• MODERNIZING OUR TRANSPORTATION
    • ​A 21st century transportation and infrastructure is the essential backbone for our economy and community.  Workers, families, and businesses must have a reliable and functional transportation system.  We all know that our current road system is dysfunctional and always in a state of construction and reconstruction.  Let's focus on building it right the first time to make it useful for many decades to come instead of just a few years. Our focus should be on effectively and efficiently moving people, goods and services from place to place.  This includes high speed and light rail.  It includes a modern busing system.  It also includes having modern, safe, and efficient airports.  Let's also not forget the value of having safe and accessible walkways and bike paths in our communities.  Let's chart a new path and work towards a practical and meaningful transportation plan.

  • HIGH QUALITY, LOW BUREAUCRACY VETERANS BENEFITS
    • Taking care of our veterans should never be in question or in doubt. Our veterans have honorably served our nation and made considerable sacrifices for our freedom and liberties. Our veterans should never have to worry about when or even if they will receive the benefits and care we as a nation promised them. As a parent whose children are in the military, whose brother-in-law, grandfather, uncles and father-in-law have also served, this issue is very close to my heart. I will focus on legislation that reduces bureaucracy for VA care and ensures quick and easy access to medical benefits. I will also focus on legislation that helps recruit and retain excellent health care professionals to provide these services. Our focus should be on quality and meaningful care for our veterans. We shall NEVER quit on them because they NEVER quit on us.
 
  • EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
    • ​Developing good learning skills starts at an early age. Building these essential learning skills benefits our children for the rest of their lives. A funded and focused effort on Head Start and Early Head Start lays the foundation for them to pursue interests in science, math, art, and music. This contributes not only to increased literacy rates, but also to creative innovation and economic prosperity.  Children learn from examples, so let's be a good example by getting them off to a bright start for the future!
 
  • Health Care
    • Affordable access to health care for everyone is a fundamental necessity for our society.  It is important to change the conversation from Health Insurance to Health Care.  There is no “insured in case” you might have to see a doctor. We all have needed heath care since we were conceived and will need it until we pass away.  This profit motive notion for health services is why we have a rationed based system based on what you can pay.  The private health insurance industry has an average of 15% overhead in operations. Medicare only has about 2% overhead.   For a system to provide efficient coverage for a segment of our population with the highest medical needs, it should be a no brainer to ask why we can’t have the same coverage for everyone?  It is not just about the patients’ needs when we talk health care. It also means our doctors, nurses, and medical technicians are treated like the medical professionals they are.  Every modern industrialized nation except ours has affordable health care for its citizens.  Our nation’s future depends on this. Let’s ensure that health care is a right for all and that Medicare is available to everyone!
 
  • PROMOTE AFFORDABLE HOUSING
    • ​Having an affordable place to live is essential to a family's economic foundation.  It represents the beginnings of wealth and future prosperity. As a growing economy leads to a growing housing market, higher rent and mortgage payments will follow. Promoting  quality and affordable housing is critical to a sustainable and growing market. There is nothing wrong with helping those who help sustain the market. Working towards increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour is one way to ensure that the free flow of money continues to circulate in our economy. Low interest loans and low down payment programs are critical to fund and protect consumers. Smart community and regional planning is essential to having people live and work near their communities.  Teachers, firefighters, and policemen deserve to live in the same communities where they work and serve.
 
  • SAFEGUARD AND SECURE OUR RETIREMENT
    • ​Having a safe and secure retirement system is what our hard working Americans not only expect, but deserve. Enjoying the fruits of your labor is a basic human expectation. We must strengthen and enforce the rules and regulations that oversee our retirement programs.  Our 401k's and pension plans should not be at the mercy of high risk or careless investments.  Raising the cap on Social Security is an easy and fair way to keep the program funded for future generations to come.  Privatizing Social Security makes absolutely no economic or business sense.  We must eliminate the "double dipping" penalty on Social Security benefits being imposed on public sector employees, a penalty our own members of Congress do not have to suffer.  People should be able to enjoy the benefits of as many retirement savings programs as they have chosen.  Promoting and encouraging retirement choices for future retirees is essential to having happy and productive retirement years.
 
  • PASS IMMIGRATION REFORM
    • ​Since our founding days, immigrants have added to the fabric and composition of our American values.  They have not diluted our values at all, but have greatly enriched our values!  Passing meaningful immigration reform should be a priority if we are to ensure a stable and healthy American culture. We all know the economic and cultural value that generations of immigrants have brought to our society.  Our immigration quota and regulations are antiquated and out of touch with what is needed for the 21st century.  We must reduce the red tape and artificial barriers being imposed on those who want to be American citizens and contribute to our economy and to our country.  It is also essential to pass the bi-partisan DREAM act that will help lay the pathway for minors whose hearts and souls are already Americans to be able to become citizens!  Finally, reforming our worker and residency programs is important to keeping and recruiting high quality individuals that keep America competitive in a global market.​ 
 
  • EQUALITY FOR ALL​​
    • ​Let’s end discrimination once and for all. We must clearly state in American civil rights law that no person will suffer discrimination because of sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and political affiliation. Our American LGBTQIA and immigrant neighbors must have the opportunities and freedoms we all cherish.  Let’s make sure that marriage equality has a lawful meaning in our community and work-place. Diversity is key to business and economic growth. Diversity is vital to American culture.  Therefore, let us enshrine in our laws that every American is guaranteed the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

  • ENVIRONMENT
    • Let’s take the lead in caring for our environment. I come from seven generations of Texans whose livelihoods were farming and ranching. I have inherited the meaning behind sustainable environmental practices. A sustainable land is part of my upbringing and ethics. Trump trashed the Paris agreement, but he cannot stop us from implementing that agreement in our homes, businesses, communities and cities. Promoting businesses and homes to reuse gray water for irrigation is an efficient, effective, and a true conservative way to conserve and repurpose our water. Constructing green buildings is big business and Texas can be the leader in that effort. John Muir said, "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."  We all know how very true that is.  So let’s show the world we love our land and we will take care of it for us and for generations that will come after us.