ON THE ISSUES

ECONOMY

MILITARY

AFFAIRS

GOVERNMENT

REFORM

FOREIGN POLICY

HEALTH

EDUCATION

The United States is the most prosperous nation in the world. It is time that we had a public education system that reflected our great country. In Richard's senior role on the Senate Education Committee, he has:

Helped pass the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, the law that ended the Common Core mandate and “No Child Left Behind.”
Fought for a change in the law that will result in North Carolina receiving an additional $24 million – every year – to hire, train, and reward teachers and principals who serve low-income students.
Successfully expanded the federal tax deduction for teacher classroom expenses.

HEALTH

FOREIGN POLICY

As we combat terrorism, we must remain vigilant to other threats around the world. There are foreign adversaries who view the United States as a threat to their own power and ambitions. It is critical that we are prepared to defend ourselves, support and protect our allies and ensure stability around the world. As Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard oversaw the numerous branches of the intelligence community and has stewarded major legislation through Congress and to the President’s desk that lets intelligence officials do their jobs to keep America safe.

Iran: Richard vehemently opposed the The Iranian Nuclear Agreement from the start and continue to oppose it now.If we are serious about preventing a nuclear Iran, the United States should reinstate sanctions against this state sponsor of terrorism. We must work with our allies in the Middle East to contain the regime, frustrate its ambitions to develop nuclear capabilities, and block it from funneling money and weapons to terror organizations.

China: As one of the world’s largest economies, China is a significant economic competitor to the United States. Unfortunately, China refuses to play by the same rules as the rest of the world, whether it’s manipulating its currency to gain an unfair economic advantage or engaging in cyberattacks against American businesses and government. If we want to protect America’s ability to compete and create jobs, we need to fight unfair trade practices and make clear that there are consequences for engaging in corrupt or criminal activity.

Cybersecurity: One of Richard's top priorities is a more prosperous North Carolina for all individuals. Cyberattacks by foreign agents and identity thieves threaten not only our national security but also our economic security. Richard wrote and passed bipartisan cybersecurity legislation that is helping protect the online privacy of Americans while improving our nation’s defenses against cyberattacks.

Russia: An aggressive Russia has deliberately bombed civilians in Syria, supplied weapons to Iran, staged invasions of Crimea and eastern Ukraine, and even participated in the downing of a commercial Malaysian airliner. This aggression threatens global stability.

Curbing Russian aggression means standing with strength in opposition to their actions. No more “red lines” or empty threats. We need to stand with our allies in Europe when they face Russian aggression, and we need to hold Russia accountable when it provides weapons of war to those who threaten the United States and our allies. It is our responsibility to impose sanctions and ensure that Russia works with the international community to achieve peace.

GOVERNMENT REFORM

Richard knows that Washington is broken — that’s why he’s taking on Washington dysfunction and partisan obstruction and continues working to make Congress more functional — and to do that, he believes we need to get big money out of politics.

Richard supports:

Overturning the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision, because a few billionaires shouldn’t be able to buy our elections
Constitutional amendments to restore voters’ ability to place commonsense limits on campaign spending
Stopping automatic pay raises for Members of Congress
Permanently banning Members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists

MILITARY AFFAIRS

We owe a debt of gratitude to our brave women and men in uniform and to the families who love and support them. North Carolina is fortunate to have one of the largest communities of active-duty military and veterans in the nation. As Co-Chair of the Senate Military Family Caucus, Richard has made it his mission to ease transitions and improve the quality of life for our military families.

Richard's work on behalf of military families has included:

Sponsoring legislation to require background checks for military day care providers so that parents who are serving our country never have to worry about whether their children are in safe hands

Joining a bipartisan effort to pass the Military Family Stability Act, a bill that would provide flexibility to military families when their duty station changes.

Supporting passage of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, the largest expansion of education benefits for veterans and the military since the Montgomery GI Bill, and successfully fighting to give service members the ability to transfer their unused education benefits to their children.

Cosponsoring legislation to repeal the unfair and unjust Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP)-Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) offset, which is robbing surviving military spouses of the benefits that their loved ones earned.

Writing and passing the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, the law that gave military spouses the right to choose their state of residency.

Fighting to protect our commissaries, an essential benefit that helps military families and veterans save money on everyday expenses.

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ECONOMY

Jobs and the economy must be priority one. Americans should no longer have to settle for the lackluster economy that has become the hallmark of the Obama years. We can and must reignite our economy to produce good-paying jobs. While the unemployment rate appears low, it hides the harsh truth that many Americans are so discouraged about their job prospects that they’ve just given up looking for work. And those Americans who do have jobs are frustrated to watch their paychecks stay the same while their cost of living continues to go up.

Richard's to Get the Economy Back on Track and Create Jobs:

Reform the tax code so that it’s fairer, simpler, and less burdensome for everyone.
Eliminate corporate handouts and special interest tax breaks.
Cut red tape and job-killing mandates so that businesses can grow.
Make it easier to start a business by reducing regulations.
Hold bureaucrats accountable for harassing job creators.
Support fair trade and punish those who refuse to play by the rules.
Investing in education and career training programs for a more educated workforce.
Make child care and college more affordable for working families.
Support the growth of careers, not just jobs.

Unfortunately, Obamacare has been just another empty promise. Since the enactment of this law, Americans have experienced double-digit premium increases, skyrocketing out of pocket costs, and fewer choices of plans and doctors. And these damaging trends are expected to only get worse.

Richard Supports:

Instituting the Patient CARE Act that would repeal Obamacare and replace it with common-sense, patient-focused reforms by creating a new protection to help Americans with pre-existing conditions, empowering small businesses and individuals with greater purchasing power, providing tax credits to those who do not have health care coverage through their employer, allowing Americans to buy coverage across state lines, reducing defensive medicine and reining in frivolous lawsuits through medical malpractice reforms, and making healthcare pricing more transparent to empower consumers and patients.

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