EDUCATION

There should be nothing partisan about this issue. Education is the key to America's future security and prosperity and it is the key to our children's future prosperity. We are an incentive-driven nation; let's focus on programs that reward students, teachers and schools for hard work and superior performance. I agree with President Obama and support the expansion of Charter Schools in Virginia. A well-educated work force will attract new business to our area; let's invest in our country's future by strengthening our schools and rewarding outstanding teachers.

Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, our third President and father of the University of Virginia said: "If the children . . . are untaught, their ignorance and vices will in future life cost us much dearer in their consequences, than it would have done, in their correction, by a good education."

ENERGY

We need a comprehensive strategy for our energy needs and end our addiction to foreign oil. We currently import almost 70% of our oil at an annual cost of over $475 billion. Most of this money goes to countries that do not like us and ultimately ends up funding those Islamic extremists bent on our destruction. Therefore, our reliance on foreign oil is not only a massive transference of wealth; it is a national security issue. It is time to put domestic political ideologies aside and pursue an "all of the above" approach. We must step up our domestic oil and gas production, including offshore drilling. Weaning ourselves from foreign oil will also grow our economy and create thousands of new jobs at home. Quite simply, it is a win-win solution for Americans. I propose we set a goal of becoming energy self-sufficient by 2020. While we are pursuing this, let's move forward with long-term renewable solutions such as wind and solar.

HEALTH CARE

We need health care reform in America. However, I strongly oppose both the House's 1,990 page and the Senate's 2,074 page government takeover of America's healthcare system. Both ideas amount to a government-centered approach that will create over 70 new government agencies, costing trillions of dollars and putting government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors.

• Instead, we should adopt a common sense, patient-centered approach that includes the following:

• Encourage small business health care plans and allow small businesses to form co-ops in order to increase their purchasing power and reduce their costs.

• Allow Americans to buy health insurance plans across state lines, the same way we purchase car and life insurance.

• Encourage Health Savings Accounts.

• Tort reform to end costly litigation that leads to defensive medicine and rising malpractice costs.

• Promote healthier lifestyles. Promote wellness and prevention by incentivizing healthy lifestyle choices.

THE ECONOMY

Our free enterprise system built this country. The road to job creation and economic recovery runs through the private sector, not the government. Any family who lives and operates within their own family budget knows that excessive borrowing, spending beyond one's means and high taxes do not lead to prosperity. We must get government out of the way and let the free market work.  My priorities include:

• Rein in irresponsible government spending. Our current budget deficit is almost $1.5 Trillion. Both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of this. I will never forget that tax revenue is your money, not the governments.

• Reduce personal tax rates. Congress should not be looking at more taxes or more progressive tax rates to solve the deficits that they created.

• Reduce corporate tax rates. America has the 2nd highest corporate tax rates in the world. Any wonder why so many business and corporations go elsewhere, taking their jobs and tax revenue with them? One hundred percent of nothing is nothing. Ratcheting down our corporate tax rates will attract new business, create jobs and increase our overall tax revenue.

• Promote pro-business initiatives such as Right to Work. Federal proposals like Card Check would deny workers the right to vote by secret ballot and replacing private sector contract negotiations with binding arbitration by government bureaucrats.

• As we speak, the United States is $12 TRILLION in debt. Because interest rates are currently low, we "only" pay about $200 billion annually in interest on this debt.  However, unless we act to reduce this debt now, our interest alone will balloon to over $700 billion in less than a decade.  Ladies and gentlemen, this exceeds our annual Defense budget. This has dramatic ramifications on our ability to defend ourselves, not to mention what it will do to tax rates and to our ability to provide other services. This is a national security issue.

As your Congressman, I will make debt reduction and pursuit of a balanced budget my highest priorities.

U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS

The federal government's highest priority should be to ensure the safety of American citizens.  It is essential that we maintain a strong and credible defense in order to protect our national interests and those of our allies. Additionally, our government must be vigilant and take threats to our national security seriously. It is therefore reckless and irrational that the Obama Administration, aided and abetted by Nancy Pelosi and Jim Moran, has apparently reverted to a pre-9/11 mentality when dealing with Islamist terrorists who are bent on the indiscriminate killing of American citizens. The terrorists are at war with us; we would do well to understand that and act accordingly. 

The United States is in the midst of a conflict with the forces of violent Islamist extremists that deplore our freedoms and are bent on the destruction of our way of life. We must ensure that our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq have the personnel and equipment they need to accomplish the missions they have been given. While Obama rightly decided to send additional troops to Afghanistan, he simultaneously signaled to our enemies that we will be leaving in a year or so. Jim Moran would have us abandon Afghanistan altogether. Our troops also need to know they have the full support of the American people for whom they are fighting, and that our elected officials have the stomach to pursue this conflict to a successful conclusion.

Nuclear proliferation is another national security concern. The Iranian regime's determination to acquire nuclear weapons is a burgeoning global threat. A nuclear-armed Iran would fundamentally alter the security calculus of the Middle East, would be a major threat to U.S. national security interests and an existential threat to Israel. Put differently, the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran is a clear and present danger to world peace. Many brave Iranians have taken to the streets of Teheran, facing the brutal repression of a powerful regime that had little regard for its own citizens. The Obama Administration continues to remain virtually silent as Iranian security forces attack protestors and arrest their leaders. Past presidential administrations from Reagan to Clinton spoke with a loud and clear voice of support for protest movements like Solidarity in Poland and Otpor in Yugoslavia. These historic movements and their leaders helped to overthrow oppressive regimes and establish democratic governments. The Obama Administration's silence amounts to tacit support of an oppressive Iranian regime that considers the U.S. the "Great Satan" and is bent on the destruction of Israel.