Jeff Barnett for Congress
Join Our Email List!

Issues

 


Create Jobs

Politicians talk about creating jobs – but don’t do much. I will. When I am in Congress, I will champion short term, mid term, and long term initiatives to create jobs.

In the short term, we must help small business, the #1 source of new jobs.
How do we do this?

  • Give small business and the self-employed the same healthcare rates as big corporations.
  • Help small banks; they extend credit to small business to invest and hire
  • End today's overwhelming focus on large omnibus government contracts. Allow small companies to really compete with big corporations.

In the mid term we need to build for the future. Public/private partnerships are the key. The internet, genetic drugs, commercial jet aircraft -- all started with government “seed” money. Private entrepreneurs took government programs and spun-off world-class commercial industries. Their spin-offs created next-generation jobs. The secret is to work with government agencies and technological innovators. As your Congressman, I will initially focus on green jobs and the IT/Intelligence Community. Both have huge upsides. Both are ideal for the 10th Congressional District.

I know how this works. I did it as a corporate consultant. I wrote about it in my first book. Bottomline -- I know how to create 21st Century Jobs.

In the long term, we need to build life-long education and training for workers displaced by continuing waves of new technology. The era where a person can graduate from college at 22 and spend forty years at the same company is over. We need the ability to continually go back to school to learn the skills needed to succeed in our constantly changing economy.

Fiscal Sanity

When President Clinton left office, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projected a $5 trillion surplus over the next decade. However, with Republicans in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, the federal government ran up a $6 trillion deficit. Two tax cuts, two unfunded wars and one unfunded healthcare benefit (Medicare Part D) destroyed fiscal responsibility in Washington. Now we are in the deepest recession in 75 years.

This year the federal government will take in $2.2 trillion and spend $3.6 trillion. This temporary deficit spending is necessary but not sustainable. A Democratic Congress and White House worked together before to balance the federal budget. We can do it again.

I am absolutely committed to balancing the federal budget. It is immoral to pass debt of this magnitude to our children. How we fund government and what we expect from government must change. As a first step, stop squeezing middle class taxpayers. Start taxing the wealthy at the same rate as the middle class. Under current law, couples making more than $433,000 a year pay a smaller percentage in taxes than couples making $150,000. The super-wealthy not only pay a smaller percentage in income tax; they also pay a smaller percentage in capital gains tax. No wonder we have a federal deficit.

As a second step, we must cut discretionary spending. Because the Defense Department spends half of all discretionary spending, it has to be part of the solution. America spends about as much as the rest of the world combined on defense. As we complete our two wars, we must reshape our defenses within affordable budgets.

These two steps are easier said than done. They will generate armies of lobbyists in response. The same fear tactics and half-truths used in the healthcare debate will reappear. However, decisions of this magnitude are what Members of Congress sign up to do. Voters deserve to know exactly what their Congressman will support. We must regain fiscal sanity in Washington.

Fix the Housing Crisis

The bank-fueled housing bubble should never have happened in the first place -- and must never happen again. Average people put the majority of our wealth into our homes. But government stood by while banks played roulette with our life savings. It will not happen again on my watch.

To make sure this never happens again, we need to stay ahead of financial manipulators in our hyper-speed, hyper-competitive world. I support Congress' plan to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This agency shouldn’t add a single bureaucrat – it will only combine existing offices into a single agency focused ONLY on protecting consumer finances. We need constant financial watchdogs to help us protect our homes, savings, and pensions.

Government rescued the banks that were "Too-Big-To-Fail" but told the middle class we are Too-Small-To-Save. That is wrong morally and short-sighted economically. We must take positive steps to help people keep their homes. We must re-institute common sense regulations to prevent another bank-fueled housing bubble.

With one of five mortgages “underwater,” tens of thousands of our neighbors live in constant fear of losing everything. They are one bad break -- sickness, job loss -- away from going bankrupt. They lose their home and their life savings.

I will champion three immediate steps to help homeowners:

  • Institutionalize the short-sale process so homeowners can force a short-sale when their bank refuses to modify an underwater mortgage.
  • Guarantee an FHA loan two years after the short sale – so homeowners with good credit can recover.
  • Give homeowners the same bankruptcy protections we give big corporations.

None of these proposals should cost the federal government a penny. They won’t weaken the financial system – banks have already written off underwater mortgages. Our government must help middle class homeowners caught up in the housing bubble. We cannot forget the Too-Small-To-Save.

Actually Improve Transportation

We need to actually fix transportation gridlock. Traffic gets worse every year. Enough is enough.

First, we need to improve the efficiency of current roads, rail and bridges. We need better interchanges, additional lanes, metro extensions, and high-speed buses. These improvements will make life more bearable for our current population. They are necessary – but not enough. They won’t handle future growth.

Our district has the most fiber-rich dirt on earth. We are the internet crossroads of the world. Dulles is the last major airport on the East Coast with expansion capacity. Our wealth will continue to attract floods of people. We need next-generation infrastructures to absorb them.

Our parents showed us how to think ahead. They built I-66, I-81, the American Legion Bridge, the Beltway, and Metrorail. Since then, every solution to our traffic woes has been to widen or lengthen what we inherited. We can’t just “tweak” transportation infrastructures designed decades ago. Real growth requires next generation transportation. It requires renewed vision.

I will lead a consensus towards that vision. The Congressman from the 10th District is uniquely positioned to bring people together. I can reach across state and party lines, across federal, state, and local agencies, across public and private sectors, to forge a new consensus that protects the environment, the economy and our quality of life.

This consensus will help us to identify and build the next generation of transportation across the 10th District and Northern Virginia. If we don’t act now, gridlock will get worse for everyone – and that’s no way to live.

End Our Wars

Like many American families, today’s wars are more than just “issues” for my wife and me. Our youngest child is deployed to Afghanistan. Our eldest child is an Army doctor at Walter Reed. I know what it means to have loved ones in harm’s way. As your Congressman I will never let politics influence my votes on sending our sons and daughters to war.

As your Congressman, I will bring a practical approach to foreign policy – and make sure we end our wars.

The invasion of Iraq was a monumental mistake. Our incumbent Congressman voted for this war – a vote I opposed at the time. I support the current withdrawal schedule and will stay on top of its timeline.

When we let Al Qaeda escape into Pakistan, we created a new and serious threat. Pakistan has 175 million people – and nuclear weapons. It must not become a failed state – which is exactly what Al Qaeda wants. This is why I support our temporary surge in Afghanistan, even though our daughter is deployed there. We must work with Pakistan, Afghanistan and our allies to build an indigenous vise around the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. I will be relentless in ensuring actions match specific and attainable goals, and I will make sure we stay on schedule for bringing our troops home.

As President Obama said in his Nobel Peace Prize speech, evil will always exist in our world. America must sometimes fight when nonviolence fails to surmount “the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.” When decisions over war and peace face Congress, I will go the extra mile to emphasize peace. I understand war, from combat to peacekeeping. My father is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. My wife served for eight years in the military. Both our children serve on active duty. If our Nation must go to war, I will ensure there is no other option. I will ensure we have clear goals and the resources to attain those goals.

A Powerful Voice on Intelligence

Virginia’s 10th District is home to the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office. Our office parks include companies that support these agencies. Incredibly, there are no Virginians on the House intelligence committee (HPSCI). I will push to serve on this committee.

I have directly worked with leaders in CIA, DIA, NSA and military intelligence; that’s why I maintain a Top Secret security clearance. I can lead the next generation of intelligence investment in Congress – because I understand the professional perspectives of the thousands of Virginians who work in support of the United States Intelligence Community.

Re-Regulate the Megabanks

Under Republican leadership, our Nation tilted the economic playing field in favor of big banks – then took the referees off the field. Now we have the deepest recession in 75 years, mountains of debt, millions of lost jobs, and a housing crisis that is destroying tens of thousands of families.

Five megabanks still control 75% of all lending in America. They are still Too-Big-To-Fail. Don’t get me wrong, we still need big banks to serve global networks of huge corporations – but our concentration of trillion dollar banks places national financial security at risk. We learned this lesson the hard way. To manage risk we need greater involvement by small banks. We can help small banks compete with the megabanks by giving them an edge in the federal funds rate and the overnight discount rate. This will help the 8500 other banks in America serve a larger part of our economy.

Deliver Affordable Healthcare

I was very happy to see comprehensive healthcare reform pass in late March. The only way I could have been prouder is if I had been in Congress to cast a "yea" vote myself. Healthcare costs are out of control. Thirty years ago, healthcare was 8½% of the American economy. Now it’s twice that -- 17%. Where will it end? When healthcare costs 20% of the economy, or 25%? Even with these immense costs, tens of millions of our fellow citizens still can’t get healthcare. We needed comprehensive healthcare reform, and I am proud of those in Congress who championed this effort.

This bill addresses all of my top healthcare reform priorities:

  • Affordability: Make healthcare affordable for everyone. Small businesses and self-employed individuals should pay the same premiums per person as large corporations. This bill opens access to exchanges that will provide small businesses with access to healthcare plans that were not available in the past.
     
  • Pre-Existing Conditions: Guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. It is un-American when people with pre-existing conditions can’t get health insurance or can’t change jobs over fear of losing coverage. This bill guarantees coverage for children with pre-existing conditions almost immediately, and phases it in for adults over the next couple of years.
     
  • Coverage: Any American who wants healthcare should get healthcare. As many as 30 million Americans cannot get affordable healthcare under our current system. They must go to Emergency Rooms to get help. This is immoral, unnecessary, and wasteful. This bill expands coverage to allow these 30 million Americans to get health care.
     
  • Cost: Get healthcare costs way down. America spends twice as much money per person on healthcare as our global competitors. Many of the controls in the bill are untested. As your Congressman, I will stay on top of IMPLEMENTATION – to make sure we actually cut costs.

Energy and the Environment

Every day, America sends $2 billion overseas to buy foreign oil. We also send 16,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. Neither is sustainable. Both sell-out the future for short term profit.

Renewable energy is the future. Whoever leads in green energy will get massive economic returns, fantastic job growth, and a healthier environment. Virginians have the talent, schools and bandwidth to lead the world – so long as we invest in education and incentivize business.

Because corporate executives respond to incentives, I support a “carrot and stick” approach to energy use: Cap-and-Trade (“carrot”); and carbon tax (“stick”). Cap-and-Trade is a positive incentive that rewards corporations for doing the right thing. Cap-and-Trade worked to reduce acid rain emissions; it deserves an opportunity to reduce CO2 emissions. A carbon tax, while not the only answer, is part of every solution. Polluters will change behavior when the status quo is more costly than embracing energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The same “carrot and stick” approach can bust logjams in other area. We know we need low impact development, green buildings, renewable energy standards, vehicle energy efficiency standards. Let’s get to work. Combine positive and negative incentives to get people off the dime.