Economic Growth & Stability

My focus is to create: a safe and healthy society, a fair tax code, and a strong and well-educated workforce. I believe that within our local communities and in our greater society, we all benefit when we lift up those who have fallen, support families so they can return to prosperity, and ensure a secure a safe workplace that pays a decent wage.

Health Care

Of specific concern in the 5th District is access to healthcare. All but two of the counties within the District are rural and are challenged by closing hospitals and the lack of providers. I support: (1) Promoting the use of community health workers to provide education, referral and follow-up, case management, and home visitation; (2) Increasing funds for non-profit healthcare organizations; (3) Providing higher education financial incentives for those serving underserved areas; (4) Facilitating the delivery of consultative, diagnostic, and treatment services using telemedicine for patients who live in areas with limited access to care.

Education

I am a product of and a strong supporter of public education. The long-term economic impact of a well-educated and prepared society is immeasurable, but improving education is complex and nuanced.

All public school students, pre-K through grade 12, need the best in technology, including high-speed internet and safe environments in which to learn. Many school buildings in our district are in need of repair. Some have no internet service or even running water! That’s an outrage.

We need safe schools, resources for students from pre-K through 12th grade, and better-paid teachers. Smaller class sizes and improved opportunities for those with learning differences are also essential. If we are serious about having an educated workforce and electorate, then community colleges and trades schools should be taxpayer funded. This means not diverting taxpayer dollars to private institutions.

Farming in the 5th District

I am the granddaughter of farmers and spent summers working in Carolina fields. I know that farming is the heart of America, and farmers in our district are the heart of many economies in the 5th District.

Small farmers have taken a hit in the name of repealing “job-killing regulations.” These changes favor large corporate farming interests. Here in the 5th District, we have cattle, hog, poultry, corn, soybean, and Christmas tree farms. I will fight to restore their protections, open and grow their markets and help keep small farms viable. I will also promote crop diversification to include industrial hemp, a product that could quickly replace tobacco in economic impact.

Gun Control

Until we have workable national regulations, we will be unable to address gun violence, because local regulations are inadequate. As a gun owner, I support the Second Amendment, but it is not an absolute right for anyone to own a gun. I support: (1) Requiring a 24-hour waiting period to purchase a handgun; (2) Eliminating the gun show loophole;
Reinstating the assault rifle ban; (3) Requiring owners to be licensed and insured; (4) Requiring owners to be safety certified and certifications to be renewed on a regular basis; (5) Banning items such as high-capacity clips and bump stocks and (6) Eliminating protections for gun manufacturers.

Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

I support the passage of ENDA, which makes discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons illegal. Discrimination of any kind has no place in our country.

There should be no attempt to prevent transgender people from serving in our military. Again, a free society should be defended by the very people it defends.

Immigration

We are a nation of immigrants. Immigrants contribute to every aspect of our society. A rational immigration policy will assure that we have the workers we need, we provide shelter and opportunity for those endangered in their home countries, we are secure at all our borders, and we continue to be the land of hope and opportunity.

Criminal Justice Reform

It has been proven time and again that for every $1 spent on education, prevention, and treatment, we save a minimum of $7 on unnecessary incarceration and hospitalization. We need to be able to allow local judges to determine best courses of action, freeing their hands of mandatory sentencing. I believe we should: (1) Shift policy toward drug rehabilitation for users. A focus on high-level drug traffickers would have a positive societal effect while also lowering the country’s incarceration rate; (2) Legalize marijuana to reduce populations for first-time drug offenders; (3) Outlaw “for profit” prisons that encourage throwing people in jail. For-profit prisons must be closed and (4) Study and adopt Scandinavian approaches of rehabilitation. The substantially higher level of investment in such programs has resulted in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland ranking among those countries for whom the incarceration rate is the lowest.

Environment

We want clean air and water. We want to protect our 2 million acres of private land. The current reliance on a market-based framework has resulted in pollution of air, water, and soil; the loss of biodiversity; endangered natural resources; and waste products polluting the soil. I believe in environmental policy integration (EPI), which is the process of integrating environmental objectives into non-environmental areas, such as business development, transportation and energy, agriculture and transportation, rather than leaving them to be pursued solely through purely environmental policy practices.

Source: DD Adams for Congress.com