We are currently in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. While initial steps to deal with this unprecedented crisis have been taken, it is important to make sure we take the necessary follow- on actions to prevent this from happening again. There are three steps which must be taken to fix the economy:

First – Stop the Freefall.

President Obama’s Administration has taken necessary steps to halt the decline, although it will take some time, possibly as many as 18 months, for those actions to be effective. The use of TARP funds and the action of the Federal Reserve to stabilize the banking industry has been effective at unfreezing the credit markets.

I have always supported inclusion of people with disabilities in all areas of our society. I have a brother who is deaf, and my family has been active in the deaf community in Maryland. I know and use American Sign Language. Another brother of mine taught the multiple handicapped deaf and is currently Vice Principal of the Maryland School for the Deaf in Columbia. I have another brother who is legally blind. These relationships ensure that I am cognizant of issues facing people with disabilities, and will have continued contact with that important community.

I support the Americans with Disabilities Act which ensures access to public areas for persons with disabilities. We should work to improve the participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of our society.

We need to enforce the laws against illegal immigration. Two competing bills were recently proposed in Congress, one would have made it a crime to give a thirsty man a drink of water, the other would have given amnesty to the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants already living here. I do not support either of those bills. We need to enforce the laws already on the books.

Illegal immigrants are coming to United States because employers are offering them jobs. Current law allows for fines of $1,000 per employee per inspection, and inspections can be conducted each and every day. If the Administration were enforcing this and other laws, we would shut down the magnet attracting illegal immigrants. The current leadership in Washington has chosen not to enforce these laws. A recent raid conducted against one foreign owned company resulted in more citations, in one day, than had been issued in the previous 12 months!

We are engaged in a “Battle of Ideas” on a world-wide scale. This battle pits American Values; including democracy, freedom, and respect for individual rights, against totalitarian governments and violent extremists who intend to force others to do what they want by the use of violence. I am confident that our values will triumph. I have seen Communism defeated, not by war, but by our reliance on our values and the clear evidence that our values produce a better way of life.

We must restore Fiscal Responsibility to Washington

We cannot continue to burden our children with debt because of our irresponsible spending. The unprecedented corruption now found in Washington has lead to record deficits for the past three years. We must balance the federal budget. To do this, I will work to eliminate the culture of corruption and fraud, reexamine current spending to match current priorities, and roll back the tax cut for the top two percent of Americans, who got 98% of recent tax cuts.

We must immediately act to address the corruption which is now prevalent in Washington.

We must deal with the complex issues which arise because of growth that is occurring in the Sixth District. We need cooperation at the Federal, State and Local levels to ensure that adequate infrastructure is in place to support water, sewer, transportation and education. At the same time, we must preserve our open spaces and rural heritage while providing affordable housing.

Many of these issues are dealt with primarily at the local level. But issues such as transportation and water management require that our local governments have support from the federal government when dealing with our neighbors in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.

A strong public education is critical to maintaining American leadership in the world. No Child Left Behind is failing our children and must be repealed. A "one size fits all" style standardized test is not a good measure of education. When we determine a school is failing, we can be sure that cutting the funding to that school will not solve the problem.

Education is vital to maintaining our competitiveness in a global economy. We must ensure that every American is given the opportunity that education brings. Effective public education is required for us to ensure that we have a workforce that can compete in the global economy.

American citizens should have a right to own Firearms unless they are a criminal or mentally unstable.

Gun ownership is a tradition in the United States, a tradition supported by the Constitution. While we do have a problem with gun violence in this country, we should not restrict individual rights of people who have not done anything wrong. We should focus on finding solutions to violence, not by restricting individual rights.

We should take practical steps to reduce gun violence.

We should achieve independence from foreign oil within 10 years.

We need a comprehensive Energy Policy that uses multiple approaches. We need a portfolio of alternatives, with each alternative contributing to our energy independence. This portfolio should include:

• Conservation
• Increasing the fuel mileage targets for vehicles
• Research and infrastructure support for biofuels
• Clean coal gassification
• Increased support for wind power
• Increased use of natural gas

We should establish a National Strategic Goal of reducing the price of a barrel of oil to $30 a barrel or lower. Saudi Arabia controls 12% of global oil production, and they have been able to dictate the price of oil. The United States consumes 25% of the world’s energy. We should be able to dictate the price of oil as much as the Saudis. We should establish policies which encourage conservation that are tied to the global price of oil.

We should encourage conservation by:

• Re-engineering federal buildings to reduce government energy consumption
• Raising the CAFE standards
• Increased federal funding for mass transit
• Require disclosure of energy costs for new homes
• Tax incentives for energy conservation and use of mass transit

Our farmers are the most efficient farmers in the world. We should encourage research into biofuels, to include ethanol, bio-diesel, methane and other options. We should make the 6th District the focus for research into agricultural biotechnology, capitalizing on the biotech infrastructure centered around Fort Detrick and the agricultural areas nearby.

We should support research into coal gassification. Transforming coal into clean burning natural gas will enable us to replace imported oil with domestically produced energy.

We should support development of wind power. While we have seen some bird and bat kills associated with wind mills, that impact can be greatly reduced with proper location of wind mills. The Department of Natural Resources should conduct the research on bird migration patterns to provide the data for proper placement of windmills.

We should not drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We should build a natural gas pipeline that parallels the existing oil pipeline. This would have minimal environmental impact, and would enable us to capture natural gas that is currently being burnt as a waste product.