A new candidate hopes to unseat four-term U.S. Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin this November.
Mark Curran, the Republican candidate, has been in law enforcement his entire career, but says that he understands the needs of the agricultural industry.
He suggests more tax breaks to help out small farmers.
“It’s the small independent farmer, the ones we need to look out for. We need to make sure they can compete and that all the breaks don’t go towards the big corporate farms,” he said. “I’m somebody that will fight for the middle class. That’s been my mantra, that’s what I believe in.”
Curran says that the government should avoid burdensome regulations.
“One of the things we need to be careful [of] is the onerous administrative rules that they face and I’d like to be careful with regards to keeping on more and more unfunded mandates on the farmer,” he said. “Dealing with EPA, dealing with OSHA, dealing with all the different administrative bodies that the farmer has to deal with on a regular basis, that’s been problematic.”
He admits that climate change is a challenge and says that farmers play an important role in environmental stewardship. He notes, “We need cleaner air, cleaner water, cleaner soil, and I think farmers can contribute in a big way. They have through ethanol and I’d like to continue to see that done.”
He says he supports more trade for Illinois farmers.
“I think that what we are doing, getting into other markets like south and central America is critical,” he said. “Obviously, it’s been a big problem with China not buying our produce as it once had and that’s a concern for us. We want fair trade with China, we don’t want to kill the export of agriculture.”
Curran says his faith guides his desire to support humanitarian efforts around the world.
He adds, “one of the things I’ve talked about doing, as someone who believes in a world view where we have a responsibility towards each other. I think in terms of aid, what I would put at the front would be agriculture, as opposed to financial dollars…”
If elected, he says he would call for a balanced budget amendment to the constitution and term limits for members of Congress and Senate.
For full interview, click HERE.