VOTE NOTES

HR 4310 – Lee Amendment #5: YES.  This amendment directs an orderly withdrawal from Afghanistan.  The attack of 9/11 was an act of war requiring an unambiguous declaration of war by the Congress and the swift annihilation of every pillar and vestige of that government and all of its belligerent agencies, including Al Qaeda.  Had we done so, the war would have been over long ago, Afghanistan today would more resemble post-war Japan than pre-war Iraq, and an indelible lesson would have been taught to any power that wishes us ill.  Unfortunately, that’s not what happened.  Instead, two presidents and six congresses have failed every test of war leadership.  I believe it is time to remove our soldiers from a conflict they have not been allowed to win, rebuild our armed forces and recover the martial strength that could have and should have been brought to bear after September 11th.

HR 4310 – Smith/Amash Amendment #46: YES.  This amendment restores the Constitutional rights of due process and trial by jury that were decimated by section 1021 of the NDAA of 2012.  Opponents argue that this would require suspected terrorists in the United States to be treated like ordinary criminals when in fact they are spies and saboteurs. That is true, but of course we have very good criminal laws under which to prosecute spies and saboteurs. The alternative is unthinkable: to sacrifice our most sacred liberties on the altar of an ill-defined, open-ended and perpetual war that knows neither victory nor defeat, subjecting our nation to indefinite detentions and military tribunals that are anathema to our Bill of Rights.





 

VOTE NOTE

HR 4628 – Student Loan Subsidies: NO.  Tuition is rising at four times the rate of inflation specifically because of the billions of dollars of subsidies that the government is pumping into that market.  Then, under the guise of “helping” students pay for these government-inflated prices, we offer them below-market student loans that they can’t possibly repay.  The result is an economy where student loans now exceed consumer credit card debt and one out of two college grads can’t find a job.  Meanwhile, they’re left to struggle with catastrophic debt that the government has lured them into acquiring with teaser rates.  As the father of two college students myself, I believe the best way we can help these students and their families is to bring tuition costs back down to earth by getting the government out of the market.  Instead, this bill continues to pump up a trillion-dollar debt bubble that will someday burst with devastating results.