JOBS & THE ECONOMY
Bringing jobs back to the Central Valley is my top priority. Fresno County ranks as the poorest county in the state and Merced County is not far behind in fourth place. With a double-digit unemployment rate, we have to reward businesses that provide economic opportunity instead of taxing and regulating them out of the state.
BALANCED BUDGET
Government spending, crushing levels of taxes, and unsustainable debt are only getting worse. Our government’s expansion into the auto industry, financial sector, energy sector, and the health care industry cannot continue. Future generations will be crippled by the debt if we do not confront the problem now.
WATER & AGRICULTURE
Bad water policy that refuses to balance human suffering against environmental concerns is hurting us. It’s time we carry the message of common sense solutions to Washington: improved water storage, infrastructure and conveyance equals jobs.
HEALTH CARE SECURITY
We already spend more than two and a half times what other industrialized nations spend on health care. Health care decisions need to be left in the hands of patients and doctors, not unelected bureaucrats.
HIGH SPEED RAIL
IMMIGRATION
- Control the border. “Benign” non-enforcement of immigration laws causes disrespect and disregard for all of our laws. There are an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States which is a problem that cannot be ignored.
- We must recognize the contributions made to this country by Latino immigrants. Our world-leading agricultural industry on which the San Joaquin Valley’s economy is based would not be what it is without the contributions made by documented and undocumented Latino immigrants over the past many decades.
- We need a far-reaching guest worker program. In this way, authorized guest workers will come to replace undocumented workers currently doing work throughout the Valley. Essential jobs that others choose not to do will still get done.
- Successful service as a guest worker will qualify participants for preferential consideration for citizenship. This is a new “pathway to citizenship” which should integrate responsible hardworking people into our society – while curbing illegal immigration (resulting in disregard of our laws, non-reporting of income and non-collection by the government of income taxes, etc.).
- Discontinue immediately the practice of breaking up families of “citizens by birth” by deporting their undocumented parents. This appalling practice has increased three-fold during the Obama administration by comparison to what was done during the Clinton and Bush administrations. This practice is anti-family and un-American.
- Illegal immigration has become a federally tolerated problem. Citizens in California (and other border states) pay more than their fair share of welfare entitlements and criminal justice expenses associated with undocumented immigrants. At a minimum, California (and other border states) should be reimbursed by the federal government for all costs associated with imprisoning undocumented criminals. The federal government has mandated the release of criminals from California state prisons due to overcrowding when a cause of the overcrowding is the federal government’s inadequate enforcement of the law. And meantime, Californians, who are already drowning in debt, are saddled with a higher share of the cost for a federally-tolerated problem. This has to stop. Implementing this program first, and strictly enforcing it through sanctions and fines to prevent further rule breaking and to discourage further illegal immigration, is important to resolving this problem.