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"We have nearly 10 auto companies in this country, and now those others are in competition with the government," Mr. Simmons said regarding the announcement by Democratic president Barack Obama earlier this month that the federal government would temporarily take part ownership of the large automaker, which has seen its share of the market drop considerably in recent years.
Mr. Simmons, who served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2007 in Connecticut's Second District, said the federal government should have provided each taxpayer with a $10,000 debit card that would have to be utilized within six months instead of enacting the $787 billion economic stimulus package that was approved in February and the partial takeover of General Motors.
"People would be spending that money on remodeling their homes, buying new cars," he said in a recent phone interview. "It would generate economic activity."
"The stimulus package may provide some support around the edges, but these projects are getting delayed through federal red tape," Mr. Simmons said.
The former congressman, who lost his 2006 re-election bid by just 83 votes in the sprawling district that encompasses much of the eastern part of the state, is being challenged for the GOP nomination by state Sen. Sam Caligiuri (R-Waterbury) and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Thomas Foley of Greenwich.
Mr. Simmons said that he also opposed the $700 billion economic rescue package that former Republican President George W. Bush signed last October, indicating that it lacked accountability and didn't focus on providing assistance to homeowners whose properties were in foreclosure proceedings.
He said that Mr. Dodd, who is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, helped write the legislation, which has done little to revive the nation's credit markets.
"There are businesses now that can't get loans in this state even with SBA guarantees," Mr. Simmons said, making reference to the Small Business Administration-backed loans.
"I might have been able to support some kind of package but certainly not in the form that was approved," he said regarding the economic rescue of the financial institutions.
He said he agrees with former Greenwich Democratic First Selectman Roger Pearson, who has criticized Mr. Dodd for supporting changes in 1999 that allowed banks, for example, to enter into other financial endeavors.
Mr. Pearson has said that the financial institutions turned into "casinos" following the revisions in the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act and led to the subprime mortgage crisis of two years ago.
On another topic, Mr. Simmons said he is concerned that Mr. Obama has tried to tackle too many issues at once since taking office in January.
"It is difficult to bring about change," he said regarding the president's efforts to approve, among other things, major economic initiatives, reform health care and provide a temporary federal takeover of General Motors.
Mr. Simmons said that, for example, former U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-New Britain) helped write changes in Medicare in 2003 that represented the largest reform of the program since it was established by former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson in 1965.
"There was blood on the floor," Mr. Simmons said regarding the obstacles in getting the reform approved and signed by then-President George W. Bush.
"The prescription drug program has had an 85 percent success rate with senior citizens, yet she lost her bid for re-election in 2006," he said.
Mr. Simmons said he was pleased that the economic stimulus package included funding for increasing the electronic availability of medical records.
He said that while serving in Congress he worked with the Veterans Administration to establish "the best electronic medical services system in the world."
He said that such a system eliminates wasteful diagnoses and allows for the billing of medical services to be completed more efficiently.
Mr. Simmons, who until recently served as the state's business advocate, said he believes that Connecticut has considerable potential to attract high technology and research and development jobs.
He said that between southern Massachusetts and New Haven there are 32 colleges, which collectively award more college degrees than the schools in California's famed Silicon Valley.
"It is a strategic location," Mr. Simmons said.
He said that more attention needs to be paid to small business growth, noting that in Connecticut 73 percent of the companies have nine or fewer employees.
Regarding the race for the party's nomination, Mr. Simmons said that "primaries are not good for Republicans," as in every race that he has run in during his career in the U.S. House and, before that, the state House, there has never been more than 23 percent of electorate that has been registered with the GOP.
However, he said that he is prepared to run in a primary, which would be held in August of next year.
