ISSUES

The time for debating whether America should have made the decision to intervene militarily in Iraq is over. Clearly, our armed forces mounted a brilliant military and tactical effort to win the war in stunning, record time. But, equally as clear, we did not have enough troops on the ground to maintain law and order and win the peace once the military victory was assured. As a result, we have experienced over 2,400 American deaths and nearly 18,000 injured troops. In addition to lives lost and those affect by serious injury, there are the costs of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan which have reached $9.8 billion a month. What is needed now is a realistic exit strategy. It should not be based on any artificial timetable to withdraw, but on measurable goals and objectives involving Iraqi progress with infrastructure, policing and militia, governance, economics and other core indicators of national stability. I continue to be extraordinarily proud of the efforts that are being made every day by our troops and I am humbled by their sacrifice. [read more]

Aggregate healthcare costs today are approaching 20% of our gross national product and are the single biggest economic concern of the American people. The high cost of healthcare is why 47 million Americans lack coverage today. Uncompensated care provided by our nation's hospital emergency rooms for the uninsured is estimated at $35 billion annually. Yet, despite the absolute predictability of our present healthcare dilemma, Washington responded for decades with little more than continuing political jockeying and stalemating. We have three clear healthcare priorities: Accessible and affordable healthcare; Quality healthcare; Integrating prevention and wellness into the healthcare equation. We must implement "small group" insurance reform by providing meaningful incentives for industry insurance providers in cooperation with small business, which employs the majority of the American workforce. We must rid Medicare and Medicaid (covering 52 million people) of burdensome and inefficient regulation, solve the reimbursement problem that is chasing medical professionals away from government-supported care, and correct the flaws of the new Medicare Part D. We must address, without regard to special interests, malpractice insurance and tort reform. We must rid the drug industry of unconscionable profit-taking and regulate the role of third-party benefit managers who add so much to the cost of drug products for the consumer.. [read more]

We are competing for our energy supply in a volatile world economy where demand for crude oil has increased to 80 billion barrels a day. America needs a long-term national energy strategy that results in consumer conservation and energy independence. Both are good for the economy and good for our national security. Policies over the last few years have accomplished little towards these ends. Instead, U.S. oil companies have received untold billions of federal dollars in tax credits and subsidies over the last 35 years, all while reporting record profits and executive compensation that border on the obscene. Many options have been pursued only half-heartedly because of weak-kneed representatives in Congress and an Administration which has deferred to big business interests. Congress must mandate an increase in the Car Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE). We must build oil refineries (the last constructed in 1976); tap our natural gas reserves; pursue other alternative clean fuel technologies such as wind, solar and bio fuel; and mobilize the scientific community to help solve waste and emissions problems so that nuclear and coal are people- and environmentally-friendly fuel resources. [read more]

America is a nation of immigrants. But America is also a nation of established laws. The 12 million illegal immigrants now residing in this country, raise disturbing national security concerns -- there is a relationship between unmanaged immigration and terrorism. In addition to core security concerns, the annual cost of illegal immigration is between $11 and $22 billion, the bulk of which comes from state and local treasuries to supply social services. Thus, the failure of the federal government to control illegal immigration amounts to a huge unfunded federal mandate. Our inability to control the burgeoning influx of illegal immigrants is due in large measure to inadequate resources to accommodate legal entrance, ineffective border control, and the lack of a viable system for employers to verify work eligibility. America needs a "Closed Borders - Open Doors" policy. Only once our borders are secure and existing laws are being enforced, can we provide a Guest Worker program and a fair and eventual path to citizenship. Immigration is more than a political issue. It is a serious national concern and must be addressed now and addressed aggressively at the federal level. [read more]

Abortion. My personal belief is that abortion should be legal, but rare. Since I take a life-affirming position that we should restrict but not prohibit abortion, I also believe that abortion should be limited to those instances where the life or the health of the mother is endangered, and to cases of incest and rape. Importantly, until we are at that life-affirming point in our national culture, we should focus on reducing abortions by making them less necessary. I believe that the great majority of women who seek abortion elect to do so for economic rather than moral reasons. When abortion is seriously considered, however, it is ultimately a woman's deeply personal decision, based upon her beliefs and the medical advice of her physician. [click here for more] Gay Rights. The majority of Americans seem to feel that marriage is between one man and one woman. This is my feeling as well. However, I believe the majority of the gay community is simply asking for equal rights and equal opportunities they see denied or in jeopardy, and not for special concessions because of their sexual orientation. I believe we should amend the Federal employment non-discrimination act to protect gay Americans from discrimination in employment. I also support civil unions because traditional estate planning channels are inadequate to assure the wishes and equal treatment under the law of same sex partners. [read more]

So many politicians are heard to say, "Our children are our future." Yet, few have been able to convert rhetoric into reality when it comes to improving on the systems that educate our children. It seems we keep trying to "fix" education problems through Congress by delivering federal guidelines that - in effect - become unfunded mandates to state and local school districts obligated to comply, regardless of financial capacity. Pushed by "do something" constituencies, Congress and the Administration fail to do "the right thing" with otherwise well-intended federal efforts such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB). So what are schools doing to comply with federal mandates? They "teach to the test" so that students meet federal testing criteria, regardless of the quality of education imparted along the way. Alternatives are out there, some more affordable than others and not all are appropriate to all locales. There are school voucher programs, state and local tax credits for families, charter and magnet schools, and even home schooling alternatives. Choice in educational options is important to keep school systems, administrators and educators challenged, yet we must find ways to strike an appropriate balance that retains the value of public education. We also need to be introducing more vocational education - or "career tech" - into the high school classroom. Successful career tech programs provide the benefit of workforce skills training and an earning potential non-college-bound graduates would never have had, absent such a program. Our state colleges, universities and community colleges should be affordable. After all, they educate the great majority of our workforce. What taxpayers do to fund state-supported schools is returned through the students themselves as they graduate, enter the labor pool and begin to contribute back to the economy of the state. America needs to make sure it is preparing its undergraduate and graduate students, both state and privately educated, to enter a dynamic workforce that is already competing globally. Nothing, however, is more important in the successful education of a child of any age than the direct involvement and loving care and concern of a parent in that child's education. [read more]

There is such a thing as a "right" to clean air and clean water because, in the alternative, no one has a right to pollute either the air or the water others use and enjoy. Few are more sensitive than Marylanders whose first thought is the Chesapeake Bay which we share with Virginia and Delaware. We need the cooperation of other states "upstream" of the Delmarva Peninsula that impact our Bay directly, as well as the oversight of the federal government, to insure the continued health of our Chesapeake regional ecosystem. We can balance strong economic growth with environmental sensitivity. We simply need to be willing to pay the price. As we continue to develop and expand our economy, we need to do so in an environmentally sensitive way. It is a matter of approaching environmental protection as a cost of doing business, utilizing business planning and technology to make that cost affordable. As more pressure is put on our own natural resources, we must be more vigilant in protecting those resources. Our bedrock environmental laws today -- once laws of substance -- are either being unenforced, relaxed through regulatory reinterpretation, or sold off through "pollution trade credits." Business is important to the economy, and we must maintain a strong economy. However, the current Administration has capitulated to business at every turn, violating environmental interests along the way. Nor has Congress been a good steward of our natural resources. Most immediately, Congress needs to involve itself fully by putting some teeth back into the EPA's enforcement authority for standards violations that have been so badly eroded under current Administration practices. [read more]

Minimum wage is only a wedge issue if you look at the polarizing viewpoints. None of the statistics quoted by the far right or the far left viewpoints align. The one side refers to numbers of workers earning minimum wage. The other quotes numbers of Americans affected by the minimum wage. They are apples-to-oranges comparisons. If we increase the federal minimum wage, the left claims victory for the working poor and the right bewails the economic peril for small business, America's largest employer. If we maintain the minimum $5.15 rate held since 1997, the complaints reverse. In reality, increasing the federal minimum wage can be a very dangerous legislative lesson in unintended consequences, wrought by ideological positioning rather than by putting the interests of the American people first and thinking through the impact of proposed legislation. Simple arithmetic still works. For example, an increase at the federal level in earned income for the working poor could elevate annual earnings enough to reduce or eliminate welfare benefits such as food stamps, WIC programs, housing subsidies, and Medicaid provided to families through state-sponsored and funded programs with state-determined maximum income qualifications. Since the states control state-supported welfare programs, they are in the best position to strike the right balance between improving "living wage" conditions and adequately supplying supplemental welfare benefits. For the federal government to attempt to do so universally, across all 50 differing states, would jeopardize the financial and medical wellbeing of many. Already 18 states and D.C. have enacted increases in the minimum wage that exceed federal guidelines and another 15 are considering ballot or legislative measures for 2006. Instead, of taking independent action, Congress should be encouraging states in their "living wage" considerations. And it should focus on providing broader funding and support resources to the states to help with education and training, access to healthcare, and families in crisis.