With the June 3rd primary just less than a week away, third district Congressman Leonard Boswell is defending his decision not to debate his Democratic challenger. Boswell and challenger Ed Fallon, who are both from Des Moines, have been invited to participate in several debates or candidate forums. Boswell says his heavy workload in Washington, D.C. is keeping him from a debate.
Boswell says he has more to do than just campaign and says there have been some very important issues going on, such as the farm bill. Boswell says working on the farm bill was a top priority. Boswell says he is back in his district as often as he can and says the voters have plenty of access to him and Fallon.
On another topic, Boswell says he backs Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, but does not back Clinton’s proposal to suspend the federal gas tax. "I don’t think that would get us very far to where we want to go," Boswell says. Boswell says a better way to stimulate the economy would be to funnel more money into road, bridge and railroad repair.
Boswell says it’s pretty well agreed on from the statistics that if you put one billion dollars into road infrastructure, it creates about 47-thousand "good-paying jobs" that are not exportable. Boswell is seeking his seventh two-year term in Congress. Fallon, a former state legislator who also has run for governor, is challenging Boswell in the primary.