CINCINNATI - U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Westwood) in confident heading into the final days of his re-election campaign for Ohio's 1st Congressional District. His campaign office was bustling with volunteers when PolitickerOH.com caught up with the Congressman.

"I think we're in very good shape," Chabot said, talking up his volunteer force handing out literature, making phone calls and preparing mail.

Chabot said that as he hits the trail in the final push voters are still concerned about the direction of the economy.

"People are worried that we're heading into a recession," Chabot said. "And they want us to take action that avoids that, if at all possible. Or make it a less deep recession than we might otherwise have."

Chabot said most people he talks to agrees with him that the best way to avoid a recession or minimize its impact is to cut taxes - make sure people have money in their pockets.

"The Democratic-controlled Congress did just the opposite," Chabot said. "They've announced that the tax cuts that we passed are going to expire. So taxes are going to go back up. That's just the opposite of what we ought to be doing when you have a weakening economy."

Chabot opposed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, calling it a flawed bill, without the safeguards to prevent future calamity and said it unfairly put the burden of bailing out Wall Street on the backs of the taxpayers. The bill did pass, however, and Chabot said he sees his responsibility moving forward as to do everything possible to make the package work.

"It's going to need very close oversight to make sure the package works in the way that it was intended," Chabot said.

Chabot said that regulations currently on the books will have to be looked at, possibly modified or scraped all together to avoid future economic calamity. He said the current turmoil may have been avoided if Congress had passed the Chabot-Conyers compromise, which he said would have allowed foreclosed home owners to stay in their homes at no cost to the taxpayers. Chabot said the legislation would have lowered interest rates, and the amount owed on the house to fair market value. Chabot said he would keep pushing the legislation.

Chabot also spoke about his position on Social Security. Chabot's opponent state Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-Price Hill) has repeatedly made the case that Chabot desires to privatize Social Security.

"I'm not for privatization of Social Security, despite the fact that they keep running ads, which have been fact-checked, and that argument that I'm for privatization of Social Security has been knocked down again and again," Chabot said. "What I am for is saving Social Security by allowing folks, on a voluntary basis, to be able to self-invest in a personal savings account a portion of their Social Security money."

Chabot said if 14 cents on the dollar goes into Social Security, then perhaps 2 cents of that could go into a private account similar to a 401K, saying that this would create a better rate of return for the account holder.

"I want to emphasize again that this is voluntary," Chabot said. "He's been calling that privatization, but it's not privatization."

Chabot said the only other solutions are to raise taxes or reduce benefits, both of which he said he opposed.

Chabot is the ranking member of the Small Business Committee in Congress, and spoke about the importance of small businesses in getting the economy moving again. Chabot said 70 percent of jobs created in the economy these days come from small businesses.

"If you want to have a thriving small business community, you need to make sure their employees have access to quality, affordable healthcare and that they have access to capital so they can grow their businesses and expand," Chabot said.

Chabot said that things Congress could do to help small businesses is first get off their backs with the amount of paperwork required.

"I think we need to streamline the contact between the employer and the federal government," Chabot said. "I think that we need to make sure that the Small Business Administration is doing everything it can to make known what sort of low-interest loan programs are available to small businesses."

Chabot said many businesses don't make use of the Small Business Administration because they don't know what it does.

"One of the toughest things for small businesses to deal with is healthcare," Chabot said. "I'd like to see Congress pass an association health plan that allows the small businesses to work together so that they're negotiating with the insurance companies with more clout to keep the rates down."

Chabot said he'd also like to see his Healthcare Affordability Act passed, which he said would allow individuals and small businesses fully deduct all healthcare premiums.

Other things Chabot said he'd like to see Congress do in the coming session include a substantial tax cuts, a cut on the capital gains tax and the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts made permanent.

As people head to the polls, Chabot said he'd like voters to look at his record and how he's represented the community.

"This is a very diverse district with a balance of Republicans, Democrats and independents," Chabot said. "I've worked in a very bipartisan manner, with Democrats and independents, as well as Republicans since I got elected 14 years ago, and I would not be successful in this district if I did not lead that way."

Chabot pointed to his being referred to as the communities "anti-tax crusader" and said he had the highest lifetime score of any member of Congress with the Citizens Against Government Waste.

"I've lived in this community all my life," Chabot said. "I think I really have my finger on the pulse of people here and get along very well with virtually every segment of this community and I think I've successfully represented them and would like to continue to do it as long as they give me that privilege."