Issues

There are many important issues facing our district and our nation.  Below you will find my positions on some of the most important. If you have an issue or concern not on this list, please feel free to contact me at the Headquarters or send me an email and I will do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

National Security

Government's most fundamental responsibility is to protect its citizens. After serving three tours of duty in the Middle East since 9/11/2001, I understand the tremendous threat to our future posed by terrorism and the spread of radical and violent Islamism.  Now, as much as at any time in our history, we need to be vigilant and strong. My platform includes:

1. Strengthen and maintain our military to keep us safe.
2. Make sure the men and women serving us in uniform have the best equipment and training available.
3. Eliminate government red tape and bureaucratic roadblocks that hamper our efforts to obtain new weapons and intelligence technology.
   

Border Security Border security and  national security are closely linked and America's survival is dependent on securing our border. My platform includes: NO AMNESTY, drivers licenses, official IDs or non-court ordered government benefits for illegal aliens. Completion of the DOUBLE BORDER FENCE along the U.S.-Mexico border extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.   Stiffer penalties for businesses that knowingly hiring illegal aliens. End  automatic birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens. Increase support for the U.S. Border Patrol so they can aggressively ENFORCE ALL CURRENT IMMIGRATION LAWS.

Pro-Taxpayer Our taxes are too high because Congress spends too much, and what they do spend is often wasted by the bureaucracy.  I support a strict limit on how fast government can grow.  If we limit non-national security spending  growth to a rate that is no greater than inflation, we can balance the budget and protect the long-term fiscal health of our country.   Reducing taxes is the best way to  foster economic growth. We need to simplify the tax code and reform the Alternative Minimum Tax to protect working families. We also need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent and abolish the death tax.

Pro-Family I am pro-life and believe life begins at conception. While the Supreme Court has determined that abortion is legal and only a constitutional amendment (which I would support) or new court ruling can change that, we can still work to end the practice and to give mothers faced with unwanted pregnancies choices other than abortion. I would outlaw partial birth abortions and I oppose using tax dollars to pay for abortions.   I believe marriage is a vitally important and sacred institution.  I oppose the legalization of same-sex marriages.

Health Care

One of the greatest problems facing many families is the cost of health care. I oppose efforts to socialize our medical system – I don't want some federal bureaucrat in Washington telling families what is best for them.  We need to allow people to purchase private health plans that make sense to their family situation and we need to expand tax credits, Health Savings Accounts and other market-based approaches to healthcare.  

Social Security Social Security is a trust between the government and its people. When the government "borrows" Social Security funds for other programs, it is breaking that trust. In order to make sure Social Security is preserved and protected, we need to give younger workers just entering the system more options for investing their own retirement funds, while maintaining current benefits for seniors.

2nd Amendment

I believe the 2nd Amendment is clear and that government should pass no law that restricts the right of any law-abiding citizen to purchase, own and legally use firearms. 

Education

The federal government has no business poking its nose into our local schools, telling parents and teachers what is best for our kids. Our public schools suffer from too much bureaucracy that eats up resources. We need more resources in the classroom, where they will do the most good. Home schooling families should be embraced, not ostracized.

Trade

Our nation needs to adopt a policy of Fair Trade that encourages the development of overseas markets, while protecting our industry and workers from unfair competition from countries like China, that flood our market with inferior, sometimes dangerous products produced in near-slave labor conditions.