Insider Blog

Matt Gromlich is running for U.S. House of Representatives District 4.

Read his full questionnaire below.

Question 1

Communities throughout Louisiana's 4th Congressional District compete for private investment, workforce talent, infrastructure resources, and economic development opportunities. What are the three most important actions you would take in Congress to strengthen the economy of Louisiana's 4th District, support existing employers, attract new investment, and create opportunities for long-term economic growth?

I have three key priorities when it comes to economic growth in our district: keep our hospitals open, put real infrastructure in the ground, and make sure the jobs that come here go to local Louisianans.

Rural healthcare is economic development. Minden Medical Center serves more than 70,000 people across Webster, Claiborne and Bienville parishes and employs hundreds. Mercy Regional in Ville Platte carries a $22 million payroll. When a rural hospital closes, the parish loses one of its largest employers. No company relocates staff to a community without an emergency room.

We need infrastructure that businesses can actually count on: water systems, roads, and broadband. Webster Parish has internet available to 97% of the parish but only 61% of households are connected. Fiber projects are already approved and waiting on reimbursement. Federal dollars that have been appropriated should reach the ground instead of sitting in process.

Workforce partnerships must be tied to the investments we are courting. When a large facility like a data center comes into the district, the agreement should include a training partnership with LSU Shreveport, Bossier Parish Community College, Southern University at Shreveport, Northwestern State University, or our other higher education institutions. That way, permanent jobs go to residents rather than transfers from out of state. That's the difference between an investment that pays the parish once and one that pays it for twenty years.

 

Question 2

Barksdale Air Force Base is a critical national security installation and one of the most significant economic assets in Northwest Louisiana. What specific actions would you take in Congress to protect and expand Barksdale's missions, infrastructure, personnel, and long-term strategic importance? How would you work to ensure that the surrounding communities have the infrastructure, workforce, and resources necessary to support future growth at Barksdale?

Barksdale isn't just a local asset. It's the nerve center of America's nuclear deterrent. Air Force Global Strike Command and the Eighth Air Force are headquartered there, and 47 B-52s valued at nearly $4.9 billion sit on that flightline. When people talk about protecting Barksdale, they usually mean protecting jobs in Bossier. I mean protecting both the jobs and the base itself.

I have three commitments. First, we must fund our programs on time. The B-52's engine and radar modernization programs are the difference between a fleet that flies until 2050 and a fleet that ages out. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in July that the engine program is years behind schedule. I'd push for full funding, firm schedule commitments, and real oversight, because a delayed modernization program is how a base loses relevance without anyone voting to close it.

Second, we must invest in the base itself. The Air Force puts the replacement value of Barksdale's buildings and structures at nearly $3.8 billion. Much of that infrastructure is decades old. Military construction funding for Barksdale is necessary. This includes living facilities on base, where servicemen and servicewomen deserve safe and secure housing.

Third, we must build the region around Barksdale. Louisiana's delegation and BRF secured $86.1 million for Global Strike Command earlier this year. That's the right approach, and it should extend to what surrounds the base: housing supply in Bossier, spouse employment, school capacity, and road and utility infrastructure at the gates. Retention is a mission issue. Airmen who can't find housing leave, and a base that can't retain people is a base that gets drawn down.

I'd also work to bring more of the defense supply chain into North Louisiana. We host the command. We should host more of the industry that serves it.

 

Question 3

Employers throughout the district continue to identify workforce availability, skills gaps, and employee retention as significant challenges. What role should the federal government play in workforce development, career and technical education, apprenticeships, and partnerships between employers and educational institutions? What specific policies or programs would you support, reform, or eliminate to better align workforce training with the needs of employers?

I've spent my career focusing on this exact question. At LSU Shreveport, I train the people who go on to teach in Louisiana's classrooms. The federal role should be funding and alignment, not curriculum.

There are three things I would push for.

We first must fund career and technical education at the same priority level as four-year degree pathways. A CDL, a welding certification, or a line worker credential is a career, and our funding formulas should stop treating those tracks as a second choice.

We also need to tie federal incentives for large facilities to local training commitments. If a company receives federal or state benefits to build here, the agreement should include a partnership with a local college or technical school and a hiring commitment for the region.

Finally, we need to make apprenticeship funding usable by small employers. Most federal workforce programs are written for companies with an HR department. A shop with twelve employees can't navigate them, which means the businesses that most need help training people are the least likely to get it. That's a paperwork problem Congress can fix.

Many of these programs already exist across the district. The problem is that they are fragmented across agencies and hard to access. As your next representative, I would consolidate reporting requirements and push funds toward the community and technical colleges that are already doing the work.

 

Question 4

Reliable roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, broadband, rail, aviation, and other infrastructure are essential to business growth and quality of life. Which infrastructure needs within the 4th Congressional District should receive the greatest federal attention, and how would you work to advance them? Given federal budget constraints, how should Congress prioritize and fund these investments?

Water and broadband must be our first priority, with roads close behind.

Water systems in this district are aging out. In Evangeline Parish, a company sought to inject industrial bio-oil into an abandoned well 430 feet from the Chicot Aquifer, which supplies drinking water to much of Louisiana. Thankfully, the parish police jury voted unanimously against it. Louisiana has roughly 4,700 orphaned wells, and communities shouldn't have to fight this parish by parish. Federal drinking water infrastructure funds exist, and small municipalities need help accessing them, not just qualifying for them.

Broadband is the clearest case of money already committed that isn't reaching the ground. Webster Parish has near-universal availability and 61% household adoption. A fiber project there is complete and waiting on state reimbursement, which is holding up the start of other segments. My job in Congress would be to keep pressure on that pipeline and make sure appropriated dollars move.

Parish road departments are running short-staffed. Webster Parish's road department is operating with 18 employees when it has historically run closer to 40. Federal road money is useless if there's nobody to do the work. Infrastructure funding formulas should account for the workforce capacity of the parishes receiving it.

On prioritization, I would rank projects by how many people are affected and whether a project is shovel ready. Projects already engineered and permitted should not wait behind projects still in study.

 

Question 5

Louisiana's economy is closely tied to traditional and emerging energy industries, including oil and natural gas, pipelines, refining, LNG, electric generation, and new energy technologies. What federal energy policies would you support to protect affordability, reliability, domestic production, Louisiana jobs, and responsible environmental stewardship? Please identify any federal permitting or regulatory policies you believe should be changed.

Energy is this district's inheritance. The Haynesville Shale runs through northwest Louisiana, the state exports more LNG than anywhere in the country, and thousands of jobs here depend on it. I'm not going to Washington to shut that down. I'm going to make sure Louisiana keeps more of what it produces.

What I would support:

Keep domestic production strong, and keep the jobs here. Haynesville production supports pipeline, refining, and service jobs across this district. Federal policy should support that industry and the people working in it.

Fix the permitting bottleneck that actually matters. Most of the delay in this country isn't drilling permits, it's transmission and interconnection. Projects that are financed, sited, and ready to build sit in queue for years. That's a solvable problem and Congress should solve it.

Make sure the benefit lands here. Louisiana burns gas for 63% of its own electricity and pays market price for it. Meanwhile LNG exports pull supply out of the domestic market. I would support policy that recognizes what producing states are giving up and returns more of that value to the communities carrying the infrastructure.

Hold large electricity users to their commitments. Meta agreed to pay the full cost of the generation built for its Richland Parish facility. That should be the floor, not the exception. Projects that raise costs for everyone else should not get state incentives. I would support that principle at the federal level. This district should compete for major investment, but on terms where the return is real and the bill does not land on the people of Louisiana.

Protect drinking water without pretending every regulation is a barrier. Permitting reform should speed up projects that are safe.

 

Question 6

Small businesses and employers are affected by federal taxes, regulations, permitting requirements, labor policies, and the overall condition of the national economy. What specific federal tax or regulatory changes would you support to make it easier to start, operate, and grow a business? At the same time, what areas of federal spending would you be willing to reform, reduce, or eliminate to address the national debt?

The single biggest cost relief Congress could deliver to small employers in this district is taking health insurance off their books. A twenty-person shop in Minden is competing for workers against corporations that can self-insure. Moving to a system where coverage does not run through the employer removes that disadvantage entirely and lets small businesses compete on wages and working conditions instead of benefits packages.

On taxes, I support exempting the first $30,000 of family income from federal income tax. That's money that gets spent immediately and locally, and it goes to the people who need it most rather than to the people who need it least.

On regulation, the burden on small businesses is rarely the rule itself; it is the compliance paperwork. Simplified filing thresholds and consolidated reporting for businesses under a certain size would free up real time and money.

On a federal level, I would support the Billionaires Income Tax Act (H.R.5427) that closes loopholes for the ultra-wealthy. I would also support removing Social Security tax cap so that Social Security could continue to be solvent.

 

Question 7

Access to affordable, quality healthcare remains a challenge for employers, employees, families, and many rural communities throughout the district. What federal actions would you support to improve healthcare access and affordability, particularly in rural and underserved communities? How would you seek to reduce healthcare costs without simply shifting those costs among employers, taxpayers, healthcare providers, and patients?

Access to affordable, quality healthcare is the issue I hear about most in this district. It impacts every single resident. Not only are individuals impacted, but hospitals as well.
To solve these issues, we must move to a single health plan that covers everyone. Hospitals get paid reliably instead of negotiating with a dozen insurers and absorbing uncompensated care. Employers stop carrying insurance costs. Families stop delaying care until it becomes an emergency, which is the most expensive way to treat anyone.
We need real accountability for hospital ownership. When a company diverts money meant for patient care, there should be consequences with teeth, not a resolution from a police jury asking the state to look into it.
Finally, we must protect rural hospitals directly. Nearly half of Louisiana's rural hospitals are at risk of closure. Medicaid reductions taking effect next year will hit them hardest. Rural hospitals need a funding floor that reflects what they are: the emergency room, the employer, and the reason a community remains viable.
When it comes to shifting costs, the current system already shifts costs. It shifts onto employers through premiums, onto hospitals through uncompensated care, and onto families through medical debt. Prevention is cheaper than crisis care, and a system where people see a doctor before things get bad costs everyone less.

 

 

Question 8

The 4th Congressional District includes communities with diverse economic conditions, industries, and local priorities. How would you ensure that communities throughout the district have meaningful access to you and your congressional office? How would you determine which regional priorities deserve federal advocacy, and what measurable results should voters use to evaluate your effectiveness at the end of your first term?

This district runs from Shreveport to Ville Platte, and the communities in it do not have the same problems. A congressional office that only operates out of the biggest city in the district is not representing it.

I would hold regular public office hours in each parish on a published schedule, not just during campaign season, and I would keep casework staff in the district rather than in Washington.

To determine priorities, I would weigh how many people a problem affects, whether the community has any other way to solve the problem, and whether federal action can actually move it. Cullen's water system is a local governance problem. The Chicot Aquifer is a federal one. Knowing the difference is part of the job, and so is being honest with people when the answer is that Washington is not the right lever.

Measurable results voters should hold me to at the end of a first term include whether our rural hospitals are still open, whether broadband dollars already committed to this district have reached households, and how many constituent cases the office closed.

 

Closing Commitment

What is the single most important commitment you are making to the businesses, families, and communities of Louisiana's 4th Congressional District if elected?

The most important commitment I am making to the businesses, families, and communities of Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District is that I will continue to show up.

Governing is a job, and this district has gone too long without a representative who treats it like one.

I will represent the same way that I am campaigning: physically in the parishes, talking to business owners, listening to community leaders, and making myself available to all constituents.