4TH DISTRICT: Congressman Himes shares views on economics, health, education, war

“What worries me the most is how fast our economy will continue to recover,” Congressman Jim Himes said. “...We’re adding about 100,000 jobs a month, which is very, very slow. It’s going to be hard to deal with a lot of issues we have to deal with — fiscal issues — unless we see good growth.”

A first term Democrat representing the 17 towns in Connecticut’s 4th District, Mr. Himes faces a fall election campaign against Shelton State Senator Dan Debicella, winner of the Aug. 10 Republican primary.

He’s been mixing work in Washington with visits around the district, did a Aug. 6 walking tour of Ridgefield’s Main Street and commercial districts.

He asked Ridgefield Hardware owner Jerry Rabin if he had seen “a downturn” in sales.

“Last year we were off in the 8% range,” Mr. Rabin said. “It hasn’t rebounded.”

“What do you see on the bank side, working capital?” the congressman asked.

While he has a line of credit. Mr. Rabin said. “Thank God, I don’t need it.”

“I was talking to a flooring guy in Trumbull,” Mr. Himes said. “...Banks have halved the size of his [credit] lines.”

Democrats’ record

In an Aug. 10 interview, Mr. Himes defended the Democrats’ record.

“The economy has gone from losing about 700,000 jobs the month I took office — January and February 2009, the economy lost 700,000 jobs each — and now we’re adding,” he said. “The last economic report was about 100,000 private sector jobs added.”

Many census jobs ended, but private sector jobs grew for the sixth straight month.

“Not enough growth to make anybody happy,” he said, “but it’s better than losing 700,000 jobs a month.”

On the walking tour, Mr. Himes took the long view.

“I think this administration has really led on an issue which is really critical to our long-term growth, which is education,” he said. “I’m so much more interested in working on education than the finger-in-the-dike stuff of fiscal reform. In crisis, you don’t hear the word ‘education’ a lot, but any long-term prosperity depends on how we’re educating our kids.”

A member of the House Financial Services Committee with a Wall Street background — he’s a former vice president of Goldman Sachs — Congressman Himes got involved in financial reform.

After 2008’s financial crisis and the ensuing economic slump, he worked on the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

“In the face of some of the most outrageous and high intensity lobbying this country has ever seen, we passed a financial reform bill,” Mr. Himes told Democrats recently.

The law addresses causes of the economic crisis, estimated to have cost eight million jobs and $17 trillion in savings. It creates a process to shut down “too big to fail” financial firms whose collapse might put the whole economy at risk — without taxpayer bailouts.

The bill creates a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, uniting consumer protection work under one authority.

The reform sets standards for dealers in complex securities such as financial derivatives — like credit default swaps. This approach requires openness but allows trading so “end users” like farmers and manufacturers may continue using the securities to insure against fluctuations in crop prices or changes in foreign currency values.

“Transparency is key to making any market work well,” Mr. Himes said when the bill passed. “That means consumers need to understand their mortgages, and banks can’t be permitted to hide their riskiest activity from the people whose money they are managing or the regulators trusted with keeping our financial system safe.”

Mixed feelings

While backing President Obama on many other issues, Congressman Himes has mixed feelings on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m very happy we’re drawing down our forces in Iraq, and I’ve sort of crystallized my thinking on Afghanistan over a period of time, and I have to say, I’m at odds with the President’s strategy,” he said. “We’re engaged in enormously expensive — in terms of both lives and dollars — nation-building in Afghanistan. I’ve come to the point of view that strategy is unlikely to succeed.

“So I strongly favor maintaining a military presence in Afghanistan, but on bases and for the sole purpose of destroying terrorist infrastructure and hunting terrorists.”

The cost would be less — for Afghans as well as Americans — he says.

“We’re fighting the Taliban all over Afghanistan and inflicting immense collateral damage. The Taliban are very bad people, but our real target is Al-Qaeda,” he said.

“You inflict less collateral damage with a counterterrorism strategy,” he said.

“We’re trying to build a nation in the face of shifting tribal allegiances, drug runners, a president we can’t trust. It’s just not a strategy that’s working.”

Health care reform

While the health care reform passed by Democrats over fierce Republican opposition is controversial, Mr. Himes said, it has supporters as well as opponents. “Any time you make a tough decision you make some people happy and make some people unhappy,” he said.

A poll in July of his constituents found “45% of people approved of the health care law and 45% disapproved, and 10% didn’t know,” he said.

He’s talked to seniors now getting help with the ”donut hole” in Medicare coverage, and parents who can put kids under 26 in their insurance.

“It’s rolling out in ways that people are beginning to see some of the benefits,” he said. “While health care has always been controversial, the substantial majority of our constituents say: ‘Don’t repeal it, give it a chance, let’s see how it works.’ ”

Before a crowd of party faithful at the opening of Ridgefield Democratic headquarters Aug. 6, Mr. Himes was unabashed in support of President Obama.

“I am proud of what this President has done, this President you elected,” he said.

“I do not shy away from any of the votes I’ve taken.”

Mr. Himes said later that the campaign would be difficult in a “swing district” Republicans held for decades.

“It’s going to be a tough election,” he said. “But I think people are going to have a very clear choice between a group of people who jumped into the forest fire and did the best they could, and the Republicans who say flat out they’re going back to the policies of the Bush administration: They’d repeal health care reform, they’d deregulate Wall Street, they stand up for BP.”

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