Keeping America Safe
Keeping Americans safe and secure in an ever-changing domestic and foreign landscape is Congress’ FIRST and MOST IMPORTANT priority. Domestically, we must secure our borders and reform our legal immigration system. Internationally, we must support our military as nations like China and Iran continue to undermine American interests abroad. Absolutely nothing is more important than securing our freedoms and keeping Americans safe.
My family has a long history of military service. I always have and always will be a strong supporter of our men and women in uniform. I will make sure that Congress supports our troops, giving them the resources they need and deserve when handling current global and domestic threats.
Our National Defense:
By 2017, military readiness had become “dangerously low.” Congress’ sequester and Continuing Resolutions to fund the government have taken their toll on our military. While we’ve made progress in recent years, some of our adversaries have come close to peer status in terms of military capabilities. The U.S. must rise to this challenge in an affordable yet effective way to discover the next disruptive and innovative technologies that will help us stay ahead of the competition.
China: China has become a strategic competitor that uses bribery, currency inflation, intellectual property theft and cyber-attacks to intimidate its neighbors and take advantage of the US – impacting our pocketbooks here at home. They built a competitive economy on the backs of stolen American Intellectual Property in what has been called the greatest transfer of wealth in history. We’ve ignored these threats at too high a cost for too long; I support the President’s efforts to stand up to China and bring them to the negotiating table. I will work hard to ensure a constructive, results-oriented relationship with China that brings home better jobs and paychecks for hard-working Americans.
Russia: Vladimir Putin’s methods of “leadership” could start the next Cold War. While the U.S. continues to find ways to cooperate with Russia in areas where we agree, we have to recognize we’re dealing with an authoritarian government without free speech, freedom of the press, or many of the protections our Constitution guarantees. Given their invasion of Crimea and the attempted interference in our elections and those of our allies – along with propping up dangerous regimes such as Syria – we must stay a step ahead of Russia’s attempts to disrupt the U.S. and our interests. I will always prioritize a strong defense and intelligence community that will contain Putin and deter Russia from challenging the U.S. or our interests.
Iran: We must find a way to move forward on Iran. This is challenging, as the Islamic regime in Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terror, responsible for the deaths of US servicemen and women and the reason many more came home with debilitating injuries from their service in Iraq and other conflicts. For decades, Iran has supported terrorists and their proxies unabated. Obama's disastrous Iran deal handed the regime $150B while doing little to nothing to stop them from obtaining a nuclear weapon. If anything, the deal only served to embolden Iran and put our allies at greater risk, as we've seen with Iran's brazen attacks on U.S, British, and Saudi interests. President Trump was right to withdraw from the agreement, and right to continue to impose harsh sanctions on this terror-supporting regime. This is an imperative and time-sensitive issue as the U.S. does not need or want another war; yet we cannot allow Iran to conduct terror attacks against U.S. interests and U.S. service members. We must work together with our allies in the international community to contain Iran before it’s too late.
North Korea: I support constructive and serious dialogue with North Korea along with other forms of pressure to compel them to irreversibly and verifiably denuclearize. I support talks between North and South Korea to improve relations and to resolve outstanding problems, but it’s important we do not give in to Kim Jong-un. We must stop North Korea's nuclear program, prevent Kim Jong-un from deploying his existing nuclear weapons, and ensure that North Korea becomes less of a threat to us and the region.
The Border: The border isn’t just an immigration issue; it’s a national security issue. It doesn’t do any good for our brave soldiers to take the fight to our foes overseas if those same enemies can walk right across our Northern or Southern borders or enter through our ports unchecked.
No nation is secure without a border that it controls, and that’s why we need to build a wall where necessary and provide cutting-edge technology and more funding to the Border Patrol, ICE and Coast Guard to ensure that we enforce the laws that keep American citizens safe.
My Plan to Keep Americans Safe and Secure, both now and in the future:
■ Our servicemen and women deserve the very best resources and support as they fight to protect American freedoms. I will work with the DoD to ensure they have every capability possible to continue modernizing our strategies and keep Americans safe in an increasingly dangerous world.
■ We must secure our borders and give those who protect our border the funding and the tools they need to be successful and fix the crisis at our southern border.
■ China has stripped much of the country of good manufacturing jobs and has been stealing our intellectual property for decades for their own gain. I support President Trump’s effort to crack down on China’s currency manipulation and intellectual property policies. Congress needs to support the President and ensure we show a united front against China’s deceptive practices.
■ Our adversaries’ ability and intent to wage cyber warfare is a grave concern. The Russians and Chinese in particular have been able to steal not just business property, but also military secrets. I will work to boost our knowledge and engagement on cyber security within the military and corporate America to ensure American ideas and businesses can prosper without fear of foreign infringement. We must invest in strict cyber security protections now. Congress must ensure our infrastructure – the electric grid, roadways and water systems – is not hacked to cause domestic havoc.
■ Congress must create and enforce laws around cyber espionage because American businesses are being hijacked by economic theft through the loss of industrial information and intellectual property. Election integrity is also vital; foreign election interference is a serious threat. It’s clear that there have been efforts by our enemies to access sensitive information such as voter registration. Republicans in Congress and the Trump Administration have made progress since 2016, and I will continue these efforts to fight against any threat to our democracy.