Buchanan, Schneider face off in 16th Congressional District debate

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, and Jan Schneider, who is hoping to unseat the incumbent, faced off Friday afternoon in the Bradenton Herald forum at METV studios.

The two candidates — Buchanan, who was first elected to Congress in 2006 and won the GOP primary, and Democratic primary winner Schneider — are vying to represent the 16th Congressional District, which includes Manatee County and portions of Sarasota and Hillsborough counties.

The Affordable Care Act, foreign affairs and the federal budget were among the issues Buchanan and Schneider debated during the 40-minute forum.

The country is growing broke as a result of the Affordable Care Act, Buchanan said.

“I think health care has just gone through the roof,” he said. “Nobody can afford it. Small businesses can’t afford it. They are pushing more of the cost to the employee and even then, they are paying more than they ever paid.”

But the Affordable Care Act is not the problem, Schneider said.

“We have much more fundamental problems in our whole health care system,” she said. “It has brought more than 20 million adults who lack health insurance into the system. Now, I happen to think Medicare is the answer not necessarily a problem.”

In regard to foreign affairs, Schneider said there would be no U.S. troops sent to Syria.

“I don’t think we should have direct confrontations with the Russians in Syria or boots on the ground,” she said. “I think we need greater support for Israel. I am appalled by the tension that has occurred between Israel and the United States in recent years.”

Pointing to the Middle East and Northern Africa, Buchanan said many of those states are ungovernable.

“It’s never been worse,” he said. “The world is on fire. ... It’s worse than it’s ever been, and in terms of Syria, we got to find a way that we can work together with the international community. I agree with Jan. I don’t like to see more boots on the ground, but we got to be able to take them out over there and not have to deal with them here.”

The two candidates differed on whether a balanced budget amendment would be beneficial.

Buchanan said such an amendment is needed.

“I’m going to continue to fight that they don’t spend more than they take in,” he said.

But such an amendment would be dangerous, Schneider said.

“In order to get to better balanced budgets, I think we need tax reform,” she said. “We also need to eliminate unwarranted subsidies to certain industries. We need to reform the federal budget process.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2016 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Buchanan, Schneider face off in 16th Congressional District debate."