Pasted below, please find Lieutenant Governor Steele's answers:Michael Steele's Responses to Baltimore Sun Survey
1) Should judicial candidates be potentially subject to a filibuster, or should that rule be changed?
The bi-partisan “Gang of 14” should be applauded for coming together to find common-sense solutions when partisanship threatened to tear the Senate apart.
Many state and federal districts have had judicial vacancies prolonged due to political posturing in Washington. This must end. If a nominee is clearly qualified to serve as a judge, the nominee deserves an up or down vote. Any nominee outside of the mainstream would not receive the votes necessary for confirmation, so the threat of a filibuster would not apply.
2) Is the current U.S. energy policy adequate? If not, what changes would you support?
All one has to do is look at the price of a gallon of gas to know that our energy policy is not adequate. My family paid $600 in gasoline costs for the month of April alone. While current energy costs are a strain on middle-class families, they are a real crisis to many of Maryland’s working families. This is unacceptable and has had a negative impact on families all across Maryland.
To provide immediate relief for Marylanders, I have called on President Bush and Congress to enact an immediate moratorium on the federal gas tax - more than 18 cents per gallon - and an immediate moratorium on the 24 cents per gallon diesel tax. Moreover, Congress should approve legislation to suspend the tariff on ethanol imports.
But those actions are designed to deal with our immediate crisis. Congress must roll up its sleeves and work to solve the underlying problem - our dependence on foreign sources of energy. To do that, I’ve called on Congress to double President Bush’s budget request for biomass and bio-refinery research, and create market and tax incentives for E85 fuels, hybrid technologies and alternative energy sources. Tax credits for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles need to be renewed and expanded. Additionally, we must increase fuel efficiency standards for automobiles – not just this year, but over the next several years.
Our dependence on foreign sources of energy has been an important issue for generations. Repeatedly, Washington has failed to act – and failed us – on this issue. Marylanders deserve leadership on creating and sustaining real energy independence.
3) How would you address the growing gap between Americans who have adequate health care insurance and those who don’t?
In 2003, a survey of Baltimore City revealed that almost half of those interviewed (47.1%) were currently without health insurance. We do not have a quality problem or even a quantity problem like our neighbor to the west (West Virginia). We have an access problem. We need to increase access to health insurance through Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and high deductible policies, so individuals and families can purchase the insurance that's best for them and meets their specific needs.
As Lieutenant Governor, I worked with legislators to create the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and worked to pass the Health Care Services Disparities Prevention Act to require the Maryland Department of Health to reduce health care disparities – like the number of uninsured - based on race, gender, ethnicity and poverty. The Senate has to get serious about closing this gap on the federal level as well.
Additionally, I believe we need to create a health care system that works for small business owners and small business employees. Millions of them are going without health care today just because bureaucrats in Washington won’t wake up to the fact that our current system is burdensome and ineffective. That is why I support allowing small businesses to band together and compete for better insurance options. With Association Health Plans, small employers will be able to pool their health insurance costs and have greater purchasing power to achieve better benefits for their employees.
To help increase our nation’s seniors access to affordable care, I have called to extend the sign up period for the Medicare Prescription Drug plan. Maryland seniors need more time to learn about the different drug plan options available to them so they can make the best choices for their health care. Once again, Washington has failed Marylanders by rushing through a program just to meet a government deadline, instead of acting in the best interests of our seniors.
4) What should be done about the enormous federal budget deficit?
I often hear politicians jump through complicated hoops when trying to explain why we have such an enormous deficit. Of course, any such discussion quickly devolves into partisan name calling. The time for partisan rancor and political double talk has passed. The plain truth is we are spending more than we have in the bank. We’ve all heard it said that we are mortgaging our children’s future. Not true, we are now mortgaging our grandchildren and great grandchildren’s future. When a “bridge to nowhere” receives millions of dollars in funding, we know Washington has lost touch with reality; and until Congress places real priorities on spending, deficits will always be a pressing concern.
Congress must also enact pro-growth policies that encourage the economy to expand: like making tax relief permanent and repealing the death tax. As we saw with the most recent deficit figures, a growing economy will in fact reduce the size of the budget deficit. In order to achieve optimal economic growth, Congress must adhere to sane spending guidelines while promoting smart policies devoted to growing businesses and creating jobs.
5) Are federal affirmative action programs necessary and effective?
Studies show enormous disparities still exist in education, healthcare, employment and economic opportunities along racial lines in the United States. I believe programs are still necessary to help close these divides. I support giving people opportunities. Programs must be fair to all Marylanders – of every color – and they should focus on economic empowerment.
6) What further investment - monetary and military - if any, should the United States make in Iraq? When should U.S. troops leave Iraq?
There is no doubt that war requires sacrifice and fiscal constraint. We have a responsibility to ensure that our armed forces have the supplies, the equipment, and the technologies they need to get the job done.
It is imperative we improve conditions on the ground so we can bring our troops home as quickly as possible and have the Iraqi people take control of their own destiny. At the same time, we should not publicly state a timetable for implementation. I do not support a “cut and run strategy.” Any politician out there talking about timetables and timelines is playing into the hands of our enemies who have an enormous capacity to wait. It would be a disaster for us to cut and run, as it would destroy our credibility in the region for at least a generation. At the same time, it is the Iraqi’s themselves that will ultimately have to make democracy work in their country. We should stay there only long enough to give the Iraqi people the tools they need to secure the very democracy they voted for three times. After that, it’s up to them.
7) Do you support easing federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research? And please outline any specific proposals on this subject.
I am very encouraged by innovations in technology that make it possible to treat and prevent disease without the willful destruction of human embryos, including innovative technologies practiced right here in Maryland. We have a lot to gain through furthering stem cell research, but medical breakthroughs should be fundamentally about saving, not destroying, human life. Therefore, I support stem cell research that does not destroy the embryo.
8) Discuss your views on immigration reform, particularly with regard to undocumented aliens already in this country.
Congress’s unique inability to multi-task highlights our nation’s need for common- sense immigration reform. Until we see Congress take some real and immediate steps to secure our borders, we can hardly expect Americans to seriously consider proposals for dealing with those illegal immigrants already in our county and those employers who fail to adequately report them.
Nearly 1.2 million people were arrested trying to illegally enter the U.S. through the Mexican border last year alone, and an estimated 500,000 evaded capture. This is unacceptable. When a patient has a serious laceration, the doctor’s first priority is to stop the bleeding, and then they can decide if simple stitches or surgery is needed to fix the problem for the long term. First thing’s first: secure our borders and then we can deal with meaningful immigration reform.
9) Name two senators, one past and one present, whom you would most choose to emulate. Why?
In my opinion, Senator Charles "Mac" Mathias was a senator’s senator. He was a gentleman and a dedicated public servant who proved himself to be an independent thinker and consensus builder. He took difficult stands on issues even when it was unpopular to do so. Senator Mathias did not stand in the doorway of opportunity; he helped to create it by standing up for civil rights, voting rights, and inclusion for all Americans.
Of today’s sitting senators, I am especially inspired by Senator John McCain, who works above the partisan fray that is too often stifling progress in Washington. Like Senator McCain, I am not afraid of being an independent voice in Congress who calls it like he sees it. I am going to Washington to shake things up, work with both sides of the aisle, and build bridges over party nonsense to achieve results for Marylanders.
10) If you now hold public office or have in the past, briefly identify your top three accomplishments while in office.
The reform of the state’s Minority Business Enterprise Program is certainly one of my proudest achievements as Lieutenant Governor. When I took office, the state had a dysfunctional, fraudulent system that gave minorities hope with no sense of substance. Here are some of the significant changes we were able to make:
- Eliminated the 10-day waiting period for prime contractors to name their subcontractors.
- Established a small business reserve pool where ten percent of all the state’s procurement contracts are to be carved out for small businesses.
- Established a Mentor Protégé Program where large companies are partnered with small companies and they provide guidance and opportunities for small business owners.
- Led an historic trade mission to Ghana and South Africa where many small businesses got opportunities to expand their business on a global market.
- Lobbied for increased funding for the Maryland Small Business Development Authority which gives much needed capital to the state’s small business community.
- Worked to create a linked deposit program that allows banks doing business with the state to create a pool of money that can be accessed to provide capital for small and minority-owned businesses.
As Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, I have led reforms in our education system to better educate our children by better rewarding our teachers, better equipping our schools and better involving parents. I headed the Commission on Quality Education in Maryland which proposed 30 recommendations to strengthen schools in our state and ensure every Maryland child has the keys to the door of opportunity – a quality education. I am proud to say the Commission has produced real results for Maryland students, and many of my 30 recommendations are being funded and implemented today.
- I worked to provide millions of dollars in funding for many of the recommendations in the Commission on Quality Education in Maryland, including $2 million for Professional Development Schools that advance the skills of Maryland teachers;
- $1.45 million to strengthen services for those with Autism and fund the launch of the Autism screening pilot program;
- And $2 million to create a Science, Technology, and Mathematics Academy to advance students' skills in the subject areas that will play a major role in the economy of the 21st Century.
- Made historic improvements to the Maryland Teacher Pension System. Through the passage of the State Employees' and Teachers' Retirement Enhancement Benefit Act of 2006, I worked with legislators to provide teachers and state employees hired after 1998 with a benefit equaling 54 percent of their salary after 30 years service (an increase over the current 42 percent of salary).
Additionally, I have worked to secure Maryland communities that are too often victims of gang violence, drugs, and crime.
- With the help of the Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the Maryland State Police, I worked to combat the proliferation of gangs threatening the well-being of Maryland communities and the safety of Maryland children.
- I convened a Statewide Planning Group to develop a strategy to both prevent and respond to gang activity.
- Though the Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, I also worked to provide more than $1.4 million to law enforcement agencies aimed at reducing car theft in our state.
