Issues

Restoring the Economy

Far too many South Florida families are suffering from unemployment and underemployment. Many Floridians are upside down on their mortgages and foreclosures continue to be a huge problem. Drive through any South Florida county and you will see hundreds of vacant storefronts. Despite promises from President Obama and Democrats in Congress that trillions in new spending would fix the economy, economic indicators continue to move in the wrong direction.

To get our sick economy back to health, we need to get back to the basics: simplify the tax code, lower the corporate tax rate – which under President Obama became the highest in the world – encourage investment here in the United States, get wasteful spending under control, develop domestic energy resourcesand reduce the thousands of new regulations, especially those found within Obamacare, which shackle job creators, small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Tax Reform

Every year Americans spend 6.1 billion hours and $431 billion dollars trying to comply with the tax code. It is a nightmare of loopholes and special interest giveaways. President Obama and the liberal progressives in Congress are planning the largest tax increase in American history. At a time when small businesses, which have created two-thirds of all new jobs over the last decade, are struggling just to survive, the President and his liberal allies are planning what the Washington Post has called a “Taxmageddon.” On January 1, 2013, Americans face a $494 billion tax increase—the largest in American history. These tax increases included capital gains taxes, expiration of business investment exemptions, the return of the death tax and the return of the marriage penalty.

I am committed to stopping these devastating tax increases, and I am committed to creating a flat and broad-based tax structure that expands our tax base.

This is why I am an advocate of moving towards a Flat Tax. The current income tax system attacks success, imposes enormous compliance costs on taxpayers, rewards special interests, and makes America less competitive. A flat tax would go a long way towards correcting these problems. More importantly, it would get the government out of the way of our economy and job creators.

I support moving towards a flat tax system with a single low tax rate, which would reduce penalties against productive behavior, such as work, risk taking, and entrepreneurship. A flat tax will eliminate many special interest exemptions and loopholes. Such a system will also solve the problems of complexity, allowing taxpayers to file their tax returns on a simple form. A flat tax system will also eliminate the tax code’s assault on capital formation by ending the double taxation of savings and investment income. By taxing income only one time, a flat tax is easier to enforce and more conducive to job creation and capital formation.

Under a Flat Tax system, I will support three taxable deductions: a child tax credit, a mortgage interest tax deduction and a charitable contribution deduction. We want families to have children and own homes. This system would end the class warfare instituted by President Obama and liberals in Congress while eliminating all special interest loopholes that have been created over decades of tax code manipulation by lobbyists and Washington insiders.

Balancing the Budget, Reducing the Debt

President Obama has increased the federal debt by $5 trillion in just 3 years of his Presidency, and due to historically reckless spending, created record deficits of $1.42 trillion, $1.29 trillion and $1.3 trillion in the last three Fiscal Years. We now see more than 41 cents of every dollar being borrowed and 47% of the federal debt owned by foreign nations with China leading the way. The President’s latest Fiscal Year 2013 budget would actually increase our debt by another $10 trillion over the next decade! Thanks to Conservatives in Congress, the President’s budget failed to receive a single vote, failing in the House 0-414.

As a result of this massive spending, unemployment has remained between 8 percent and 9 percent for the past three years, yet President Obama continues to push government spending as an economic cure-all. Actual unemployment to include the underemployed is significantly higher.

We simply cannot continue spending this way. Debt has already surpassed 100 percent of GDP. The United States is heading towards a fiscal and economic train wreck at breakneck speed – similarly to the situation in Greece – and President Obama and liberals in Congress are jamming on the accelerator.

I support immediately returning spending to 2008 levels and enacting a Balanced Budget Amendment to put a stop to reckless Federal spending once and for all.

Ensuring Retirement Security for Present and Future

I am committed to honoring the promises made to seniors and will protect Medicare and Social Security for both today’s and tomorrow’s seniors. But the inaction and the massive cuts to the programs supported by President Obama and liberals in Congress is not an option. Without reforms to preserve and strengthen Medicare and Social Security, these programs will not exist for future generations.

Medicare’s Trustees estimate the program will be bankrupt in just 13 years. President Obama cut Medicare by $575 billion in order to claim Obamacare would reduce future deficits, hastening the program’s demise unless action is taken. In reality, Obamacare explodes future deficits, and as a result, our seniors will suffer. These Medicare cuts will threaten the ability of seniors to keep their doctors because many doctors will refuse to see Medicare patients or leave their practices entirely. Even worse, to control prices, President Obama has empowered unelected bureaucrats to make life and death healthcare decisions for Medicare recipients.

I believe that the United States Congress must restore Social Security to the independent trust fund account envisioned by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in order to stop Washington politicians from raiding it to fund their reckless spending sprees. I support enact gradual reforms to Medicare that allow future recipients to choose from a variety of plans, injecting competition into Medicare. That will help reduce costs and ensure the program can be sustained in the long run. I will not support changes to the plans of current Medicare recipients.

Healthcare Reform

Healthcare in America is far superior to anywhere else in the world, but it still has serious problems that need to be addressed. Cost, access, and treatment of preexisting conditions are all serious concerns.

There are aspects of Obamacare I support, such as allowing a child to stay on their parent’s insurance to age 26, requiring insurers to cover individuals with pre-exisiting conditions, and ensuring the doughnut hole in Medicare remain closed. Unfortunately, Obamacare took a few good ideas and loaded them down with thousands of pages of bad ones. A myriad of new taxes and regulations, thousands of new IRS agents and an unconstitutional mandate requiring all Americans to purchase health insurance are just a few examples.

The newly-elected Republican-led 112^th Congress voted overwhelmingly to repeal Obamacare and replace it with reforms that are constitutional, actually lower costs, improve access and consumer choice, and encourage wellness; and I am proud to have voted in favor of these efforts. Obamacare attacks health savings accounts, a powerful tool for reducing the cost of medical care. I support allowing insurance to be purchased across states lines, a commonsense measure to create more competition and lower costs. We badly need tort reform at the federal level to reduce the cost of lawsuit abuse.

If President Obama and liberal progressives continue to have their way, Obamacare’s destructive path will continue uncontested.

Reducing Gas Prices and Achieving Energy Security

As a combat veteran who has served in the Middle East, I understand that reducing our dependence on foreign oil is a national security issue as well as an economic security issue. Abundant, affordable energy is the lifeblood of our economy. I support developing the full spectrum of energy resources including domestic oil and natural gas resources, coal, nuclear energy, and wind, solar and hydroelectric. I strongly oppose the President’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, his efforts to block drilling off-shore and on federal lands, and his efforts to shut down coal-fired power plants. These policies are costing hundreds of thousands of jobs, weakening our energy security and driving up already skyrocketing gas and electricity prices.

On the day that President Obama moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, gas prices averaged $1.84/gallon. As of April 2012, the average price for a gallon of gas was $3.94/gallon, representing more than a 112% increase in just 3 years.

Protecting the Environment

Like you, I agree that neglecting to protect our natural environment will undermine and endanger our fragile ecosystem and our country’s unique biodiversity. Beach re-nourishment, Everglades protection, and the defense of the South Florida ecosystem are key environment issues I am focused on as a Member of Congress. I believe it is in all of our interests that we make a combined effort to continue preserving and protecting our domestic wildlife and natural environment.

In addition there are several pieces of legislation I have cosponsored that aim to protect the environment and our natural resources.

One of those bills is the Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Act which was introduced by Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on May 26, 2011. H.R. 2047 was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. H.R. 2047 allows the United States to apply certain punitive measures against companies and individuals whom are investing in the Cuban regime’s oil drilling sector. H.R. 2047 underscores the environmental and economic threat that Cuban oil drilling poses to the United States and in particular to South Florida.

Another bill is the Sustainable Water Infrastructure Investment Act which was introduced by Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) on May 10, 2011. H.R. 1802 was referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. H.R. 1802 would eliminate the state volume cap on tax exempt private activity bonds that fund water and wastewater infrastructure projects. This bill would allow up to $5 billion annually in private investment for environmental infrastructure improvements at a very low cost to the United States Government.

Further, another bill I have cosponsored, the Cuba Oil Drilling Ban was introduced by Congressman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) on January 20, 2011. H.R. 372 was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. H.R. 372 would deny leases and permits to anyone who engages in activities with the government of any foreign country that is subject to any sanction or an embargo established by the Government of the United States. H.R. 372 would block Cuba’s plan to build a deep water oil rig 50 miles off the coast of Florida.

There are many environmental issues affecting our nation which I have focused my time on in the 112^th Congress. As a certified master scuba diver and distance runner, I enjoy a unique connection to our environment. Specifically, I have supported South Florida’s local communities in their efforts with the United States Army Corps of Engineers at beach re-nourishment and maintenance dredging.

I have also taken the initiative in ensuring the Florida Everglades are protected. Everglades National Park comprises the largest wetlands and third largest national park located in the lower 48 states in the United States, and is the sole source of drinking water for more than six million people in South Florida.

Peace Through Strength

We owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women serving in America’s armed forces and the millions of military retirees and veterans who have defended our freedoms around the globe. In addition to honoring the commitments we’ve made to our veterans, I support growing and modernizing America’s Armed Forces to ensure we are prepared for future strategic challenges such as thwarting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, facing down the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, combating Islamic extremism and standing strong with Israel.

President Obama is dramatically weakening our defense capabilities and threatening the retirement security of our veterans to pay for his out of control spending. As a 22 year veteran of the United States Army and a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I will continue to fight every effort to dismantle our defense capabilities and President Obama’s attack on TRICARE and the benefits our veterans have earned.