We, as citizens of the United States, have a right granted by God and protected by the Constitution to arm and protect ourselves.  The right to bear arms is a fundamental truth outlined in the 2nd amendment and laws to regulate that right will result in nothing less than tyranny.  This is one area in which the federal government has a role to play. That role is to protect the rights of American citizens to keep and bear arms.  Concealed carry permits should be treated like driver’s licenses and marriage licenses and be recognized across the country.

Red flag laws and gun control laws are slippery slopes to an inevitable takeover of gun ownership in this country.  Red flag laws give people the opportunity to judge their neighbor – if they do not like you as a person, they can report you and have your guns taken away.  That directly infringes on our second amendment rights. What’s the long game plan for red flag laws? They are the next step in the left’s attempt to totally ban guns.

Totalitarian and Communistic governments take away the right for their citizens to protect themselves before the oppression.  A people that cannot defend themselves can be easily controlled. History has proven this time and time again. Make no mistake about it, the left’s attempt to deprive us of our rights to protect ourselves has little to do with safety and everything to do with control.  – and as a Congressman I will fight these efforts as long as I have breath in my lungs.

Like so many leftist policies, their approach to gun safety is misguided.  They often argue that violent gun crimes will disappear when guns are banned.  We don’t need more laws restricting American rights. We have the laws, and the laws need to be enforced.  In most criminal cases where violent gun crimes are involved, there are other crimes tied to the case and frequently the crimes associated with gun violence are dropped.  Murder has always been illegal. Doing it with a gun doesn’t make it more illegal. We need to step up and strongly enforce the laws we have.

Good guys with guns save lives.  The violent church shooter in Texas earlier this year wasn’t supposed to even have a gun, but he received one illegally.  The bad guys are going to find guns whether they are illegal or not. Gun control laws keep guns out of the good people’s hands and makes us more vulnerable against the bad guys who are going to find them anyway.  If it wasn’t for the hero at the West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas, who used his lawfully concealed firearm and eliminated the threat, many more people would have been severely injured or killed.

I will protect our Second Amendment Rights.

The right to life is fundamental and given to us by God. It is no accident the evil socialist and Marxist ideology of the left seeks to devalue life so much that mothers and fathers are willing to kill their own children. All of God’s children are endowed with inalienable rights which include life. It’s hard to imagine anyone who has experienced the joy of holding a newborn baby could possibly support taking their life just moments before.

In 2017, Planned Parenthood performed 332,757 abortions, making them the largest abortion chain in the US.  Abortion rates have declined over the past two decades, but PP’s abortion numbers have increased substantially.  Killing an unborn child is inherently wrong and can never be justified regardless of circumstances.

Many argue that fetuses aren’t really human beings. But what else can they be? They won’t grow to be dogs or horses. Life begins at conception. Although a fetus doesn’t look like an adult, a fetus is no less human simply because it is smaller and more delicate.  It is our duty to recognize the smallest version of life with all its God-given liberties – and fight those who want to silence a voice that cannot fight back on its own.

I believe a society which allows killing its yet to be born members in the mother’s womb – is incapable of cherishing and nurturing human life or valuing childhood and motherhood as it should be.

Too often politicians translate “promote the general welfare” into “control every aspect of the lives of our citizenry”.  The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was no exception.  It was neither about being affordable or about healthcare when it was implemented.  Premiums and deductible costs for individuals, families and businesses were being driven higher every day.  The healthcare system in the United States has been too bureaucratic and expensive for far too long. Obamacare no longer needs to be repealed, but changes are necessary in the current healthcare plan. Instead of the old top-down approach to healthcare, we need to open up the system to innovation and competition. It’s simple: decrease cost, give more choice, and provide better care. By creating more transparency, our country’s healthcare system will be more patient-centered and less controlled by bureaucrats. We the people should have the freedom and flexibility to choose the care that is best for us; not the care someone in DC decides they think is best for us.  As we get older, Medicare should give us more choices too – at every step, we should be in the driver’s seat.  It’s time we open up the industry to innovation and competition. It’s time for Congress to keep its promise in fixing a broken healthcare system by using a new dynamic approach.

Personalized Healthcare.

More government bureaucracy decreases efficiency and access.  Being able to choose your healthcare plan – instead of having one chosen for you by the government – empowers you to choose the care that is best for you, and your budget by expanding the use of health saving accounts.  Encouraging competitive, market based approaches to the healthcare system allows people to choose what type of coverage they need at a price and at a plan that fits their lifestyle and health.

Mental Health 

27,173 Americans died by suicide in 2017.  Think about that number for a second. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.  In Utah we have the 5th highest suicide rate in the nation. A nonprofit called Mental Health America showed Utah ranked 50th, the lowest rank, in a national analysis that measured each state’s rate of mental illness.  More than 28% of adolescent girls reported they had seriously considered suicide in the previous two years. 1 in 4 of our Utah teens are struggling with mental health and have seriously considered suicide. We have got to put an end to this epidemic.  We are losing our country’s most valuable resource – Indeed, we are losing our future. I believe this can be, at least in part, attributed to the devaluation of life and continual push to erase God and self worth from the lives of our children. When people don’t have a purpose, they lose their reason to live.  We must return to the judeochristian values that built this country and help our citizenry have hope in the future once again.

Drug prices and how to decrease them (Insulin Case Study)

There are more than 30 million Americans with diabetes, a disease that costs the U.S. more than 327 Billion per year. Every living person needs insulin to live – but diabetics cannot effectively use insulin produced by their own bodies, if any is produced at all.  This requires diabetics to obtain insulin through the “health-care system” in which prices have skyrocketed in the past decade. In 2009, a 10 milliliter vial of many fast-acting insulin brands cost less than $100. Today, many, if not all brands cost up to and on some occasions more than $300 dollars a vial.  (this isn’t sounding very affordable to me) An average diabetic uses 2-3 vials of insulin per month so, the cost is equivalent to that of rent or a mortgage. Many awful stories around the country have surfaced about people living with type 1 diabetes dying because they are forced to ration insulin until the next pay day.

We should allow prescription drug imports.  In Canada, people pay almost ten times less for insulin than they would have to in the U.S.  And yet, it is illegal to import prescription drugs from the North border. This is where there is room for advancement and adaptation.  There have been bipartisan efforts in Congress to permit American consumers to buy prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies to bring them home for personal use.  But when we have Americans dying because of the problem created after the wake of the ACA, it’s time to put a stop to government intervention. In Trump’s State of the Union speech he said, “ It is unacceptable that Americans pay vastly more than people in other countries for the exact same drug, often made in the exact same place.”  I agree!

Opioid Crisis 

Under the Obama administration, in 2010 there were 16,651 people dead from drug-induced overdose.  Heroin was involved in 3,036 deaths. In Obama’s last year in 2016, 19,413 individuals died as a result of synthetic Opioids.  In 2016, 170 thousand people used Heroin for the first time. The economic cost of the Opioid Epidemic is 504 billion a year. It’s time to re-educate our loved ones and our kids about these dangers, because obviously, what has been done in the past no longer is effective.  I support President Trump’s initiative to tackle the Opioid crisis facing our country.

There is a place for the federal government in medicines and health.  That place is to eliminate barriers that prevent our citizens from getting the medications they need at a price they can afford. We don’t do this through more regulations.  We do it through less. Regulations should keep the products safe, not make them unreachable. I fully support President Trump’s right to try and prescription drug initiatives.

The United States was generally free to exercise foreign policy as it saw fit until it became dependent on Middle Eastern oil largely during the 1950s.  By 1973, this dependency allowed the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) (OPEC is OAPEC, minus Egypt and Syria) to punish the US and hold it hostage by reducing energy exports to the U.S. n retaliation for US support to Israel during the Yom Kippur War between Egypt and Israel.  The U.S. was forced to deal both economically and politically with unstable regions such as the middle-East and South America to ensure adequate oil supplies for American needs.

Thanks to wide American development and use of alternative energy sources, such as ethanol, biodiesel, hydro-power, wind and nuclear, and advancing technology techniques for oil recovery and use, the U.S. has essentially achieved energy independence.  This alone ensures that the U.S. can exercise it’s chosen foreign policy without coercion from outside.

We should be proud of this accomplishment.  That a modern, good, free, vibrant nation, such as ours can act for the good of the planet without constraint, should be celebrated by all Americans, as well as those who have felt the gift of food, support, freedom and protection from the U.S. for 200 years.  Those endlessly complaining, dark forces both inside and outside the U.S. should not garner our attention. They only hold us back.

Free to do as we wish, where should we put our foreign policy attention?

Russia

Russia is the largest threat to the U.S.  However, it is a failing, second-tier nation with an estimated 6,500 nuclear weapons under the control of a soviet depot who, just dismissed the entire rest of the government without opposition.  That constitutes enough risk for us to be very diligent as Russia seeks territory in Ukraine, Crimea and Northern territories. Also, Russia continues to meddle with the U.S, using cyber warfare techniques, notably in propaganda and elections.

Our best approach is to quietly fight the cyberwar, maintain our deterrent military strength and solidify the strength of our EU and NATO alliances.  Russia cannot tolerate such an economic squeeze.

China

We should recognize that China is in a “quiet war” with the U.S. and is using our money against us.  Foolish U.S. government tax policies and overbearing manufacturing regulations drove U.S. companies to develop and manufacture products offshore.  We made China great. We made China a nation of high precision/high-quality manufacturing, and killed millions of American jobs. We need to continue to bring manufacturing home and continue to strengthen the American economy with American goods and services.

A basic understanding of their Belt and Road Initiative tells us exactly what China’s plan is.  We need to acknowledge Chinese military expansion in the South China Sea and strengthen our relations with the coastal nations there.  We need to counter Chinese business expansion into Africa and South America, recognizing that their goal is to monopolize and control the world’s rare metals and minerals.  Finally, China has launched the very best cyber warfare capability against our government and industry. The U.S. needs the best cyber warriors of our own to counter these endless attacks.

Freed of a two-decade-long war in the middle east, the U.S. should concentrate on our border partners and traditional allies.

Mexico, Canada, Central America, South America

Economic success is key to relations with these areas.  Dictators and cartels only thrive where good economies don’t exist.  We should get back on the path planned by George W. Bush before the tragedy or 9/11/01, to help our neighbors economically and socially toward national success and freedom.  Trade deals and alliances help us do sensible immigration policies that provide for U.S. populations’ needs while encouraging economic nation-building inside border nations.

Europe, NATO, The European Union and the United Kingdom

After living under U.S. guaranteed protections for 75 years, it is fair and reasonable for these partners to step up their funding and engagement in economics and security.  Strong economic and military alliances are essential. Regarding BREXIT, the voters in the UK have spoken and the government needs to listen.

With 95% of the world’s consumers living outside of the United States, engaging internationally isn’t a question of if, but of when and with whom. America’s and Utah’s economic growth is inextricably tied to its connections to international markets. With more than $14 billion in Utah goods sold globally in 2018, Utah’s export growth now ranks 4th in the nation. Utah’s attractiveness as an investment destination is clear, with international investors fueling innovation and growth across the state. The world wants our goods and services and we need the world to buy our goods and services.

Utah’s exports stretch across more than 30 industries, supporting over 3,500 small businesses and more than one in five jobs across the state. I also support free trade policies and fair trade deals that strengthen America’s economy. America is better positioned now more than ever to win internationally, but sustaining our economic heading requires us to address new challenges to international trade and investment in the following ways:

• Enhancing market access and ensuring a level playing field in international markets is one of the most important things we can do to grow our economy—and jobs—in Utah and across the country. Free and fair trade is the key to any trade deal.

• Supporting the negotiation of comprehensive trade agreements with Japan, the European Union (EU), the U.K., and other potential trade partners around the globe that stick closely to the negotiating objectives established in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (known as Trade Promotion Authority).

• Supporting continued negotiations to address China’s unfair trading practices and their theft of American businesses’ intellectual property.

I believe our economy will continue to expand if we seek out policies that encourage innovation and entrepreneurialism. I am a passionate supporter of free-market principles. Government must get out of the way.

The Department of Education has grown well beyond its original purpose. We need to bring education decisions back to the local level and encourage more parent involvement.

We are a country of laws and we must secure our borders. Our focus should always be to protect Americans first.