expressed some concerns with the secret Senate healthcare bill released yesterday. What do you say to Republicans who say that the enemy of the good is the perfect bill that will never pass and that we should just craft a bill and get it passed as any healthcare bill would be better than Obamacare even if we have to come back and fix it next year and the year after that?
Judge Moore: I don’t believe that the Federal government has any role in healthcare. I favor the complete repeal of Obamacare as quickly as possible.”
Chief Justice Moore said that in order to lower healthcare costs for the American People we must also consider the repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson act which allowed the states to establish restrictions which have been detrimental to the health care industry.
APR: The Federal government has bullied and bribed the states to accept various top centric education models whether it was No Child Left Behind, Common Core, or the Every Student Succeeds Act and the people who seem to have benefitted from any of this are the testing companies that sell the required testing to the states it is time to decentralize education and just let the states do what the states do?
Judge Moore: Yes, absolutely. The Federal government has no authority in education. Such programs as Common Core have been detriment to education. We do not need someone in DC telling us in Alabama how to educate our children and then punishing us by withholding money when we differ with their views.
APR: At the recent forum in Oxford, you argued for a straight repeal of Obamacare without replacing it with anything. Is there a McConnell-care or Ryan-care model bill that you could support?
Judge Moore: I don’t think the Federal government has any business in healthcare. Obamacare increased existing government programs like Medicaid and I do not think that the Republican plan should increase the role of the Federal government in healthcare over what it was already doing in 2009.
APR: Should veterans be allowed to receive their health care from doctors and hospitals outside of the Veterans Healthcare system?
Judge Moore: I think the Veterans Health Care System should be fixed. Congress needs to address the problems with the VA and that hasn’t been done yet. We should take better care of the veterans who have fought in our country’s wars.
APR: The President has discussed spending a $trillion on infrastructure needs. The national budget deficit is $567 billion. Do you support the President’s infrastructure plan even if it means increasing the debt?
Judge Moore: I think we can work on infrastructure without increasing our debt. The infrastructure needs cold be paid for by shifting resources and cutting expensive programs that don’t work.
APR: Tax reform is becoming a major topic of discussion in Washington. Do you support a fair tax, a flat tax, or simply reforming the present multi-tier income tax system?
Judge Moore: I support the fair tax because it is a tax on consumption. Another viable alternative is the flat tax.
Moore thought that reforming the present multi tier tax structure was not a viable option saying that the, “Internal revenue system is inept…..at best.”
APR: Would you support an amendment to the US Constitution declaring that life begins at conception and banning abortion across the United States?
Judge Moore: Absolutely. I support an amendment declaring that life begins at conception. We wouldn’t need it if the United States Supreme Court ruled according to the law.
APR: Do you support a bill demanding that all 50 states honor the concealed carry permits of every other state?
Judge Moore: I support reciprocity. Especially when certain members of congress want to exempt themselves from the laws that apply to the rest of us.
APR: A Syrian government jet fighter attacked an American backed rebel militia group. US commanders ordered an American Navy F/A-18 to shoot down the Syrian Su-22. The Russians who are also engaged in Syria then threatened to shoot down American aircraft if they get in the way of Russian-Syrian operations and Russian jet fighters buzzed an American aircraft operating in the Black Sea. Does this Syrian situation have the potential to escalate into a general war and what should US policy be?
Moore said that he was not privy to the classified intel of what exactly happened with that downing of the Syrian jet by the US Navy and would just have to talk with the commanders on the ground before reaching a conclusion about that incident.
Moore supports President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Accords on the climate.
APR: Are the courts or the Congress the proper place under the Constitution to investigate allegations against the President?
Judge Moore: That Congress has already wasted too much time investigating allegations against the President, and that it should get back to work doing the business of the American people.
Chief Justice Moore is one of ten Republicans and eight Democrats who are campaigning for the Senate vacancy created when Senator Jeff Sessions (R) was confirmed as US Attorney General.
The special major party primaries will be on August 15, 2017 and the Special General Election will be on December 12.
