For Florida
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Insurance Reform
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Land Use Reform
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Continued Investment in Infrastructure
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Cut Red Tape for Small Businesses
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Acknowledge Rising Tides and Invest in Remediation
The biggest issue facing our district in North East/Central Florida is land. Our land is disappearing under pavement and into the sea. The state, private insurers, and Federal flood insurance are unresponsive.
Daytona/Daytona Beach should be the region’s economic engine. Instead, our local economy is powered by selling and developing land. Farms and marshes are being plowed asunder but instead of potatoes we are planting tract houses. Local volunteer zoning boards cannot stand up against out-of-state developers with multimillion dollar budgets for engineering, traffic and land use studies. And local landowners would be fools to resist developers’ $50 million dollar checks. Farms should stay farms. We need to preserve existing agricultural land and lower the barriers to entry for young people who want to own farms. Unfortunately we cannot solve this crisis ourselves- the solution must be Federal.
Income tax credits, no-interest farm loans, and greater land-purchase subsidies available to towns/counties. And less red tape! I-95 needs to be improved, Daytona and regional airports need their fair share of our tax dollars and Bethune Cookman University needs to receive its fair share of educational investment to become a major economic driver in the region.
Likewise, everyone should acknowledge that the seas are rising and rainwater is pooling. Streets that only flooded in a storm now flood regularly when it rains. Well water is being contaminated with seawater and sinkholes are increasing. The power goes out regularly. Our infrastructure needs to be hardened, our marshes restored, our grid strengthened with power lines buried, and homeowners need relief from soaring insurance and home repair costs. Homeowners’ Insurance must be reformed on the national level to spread risk more evenly, major Federal tax relief is necessary for homeowners to harden their homes and the National Flood Insurance Program must be fully funded for the future. Lastly, federal funds are needed to purchase, preserve and revert coastal areas into buffer zones.
Tallahassee has failed us. Don’t send Tallahassee to Washington. I’m on it. I’ll be accountable to you.
For Our Nation
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A Fair and Just Tax Code
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Continued Investment in Infrastructure
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Protect and Improve the Affordable Care Act and Lower Prescription Drug Costs
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Cut Red Tape for Small Businesses
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Support Organized Labor
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Student Loan and Debt Relief
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Increase Manufacturing Base and Small Farm Creation/Ownership
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Fair and Equitable Immigration Policy
The Economy
Americans aren’t lazy and the government can’t solve all our problems. Everyone just wants a fair chance to make the life they want for themselves and their family. We’re losing that. We must save the American way of life. Make America Fair Again!
Too many Americans are one or two paychecks away from financial ruin. They stare into a bottomless pit of debt. We have allowed this to happen on our watch. Students graduate college with debt equalling a mortgage. Mortgage costs are outrageous and mortgage payments are less than the taxes and insurance we pay on our homes. When it costs $4.50 to take $20 out of the ATM you know the corporations have won.
Small businesses must be supported with grants and tax relief. And less red tape!
Remember when Grandma worked for the phone company and owned stocks? Or Grandpa worked at the railroad and was a shareholder? Not anymore. Too many people are not active participants in the economy and that has weakened all of us. Protections for pensions, fair living wages and fewer tax breaks and tax cuts for the wealthy. Corporations paying their fair share. Americans want to make things. The “knowledge economy” only works for half the people, incentivizing manufacturing and labor must be Congress’ priority.
Human Rights
We have been sold a bill of goods that human rights are a zero sum game. As if granting rights to one group somehow reduces your rights. That’s just not true. Rights are like cash, the more we have, the richer we are. We are the richest country in the world, let’s get richer! Protect our LGBTQ+ family and neighbors, foster and celebrate religious freedom. In Florida we had a referendum in November where 57% voted in support of a constitutional amendment to protect abortion rights. The people have spoken, state and Federal elected officials must respect the will of the people and enshrine abortion rights. If you don’t like it, talk to your neighbor. Odds are they voted for it.