Health Care

I want to address the problems of the ACA with honesty and integrity. We can do this by looking to see where we’ve gotten healthcare right. Medicare has been an overwhelming success and it’s time we make a commitment for a Medicare-for-all like system which includes coverage for dental and vision.

Medicare works because we’ve untied the hands of government to negotiate with doctors, pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry.

Just as we have made a commitment to hardworking seniors, we can make the same commitment to all hardworking Americans. We need to let them know that a minor illness won’t be the difference between having a home and being homeless. We need to let them know that a major illness won’t be the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.

Education

I believe in a merit-based society and that we should be entitled to the fruits of our labor. This is a wonderful country in which hard work can mean success. However, as a nation, we should do a better job at making sure that the tools to success are available for everyone. America needs to recommit to the education systems which made us the envy of the world and provided a hand up out of poverty for millions of hard working Americans who sought only to pursue the American Dream.

First, we must focus on early education. Early exposure to language can make all the difference for future success. I want to close what early learning experts call the 30-million-word gap between children from poor households and children in rich households. While supporting K-12 is important, by the time many children enter Kindergarten, he or she is already behind the learning curve so far that catching up is impossible. We can do this by educating the caregivers on how to better interact with their children.

Tackling this language development gap that is occurring every day in America means opening up huge economic possibilities and a chance to grow our economy by maximizing the potential of all of our citizens, not just the ones of a fortunate birth. This is a commitment to our children that will cost us far less in the long run than the band aids we use now.

Secondly, while I am committed to higher education, not all paths are created equal. For too long the popular idea foisted on high school students is that going directly to college after high school is a path to personal and financial success. The reality is much different. While wages have remained stagnant when adjusted for inflation, the cost of tuition has more than doubled in the last 20 years. This means crippling debt for a degree that may not even bring gainful employment. Meanwhile, there is continually a crucial shortage of high-paying skilled- labor this path is fraught with failure, crippling debt, and a crucial shortage of high-paying vocational jobs left unfilled.

We should be flexible in the path we seek for successful students. Beginning in middle school we should offer vocational tracks for students who test well and who have demonstrated an interest. Upon completion of the program, we produce a generation of high-skilled students ready to tackle the real world.

Believe me, I want my children and your children to have the opportunity to get higher education. The values are inestimable. However, I want my children to be financially successful as well and if it means my daughter is a plumber for a few years while she builds up the financial stability to pay for school in cash, I’m okay with that too.

Energy & Environment

Common sense environmental policy includes creating long-term solutions with buy-in from both sides. We achieve that by providing market-based incentives for companies to reduce pollution, taking into consideration agriculture with the creation of new rules and ensuring agencies like the EPA and USDA work together to meet the needs of citizens and businesses across localities.

We should be promoting green technologies for energy generation as an alternative revenue source that builds a regional economy and reduces our carbon footprint. We could build solar farms across the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula and supply our region with much of its power needs. Not only would this bring more high tech jobs to the 1st District, it would help us preserve our agricultural heritage and ensure our economic future.

It’s time we bring all parties to the table and start finding common ground on environmental protection. A failure to plan and protect our natural resources leads to more corporations determining the fate of our planet.

Gun Reform

I will do more to prevent ownership of firearms by those who have battered their partner or spouse. While many states, including Virginia, have laws against firearm ownership by a spouse batterer, there are few requirements to actually check up on whether someone has actually surrendered their arms. The same issue exists at the federal level.

I support the ban on bump stocks, raising the age for gun ownership and the exploration of a buyback program as a way to reduce firearm death and injury. Training, special licenses and re-certifications should also be requirements. This leads to responsible gun ownership.

For too long, special interests have fought to prevent you from having access to the information that allows you to support intelligent policy. Never again can we allow people like Rob Wittman to co-sponsor bills like the SHARE (Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement) Act which removes restrictions on the use of silencers and flash suppressors and prevents the ATF from classifying ammunition as being “armor piercing.” Or vote on spending bills that curtail the ability of the Centers for Disease Control to perform meaningful research on how we can be safer without curtailing the rights of law-abiding Americans.

I speak to the silent majority of responsible gun owners who are justified in their fear of a gun grab but also don’t want to live in fear that their children will be the next victim. I ask you to join me in a fight that respects the individual right to bear arms and does more to protect the most vulnerable among us.

Reform the VA

My plan is to greatly increase the role of private hospitals for routine care. All-too-often we ask people to travel long distances for inconvenient appointment times. While legislation has been passed to deal with this problem, based on my conversations with veterans, it clearly isn’t enough. I know people are still enduring the same incredible inconveniences. I want you to get your basic care from the doctor down the street, not across the state. However, I also want checkups at the VA to account for issues that will be missed by the average family practictioner. This public-private compromise is what will best serve our veterans. We owe them that.

Women's Rights

As a mother of six daughters and a working parent, I firmly believe women should be given every opportunity to be successful in life. This includes succeeding in the workplace, having the choice to start a family, earning a fair and equal wage, living free from violence having access to adequate healthcare. When women have the power to make decisions and have control over their lives, they can plan their economic futures.

Immigration

Working with members of both parties, I will bring about common sense immigration reform. Such reform first starts with preserving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. For non-DACA recipients, we need to establish a clear set of guidelines, based on fairness to taxpayers and legal immigrants, that would take into account the amount of time a person or family has spent in the U.S., whether they have paid taxes and their involvement in the community.

Human Rights

Whether it is LGBTQ rights, civil rights, voting rights, gender equality or religious freedom, the idea that at this point in our nation’s history we are fighting for the equality of ANY group is unfathomable to me. It’s time to once-and-for-all take out the legislative sledge hammer and chisel the concept of equality into the ultimate guiding document of our nation: the United States Constitution.

I support a new “Universal Equal Rights Amendment” that would make clear that any distinction that can be used to divide us can no longer be valid for the purposes of treatment different than others around us. We have nickel and dimed this issue long enough. It’s time to codify the concept of absolute equality in the constitutional soul of our nation.

Source: Vangie for Congress.com