United States Senate election in Maine, 2018
HEALTHCARE
We all know the old saying, 'The customer is always right.' That’s why competitive businesses regularly bend over backward to ensure their customers are satisfied with the goods and services provided, always looking for new ways to provide better quality at lower prices.
Sadly, our healthcare system isn’t working this way. As far as patients are concerned, healthcare is increasingly expensive for services that are stagnant in quality. Why is this happening?
This is happening because our healthcare system is focused on serving its customers — but sadly, we the patients are not the customers. Instead, big government and big insurance companies have stepped between us and our doctors — taking our money and paying on our behalf — stealing the power of the customer for themselves so healthcare providers cater to their needs, not ours. Meanwhile, us little guys, the patients, are treated like products on an assembly line.
If we are going to improve healthcare for the little guy, we need to give power and choice to the patients, not to big government or big insurance companies.
Our healthcare system is a tangled, expensive web of policies and regulations that result in Americans not being able to access the care they need — or paying too much for insurance and care. ObamaCare has failed, and Americans are hurting because of it.
We must look to free-market solutions to spur innovation, increase competition and give patients control over their own healthcare decisions.
Big government solutions are not working, and they cannot be the answer for our future.
CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS
All American citizens have basic Constitutional rights that cannot be violated. Unfortunately, we have seen our federal government creep further and further into our lives, and our rights are being compromised as a result.
The Second Amendment is constantly under attack across the nation by well-funded liberal groups. In the Maine Senate, I have been a leader in protecting Mainers’ Second Amendment rights. During my first term I sponsored Constitutional Carry legislation. As a result, law-abiding Mainers no longer need a permission slip from government to carry a concealed firearm.
Our Congress recently reauthorized FISA without protections for Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights. Warrantless spying on innocent American citizens is simply wrong. As a United States Senator, I will work to ensure that we have privacy rights built into policies such as FISA. We must defend our nation, but we cannot relinquish our rights to do so.
And, the Attorney General has recently taken us down a dangerous path on the rights established for states in the Tenth Amendment. I believe that when it comes to matters like cannabis policy, the federal government needs to step out of the way and let states make their own choices. States’ rights are a cornerstone of our nation’s founding, and the more power the federal government takes from the states, the further power moves away from the people and where it really belongs.
In the United States Senate, I will stand up for each and every one of our rights that are enshrined in the Constitution. Our liberty is too precious to be taken for granted, and I will defend it at every turn.
FOREIGN POLICY
I believe that our foreign policy must put America First.
America cannot be the world’s policeman. Nor should we ask our taxpayers to send money to foreign governments that work against our interests.
Our military is over-extended, with a presence in 177 countries across the world. We have been fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for over a decade. American lives are being put at risk every day for nation-building efforts that are not working.
Defending our nation is the most important role of our federal government, but in doing so we must be sure that our actions are within the Constitution and are in the best interest of our nation.
The Constitution tasks Congress with the serious responsibility of declaring war. War should never be a unilateral decision; sending our men and women overseas to die for their country is a decision that should be long debated and considered as the serious, weighty decision that it is.
America must defend itself, and we must defend our founding principles as we do so.
IMMIGRATION
Milton Friedman was right when he said that we cannot have open borders and a welfare state. It simply does not work.
Our immigration policy must include a strong, comprehensive security solution for our border. Any approach to security should be multifaceted, combining a physical structure with aerial surveillance and other technologies to support our border patrol agents.
And we cannot have America be a destination for welfare benefits. We must reform our social safety nets so that we do not have welfare as an enticement for people to come to our nation.
We must defend our nation, and put our citizens first. In the State Senate, I have a track record of advocating that we need to make citizens our first priority, sponsoring legislation to end welfare benefits for non-citizens so that our limited resources can be used for our most needy and vulnerable citizens.
Americans are a generous people, but we cannot be foolish. For our own safety and economic well-being, our immigration system must serve America’s interests.
A REAL PLAN TO REIGN IN OVER-SPENDING
1. NO INCREASES IN SPENDING UNLESS OFFSET WITH DECREASES IN SPENDING.
Congress loves to spend money they don’t have. Sometimes there are legitimate new spending needs that arise, and we can accommodate those needs.
We cannot, however, continue piling on more and more spending without accompanying cuts when we are $20 trillion in debt.
When Washington DC prioritizes everything, they are really prioritizing nothing. If a new priority arises, let’s make it a real priority and pay for it with cuts to spending elsewhere in the budget, not by saddling Americans with more debt.
2. INSTITUTE THE 'PENNY PLAN'
Benjamin Franklin told us, “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
If we cut just one penny for every dollar spent in Washington DC, then over ten years we would save $8.7 trillion.
We all know there is waste and bloat in government. Washington DC spent $850,000 on a televised cricket league in Afghanistan, $450,000 on a video game to teach children about climate change and half a million studying whether selfies make you happy.
If they can afford to waste our money on programs like these, we can afford to cut them by a penny.
3. REAL BUDGETING.
No more phony cuts.
Do you know what they call it when they plan to increase spending by 15%, but instead it goes up by 10%? They call that a 5% cut.
If you planned to gain 15 pounds, but instead you only gained 10, did you lose 5 pounds? Of course not.
This is phony math designed to fool us into giving them more of our money. It is time for Washington DC to live under a real budget.
4. SOCIAL SECURITY PRESERVATION ACT.
Social Security is in danger because Congress can’t control its spending addiction. In order to keep riding their spending high, they have regularly raided Social Security, spending our retirement money on their pet projects and giving us IOUs they can’t pay for.
We shouldn’t let the fox guard the hen house any longer. The Social Security Preservation Act would protect our Social Security dollars from the politicians by placing it all in a trust fund that they can’t touch: preserving the program for our seniors today and future generations tomorrow.
5. GIVE SENIORS GREATER USE OF PRIVATE CONTRACTING IN MEDICARE.
Repeal policy forcing seniors to get Medicare if they want social security and enact President Trump’s plan to allow seniors to make tax-deductible contributions to Medicare Healthcare Savings Accounts in exchange for means-testing benefits for upper-income seniors.
With this plan, we can both improve choice and quality for our seniors, while shoring up the solvency of Medicare so that it continues to function for our most vulnerable.
ENDING CORPORATE WELFARE AND DRAINING THE SWAMP
America was founded on the promise that you can succeed in the country, not based on who you know in government, but based on what you can do for your neighbors.
GOVERNMENT SPENDING & TAXES
Our national debt is growing at a rate of $1 million a minute.
We have $20 trillion in debts and $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Between the two, every American taxpayer is on the hook for $1 million each.
And yet, Washington still asks taxpayers for more.
Washington, DC is the richest region in America and the rest of the country simply cannot afford for it to remain so.
Corporate welfare payments that give favors to special interests on the backs of average Americans must be cut. Foreign aid to countries that burn our flag and work against our interests must be cut.
And our bureaucracy must be trimmed — our founders would roll over in their graves if they knew how large our federal government has become. Doing so will take hard votes and standing up to the special interests who profit from government largesse, but I will not back down. As your United States Senator, I will work to bring our government back under control.[3]