Important Issues
We have record deficits, crazed spending and staggering unemployment, especially in Ohio, where some 640,000 people are out of work. I realize that's a tough number to wrap your brain around, but picture a sold-out Cavs game and all those folks in the stands and imagine they're all without a job. Now, picture that sold-out crowd for 32 straight games and you can visualize the magnitude of the problem.
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The spending binge has got to end, and the federal government should start living within its means. We are currently spending $5 for every $3 we take in, and this is not sustainable. We will never achieve prosperity through bigger government, and the trillion dollar initiatives must stop.
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About 80 percent of all Americans, or about 130 million people, currently have health insurance through their workplace. I favor reforming health care, reining in costs and making insurance more affordable and available, but not at the expense of all those who already have and like their coverage.
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It is not the government’s role to get involved in so many costly bailouts. We have bailed out broken banks, broken car companies and broken mortgage giants. We have given these failed entities a government credit card with no spending limit, and few rules for how money is spent or saved.
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Education is vital for our country to maintain a competitive edge in today’s world market, and a fundamental component of our society. I believe local officials are in the best position to make decisions about their schools and curriculums, and I also believe it is important to insist on performance from both our students and teachers so children leave our schools with a foundation for success.
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We need to take steps to shore up Medicare and not use it as a slush-fund to pay for health care reform. We should allow the safe importation of prescription drugs from Canada, and also force the government to negotiate reduced drug prices for Medicare Part D, just as we do with drugs provided to veterans seeking health care. The purchasing power of seniors is massive and could dramatically reduce costs to taxpayers and seniors
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We must maintain a strong defense, and it distresses me that there seems to be a new attitude that America should apologize for its actions. I do not favor closing Guantanamo Bay, and I am troubled by efforts to try terrorists in criminal courts. I thought the handling of the interrogation of the Christmas Day bomber in Detroit was shameful.
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I have been a long-time champion of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes, which provide 20 percent of the world’s fresh drinking water and are a huge economic machine for our state. I worked with former Sen. John Glenn to reauthorize the federal law that curbs the menace of invasive species, and served as the long-time chair of the Great Lakes Task Force.
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A strong and prosperous economy depends upon access to energy at reasonable prices, and with choices with our energy options we can also benefit from competitive prices. The federal government has made great strides to provide alternative energy sources, and I support having an array of options – renewables, solar, geothermal, domestic drilling and nuclear power.
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Every year Congress considers several appropriations measures that provide funding for the operations of the federal government. The process begins when the President submits his budget request to Congress and ends when he signs the appropriations measures into law and disburses funds to federal agencies.
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