Ahead of the state primary on Sept. 8, NHPR is speaking with the top candidates in the race for U.S. Senate.
It’s an open primary for both sides of the ballot, following Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s announcement that she would not seek reelection after three terms.
Read on for NHPR’s Morning Edition host Rick Ganley’s interview with Republican Scott Brown. Brown is a former U.S. senator from Massachusetts and former ambassador to New Zealand.
Brown spoke about the cost of living, housing and health care. He also discussed the war in Iran and the national debt.
What questions do you have about this year's elections? Let us know at voices@nhpr.org, and we could help you get the answers.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Transcript
What issue will you prioritize as a U.S. senator?
Well, there are a couple of them. Obviously, the cost of goods. Being the only grandfather in this race, I understand wholeheartedly because I'm dealing with it right now, not only with my two daughters, but my four grandchildren. The cost of housing, the cost of childcare is crazy. Obviously, health care, energy costs, just going to the grocery store…I do all the shopping at Market Basket, you can get X there, and then I have to go over to Hannaford's and then maybe over to BJ's to actually make those things balance out. The high cost of gas certainly is important and [so is] health care. Other than that, there's nothing going on.
Well, we've heard from a lot of listeners that say cost of living is top of mind. So what policies would you specifically support or propose in the Senate to lower costs?
Well, listen, it needs to be a joint effort and all-hands-on-deck when you're talking about these things. A lot of it is overregulation, especially in housing. When you're going to build a house, for example, and say, buy a $200,000 lot, by the time you get [to] shovel one, it's up to $350 [thousand] because a lot of the regulatory restrictions, going to the various boards, the check and recheck, you have the federal, then you have the state, and then you have the local. And by the time you're done, it's really onerous.
And when you're talking about health care, the bureaucracy associated with it is 40 to 60% of the costs. Now I, as you know, was elected to stop Obamacare because we had Romneycare, which allowed for the Cadillac plans all the way down to the fully-subsidized for people that couldn't afford it. And then when Obamacare came in, it basically destroyed that option. And now we find out that Obamacare is not affordable. It's being subsidized. It's on a deck of cards, I believe.
So if you repeal the Affordable Care Act…
I never said repeal.
What would you replace it with? Or how would you change it?
I would try to fix it like I did when I first got elected. There are mechanisms to do that, but it's going to take a bipartisan effort, and I believe we can do it better in the states. I believe that we should be able to go across state lines and compete and allow competition to sneak into the process, allow insurance companies to basically do that to cover us.
I appreciate the president giving us the “favored nation status” on a lot of our drugs because we're creating them, yet we're paying top dollar. I want to be part of that solution as I was when I did it before. It's very important to think that somehow we shouldn't be providing health care. It's forcing people to go to hospitals and use those uncompensated health care pools that are draining our resources.
Here's a big difference. Chris Pappas voted against the Big, Beautiful Bill. In there was $500 million for our rural health centers. It's $100 million a year for five years. Now, that could be used to to deal with a lot of our local health care issues, especially in the Lakes [Region] and the North Country.
The United States has been at war with Iran since the end of February. Congress has been largely absent from any oversight or decision making in that conflict. What role should the Senate play in this war?
Well, I've said I supported the president doing this in the beginning. John [E. Sununu] and Chris [Pappas] said that we shouldn't have done nothing. The thought of Iran having a nuclear weapon is unconscionable. I've been to that area of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Dubai, Jordan, Kuwait, and it's a thriving area.
Iran has been the big bully in the region forever. And we've tried everything. So what the president did with Epic Fury, I supported it. What he did when they said they had enough nuclear material to make 11 nuclear bombs, I thought it was appropriate. But if the president's going to actually put 50,000 troops on the ground, he needs congressional approval and the support of the people.
Would he have your support?
I need to get in there and do the deep dive and see what the plan and end game is. I'm the only one in this race with any military experience: 39 years. I started as an enlisted man, retired as a colonel, advising the Joint Chiefs [of Staff] on the law of war, the rules of engagement, I rewrote the sexual assault regulations. They don't have that experience, and that's one advantage I have over both of them.
It's pretty clear the war has not gone as hoped. Polls indicate a vast majority of Granite Staters, roughly two-thirds, believe it was the wrong decision for the U.S. to attack. And as we speak, there's no clear exit plan. Who should be held responsible for the state of things, how they are right now? As this war reaches its sixth month, with the billions of dollars that it has cost, who's got the responsibility?
Well, I think obviously the president and his team have the responsibility. They need to have a plan. I would have suggested, if I were there advising him or giving him suggestions, everything that [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent is doing right now on the alternative economic sanctions on the countries like Russia and China and others that are buying their black market oil and those sorts of things that are giving the resources. I would have done that immediately.
Once we knew that they were down and we were ready to go and they said, “No más. We need help. Let's stop. Let's do a deal.” I knew they were going to do the old dog and pony show. I knew that. The president should have known that. I don't mind him giving him a chance. But not six months of chances.
So I would have done all of the economic sanctions immediately and that would have forced them, I would have thought, to the table. So yeah, listen, he's going to need to come up with a plan. And the only one with military experience and the only one, quite frankly, who's independent — I don't owe anybody anything. I didn't get the president's endorsement, John [E. Sununu] did. That's a guy that was with [John] Kasich, Nikki Haley, and wrote an op ed calling the president a loser, but somehow he got that endorsement.
You said the national debt is a top issue for us, for you. Would you authorize more spending for this war?
Actually, if I may just finish my previous statement. I'm the only one who owes nobody anything except the people in New Hampshire. They're my special interests.
With regard to the national debt. Yes, it's doubled under President Trump and President Biden. And when I was there, it was a $9 trillion national debt. It's a deck of cards. I believe it's our most important economic issue facing the country right now. We can't keep quantitative easing. We can't keep printing money.
Would I authorize it? Once again, I'm not going to be that guy who's going to say A, B, C, or D. I'm going to get in there like I always do. I read the bills. I see how they affect our state, country, debt and deficit. I need to get in there and get those top secret briefings and see what the exit plan is, and what the advantages and disadvantages are of not doing anything or doing something.
Now, the president has made clear that independence is not something he is looking for from his fellow Republicans. How would you navigate pressure from President Trump on policies where you do differ?
Well, that's probably why I didn't get his endorsement, because I'm the guy that calls balls and strikes. John [E. Sununu] doesn't have that luxury. If you think that John or Chris [Pappas] are going to go in and say to the president or anyone else, “Sir, I'm not going to do it.” It's never going to happen. Just follow the money. They've given millions and millions of dollars.
I am the only independent person in this race and it's so refreshing. It reminds me of when I ran and stopped the Democrat supermajority when [Ted] Kennedy died. I had no help. And yet we won. I was able to pass the insider trading bill within six or seven months. And when I left, they weakened it.
So you want somebody in there who's independent, and if you want somebody who's going to stand up and fight for New Hampshire and not just use it as a soundbite, I'm clearly your guy.
