One of the greatest things about the United States of America is our Constitution. Right now, many of the fundamental tenets of that Constitution are under direct attack. The first oath that I swore when I decided to serve our country was an oath to support and defend the Constitution. My dedication to the protection of these rights did not end when I retired. I will continue to stand up and fight for these most sacredly protected rights.
In Idaho, we love our public lands! I will not allow our beloved public lands be sold to the highest bidder for them to just put up fences and road blocks to deny access.
The OBBB subsidizes only the top 5% of corporate farms. The rest of the farms in Idaho are left with little to no assistance or benefits that they can utilize to maintain farms that may have been in their families for generations.
I will fight for the small and medium family farms that feed us and not the mega-corporations buying up our state.
I will help to insure that promises made to those who bravely served our nation are kept without the political games.
By utilizing systems like automatic enrollment into the VA Health Care system upon discharge from the military, I will help pave the way for better care for our veterans and their families.
We need to create better paths to saving money via legal negotiation powers for the Federal Government.
Currently, only the VA can negotiate directly with manufacturers which leads to a significant reduction in drug prices and medical services for veterans and their families.
Programs like Medicaid and Medicare are currently prohibited from directly negotiating with manufacturers even though bills have been proposed. Mike Simpson has been given opportunities to support such negotiating powers but repeatedly votes against it.
Term limits are important to reduce the influence of long-term lobbyists and special interest groups, to better focus on constituents, and to reduce the possible corruption of career politicians.
I am stepping forward to serve my community, the citizens of Idaho, and the United States.
I promise to serve a full term; two if I’m effective in making changes. Because stagnation breeds decay, I think it’s important to make way for the next generations to have space to lead our country forward.
Serving the people is an honor and a responsibility that should not come with a drive for personal financial gain. I believe that members should not be allowed to invest in individual stocks and bonds while serving in Congress.
The government should not serve money, but should serve the people instead.
The influence of corporate donations and Super PACs has taken away the focus of service the people.
Mega corporations are too big and have too much influence on how the United States is run.
Two industries in particular exude this toxic influence. Mega-corporations and media monopolies.
There are just twelve companies that own over 550 consumer brands. There are NOT 550+ different companies.
This limits consumer choice, competition, and gives too much power to these mega-corporations. If you provide inputs to these companies, you are a captive consumer and are negatively impacted.
There are just six companies that own 90% of the American media market that is TV, radio, newspapers, movie production companies, etc.
They have great influence over our opinions and are adept at making us believe we formed our own conclusions.
We need LESS mega-corporations influence and MORE competition.
The Fairness Doctrine required news and public affairs broadcasters to give equal opportunity/time to all sides. this meant that a media license holder could not promote one-sided opinions, but had to present more than one side of all the issues important to Americans.
However, since it’s repeal, broadcasters now present heaviliy to one side of issues. Given that all of mainstream media is owned primarily by a select few individuals whose primary motivation and goal is profit, it is fair to say that “We the people” are being played by companies less concerned with truth and more concerned about investors and profit margins.
This can also be said of social media companies. I want to help Americans regain our trust in news, broadcast, and social media outlets.
Before the 80’s, stock buy backs were considered a form of stock price manipulation. But today, the practice is common and just as bad for our country.
Currently, a compant can buy back their own stock to turn around and award that stock to their CEO’s. This creates an environment where CEO’s just get richer regardless of how well the rest of the employees may be fairing. According to Harvard Law’s CEO Pay Study, just last year alone, CEO’s earned at a rate of 192:1 when compared to regular employees. This means for every dollar earned by a regual employee, a CEO would earn 192 dollars. A large portion of these earning come directly from stocks awarded to them.
Many companies use the metric of Total Shareholder Return when awarding compensation to their CEO’s. The Total Shareholder Return can be manipulated via stock buybacks.
If companies have excess cash, they should be incentivized to invest into all of their employees and not just the top few.
Remove the cap on Social Security tax wages. Right now, any wages above $184,500 means no more Social Security taxes on any income above that limit.
End tax loopholes and target high income non-filers and those who don’t pay taxes that are due.
Target the tax gap which is the amount of tax revenue not collected due to under reporting by individuals.
Healthcare decisions are a private decision between a person and their provider. It’s not my, your, or their business to tell you how to keep your body healthy and well.
I support and agree with President Trump’s executive order banning large companies from “investing” in homes and raising rent on working people.
The percentage of homes owned by large companies is a small percentage of homes, but any relief is helpful and useful.
The dream of home ownership has disappeared for a large section of our population and it is unacceptable.
I support President Trump’s efforts to bring down the cost of medicine! This is lifesaving. It’s unfortunate Mike Simpson couldn’t do the same with his affirmative vote to prevent the government from negotiating drug prices.
More must be done though!
First, the office of the President should not be in the business of negotiating drug prices, that’s a role the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Second, the American consumer should not subsidize for drug prices and drug research. We all need the medicine’s, we should all share in the price. That probably means that American prices should go down and the rest of the world should go up to equalize.
It is estimated that the tariffs currently in place has increased costs to the average household by about $1,700 per year.
I believe tariffs are a useful tool in limited circumstances.