Representative John Spratt, Proudly Serving the People of the 5th District of South Carolina image of Capitol

Issues

Here in my words are my positions on some key issues:

National Defense: “The United States needs to be strong at home, respected abroad, and second to none as a military power. We need to give the Iraqis two messages: we are not pulling out immediately, but we are not staying indefinitely. The time is fast approaching when Iraqis must take responsibility for the security of Iraq.”

Jobs. "Every American deserves a good job and the chance to earn his own way. We should protect American workers by curbing illegal imports and opening foreign markets to American goods."

Health Care: “We need to move step-by-step until every American gains access to affordable medical care. That’s why I helped establish the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), to cover children in working families without coverage; why I think those over 55 who lose their insurance should be able to buy into Medicare; and why I favor tax incentives to help small businesses afford insurance for their employees.”

Education: “Education is the most precious gift we can give our children. All children should start on a strong foundation, with more teachers, so that in grades 1 through 4, no class in America has more than 18 students. And at a minimum, Congress should fulfill the funding commitment made when ‘No Child Left Behind’ was passed.”

Social Security: “We do not have to destroy Social Security to save it. When the retirement trust fund was about to run dry in 1983, President Reagan created a bipartisan commission. The commission worked out a plan to which every stakeholder contributed. That plan ensured the solvency of Social Security for 60 years, through at least 2042. Another broad-based commission could do the same. Private accounts do not have to be excluded, but they should be user-friendly, tax-favored saving accounts that are a supplement to Social Security and not carved from it.”

Immigration: "Immigration reform has to include more staff and resources for enforcement. This was the most glaring shortcoming in Representative Sensenbrenner's bill. The bill stiffened penalties, but provided little for the enforcement of those penalties. By the same token, immigration reform needs to include not amnesty and not citizenship, but some sort of temporary worker program, but it has to provide for its proper administration and enforcement. The immigration service is woefully understaffed, and unable to handle this huge responsibility, and no reform will work without a substantial increase in staffing at the immigration service, border patrol, and customs."

Click here to see some of John Spratt's votes to secure the border.

Taxes: “The tax code is full of deductions, credits, preferences, and exemptions, and long overdue a closet cleaning. We need to broaden the tax base and lower tax rates, as we did in the Tax Reform Act of 1986.”

Click here to see some of the tax cuts John Spratt has voted for.

Budget: “I was one of four budget principals who negotiated the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. By 2000, the budget was $236 billion in surplus. This year, the budget is projected to run a deficit of nearly $300 billion. With Iraq and Afghanistan costing $8 to $9 billion a month, hurricanes devastating our coasts, and Baby Boomers set to retire, a new plan to balance the federal budget is long past due.”