What is the most significant difference between you and your opponent?

Forbes

My highest priority as your Representative for the last seven years has been to protect and defend the United States of America. As Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, I’ve been committed to ensuring our military is the best-trained, best-equipped, and most capable in the world.  I’ve visited our troops in combat – even spending Christmas with them – and I know first-hand how important it is to support their families and our veterans by honoring our commitments to them.

I’ve worked to provide our troops with the equipment they need to make these successes possible. Before 2000, our Army had inadequate body armor; today, there are more than 1 million sets. Where the Army once had 1,300 Up-Armored Humvees, there are now more than 18,000. I’ve supported expanded GI benefits, time with families, veterans benefits, and increased pay for our troops. 

This support – coupled with my insistence that the Iraqis pay for their own reconstruction efforts - directly contributes to our successes in Iraq and Afghanistan and places our troops on a path to an earlier return home.

By contrast, my opponent has advocated abolishing the Department of Defense and replacing it with a “Department of Peace and Nonviolence.” Further concerning, Ms. Miller was a regional coordinator for MoveOn.org when they ran a controversial ad accusing General Petraeus of betraying his nation while leading our men and women with honor in combat. 

Ms. Miller’s failure to understand the critical importance of our military to our national security and to demonstrate the respect to our men and women serving, their families, and our veterans, leave troubling concerns about her judgment and ability to reject the divisiveness, negativity, and partisanship that has gridlocked Washington and that the American people are so ready to discard.

What do you see as the single greatest challenge currently facing Virginia?

There is no issue weighing more heavily on the minds of Americans now than our nation’s economy. Americans are frustrated with the lack of leadership in Washington and the lack of accountability on Wall Street.  They are suspicious and feel deceived by these leaders – especially as they learn of exorbitant “golden parachutes” for executives of companies “bailed out” by taxpayer dollars. 

Most personally, they are anxious about their individual financial future.  Americans have watched their retirement accounts plummet right along with the hopes and plans they had made for these years.

They are disillusioned with the daily roller coaster ride of the stock market and the ever-changing implications that will have for their future.

They are concerned that the value of their home will continue to decline, impacting their ability to sell their home. 

They are anxious that they won’t have money left after paying their monthly bills; worried that should they need to borrow money they won’t be able to; nervous that continued economic decline could mean they won’t be able to save enough for their children’s college education or, worse yet, that cutbacks at their company could mean losing their job altogether.

I voted against the bailout plan because it is like a Band-Aid trying to cure cancer. Sadly, there is not a single provision in this legislation that guarantees the decisions that placed America in its economic crisis will not be repeated.

The bailout plan fails to provide a concrete way for taxpayers to receive the benefit if the government-purchased assets become more valuable over time. America needs bipartisan partnerships to bring new industry and job growth to Virginia’s Fourth District, continue job growth in our communities and other economic generators, reduce the tax burdens on the middle class, reform government spending, strengthen small businesses, and encourage savings and financial literacy. 

What, specifically, will you do to position Virginia as a leader in the search for alternative energy and energy independence?

Energy independence is not a myth. America can reach energy independence by pursuing a comprehensive energy plan that increases domestic oil supply through drilling, expands conservation, and explores cost-effective alternative energy.

I’ve introduced the New Manhattan Project for Energy Independence, hailed by the Wall Street Journal, CNN, Fox News Radio, and the Virginian-Pilot as one of the most innovative energy solutions.

It would challenge the U.S. to achieve 50 percent energy independence in 10 years and 100 percent in 20 years. It brings together the brightest scientists and researchers in our nation to meet seven energy goals and awards prizes to any individual who reaches the goals.

If even one of these goals were met, we would move significantly closer to achieving energy independence in America. I’ve voted to increase domestic oil supply 12 times in the past two years, including 4 times for environmentally-sound offshore drilling.  If America fails to take advantage of our offshore resources we face the likelihood that other foreign nations like China will. I am emphatic in ensuring that Virginia receives a share of profits from drilling off our coastline that could be used to fund local schools, build roads, bridges, and transportation infrastructure, and support our local community needs.  I’ve also supported policies that increase conservation, like increasing CAFE standards for cars and trucks.

How do we keep the recent nationalization of finances from becoming something that pervades other sectors of American government and life? 

On the wall of my congressional office in Washington I have a full scale copy of the Declaration of Independence surrounded by pictures of the signers of that great document. 

The principles by which those founders lived and sacrificed are as true today as they were when the ink of their signatures was first penned. We know as our founders knew that freedom is never protected by mammoth governments that control our jobs, our property, and that make the educational and health care decisions for our families. 

Americans are outraged that taxpayers have been asked to shoulder the cost of irresponsible actions of businesses and government that have led to our nation’s economic crisis. 

Earlier this year, I voted against the economic stimulus because it provided a temporary “boost” to our economy at the expense of tomorrow. Today, we see that this is true – the stimulus did little to help our economy and our federal deficit has doubled in size compared to 2007.  Just a few weeks ago, I voted against the $700 billion taxpayer-funded bailout because there was no confidence that it would work. In the days leading up to our vote, I met with senior Treasury officials and former Chairman of the FDIC, all who cautioned that the plan might not work and would leave us no backstop if it failed. Today, we see that this has been true – our financial markets continue to be in turmoil, despite passage of the bill.  I have posted a list of alternative solutions on my website, forbes.house.gov.

These are solutions that restore the flow of credit, protect our citizens’ life savings, and help determine the root causes of this crisis, without using $700 billion of taxpayer dollars, so that we can reform Wall Street and Washington and prevent us from being here again.