Issue Position: War & Foreign Policy

Issue Position

Declaring and Waging War:

Only Congress is authorized to declare war under our Constitution. For many years, Congress has been comfortable under both Republican and Democratic presidents to delegate its war powers to the executive branch with sobering results.

To be blunt, this abdication of congressional duty must stop. Representatives and Senators have both the responsibility and moral obligation to prudently evaluate the factual conditions for the moral legitimacy necessary to declare war, as well as to measure the potential cost in terms of human life and taxpayer dollars, and decide whether war is necessary based on these considerations.

"As your representative in Congress, I will work to restore Congress' war powers role by voting against legislation that either increases or further delegates this most crucial responsibility of Congress to a less accountable executive branch."
-- Delegate Robert G. "Bob" Marshall

Ending Social Experiments in the Military:

The Obama Administration has used our United States Armed Forces to conduct social experiments and trample upon the religious rights and sensibilities of our dedicated servicemen and servicewomen. In the last six years we have seen the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as well as an assault on expressing religious faith on the front lines, where faith is arguably needed most.

The President's experiments do nothing to improve morale and decrease the military's ability to focus on training and combat readiness which are needed to maintain the American military as the greatest force to protect freedom on this earth. I would fight to emphasize military training for combat to protect our national defense, and to work to protect the rights of our dedicated soldiers at home and abroad.

Preventing Discrimination Against Service Members and Veterans:

Discrimination against active and reserve service members and veterans is a serious and real problem. Here in Virginia, service members and veterans experience real challenges to securing employment and obtaining (or retaining) housing.

Some employers and landlords are frequently reluctant to provide a job or home to service members and veterans because they may be deployed. Despite the many sacrifices made by those who defend our freedom, there are no federal-level protections designed to prevent discrimination against soldiers and veterans in employment or housing. This is shameful and needs to change.

As your Representative, I will introduce or support legislation to add service members and veterans to the list of protected categories under current anti-discrimination laws. These men and women are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom and our way of life. The least we can do is ensure they have the freedom to live and work without facing discrimination by employers or landlords when they return home.

Stopping Military Technology Transfers:

Transfers of American technology and equipment funded by American taxpayers have aided nations that are hostile to the United States.

One example was the Clinton Administration's approval of the export of computer and other equipment enabling the Communist Chinese to equip intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with multiple warheads capable of being aimed at the United States, including radiation hardened computer chips necessary to conduct nuclear war.

Such transfers of sensitive technology undermine our national security and should be prohibited. We can no longer afford to be careless with strategic technologies. As your Representative in Congress, I will introduce legislation to prevent our most sensitive technologies from being transferred to foreign powers, whether friendly or not and to tighten security standards for the handling of sensitive military technology.

Reevaluating Military and Other Treaties:

From our alliance with France in America's Revolutionary War in 1788 to our 1949 entrance into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the United States has generally followed George Washington's advice to avoid permanent entangling military alliances with foreign powers.

We currently have treaties to defend approximately 60 countries on five continents some of which agreements were made 50 or more years ago. Other treaties that are on the horizon, like the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, are pleasant sounding treaties that have the potential to substantially undermine our sovereignty by putting America's protective laws, which were forged in the democratic process and are arguably the best in the world, under the scrutiny of undemocratic bodies like the United Nations which have no allegiance to our nation.

I will work in Congress to encourage the development of a plan to re-evaluate our extensive array of military treaties with an eye toward streamlining and modernizing our overseas military obligations and reducing America's obligations to intervene in foreign wars. I will also work to prevent the United States from becoming entangled in sovereignty-threatening so-called human rights treaties, which do nothing to truly protect human rights overseas and which may undermine our laws and threaten our sovereignty.

Preparing America for 21st-Century Threats:

The American military is arguably the most disciplined and most effective in human history, and it is one of the main reasons (if not the main reason) for American security and prosperity over the last century. We owe it to our defenders of freedom and to ourselves to make sure the United States is absolutely prepared for any threats to our national security which may loom on the horizon.

While nuclear, biological, chemical, and conventional weaponry remain serious threats to us and to our allies, Congress must also recognize new technology threats and be ready to meet them.

As your Representative in Congress, I will introduce or support legislation requiring that the Departments of Defense and State, in conjunction with other intelligence agencies, to produce for Congress a comprehensive analysis of the new breed of technology-based threats that will likely be hallmarks of the 21st century and 21st-century warfare, with specific attention paid to the damage that can be done via cyber-attacks or electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, or attacks that can be carried out with atypical delivery systems.

I believe that the federal government has taken inadequate steps to address these very real problems, and the American people and our way of life cannot afford to wait.

Freedom form Arbitrary Arrests:

My HB 1160 passed into law in 2012 prevents any Virginia state or local agency from co-operating in the "detention" of American Citizens without trial, specific charges, or counsel as authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012.

Congress, in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011, has basically "suspended":

1. Article 1, Sect. 9 of the US Constitution: "The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the Pubic Safety may require it;"
2. Article I, Section 8 or 11 of the Constitution of Virginia;
3. Parts of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution.

During the stormy passage of my HB 1160, I passed out a letter to the senators from the Japanese American Citizens' League (JACL) reminding senators of the grave injustice done to Japanese Americans in WW II by the Roosevelt Administration.

The JACL National Director wrote: "Virginia has the opportunity to stand up to an unjust application of Congressional authority. The American people need somebody to stand up against this injustice. HB 1160 is a tool that stands up for the American people by respecting the basic principles of the Constitution."

Most of the General Assembly and eventually the Governor listened to the requests of concerned Virginians and passed HB 1160. You can be sure I will work in Congress to repeal this assault on our right to be free from arbitrary arrest.

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