E-Newsletters

It's no secret illegal immigration is an ongoing problem in the United States and that the federal government has thus far failed to stem the tide of illegal aliens entering our country. It is now clearer than ever that we cannot hope to stop individuals from entering this country illegally until we finish building a physical fence on our southern border. In addition, we must give the U.S. Border Patrol the materials and manpower it needs to enforce our immigration laws. Businesses also need to know they are hiring law-abiding citizens when they have an open position.

Our current tax system is extremely inefficient. There are too many loopholes and too many regulations. Often times it hurts the very entrepreneurs and small businesses we need to help bring us out of the current economic downturn.

Frankly, I would like to see it thrown out and replaced with a tax code that adheres to three principles: It should be simple, fair and promote economic growth. Our current tax code meets none of those goals, and in fact it often times has the exact opposite effects.

Earlier this week, I signed an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court," brief in defense of Arizona's efforts to enforce federal immigration law.

In May, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other organizations filed a class action lawsuit to prevent implementation of Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070. In its legal challenge, the ACLU argued that Arizona's law unconstitutionally intrudes on the federal government's authority to regulate immigration.

There is no escaping the fact that Washington has a spending problem. The national debt recently passed $13 trillion, and yearly trillion dollar deficits are predicted for at least the next decade at current spending levels. However, Washington also has a taxation problem.

There is little dispute that the current tax code is too difficult to understand, too punitive and too easy to avoid through loopholes. In its place, we need to implement a tax code that is simple, fair and promotes economic growth. That is why I am a co-sponsor of the Fair Tax.

"No taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant." George Washington, 1796

There are very few occasions when I disagree with our first president. This, however, is one of them. While I agree that all taxes are "inconvenient and unpleasant," General Washington didn't live long enough to see the sorry state of our current tax code.

Today, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the national unemployment rate dropped slightly to 9.5 percent – still well above the 8 percent limit the Administration promised when it helped ram an ill-advised, trillion dollar stimulus package through Congress – while payrolls fell by 125,000 as short-term Census jobs ended.

On July 4th, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a statement announcing the dissolution of the official relationship between the Thirteen Colonies and the kingdom of Great Britain. That document came to be known as the Declaration of Independence.

Voicing their desire for self-governance and freedom from tyranny, our founding fathers boldly proclaimed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

This week, we found out that the House of Representatives will not pass a budget for the first time in 35 years.

Leaders in the House will tell you it's because they are awaiting recommendations from the President's fiscal commission. The truth is they don't want to talk about how they've racked up an unprecedented amount of debt and how their un-curbed spending will cost the American taxpayers trillions more.