Texas Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test

Abortion

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- I do not favor abortion in the same way that I do not favor broken relationships. The situations in which someone considers an abortion are often complex. Therefore, I believe it is only the woman who is to make a decision about having an abortion.

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?
- Unknown Position

3. Other or expanded principles
- I am not in favor of a tax increase. However, I believe it is time for the wealthiest to make restitution for what has been taken from the middle and working classes in this country.There are tanks being manufactured in Ohio, that the military does not want and says they do not need. They come off the assembly line and are sent directly into mothballs. Those are waisted resources that are vital to the military and to the nation. We must spend wisely on defense, just as in other areas of the budget.

Campaign Finance

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- Campaign contributions are highly regulated, with the exception of allowances made through Citizens United, which provides tax deductible, anonymous, and unlimited contributions to Super PACS. These contributions should be as highly regulated as regular campaign contributions.

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?
- No

3. Other or expanded principles
- Federal spending is a large portion of the economy. Not to consider it would be shortsighted.Lowering corporate taxes while profits are high and unemployment is low does not stimulate economic growth. It provides windfalls to corporations and executives. We are already seeing this with bonuses being given to a few employees - not wage or salary increases, which are long term. This is being done by ATT, Sam's Club, and others, at the same time that they are laying off employees or closing stores.

Education

1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Yes

2. Other or expanded principles
- Students in Alabama deserve the same opportunity to have a good education as students in high performing states. We need federal education standards. We do not need more standardized testing, which forces teachers to teach for the test instead of educating students.

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?
- Unknown Position

3. Other or expanded principles
- We are at an important transition point with sources of energy. It is appropriate to encourage the development of renewable resources while we have plentiful fossil fuel sources. Regulating greenhouse gases can be expensive. It's understandable that there is anxiety about the cost. To do nothing about regulating greenhouse gases will make the situation exponentially more expensive later. If we begin working on this now it may afford us a much more productive future.

Guns

1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Unknown Position

2. Other or expanded principles
- I support gun ownership for sport and protection. It is appropriate to limit the availability of automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Police departments and chiefs across the country recognize this as a prudent way of making all of us safer.

Health Care

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- The time has past for repeal and replace. This should not be done as a backdoor measure through a tax reform package. The time has come to restore and repair the Affordable Care Act so that people may begin to take responsibility for their healthcare by purchasing coverage that is within their means.

Immigration

1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- Unknown Position

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
- I do not believe a 3rd century solution is appropriate for a 21st century problem. We should re-invigorate education with 25 billion dollars, not a wall that will be unworkable and little more than a political monument.Requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin is dishonest when we have relied upon their presence for inexpensive labor. We need to vet their background, document their presence, and reestablish guest worker programs that were so effective in the 1930s and 40s.

Marijuana

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

2. Other or expanded principles
- The legalization of marijuana would enable us to monitor and tax its sources and regulate its use. As Beto O'Rourke has said, a dealer doesn't check the ID of a 13-year-old. Our best way of keeping this out of schools and prevent underage use may be through legalization.

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?
- Unknown Position

2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position

3. Other or expanded principles
- We must first use rigorous, intelligent, and informed diplomacy. We must use international influence. Failing those, it may be appropriate to intervene. It is not a simple matter.I am reluctant to encourage an escalation of our involvement in conflicts that seem to have no point of resolution.

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.
- We must protect Social Security for a secure future for seniors. We must resist entitlement reform under the pressure of budget deficits, particularly when deficits have been deliberately created through lavish tax cuts as a ploy to reduce Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements. Our hospitals and clinics will be closing with lower reimbursement rates, which will create healthcare deserts in our district.