U.S. Congressman John L. Mica’s responses to Stone Island Questions:
1. In light of the fact that the House Leadership has bottled up the
Veterans Concurrent Receipt bill, what actions will you take to ensure
meaningful passage and will you vote to override a veto if that occurs?
Since coming to Congress, I have cosponsored and voted
in favor of measures to allow concurrent receipt. This year I
supported the House version of the Defense Authorization Act, which
provides military retirees with a 60 % or greater disability rating their
full retired pay and VA disability compensation concurrently without
offsets by FY 2007. The bill also establishes a transition program to
allow military retirees to receive special compensation payments until the
offset elimination procedure is fully implemented.
The Senate also passed their respective FY 2003 Defense
Authorization Act with a provision that eliminates this unfair offset but
does not provide the necessary funds. A House-Senate Conference
Committee has convened and hopefully will develop a satisfactory compromise
of the two measures.
In addition, I recently contacted President Bush and
asked him to support the inclusion of a concurrent receipt provision in the
final Defense Authorization Act. While I am not on the Defense
Committee, it is my hope that House-Senate conferees will be able to find
the necessary funds and reach a compromise. I am also an original
cosponsor of H.R. 303 -- legislation which permits concurrent receipt.
2. What is your position on the 2nd amendment and gun control?
I support preservation of our 2nd Amendment rights and
believe American citizens should be able to protect themselves and their
families. In fact, our Founding Fathers placed the right to bear arms
second only to the freedom of speech in our Bill of Rights in our U.S.
Constitution. One of my priorities as a Member of Congress has been
to protect those rights. Unfortunately gun control measures have
never succeeded in reducing violent crime in America nor have they
prevented criminals from obtaining and using guns illegally.
3. What do you think would be the best approach toward resolving
traffic congestion problems in Central Florida?
As we complete various improvements on I-4 and other
roadways, our region will still require mass transit alternatives to deal
with future traffic congestion. I continue to support a
cost-effective commuter rail proposal which would provide rush hour service
from DeLand to Kissimmee as a first step in assisting local citizens travel
to and from work and major activity centers. Eventually we will also
need to adopt a permanent, fixed transit solution to deal with our tourist
congestion, particularly in the International Drive area. Should the
cross-State high-speed rail project prove feasible, that system could
provide another important future transit link.
Next year, the United States Congress will decide what
major highway and transit projects will be eligible for federal funding
through the end of this decade. As Florida’s most senior member of
the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I hope to continue
working with our Central Florida community and transportation leaders as we
work to meet our region’s future transportation needs.
4. What is your position on increasing the minimum wage? Why?
The way we can help low income employees is to improve
the economy and lower taxes. As I have stated repeatedly since coming
to Congress, I do not support measures that raise taxes, create more
regulations or continue unnecessary federal programs. I strongly
favor a simpler, smaller government that sends more money back to the
people and away from the federal government.
I oppose increasing the minimum wage because I believe
it is unnecessary and has the potential to harm our lowest income citizens
who are trying to move into the workforce. A minimum wage hike has
the potential of raising costs to employers. To offset elevated costs
businesses must either reduce their production costs, usually by
eliminating jobs, or inflate their profits by passing these costs onto
consumers in the form of higher prices. Neither of these changes help
low skilled and low paid workers.
5. Where do you stand on finance reform and what are some of your
suggestions to reform it?
I support efforts to improve campaign finance laws and
the integrity of federal elections. Present campaign finance laws
have been accused of allowing some flagrant abuses, runaway costs and undue
special interest involvement. We should support reforms that level
the playing field between incumbents and challengers. We must also be
careful not to hinder the rights of individuals and grass roots efforts to
express their views and opinions before the Congress.
In addition, I support campaign finance reform that
limits Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions, eliminates
"soft money," and caps overall campaign spending. While I
support many changes in our campaign laws, public financing is one I oppose
because it forces people to subsidize candidates and ideas with which they
may not agree. Thomas Jefferson once said that "to compel a man
to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he
disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical," and I agree with
him.
The House of Representatives voted on a variety of
campaign finance reform proposals. The bill I supported this year,
the Campaign Reform and Election Integrity Act of 1999 (HR 2668), embodied
the following principles: banning non-citizen contributions, improving
reporting and enforcement, improving disclosure and simplifying and
clarifying Federal election laws.
6. (No question provided)
7. Mr. Mica, I applaud your efforts in regards to our senior
citizens. As the mother of a middle school student, I have seen TV
ads which seem to show you as not being pro-education. Please tell me
your views on our state’s education system and what you would do to
improve our overcrowding, lack of funding and national ratings?
Despite misleading ads by my opponent which you may have
seen on TV, I have been deeply concerned with the lack of quality and basic
education in today’s classrooms. Since coming to Congress, I have
been working to decrease the Washington education bureaucracy and restore
control to the local administrators and parents. In fact, in 1996 I
passed an amendment to transfer $20 million within the Department of
Education from administrative funds to Title I programs, which are
classroom grants for the disadvantaged.
More recently, I supported and voted in favor of
H.R. 1, the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed by the President
into law on January 8. This landmark measure includes provisions to
shift decision-making power from the federal government, and into the hands
of local officials. This unprecedented new flexibility gives
local school districts the freedom to target resources where they’re
needed most -- from class size reduction to higher teacher salaries to
technology in the classroom -- and address needs that often from onne year
to the next.
Just as importantly, this education reform measure added
$4.8 billion to federal elementary and secondary school funding and
included an additional $1.5 billion for the Title I program, the largest
single year increases in our nation’s history. Never before has the
federal government made such a substantial investment in public education.
While the 107th Congress has increased federal education
funds, we must now ensure that basic education and quality curriculum
improvements are made, particularly in Grades 1-3. Elementary
students must develop the reading, writing and arithmetic skills necessary
to perform and succeed. Otherwise they may drop out and develop into
the social problems of our future. Be assured that I continue to
remain committed to the education of every child – regardless of race or
economic background.
8. How and what are you going to do to reform (slow down)
immigration, fix the illegal alien problem and what are you going to do
about the INS?
I have long believed that a complete overhaul of our
nation's immigration policies is necessary both for our country's economic
well-being and national security. I am greatly disturbed by the
tremendous influx of illegal immigrants into the U.S. and the inability of
the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Naturalization Service to protect
our borders. I also believe that providing amnesty to illegal
immigrants rewards law-breakers, is unfair to law-abiding legal immigrants
and encourages new waves of illegal immigrants.
Like many Americans, I have been dismayed about blunders
at the INS. This agency has stumbled from one crisis to another
without a coherent strategy of how to accomplish its important mission.
For this reason, I voted for overdue legislation that would effectively
abolish the INS and create two new bureaus within the Justice Department to
separately handle immigration services and enforcement activities.
9. Mr. Mica, where do you stand on term limits? This is your
10th year. Will this be your last term if you get re-elected?
The federal courts have ruled that only an amendment to
the U.S. Constitution can restrict the terms of Members of Congress.
I supported and voted for a proposed a Constitutional amendment for term
limits of 12 years in the House of Representatives, but the measure
unfortunately did not pass by the required 2/3rds majority of 290 votes
needed.
While I have not made any decisions following this
upcoming term of Congress, I strongly believe that any term limit measure
should be applied fairly and uniformly across the country.
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