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 Morning Edition host Rick Ganley’s interview with Republican John E. Sununu. Sununu is a former U.S. senator and congressman for New Hampshire.
Sununu spoke about the cost of living, housing and health care. He also discussed the war in Iran and said Congress should take back the power it has ceded to the executive branch over time.
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
You left the Senate nearly two decades ago now for the private sector. So what are the contributions to public service that you made in that time?
Look, [I] focused on a number of nonprofits and charitable organizations. I served on the board of the American University of Beirut for 12 years. It's a great 150-year-old, American-accredited institution, a great opportunity for soft diplomacy, really, and one of the most effective pieces of soft diplomacy in America's arsenal. It focuses on liberal arts education, recognizes equality between men and women, freedom of speech — obviously, values that are important to Americans, but really important to promote overseas as well.
I served on the board of the Edward [M.] Kennedy Institute for the [United States] Senate, not partisan, set up with Ted Kennedy's legacy in mind, but really focused on the institution of Congress and how it works. It's an educational institution. They have a scale model of the floor of the United States Senate so they can bring students in, do mock Congress, mock debates and the like.
I think that kind of involvement in nonprofit and community is really just as important as running for public office, holding public office. Because these are institutions that are important to people, whether they're politically focused or not.
We've heard from many voters here in New Hampshire that the cost of living is a major concern. I know you know that. Are there specific policies that you would support or propose in the Senate to lower everyday costs for people in the state?
In fact, the day I announced — which, it’s hard to believe, is 10 months ago — affordability was the first thing that I focused my campaign on. Because it is a real issue. When prices went up 20% over a three-year period under President Biden, wages didn't go up 20%. Wages might have gone up 10% during that time. So people lost ground and they're still feeling it. And until wages continue to increase higher than inflation for several years, they're going to feel that pressure.
What are some specific policies, though?
Housing, health care, energy. Those are the three areas where I really put the focus on. On health care, we need to force providers to compete across state lines. More competition drives down prices. We need to give a health savings account to everyone that wants one. We shouldn't have barriers to that like we do today.
Regulations. You talk to a nurse, talk to a doctor. How much time are they spending dealing with federal regulations in their office? It's not 5% of their time. It's 20 or 25%. So these are costs that we all bear within the system.
On housing, let's get rid of the tariffs on building materials. Bring down the cost of construction for housing right away and on the federal funds we get for housing. What are they? They’re the HOME [Investment Partnerships] program, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, Community Development Block Grants. Too often they have federal requirements thought up by someone in Washington that aren't necessary for people in New Hampshire working to develop workforce housing and affordable housing, so we can do better in applying those funds in a way that makes sense for the working families of New Hampshire.
Now, when you served in Washington before, you did not shy away from policies that aim to make significant structural changes to the government. In the House, you backed moving to a flat tax at one point. In the Senate, you pushed to partially privatize Social Security. Should voters expect you to push for structural changes to address the debt? It's grown by $11 trillion during President Trump's term.
What you didn't mention is I was on the budget committee when we balanced the budget. We passed a balanced budget agreement that cut taxes and cut spending and it balanced the budget over just like a two- or three-year period.
Where would you make cuts today?
In the budget bill that was passed, they obviously saved a tremendous amount of money by restricting access to Medicaid from those that are in the country illegally, adding a work requirement to Medicaid, which I think [is] something that is broadly supported in the state of New Hampshire.
You've read, I've read, about the fraud in Medicare, which is obviously robbing funds from a program that's so incredibly important to our retirees. And it's not a billion or 2 billion. It's tens of billions of dollars, in Minnesota and California and New York. So we need to do a much better job in making sure that a program like Medicare, that the funds that are there, are being directed to those that are most in need.
You do talk about billions in savings. The U.S. has been at war with Iran since the end of February. Congress has largely been absent from any oversight or decision making with that. What role should the Senate play?
Look, I think the Senate in general needs to be pushing to one, reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Two, ensure a long-term policy that prevents Iran from getting access to a nuclear weapon that's obviously destabilizing for the region, but it's a threat to America's national security objectives.
I think the other really important component is in supporting the negotiations between Israel and Lebanon that are ongoing right now to dismantle and disarm Hezbollah. Iran's support, financial support, for terrorist proxies in the region — thousands of Americans have been killed by those proxies — but it's destabilizing to the region and to governments. I think historically, the U.S. government has done a good job of supporting the military in Lebanon, which is one of the most respected institutions in that country, and now we need to continue to support the government in Lebanon, which is probably the best government that Lebanon has had in decades.
But would you support, if the president came and said, “I want billions more for this war” — would you be in support of that?
I’ve said I don't support putting boots on the ground. I don't think that's going to further the mission. I certainly said that it was a mistake to go in in the first place without having a plan for protecting the Strait of Hormuz. I think that's a tactical mistake that was made.
Now, President Trump, who has endorsed you here in his second term, he's been testing the limits of how much power the executive branch does have over federal spending and other congressional powers. You've said Congress should exert those constitutional powers. How will you do that in the Senate? Will you go against your president? Will you go against your party?
So I think the opportunity here is, as you allude to, to take back the power that Congress has given to the executive branch over time, to Democrat and Republican presidents. We've given the executive branch too much power over funds, the power of the purse, and too much power over tariffs. This is a good example. You know, the president has cited multiple pieces of legislation in pursuing tariffs. Five or six different pieces of legislation. Now the president probably ought to have power in certain circumstances. But if there are six pieces of legislation, that's probably four or five too many.
So Congress needs to step up, review those powers that they've given to the executive and in a bipartisan way, take back the power that was granted to Congress in the first place.
