WHO IS CHRIS McDANIEL(R) GIVING SENATOR THAD COCHRAN(R) A BIG CHALLENGE IN MISSISSIPPI?
Tea Party fave is challenging Sen. Thad Cochran in a runoff on June 24…..stay tuned
U.S. Senate
Roger Wicker (R) Next election in 2018
Thad Cochran (R) Incumbent
http://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/ http://thadformississippi.com/issues/
http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Thad_Cochran.htm**
•Rated 0 by AAI, indicating a mixed Arab/Palestine voting record. (May 2012)
ISSUES
GOVERNMENT OVERREACH Thad has opposed the Obama Administration’s efforts to limit gun rights; he opposed the Wall Street bank bailout; he opposed the President’s bloated and ineffective stimulus package of 2009; he opposed Obamacare; and he has consistently voted against the Administrations’ failed immigration proposals. Thad cosponsored legislation that would prevent the IRS from targeting individuals because of their political beliefs, and Thad supports legislation to restore the Tenth Amendment, sending power back to the states. Thad has introduced legislation to prevent overregulation of family farms by the EPA. He recently worked successfully to stop overregulation of family farms by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
ENERGY The United States can enjoy a secure and affordable energy supply. Thad believes in an all-of-the-above policy to harness our nation’s energy resources. He has supported efforts to expand offshore oil and gas development, and to return a portion of federal offshore revenues to the states for natural resource conservation and other purposes. Thad opposes President Obama’s delay in approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. A recent report by Obama’s own State Department concluded that the pipeline would support over 42,000 jobs, during construction and beyond. It is time to create these jobs and make the U.S. more energy independent. Thad is committed to supporting common sense energy policies.
Thad has spent his entire career making Mississippi a leader in energy independence. He has worked to bring investments in power generation throughout the state and has enabled Mississippi universities to conduct cutting-edge research in energy innovation. Over 22,000 Mississippi jobs are directly attributable to our energy assets, but more jobs are needed. Reliable and abundant energy sources are good for Americans because they help lower electric bills and prices at the pump. Diverse, affordable energy sources also are critical to attracting high skilled manufacturing and technology companies.
He is staunchly opposed to a “carbon tax” and sees it as a sure job killer, particularly in states like Mississippi that are growing manufacturing jobs. Thad has supported legislation to block EPA overregulation of American industry and energy providers. Thad will continue to fight for an all-of-the-above energy policy that is fair to the American consumer.
HEALTHCARE Thad continues to fight against Obamacare. He has voted to oppose, defund or repeal Obamacare’s overreach 102 times on the Senate. In 2013, Thad cosponsored the Obamacare Repeal Act authored by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Thad believes that Obamacare denies healthcare choice, stifles economic mobility and costs American jobs. In fact, a February Congressional Budget Office report confirms that Obamacare is reducing American jobs.
Thad also cosponsored legislation that would prevent taxpayer-funded bailouts of health insurance companies at the Obama Administration’s discretion, as permitted under Obamacare. Beyond the cost of these bailouts, these payments would likely end up being one more smokescreen to hide just how harmful and costly this ill-conceived law is turning out to be. Thad believes that lawmakers must go back to the drawing board and draft legislation that will work better for all Americans and actually reduce the cost of healthcare services without spending billions of taxpayer dollars to support these failing policies. The White House’s delay of the employer mandate past the 2014 elections is a sign that employers are responding to Obamacare’s mandates exactly as critics have contended: by cutting back on workers and hours. More recently, we learned that Medicare is being raided to pay for Obamacare. Seniors could lose access to the doctors they liked and were told they could keep. The President has shown he isn’t afraid to cherry-pick which parts of the law he delays, so he should stop these harmful cuts to Medicare.
Thad believes healthcare decisions are best made by families, not bureaucrats in Washington. That’s why he has made sure Mississippians have access to high quality care and transformative research. Thad forced the National Institutes of Health to stop putting Mississippi at the back of the pack and advocated a greater focus on Mississippi academic research partnerships. Today, doctors and researchers at the Guyton Research Complex headquartered in Jackson work with other world-class institutions to find cures for diseases affecting thousands of Mississippians.
IMMIGRATION Thad has consistently voted against inadequate immigration legislation. He even voted against his friend Ronald Reagan’s amnesty bill in 1986. In fact, he is one of three Senators in history to vote against every comprehensive immigration reform bill that sought to provide amnesty to those who have entered our country illegally (1986, 2006, 2007, 2013). Thad has voted against all legislation that would allow a process to grant legal status to illegal immigrants now in the United States. Thad realizes the importance of guest worker policy improvements that would benefit agriculture, seafood, high-tech and other industries in Mississippi and other states. However, as a member and first chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that secures our borders, Thad knows better than almost anyone that before solving the nation’s border security or law enforcement problems, we must not consider a path toward citizenship for those here illegally. Thad believes that the United States needs to improve its legal immigration policies and consistently enforce laws already on the books so that we remain globally competitive.
Chris McDaniel (R) Tea Party Challenger
HOT BUTTON ISSUES
HEALTHCARE Obamacare is a train wreck and must be repealed immediately. Chris was a leading opponent of ObamaCare in Mississippi, volunteering his free time as lead counsel in a suit against Obamacare. As a state senator, Chris also opposed Obamacare’s massive expansion of Medicaid that would have bankrupted Mississippi and subjected the state to increased government mandates.
Chris supported conservative senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in their effort to defund Obamacare and believes we must do whatever it takes to repeal Obamacare and save the American people from the increased costs, lost jobs and loss of privacy that Obamacare will bring.
He supports efforts to replace Obamacare with commonsense health care reforms that lower health care costs, increase choice for consumers, and protect our individual liberties. These reforms include enacting tort reform to limit the skyrocketing cost of defensive medicine, allowing individuals to receive the same tax benefits for their health insurance as employee-provided insurance, encouraging health savings accounts, and allowing people to buy health insurance across state lines.
REGULATIONS AND THE EPA Government has grown too big, meddling in almost every aspect of our daily lives. Whether it is the EPA telling our farmers how to run their farms or new rules dictating what kind of light bulbs we can use, government regulation is destroying jobs and impinging on our most basic liberties.
It is time to reduce the size of government and the power granted to massive government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency. As a state senator, Chris sponsored legislation designed to give owners of small businesses more say about state regulations that could affect their livelihoods. As a U.S. senator, Chris will oppose increased government regulation and will seek to repeal the most egregious regulations currently on the books.
IMMIGRATION Chris believes America is the greatest country on earth and we should welcome those who want to partake in the American Dream. But this dream is made possible by our country’s long-standing respect for the rule of law and basic fairness. Amnesty rewards those who willfully break American laws and unfairly penalizes those who follow the rules and wait their turn to enter this great country.
Chris opposes amnesty and believes we most enforce the laws on the books and secure our border first and foremost. As a state senator, Chris introduced the Employment Protection Act to require all companies to use the Internet-based system to check the legal status of potential employees. This legislation was passed and signed into law.
ENERGY Implementing a domestic energy policy that uses our natural resources in a responsible way will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce the cost of energy, and increase jobs here at home.
Chris supports increasing offshore drilling and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and drilling. He is a strong proponent of building the keystone pipeline and will oppose government funding for inefficient sources of energy like ethanol and solar energy. Government should not pick winners and losers and force American taxpayers to subsidize more expensive forms of energy. Instead, government should get out of the way and allow consumers to choose the fuel sources that best meet their needs.
Travis Childers (D) Challenger
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