William Coit For Congress
Georgia Congressional District 13

All of the issues in one list

The Issues by William Coit
Tuesday, November 27, 2001


Hot Issues - Campaign finance, Defense, and Budget

Campaign Finance Reform

I overwhelmingly support reform of Campaign Finance laws to prevent special interest groups, powerful corporations, unions and wealthy individuals from legally bribing elected officials.  I would vote in favor of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill (H.R. 2356) which would ban unlimited soft money contributions to political parties, mandate lower rates for TV and radio advertisement, and maintain the $1,000 limit on individual contributions.

Defense Spending

I support increasing defense spending to 300+ billion dollars a year. Our spending should approach levels reached during the Ronald Reagan Administration. The world is a dangerous and unpredictable place requiring American military vigilance. Weapons modernization may seem unnecessary, but it is precisely the overwhelming superiority of U.S. weapons systems that deters many potential adversaries from even attempting to challenge the international status quo for fear of conflict with the American military.

The Budget

I support the "Truth in Budget Balancing Act.”  Such a statute would not mandate a balanced budget, but would require the President to submit to Congress both a budget that would be in balance (so that everyone would know what the consequences would be), and the budget that he would like enacted for that year. Congress would then, as it does now, adopt its own budget and would either agree with the President's balanced budget proposal or adopt its own non- binding balanced budget.



Taxes

Capital Gains Tax

I support reducing capital gains taxes. What are capital gains taxes? It is a tax on economic profits. This type of tax is levied on the sale of assets, e.g.., businesses and shares. This has the effect of reducing the number of transactions because that is one of the ways of avoiding the tax. High capital gains taxes erect a significant barrier to the movement of savings from old established companies to newer and more innovative enterprises. In fact, they become a tax on social mobility, as does a highly progressive income tax structure. It protects those who inherited money. They can live off their family's accumulated capital against those who are trying to accumulate capital. It is not a tax on the rich but on getting rich; it encourages those who have accumulated wealth to simply conserve it while reducing the flow of venture capital, the lifeblood of new entrepreneurs.

Income Tax

I will introduce legislation to enact a “Middle Class Tax Cut”: A tax cut of 33% on incomes of $20,000-$65,000. The lowest rate will move from 15% to 10%.

Example: Mr. and Mrs. Brown are filing a joint return. Their taxable income on Form 1040 is $40,000. The 2000 tax due is $6,004. My bill will reduce Mr. and Mrs. Brown taxes by 33%. ($6004 - $4000 = $2004) The couple will save $2004.

Federal Estate Tax or “Death Tax”

I support abolishing the Death Tax. Few taxes are more hostile to saving than the “death tax.” It is important that families be allowed and encouraged to save or invest money to secure long-term stability. Most assets affected by this tax are already taxed at least twice, once as income and again as a capital gain. Therefore, eliminating the death tax would provide incentives for people to take a long-term view of their lifetime investment decisions. This kind of incentive would provide the capital markets with another source of wealth.

Marriage Penalty Tax

I support abolishing the marriage penalty tax. The marriage penalty occurs when the total tax paid by a married couple filing a joint return exceeds the amount they would pay if they were single taxpayers filing separate returns. In many cases, this means that two unmarried working taxpayers living together realize a lower combined total



Education Reform

Charter Schools

I strongly advocate education reform as a means of securing the economic and moral well being of future generation of Americans. Charter schools are independent public schools, designed and operated by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs and others. They are sponsored by designated local or state educational organizations who monitor their quality and integrity, but allow them to operate freed from the traditional bureaucratic and regulatory red tape that hog-ties public schools. Freed from such micro management, charter schools design and deliver programs tailored to educational excellence and community needs. Because they are schools of choice, they are held to the highest level of accountability – consumer demand.

School Choice

I support school choice. The term “school choice” means giving parents the power and opportunity to choose the school their child will attend. Traditionally, children are assigned to a public school according to where they live. People of means already have school choice, because they can afford to move to an area according to the schools available (i.e. where the quality of public schools is high), or they can choose to enroll their child in a private school. Parents without such means until recently, generally had no choice of school, and had to send their child to the school assigned to them by the district, regardless of the school’s quality or appropriateness for their child. School choice means better educational opportunity, because it uses the dynamics of consumer opportunity and provider competition to drive service quality. This principle is found anywhere you look, from cars to colleges and universities, but it’s largely absent in our public school system and the poor results are evident, especially in the centers of American culture – our cities. School choice programs foster parental involvement and high expectations by giving parents the option to educate their children as they see fit. It re-asserts the rights of the parent and the best interests of child over the convenience of the system, infuses accountability and quality into the system, and provides educational opportunity where none existed before.



Anti-terrorism

Office of Homeland Security

I support the creation of the Office of Homeland Security. The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks within the United States.

Airport Security Bill

I overwhelmingly support the airport security bill. It creates a new Transportation Security Administration within the Department of Transportation to set and enforce security standards.

 -- Requires security screeners to be U.S. citizens who will be barred from striking.

-- Imposes passenger fee of $2.50 for each leg of a one-way flight, not to exceed $5, to help pay for the system.

-- Aims for 100 percent bag screening and widespread deployment of explosive detection systems by end of 2002.

Intelligence Appropriation

I support increasing the military intelligence appropriation by 10% annually for the next 5 years capping out at 40 billion per year.



Economic Stimulus Package

Tax Rebate Checks

I would support legislation that allows an automatic tax-rebate check every year that we have a tax surplus. The size of the rebate check could be made conditional on how much of the surplus was not frittered away by congressional appropriators. In other words, these tax-rebate checks could be the ultimate check and balance against the stampede of federal spending. At the start of each fiscal year, Congress should determine the size of the expected non-Social Security tax surplus. Congress should then announce how large the expected surplus tax rebate would be for the typical taxpaying family.

Airline Bailout

I am against the passage of the airline bailout bill. It is corporate welfare. Let's be clear about what this bailout will do for the flying public: exactly nothing. It won't keep any planes in the air that wouldn't have been there anyway. Airplanes are flown when it's profitable to fly them, and they're not flown when it's not profitable to fly them. Giving cash to the airlines doesn't change the profitability of any given flight, so it doesn't affect any decision about which flights to offer. The airline bailout accomplishes one thing and one thing only—it enriches the millions of people who own airline stocks at the expense of the millions of others who don't.

Minimum Wage

I am against increasing the federal minimum wage but instead support returning minimum wage policy over to the states. The American evidence is clear that raising minimum wages does not reduce poverty. Many things affect poverty, such as the magnitude of unemployment in particular, but also the overall level of income, the prevalence of transfer payments, the existence of single-parent families and so forth. Public policy would be better directed toward changing these other variables rather than the minimum wage if the goal were to reduce the amount of poverty in the United States.



Social Security Reform

Personal Retirement Account Plans

I will introduce legislation to enact the Social Security Personal Account Act: A bill that will reform the current Social Security system through the creation of private investment savings accounts. Individuals will choose how to invest a portion of (F.I.C.A.) Social Security in stocks and bonds. These investments will yield a greater return on principle and can be passed along to your children on death. These accounts will take pressure off the S.S. system and provide a long-term solution for future liabilities that the present system cannot meet. 14. Personal retirement account plans



Energy

Nuclear Energy

I support legislation to increase the use of nuclear energy in America. Total reliance on fossil fuels to meet the needs of futures is a one-sided public policy. Nuclear energy is the world's largest source of emission-free energy. Nuclear power plants produce no controlled air pollutants, such as sulfur and particulates, or greenhouse gases. The use of nuclear energy in place of other energy sources helps to keep the air clean, preserve the Earth's climate, avoid ground-level ozone formation and prevent acid rain.

Oil & Gas Drilling

I support oil and gas drilling in America to break our dependency on the Middle East for energy.

Electricity Deregulation

I am against deregulation of electricity. Our effort to deregulate natural gas has turned out to be nightmare for consumers. California experienced some of the worst blackouts of electricity in its attempt to provide choice to consumers. The state bail out of one of the largest providers of electricity cost consumers billions of tax dollars.

Natural Gas Deregulation

I am against deregulation of natural gas. Our experiment has not worked. We have created more problems than the anticipated results from cost savings. Billing errors, disconnection of service, and high prices for the elderly are some of the problems consumers deal with. I will support legislation to re-regulate natural gas.

Coal Mining

I support legislation that will protect the safety and welfare of the miner. Admentments to the Coal Mining Act of 1977 should be enacted. The first priority and concern of all in the coal or other mining industry must be the health and safety of its most precious resource--the miner. Deaths and serious injuries from unsafe and unhealthful conditions and practices in the coal or other mines cause grief and suffering to the miners and to their families. As of 2000, 86 people died from coal mine related work. That is too many.



Gambling

Lottery

I support the Lottery. The proceeds of the lottery can be used to fund social programs. The lottery is a tax on individuals who chose to play the games.

Internet Gambling

I am against H.R.3125- Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 2000. Government should figure out a way to tax the proceeds of Internet Gambling and use the revenue to fund education, road construction, medicare, and other social programs. The Internet is a medium where government regulation should be limited.



Medicare
Prescription drugs

I support The Prescription Drug Fairness for Seniors Act (H.R. 664/S.731). It would rein in high drug costs by harnessing the buying power of 39 million Medicare beneficiaries to allow seniors and the disabled access to substantially lower drug prices. Pharmacies would purchase drugs for Medicare beneficiaries from the manufacturer at the same low prices charged favored customers such as the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Since these prices are about half the retail prices paid by Medicare beneficiaries without prescription drug coverage, seniors will benefit from substantial cost savings even after fair pharmacy dispensing fees are included.

Patient Bill of Rights

I support Georgia Congressman Charlie Norwood amendment to "Managed Care Improvement Act of 1999" (H.R. 2563) makes a logical division of responsibility between state and federal courts—allowing states’ law to control medical decision issues, while building on federal courts’ experience in interpreting insurance coverage issues under ERISA. The Norwood amendment continues the ERISA preemption of state law, both common law developed over 200 years and the new statutes passed by legislatures over the past few years, by creating a new federal cause of action for all suits. It imposes caps on non-economic and punitive damages. It guts laws in those states that hold accountable medical decision makers. It requires a heightened standard of proof if the patient doesn't prevail before an independent medical reviewer.



Social and Community

School Prayer

I support H.J. RES.52 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to school prayer.

Abortion

As a candidate who respects the sanctity and dignity of life, I support legislation that:

  1. That prevents federal taxpayer funds from being used to carry out abortion.
  2. Expands tax credits and other support for adoption.
  3. Supports a full ban on human cloning.
  4. Supports a ban on partial birth abortion.
  5. Supports parental notification.

Affirmative Action

I support the concept of affirmative action to remove the last vestiges of institutional racism. I believe in equal opportunity not quotas.

Child Support

I support the Child Support Distribution Act of 2001 (H.R.1471) that would have allowed families leaving welfare to keep a larger share of past-due child support payments collected by state agencies on their behalf. The bill would have transferred as much as $3.5 billion to such families over five years. It also included the "Fathers Count" provisions targeting job training and placement assistance to low-income fathers.

Paid Maternity Leave

I support the Federal Family Leave Act that gives mothers and fathers time off to care for a new born baby.

Child Care Tax Breaks

I support (H.R.253) Tax Relief For Families With Children Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect to the dependent care tax credit to: (1) increase the dollar limit on creditable employment-related expenses; (2) increase the percentage of employment-related expenses; and (3) include transportation costs and costs of educational programs. Increases the child care credit to $900.

Drunk Driving

I support legislation to strengthen the penalties for individuals that drive under the influence of alcohol.

Racial Profiling

I support (H.R.2074) End Racial Profiling Act of 2001 - Prohibits any law enforcement agency or agent from engaging in racial profiling. Authorizes the United States, or an individual injured by racial profiling, to bring a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief to enforce this prohibition.

Welfare Reform

I support legislation to force Americans from a system of dependency to one where self-reliance is the goal. Additional reform should mandate recipients enroll in technical, college, or job-training to continue receiving benefits.



Banking, Deregulation, and Insurance

Bankruptcy

I am against legislation that would make it harder for individuals to file under Chapter 7 of the bankruptcy code, which allows them to avoid payment of most outstanding debts, and force more to file under Chapter 13, which would require them to pay back some of their debts over five years. About 70 percent of bankruptcy filers now use Chapter 7. The rest file under Chapter 13. This legislation does not prevent low-income individuals from being taken advantage of by sophisticated lenders.

Predatory Lenders

I support (H.R.1051) Predatory Lending Consumer Protection Act of 2001. This bill would amend the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 and other sections of the Truth in Lending Act to protect consumers against predatory practices in connection with high cost mortgage transactions, to strengthen the civil remedies available to consumers under existing law, and for other purposes.

Insurance

I support (H.R.1331) Fair Care for the Uninsured Act of 2001- Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual a tax credit in an amount equal to the amount paid for qualified health insurance, subject to stated limitations. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the provider of an individual's qualified health insurance equal to such individual's qualified health insurance credit advance amount (the Secretary's estimate of the amount of credit allowable) with respect to such provider.



Telecommunications

Broadband Internet Access

I support the Broadband Internet Access Act of 2001 (H.R.267) To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an incentive to ensure that all Americans gain timely and equitable access to the Internet over current and future generations of broadband capability.

Cable TV Deregulation

I support (H.R.2813) To authorize States to regulate the rates for cable television service and to impose a one-year moratorium on increases in such rates.



Immigration

Immigration Visas for High Tech Workers

I support (H.R.3222) High-tech Work Fairness and Economic Stimulus Act of 2001 - Limits the number of fiscal year H-1B (specialty occupation) visas, with a reduction in such number based upon specified U.S. unemployment rates.

Illegal Alien Amnesty

I support (H.R.1561)The Legal Amnesty Restoration Act of 2001 - Amends the Immigration and Nationality Act to extend the admission date for permanent residence for certain aliens, including additional one-year extensions during specified time periods.



Election Reform

National Standards for Equipment

I support (H.R.430) To establish a bipartisan commission to study the accuracy, integrity, and efficiency of Federal election procedures and develop standards for the conduct of Federal elections, and to authorize grants and technical assistance to the States to assist them in implementing such standards.



Environment

Water Rights

I support (H.R.1156) To preserve the authority of the States over waters within their boundaries, to delegate the authority of the Congress to the States to regulate water.

Clean Air Standards

I support (H.R.20) To amend section 211 of the Clean Air Act to modify the provisions regarding the oxygen content of reformulated gasoline and to improve the regulation of the fuel additive, methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

Safe Drinking Water Act

I support (H.R.3227) To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to provide for research on methods to combat biological contamination of public drinking water supplies.

Clean Water Act

I support (H.R.668) Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act of 2001 - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to remove certain requirements for States with respect to construction of treatment works under capitalization grant agreements.  Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to assist States in establishing simplified procedures for small water systems to obtain assistance under the Act.

Wetlands Restoration

I support (H.R.1474) American Wetland Restoration Act - Amends the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to authorize the Secretary of the Army to issue mitigation bank (specified wetland resource restoration, creation, or enhancement projects or projects consisting solely of preservation of wetlands chartered by the Secretary for purposes of providing mitigation credits to offset wetland losses authorized by permits allowing activities in U.S. waters) charters.



Corporate Welfare

AMTRAK Funding

I support (H.R.3166) To provide funding for infrastructure investment to restore the United States economy and to enhance the security of transportation and environmental facilities throughout the United States.

Dairy Prices

I support (H.R.1827) To reauthorize the consent of Congress to the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact and to grant the consent of Congress to the Southern Dairy Compact, a Pacific Northwest Dairy Compact, and an Intermountain Dairy Compact.

Timber Subsidies

I am against timber subsidies. It is corporate welfare.

National Endowment for the Arts

I support (H.R.137) To repeal the per-State limitation applicable to grants made by the National Endowment for the Arts from funds made available for fiscal year 2001.

Farm Subsidies

I stand in opposition to H.R.2646. It is corporate welfare.  This bill provides for the continuation of agricultural programs through fiscal year 2011.



Gun Rights

Gun Control

I am against H.R. 1397. That's my new position. I've done more research on this bill and there are two points in the bill that I do not like. If those provisions are removed, I would reconsider the bill. The bill would allow States to develop or expand instant gun checking capabilities, to allow a tax credit for the purchase of safe storage devices for firearms, to promote the fitting of handguns with child safety locks, and to prevent children from injuring themselves and others with firearms.



Food, Tobacco, and Alcohol

Direct-to-consumers Shipping of Wine and Alcohol

I support legislation that would cut out the middle man and lower prices for the Consumption of wine and alcohol.

Tobacco Regulation

I support (H.R.1044) Child Tobacco Use Prevention Act of 2001-To prevent children from using tobacco products, to reduce the health costs attributable to tobacco products, and for other purposes. It amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to give the Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over tobacco products as drugs or devices. Mandates additional restrictions on marketing, advertising, and access.

Genetically-altered Food

I support (H.R.115) To provide for a program to educate the public regarding the use of biotechnology in producing food for human consumption, to support additional scientific research regarding the potential economic and environmental risks and benefits of using biotechnology to produce food, and for other purposes.



Prison Reform

Privatization of Prisons

I am against (H.R.1764) To ensure that the incarceration of inmates is not provided by private contractors or vendors and that persons charged or convicted of an offense against the United States shall be housed in facilities managed and maintained by Federal, State, or local governments.

Prisoners' Work

I support (H.R.1535) To amend title 18, United States Code, to authorize pilot projects under which private companies in the United States may use Federal inmate labor to produce items that would otherwise be produced by foreign labor, to revise the authorities and operations of Federal Prison Industries, and for other purposes.



Foreign / International Issues

Foreign Aid

I support HOPE for Africa Act (H.R. 772)The Human Rights, Opportunity, Partnership and Empowerment for Africa Act.  The legislation includes trade, investment, business facilitation, labor and environmental standards, debt cancellation and aid. It provides preferential access to U.S. markets for a broad range of goods and ensures that these goods are made in SSA by African workers and are produced in a manner consistent with internationally recognized labor, human rights and environmental standards; commits the U.S. to sharply reducing SSA’s crushing external debt burden – a major obstacle to the realization of SSA’s economic potential; provides business facilitation measures to promote U.S.-African business partnerships, with emphasis for small businesses; restores a foreign aid budget line item for Africa, locks in 1994 aid levels to African nations and ensures that aid is directed to sustainable economic development and to pressing needs, such as food security, enhancing educational opportunities for women and battling the scourge of AIDS; and provides additional measures for prevention and treatment of the AIDS epidemic now ravaging Africa's human.

Dues to the United Nations

I support the amendment to the State Department's annual authorization bill, the United States will pay $582 million in back dues this year, but a third and final payment of $244 million would be contingent on U.S. readmission to the commission next spring.

China Trade

I am against (H.R.1497) To revoke the authority to extend permanent normal trade relations to the People's Republic of China.



Twenty First Century Issues

Copyright Issues

I support (H.R.3204) Intellectual Property Protection Restoration Act of 2001 To restore Federal remedies for infringements of intellectual property by States, and for other purposes.

Human Cloning

I support (H.R.1644) To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit human cloning.

Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 - Prohibits any person or entity, in or affecting interstate commerce, from: (1) performing or attempting to perform human cloning; (2) participating in such an attempt; (3) shipping or receiving the product of human cloning; or (4) importing such a product.

Census Issues

I support (H.R.941) To require the use of adjusted census data in the administration of any law of the United States under which population or population characteristics are used to determine the amount of benefits received by State or local governments, and for other purposes.

Antitrust

I support (H.R.2325) Antitrust Modernization Commission Act of 2001 - Establishes the Antitrust Modernization Commission to study and report to Congress and the President on issues and problems relating to the modernization of the antitrust laws. Directs the Commission to: (1) solicit divergent views of all parties concerned with the operation of such laws; and (2) evaluate the advisability of proposals and current arrangements with respect to such issues and problems.


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