How will you address the federal budget deficit?
I would support re-enacting the hard spending caps that we had 10, 15 years ago, which required Congress to limit spending on
certain things.
I would also put the entitlement program on a regular budgetary schedule, because Medicare, Medicaid [and] Social Security are offline.
TheyâÄôre non-discretionary spending, so theyâÄôre not part of the ordinary budgeting process. And when youâÄôve got half your budget offline, you really canâÄôt plan for the spending. How much money do we really have if you canâÄôt look at half the things youâÄôre spending money on? Then of course your budgetâÄôs not going to be accurate.
How would you work with members of the other party to reduce the gridlock in Congress?
As a freshman IâÄôll have no history with these people, which is both good and bad. So weâÄôll be starting on a fresh slate, and I think part of it is just getting to know them as people.
Would you support a second stimulus bill?
Depends on how itâÄôs structured.
What should federal immigration reform look like?
Secure the borders, first, foremost and as a precondition to everything else.
After that, people who have entered the country illegally but beyond that obeyed our laws [and have] been self-supporting for an extended period of time should be subject to a civil fine only and be eligible for permanent resident status.
The DonâÄôt Ask, DonâÄôt Tell policy was recently overturned by a federal judge. Do you agree with that ruling, and what would you do for gay rights on the national level?
The military is, at this point in time, completing an analysis of the impact of the repeal of DonâÄôt Ask, DonâÄôt Tell, and I think the court was premature not to allow the military to complete its analysis.
At this point we need to be focused on the economy rather than social issues so IâÄôd try to make sure everybody has a job regardless of their social orientation.
Do you support the health care legislation passed last session, and should there be further federal action on health care?
Nope. Repeal and then reform.
We need national tort reform, we need inter-state sales of insurance [and] we need to support state and regional pooled
insurance programs.
What we donâÄôt need is what we got with âÄúObamacare.âÄù
Do you support cap and trade legislation?
No. China has already said publicly that they will not reduce their emissions, so all cap and trade will do is put American business
at a greater disadvantage and it will not improve the environment.
Those sorts of agreements have to be global or they are ineffective.
Do you agree with the Supreme CourtâÄôs Citizens United decision? Why or why not?
As long as unions are able to do political advertising, I think businesses ought to be able to.