Election Day is just around the corner. NHPR is sitting down with the candidates running in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District to hear their pitch to voters in these final weeks.
Read on for NHPR Morning Edition host Rick Ganley’s interview with Republican Lily Tang Williams.
What questions do you have for the candidates running for Congress and governor in the 2024 election? What issues do you want them to address while seeking your vote? Share your thoughts here.
Transcript
You've talked a lot about wanting to implement spending cuts and address the national debt if elected to Congress. What actual spending cuts would you like to see? Where would you start?
Well, I think we should start by freezing all federal hirings, and then we will look at the cross budget, because Sen. Rand Paul actually has a proposal like a Six Penny Plan. If you stick to that, within 10 years, 15 years, the national debt will be paid down and of course, a balanced budget and all that good stuff. It used to be called like Two [or] Three Penny Plan, but with inflation now it's Six Penny Plan.
So I always tell people when I was laid off, my family was suffering financially. We had to cut down our family spending 20% on expenses, because we rely on one income for a family of five and paying all the same bills, and there's no way we could've survived if we did not cut down. But we are $35 trillion in national debt now, and the interest payments to service the debt is over $1 trillion.
Specifically, are there specific programs that you would be looking to target?
Oh, I have to look at it all. But I do advocate for years now that I don't think the central government and should have control of education and dictate [to] states the standards and the curriculum, the data collection. So I would like to actually -- That's the first department I would like to at least cut significantly and give the money --
Would you want to eliminate the Department of Education?
Yeah, or cut down to the minimum to do basic functions of like some Title I and give back to states. Because in New Hampshire we really like to have local control. And local school boards sometimes don't even like state government telling them what to do. And local control means also parent control.
I know you're in support of raising the retirement age for Social Security. Do you believe the federal government should privatize some of it or all of it? Are there other changes to that program in particular you'd support?
I have not actually publicly said I would support raising the retirement age. I just said that I have been telling seniors I support, I will protect your Social Security and Medicare because lots of people are hurting today and on fixed incomes, and they pay the money into this program through all the years of working life, and they should have peace of mind. I'm with them because I really feel their pain. And --
But would you want to see changes to the program?
I have not seen anything proposed yet. And and that's a different topic. And the thing is though, I want to stop government from looting the Social Security trust fund and the lockbox. There's no lockbox. Money is gone. It's new generations paying for older generations' retirement. But if [the] government stayed to their promise in the beginning, they should not touch that. And we should not give any illegal immigrants to share that part of the pie either, because that's just draining even more, you know, financial resources for our retirees.
Well, I don't believe illegal immigrants are entitled to them, but I want get on to another topic while we have you. The civilian death toll in Gaza and Lebanon continues to rise. Violence between Israel and Iran is escalating. What role do you believe the U.S. should have in those conflicts?
Well, my heart goes to all the civilian casualties in the wars in the world today. And I think the world is on fire because they really see the United States as a weak and absent leadership in the White House right now. I always say that Israel does have a right to defend itself, have the right to exist, and we need to try our best to bring peace to the table.
Do you believe the U.S. should send additional monetary or military aid to Israel?
Well, we don't have money, that's the problem. But I stand with Israel morally and emotionally and diplomatically, and that's the only ally we have in the Middle East and only democracy. I would like to see the Abraham Accords peace deals continue to go on so we can have stability in the Middle East, because at any time when you're involve in wars like this, and innocent people get hurt and I think nobody wants their children to die in the wars --
Do you think any kind of aid the U.S. would give should have conditions on it?
I need to read those bills. I was always raising questions about the foreign aid and continu[ing] to support foreign conflict. And I understand that we all stand with our allies and, you know, in terms of moral high ground and to support our allies. But in terms of dollar amount, I always look at our own situation to see, do we have that financial strength? It's like my brother, if I'm broke, my brother say, 'Sister, I need the money.' I say, 'I'm sorry, I love you, but I don't have money to give to you.' So that's something I cannot pretend I know everything before I even read the specific bills. But my foreign policy is peace through strength.
I know you're running in this race as a Republican. You did seek office as a Libertarian in Colorado, and I know you signed the Free State Project pledge here in New Hampshire. That is a Libertarian group that aims to restructure government. How do you see your position on the political spectrum now?
Well, I call myself a liberty leaning Republican, and I was a Republican for 13 years. And when they expanded, like the Patriot Act and the bailout of the banks, I got upset. I left. And that's why I always tell people I'm truly independent. I put my principle over party and country over party, and I'm absolutely against, you know, civilian citizens without due process.
But then I ran for the Libertarian Party because I just wanted to tell my stories and to warn people. I don't want this country to go down the wrong path. And the Free State Project is just a nonprofit organization that helped me to move here. And I'm not active right now because I come here, do my own thing. That's what they want you to do. You come here, do whatever work or whatever cause you want to work on. And I already explained to people many times all libertarians actually are moderate in terms of we are classic liberal but fiscally conservative. We want peace. So there's lots of attacks from my opponent about me being libertarian like labeling me as extremist and anti-democracy. I think that's not right.
Read more from NHPR about the Free State Project and its mission here.
Let me ask you, where in the Republican Party you kind of see yourself exerting influence, were you to be in Washington?
Well, I'd like to be really cutting down out of control federal spending, because I want our economy to grow and people have prosperity, keep more money they earn.
Would you want to align yourself, for instance, with the Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House?
I was told once you join [the] caucus, you give the voting key to them. So I don't like that. I like to remain my independence. I will go to Congress as a Republican, and that's something that I want to do. And I have to keep rest just to check in to because I have not met lots of people, shake hands with them and and interview people where I should be. I like to take my time to make that decision. I don't know, because I like to maintain my independence. Our state is very independent. I want to be representing the people in my district.
