Editor's Note: This is the third installment of Patch's interactive voter guide for the upcoming election. You can expect to see coverage here on every national, state and local race affecting Ridgefield. Click here for instructions on how to use this guide. Click here for more articles in the 2010 Patch Voter Guide.

The Situation   

• Jim Himes and Dan Debicella are vying for the 4th Congressional District on Nov. 2. The race for this seat at the U.S. House of Representatives has been an intense one that Fairfield County residents have been watching closely. Read on to see where the candidates differ on various issues.

Fast Facts:

• Himes is in his first term representing Connecticut's 4th Congressional District. He's running for re-election on a platform of economic recovery, job creation, improving transportation and closing the achievement gap in Connecticut's schools, among other issues.
• Debicella has been serving as a state senator for the 21st District since 2007. He is running on a platform of creating jobs, cutting health care costs and operating with a smaller government.

The Rundown

• Candidate                  Jim Himes                               Dan Debicella
  
• Age                                 44                                                   35
• Residence                   Cos Cob                                         Shelton
• Political Party          Democrat                                      Republican
• Website                       www.himesforcongress.com     www.debicella.com
• E-Mail                          None provided                             info@debicella.com
• Phone                           203-987-3333                             203-663-2777
• Family                         Married to Mary                          Married to Alexandra

                                                    two daughters

• Education:
  
  • Himes graduated from Harvard University and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he earned a masters degree in philosophy.
  • Debicella graduated with a degree in economics from the Wharton School and went on to earn a masters in business administration from the Harvard Business School.

• Professional                     
  
  • Himes is the former Vice President of Goldman, Sachs & Co. He left a career in business to lead as vice president of the non-profit Enterprise Community Partners where he arranged financing for the construction of affordable housing units in the greater New York metropolitan area.
  • Debicella worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co. from 2000-2005, then as the director of stragegy for PepsiCo from 2005-2008 and currently serves, in addition to state senator, as an Assistant Vice President of marketing for The Hartford Financial Services.

The Exchange

Patch posed the following questions to each candidate. Questions are in bold, and candidate responses are in italics. The candidates were given a 200-word upper limit.

• Both of you have expressed support for extending the so-called Bush tax cuts, but what would you propose cutting from government spending to pay for that extension?

Debicella: My plan focuses on three key issues: creating real short-term support for the middle class and small business, reducing uncertainty to create prosperity in the long term, and eliminating our deficit through spending reductions.  Details of my economic plan are included in the next question.

Himes: Because we should do all we can to nurture recovery and avoid a double dip recession, I support a temporary extension of current tax rates for households and businesses with income in excess of $250,000.  A permanent extension of the Bush tax cuts adds $700 billion to the deficit over 10 years. Even a temporary extension requires deficit spending that must ultimately be paid for.  I have already proposed $70 billion in cuts to eliminate unnecessary farm subsidies, strip taxpayer subsidies from oil companies, reduce Defense Department spending as recommended by the President, and streamline operations. Longer term, if we are serious about fiscal responsibility we will address entitlement spending. We must make Social Security and Medicare sustainable without changing the deal for those who rely, or will soon rely, on those programs and without adding unnecessary risk.  We should reduce spending through a continued reduction of our presence in Iraq and Afghanistan, and recalibrate our security efforts to better address the threats of the 21st century. Finally, we should eliminate tax breaks encouraging companies to create jobs abroad rather than here at home. This will regain revenue lost through loopholes and increase the number of workers paying taxes.

• What would you do to stimulate economic growth and job creation? Judging the current state of the economy, what can you do to improve the economic situation and where do you see us a year from now?

Himes: We need to do everything we can to drive growth and encourage job creation.  We should invest more in the infrastructure that will keep us prosperous: our data and power networks, our railways, bridges, airports and highways, all of which are crumbling. Doing so will put Americans to work. We should continue to unfreeze credit for small businesses and not risk their growth by raising their taxes at this point. A year from now, we had better be moving towards innovative, clean, cheap, American energy sources — and away from imported oil. The energy revolution will dwarf the IT revolution in terms of job and wealth creation, and I want to Connecticut to lead, not follow. Most importantly, there is no substitute for an educated, innovative workforce. I am proud of the reforms led by Secretary of Education Duncan, and believe we need to regain our status as the best educated country in the world. I'd like every American child to have a shot at starting a biotechnology company or running a clean energy firm. Locally, we must work together at the federal, state and local level to address the housing, transportation and cost challenges that reduce our competitiveness.

Debicella: We must replace the unspent stimulus funds with a payroll tax cut for middle class families and small businesses.  Instead of more government spending, we need to give relief to small businesses and middle class families.  Specifically, we must repeal the $400 billion in stimulus that has yet to be spent and instead cut the payroll tax in half for one year. This one act will save every Fairfield County family $1,500 in taxes.  It will also provide tax relief to entrepreneurs so they can afford to hire additional employees, putting more people back to work. Second, we must make all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent to provide relief to families and incentives for businesses to hire again, rather than raising taxes amid a recession.  If Washington doesn't act to extend the cuts (as the current Congress continues to put off), the average Fairfield County family faces a $2,700 tax hike on Jan. 1 at the worst possible time.  Small businesses will face a 25 percent increase in their taxes as well—and that uncertainty about extending the cuts is causing them to not hire new workers.  We must not raise taxes on the middle class and small business on Jan. 1.  Finally, we must create a new federal spending cap to force politicians of both parties to live within a budget.

• How will access to health care improve now that thousands more residents are covered? While many might be pleased they have insurance, what good is it if there aren't enough doctors to treat them? How can you ensure access is possible for all?

Debicella: The fundamental problem with healthcare is out-of-control costs, yet Jim Himes' plans focus on covering the uninsured by taxing the already insured. Dan has a detailed plan for cutting the costs of healthcare. It includes:

1. Focus on preventive medicine through a "healthy-living tax credit" so that we can catch diseases early, save lives, and keep the cost of care low
2. Interstate competition between health insurance companies to ensure that premiums are truly controlled by the market
3. Malpractice reform to reign in out-of-control insurance costs for doctors and hospitals
4. Mandate reform to ensure that single women aren't forced to pay for prostate cancer coverage and men aren't paying premiums for mammograms, both of which are happening right now in this country
5. Improvements in electronic patient records and healthcare information technology to streamline the continuum of care and ensure that patients get the right care at the right time, and
6. Low-cost private plans like Governor Rell's Charter Oak Plan that will ensure that fewer people go without healthcare and cover millions of Americans—because we make it affordable for them.

Himes: I am proud that we will soon be able to say that America will no longer tolerate a child becoming critically ill because her parents had no health insurance. But providing expanded access requires that we rapidly expand our primary care infrastructure. Patients that previously sought treatment in emergency rooms (sometimes too late) should now be able to seek care in a lower cost, more appropriate venues. The health care reform law will help relieve shortages in primary care by offering scholarships, loan repayment, and training grant programs to recruit and train many more primary care, nursing, and public health professionals. It also provides increased Medicare reimbursement for primary care providers, and substantially invests in community health clinics which will now see less uncompensated care. Over time, we should seek the real win-win, which is to encourage healthier behavior and reduce the high costs, demands for care and lost productivity associated with obesity and other preventable chronic conditions. Providing previously underserved (and undereducated) populations with early education, guidance and care will improve our overall health, and reduce demands on a stressed system.