Democrat Scott Brion splits with Marino on most issues

Scott Brion’s family has lived in same town and on the same land for about 200 years. After working in the private energy sector for the last 20 years, Brion, a Tioga County Democrat, is making his first run for political office. He's challenging U.S. Rep. Tom Marino (R-Williamsport) in a three-way race for the 10th Congressional District, with independent Nick Troiano of Dingmans Ferry also in the race.

“I really believe that Congress is failing us,” Brion said. “I’m angry because they are not doing anything.”

Too much of Congressional politics are “based on party lines,” he said.

Like all other candidates for the seat, Brion supports fracking. He said he was an advocate for landowners looking to lease their land for drilling.

Economy
Brion blames Congress for “shooting us in the foot” and disrupting the economy with battles over the debt limit and the resulting government shutdown. He said the shutdown caused billions of dollars in negative economic impact.

Brion believes government investments in education and infrastructure will improve the economy. Worries over the national debt are “often overstated," he said.

“Debt is not always bad,” he said. “We need to grow the economy, so we can lower the debt.”

Affordable Care Act
Brion supports the Affordable Care Act, which he said “improved the situation.” The costs of health care “are stabilizing,” he said.

Brion said he gets his health insurance through the federal health exchange, and that it costs him less than his previous private insurance. “It’s starting to work,” he said.

While Marino said many of the business owners he has spoken to are worried about the rising cost of health insurance and whether they can provide it to their workers, Brion said that is “not the experience I’ve seen.”

He said he's aware of Walmart's intention to cut the hours of part-time hours of workers as a result of the Affordable Care Act. But Brion said most small businesses are not cutting hours.

Education
Brion said many voters consider education their top issue. Unfunded federal mandates on schools are leading to programming cuts in local districts. The sequester cut funding to schools, which, he said, resulted in an increase of property taxes. Marino supported the sequester, during which time Milford Beach was closed before reopening with money from gas companies.

Farm Bill
As somebody who grew up on a farm, Brion said the Farm Bill should be directed to small family farms instead of big factory farms.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps, were cut as a result of the Farm Bill and other measures in Congress. Brion said SNAP is “an important program that needs to be funded.” He said he supports measures to make SNAP more efficient.

Brion said he opposes Marino's proposal requiring that SNAP recipients be drug-tested.

Government surveillance
Brion said he is “very concerned” about government surveillance programs identified by Edward Snowden, such as the National Security Agency’s collection of data on the phone calls and Internet activity of American citizens.

“I think the government has no business monitoring our emails and personal telephone calls,” Brion said. “The government needs to stay out of those areas.”

Immigration
Brion said he supports comprehensive immigration reform that would allow undocumented workers to stay here.

International affairs
Brion says the U.S. should be “very cautious” when confronting ISIS, the terrorist group responsible for the deaths of thousands in Iraq and Syria.

Brion said he supports strengthening the Iraq government to help face the threat from ISIS. He called the situation in Syria “very complex” because of the civil war there.

“We have to assess that situation closely,” he said. “The real issue is we need to know what the end game is.”

Please see related story: "Marino facing challenge for 10th Congressional District": http://bit.ly/1nKd7Er.