Mission Statement:
Jobs and Economy:
It is important that every American who wants a job can find one; every business has a chance to grow; and we turn our economic recovery into lasting prosperity that reaches every corner of America.
•Restraining spending by the Federal Government
•Passing legislation that promotes economic growth - including making tax cuts permanent
•Reforming the institutions fundamental to American society, so that they can meet the realities of our new century
•Strengthening high schools
•Preparing Americans for jobs in the 21st Century
•Reforming immigration to safeguard the liberty of America
•Reforming the tax code
•Strengthening Social Security
Safety and Security:
President Bush proposed and Congress approved a single, unified Department of Homeland Security to improve protection against today’s threats. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, President Bush has taken the fight to the terrorists and made America a safer place.
•Strengthen Our Military
•Deploy A Missile Defense
•Strengthen NATO
•Support Military Families And Veterans
•Homeland Security
•Continued Progress in Iraq
Tax Reform:
There is an ambitious agenda to ensure that America's economy remains the most prosperous in the world. Vital in achieving this goal is the President's belief that taxpayers' dollars should be spent wisely, or not at all.
•Reform the tax code, America's taxpayers deserve, and our future economic prosperity demands, a simpler, fairer, more pro-growth system.
•Restrain spending by the Federal Government.
•Making his tax cuts permanent, both for individuals and for small businesses; all the tax relief enacted over the past four years, including the tax relief benefiting America's small businesses, is scheduled to expire over the next several years.
Education:
President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) so that testing, accountability, and high standards will join with record new funding to help ensure educational excellence for every child. The early grades are seeing progress across America, but we must finish the job with high schools.
•A new high school initiative to help states hold high schools accountable for teaching all students and to provide effective interventions for those students who are not learning at grade level.
•Increasing reading skills for America’s striving readers by providing a focus on improving the reading skills of high school students who read below grade level.
•Accelerating mathematics and science achievement dedicated to support projects to accelerate the mathematics achievement of all secondary students, and especially low-achieving students.
•Accelerating student achievement with Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate.
•Promoting Scholastic Achievement with State Scholars.
Social Security:
The promise of Social Security must be kept for current seniors and those nearing retirement, and we must fix the Social Security system for younger and future workers.
•Social Security is sound for today's seniors and for those nearing retirement, but it needs to be fixed for younger workers. The government has made promises it cannot afford to pay for with the current pay-as-you-go system.
•If we do not act to fix Social Security now, the only solutions will be dramatically higher taxes, massive new borrowing or sudden and severe cuts in Social Security benefits or other government programs.
•To keep the promise of Social Security alive for our children and grandchildren, we need to fix Social Security now once and for all.
Nominations:
Every judicial nominee deserves an Up-or-Down vote IN THE FULL SENATE no matter who the President is or which party controls the Senate. It is time to move beyond the partisan politics of the past, and do what is right for the American legal system and the American people.
Legal Reform:
The costs of litigation per person in the United States are far higher than in any other major industrialized nation in the world. Lawsuit costs have risen substantially over the past several decades, and a significant part of the costs from lawsuits goes to paying lawyers' fees and transaction costs - not to the injured parties. There is a need for enactment of medical liability reform, class action lawsuit reform, and asbestos litigation reform to expedite resolutions and curb the costs of lawsuits for all Americans.
•Securing the ability of injured patients to get quick, unlimited compensation for their "economic losses," including the loss of ability to provide unpaid services like care for children or parents.
•Ensuring recoveries for non-economic damages do not exceed a reasonable amount ($250,000).
•Reserving punitive damages for egregious cases where they are justified, and limiting damages to reasonable amounts.
•Providing for payments of judgments over time rather than in a single lump sum, to ensure that appropriate payments are made when patients need them.
•Ensuring that old cases cannot be brought to court years after an event.
•Providing that defendants pay judgments in proportion to their fault.
Immigration Reform:
America is a welcoming nation, and the hard work and strength of our immigrants have made our Nation prosperous. Many immigrants and sons and daughters of immigrants have joined the military to help safeguard the liberty of America. Illegal immigration, however, creates an underclass of workers, afraid and vulnerable to exploitation. Current immigration law hinders companies from finding willing workers. Without harming the economic security of Americans, there needs to be a reform of our Nation's immigration laws to create a system that is fairer, more consistent, and more compassionate.
•Protect the homeland by controlling the borders.
•Serve America's economy by matching a willing worker with a willing employer.
•Promote compassion for unprotected workers.
•Provide incentives for temporary workers to return to their home countries and families.
•Protect the rights of legal immigrants while not unfairly rewarding those who came here unlawfully or hope to do so.
Faith and Values:
Faith-based and community organizations assist people in need every day, transforming lives with their compassionate acts.
•Breaking Down Barriers - Ensure that faith-based and community charities can participate in Federal, state, and local programs.
•Promoting Access to Recovery - The Access to Recovery program, a proposed three-year, $600 million drug treatment voucher initiative, will give recovering addicts expanded access to a full range of faith-based and community providers.
•Providing Mentoring for Children of Prisoners - This three-year, $150 million initiative is focused on providing 100,000 new mentors for some of the two million at-risk children with one or more parents in prison.
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