Michelle Nunn in Time magazine

On Budget & Economy: Sequestration is absolute wrong way of making cuts

A: We cannot fool around with defaulting. It's part of what's created the uncertainty that we know, at least economically, the threats of shutting down, the threats of default. Business needs certainty in order to invest and it's important that our leaders act responsibly around this issue.

Q. What did you make of the House Republican's last attempt to tie debt ceiling to restoring the sequester cuts to veteran pensions?

A: What I would say is we need to, as much possible, ask our leaders to act without brinksmanship or gamesmanship around these issues.

Q. So you're against the sequester?

A: As people have said repeatedly, sequestration is the absolute wrong way of making the cuts. Nobody in business would cut across the board, they would cut strategically. And we are going to have to make difficult cuts but we are not going to do it effectively when we do it through sequestration.

On Energy & Oil: Move forward on Keystone pipeline

A: I have studied it and I do believe it's something we should move forward with based upon the practical economic imperatives, energy independence and also that many of the environmental concerns have been addressed.

On Government Reform: If Congress doesn't pass a budget they don't get paid

A: There's blame on both asides of the equation for the failure of getting things done in Washington.

Q. So are you equally happy to run against Democratic dysfunction as you are Republican dysfunction?

A: I'm running against dysfunction in Washington and I'm running against the polarization and I'm running for a spirit of focus on common ground and problem solving, which I think would be helped by sending more people to Washington with those commitments also with a lens that's outside of Washington and brings a new perspective.

On Government Reform: Bar members of Congress from becoming lobbyists

A: I'm not saying that I don't want people in Congress to not continue to influence things for the public good. I think what I'm pointing out is that we should not have congressmen and women use the privilege that they have through their service and apply it parochial or special interests.

On Health Care: Add a tier of affordable coverage to ObamaCare

A: I am running as someone who ran an organization and understands the responsibilities and the difficulties of providing health care for employees. I also believe that we need to fix what's broken and there are clearly some things that have not worked well in the Affordable Care Act rollout. Some ideas include adding a tier of coverage for more affordability for families, ensuring that we extend the tax credit for small businesses. Here in Georgia--because we did not accept Medicaid expansion--a number of our rural hospitals are now having cuts that are really problematic. So I am running as someone who wants to fix the things that are broken in the health care system and build upon the things that are good, including ensuring that people who have preexisting conditions have access to health care, that kids up to age 26 have the opportunity to be covered by their parents.