Congressman Andy Kim Offers Vision, Pragmatic Leadership

at League of Women Voters / WHYY Forum

MARLTON, NJ — Tonight, Congressman Andy Kim offered a broad vision for the future of his community and a commitment to bipartisan, pragmatic leadership at the League of Women Voters / WHYY Forum. In contrast, his opponent consistently pushed policies that would actively work against the health, safety, and futures of the people of Burlington and Ocean County. On issues from climate change to health care, gun safety to inequality, Andy consistently stood out as the candidate who best understands what his community needs.

ON HEALTH CARE

Despite recently changing his position, Mr. Richter stands with the president on gutting the ACA.

Andy Kim. “Health care is a right and everyone in this country should have health care. Now how we get there is something we need to talk through and find really pragmatic solutions to be able to do this and hopefully in a bipartisan way, which is why the very first bill that I introduced in Congress was a bipartisan health care piece of legislation with Congressman Fitzpatrick, a Republican from across the river over in Pennsylvania where we tried to make sure we were moving forward to address issues like state health exchanges. […] I disagree with President Trump’s efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act and I worry that David Richter is not going to stand up to that when push comes to shove.

ON GUN SAFETY

Receiving a perfect A+ from the NRA, Mr. Richter proved he will not stand up to the gun lobby.

Andy Kim: “Look I have to say that my opponent Mr. Richter is someone who opposes a lot of this. He continues to push forward in this way that I think is very dangerous for our community. That’s why he received an A+ rating from the NRA. He’s the only candidate in the entire state of New Jersey that’s endorsed by the NRA this year and I think it’s because they know that he’s someone that’s going to stand in the way of universal background checks for gun safety and these other issues that we know are necessary.”

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Opposed to the Paris Climate Accord, Mr. Richter is out of touch on addressing climate change.

Andy Kim: “This is a national security crisis. The fact that I have to say in this day and age that I believe in science and I believe in facts because we know that there are people who are propagating falsehoods when it comes to climate change and that’s something that this district knows first hand, the challenges of climate change. […] I believe we need to find real practical tangible steps to address this like making sure that we can find energy efficiency efforts to make sure we can find the energy of the future that will create a lot of good paying jobs right here in New Jersey and around the country. But what my opponent David Richter has consistently done is he supports pulling us out of the Paris Climate Agreement; something I think is a disastrous step backwards; something that puts us in the league with Libya, Iran, Iraq, South Sudan, Eritrea, Turkey. These are the only countries in the world that have supported this policy that Mr. Richter supports and I think that is something that is clearly not in line with the science, clearly not in line with the direction our country should be going.”

ON SECURING FEDERAL FUNDING FOR NEW JERSEY

Refusing to fight for the people of NJ, Mr. Richter is against federal funds for COVID-19 relief.

Andy Kim: “Here in New Jersey we pay more than our fair share. We only get back 81 cents for every dollar we put into the federal government. We’re getting screwed over here, and I think that trying to get more back to our state especially during a national security crisis like the coronavirus crisis is a really important step. So this is about our fair share, that we are giving more than $20 billion to the federal government and we have for years and years and years while other states like Kentucky get over $2 for every dollar they put into the federal government. So this isn’t about blue state bailotus, it’s about fairness. […] That’s why I disagree with my opponent David Richter on his position opposing federal funds back to our state especially during a crisis.

ON ADDRESSING INEQUALITY IN AMERICA

Recently stating “inequality in and of itself is not an issue,” Mr. Richter does not understand what working people in this nation are experiencing right now.

Andy Kim: “This issue of inequality in our nation is really at the fundamental core of so many of the issues we face. The first thing it requires to be able to tackle inequality is to recognize that it is a problem. I have to tell you I was a little shocked when I read a line in a Star-Ledger article the other day that quoted my opponent David Richter who said “I don’t think inequality in and of itself is an issue.” I disagree with that fundamentally.”