Health Care - There is no question that healthcare reform is needed. Today, the cost of medical procedures, medication, and doctor’s visits are becoming more of a privilege for those who can afford it. In the meantime, there are more than 47 million Americans without insurance and others who have insurance but can’t afford the exorbitant cost of co-pays and services the insurance companies won’t cover. We need to standardize the insurance companies’ claims process that, in turn, will reduce over 25 percent of the medical cost to providers. We need to remove caps imposed by insurance companies on medical coverage and ensure that pre-existing conditions are not a factor for you in obtaining medical insurance. We need to work together with hospitals, physicians, and pharmaceuticals to reduce overhead cost for their services and pass the savings to the American people.

Immigration - Today, undocumented immigrants are estimated to be over 17 million and the cost for deportation per year overpasses 1 billion dollars. Some groups blame undocumented immigrants for being part of the fast increasing cost of healthcare as they use the emergency rooms for medical care and those costs go unpaid. Employers hire them and pay salaries below minimum wage and/or overpass the employers’ responsibility of paying taxes, social security, and Medicare. There is no question that the vast majority of this group comes to the United States looking for the American Dream. Nevertheless, we have to address the impact that it has on our communities. By imposing higher penalties on employers, giving work visas to those who qualify under a proposed standard, collecting fees for the cost of monitoring compliance, and subjecting undocumented immigrants to deductions from their pay, we could reduce the cost of Healthcare, deportation, and other areas affected by these issues.

Education – Education is the most powerful tool that any person can acquire. With knowledge and understanding of the issues we are facing every day, our citizens are more empowered to express their opinions and to make educated decisions. In these present times of international competition for highly qualified people in the new markets driving our economy, we need to continue to give our children the advantage of having accessible and affordable education. We need to stress the importance of education to our children. We need to encourage their parents to be active participants in the educational process. We need to develop programs that will open doors to those who do not have financial resources. We need to keep our children off the streets by promoting participation in out of school programs, sports, music, and other extracurricular activities.

National Security – National Security directly affects our District as it shares the largest border with Mexico. In these present times we see more and more that the increase in criminal activities in Mexico is spreading across the border to our territory. As a result of drugs coming into the U.S. and guns and ammo going from the U.S., the Mexican-U.S. border has become a civil war territory among drug cartels. It also can be a haven for terrorists to come to U.S. territory. We have to stabilize the area as we have done in IRAQ and in the Middle East. We need to ensure that our border patrol agents are better equipped. We need to give them and the local authorities better resources and funding to reduce the incidents directly affecting the communities along the Mexico-U.S. border. We need to have a better control of the ammo sold here in the U.S. and shipped to Mexico.