Texas Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion

1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice

2. Other or expanded principles
- I fully support and affirm a woman's right to make health care decisions between herself and her doctor. Where I can agree with my friends on the other side of this issue is the fact that we need to lower the number of unplanned pregnancies in general, through better sex education and access to birth control to prevent unexpected pregnancies.

Budget

1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes

2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- To be clear though, our budget and our military strategy are not currently connected as needed. What we lack today is a clear connection between our strategy, our values and our budget.

Campaign Finance

1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- I'm proud to be endorsed by End Citizens United.

Economy

1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- There is a win-win opportunity through the investment in upgrading our nation's infrastructure. It will benefit the economy and streamline access to improve the movement of goods and services. I do support lower taxes but it must be balanced with a fairer tax system that taxes wealth not work. It is possible to grow the economy while building a tax system that is more fair than today's system.

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- No

2. Other or expanded principles
- I am the proud product of public schools, as are my three daughters, and I want to make sure education can be the great equalizer and every child can have the same opportunity regardless of zip code. That said, I don't think we necessarily need a federal standard, but instead a skills based test system rather than our current high-stakes testing system. Let states choose their standard but let's give one standard common core of skills for everyone to push for.

Energy & Environment

1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes

2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes

3. Other or expanded principles
- We need a cleaner energy economy with a mix of oil, gas and renewables.

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- As a combat vet, I trained on weapons of war for 20 years in the Army. I know what they can do, and know we can take commonsense steps to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. But as I often say on the trail, law-abiding gun owners have nothing to fear from me as their Representative.

Health Care

1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No

2. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No

2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- We need a common sense approach to creating conditions for more workers in our economy while supporting smart border security reform.

Marijuana

1. Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- Yes, but let's tax it and put the money towards infrastructure and education.

National Security

1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- Yes

2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- Yes if necessary, but we should focus on diplomacy first. I served in Iraq, and know that our Mideast policy is mired in foreign oil. It's time to end this war with a better focused national security plan.

Administrative Priorities

Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- I want to focus on passing a real 21st century Jobs Act that will help Texas build on its huge potential for jobs in wind and solar and keep the Texas Economic Miracle going. I'll also work to protect education and health care.