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2016 HHHHHHH HHHHHH We dedicate this platform with admiration and gratitude H H H H H

To all who stand strong in the face of danger

So that the American people may be protected against it —

The men and women of our military,

of our enforcement, and the first responders

of every in

And to their . Paid for by the on Arrangements for the 2016 Republican National

Not Authorized By Any Candidate Or Candidate’s Committee

www.gopconvention2016.com • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Preamble

With this platform, we the reaffirm the that unite us in a common purpose.

We believe in . American people are optimistic. We believe the of America is This platform lays out — in clear language — the unlike any on . path to making America great and united again. We believe America is exceptional because of For the past 8 years America has been led in the our historic role — first as refuge, then as defender, wrong direction. and now as exemplar of for the world to see. Our has become unnecessarily weak We affirm — as did the Declaration of with stagnant wages. People living paycheck to Independence: that all are created equal, endowed paycheck are struggling, sacrificing, and . by their Creator with inalienable of life, liberty, have earned and deserve a strong and the pursuit of . and healthy economy. We believe in the as our founding Our standing in world affairs has declined document. significantly — our enemies no longer fear us and We believe the Constitution was written not as our friends no long us. a flexible document, but as our enduring covenant. People want and expect an America that is the We believe our constitutional — limited most powerful and respected on the face , , , of the earth. and the rights of the people — must be preserved The men and women of our military remain uncompromised for generations. the world’s best. The have been shortchanged in We believe and economic numbers, equipment, and benefits by a Commander freedom are indivisible. in Chief who treats the Armed Forces and our When political freedom and veterans as a necessary inconvenience. are separated — both are in peril; when united, they The President and the have are invincible. dismantled Americans’ system of healthcare. They We believe that people are the ultimate resource have replaced it with a costly and complicated — and that the people, not the government, are the scheme that limits choices and takes away our best stewards of our country’s God-given natural freedom. resources. The President and the Democratic party have As Americans and as Republicans we wish for abandoned their promise of accountable to — so we insist on strength. We make the American people. America safe. We seek friendship with all peoples They have nearly doubled the size of the and all , but we recognize and are prepared national debt. to deal with in the world. They refuse to control our borders but try Based on these principles, this platform is an to control our , farms, , and invitation and a roadmap. It invites every American even our religious . They have directly to join us and shows the path to a stronger, safer, attacked the production of American energy and and more prosperous America. the industry-related jobs that have sustained families This platform is optimistic because the and .

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The President has been regulating to death And this means returning to the people and a economy that he does not like and the states the control that belongs to them. It is the does not understand. He defies the of the control and the power to make their own decisions United States by refusing to enforce those with about what’s best for themselves and their families which he does not agree. And he appoints judges and communities. who legislate from the bench rather than apply the This platform is many things: A handbook for law. returning decision-making to the people. A guide We, as Republicans and Americans, cannot to the constitutional rights of every American. And allow this to continue. That is why the many sections a manual for the kind of sustained growth that will of this platform affirm our trust in the people, our bring opportunity to all those on the sidelines of our in their judgment, and our determination to . help them take back their country. Every we sing, “God Bless America,” we This means removing the power from unelected, are asking for help. We ask for divine help that our unaccountable government. country can fulfill its promise. We earn that help by 1 This means relieving the burden and expense of recommitting ourselves to the and ideals that Restoring the American Dream punishing government . are the true greatness of America. 9 A Rebirth of Constitutional Government

17 America’s Natural Resources: , Energy, and the Environment

23 Government Reform

31 Great American Families, , Senator John Barrasso Healthcare, and Criminal CHAIRMAN

Governor Mary Fallin Representative Virginia Foxx CO-CHAIR CO-CHAIR 41 America Resurgent

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Table of Contents

1 Restoring the American Dream

9 A Rebirth of Constitutional Government

17 America’s Natural Resources: Agriculture, Energy, and the Environment

23 Government Reform

31 Great American Families, Education, Healthcare, and

41 America Resurgent

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REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016

Restoring the American Dream H H H H H

Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs erations ago before President Reagan was elected We are the party of a growing economy that in 1980. closures have exceeded business gives everyone a chance in life, an opportunity to startups throughout the Obama Presidency. Strong learn, , and realize the prosperity freedom growth, more jobs, increasing incomes, and expand- makes possible. ing opportunity are all in short supply under Presi- Government cannot create prosperity, though dent Obama and the . government can limit or destroy it. Prosperity is the We repudiate the absurd this is the best product of self-discipline, enterprise, saving and in- America can do. The American people rejected that vestment by , but it is not an end in itself. nonsense the last time it was offered, in the historic Prosperity provides the means by which citizens of 1980, and we ask them to join us now and their families can maintain their independence to again repudiate the false gospel of America’s di- from government, raise their children by their own minishment and . We offer instead our vision values, practice their faith, and build communities of an opportunity society based on the of cooperation and mutual respect. It is also the of inclusion. foundation for our nation’s global leadership, for it is the vigor of our economy which makes possible Fair and Simple for Growth our military strength and our national security. Republicans consider of a Pundits and Democrats tell us that we should pro-growth a moral imperative. More than accept the new normal of a slow-growing economy. any other public , the way government raises The consequences are too dire to ever accept that: revenue — how much, at what rates, under what President Obama and his party circumstances, from whom, will a record of being the first and for whom — has the great- president ever to leave Republicans consider est impact on our economy’s office without a single the establishment of a performance. It powerfully in- year of three percent economic fluences the level of economic growth. As a result, the number pro-growth tax code a growth and job creation, which of Americans living in moral imperative. translates into the level of op- has increased by 7 million, our portunity for those who would nation’s economy has lost nearly otherwise be left behind. Get- $8 trillion of cumulative output compared with an ting our tax system right will be the most impor- average recovery, and the economic growth short- tant factor in driving the entire economy back to fall has left a cumulative real after-tax per person prosperity. personal income shortfall of nearly $17,000 com- The current tax code is rightly the object of pared with an average recovery. both anger and mockery. Its length is exceeded Under President Obama and , only by its complexity. We must anew. That new private-sector jobs are three million below will be an enormous undertaking and, if it is to suc- where they should have been with just average ceed, it must command the attention and approval modern post-recession growth. Our labor force of the American people. It cannot be engineered participation rate has plunged to at or below 63 from the top down, but must have a common sense percent for far too long, lows last seen two gen- approach, and be simplified.

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Our proposal is straightforward. Wherever tax in part to high corporate tax rates and increasing rates penalize thrift or discourage investment, they regulatory burdens and uncertainty. must be lowered. Wherever current provisions of American businesses now face the world’s the code are disincentives for economic growth, highest corporate tax rates. That’s like putting lead they must be changed. We will not divide the shoes on your cross-country team. It reduces com- American people into winners and losers. We will panies’ ability to compete overseas, encourages eliminate as many special interest provisions and them to move abroad, lessens their investment, loopholes as possible and curb corporate , cripples job creation here at home, lowers Ameri- especially where their erosion of the tax base has can wages, and fosters the avoidance of tax liability created pressure for higher rates. We will be mindful — without actually increasing tax revenues. A more of the burdens on families with children and the im- damaging policy is hard to imagine. We propose to pact on an aging population. We will seek simplicity level the international playing field by lowering the and clarity so that every taxpayer can understand corporate tax rate to be on a par with, or below, how much of their income is consumed by the fed- the rates of other industrial nations. We endorse eral government. the recommendation of the National Commission We will welcome all to this enterprise — to on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, as well as the discuss, debate, challenge, and — so that current Administration’s Export Council, to switch together we can restore economic growth for the to a territorial system of taxation so that profits American people and, even more important, renew earned and taxed abroad may be repatriated for their faith in the future. job-creating investment here at home. We believe American companies should be headquartered in Our Tax Principles America. We should reduce barriers to accomplish- To ensure that past will not be repeated, ing that goal. we assert these fundamental principles. We oppose retroactive taxation. We condemn attempts by ac- A Winning Policy tivist judges at any level of government to seize the is crucial for all sectors of power of the purse from the people’s elected repre- America’s economy. Massive trade deficits are not. sentatives by ordering higher taxes. We envision a worldwide multilateral agreement We oppose tax that deliberately di- among nations committed to the principles of open vide Americans or promote class warfare. Because markets, what has been called a “Reagan Economic of the vital role of religious organizations, charities, Zone,” in which will truly be fair trade for and fraternal benevolent in fostering gen- all concerned. erosity and patriotism, they should not be subject We need better negotiated trade agreements to taxation and donations to them should remain that put America first. When trade agreements have deductible. To guard against hypertaxation of the been carefully negotiated with friendly democra- American people in any restructuring of the federal cies, they have resulted in millions of new jobs here tax system, any added tax or national sales at home supported by our exports. When those tax must be tied to the simultaneous of the agreements do not adequately protect U.S. inter- Sixteenth Amendment, which established the fed- ests, U.S. , or when they are violated with eral income tax. impunity, they must be rejected. We cannot allow foreign to limit A Competitive America American access to their markets while stealing our Competitiveness equals jobs. That equation designs, patents, brands, know-how, and technol- governs our policies regarding U.S. ogy. We cannot allow to continue its currency in the global economy. Private investment is a key manipulation, exclusion of U.S. products from gov- driver of economic growth and job creation. After ernment purchases, and subsidization of Chinese falling dramatically during the recession, private in- companies to thwart American imports. The cur- vestment has recovered at a disappointing pace due rent Administration’s way of dealing with these vio-

2 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • lations of world trade standards has been a virtual small business loans are made by community banks. surrender. From start-ups foregone to home loans not made, Republicans understand that you can succeed Dodd-Frank’s excessive and burden- in a negotiation only if you are willing to walk away some requirements have helped contribute to the from it. A Republican president will insist on parity slow economy we all endure today under President in trade and stand ready to implement countervail- Obama and the Democrats. ing if other refuse to cooperate. Community banks are essential to ensuring At the same time, we look to broaden our small businesses have easy and affordable ac- trade agreements with countries which share our cess to the they need to grow and prosper. values and commitment to fairness, along with Community banks should be relieved of excessive transparency in our commercial and business regulations. We support removing roadblocks and practices. In pursuing that objective, the American regulations that prevent access to capital. people demand transparency, full disclosure, The worst of Dodd-Frank is the Consumer protection of our national sovereignty, and tough Financial Protection Bureau, deliberately designed negotiation on the part of those who are supposed to be a rogue . It answers to neither to advance the interests of U.S. workers. Significant nor the , has its own guaranteed funding trade agreements should not be rushed or outside the appropriations process, and uses its undertaken in a Lame Duck Congress. slush fund to steer settlements to politically favored groups. Freeing Financial Markets Its Director has dictatorial powers unique in the The Republican vision for American banking American . Its regulatory of calls for establishing transparent, efficient markets local and regional banks, the source of most home where consumers can obtain loans they need at rea- mortgages and small business loans, advantages sonable rates based on market conditions. Unfortu- big banks and makes it harder for Americans to buy nately, in response to the financial institutions crisis a home. Its one-size-fits-all approach to every issue of 2008-2009, the Democratic-controlled Congress threatens the of the country’s financial sys- enacted the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Pro- tem and would leave us with just a few enormous tection Act, otherwise known as Dodd-Frank. They institutions, as in many European countries. did not let go to waste but used it as an If the Bureau is not abolished, it should be sub- excuse to establish unprecedented government jected to congressional appropriation. In that way, control over the nation’s financial markets. The con- consumer protection in the financial markets can be sequences have been bad for everyone except fed- advanced through measures that are both effective eral regulators. and constitutional. Any settlements arising from Rather than address the cause of the crisis — statutory violations by financial institutions must be the government’s own housing policies — the new used to make whole the harmed consumers, with law extended government control over the econ- any remaining proceeds given to the general Trea- omy by creating new unaccountable . sury. Diversion of settlement funds to politically- Predictably, central planning of our financial sector connected parties should be a criminal offense. has not created jobs, it has killed them. It has not Republicans believe that no financial limited risks, it has created more. It has not encour- is too big to fail. We support legislation to ensure aged economic growth, it has shackled it. that the problems of any financial institution can be Since the enactment of Dodd-Frank, the num- resolved through the Bankruptcy Code. We endorse ber of community banks has significantly declined, prudent regulation of the banking system to ensure and the cost and complexity of complying with that FDIC-regulated banks are properly capitalized the law has created impediments to the remaining and taxpayers are protected against bailouts. We banks’ ability to support the customers they serve. will end the government’s use of disparate impact From 13,000 community banks in 1985, only 1,900 theory in enforcing anti- laws with re- remain. Still, the of agricultural loans and gard to lending.

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Responsible Homeownership and regulations, especially those dealing with the envi- Rental Opportunities ronment, that make it harder and more costly for Homeownership expands personal liberty, Americans to rent, buy, or sell homes. builds communities, and helps Americans create For nine years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . “The American Dream” is not a stale slogan. have been in conservatorship and the current It is the lived that expresses the aspirations of Administration and Democrats have prevented all our people. It means a decent place to live, a safe any effort to reform them. Their corrupt business place to raise kids, a welcoming place to retire. It model lets shareholders and executives reap huge bespeaks the quiet pride of those who work hard to profits while the taxpayers cover all loses. The shelter their and, in the process, create caring utility of both agencies should be reconsidered as a neighborhoods. Republican administration clears away the jumble of The Great Recession devastated the housing subsidies and controls that complicate and distort market. U.S. taxpayers paid billions to rescue Fred- home-buying. die Mac and Fannie Mae, the latter managed and The Federal Housing Administration, which controlled by senior from the Carter and provides taxpayer-backed guarantees in the Clinton Administrations, and to cover the losses of mortgage market, should no longer support high- the poorly-managed Federal Housing Administra- income individuals, and the public should not be tion. Millions lost their homes, millions more lost financially exposed by risks taken by FHA officials. value in their homes. We will end the government mandates that More than six million households had to move required Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and federally- from homeownership to renting. Rental costs esca- insured banks to satisfy lending quotas to specific lated so that today nearly 12 million families spend groups. Discrimination should have no place in the more than 50 percent of their incomes just on rent. mortgage industry. The national homeownership rate has sharply fallen Zoning decisions have always been, and must and the rate for minority households and young remain, under local control. The current Administra- adults has plummeted. So many remain unem- tion is trying to seize control of the zoning process ployed or underemployed, and for the lucky ones through its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing with jobs, rising rents make it harder to save for a regulation. It threatens to undermine zoning laws in mortgage. to socially engineer every community in the There is a growing sense that our national stan- country. While the federal government has a legiti- dard of living will never be as high as it was in the mate role in enforcing non-discrimination laws, this past. We understand that but do not regulation has to do with proven or alleged share it, for we believe that sound public policies discrimination and to do with hostility to can restore growth to our economy, vigor to the the self-government of citizens. housing market, and hope to those who are now on the margins of prosperity. America on the Move Our goal is to advance responsible home- Our country’s investments in transportation while guarding against the abuses that and other public construction have traditionally led to the housing collapse. We must scale back been non-. Everyone agrees on the need the federal role in the housing market, promote re- for clean water and safe roads, rail, bridges, ports, sponsibility on the part of borrowers and lenders, and airports. President Eisenhower established a and avoid future taxpayer bailouts. Reforms should of Republican leadership in this regard by provide clear and prudent underwriting standards championing the creation of the interstate highway and guidelines on predatory lending and acceptable system. In recent years, bipartisan cooperation led lending practices. Compliance with regulatory stan- to major legislation improving the nation’s ports and dards should constitute a legal safe harbor to guard waterways. against opportunistic litigation by trial lawyers. Our Republican majority ended the practice We call for a comprehensive review of federal of earmarks, which often diverted transportation

4 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • spending to politically favored projects. In the cur- we will remove legal roadblocks to public-private rent Congress, Republicans have secured the lon- partnership agreements that can save the taxpay- gest reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund in a ers’ money and bring outside investment to meet a decade and are advancing a comprehensive reform community’s needs. With most of the states increas- of the Federal Aviation Administration to make fly- ing their own funding for transportation, we oppose ing easier and more secure. a further increase in the federal gas tax. The current Administration has a different ap- Although unionization has never been per- proach. It subordinates civil engineering to social mitted in any government agency concerned with engineering as it pursues an exclusively urban vi- national security, the current Administration has sion of dense housing and government transit. Its reversed that policy for the Transportation Secu- ill-named Livability Initiative is meant to “coerce rity Administration. We will correct that mistake. people out of their cars.” This is the same men- Americans understand that, with the threat of ter- tality that once led Congress to impose by fiat a rorism, their travel may encounter delays, but un- single maximum speed limit for the entire nation, acceptably long lines at security checks can have from Manhattan to Montana. Our 1980 Republican the same impact as a collapsed bridge or washed Platform pledged to repeal that out highway. TSA employees edict. After the election of Ron- should always be seen as guard- ald Reagan, we did. We envision ians of the public’s safety, not as Now we make the same just another part of the federal pledge regarding the current government at all workforce. problems in transportation pol- levels as a partner Amtrak is an extremely icy. We propose to remove from expensive railroad for the the Highway Trust Fund pro- with individuals American taxpayers, who must grams that should not be the and industries subsidize every ticket. The fed- business of the federal govern- eral government should allow ment. in technological private ventures to provide pas- More than a quarter of the , not a senger in the northeast Fund’s spending is diverted from meddlesome monitor. corridor. The same holds true its original purpose. One fifth of with regard to high-speed and its funds are spent on mass tran- intercity rail across the country. sit, an inherently local affair that We reaffirm our intention to end serves only a small portion of the population, con- federal support for boondoggles like ’s centrated in six big . Additional funds are used high-speed train to nowhere. for bike-share programs, sidewalks, recreational trails, landscaping, and historical renovations. Other Building the Future: Technology beneficiaries of highway money are ferry boats, the The digital has transformed how we federal lands access program, scenic byways, and work, learn, sell, shop, socialize — in short, how we education initiatives. These worthwhile enterprises live. Technological change drives our positions with should be funded through other sources. regard to STEM education, business and corporate We propose to phase out the federal transit involvement with educational certifications, work- program and reform provisions of the National En- force issues, privacy, cyber and national security, en- vironmental Policy Act which can delay and drive ergy development, regulation, and other elements up costs for transportation projects. We renew our of our campaign for growth and jobs. It is why we call for repeal of the Davis-Bacon law, which limits propose to simplify the tax code, reduce corporate and drives up construction and main- rates, transition to a territorial system, and create tenance costs for the benefit of unions. Recognizing incentives for investment and innovation. that, over time, additional revenue will be needed to We envision government at all levels as a part- expand the carrying capacity of roads and bridges, ner with individuals and industries in technologi-

5 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • cal progress, not a meddlesome monitor. We want areas so that every American can fully participate to create a business climate that rewards risk and in the global economy. promotes innovation, a learning system that gives The public-private partnerships between Americans the skills needed to seize the opportuni- NASA, the Department of Defense, and commercial ties of the 21st century, and an international order companies have given us technological progress that maintains a fair and open global market for that has reduced the cost of accessing space and America’s goods and services. We intend to ad- extended America’s space leadership in the com- vance policies that protect data privacy while fos- mercial, civil, and national security spheres. The tering innovation and growth and ensuring the free entrepreneurship and innovation of the free flow of data across borders. market is revitalizing the nation’s space capabilities, Together, broadband and good ideas have saving taxpayer money, and advancing technology become the 21st century engines of American in- critical to maintain America’s edge in space and in genuity. Innovation, by its , is disruptive. In other fields. challenging legacy forms of business, innovation To protect our national security interests and creates new jobs, gives access to new markets, foster innovation and competitiveness, we must opens opportunity to underserved populations, and sustain our preeminence in space by launching expands consumer choice. Government must give more scientific missions, guaranteeing unfettered America’s innovators the freedom to create and, on access, and ensuring that our space-related indus- their merits, succeed or fail. tries remain a source of scientific leadership and Our includes balanced protections education. for , explained elsewhere in this document. We intend to facilitate access to Building the Future: America’s Electric Grid spectrum by paving the way for high-speed, next- Our nation’s interstate electric transmission generation broadband deployment and competi- system has long been a catalyst for developing and tion on the internet and for internet services. We delivering low cost energy while spurring economic want government to encourage the sharing econ- growth throughout the United States The grid is omy and on-demand platforms to compete in an aging, vulnerable to cyber and terrorist threats, and open market, and we believe public policies should unprepared to serve our energy needs of tomorrow. encourage the innovation and that are It should not take seven to ten years to plan and essential for an Internet of Things to thrive. construct a transmission line. We support expedited Government must keep pace with the technol- siting processes and the thoughtful expansion of ogy deployed in the private sector. There is an ur- the grid so that consumers and businesses continue gent need to modernize the federal government’s to have access to affordable and reliable electricity. legacy and to recruit the skilled technical personnel who can advance the of innova- Start-up Century: Small Business tion in the public sector. At the cost of billions, the and Entrepreneurship current Administration has done little to advance A central why the 20th century came our goal of universal broadband coverage. That to be called the was the ability hurts rural America, where farmers, ranchers, and of individuals to invent and create in a land of free small business people need connectivity to operate markets. Back then they were called risk-takers, in real time with the world’s producers. Almost ten dreamers, and small business owners. Today they million Americans have given up wired broadband are the entrepreneurs, independent contractors, connections in just the last two years alone, and mil- and small business men and women of our new lions more have never been connected in the first economy. Their innovation drives improvement and place. forces long-established institutions to adapt or fade We encourage public-private partnerships to away. Many of them are so young they remember provide predictable support for connecting rural little if anything of the last century because dy-

6 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • namic progress does not look back. As in the past, the Federal Reserve remains insulated from politi- they still create most new jobs and form the com- cal pressures and its decisions are based on sound mercial network that holds communities together. economic principles and sound money rather than Their enterprise is the lifeblood of our economy, but political pressures for easy money and loose credit. it is weakening. Determined to crush the double-digit inflation More businesses are closing in our country than that was part of the Carter Administration’s eco- are starting. Older firms are an increasing propor- nomic legacy, President Reagan, shortly after his tion of companies. Productivity growth has slowed. inauguration, established a commission to consider This is not the way to jumpstart a new era of growth. the feasibility of a metallic basis for U.S. currency. In We need to consider the effect of capital gains rates 2012, facing the task of cleaning up the wreckage of on the availability of venture capital, as well as the the current Administration’s policies, we proposed a positive impact of expensing on start-up firms. similar commission to investigate ways to set a fixed We should reduce the occupational licensing value for the dollar. laws that shut untold millions of potential workers With Republican leadership, the House of Rep- out of entrepreneurial careers. We must overturn resentatives has passed legislation to set up just the regulatory nightmare, created by the Dodd- such a commission. We recommend its enactment Frank law, for the community banks and savings by the full Congress and the commission’s careful and loans that provide nearly half of all small- consideration of ways to secure the integrity of our business loans and over three-quarters of all agricul- currency. tural loans. Indeed, the world of the app economy cries out for the comprehensive regulatory reform Workplace Freedom for a proposed elsewhere in this platform. We must chal- 21st Century Workforce lenge established interests and traditional business The greatest asset of the American economy patterns to facilitate market entry of new business is the hard-working American. That is why our first models, including inventive means of transport, de- priority is getting people back to work by fostering livery, and communication. the kind of growth that creates jobs. That overarch- As incubators of unconventional thinking, our ing goal unites all the sections of this platform. It country’s existing research infrastructure — the Na- runs through our commitments on education and tional Labs, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, workforce development. It underlies our approach and elements of the Defense Department — have to , regulatory reform, and our de- the potential to form partnerships with small busi- termination to advance the kind of trade agree- nesses to create an American Start-Up Century. ments that multiply opportunities for workers here at home. It also impels us to challenge the anach- The Federal Reserve ronistic labor laws that limit workers’ freedom and Because the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy lock them into the workplace rules of their great- decisions affect job creation, upward mobility for grandfathers. workers, and equitable prosperity, they should be Instead of facilitating change, the current Ad- transparent. Similarly, the Federal Reserve’s impor- ministration and its agents at the National Labor tant role as a lender of last resort should also be Relations Board are determined to reverse it. They carried out in a more transparent manner. The Re- are attacking the franchise model of business de- publican Party will advance legislation that brings velopment, which is essential to the flexibility and transparency and accountability to the Federal Re- of the new economy. They are wielding serve, the Federal Open Market Committee, and the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act from the Federal Reserve’s dealing with foreign banks. 1930s, designed to fit a manufacturing workplace, The first step is through an annual audit of to deny flexibility to both employers and employ- the Federal Reserve’s activities. Such an audit ees. They have repealed union transparency rules would need to be carefully implemented so that that allowed members to discover what was being

7 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • done with their dues. They have outlawed alterna- and energize a free enterprise economy. tives to unions even when they were favored by the Minimum wage is an issue that should be han- workers. dled at the and local level. Their Project Labor Agreements discriminate against the overwhelming majority of workers by A Federal Workforce Serving the People barring them from jobs on taxpayer-funded proj- The federal workforce is larger and more highly ects. Their patronizing and controlling approach paid than ever. The taxpayers spend an average of leaves workers in a form of peonage to the NLRB. $35,000 a year per employee on non-cash benefits, We intend to restore fairness and common sense to triple the average non-cash compensation of the that agency. average worker in the private sector. Federal em- Technology has already created jobs that did ployees receive extraordinary pension benefits and not exist fifteen years ago, and today’s workers vacation time wildly out of line with those of the need flexibility and family-friendly options to make private sector. the most of them, especially portability in pension We urge Congress to bring federal compensa- plans and health insurance. tion and benefits in line with the standards of most We intend to encourage those trends by bring- American employees. A Republican administration ing labor law into the 21st century. It should en- should streamline personnel procedures to expedite courage cooperation between management and the firing of bad workers, tax cheats, and scammers. workers, not conflict. All workers, including union The unionization of the federal workforce, first per- members, must be free to accept raises and re- mitted by Democrat presidents in the 1960s, should wards without veto power from union officials. All be reviewed by the appropriate congressional com- unionized workers should be able to find out what mittees to examine its effects on the cost, , is going on in their union trust funds and in their and performance of the civil service. Union repre- executive compensation. We support of sentatives in the federal workforce should not be states to enact Right-to-Work laws and call for a paid to conduct union business on the public’s time. national law to protect the economic liberty of the modern workforce. Reducing the Federal Debt All Americans deserve the opportunity to pur- Our national debt is a burden on our economy sue their American dream free from discrimination. and families. The huge increase in the national Clear nondiscrimination policies ensure all employ- debt demanded by and incurred during the current ees have the chance to succeed based solely on Administration has placed a significant burden on their merits. These policies are vital to creating an future generations. We must impose firm caps on inclusive, innovative, and competitive workforce. future debt, accelerate the repayment of the trillions Republicans believe that the employer- we now owe in order to reaffirm our principles of employee relationship of the future will be built responsible and limited government, and remove upon employee and workplace the burdens we are placing on future generations. flexibility. We therefore endorse employee stock A strong economy is one key to debt reduction, ownership plans that enable workers to become but spending restraint is a necessary component capitalists, expand the of , that must be vigorously pursued.

8 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

A Rebirth of Constitutional Government H H H H H

We the People of discrimination. Our ranks include Americans We are the party of the Declaration of from every faith and tradition, and we respect the Independence and the Constitution. The Declaration right of each American to follow his or her deeply sets forth the fundamental precepts of American held beliefs. government: That God bestows certain inalienable Our Constitution is in crisis. More than 90 rights on every , thus producing percent of federal requirements are now imposed equality; that government exists first and foremost by regulatory agencies, without any vote of the to protect those inalienable rights; that man-made House or Senate or signature of the President. law must be consistent with God-given, natural The current Administration has exceeded its rights; and that if God-given, natural, inalienable constitutional , brazenly and flagrantly rights come in conflict with government, court, violated the separation of powers, sought to divide or human-granted rights, God-given, natural, America into groups and turn citizen against citizen. inalienable rights always prevail; that there is a The President has refused to defend or enforce laws moral law recognized as “the Laws of Nature and he does not like, used executive orders to enact of Nature’s God”; and that American government national policies in areas constitutionally reserved is to operate with the of the governed. We solely to Congress, made unconstitutional “” are also the party of the Constitution, the greatest appointments to Senate-confirmed positions, political document ever written. It is the solemn directed regulatory agencies to overstep their compact built upon principles of the Declaration statutory authority, and failed to consult Congress that enshrines our God-given individual rights and regarding military action overseas. He has changed ensures that all Americans stand equal before the what called “a government of laws and law, defines the purposes and limits of government, not of men” into just the opposite. and is the blueprint for ordered liberty that makes Democrats in Congress have enabled, the United States the world’s freest and most supported, and defended each of these breaches. prosperous nation. They have applauded the President’s efforts to We reaffirm the Constitution’s fundamental do an end-run around Congress and stymied principles: limited government, separation of Republican efforts to restrain executive lawlessness. powers, individual liberty, and the . We Democrats in Congress have also endorsed an anti- denounce bigotry, , anti-Semitism, ethnic constitutional agenda of their own. Forty-eight , and . Therefore, we Democratic senators, for instance, voted to amend oppose discrimination based on race, sex, , the Bill of Rights to give government officials control creed, , or national origin and support over political speech. Democrats in Congress have to end such discrimination. As the Party likewise proposed bills that would limit religious of , we must continue to foster liberty, undermine property rights, and eviscerate solutions to America’s difficult challenges when the Second Amendment. it comes to race relations today. We continue to In a free society, the primary role of government encourage equality for all citizens and access to is to protect the God-given, inalienable rights of the American Dream. Merit and hard work should its citizens. These constitutional rights are not determine advancement in our society, so we reject negotiable for any American. We affirm that all unfair preferences, quotas, and set-asides as forms legislation, regulation, and actions must

9 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • conform to the Constitution’s original as powers. In tandem with a Republican Senate, a understood at the time the language was adopted. new Republican president will restore to the Court Our most urgent task as a Party is to restore a strong conservative majority that will follow the the American people’s faith in their government by text and original meaning of the Constitution and electing a president who will enforce duly enacted our laws. laws, honor constitutional limits on executive The legitimate powers of government are authority, and return credibility to the Oval Office. rooted in the consent of the American people. We need a Republican president who will end Judicial that includes reliance on foreign abuses of power by departments and agencies, law or unratified undermines American like the IRS and the EPA, and by the sovereignty. Foreign laws and precedents should itself. Safeguarding our requires a president not be used to interpret our Constitution or laws, who will respect the Constitution’s separation of nor should foreign be used in state powers, including the authority of Congress to write courts’ adjudication of criminal or civil matters. legislation and define agency authority. Americans We also affirm the wisdom of President also deserve a president who will speak for our George Washington’s warning to avoid foreign nation’s and values, not apologize for them entanglements and unnecessary alliances. We to our enemies. therefore oppose the adoption or ratification of treaties that would weaken or encroach upon The American sovereignty or that could be construed The rule of law is the foundation of our Republic. by courts to do so. We will not recognize as binding A critical threat to our country’s constitutional order upon the United States any international agree- is an activist judiciary that usurps powers properly ment forged without the constitutionally required reserved to the people through other branches assent of two-thirds of the . of government. Only a Republican president will appoint judges who respect the rule of law Administrative Law expressed within the Constitution and Declaration Article I of the Constitution directs that “All of Independence, including the inalienable right legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested to life and the laws of nature and nature’s God, as in a Congress of the United States….” For more did the late Justice Antonin Scalia. We are facing a than a century, however, Congress has delegated national crisis in our judiciary. We understand that increasing amounts of legislative authority to only by electing a Republican president in 2016 will executive departments, agencies, and commissions, America have the opportunity for up to five new laying the foundation for today’s vast administrative constitutionally-minded Supreme Court state. Unelected bureaucrats in the executive appointed to fill vacancies on the Court. Only such branch now write countless rules with the force of appointments will enable courts to begin to reverse law and arbitrarily punish individuals who disobey the long line of activist decisions — including those rules. The Constitution makes clear that these Roe, Obergefell, and the Obamacare cases — that powers were granted to Congress by the people have usurped Congress’s and states’ lawmaking and must therefore remain solely with the people’s authority, undermined constitutional protections, elected representatives. We call on Congress to expanded the power of the judiciary at the expense begin reclaiming its constitutional powers from of the people and their elected representatives, the bureaucratic state by requiring that major new and stripped the people of their power to govern federal regulations be approved by Congress before themselves. We believe in the constitutional checks they can take effect, such as through the Regulation and balances and that the Founders intended the Freedom Amendment. We further affirm that courts judiciary to be the weakest branch. We encourage should interpret laws as written by Congress rather Congress to use the check of for than allowing executive agencies to rewrite those judges who unconstitutionally usurp Article I laws to suit administration priorities.

10 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Defending Against misguided effort to undermine religion and drive it an Activist Judiciary from the public square. As a result, many charitable Traditional marriage and family, based on religious institutions that have demonstrated marriage between one man and one woman, great success in helping the needy have been is the foundation for a free society and has for barred from receiving government grants and millennia been entrusted with rearing children contracts. Government officials threaten religious and instilling cultural values. We condemn the colleges and universities with massive fines and Supreme Court’s ruling in seek to control their personnel United States v. Windsor, which decisions. Places of wrongly removed the ability of for the first time in our history Congress to define marriage We pledge have reason to fear the loss policy in federal law. We also of tax-exempt status merely condemn the Supreme Court’s to defend the for espousing and practicing lawless ruling in Obergefell v. religious beliefs and traditional religious beliefs Hodges, which in the words of that have been held across the the late Justice Antonin Scalia, rights of world for thousands of years, was a “judicial Putsch” — full of all Americans and and for almost four centuries of “silly extravagances” — that in America. We value the right reduced “the disciplined legal to safeguard religious of America’s religious leaders reasoning of John Marshall and institutions against to preach, and Americans to Joseph Storey to the mystical speak freely, according to their aphorisms of a fortune cookie.” government control. faith. Republicans believe the In Obergefell, five unelected federal government, specifically lawyers robbed 320 million the IRS, is constitutionally Americans of their legitimate prohibited from policing or constitutional authority to define marriage as the censoring speech based on religious convictions union of one man and one woman. The Court or beliefs, and therefore we urge the repeal of the twisted the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment . beyond recognition. To Scalia, we . We pledge to defend the religious beliefs We, therefore, support the appointment of justices and rights of conscience of all Americans and to and judges who respect the constitutional limits on safeguard religious institutions against government their power and respect the authority of the states control. We endorse the First Amendment Defense to decide such fundamental social questions. Act, Republican legislation in the House and Senate which will bar government discrimination against The First Amendment: Religious Liberty individuals and businesses for acting on the The Bill of Rights lists religious liberty, with that marriage is of one man and one its rights of conscience, as the first freedom to be woman. This Act would protect the non-profit protected. Religious freedom in the Bill of Rights tax status of faith-based adoption agencies, the protects the right of the people to practice their accreditation of religious educational institutions, faith in their everyday lives. As George Washington the grants and contracts of faith-based charities taught, “religion and are indispensable and small businesses, and the licensing of religious supports” to a free society. Similarly, Thomas — all of which are under assault by Jefferson declared that “No provision in our elements of the Democratic Party. We encourage Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that every state to pass similar legislation. We likewise which protects the rights of conscience against the endorse the efforts of Republican state legislators enterprises of the civil authority.” Ongoing attempts and governors who have defied from to compel individuals, businesses, and institutions corporations and the media in defending religious of faith to transgress their beliefs are part of a liberty. We support laws to confirm the longstanding

11 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

American tradition that religious individuals and parties in McCain-Feingold, raising or repealing institutions can educate young people, receive contribution limits, protecting the political speech government benefits, and participate in public of advocacy groups, corporations, and labor unions, debates without having to check their religious and protecting political speech on the internet. We beliefs at the door. likewise call for an end to the so-called Fairness Our First Amendment rights are not given to , and support free-market approaches to us by the government but are rights we inherently free speech unregulated by government. possess. The government cannot use subsequent We believe the forced funding of political amendments to limit First Amendment rights. The candidates through union dues and other mandatory is both an individual and a contributions violates the First Amendment. Just as liberty protecting a right to worship God Americans have a First Amendment right to devote according to the dictates of conscience. Therefore, resources to favored candidates or views, they we strongly support the freedom of Americans to have a First Amendment right not to be forced to act in accordance with their religious beliefs, not individually support individuals or that only in their houses of worship, but also in their they oppose. We agree with that everyday lives. “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money We support the right of the people to conduct for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves their businesses in accordance with their religious and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.” beliefs and condemn public officials who have proposed boycotts against businesses that support The Second Amendment: traditional marriage. We pledge to protect those Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms business owners who have been subjected to hate We uphold the right of individuals to keep campaigns, threats of violence, and other attempts and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that to deny their civil rights. predates the Constitution and is secured by the We support the public display of the Ten Second Amendment. Lawful gun ownership enables Commandments as a reflection of our history and Americans to exercise their God-given right of self- our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage and further defense for the safety of their homes, their loved affirm the rights of religious students to engage in ones, and their communities. voluntary prayer at public events and to have We salute the for equal access to school facilities. We assert the First defending the right to keep and bear arms by Amendment right of freedom of association for preventing the President from installing a new liberal religious, private, service, and youth organizations majority on the Supreme Court. The confirmation to set their own membership standards. to the Court of additional anti-gun justices would eviscerate the Second Amendment’s fundamental The First Amendment: protections. Already, local officials in the nation’s Constitutionally Protected Speech capital and elsewhere are defying the Court’s The rights of citizenship do not stop at the ballot decisions upholding an individual right to bear box. includes the right to devote arms as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Heller resources to whatever cause or candidate one and McDonald. We support firearm reciprocity supports. We oppose any restrictions or conditions legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding that would discourage citizens from participating in Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves the public square or limit their ability to promote and their families in all 50 states. We support their ideas, such as requiring private organizations constitutional carry statutes and salute the states to publicly disclose their donors to the government. that have passed them. We oppose ill-conceived Limits on political speech serve only to protect the laws that would restrict magazine capacity or powerful and insulate incumbent officeholders. We ban the sale of the most popular and common support repeal of federal restrictions on political modern rifle. We also oppose any effort to deprive

12 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • individuals of their right to keep and bear arms reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Americans without due process of law. overseas should enjoy the same rights as Americans We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun residing in the United States, whose private manufacturers and the current Administration’s financial is not subject to disclosure illegal harassment of firearm dealers. We oppose to the government except as to interest earned. federal licensing or registration of law-abiding The requirement for all banks around the world gun owners, registration of ammunition, and to provide detailed information to the IRS about of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban. We call American account holders outside the United States for a thorough investigation — by a new Republican has resulted in banks refusing service to them. Thus, administration — of the deadly “Fast and Furious” FATCA not only allows “unreasonable search and operation perpetrated by Department of Justice seizures” but also threatens the ability of overseas officials who approved and allowed illegal sales of Americans to lead normal lives. We call for its repeal guns to known violent criminals. and for a change to residency-based taxation for U.S. citizens overseas. The Fourth Amendment: Liberty and Privacy The Fifth Amendment: Affirming the Fourth Amendment “right of Protecting Human Life the people to be secure in their houses, papers, The Constitution’s guarantee that no one can and effects, against unreasonable searches and “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately seizures,” we call for strict limitations on the use of echoes the Declaration of Independence’s aerial on U.S. soil, with the exception of proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their patrolling our national borders for illegal entry and Creator” with the inalienable . activity. We oppose any attempts by government Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life to require surveillance devices in our daily lives, and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental including tracking devices in motor vehicles. right to life which cannot be infringed. We support In recent years, technology companies have a human life amendment to the Constitution and responded to market demand for products and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth services that protect the privacy of customers Amendment’s protections apply to children before through increasingly sophisticated encryption birth. technology. These increased privacy protections We oppose the use of public funds to perform have become crucial to the digital economy. At the or promote or to fund organizations, like same time, however, such innovations have brought Planned Parenthood, so long as they provide or new dangers, especially from criminals and terrorists refer for elective or sell fetal body parts who seek to use encryption technology to harm us. rather than provide healthcare. We urge all states No the medium, citizens must retain the and Congress to make it a to acquire, transfer, right to communicate with one another free from or sell fetal tissues from elective abortions for unlawful government intrusion. It will not be easy research, and we call on Congress to enact a ban to balance privacy rights with the government’s on any sale of fetal body parts. In the meantime, we legitimate need to access encrypted information. call on Congress to ban the practice of misleading This issue is too important to be left to the courts. women on so-called fetal harvesting consent forms, A Republican president and a Republican Congress a revealed by a 2015 investigation. We will not must listen to the American people and forge a fund or subsidize healthcare that includes abortion consensus solution. coverage. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act We support the appointment of judges who (FATCA) and the Foreign Bank and Asset Reporting respect traditional and the sanctity of Requirements result in government’s warrantless innocent human life. We oppose the non-consensual seizure of personal financial information without withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment,

13 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • including food and water, from individuals with Capable Unborn Child Protection Acts prohibiting , newborns, the elderly, or the infirm, just abortion after twenty weeks, the point at which as we oppose and assisted suicide. current medical research shows that unborn babies We affirm our moral to assist, rather can feel excruciating pain during abortions, and we than penalize, women who face an unplanned call on Congress to enact the federal version. Not pregnancy. In order to encourage women who face only is it good legislation, but it enjoys the support an unplanned pregnancy to choose life, we support of a majority of the American people. We support legislation that requires financial responsibility for state and federal efforts against the cruelest forms the child be equally borne by both the mother of abortion, especially dismemberment abortion and father upon conception until the child reaches procedures, in which unborn babies are literally torn adulthood. Failure to require a father to be equally apart limb from limb. responsible for a child places an inequitable We call on Congress to ban sex-selection burden on the mother, creating a financial and abortions and abortions based on disabilities — social hardship on both mother discrimination in its most lethal and child. We celebrate the form. We oppose embryonic millions of Americans who The Democratic Party stem cell research. We oppose open their hearts, homes, and federal funding of embryonic churches to mothers in need is extreme on abortion. stem cell research. We support and women fleeing . We Democrats’ almost adult stem cell research and urge thank and encourage providers the restoration of the national of counseling, medical services, limitless support for placental stem cell bank created and adoption assistance abortion, and their by President George H.W. Bush for empowering women but abolished by his Democrat experiencing an unintended strident successor, President Bill Clinton. pregnancy to choose life. We to even the most We oppose federal funding for support funding for ultrasounds basic restrictions on harvesting embryos and call for and adoption assistance. We a ban on human cloning. salute the many states that abortion, put them The Democratic Party now protect women and dramatically out of is extreme on abortion. girls through laws requiring Democrats’ almost limitless informed consent, parental step with the support for abortion, and their consent, waiting periods, and American people. strident opposition to even clinic regulation. We condemn the most basic restrictions on the Supreme Court’s activist abortion, put them dramatically decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt out of step with the American people. Because of striking down commonsense Texas laws providing their opposition to simple abortion clinic safety for basic health and safety standards in abortion procedures, support for taxpayer-funded abortion, clinics. and rejection of pregnancy resource centers that We applaud the U.S. House of Representatives provide abortion alternatives, the old Clinton mantra for leading the effort to add enforcement to the of “safe, legal, and rare” has been reduced to just Born-Alive Infant Protection Act by passing the “legal.” We are proud to be the party that protects Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which human life and offers real solutions for women. imposes appropriate civil and criminal penalties on healthcare providers who fail to provide treatment The Fifth Amendment: and care to an infant who survives an abortion, Protecting Private Property including early induction delivery whether the The Framers of our government knew, from death of the infant is intended. We strongly oppose history and , that when private property infanticide. Over a dozen states have passed Pain- is not secure, freedom is at risk. That is why the Fifth

14 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Amendment declares that private property may not is a driving force in today’s global economy of be “taken for public use without just compensation.” constant innovation. It is the wellspring of American The Supreme Court’s Kelo decision undermined this economic growth and job creation. With the safeguard by allowing local governments to seize of the digital economy, it has become even more a person’s home or land not only for vital public use, critical that we protect intellectual property rights but also for “public purpose,” which thus allowed and preserve freedom of contract rather than the government to seize it for transfer to private create regulatory barriers to creativity, growth, and developers or other private entities. We call on any innovation. state legislatures that have not already done so to Protecting intellectual property is also a nullify the impact of Kelo within their national security issue. We must guard against by legislation or state constitutional amendments counterfeit parts that can compromise the declaring that private property may be taken only reliability of our weapons systems and the safety for true public use, and we join House Republicans of military personnel. Today, the worst offenses in supporting the Private Property Rights Protection against intellectual property rights come from Act. abroad, especially in China. We call for strong The government at every level must always action by Congress and a new Republican president pay just compensation whenever it takes private to enforce intellectual property laws against all property to achieve a compelling public use, with infringers, whether foreign or domestic. the money coming from the budget of the agency performing the taking. This includes the taking The Ninth Amendment: of water rights and the taking of property by The People’s Retained Rights environmental regulations that destroy or diminish The Ninth Amendment to the Constitution the property’s value. declares that “[t]he enumeration in the Constitution Civil asset forfeiture was originally intended of certain rights shall not be construed to deny as a way to cripple organized crime through the or disparage others retained by the people.” This seizure of property used in a criminal enterprise. provision codifies the that our national Regrettably, it has become a tool for unscrupulous government derives its power from the governed law enforcement officials, acting without due and that all powers not delegated to the government process, to profit by destroying the livelihood of are retained by the people. We call upon legislators innocent individuals, many of whom never recover to give full force to this fundamental principle. the lawful assets taken from them. When the rights We welcome to our ranks all citizens who are of the innocent can be so easily violated, no one’s determined to reclaim the rights of the people that rights are safe. We call on Congress and state have been ignored or usurped by the federal and legislatures to enact reforms to protect law-abiding intrusive state governments. citizens against abusive asset forfeiture tactics. The Tenth Amendment: Federalism The Fifth Amendment: as the Foundation of Personal Liberty Intellectual Property Rights Federalism is a cornerstone of our constitutional Private property includes not only physical system. Every violation of state sovereignty by property such as lands and homes, but also federal officials is not merely a transgression of one intellectual property like books and patents. Article unit of government against another; it is an assault 1, section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the on the liberties of individual Americans. Hence the power to safeguard intellectual property rights promise of the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not for “Authors and Inventors.” By protecting the delegated to the United States by the Constitution, proprietary rights of creators and innovators, the nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to Constitution promotes the general welfare by the States respectively, or to the people.” The providing incentives for investment in all sorts of Constitution gives the federal government very technology and artistic works. Intellectual property few powers, and they are specifically enumerated;

15 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • the states and the people retain authority over presidency. We urge state legislatures that have all unenumerated powers. In obedience to that voted for this proposal to rescind their approval. principle, we condemn the current Administration’s unconstitutional expansion into areas beyond Honest and the Right to Vote those specifically enumerated, including Honest elections are the foundation of of state and local governments in matters ranging representative government. We pledge to protect from voter identification (ID) laws to , the rights of every citizen, as well as their from healthcare programs to land use decisions, rights of conscience when they are harassed and from forced education curricula to school or denied a job because of their contributions restroom policies. We pledge to restore the proper to a candidate or a cause. We support state balance and vertical separation of powers between efforts to ensure ballot access for the elderly, the the federal government and state governments — handicapped, military personnel, and all legitimate the governments closest to, and most reflective voters. We urge state and local officials to take of, the American people. We encourage states to all appropriate steps to allow voters to cast their reinvigorate their traditional role as the laboratories ballots in a timely manner. We are concerned, of , propelling the nation forward however, that some voting procedures may through local and state innovation. be open to abuse. For this reason, we support Big government undermines federalism legislation to require proof of citizenship when through more than 1,100 grants-in-aid programs registering to vote and secure photo ID when that consume more than one-sixth of the federal voting. We strongly oppose litigation against states budget for matters that should be the exclusive exercising their sovereign authority to enact such responsibility of the states. Through these programs, laws. In addition, to guarantee that everyone’s vote money originating from state taxpayers is returned is counted, we urge that electronic voting systems to the states, usually greatly reduced, with myriad have a voter-verified paper audit trail. We urge strings attached. These grants turn state and every state to join the Interstate Voter Registration local elected officials into agents of the federal Cross Check Program to keep voter rolls accurate government. The web of conditions and regulations and to prevent people from voting in more than — especially the requirement of matching funds that one state in the same election. To guard against comes with federal grants — transforms recipients foreign involvement in our elections, we call for into appendages of the Washington . vigilance regarding online credit card contributions We call upon Congress to help a Republican to candidates and campaigns. president to reduce and ultimately eliminate this The members of our Armed Forces must not system of conditioned grants so that state and local be denied the basic rights that they are defending taxpayers can decide for themselves what is best for others. Our troops, wherever stationed, must be for their own communities. allowed to vote in a timely manner. We call upon the entire military chain of command to ensure the Honest Elections and the voting rights of our citizen soldiers. Electoral College The Constitution gives Congress authority We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate to conduct the decennial census “in such Manner Compact and any other scheme to abolish or as they shall by Law direct.” In order to preserve distort the procedures of the Electoral College. An the principle of one person, one vote, we urge our unconstitutional effort to impose National Popular elected representatives to ensure that citizenship, Vote would be a grave threat to our federal system rather than mere residency, be made the basis for and a guarantee of corruption, as every ballot box the apportionment of representatives among the in every state would offer a chance to steal the states.

16 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

America’s Natural Resources: Agriculture, Energy, and the Environment H H H H H

We are the party of America’s growers, regard to food and health regulations. We will not producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, tolerate the use of bogus and scare tactics commercial fishermen, and all those who bring to bar our products from foreign markets, nor will from the earth the crops, minerals, energy, and we allow insufficient health and safety standards for the bounties of our seas that are the lifeblood products imported for our consumption. of our economy. Their labor and ingenuity, their We must also ensure that domestic policies determination in bad and of the land at do not compromise our global competitiveness all times, powers our economy, creates millions of through overregulation and undue interference jobs, and feeds billions of people around the world. in the marketplace. There is growing recognition Only a few years ago, a bipartisan consensus in that federal dairy policies, crafted during the Great government valued the role of extractive industries Depression, are increasingly an impediment to the and rewarded their enterprise by minimizing its ability of our dairy producers to meet the expected interference with their work. That has radically doubling in global demand coming by 2030. We changed. We look in vain within the Democratic oppose the policies pushed by special interest Party for leaders who will speak for the people of groups seeking to stop or make more expensive agriculture, energy and mineral production. our current system of safe, efficient, and humane production of meat. Congress has repeatedly had to Abundant Harvests block the current Administration’s draconian rules Agricultural production and exports are concerning the marketing of poultry and livestock. central to the Republican agenda for jobs, growth, This regulatory impulse must be curbed, not on a expanded trade, and prosperity. Because our case-by-case basis, but through a fundamental farmers and ranchers care for the land, the United restructuring of the regulatory process. In the States does not depend on foreign imports for meantime, the intrusive and expensive federal sustenance. Americans spend a smaller percentage mandates on food options and menu labeling should of their income on food than any other nation. On be ended as soon as possible by a Republican average, one American farm produces enough food Congress. We oppose the mandatory labeling of to feed 155 people. No other nation has been as genetically modified food, which has proven to be generous with food aid to the needy. We have good safe, healthy, and a literal life-saver for millions in the reason to celebrate our domestic security in food. developing world. We are the largest agricultural exporter in the The Democratic Administration’s sustained world, and our exports are vital for other sectors support for additional regulation of agriculture has of our economy. Those exports drive additional directly resulted in higher costs of production for economic growth as each dollar of agricultural those who produce the food we eat. This federal exports generates another $1.27 in business activity. regulatory overreach has resulted and will continue That is why we remain committed to expanding to result in higher food prices for Americans. These trade opportunities and opening new markets for higher food costs are particularly challenging for agriculture. Under a Republican president, America’s those Americans struggling to make ends meet. trade negotiators will insist that our global trading Like the rest of the economy, agriculture has partners adhere to science-based standards with suffered through eight years of the Democrats’

17 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • regulatory juggernaut, particularly from the markets around the world is the surest path to farm Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). States, security. not Washington bureaucrats, are best equipped While uncertainty about natural weather and to engage farmers and ranchers to develop markets is a risk farmers and ranchers always face, sound farm oversight policies. The EPA’s Waters government should not add to their uncertainty by of the United States (WOTUS) rule, issued jointly inaction and delay. Thanks in large part to a lack with the Army Corps of Engineers, is a travesty. of leadership from the current Administration and It extends the government’s jurisdiction over congressional Democrats, the last Farm Bill took navigable waters into the micro-management of far too long to enact, creating instability about puddles and ditches on farms, ranches, and other farm policy for nearly two years. Republicans are privately-held property. Ditches, dry creek beds, dedicated to leading this country forward, which stock ponds, prairie potholes, and other non- includes getting things done on time, including the navigable wet areas are already regulated by the next Farm Bill. states. WOTUS is now subject to judicial review and The Democrats with farm security. must be invalidated, but that will not be sufficient. Much of the Democrats’ delay had nothing to Unelected bureaucrats must be stopped from do with the vital role of American agriculture. It furthering the Democratic Party’s concerned their efforts to expand welfare through through regulatory demands forced upon citizens the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and businesses beyond that which is required by (SNAP), which now comprises more than 70 percent law. We must never allow federal agencies to seize of all farm bill spending. During the last eight years control of state waters, watersheds, or groundwater. of a Democratic Administration, nearly all the work State waters, watersheds, and groundwater must be requirements for able-bodied adults, instituted by the purview of the sovereign states. our landmark welfare reform of 1996, have been Farmers and ranchers are among this country’s removed. We will restore those provisions and, leading conservationists. Modern farm practices to correct a mistake made when the Food Stamp and technologies, supported by programs from program was first created in 1964, separate the the Department of Agriculture, have led to reduced administration of SNAP from the Department of erosion, improved water and air quality, increased Agriculture. wildlife habitat, all the while maintaining improved Like all other sectors of our society, agriculture agricultural yields. This of the land is directly impacted by the constant advance in benefits everyone, and we remain committed to technology. Agriculture now faces a revolution in the conservation policies based on the preservation, generation of “Big Data” — information produced not the restriction, of working lands. For this not only through public oversight of regulations and reason, ranching on public lands must be fostered, programs, but also from private business records of developed, and encouraged. This includes providing farming and ranching operations. In the interest of for an abundant water supply for America’s farmers, protecting the safety of our farmers and ranchers, ranchers, and their communities. we will advance policies to protect the security, Farming and ranching remain high-risk privacy, and most of all, the private ownership of endeavors, and they cannot be isolated from individual farmers’ and ranchers’ data. market forces. No segment of agriculture can The U. S. Forest Service, within the Department expect treatment so favorable that it seriously of Agriculture, controls around 200 million acres of disadvantages workers in other . Federal land with enormous natural resources, especially programs to assist farmers in managing risk must timber, a renewable resource providing jobs for be as cost-effective as they are functional, offering thousands of workers that should be used to the tools that can improve producers’ ability to operate best economic potential for the nation. Many of when times are tough while remaining affordable to our national forests are in worsening health with the taxpayers. Even so, the expansion of agricultural the threat of invasive species, insect mortality, exports through the vigorous opening of new and the severe risk of wildfire. The increase in

18 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • catastrophic wildfires has been needlessly killing not be immediately developed. Because we believe millions of animals and destroying homes and states can best promote economic growth while watersheds for decades in the western states. protecting the environment, Congress should give The expense to suppress wildfires related to failed authority to state regulators to manage energy federal forest policies continues to increase. When resources on federally controlled public lands within timber is managed properly, the renewable crops their respective borders. will result in fewer wildfires and, at the same time, The Democratic Party’s energy policy can be produce jobs in the timber industry for countless summed up in a slogan currently popular among families. We believe in promoting active, sustainable its activists: “keep it in the ground.” Keeping energy management of our forests and that states can best in the earth will keep jobs out of reach of those manage our forests to improve forest health and who need them most. For low-income Americans, keep communities safe. expensive energy means colder homes in the winter and hotter homes in the summer, less mobility in A New Era in Energy employment, and higher food prices. The current Our country has greater energy resources Administration, and particularly its EPA, seems than any other place on earth. not to care. Its Clean Power Our engineers and miners, the Plan — the centerpiece of the men and women whose labor Our country has President’s on coal — has taps the forces of nature, are been stayed by the Supreme the . Together, greater energy Court. We will do away with the people of America’s energy resources than any it altogether. The Democratic sector provide us with power Party does not understand that is clean, affordable, secure, other place on earth. that coal is an abundant, clean, and abundant. Their work can Our engineers and affordable, reliable domestic guarantee the nation’s energy miners, the men and energy resource. Those who security for centuries to come if, mine it and their families instead of erecting roadblocks, women whose labor should be protected from the government facilitates the taps the forces of Democratic Party’s radical anti- creation of an all-of-the-above coal agenda. energy strategy. nature, are the best The Democratic Party’s We applaud congressional in the world. campaign to smother the U.S. Republicans for doing just that energy industry takes many through far-sighted legislation. forms, but the permitting Both Houses have passed bills that will modernize process may be its most damaging weapon. It takes pipelines and the electric grid, protect the grid from an average of 30 days for states to permit an oil or disruption, expedite energy exports, and lower gas well. It takes the federal government longer than energy costs. A Republican administration will seven months. Three decades ago, the Bureau of build on those policies to find new ways to store Land Management (BLM) leased 12.2 million acres. electricity, a breakthrough of extraordinary import. In 2014, it leased only one-tenth of that number. Planning for our energy future requires us to Our nuclear industry, cleanly generating almost 20 first determine what resources we have in reserve. percent of our electricity from its 99 plants, has Thirty years ago, the world’s estimated reserves of a remarkable safety record, but only a handful of oil were 645 billion barrels. Today, that figure is 1.65 plants have been permitted in over three decades. trillion barrels. The more we know what we will have Permitting for a safe, non-polluting hydroelectric in the future, the better we can decide how to use it. facility, even one that is being relicensed, can take That is why we support the opening of public lands many years because of the current President’s and the outer continental shelf to exploration and hostility to dams. The Keystone Pipeline has responsible production, even if these resources will become a of everything wrong with the

19 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • current Administration’s ideological approach. We oppose any carbon tax. It would increase After years of delay, the President killed it to satisfy energy prices across the board, hitting hardest at environmental extremists. We intend to finish that the families who are already struggling to pay their pipeline and others as part of our commitment to bills in the Democrats’ no-growth economy. We North American energy security. urge the private sector to focus its resources on the Government should not play favorites among development of carbon capture and sequestration energy producers. The taxpayers will not soon technology still in its early stages here and overseas. forget the current Administration’s subsidies to American energy producers should be free companies that went bankrupt without producing to export their product to foreign markets. This a kilowatt of energy. The same Administration is particularly important because of international now requires the Department demand for liquefied natural of Defense, operating with gas, and we must expedite slashed budgets during a time We support the the energy export terminals of expanding conflict, to use its development of all currently blocked by the scarce resources to generate 25 Administration. Energy exports percent of its electricity from forms of energy that will create high paying jobs renewables by 2025. Climate are marketable in a throughout the United States, change is far from this nation’s free economy without reduce our nation’s trade most pressing national security deficit, grow our economy, and issue. This is the triumph of subsidies, including boost the energy security of over common sense, coal, oil, natural gas, our allies and trading partners. and Congress must stop it. We remain committed to We support the nuclear power, and aggressively expanding trade development of all forms of hydropower. opportunities and opening energy that are marketable in a new markets for American free economy without subsidies, energy through multilateral and including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and bilateral agreements, whether current, pending, or hydropower. A federal judge has struck down the negotiated in the future. BLM’s rule on hydraulic fracturing and we support Energy is both an economic and national upholding this decision. We respect the states’ security issue. We support the enactment of proven ability to regulate the use of hydraulic policies to increase domestic energy production, fracturing, methane emissions, and horizontal including production on public lands, to counter drilling, and we will end the Administration’s market manipulation by OPEC and other nationally- disregard of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act with owned oil companies. This will reduce America’s respect to the long-term storage of nuclear waste. vulnerability to energy price volatility. We encourage the cost-effective development of renewable energy sources — wind, solar, biomass, Environmental Progress biofuel, geothermal, and tidal energy — by private Conservation is inherent in . As capital. The United States is overwhelmingly the pioneer of a century ago, the dependent on China and other nations for rare earth Republican Party reaffirms the moral obligation to and other hardrock minerals. These minerals are be good stewards of the God-given natural critical to advanced technology, renewable energy, and resources of our country. We believe that people and defense manufacturing. We support expediting are the most valuable resources and that human the permitting process for mineral production health and safety are the proper measurements of on public lands. We support lifting restrictions to a policy’s success. We assert that private ownership allow responsible development of nuclear energy, has been the best guarantee of conscientious including research into alternative processes like stewardship, while some of the worst instances thorium nuclear energy. of degradation have occurred under government

20 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • control. Poverty, not wealth, is the gravest threat structural safeguards against politicized science. to the environment, while steady economic growth We will strictly limit congressional delegation of brings the technological advances which make rule-making authority, and require that citizens be environmental progress possible. compensated for regulatory takings. The environment is too important to be left to We will put an end to the legal practice known radical environmentalists. They are using yesterday’s as “sue and settle,” in which environmental groups tools to control a future they do not comprehend. sue federal agencies whose officials are complicit in The environmental establishment has become a the litigation so that, with the taxpayers excluded, self-serving elite, stuck in the of the 1970s, both parties can reach agreement behind closed subordinating the public’s consensus to the goals doors. That deceit betrays the public’s trust; it will of the Democratic Party. Their approach is based no longer be tolerated. We will also reform the Equal on shoddy science, scare tactics, and centralized Access to Justice Act to cap and disclose payments command-and-control regulation. Over the last made to environmental activists and return the Act eight years, the Administration has triggered an to its original intent. avalanche of regulation that wreaks havoc across We will enforce the original intent of the Clean our economy and yields minimal environmental Water Act, not it’s distortion by EPA regulations. benefits. We will likewise forbid the EPA to regulate carbon The central fact of any sensible environmental dioxide, something never envisioned when Congress policy is that, year by year, the environment is passed the Clean Air Act. We will restore to improving. Our air and waterways are much Congress the authority to set the National Ambient healthier than they were a few decades ago. As Air Quality Standards and modernize the permitting a nation, we have drastically reduced pollution, process under the National Environmental Policy mainstreamed recycling, educated the public, Act so it can no longer invite frivolous lawsuits, and avoided ecological degradation. Even if no thwart sorely needed projects, kill jobs, and strangle additional controls are added, air pollution will growth. continue to decline for the next several decades The federal government owns or controls over due to technological turnover of aging equipment. 640 million acres of land in the United States, most of These successes become a challenge for Democratic which is in the West. These are public lands, and the Party environmental extremists, who must reach public should have access to them for appropriate farther and demand more to sustain the of activities like hunting, fishing, and recreational an environmental crisis. That is why they routinely shooting. Federal ownership or management of land ignore costs, exaggerate benefits, and advocate the also places an economic burden on counties and breaching of constitutional boundaries by federal local communities in terms of lost revenue to pay agencies to impose environmental regulation. At the for things such as schools, , and emergency same time, the environmental establishment looks services. It is absurd to think that all that acreage the other way when environmental degradation is must remain under the absentee ownership or caused by the EPA and other federal agencies as management of official Washington. Congress shall was the case during the Animas River spill. immediately pass universal legislation providing for Our agenda is high on job creation, expanding a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal opportunity and providing a better chance at life government to convey certain federally controlled for everyone willing to work for it. Our modern public lands to states. We call upon all national approach to environmentalism is directed to that and state leaders and representatives to exert their end, and it starts with dramatic change in official utmost power and influence to urge the transfer of Washington. We propose to shift responsibility those lands, identified in the review process, to all for environmental regulation from the federal willing states for the benefit of the states and the bureaucracy to the states and to transform the nation as a whole. The residents of state and local EPA into an independent bipartisan commission, communities know best how to protect the land similar to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with where they work and live. They practice boots-on-

21 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • the-ground conservation in their states every day. in consideration of the impact on the development We support amending the Antiquities Act of 1906 to of lands and natural resources. establish Congress’ right to approve the designation Information concerning a changing climate, of national and to further require the especially projections into the long-range future, approval of the state where a national is must be based on dispassionate analysis of hard designated or a national park is proposed. data. We will enforce that standard throughout There is certainly a need to protect certain the executive branch, among civil servants and species threatened worldwide with extinction. presidential appointees alike. The ’ However, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) should Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a not include species such as gray wolves and other political mechanism, not an unbiased scientific species if these species exist elsewhere in healthy institution. Its unreliability is reflected in its numbers in another state or country. To upset the intolerance toward scientists and others who economic viability of an area with an unneeded dissent from its orthodoxy. We will evaluate its designation costs jobs and hurts local communities. recommendations accordingly. We reject the We must ensure that this protection is done agendas of both the Kyoto Protocol and the effectively, reasonably, and without unnecessarily Agreement, which represent only the personal impeding the development of lands and natural commitments of their signatories; no such resources. The ESA should ensure that the listing agreement can be binding upon the United States of endangered species and the designation of until it is submitted to and ratified by the Senate. critical habitats are based upon sound science and We demand an immediate halt to U.S. funding balance the protection of endangered species with for the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate the costs of compliance and the rights of property Change (UNFCCC) in accordance with the 1994 owners. Instead, over the last few decades, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act. That law pro- ESA has stunted economic development, halted the hibits Washington from giving any money to “any construction of projects, burdened landowners, and affiliated organization of the United Nations” which has been used to pursue policy goals inconsistent grants Palestinians membership as a state. There is with the ESA — all with little to no success in the no ambiguity in that language. It would be illegal actual recovery of species. For example, we oppose for the President to follow through on his intention the listing of the lesser prairie chicken and the to provide millions in funding for the UNFCCC and potential listing of the grouse. Neither species hundreds of millions for its Green Climate Fund. has been shown to be in actual danger and the We firmly believe environmental problems listings threaten to devastate farmers, ranchers, and are best solved by giving incentives for human oil and gas production. While species threatened ingenuity and the development of new technologies, with extinction must be protected under the ESA, not through top-down, command-and-control any such protection must be done in a reasonable regulations that stifle economic growth and cost and transparent manner with stakeholder input and thousands of jobs.

22 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Government Reform H H H H H

Making Government Work for the People demands have focused on significantly expanding Founding Father and Constitution Framer government spending and benefits for its preferred James Wilson declared that in America, “the groups, paid for through loans that our children and people are the masters of government,” but that grandchildren will have to pay. This is the path to in other countries, “the government is master bankrupting the next generation. of the people.” We pledge to make government The Republican path to fiscal sanity and work for the people, rather than the other way economic expansion begins with a constitutional around. Much of what the federal government requirement for a federal balanced budget. We does can be improved, much should be replaced, will fight for Congress to adopt, and for the states and much needs to be done away with or returned to ratify, a Balanced Budget Amendment which to the states. It is long past time for just tinkering imposes a cap limiting spending to the appropriate around the edges of a bloated and unresponsive historical average percentage of our nation’s gross bureaucratic state. Its poorly managed programs, domestic product while requiring a super-majority some begun generations ago, are ill-suited to meet for any tax increase, with exceptions only for war present needs and future requirements. Its credit or legitimate emergencies. Only a constitutional card budgets impose massive indebtedness on safeguard such as this can prevent deficits from every American today and on children yet unborn. mounting to government default. The more it intrudes into every aspect of American Republican budgets will prioritize thrift over life the more it alienates the citizens who work, extravagance and put taxpayers first. We support pay taxes, and wonder what has happened to the the following test: Is a particular expenditure within country they love. We agree with Thomas Jefferson the constitutional scope of the federal government? that “[t]he multiplication of public offices, increase If not, stop it. Has it been effective in the past and of expense beyond income, growth and entailment is it still absolutely necessary? If not, end it. Is it so of a public debt, are indications soliciting the important as to justify borrowing, especially foreign employment of the pruning knife.” borrowing, to fund it? If not, kill it.

Balancing the Budget Preserving and Medicaid The federal fiscal burden threatens the More than 100 million Americans depend on security, liberty, and independence of our nation. Medicare or Medicaid for their healthcare; with The current Administration’s refusal to work with our population aging, that number will increase. To Republicans took our national debt from $10 trillion preserve Medicare and Medicaid, the financing of to nearly $19 trillion today. Left unchecked, it will these important programs must be brought under hit $30 trillion by 2026. At the same time, the control before they consume most of the federal Administration’s policies systematically crippled budget, including national defense. The good news economic growth and job creation, driving up is that it can be done, and it can be done without government costs and driving down revenues. endangering the elderly and the needy who depend When Congressional Republicans tried to reverse on those programs. We intend to save Medicare by course, the Administration manufactured fiscal modernizing it, empowering its participants, and crises — phony government shutdowns — to putting it on a secure financial footing. We will demand excessive spending. The Administration’s preserve the promise of Medicaid as well by making

23 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • that program, designed for 1965 medicine, a vehicle patients, disease prevention activities, and other for good health in an entirely new era. innovations — are the best strategy for preserving Medicare’s long-term debt is in the trillions, and Medicaid for those who need it the most. Block it is funded by a workforce that is shrinking relative granting Medicaid is particularly needed to to the size of future beneficiaries. Obamacare address mental health care. Mental illness affects worsened the situation — and imperiled seniors — people from all walks of life, but there has been by imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts little success in developing effective system-wide to Medicare providers to pay for its new spending. medical models for addressing mental health. For a When a vital program is so clearly headed for a train variety of unique , government is often the wreck, it’s time to put it on a more secure track. first frontier for people experiencing mental health That is why we propose these reforms: Impose no problems — from first responders who deal with changes for persons 55 or older. Give others the crises to publicly funded mental health facilities option of traditional Medicare or transition to a and where large numbers of inmates premium-support model designed to strengthen suffer from mental illnesses. Using block grants patient choice, promote cost-saving competition would allow states to experiment with different among providers, and better guard against the systems to address mental health and develop fraud and abuse that now diverts billions of dollars successful models to be replicated in states across every year away from patient care. Guarantee to the nation. The current federally dictated mental every enrollee an income-adjusted contribution health care regime is wasteful and ineffective, and toward a plan of their choice, with catastrophic moving to a block grant approach would allow for protection. Without disadvantaging present retirees state and local governments to create solutions or those nearing retirement, set a more realistic age for individuals and families in desperate need of for eligibility in light of today’s longer life span. help in addressing mental illness. We respect the This is an agenda to improve healthcare, not states’ authority and flexibility to exclude abortion just to manage its costs. We reject the Democrats’ providers from federal programs such as Medicaid approach of rationing inherent in Obamacare. We and other healthcare and family planning programs recognize the de facto rationing of healthcare so long as they continue to perform or refer for caused by reduced access to doctors who elective abortions or sell the body parts of aborted increasingly opt out of participating in Medicare children. and Medicaid. We will not accept that or any other approach which denies care — or lowers its quality Saving Social Security — for America’s elderly. We reject the old maxim that Social Security Medicaid presents related, but somewhat is the “Third Rail” of American politics, deadly for different challenges. As the dominant force in anyone who would change it. The Democratic Party the health market with regard to long-term care, still treats it that way, even though everyone knows births, and persons with mental illness, it is the next that its current course will lead to a financial and frontier of welfare reform. It is simply too big and social disaster. Younger Americans have lost all faith too flawed to be administered from Washington. in the program and expect little return for what Most of the vaunted expansion of health insurance they are paying into it. As the party of America’s coverage under Obamacare actually has been an future, we accept the responsibility to preserve and unprecedented expansion of the Medicaid rolls in modernize a system of retirement security forged many states. We applaud the Republican governors in an old industrial era beyond the of most and state legislators who have undertaken the hard Americans. Current retirees and those close to work of modernizing Medicaid. We will give them a retirement can be assured of their benefits. Of the free hand to do so by block-granting the program many reforms being proposed, all options should without strings. Their initiatives — whether premium be considered to preserve Social Security. As supports for purchasing insurance, refundable tax Republicans, we oppose tax increases and believe credits, alternatives to hospitalization for chronic in the power of markets to create wealth and to

24 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • help secure the future of our Social Security system. Immigration and the Rule of Law Saving Social Security is more than a challenge. It Our party is the natural home for those who is our moral obligation to those who trusted in the come in search of freedom and justice. We welcome government’s word. all to the Great Opportunity Party. The greatest asset of the American economy is Protecting Internet Freedom the American worker. Our immigration system must The survival of the internet as we know it protect American working families and their wages, is at risk. Its gravest peril originates in the White for citizens and legal immigrants alike, in a way House, the current occupant of which has launched that will improve the economy. Just as immigrant a campaign, both at home and internationally, to labor helped build our country in the past, today’s subjugate it to agents of government. The President legal immigrants are making vital contributions ordered the chair of the supposedly independent in every aspect of national life. Their industry and Federal Communications Commission to impose commitment to American values strengthens our upon the internet rules devised in the 1930s for the economy, enriches our culture, and enables us to telephone monopoly. He has unilaterally announced better understand and more effectively compete America’s abandonment of with the rest of the world. the international internet by We are particularly grateful surrendering U.S. control of to the thousands of new legal the root zone of web America’s immigration immigrants, many of them not and addresses. He threw the policy must serve the yet citizens, who are serving internet to the wolves, and they in the Armed Forces and — Russia, China, Iran, and others national interest of the among first responders. Their — are ready to devour it. United States . . . patriotism should encourage We salute the Congressional all to embrace the newcomers Republicans who have legally among us, assist their legislatively impeded his plans journey to full citizenship, and to turn over the Information Freedom Highway to help their communities avoid isolation from the regulators and . That fight must continue, mainstream of society. We are also thankful for the for its outcome is in doubt. We will consistently many legal immigrants who continue to contribute support internet policies that allow people and to American society. To that end, we both encourage private enterprise to thrive, without providing new the preservation of heritage tongues and support and expanded government powers to tax and English as the nation’s official language, a unifying regulate so that the internet does not become the force essential for the advancement of immigrant vehicle for a dramatic expansion of government communities and our nation as a whole. power. The internet’s independence is its power. America’s immigration policy must serve the It has unleashed innovation, enabled growth, and national interest of the United States, and the inspired freedom more rapidly and extensively interests of American workers must be protected than any other technological advance in human over the claims of foreign nationals seeking the history. We will therefore resist any effort to shift same jobs. With all our fellow citizens, we have control toward by international or watched, in anger and , the mocking of our other intergovernmental organizations. We will immigration laws by a president who made himself ensure that personal data receives full constitutional superior to the will of the nation. We stand with protection from government overreach. The only the victims of his policies, especially the families of way to safeguard or improve these systems is murdered innocents. Illegal immigration endangers through the private sector. The internet’s free everyone, exploits the taxpayers, and insults all market needs to be free and open to all ideas and who aspire to enter America legally. We oppose competition without the government or service any form of amnesty for those who, by breaking the providers picking winners and losers. law, have disadvantaged those who have obeyed

25 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • it. The executive amnesties of 2012 and 2014 are programs to eliminate fraud, improve efficiency a direct violation of federal law and usurp the and ensure they serve the national interest. In powers of Congress as outlined in Article I of the light of the alarming levels of unemployment and Constitution. These unlawful amnesties must be underemployment in this country, it is indefensible immediately rescinded by a Republican president. In to continue offering lawful permanent residence to a time of , drug cartels, human trafficking, more than one million foreign nationals every year. and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of The Supreme Court has correctly recognized that unidentified individuals in this country poses grave states have the constitutional authority to take risks to the safety and sovereignty of the United steps to reduce illegal immigration. We condemn States. Our highest priority, therefore, must be to the Obama Administration’s lawsuits against states secure our borders and all ports of entry and to that are seeking to reinforce federal law. We support enforce our immigration laws. the right of the states to enact laws deterring illegal That is why we support building a wall along aliens from residing within their states. our southern border and protecting all ports of From its beginning, our country has been a entry. The border wall must cover the entirety haven of refuge and asylum. That should continue of the southern border and must be sufficient to — but with major changes. Asylum should be limited stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. We to cases of political, ethnic or religious . insist upon workplace enforcement of verification As the Director of the FBI has noted, it is not systems so that more jobs can be available to all possible to vet fully all potential refugees. To ensure legal workers. Use of the E-verify program — an our national security, refugees who cannot be internet-based system that verifies the employment carefully vetted cannot be admitted to the country, authorization and of employees — must especially those whose have been the be made mandatory nationwide. We reaffirm our breeding grounds for terrorism. endorsement of the SAVE program — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — to ensure that Reforming the System public funds are not given to persons not legally We intend to restore the treaty system specified present in this country. We demand tough penalties by the Constitution: The president negotiates against those who engage in identity theft, deal in agreements, submits them to the Senate, with fraudulent documents, and traffic in human . ratification requiring two-thirds of the senators The Department of Security must use its present and voting. This was good enough for authority to keep dangerous aliens off our streets George Washington but is too restrictive for the and to expedite expulsion of criminal aliens. Gang current chief executive, who presumes to bind this membership should be a deportable offense. Any country to bilateral and multilateral agreements of previously deported illegal alien who continues to his devising. His media admirers portray his personal show a lack of respect for our borders and rule commitments — whether on climate change, Iranian of law must be penalized. This is why we support weapons, or other matters — as done deals. They stiffer penalties, such as a mandatory minimum are not, and a new Republican executive will work sentence of five years, for any illegal alien who with the Congress to reestablish constitutional illegally re-enters our nation after already having order in America’s foreign relations. All international been deported. executive agreements and political arrangements Because “sanctuary cities” violate federal law entered into by the current Administration must and endanger their own citizens, they should not be be deemed null and void as mere expressions of eligible for federal funding. Using state licenses to the current president’s preferences. Those which reward people in the country illegally is an affront are in the national interest but would traditionally to the rule of law and must be halted. have been made by treaty must be abrogated, In light of both current needs and historic renegotiated as treaties, and transmitted to the practice, we urge the reform of our guest worker Senate for its advice and consent as required by

26 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • the Constitution. The United States will withdraw ers who risk their careers to expose waste, fraud, from all agreements and arrangements failing those and misuse of power. None of them should ever be standards. compelled to join a union or pay dues to it. In fair- ness to their fellow workers, union representatives should not be allowed to engage in union-related Many good civil servants work at the IRS, but activities while on the public’s time. The inability of the agency itself is toxic. Its leadership employs federal managers to discipline and, if necessary, dis- known tax delinquents, rehires workers previously miss problem staff members is an affront to every fired for misconduct, spends user fees without con- conscientious worker, as is the misuse of funds for gressional oversight, and awards bonuses for cus- lavish conferences and routine bonuses. The ap- tomer service that would put any private company pointees of a Republican president will work with out of business. Worst of all, the IRS has become career managers to end those abuses and enforce an ideological attack dog for the worst elements of high standards for all federal employees. We reaf- today’s Democratic Party. It systematically targets firm the existing protections that provide all em- conservative, pro-life, and libertarian organizations, ployees of the federal government the opportunity harassing them with repeated audits and denying to pursue their to serve their country free their tax exempt status. Its commissioner has lied to from discrimination. Congress, hidden , and stonewalled inves- We call for renewed efforts to reduce, rather tigations. He should be impeached by the House of than expand, government responsibilities, and we Representatives and convicted by the Senate. We urge particular attention to the bloated public rela- value the right of America’s churches, pastors, and tions budgets of the departments and agencies. The religious leaders to preach and speak freely accord- federal government spends too much of the peo- ing to their faith. Republicans believe the federal ple’s money telling the people what they should do. government, specifically the IRS, is constitutionally prohibited from policing or censoring the speech Advancing Term Limits of America’s churches, pastors, and religious lead- Our national platform has repeatedly endorsed ers. We support repeal of the Johnson Amend- term limits for Members of Congress. In response, the ment, which restricts First Amendment freedoms GOP Leadership in 1996 brought to a vote, in both of all nonprofit organizations by prohibiting politi- the House and Senate, a . cal speech. We also support making the federal tax It failed to secure the necessary two-thirds vote in code so simple and easy to understand that the IRS the House, where 80 percent of Republicans voted becomes obsolete and can be abolished. for it and 80 percent of Democrats voted against it. Every Senate Republican voted to allow a vote on Audit term limits, but the Democrats killed it by a filibuster. No major part of the Department of Defense Blocked by that opposition, Republicans sought has ever passed an audit. Republican leaders in other ways to modernize the national legislature. Congress have called for a full financial audit of the They set term limits for their own committee chairs Pentagon to ensure that every dollar spent is truly and leadership positions, and by law they required benefitting our national security. Every taxpayer Congress to live by the same rules it imposes on must be prepared to pass an audit, and we urge others. To make further progress, to advance a Congress to demand the same level of accountability constitutional amendment for consideration by from the Pentagon and the Department of Defense. the states, we must expand the current Republican in both chambers. Improving the Federal Workforce We recognize the dedication of most employ- Regulation: The Quiet Tyranny ees of the federal government and thank them for Over-regulation is the quiet tyranny of the their service, with special praise for the whistleblow- “.” It hamstrings American businesses

27 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • and hobbles economic growth. The Great Recession a regulation of equal or greater economic burden may be over, but in the experience of most when a new regulation is enacted. Americans, the economy is still sick. The federal Because regulations are just another tax on the regulatory burden has been a major contributor to consumers, Congress should consider a regulatory that stagnation. budget that would cap the costs federal agencies The ability of the American people to govern could impose on the economy in any given year. themselves has been undermined by a vast array of agencies with sweeping power to regulate Crony and every aspect of American life. They legislate as if is inherent in the progressive vision they were Congress. They decide and issue of the administrative state. When government penalties as if they were courts. They collectively uses taxpayer funding and resources to give impose many billions of dollars in costs to the special advantages to private companies, it economy. The current President and his allies on distorts the free market and erodes public trust Capitol Hill have used those agencies as a super- in our political system. By enlarging the scope of legislature, disregarding the separation of powers, government and placing enormous power in the to declare as law what they could not push through hands of bureaucrats, it multiplies opportunities the Congress. for corruption and favoritism. It is the enemy of The Environmental Protection Agency has reform in education, the workplace, and healthcare. rewritten laws to advance the Democrats’ climate It gives us financial regulation that protects the change agenda. The Department of Health and large at the cost of the small. It is inherent in every Human Services has ignored the enacted text of part of the current healthcare law, which is packed the Affordable Care Act to do whatever it wants with corporate welfare. Crony capitalism gives in healthcare. Both the Department of Labor and us special interest tax breaks, custom-designed National Labor Relations Board have scrapped regulations, and special exemptions for favored decades of labor law to implement the agenda parties. The Solyndra debacle is a perfect example. of big labor. The Dodd-Frank law, the Democrats’ It creates both subsidies and restrictions to tilt the legislative Godzilla, is crushing small and market one way or the other. By putting the weight community banks and other lenders. The Federal of government behind the status quo, it leads to Communications Commission is imperiling the economic stagnation. We applaud the Republican freedom of the internet. We support reinstating Members of Congress who have taken the lead in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits fighting crony capitalism and urge others to rally to commercial banks from engaging in high-risk their cause. investment. Sensible regulations can be compatible with a Honoring Our Relationship with vibrant economy. They can prevent the strong from American Indians exploiting the weak. Right now, the regulators are Based on both treaty and other law, the exploiting everyone. We are determined to make federal government has a unique government-to- regulations minimally intrusive, confined to their government relationship with and trust responsibility legal mandate, and respectful toward the creation for Indian Tribal Governments, American Indians, of new and small businesses. We will revisit existing and Alaska Natives. These have not laws that delegate too much authority to regulatory been sufficiently honored. The social and economic agencies and review all current regulations for problems that plague Indian country have grown possible reform or repeal. We endorse Republican worse over the last several decades; we must legislation, already passed by the House, to require reverse that trend. Ineffective federal programs approval by both houses of Congress for any rule deprive American Indians of the services they need, or regulation that would impose significant costs and long-term failures threaten to undermine tribal on the American people. Further, Congress should sovereignty itself. work towards legislation that requires removal of American Indians have established elected

28 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • tribal governments to carry out the public policies economic opportunity, deliver top-flight education of the , administer services to its tribal mem- to future generations, modernize and improve the ber constituents, and manage relations with federal, Indian Health Service to make it more responsive state, and local governments. We respect the tribal to local needs, and build essential infrastructure governments as the voice of their communities and in Indian country in cooperation with tribal encourage federal, state, and local governments to neighbors. Our approach is to empower American heed those voices in developing programs and part- Indians, through tribal self-determination and self- nerships to improve the quality of life for American governance policies, to develop their greatest assets, Indians and their neighbors in their communities. human resources and the rich natural resources on Republicans believe that economic self-suf- their lands, without undue federal interference. ficiency is the ultimate answer to the challenges Like all Americans, American Indians want confronting Indian country. We believe that tribal safe communities for their families; but inadequate governments and their communities, not Washing- resources and have, over time, allowed ton bureaucracies, are best situated to craft solu- criminal activities to plague Indian country. To tions that will end systemic problems that create protect everyone — and especially the most poverty and disenfranchisement. Just as the fed- vulnerable: children, women, and elders — the legal eral government should not burden states with system in tribal communities must provide stability regulations, it should not stifle the development and protect property rights. Everyone’s due process of resources within the reservations, which need and civil rights must be safeguarded. federal assistance to advance their commerce na- We support efforts to ensure equitable tionally through roads and technology. Federal and participation in federal programs by American state regulations that thwart job creation must be Indians, including Alaska Natives and Native withdrawn or redrawn so that tribal governments Hawaiians, and to preserve their culture and acting on behalf of American Indians are not disad- languages that we consider to be national treasures. vantaged. It is especially egregious that the Dem- Lastly, we recognize that American Indians have ocratic Party has persistently undermined tribal responded to for military service in sovereignty in order to provide advantage to union percentage numbers far greater than have other bosses in the tribal workplace. Native communities groups of Americans. We honor that commitment, should have the same authority as state govern- loyalty, and sacrifice of all American Indians serving ments in labor matters, so that union bosses and in the military today and in years past and will the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cannot ensure that all veterans and their families receive undermine the authority of tribal governments. the care and respect they have earned through their Republicans recognize that each tribe has the loyal service to America. right of consultation before any new regulatory policy is implemented on tribal land. To the extent Americans in the Territories possible, such consultation should take place in Throughout the history of our nation, the pa- Indian country with the tribal government and triotism exhibited by our brothers and sisters in its members. Before promulgating and imposing the territories of Guam, the of the any new laws or regulations affecting trust land Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. or members, the federal government should Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico has often gone un- encourage Indian to develop their own acknowledged. Year after year, the citizens quietly, policies to achieve program objectives, and should without fanfare, send their sons and daughters into defer to tribes to develop their own standards, or the U.S. Armed Services. We honor the extraordi- standards in conjunction with state governments. nary sacrifices of the men and women of the territo- Republicans reject a one-size-fits-all approach ries who protect our freedom through their service to federal-tribal-state partnerships and will work to in the U.S. Armed Forces. Geographically, the terri- expand local where tribal governments and , especially those in the seek it. Better partnerships will help us to expand Pacific, are of vital importance to our national secu-

29 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • rity as the outermost line of defense and gateway to nationhood. We support the federally sponsored America against potential encroachment by foreign political status referendum authorized and funded powers. We welcome their greater participation in by an Act of Congress in 2014 to ascertain the all aspects of the political process and affirm their aspirations of the people of Puerto Rico. Once the right to seek the full extension of the Constitution 2012 local vote for statehood is ratified, Congress with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. should approve an enabling act with terms for We recognize the challenges facing all the U.S. Puerto Rico’s future admission as the of territories in an era of dramatic global economic the Union. change. They need venture capital to retain existing industries and develop new ones. A stronger private Preserving the District of Columbia sector can reduce dependence on public employ- The nation’s capital is a special responsibil- ment and lead toward self-sufficiency. Their devel- ity of the federal government because it belongs opment of local energy options will be crucial to both to its residents and to all Americans, millions of reduce dependence on costly imported fuel. whom visit it every year. Congressional Republicans The territories’ economic stability and potential have fostered homeownership and open access to for growth must be considered in any trade agree- higher education for Washington residents. Against ments between the United States and other Pacific the opposition of the current President and lead- nations. They should be given flexibility or exemp- ers of the Democratic Party, they have established tion from laws that increase costs for their popula- and expanded the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship tions, such as the minimum wage and the Jones Act Program, through which thousands of low-income concerning shipping. All unreasonable impediments children have been able to attend a school of their to their prosperity should be removed, including un- choice and receive a quality education. reasonable U.S. customs practices. Territories such Republicans have been in the forefront of as American Samoa should be able to properly de- combating chronic corruption among the city’s velop their resources, including fishing, when jobs top Democratic officials. We call for congressio- and the economy depend on it. nal action to enforce the of the We call for the appointment of a common- Act, assuring minority representation on the City wealth and territories advisory committee consist- Council. That council, backed by the current mayor, ing of representatives from all five U.S. territories. is attempting to seize from the Congress its ap- The committee will be integrated into the presi- propriating power over all funding for the District. dent’s transition team and be tasked with per- The illegality of their action mirrors the unaccept- forming a holistic review of all federal regulations able spike in violent crime and currently affecting the territories and commonwealths. We afflicting the city. We expect Congress to assert, by further call for the appointment of a Special As- whatever means necessary, its constitutional pre- sistant to the President responsible for day-to-day rogatives regarding the District. interaction with the territories and commonwealths. Since the Supreme Court’s decisions affirming This position will be the direct connection for the the Second Amendment rights of its citizens, city Office of Insular Affairs, the citizens of the territories officials have engaged in a campaign of massive and commonwealths, and the White House. resistance by denying virtually all applications for gun ownership. The Republican Congress should The Territory of Puerto Rico be prepared, upon the inauguration of a Republican We support the right of the United States president, to enact legislation allowing law-abiding citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union Washingtonians to own and carry firearms. as a fully . We further recognize the Statehood for the District can be advanced historic significance of the 2012 local referendum in only by a constitutional amendment. Any other ap- which a 54 percent majority voted to end Puerto proach would be invalid. A statehood amendment Rico’s current status as a U.S. territory, and 61 was soundly rejected by the states when last pro- percent chose statehood over options for sovereign posed in 1976 and should not be revived.

30 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Great American Families, Education, Healthcare, and Criminal Justice H H H H H

American Values we have learned over the last five decades, the loss We are the party of independent individuals of faith and family life leads to greater dependence and the institutions they create together — families, upon government. That is why Republicans schools, congregations, neighborhoods — to ad- formulate public policy, from taxation to education, vance their ideals and make real their dreams. Those from healthcare to welfare, with attention to the institutions, standing between the citizen and the needs and strengths of the family. power of government, are the pillars of a free soci- It is also why everyone should be concerned ety. They create spaces where the power of govern- about the state of the American family today, not ment should not intrude. They allow Americans to because of or doctrine, but because of work together to solve most of the problems facing the overwhelming evidence of experience, social their communities. They thus reduce the need for science, and common sense. All of which give us intervention by government in the form of more and these about traditional marriage: Children bigger programs or a larger public workforce. They raised in a two-parent household tend to be minimize decision-making by those who hold or are physically and emotionally healthier, more likely to appointed to office. That is precisely why today’s do well in school, less likely to use drugs and alcohol, progressives distrust and seek to control them — engage in crime or become pregnant outside of because this is more than a conflict of ideas. It is a marriage. We oppose policies and laws that create struggle for power. a financial incentive for or encourage cohabitation. Our society is at a crossroads. For several Moreover, marriage remains the greatest antidote to generations, an expansive federal regime has child poverty. The 40 percent of children who now marginalized and supplanted the institutions holding are born outside of marriage are five times more our society together. No wonder, then, that so much likely to live in poverty than youngsters born and seems to be coming apart now. The question is raised by a mother and father in the home. Nearly whether we are going to reinvigorate the private- three-quarters of the $450 billion government sector institutions under citizen control or allow annually spends on welfare goes to single-parent their continued erosion by the forces of centralized households. This is what it takes for a governmental social planning. In that divide, the Republican Party village to raise a child, and the village is doing a stands with the people. tragically poor job of it. The data and the lead to an inescapable Marriage, Family, and Society conclusion: Every child deserves a married mom and Foremost among those institutions is the dad. The reality remains that millions of American American family. It is the foundation of , families do not have the advantages that come with and the cornerstone of the family is , that structure. We honor the courageous efforts of the union of one man and one woman. Its daily those who bear the burdens of parenting alone and lessons — cooperation, patience, mutual respect, embrace the principle that all Americans should be responsibility, self-reliance — are fundamental to treated with dignity and respect. But respect is not the order and progress of our Republic. Strong enough. Our laws and our government’s regulations families, depending upon God and one another, should recognize marriage as the union of one man advance the cause of liberty by lessening the need and one woman and actively promote married for government in their daily lives. Conversely, as family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous

31 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • society. For that reason, as explained elsewhere results are damning: intergenerational poverty has in this platform, we do not accept the Supreme persisted and worsened since 1966. Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its This year marks another important anniversary; reversal, whether through judicial reconsideration or it has been 20 years since the landmark Republican a constitutional amendment returning control over welfare reform of 1996 broke away from the marriage to the states. We oppose government discredited model. By making welfare discrimination against businesses or entities which a benefit instead of an entitlement, it put millions decline to sell items or services to individuals for of recipients on a transition from dependence to activities that go against their religious views about independence. Welfare rolls declined by half as such activities. recipients and prospective recipients discovered a Families formed or enlarged by adoption better way to reach their goals. Best of all, about strengthen our communities and ennoble our nation. 3 million children moved out of poverty. Today Private entities which facilitate enrich that progress has been lost. Defying the law as it our communities. We support measures such as was plainly written, the current Administration the First Amendment Defense Act to ensure these has nullified any meaningful work requirement entities do not face government discrimination and made TANF a mockery of the we gave because of their views on marriage and family. We it: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. This applaud the Republican initiatives which have led decision ensures that those families will remain to an increase in adoptions, an achievement which needy and cut off from the economic mainstream should be recognized in any restructuring of the of American society. federal tax code. While the number of children in This is the progressive pathology: Keeping foster care has stabilized, teens who age out of that people dependent so that government can setting often are abruptly left to face the world on redistribute income. The result is 45.8 million people their own. We urge states and community groups on food stamps and 77 million on Medicaid, plus to help these young adults become independent. another 5.7 million in the Children’s Health Insurance Thirty years ago, President Reagan commis- Program. This is the false compassion of the status sioned a Special Working Group on the Family to quo. We propose instead the dynamic compassion study how government at all levels could be more of work requirements in a growing economy, where supportive of family life. We urge marriage penal- opportunity takes the place of a hand-out, where ties to be removed from the tax code and public true self-esteem can grow from the satisfaction of assistance programs. We invite all who care about a job well done. children to join us in this proposal to ensure that We call for removal of structural impediments all federal programs, in the words of President Ken- which progressives throw in the path of poor people: nedy, “stress the integrity and preservation of the Over-regulation of start-up enterprises, excessive family unit.” licensing requirements, needless restrictions on formation of schools and day-care centers serving A Culture of Hope neighborhood families, and restrictions on providing We have been fighting the War on Poverty for public services in fields like transport and sanitation 50 years and poverty is winning. Our social safety that close the opportunity door to all but a favored net — about 80 separate means-tested programs few. We will continue our fight for costing over $1 trillion every year — is designed until all parents can find good, safe schools for their to help people born into or falling into poverty. It children. To protect religious liberty we will ensure rarely lifts them out. Its apologists judge success by that faith-based institutions, especially those that the amount of money spent to keep people in the are vital parts of underserved neighborhoods, do system. That is a cruel measurement. Republicans not face discrimination by government. We propose propose to evaluate a poverty program by whether new partnerships between those who manage it actually reduces poverty and increases the federal programs and those who are on the front personal independence of its participants. The lines of fighting poverty on the ground. We must

32 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • encourage their efforts to reclaim their communities and educators who are implementing alternatives from the culture of poverty. To advance this process, to Common Core, and congratulate the states which we urge greater state and local responsibility for, have successfully repealed it. Their education reform and control over, public assistance programs. movement calls for choice-based, parent-driven accountability at every stage of schooling. It affirms Education: A Chance for Every Child higher expectations for all students and rejects the Education is much more than schooling. It is crippling bigotry of low expectations. It recognizes the whole range of activities by which families and the wisdom of local control of our schools and it communities transmit to a younger generation, wisely sees consumer rights in education — choice not just and skills, but ethical and — as the most important driving force for renewing behavioral norms and . It is the handing education. It rejects excessive testing and “teaching over of a . That is why American to the test” and supports the need for strong education has, for the last several decades, been assessments to serve as a tool so teachers can tailor the focus of constant controversy, as centralizing teaching to meet student needs. forces from outside the family We applaud America’s and community have sought great teachers, who should to remake education in order be protected against frivolous to remake America. They have lawsuits and should be able done immense damage. The to take reasonable actions to federal government should not Maintaining American maintain discipline and order in be a partner in that effort, as preeminence requires the classroom. Administrators the Constitution gives it no role need flexibility to innovate in education. At the heart of a world-class system and to hold accountable the American Experiment of education in which all those responsible for the greatest political expression student performance. A good of human dignity: The self- all students can reach understanding of the Bible evident that “all men are their potential. being indispensable for the created equal, that they are development of an educated endowed by their Creator with citizenry, we encourage state certain unalienable rights, that legislatures to offer the Bible among these are Life, Liberty, in a literature curriculum as and the Pursuit of Happiness.” an elective in America’s high That truth rejects the dark view of the individual as schools. We urge school districts to make use of human capital — a possession for the creation of teaching talent in the business community, STEM another’s wealth. fields, and the military, especially among our Parents are a child’s first and foremost returning veterans. Rigid tenure systems should educators, and have primary responsibility for be replaced with a merit-based approach in order the education of their children. Parents have a to attract the best talent to the classroom. All right to direct their children’s education, care, personnel who interact with school children should and upbringing. We support a constitutional pass background checks and be held to the highest amendment to protect that right from interference standards of personal conduct. by states, the federal government, or international bodies such as the United Nations. We reject a one- Academic Excellence for All size-fits-all approach to education and support a Maintaining American preeminence requires broad range of choices for parents and children at a world-class system of education in which all the state and local level. We likewise repeat our long- students can reach their potential. Republicans are standing opposition to the imposition of national leading the effort to create it. Since 1965, the federal standards and assessments, encourage the parents government, through more than 100 programs in

33 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • the Department of Education, has spent $2 trillion In sum, on the one hand enormous amounts on elementary and secondary education with little of money are being spent for K-12 public education substantial improvement in academic achievement with overall results that do not justify that spending or high school graduation rates. The United States level. On the other hand, the common experience spends an average of more than $12,000 per pupil of families, teachers, and administrators forms the per year in public schools, for a total of more than basis of what does work in education. In Congress $620 billion. That represents more than 4 percent of and in the states, Republicans are bridging the GDP devoted to K-12 education in 2011-2012. Of that gap between those two . Congressional amount, federal spending amounted to more than Republicans are leading the way forward with major $57 billion. Clearly, if money were the solution, our reform legislation advancing the of block schools would be problem-free. grants and repealing numerous federal regulations More money alone does not necessarily equal which have interfered with state and local control better performance. After years of trial and error, of public schools. Their Workplace Innovation we know the policies and methods that have and Opportunity Act — modernizing workforce actually made a in student advancement: programs, repealing mandates, and advancing Choice in education; building on the basics; employment for persons with disabilities — is STEM subjects and phonics; career and technical now law. Their legislation to require transparency education; ending social promotions; merit pay in unfunded mandates imposed upon our schools for good teachers; classroom discipline; parental is advancing. Their D.C. Opportunity Scholarship involvement; and strong leadership by principals, Program should be expanded as a model for superintendents, and locally elected school boards. the rest of the country. We deplore the efforts Because technology has become an essential tool of Congressional Democrats and the current of learning, it must be a key element in our efforts President to eliminate this successful program for to provide every child equal access and opportunity. disadvantaged students in order to placate the We strongly encourage instruction in American leaders of the teachers’ unions. history and civics by using the original documents To ensure that all students have access to of our founding fathers. the mainstream of American life, we support the English First approach and oppose divisive Choice in Education programs that limit students’ ability to advance in We support options for learning, including American society. We renew our call for replacing home-schooling, career and technical education, “family planning” programs for teens with sexual private or parochial schools, magnet schools, risk avoidance education that sets abstinence charter schools, online learning, and early-college until marriage as the responsible and respected high schools. We especially support the innovative standard of behavior. That approach — the only financing mechanisms that make options available one always effective against premarital pregnancy to all children: education savings accounts (ESAs), and sexually-transmitted disease — empowers vouchers, and tuition tax credits. Empowering teens to achieve optimal health outcomes. We families to access the learning environments that will oppose school-based clinics that provide referral best help their children to realize their full potential or counseling for abortion and contraception and is one of the greatest civil rights challenges of our believe that federal funds should not be used in time. A young person’s ability to succeed in school mandatory or universal mental health, psychiatric, must be based on his or her God-given talent and or socio-emotional screening programs. The federal motivation, not an address, ZIP code, or economic government has pushed states to collect and share status. We propose that the bulk of federal money vast amounts of personal student and family data, through Title I for low-income children and through including the collection of social and emotional IDEA for children with special needs should follow data. Much of this data is collected without parental the child to whatever school the family thinks will consent or notice. This is wholly incompatible with work best for them. the American Experiment and our inalienable rights.

34 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Title IX by admitting large numbers of foreign students, We emphatically support the original, authentic convey our values and culture to the world. Their meaning of Title IX of the Education Amendments excellence is undermined by an ideological of 1972. It affirmed that “no person in the United deeply entrenched within the current university States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from system. Whatever the solution may be in private participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be institutions, in state schools the trustees have a subjected to discrimination under any education responsibility to the taxpayers to ensure that their program or activity receiving Federal financial enormous investment is not abused for political assistance.” That language opened up for girls and . We call on state officials to preserve women a world of opportunities that had too often our public colleges, universities, and trade schools been denied to them. That same provision of law as places of learning and the exchange of ideas, not is now being used by bureaucrats — and by the zones of intellectual intolerance or “safe zones,” as current President of the United States — to impose if college students need protection from the free a social and upon the American exchange of ideas. A student’s First Amendment people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination rights do not end at the schoolhouse gates. to include sexual orientation or other categories. Colleges, universities, and trade schools must not Their agenda has nothing to do with individual infringe on their freedom of speech and association rights; it has everything to do with power. They in the name of . We condemn are determined to reshape our schools — and our the campus-based BDS (Boycott, Divestment, entire society — to fit the mold of an ideology alien and Sanctions) campaign against Israel. It is anti- to America’s history and traditions. Their edict to Semitism and should be denounced by advocates the states concerning restrooms, locker rooms, and of . other facilities is at once illegal, dangerous, and ignores privacy issues. We salute the several states College Costs which have filed suit against it. The cost of a college education has long been Sexual assault is a terrible crime. We commend on an unsustainable trajectory, rising year by year the good-faith efforts by law enforcement, far ahead of inflation. Nationwide, student debt now educational institutions, and their partners to exceeds credit card debt with average debt levels address that crime responsibly. Whenever reported, per student totaling roughly $27,000. Delinquency it must be promptly investigated by civil rates on student loans are now as high as they were and prosecuted in a courtroom, not a faculty lounge. on subprime mortgages during the housing crisis. Questions of guilt or innocence must be decided Over half of recent college grads are unemployed by a judge and jury, with guilt determined beyond or underemployed, working at jobs for which their a reasonable doubt. Those convicted of sexual expensive gave them no preparation. assault should be punished to the full extent of the We need new systems of learning to compete with law. The Administration’s distortion of Title IX to traditional four-year schools: Technical institutions, micromanage the way colleges and universities deal online universities, life-long learning, and work- with allegations of abuse contravenes our country’s based learning in the private sector. Public policy legal traditions and must be halted before it further should advance their affordability, innovation, and muddles this complex issue and prevents the proper transparency and should recognize that a four-year authorities from investigating and prosecuting degree from a brick-and-mortar institution is not the sexual assault effectively with due process. only path toward a prosperous and fulfilling career. The federal government should not be in the Improving Higher Education business of originating student loans. In order Our colleges, universities, and trade schools, to bring down college costs and give students large and small, public and private, form the world’s access to a multitude of financing options, private greatest assemblage of learning. They drive much of sector participation in student financing should be the research that keeps America competitive and, restored. Any regulation that increases college costs

35 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • must be challenged to balance its worth against its Obamacare and give America a much-needed tax negative economic impact on students and their cut. families. In its place we must combine what worked In order to encourage new modes of higher best in the past with changes needed for the future. education delivery to enter the market, accreditation We must recover the traditional patient-physician should be decoupled from federal financing, and relationship based on mutual trust, informed states should be empowered to allow a wide array consent, and confidentiality. To simplify the system of accrediting and credentialing bodies to operate. for both patients and providers, we will reduce This model would foster innovation, bring private mandates and enable insurers and providers of industry into the credentialing market, and give care to increase healthcare options and contain students the ability to customize their college costs. Our goal is to ensure that all Americans experience. have improved access to affordable, high-quality healthcare, including those struggling with mental Restoring Patient Control and illness. Preserving Quality in Healthcare We will return to the states their historic role Any honest agenda for improving healthcare of regulating local insurance markets, limit federal must start with repeal of the dishonestly named requirements on both private insurance and Affordable Care Act of 2010: Obamacare. It weighs Medicaid, and call on state officials to reconsider the like the dead hand of the past upon American costly medical mandates, imposed under their own medicine. It imposed a - bureaucracy to laws, that price millions of low-income families out manage its unworkable, budget-busting, conflicting of the insurance market. To guarantee first-rate care provisions. It has driven up prices for all consumers. for the needy, we propose to block grant Medicaid Their insurance premiums have dramatically and other payments and to assist all patients, increased while their deductibles have risen about including those with pre-existing conditions, to eight times faster than wages in the last ten years. obtain coverage in a robust consumer market. It drove up drug prices by levying a $27 billion Through Obamacare, the current Administration has tax on manufacturers and importers and, through promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare. We, mandated price cuts for drugs under Medicare and however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting Medicaid, forced pharmaceutical companies to the sanctity of human life. Numerous studies have raise prices for everyone else. Its “silver plans,” the shown that abortion endangers the health and well- most common option on the government insurance being of women, and we stand firmly against it. exchanges, limit people’s access to their own doctor To ensure vigorous competition in healthcare, through narrow networks and restrict drug coverage, and because cost-awareness is the best guard forcing many patients to pay for extremely costly against over-utilization, we will promote price medicines for their chronic diseases. transparency so consumers can know the cost We agree with the four dissenting judges of the of treatments before they agree to them. We will Supreme Court: “In our view, the entire Act before empower individuals and small businesses to form us is invalid in its entirety.” It must be removed purchasing pools in order to expand coverage to and replaced with an approach based on genuine the uninsured. We believe that individuals with competition, patient choice, excellent care, wellness, preexisting conditions who maintain continuous and timely access to treatment. To that end, a coverage should be protected from discrimination. Republican president, on the first day in office, We applaud the advance of technology in electronic will use legitimate waiver authority under the law medical records while affirming patient privacy and to halt its advance and then, with the unanimous ownership of personal health information. support of Congressional Republicans, will its Consumer choice is the most powerful factor in repeal. The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare healthcare reform. Today’s highly mobile workforce based on Congress’ power to tax. It is time to repeal needs portability of insurance coverage that can go

36 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • with them from job to job. The need to maintain Better Care and Lower Costs: Tort Reform coverage should not dictate where families have to Medical malpractice lawsuits have ballooned live and work. We propose to end tax discrimination the cost of healthcare for everyone by forcing against the individual purchase of insurance and physicians to practice defensive medicine through allow consumers to buy insurance across state tests and treatments which otherwise might be lines. In light of that, we propose repealing the 1945 optional. Rural America is especially affected as McCarran-Ferguson Act which protects insurance obstetricians, surgeons, and other providers move companies from anti-trust litigation. We look to to urban settings or retire in the face of escalating the growth of Health Savings Accounts and Health insurance premiums. Many Republican Governors Reimbursement Accounts that empower patients have advanced the legal reforms necessary to and advance choice in healthcare. reverse that trend. We support state and federal Our aging population must have access to safe legislation to cap non-economic damages in and affordable care. Because most seniors desire medical malpractice lawsuits, thereby relieving to age at home, we will make homecare a priority conscientious providers of burdens that are not in public policy and will implement programs to rightly theirs and addressing a serious cause of protect against . higher medical bills.

Protecting Individual Conscience Advancing Research and in Healthcare Development in Healthcare America’s healthcare professionals should not American medicine is poised to enter a new be forced to choose between following their faith era of technological advance. Federal and private and practicing their . We respect the investment in basic and applied biomedical rights of conscience of healthcare professionals, research holds enormous promise, especially with doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and organizations, diseases and disorders like autism, Alzheimer’s, especially the faith-based groups which provide and Parkinson’s. Just as we today take for granted a major portion of care for the nation and the wonders that seemed impossible a few decades ago needy. We support the ability of all organizations to — MRIs and CAT scans, robotic surgery, and in utero provide, purchase, or enroll in healthcare coverage treatment — patients a decade hence will have consistent with their religious, moral, or ethical care and treatment that will make much of today’s convictions without discrimination or penalty. medicine look primitive. Modern involving We support the right of parents to determine the genetics, the immune system, cures for deadly proper medical treatment and therapy for their diseases, and more are in the research pipeline. minor children. We support the right of parents This is the consequence of marrying significant to consent to medical treatment for their minor investment, both public and private, with the world’s children and urge enactment of legislation that best talent, a formula that has for a century given would require parental consent for their daughter the American people the world’s best healthcare. to be transported across state lines for abortion. We are determined that it should continue to do Providers should not be permitted to unilaterally so, especially as we confront new dangers like withhold services because a patient’s life is deemed Ebola, Zika, Chikungunya, and antibiotic-resistant not worth living. American taxpayers should not be pathogens. forced to fund abortion. As Democrats abandon To continue our headway against breast this four decade-old bipartisan consensus, we and prostate cancer, diabetes, and other killers, call for of the Hyde Amendment and research must consider the needs of formerly its application across the government, including neglected demographic groups. We call for Obamacare. We call for a permanent ban on federal expanded support for the stem cell research that funding and subsidies for abortion and healthcare now offers the greatest hope for many afflictions plans that include abortion coverage. — through adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood,

37 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells and most from new devices and drugs, and that the — without the destruction of embryonic human FDA no longer wastes U.S. taxpayer and innovators’ life. We urge a ban on human cloning for research resources through bureaucratic red tape and legal or , and a ban on the creation of, or uncertainty. We commend those states that have experimentation on, human embryos for research. passed Right to Try legislation, allowing terminally We applaud Congress’ ban on the FDA approval ill patients the right to try investigational medicines of research involving three-parent embryos. We not yet approved by the FDA. We urge Congress to believe the FDA’s approval of Mifeprex, a dangerous pass federal legislation to give all Americans with formerly known as RU-486, threatens terminal illnesses the right to try. women’s health, as does the agency’s endorsement of over-the-counter sales of powerful contraceptives Advancing Americans with Disabilities without a physician’s recommendation. We support Under the last two Republican presidents, cutting federal and state funding for entities that landmark civil rights legislation affirmed the inherent endanger women’s health by performing abortions rights of persons with disabilities. Republicans want in a manner inconsistent with federal or state law. to support those rights by guaranteeing access to education and the tools necessary to compete in Putting Patients First: Reforming the FDA the mainstream of society. This is not just a moral The United States has led life and obligation to our fellow Americans with disabilities. medical innovation for decades, bringing millions It is our to our country’s future to tap this vast of high-paying jobs to our country and helping pool of talented individuals who want to work and Americans and people around the world live longer, contribute to the . For that reason, healthier lives. Unfortunately, the continuously Republican leadership led to enactment of the increasing burden of governmental regulation ABLE Act (Achieving a Better Life Experience) and red tape is taking its toll on our innovative and the Steve Gleason Act. The former, for the first companies, and their pipeline of -saving time, lets people with disabilities maintain access devices and drugs to our nation’s patients is to services while saving to develop assets. The slowing and diminishing. The FDA has slowly but latter, bearing the name of the former NFL player relentlessly changed into an agency that more and with ALS, provides access to speech-generating more puts the public health at risk by delaying, devices. In addition, our Workforce Innovation and chilling, and killing the development of new devices, Opportunity Act will make it easier for students with drugs and biologics that can promote our lives disabilities to pursue competitive employment. and our health. The FDA needs leadership that Persons with disabilities are nearly twice can reform the agency for our century and fix the as likely to be self-employed as the general lack of predictability, consistency, transparency population. To encourage their entrepreneurship, it and efficiency at the agency. The FDA needs to makes sense to include them in the Small Business return to its traditional emphasis on hard science Administration’s 8(a) certification program, and approving new breakthrough medicines, rather which opens up federal contracting for emerging than divert its attention and consume its resources businesses. Any restructuring of the tax code should trying to overregulate electronic health records consider ways in which companies can benefit from or vaping. We pledge to restore the FDA to its the talent and energy of their disabled employees. position as the premier scientific health agency, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act focused on both promoting and protecting the (IDEA) has opened up unprecedented opportunities public health in equal measure, so we can ensure for many students. Congressional Republicans will that Americans live longer, healthier lives, that lead in its reauthorization, as well as renewal of the the United States remains the world leader in life Higher Education Act, which can offer students sciences and medical innovation, that millions of with disabilities increased access to the general high-paying, cutting-edge device and drug jobs stay curriculum. Our TIME Act (Transition to Integrated in the United States, that U.S. patients benefit first and Meaningful Employment) will modernize the

38 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

Fair Labor Standards Act to encourage competitive adhering to the rule of law himself. Additionally, employment for persons with disabilities. We affirm the next president must not sow seeds of division our support for its goal of minimizing the separation and distrust between the police and the people they of children with disabilities from their peers. We have sworn to serve and protect. The Republican endorse efforts like Employment First that replace Party, a party of , must make clear in dependency with jobs in the mainstream of the words and action that every human life matters. American workforce. Two grave problems undermine the rule of We oppose the non-consensual withholding law on the federal level: Over-criminalization and of care or treatment from people with disabilities, over-federalization. In the first case, Congress and including newborns, the elderly, and infirm, just as federal agencies have increased the number of we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which criminal offenses in the U.S. Code from 3,000 in endanger especially those on the margins of society. the early 1980s to more than 4,500 today. That We urge the Drug Enforcement Administration to does not include an estimated 300,000 regulations restore its ban on the use of controlled substances containing criminal penalties. No one, including the for physician-assisted suicide. Department of Justice, can come up with accurate numbers. That recklessness is bad enough when Ensuring Safe Neighborhoods: committed by Congress, but when it comes from Criminal Justice and Reform the unelected bureaucrats of the federal agencies, The men and women of law enforcement it is intolerable. The power of career civil servants — whether patrolling our neighborhoods or our and political appointees to criminalize behavior is borders, fighting organized crime or guarding one of the worst violations of constitutional order against domestic terror — deserve our gratitude perpetrated by the administrative state. and support. Their jobs are never easy, especially To deal with this morass, we urge caution in crisis situations, and should not be made more in the creation of new “” and a bipartisan difficult by politicized second-guessing from presidential commission to purge the Code and federal officials. The current Administration’s lack the body of regulations of old “crimes.” We call of respect for them, from White House intervention for mens rea elements in the definition of any new in local arrests to the Attorney General’s present crimes to protect Americans who, in violating a campaign of harassment against police forces law, act unknowingly or without criminal intent. We around the country, has been unprecedented. With urge Congress to codify the Common Law’s Rule all Americans, we mourn those whom we have lost of Lenity, which requires courts to interpret unclear to violence and hatred. To honor their sacrifice, we statutes in favor of a defendant. recommit ourselves, as individuals and as a party, to The over-federalization of criminal justice the rule of law and the pursuit of justice. is one of many ways in which the government The conduct of the Department of Justice in Washington has intruded beyond its proper has included refusal to enforce laws, stonewalling jurisdiction. The essential role of federal law congressional , destroying evidence, enforcement personnel in protecting federal reckless dealing with firearms that led to several property and combating interstate crime should not deaths on both sides of our border, and defying be compromised by diversion to matters properly a citation for contempt. It has urged leniency for handled by state and local authorities. rioters while turning a blind eye to mob attacks on We applaud the Republican Governors peaceful citizens exercising their political rights. and legislators who have been implementing A new administration must ensure the immediate criminal justice reforms like those proposed dismissal and, where appropriate, prosecution of by our 2012 platform. Along with diversion of any Department officials who have violated their first-time, nonviolent offenders to community of office. sentencing, accountability courts, drug courts, The next president must restore the public’s veterans treatment courts, and guidance by faith- trust in law enforcement and civil order by first based institutions with proven track records of

39 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • rehabilitation, our platform emphasized restorative The internet must not become a safe haven for justice to make the victim whole and put the offender predators. , with its harmful effects, on the right path. As variants of these reforms are especially on children, has become a public health undertaken in many states, we urge the Congress crisis that is destroying the lives of millions. We en- to learn from what works. In the past, judicial courage states to continue to fight this public men- discretion about sentences led to serious mistakes ace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety concerning dangerous criminals. Mandatory and well-being. We applaud the social networking minimum sentencing became an important tool sites that bar sex offenders from participation. We for keeping them off the streets. Modifications to urge energetic prosecution of child pornography, it should be targeted toward particular categories, which is closely linked to human trafficking. especially nonviolent offenders and persons with drug, alcohol, or mental health issues, and should Combatting Drug Abuse require disclosure by the courts of any judicial The progress made over the last three decades departure from the state’s sentencing requirements. against drug abuse is eroding, whether for cultural The constitutionality of the death penalty is reasons or for lack of national leadership. In many firmly settled by its explicit mention in the Fifth jurisdictions, marijuana is virtually legalized despite Amendment. With the rate soaring in our its illegality under federal law. At the other end great cities, we condemn the Supreme Court’s of the drug spectrum, heroin use nearly doubled erosion of the right of the people to enact capital from 2003 to 2013, while deaths from heroin have in their states. In with those quadrupled. All this highlights the continuing who protect us, we call for mandatory prison conflicts and contradictions in public attitudes and time for all assaults involving serious injury to law public policy toward illegal substances. Congress enforcement officers. and a new administration should consider the long- We call on the Congress to make the federal range implications of these trends for public health courts a model for the rest of the country in and safety and prepare to deal with the problematic protecting the rights of victims and their families. consequences. They should be told all relevant information about The misuse of prescription painkillers — their case, allowed to be present for its trial, assured opioids — is a related problem. Heroin and opioid a voice in sentencing and parole hearings, given abuse touches our communities, our homes, and access to social and legal services, and benefit from our families in ways that have grave effects on the Crime Victims Fund established under President Americans in every community. With a quadrupling Reagan for that sole purpose. of both their sales and their overdose deaths, the Public officials must regain control of their opioid crisis is ravaging communities all over the correctional institutions, some of which have become country, often hitting rural areas harder than urban. ethnic and racial battlegrounds. Persons jailed for Because over-prescription of drugs is such a large whatever cause should be protected against cruel part of the problem, Republican legislation now or degrading treatment by other inmates. Courts allows Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage should not tie the hands of prison officials in dealing plans to limit patients to a single pharmacy. with these problems. We encourage states to offer Congressional Republicans have also called upon opportunities for and vocational education the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to to prepare prisoners for release to the community. ensure that no physician will be penalized for limiting Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children opioid prescriptions. We look for expeditious of those who are prisoners. Deprived of a parent agreement between the House and Senate on through no fault of their own, youngsters from these the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, families should be a special concern of our schools, which addresses the opioid epidemic from both the social services, and religious institutions. demand and supply sides of the problem.

40 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 •

America Resurgent H H H H H

A Dangerous World naval capabilities are inadequate for their job. Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 23 The Air Force fields the smallest and oldest force that the first of the “principal” constitutional of combat aircraft in its history. The Marines have obligations of the federal government is to provide only two-thirds the number of battalions they have for the “common defense” of the United States, historically needed to meet day to day operational and President George Washington wisely reminded demands. The Army is at its lowest troop levels us that “To be prepared for war is one of the most since before II. Our U.S. Ambassador effectual means of preserving peace.” and American personnel were left without adequate After nearly eight years of a Democratic security or backup halfway across the world in Commander-in-Chief who has frequently placed Benghazi. In summary, we have returned to the strategic and ideological limitations and shackles hollow force days of Jimmy Carter. on our military, our enemies have been emboldened Also neglected are our strategic forces, and our national security is at especially the development and great risk. Our country faces a deployment of ballistic missile national security crisis, and only In all of our country’s defenses. The Ground-Based by electing a Republican to the history, there is no Midcourse Defense system has White House will we restore law been delayed and underfunded. and order to our land and safety parallel to what To curry favor with Russia, to our citizens. President Obama and defense installations in Poland We are the party of peace and the have through strength. We believe his former Secretary been neutralized and the that American exceptionalism of State have done to number of planned interceptors — the notion that our ideas and in Alaska has been reduced. principles as a nation give us a weaken our nation. A New START agreement unique place of moral leadership (Strategic Arms Reduction in the world — requires the Treaty), so weak in verification United States to retake its natural position as leader and definitions that it is virtually impossible to prove of the free world. a violation, has allowed Russia to build up its nuclear Tyranny and injustice thrive when America is arsenal while reducing ours. Meanwhile Moscow weakened. The oppressed have no greater ally than has repeatedly violated the Intermediate-Range a confident and determined United States, backed Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty (a treaty agreeing to by the strongest military on the planet. the elimination of land-based mid-range nuclear Quite simply, the Republican Party is committed missiles) with impunity, covertly testing missiles to rebuilding the U.S. military into the strongest on banned under that agreement. earth, with vast superiority over any other nation or In the international arena, a weak Admini- group of nations in the world. We face a dangerous stration has invited . The results of world, and we believe in a resurgent America. the Administration’s unilateral approach to In all of our country’s history, there is no parallel disarmament are already clear: An emboldened to what President Obama and his former Secretary China in the South China Sea, a resurgent Russia of State have done to weaken our nation. Our aging occupying parts of and threatening

41 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • neighbors from the Baltic to the Caucasus, and an deploy a multi-layered missile defense system. We aggressive Islamist terror network in the Middle must modernize nuclear weapons and their delivery East. We support maintaining and, if warranted, platforms, end the policy of Mutually Assured increasing sanctions, together with our allies, Destruction, and rebuild relationships with our allies, against Russia unless and until Ukraine’s sovereignty who understand that as long as the U.S. nuclear and territorial integrity are fully restored. We also arsenal is their shield, they do not need to engage support providing appropriate assistance to the in nuclear proliferation. armed forces of Ukraine and greater coordination While immigration is addressed in more with NATO defense planning. All our adversaries detail elsewhere, we cannot ignore the reality that heard the message in the Administration’s cutbacks: border security is a national security issue, and America is weaker and retreating. Concomitantly, that our nation’s immigration and refugee policies we honor, support, and thank all law enforcement, are placing Americans at risk. To keep our people first responders, and emergency personnel for their safe, we must secure our borders, enforce our service. immigration laws, and properly screen refugees and other immigrants entering from any country. In Confronting the Dangers particular we must apply special scrutiny to those In the face of these threats, the first order of foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States business for a Republican president and Congress from terror-sponsoring countries or from regions will be to restore our nation’s military might. associated with Islamic terrorism. This was done Republicans continue to support American military successfully after September 11, 2001, under the superiority which has been the cornerstone of a National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, strategy that seeks to deter aggression or defeat which should be renewed now. those who threaten our vital national security interests. We must rebuild troop numbers and Supporting Our Troops: readiness and confirm their mission: Protecting Resources to do Their Job the nation, not nation building. The United States We owe it to the American people and to should meet the Reagan model of “peace through those who fight our that we remain the strength” by a force that is capable of meeting any strongest military on earth and be prepared to and all threats to our vital national security. We defeat any adversary under any circumstances on will no longer tolerate a President whose rules of any battlefield, including land, air, sea, or cyber. engagement put our own troops in harm’s way or Successive years of cuts to our defense budget commanders who tell their soldiers that their first have put an undue strain on our men and women duty is to fight climate change. in uniform. This is especially harmful at a time A Republican administration will begin at when we are asking our military to do more in an once to undo the damage of the last eight years. increasingly dangerous world. The U.S. defense We must move from a budget-based strategy to budget has suffered a 25 percent cut in real dollars one that puts the security of our nation first. This in the five years since sequestration. We support means that our Republican president’s strategic lifting the budget cap for defense and reject the vision will include the development of a balanced efforts of Democrats to hold the military’s budget force to meet the diverse threats facing our nation. hostage for their domestic agenda. Congress and Special Operations Forces are simply not intended the Administration should work together to approve to deal with the full spectrum of threats. We need military spending at the level necessary to defend our a Reagan-era force that can fight and win two-and country. We must not be encumbered by decades- one-half wars ranging from counterterrorism to old, legacy procurement processes. America’s deterring major power aggressors. incredible talent and ingenuity must be unleashed We should abandon arms control treaties by modernizing the military procurement system that benefit our adversaries without improving and embracing competition among traditional and our national security. We must fund, develop, and non-traditional suppliers. Competitive acquisition

42 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • and maintenance of weapon systems, including among spouses. In many cases, they and their the sustainment and support of such systems, will children have been at war for 14 years. We must benefit the U.S. economy, U.S. taxpayers, and most strengthen existing programs that offer families important, the American warfighter. Increased readjustment information and counseling, and we competition will enable new Department of urge states to help by providing job programs, Defense suppliers, particularly small businesses, to license reciprocity, one-stop service centers, and participate in the defense sector. That will promote education. new demand for skilled-labor jobs, while making the The burden of our country’s extended military Department’s procurement more cost-efficient. The involvement in the Middle East has taken a toll on increased agility and effectiveness will ensure that our service personnel. Suicides among our military — our troops are equipped with the right resources active duty troops, reservists, National Guardsmen, more quickly than our current procurement systems and veterans — are at shocking levels, while post- allow. service medical conditions, including addiction and mental illness, require more and more assistance. Supporting Our Troops: More than ever, our government must work with the Standing by Our Heroes private sector to advance opportunities and provide With Republican leadership, the Congress assistance to those wounded in spirit as well as in recently passed legislation that begins to reverse body, whether through experimental efforts like the America’s military decline. The National Defense PAWS (Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemen) Authorization Act of 2016 begins to correct the program for service dogs or through the faith-based shortfalls in our military readiness by reversing institutions that have traditionally been providers of troop cuts, increasing investments in training and counseling and aid. maintenance, and rebuilding facilities. It gives our We support the rights of conscience of military troops the full pay raise to which they are entitled chaplains of all to practice their faith free under the law and gives the next administration from political interference. We reject attempts the ability to review operations and funding, make by the Obama Administration to censure and adjustments, and ask for more money if necessary. silence them, particularly Christians and Christian All this represents a sound start in supporting those chaplains. We support an increase in the size of who put their lives on the line in defense of our the Chaplain Corps. A Republican commander-in- country, while protecting our national security in a chief will protect the religious freedom of all military dangerous world. members, especially chaplains, and will not tolerate Military families must be assured of the pay, attempts to ban Bibles or religious from healthcare, housing, education, and overall support military facilities. A Republican commander-in- they have earned. In recent years, they have chief will also encourage education regarding the been carrying the burden of budgetary restraint religious liberties of military personnel under both more than any other Americans through cuts in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and their pay, health benefits, and retirement plans. the current National Defense Authorization Act. About 75 percent of enlistees come from military Our country’s all-volunteer force has been a families. We cannot expect that level of patriotic success. We oppose the reinstatement of the draft, commitment to continue among young people who except in dire circumstances like world war, whether have experienced the way their families have been directly or through compulsory national service. treated. We support the all-volunteer force and oppose We must ensure that the nation keeps its unnecessary policy changes, including compulsory commitments to those who signed on the dotted national service and Selective Service registration line of enlistment. The repeated troop deployments of women for a possible future draft. We reiterate during conflicts in the Middle East have been our support for both the advancement of women in unusually hard on all members of their households, the military and their exemption from direct ground worsening unemployment and underemployment combat units and infantry battalions. We affirm the

43 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • cultural values that encourage selfless service and here at home such as Hurricane Katrina and Super superiority in battle, and we oppose anything which Storm Sandy. might divide or weaken team cohesion, including To avoid the overextension of our military, intra-military special interest demonstrations. we support a larger active force and oppose the In particular, we warn against modification or current Administration’s cuts to the National Guard lessening of standards in order to satisfy a non- and Reserves. Those reductions are dangerous and military agenda imposed by the White House. counter-productive because the men and women of We call for an objective review of the impact on the Guard and Reserve tend to be older and more readiness of the current Administration’s ideology- experienced than their active duty counterparts. based personnel policies, and Guard and Reserve will correct problems with forces are currently deployed at appropriate administrative, historically high rates. The Army legal, or legislative action. We Reserve alone has soldiers reject the use of the military in 30 countries. To its credit, as a platform for social America has a the Republican Congress, by experimentation and will not sacred trust with our passing the National Defense accept or continue attempts Authorization Act, has moved to undermine military priorities veterans, and we are to ensure these troops have and mission readiness. We committed to ensuring what they need. That provision believe that our nation is most has triggered another veto secure when the president and them and their families’ threat from the Commander- the administration prioritize care and dignity. in-Chief, even though the bill readiness, recruitment, and passed with overwhelming retention rather than using the bipartisan support in both the military to advance a social House and Senate. He would or political agenda. Military have the members of the readiness should not be sacrificed on the Reserve and Guard train on, and potentially be of political correctness. We oppose legislative deployed with, equipment that is no longer used by attempts to modify the system of military justice their active duty comrades. We cannot tolerate this that would undermine its fairness and due process endangerment of both our troops and our national rights for all concerned, both the accuser and the security. Therefore, we recommend a permanent accused. line item for National Guard affairs, one that is not eliminated by the President and reinstated by Citizen Soldiers: Congress. The guard is too essential to our national National Guard and Reserves defense to be a secondary decision. Our Reserve and National Guard forces are national assets that must be nurtured in a manner Honoring and Supporting Our Veterans: commensurate with their role as America’s sentinels. A Sacred Obligation Their historic mission as citizen-soldiers is a proud Our nation’s veterans have been our nation’s tradition linking every town and city across America strength and remain a national resource. Their to liberty’s cause. Since September 11, 2001, the service to their country — as community leaders, National Guard has transformed from a strategic volunteers, mentors, educators, problem solvers, reserve to a fully integrated operational fighting and public officials — continues long after they force. The Guard has bled on missions in Iraq, leave the military. In the same way, our obligation Afghanistan, the Balkans, and the Sinai. Today, more to the one percent who defend the other ninety- than fifty percent of our Guardsmen have combat nine percent does not end when they take off experience. The Guard has demonstrated its value the uniform. America has a sacred trust with our to the nation not only in war but during emergencies veterans, and we are committed to ensuring them

44 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • and their families’ care and dignity. The work of the will seek to consolidate the VA’s existing community Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is essential care authorities to make a single program that will to meet our commitments to them: Providing be easily understood by both veterans and VA health, education, disability, survivor, and home healthcare providers. loan benefits, and arranging memorial services Like the rest of American medicine, the VA upon death. We heed Abraham Lincoln’s command faces a critical shortage of primary care and mental “to care for him who bore the battle.” To care, health physicians. That’s why there are long waiting as well, for the families of those who have made times to see a doctor and why doctors are often the ultimate sacrifice, who must be assured of frustrated by the limited time they have with their meaningful financial assistance, remains our solemn patients. This is especially the case with mental duty. health care, which often amounts to prescribing As shown by recent controversies at the drugs because there are not enough psychologists Department, senior leaders must be held and psychiatrists to do anything else. Inadequate accountable for ensuring that their subordinates treatment of PTSD drives other problems like are more responsive to veterans’ needs. The VA suicide, homelessness, and unemployment. This has failed those who have sacrificed the most for situation may not be quickly reversed, but a our freedom. The VA must move from a sometimes Republican administration will begin, on day one, to adversarial stance to an advocacy relationship with undertake the job. vets. To that end, we will empower the Secretary As a nation, we honor the sacrifice of our fallen to hold all VA employees accountable and will seek service members at the graves where we lay them fundamental change in the VA’s senior leadership to rest in national, state, and veterans’ cemeteries structure by placing presidential appointees, rather around the world. In doing so, we make it clear than careerists, in additional positions of significant that their ultimate sacrifice and service to our responsibility. We cannot allow an unresponsive country will never be forgotten. As a party, we seek bureaucracy to blunt our national commitment. The to honor their sacrifice and comfort their families VA must strengthen and improve its efforts through by ensuring all veterans’ cemeteries are adequately partnerships with private enterprises, veteran equipped and a standard of care established, using service organizations, technology and innovation, Arlington Cemetery as a guide, that is befitting their and competitive bidding to enable the VA to better service. provide both quality and timely care along with all The level of financial distress and homeless- earned benefits to our nation’s veterans and their ness among vets is a shame to the nation. For a families. This will allow the VA to reduce the backlog veteran, a job is more than a source of income. It is and save immense resources all at the same time. a new mission, with a new status, and the transition Therefore, let us look to innovative solutions that can be difficult. We urge the private sector to allow higher quality VA care, reduce backlogs, and make hiring vets a company policy and commend save immense resources all at the same time. the organizations that have proven programs to Our wounded warriors, whether still in service accomplish this. We will retain the preference or discharged, deserve the best medical care the given to veterans when they seek federal country can provide. We must make military and employment. We urge closer coordination with the veterans’ medicine the gold standard for mental state offices for veterans’ affairs, particularly with health, traumatic brain injury, multiple traumas, regard to expediting disability claims, since those loss of limbs, and post-traumatic stress disorder closest to an individual can often best diagnose (PTSD). Those injuries require a new commitment of a problem and apply a remedy. We will halt the targeted resources and personnel for treatment and current Administration’s unconstitutional automatic care to advance recovery. That includes allowing of gun ownership to returning members of veterans to choose to access care in the community our Armed Forces who have had representatives and not just in VA facilities, because the best care in appointed to manage their financial affairs. We the world is not effective if it is not accessible. We urge state education officials to promote the hiring

45 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • of qualified veterans as teachers in our public Challenges of a Changing Middle East schools. Their proven abilities and life The Middle East is more dangerous now than will make them more successful instructors and at any time since the War. Whatever role models for students than would any teaching their disagreements, presidents of both parties had certification. always prioritized America’s national interests, the Over-prescription of opioids has become trust of friendly governments, and the security of a nationwide problem hindering the treatment Israel. That sound consensus was replaced with of veterans suffering from mental health issues. impotent grandstanding on the part of the current We therefore support the need to explore new President and his Secretaries of State. The results and broader ranges of options, including faith- have been ruinous for all parties except Islamic based programs, that will better serve the veteran terrorists and their Iranian and other sponsors. and reduce the need to rely on drugs as the sole We consider the Administration’s deal with Iran, treatment. to lift international sanctions and make hundreds of billions of dollars available to the Mullahs, a personal America: The Indispensable Nation agreement between the President and his negotiat- For the last several generations, our country’s ing partners and non-binding on the next president. two major political parties were dedicated to the Without a two-thirds endorsement by the Senate, it nation’s security and the advance of freedom does not have treaty status. Because of it, the de- around the world. Both had learned from mistakes fiant and emboldened regime in Tehran continues of the past and realized that a weak America invited to sponsor terrorism across the region, develop a aggression. Both recognized the need to stand nuclear weapon, test-fire ballistic missiles inscribed with friends and oppose those who wished us evil. with “Death to Israel,” and abuse the basic human Whatever their disagreements, both the Republican rights of its citizens. A Republican president will not and Democratic parties stood for peace through be bound by it. We must retain all options in dealing strength — and strength meant American military with a situation that gravely threatens our security, superiority. our interests, and the survival of our friends. This bipartisan commitment has tragically Over the last four years we have seen the rise changed. The leadership of the Democratic Party, of a murderous in the form of ISIS, the both those in office and those who seek it, no longer so called Islamic State. Its reach now extends far see America as a force for good in the world. They beyond the Middle East to virtually every continent. do not stand by allies or stand strong against our ISIS has brought ancient butchery into the 21st foes. They pander to world opinion and neglect the century. Nations are imploding, erasing long- national interest. They cannot be trusted to advance established borders. The Obama Administration either the cause of liberty or our national security in and its Secretary of State so mishandled the Arab the dangerous years in which we live. that it destabilized the entire region. The We affirm our party’s tradition of world hope some saw in the Arab Spring has transformed leadership established by President Eisenhower into disappointment. The dictator of Syria, Bashar and followed by every Republican president Assad, has murdered hundreds of thousands of his since. It stands for enormous power — and the own people and created millions of refugees, and prudence to use it sparingly, precisely, and only an American president has been unable to rally the in grave necessity. It stands for involvement, not world against him. Understandably, our allies fear intervention. It requires consultation, not permission for their future in a region far more dangerous than to act. It leads from the front — and ensures all it was eight years ago. others do their parts as well. It embraces American A Republican administration will restore our exceptionalism and rejects the false prophets of nation’s credibility. We must stand up for our friends, decline and diminution. It is, in sum, the way we challenge our foes, and destroy ISIS. Hezbollah, will lead the world into a new century of greater controlling over 100,000 missiles in Lebanon, must peace and prosperity — another American Century. be isolated and Lebanon’s independence restored.

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We will support the transition to a post-Assad Syrian Our Unequivocal Support for Israel government that is representative of its people, Like the United States of America, the modern protects the rights of all minorities and , state of Israel is a country born from the aspira- respects the territorial integrity of its neighbors, tion for freedom and stands out among the nations and contributes to peace and stability in the region. as a beacon of democracy and humanity. Beyond The Iraqi people have been on the front lines in the our mutual strategic interests, Israel is likewise an fight against terror. Hundreds of thousands have exceptional country that shares our most essen- been killed, and the attacks against them continue, tial values. It is the only country in the Middle East even in Baghdad. Our partnership with them should where freedom of speech and freedom of religion continue as long as ISIS and others like it survive in are found. Therefore, support for Israel is an expres- the region. We are deeply concerned that, in the face sion of , and it is the responsibility of of against them, Christian communities in our government to advance policies that reflect cities like Erbil are receiving no financial support Americans’ strong desire for a relationship with no from either the U.S. government or the UN to help daylight between America and Israel. We recognize with displaced persons and urban refugees. Their Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of survival is sustained only by private charities. This the and call for the American embassy must change immediately. Defeating ISIS means to be moved there in fulfillment of U.S. law. more than pushing back its We reaffirm America’s fighters while abandoning its commitment to Israel’s security victims. It must mean aiding It is the responsibility and will ensure that Israel main- those who have suffered the tains a qualitative military edge most — and doing so before of our government to over any and all adversaries. We they starve. It means supporting advance policies that support Israel’s right and obli- the long-term survival of gation to defend itself against indigenous religious and ethnic reflect Americans’ terror attacks upon its people communities, punishing the strong desire for a and against alternative forms perpetrators of crimes against of warfare being waged upon humanity, and conditioning relationship with no it legally, economically, cultur- humanitarian and military daylight between ally, and otherwise. We reject assistance to governments on the false notion that Israel is an their observable commitment America and Israel. occupier and specifically recog- to . nize that the Boycott, Divest- We continue to support ment, and Sanctions Movement the Kurdish people, whose bravery and cooperation (BDS) is anti-Semitic in nature and seeks to destroy with our forces merit our respect and their Israel. Therefore, we call for effective legislation to autonomy. Many countries in the region have given, thwart actions that are intended to limit commer- and continue to give, substantial assistance to cial relations with Israel, or persons or entities doing the United States because they understand that business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories, our struggle against terrorism is not an ethnic or in a discriminatory manner. religious fight. They consider violent extremists to The United States seeks to assist in the estab- be abusers of their faith, not its champions. We lishment of comprehensive and lasting peace in the applaud their courage and value their counsel. The Middle East, to be negotiated among those living U.S. government, together with its global partners, in the region. We oppose any measures intended to should mobilize its political, economic, and military impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other assets to support the creation of a safe haven in terms, and we call for the immediate termination of northern Iraq to protect those ethnic and religious all U.S. funding of any entity that attempts to do minorities continuing to face genocide at the hands so. Our party is proud to stand with Israel now and of ISIS. always.

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U.S. Leadership in the Asian Pacific Critics of the regime have been kidnapped by its We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, agents in foreign countries. To distract the populace and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic from its increasing economic problems and, more rim and treaty alliances with , , importantly, to expand its military might, the Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand. With government asserts a preposterous claim to the them, we look toward the establishment of human entire South China Sea and continues to dredge rights for the people of North Korea. We urge the ports and create landing fields in contested waters government of China to recognize the inevitability where none have existed before, ever nearer to of change in the Kim family’s slave state and, for U.S. territories and our allies, while building a everyone’s safety against nuclear disaster, to navy far out of proportion to defensive purposes. hasten positive change on the Korean peninsula. The complacency of the Obama regime has The United States will continue to demand the emboldened the Chinese government and military complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement to issue threats of intimidation throughout the of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program with South China Sea, not to mention parading their new full accounting of its proliferation activities. We missile, “the Guam Killer,” down the main streets of also pledge to counter any threats from the North Beijing, a direct shot at Guam as America’s first line Korean regime. of defense. Meanwhile, continues We salute the people of Taiwan, with whom in Tibet and Xinjiang, the promised autonomy of we share the values of democracy, human rights, a is eroded, the currency is manipulated, free market economy, and the rule of law. Our rela- our technology is stolen, and intellectual property tions will continue to be based upon the provisions and copyrights are mocked in an economy based of the Taiwan Relations Act, and we affirm the Six on piracy. In business terms, this is not competition; Assurances given to Taiwan in 1982 by President it is a hostile takeover. For any American company Reagan. We oppose any unilateral steps by either to abet those offenses, especially governmental side to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Straits on and tracking of dissenters, is a disgrace. the principle that all issues regarding the island’s fu- The return to by China’s current ture must be resolved peacefully, through dialogue, rulers is not reason to disengage with the Chinese and be agreeable to the people of Taiwan. If China people or their institutions. We welcome students, were to violate those principles, the United States, tourists, and investors, who can see for themselves in accord with the Taiwan Relations Act, will help our vibrant American democracy and how real Taiwan defend itself. We praise efforts by the works. We caution, however, against government in Taipei to continue constructive re- academic or cultural operations under the control lations across the Taiwan Strait and call on China of the Chinese government and call upon American to reciprocate. As a loyal friend of America, Taiwan colleges to dissociate themselves from this has merited our strong support, including free trade increasing threat to academic freedom and honest agreement status, the timely sale of defensive arms research. including technology to build diesel submarines, Most of the nations of Southeast Asia have and full participation in the World Health Organiza- set aside crippling ideologies and sought material tion, International Civil Aviation Organization, and progress in free enterprise and democracy. other multilateral institutions. We congratulate the people of Burma on their China’s behavior has negated the optimistic from authoritarian rule and urge their language of our last platform concerning our future respect for the rights of their country’s minority relations with China. The liberalizing policies of populations. Our improved relations with Vietnam recent decades have been abruptly reversed, dissent — including arms sales — must advance efforts to brutally crushed, heightened, obtain an accounting for, and repatriation of the the internet crippled, a barbaric population control remains of, Americans who gave their lives in the two-child policy of forced abortions and forced cause of Vietnamese freedom. We cannot overlook sterilizations continued, and the of Mao revived. the continued repression of fundamental rights and

48 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • religious freedom, as well as retribution against Our historic ties to the peoples of have ethnic minorities and others who assisted U.S. been based on shared culture and values, com- forces during the conflict there. mon interests and goals. Their endurance can- India is our geopolitical ally and a strategic not be taken for granted, especially in light of the trading partner. The dynamism of its people and continent’s economic problems and demographic the endurance of their democratic institutions changes. We recognize with regret the increasing are earning their country a position of leadership trend among many of our allies to move away from not only in Asia but throughout the world. We rights and liberties that Americans hold dear, espe- encourage the Indian government to permit cially freedom of speech. It would be a tragic irony expanded foreign investment and trade, the key if the nations of Europe which withstood Soviet to rising living standards for those left out of their repression were to now impose a form of it upon country’s energetic economy. For all of India’s themselves. religious communities, we urge protection against We honor our special relationship with the violence and discrimination. Republicans note with people of the and are grateful for pride the contributions to our country that are made their staunch support in the fight against terrorism. by our fellow citizens of Indian ancestry. We respect their decision concerning their nation’s Conflicts in the Middle East have created relationship to the and pledge that, special political and military challenges for the however much other international relationships may people of Pakistan. Our working relationship is a change, those who were first to our side in our hour necessary, though sometimes difficult, benefit to of loss will always rank first in our policies and our both, and we look toward the strengthening of esteem. historic ties that have frayed under the weight of We thank the several nations of Europe international conflict. This process cannot progress that have contributed to a united effort in Iraq, as long as any citizen of Pakistan can be punished Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Their support and for helping the . Pakistanis, Afghans, sacrifice in the fight against Islamic terrorism and Americans have a common interest in ridding will not be forgotten. We applaud the ongoing the region of the Taliban and securing Pakistan’s reconciliation in Northern and hope that nuclear arsenal. That goal has been undermined by its success might be replicated in Cyprus. We urge the current Administration’s feckless treatment of greater coordination in economic and security troop commitments and blatant disregard of advice affairs between the United States and the from commanders on the ground, particularly with of . We urge that Poland be granted regard to Afghanistan. A Republican president will visa waiver status and we support placement of work with all regional leaders to restore mutual trust NATO troops in Poland. while insisting upon progress against corruption For the people of Russia, we affirm our respect and the narcotic trade that fuels insurgency. and our determination to maintain a friendship beyond the reach of those who wish to divide us. Renewing the European Alliance We have common imperatives: Ending terrorism, With bipartisan support, President Truman combating nuclear proliferation, promoting trade, forged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and more. We also have a common problem: (NATO) as an alliance of the western . The continuing erosion of personal liberty and Its continued effectiveness is vital, especially in light fundamental rights under the current officials in the of recent military challenges in Eastern Europe. Kremlin. Repressive at home and reckless abroad, With the American people spending on defense, their policies imperil the nations which regained per capita, four times the amount spent by Euro- their self-determination upon the collapse of the peans, we demand, as we have in the past, that our . We will meet the return of Russian fellow members of NATO fulfill their commitments belligerence with the same resolve that led to the and meet their need for greater investment in their collapse of the Soviet Union. We will not accept armed forces. any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed

49 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • by force, in Ukraine, , or elsewhere, and of the Western Hemisphere. Their aspirations will use all appropriate constitutional measures to for economic betterment and political liberty bring to justice the practitioners of aggression and have deserved better from our government than assassination. its policies of the last eight years. The current We urge greater attention in U.S. diplomacy, Administration has abandoned America’s friends trade, and strategic planning, to the nations of and rewarded its enemies. A Republican president Eurasia, formerly parts of the Soviet . will never embrace a Marxist dictator, in Venezuela Caught between their two authoritarian neighbors, or anywhere else. The current chief executive their path toward democratic institutions has been has allowed that country to become a narco- uncertain. We urge our government and our allies terrorist state, an Iranian outpost threatening to work toward the integration of the Central Asian Central America, and a safe haven for the agents republics into the global economy through foreign of Hezbollah. Now, with their country ruined by investment, which can bring with it market and and on the verge of chaos, the Venezuelan political reforms and a firmer establishment of people are fighting to restore their democracy and the rule of law. Those developments will not only regain their rights. When they triumph, as they improve the living conditions throughout that vast surely will, the United States will stand ready to area but are likely to reduce the lure of the radical help them restore their country to the family of the ideologies that already threaten the region. Americas. We affirm our friendship and admiration for Family of the Americas the people of Colombia and call on the Republican Our future is intimately tied to the future of the Congress to express its solidarity with their Americas. Family, language, culture, environment, decades-long fight against the terrorist FARC. Their and trade link us closely with both and sacrifice and suffering must not be betrayed by the Mexico. Our relations with both of these friends accession to power of murderers and drug . will be based upon continuing cooperation and our We want to welcome the people of mutually shared interests. Our attention to trade back into our hemispheric family — after their and environmental issues will contribute to strong corrupt rulers are forced from power and brought economic growth and prosperity throughout the to account for their crimes against humanity. We Americas. stand with the Women in White and all the victims We thank our neighbors in Mexico and Canada of the loathsome regime that clings to power in who have been our partners in the fight against Havana. We do not say this lightly: They have been terrorism and the war on drugs. The Mexican betrayed by those who are currently in control of people deserve our assistance as they bravely U.S. . The current Administration’s resist the drug cartels that traffic in death on both “opening to Cuba” was a shameful accommodation sides of our border. Their rich cultural and religious to the demands of its tyrants. It will only strengthen heritage, shared by many millions of our fellow their military . We call on the Congress citizens, should foster greater understanding and to uphold current U.S. law which sets conditions for cooperation between our countries. the lifting of sanctions on the island: Legalization Our Canadian neighbors can count on our of political parties, an independent media, and free cooperation and respect. To advance North and fair internationally-supervised elections. We America’s energy independence, we intend to call for a dedicated platform for the transmission reverse the current Administration’s blocking of of Radio and TV Martí and for the promotion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Apart from its economic internet access and circumvention technology as value, that project has become a symbol in the tools to strength Cuba’s pro-democracy movement. contest between the public’s desire for economic We support the work of the Commission for development and the government’s hostility to Assistance to a Free Cuba and affirm the principles growth. We stand with the people. of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing We express our solidarity with all the peoples the rights of Cubans fleeing .

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Africa: The Promise and the Challenge operations of its overpaid bureaucrats. We should We recognize Africa’s extraordinary potential. no longer tolerate its managerial scandals, its Both the United States and our many African allies Human Rights Council composed of some of the will become stronger through investment, trade, world’s worst tyrants, and its treatment of Israel as a and promotion of the democratic and free market pariah state. The U.N.’s Population Fund has, from its principles that have brought prosperity around origin, been rooted in no-growth policies that limit the world. We pledge to be the best partner of all economic development in the countries needing it African nations in their pursuit of economic freedom most. Its complicity in China’s barbaric program of and human rights. The Republican Congress led President Reagan to set a wall of has extended to 2025 the African Growth and separation — his Mexico City Policy, which prohibits Opportunity Act, and President George W. Bush’s the granting of federal monies to non-governmental health initiatives — AIDS relief under PEPFAR and organizations that provide or promote abortion. We the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and affirm his position and, in light of plummeting birth Malaria — continue to save millions of lives. Peace rates around the world, suggest a reevaluation of Corps volunteers and U.S. Seabees teach and the U.N.’s record on economic progress. build in villages that know firsthand our country’s Precisely because we take our country’s . treaty obligations seriously, we oppose ratification We stand in solidarity with those African of international agreements whose long-range countries now under assault by the forces of implications are ominous or unclear. We do radical : Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and others not support the U.N. Convention on Women’s like them. Their terror falls on both Muslims and Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Christians, on anyone who will not submit to their the Convention on the Rights of Persons with savage ideology. We urge governments throughout Disabilities, and the U.N. , as well the continent to recognize this threat to their own as various declarations from the U.N. Conference people. We support closer cooperation in both on Environment and Development. Because of military and economic matters with those on the our concern for American sovereignty, domestic front lines of ’s battle against the forces management of our fisheries, and our country’s of evil. long-term energy needs, we have deep reservations about the regulatory, legal, and tax regimes inherent Sovereign American Leadership in in the Law of the Sea Treaty. We emphatically reject International Organizations U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of U.S. sovereignty, and There is no substitute for principled American we oppose any form of Global Tax. leadership. Since the end of World War II, the To shield members of our Armed Forces and United States, through the founding of the United others in service to America from ideological Nations and NATO, has participated in a number prosecutions overseas, the Republican Party does of international organizations which can, but not accept the jurisdiction of the International sometimes do not, serve the cause of peace and Criminal Court. We support statutory protection prosperity. While acting through them our country for U.S. personnel and officials as they act abroad must always reserve the right to go its own way. to meet our global security requirements, and we We must not be silent about our country’s cause. deplore the current inaction of the Administration in That is why we have long supported our country’s that regard. Our service members must be subject international broadcasting to Eastern Europe, the only to American law. Middle East, and Asia. Our continued participation in the United Defending International Nations should be contingent upon the enactment Religious Freedom of long-overdue changes in the way that institution The U.S. Commission on International functions. American taxpayers, the chief funders of Religious Freedom, an initiative of Congressional the U.N., deserve full transparency in the financial Republicans, has been neglected by the current

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Administration at a time when its voice more than for American goods and services in a competitive ever needs to be heard. Religious minorities across global economy. Foreign assistance programs must the Middle East have been driven from their ancient not only project the best of American values, but homelands, and thousands, there and in Africa, have must work to create self-sustainability and leverage been slaughtered for their faith in what the State the resources and capacity of the private sector. Department has, belatedly, labeled genocide. The Even more important is the overseas assistance — United States must stand with leaders, like President billions of dollars and volunteer hours — provided Sisi of who has bravely protected the rights by America’s foundations, educational institutions, of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and call on other faith-based groups, and charitable individuals. Their leaders across the region to ensure that all religious essential role in international development should minorities, whether Yazidi, Bahai, Orthodox, Catholic be weighed in any revision of the tax code. or Protestant Christians, are free to practice their The advance of political freedom and religion without fear of persecution. At a time when entrepreneurial capitalism drives economic growth, China has renewed its destruction of churches, catalyzes private sector development, and is the Christian home-schooling parents are jailed in parts only sustainable solution to poverty. Over the last of Europe, and even Canada threatens pastors for 50 years, the level of private investment overseas their preaching, a Republican administration will from the United States has eclipsed aid many times return the advocacy of religious liberty to a central over. Our development strategy must build on place in its diplomacy, will quickly designate the recent Republican efforts to use foreign assistance systematic killing of religious and ethnic minorities to catalyze private sector investment and expertise a genocide, and will work with the leaders of other in addressing global challenges that can build a nations to condemn and combat genocidal acts. more stable world and advance America’s national security and economic interests. America’s Generosity: International The integrity of our country’s foreign assistance Assistance that Makes a Difference program has been compromised by the current Ad- Foreign aid must serve America’s interests first. ministration’s attempt to impose on foreign recipi- In today’s world of complex challenges, international ents, especially the peoples of Africa, its own radical assistance is a critical tool for advancing America’s social agenda while excluding faith-based groups security and economic interests by preventing — the sector with the best track record in promoting conflict, building stability, opening markets for development — because they will not conform to private investment, and responding to suffering that agenda. We pledge to reverse this course, en- and need with the compassion that is at the heart couraging more involvement by the most effective of our country’s values. A strong commitment to aid organizations and trusting developing peoples international development and diplomacy, alongside to build their through their own values. defense, was a key component of President Reagan’s “peace through strength” strategy. It can sometimes Advancing Human Rights serve as an alternative means of keeping the peace, To those who stand in the darkness of tyranny, far less costly both in dollars and in human lives than America has always been a beacon of hope, and so military engagement. The Millennium Challenge it must remain. Radical Islamic terrorism poses an , spearheaded by the last Republican existential threat to personal freedom and peace Administration, has established a new model of around the world. We oppose its brutal assault on foreign assistance that helps ensure taxpayer all human beings, all of whom have inherent dignity. dollars are spent on projects that are effective, The Republican Party stands united with all victims results-driven, transparent, and accountable. We of terrorism and will fight at home and abroad to must embrace this model throughout our foreign destroy terrorist organizations and protect the lives assistance programs and efforts as a catalyst for and fundamental liberties of all people. Republicans private sector investment to combat corruption, have led the way in promoting initiatives that have strengthen the rule of law, and open new markets protected and rescued millions of the world’s

52 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • most vulnerable and persecuted. Standing up for to prevent overseas labor contractors who exploit repressed religious groups, prisoners of conscience, foreign workers from supporting military bases women trafficked into sexual , and those abroad or exporting goods to the United States. suffering from disease or starvation is not just A Republican administration will strategize with consistent with American values. It advances partners around the world to prevent the demand important security and economic interests as for trafficking victims that makes exploitation well. A Republican administration will never say, lucrative and will prosecute sex tourists and as did as Secretary of State in 2009, domestic buyers to the fullest extent of the law. that raising human rights concerns “can’t interfere We will work at home and abroad to ensure that with the global economic crisis, the global climate trafficking victims are identified among migrants, change crisis, and the security crisis.” refugees, and our own citizens so they receive the The United States needs a radical rethinking rehabilitative care needed to heal and thrive. of our human rights diplomacy. A Republican America’s continuing participation in the administration will adopt a “whole of government” international campaign against human trafficking approach to protect fundamental freedoms globally, merits our support. The goal of our domestic anti- one where pressing human rights and rule of law trafficking programs should be the rescue and safe issues are integrated at every appropriate level of return of victims to their homes, not creating a long- our bilateral relationships and strategic decision- term dependency upon public support. We call for making. Republican policy will reflect the fact that greater scrutiny of overseas labor contractors to the health of the U.S. economy and environment, the prevent abuses against temporary foreign workers safety of our food and drug supplies, the security brought to the United States. The horrific deaths of of our investments and personal information in smuggled workers on our southwestern border at cyberspace, and the stability and security of the the hands of drug cartels and other gangs highlight oceans will increasingly depend on allowing the free the need for total security in that region. flow of news and information and developing an independent judiciary and civil society in countries Facing 21st Century Threats: with repressive governments such as China, Russia, and many nations in the Middle East and Africa. Cybersecurity in an Insecure World Cyber attacks against our businesses, insti- Liberty to Captives: tutions, and the government itself have become Combatting Human Trafficking almost routine. They will continue until the world un- As an estimated 21 million people worldwide derstands that an attack will not be tolerated — that are trapped in modern day slavery, we are reminded we are prepared to respond in kind and in greater to be vigilant against human trafficking in whatever magnitude. Despite their promises to the contrary, form it appears. We will use the full force of the Russia and China see cyber operations as a part of law against those who engage in commercial sexual a warfare strategy during peacetime. Our response exploitation and forced or bonded labor of men, should be to cause diplomatic, financial, and legal women, or children; involuntary domestic servitude; pain, curtailing visas for guilty parties, freezing their trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ assets, and pursuing criminal actions against them. removal; and the illegal recruitment and use of child We should seek to weaken control over the internet soldiers. Building on the accomplishments of the by regimes that engage in cyber crimes. We must last Republican administration in implementing the stop playing defense and go on offense to avoid the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, we call cyber-equivalent of Pearl Harbor. for increased diplomatic efforts and accountability The Republican Congress has passed impor- for foreign governments to prosecute traffickers, tant legislation to advance information-sharing including penalties for any public officials who among entities endangered by cyber attacks. We may be complicit in this devastating crime. We will will explore the possibility of a free market for Cy- highlight the need to stop slave labor, taking steps ber-Insurance and make clear that users have a self-

53 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • defense right to deal with hackers as they see fit. It protect the national grid and encourage states to is critical that we protect the cyber supply chain to take the initiative to protect their own grids expedi- ensure against contamination of components made tiously. all over the world, sometimes in offending countries. Our own cyber workforce should be expanded with Confronting Internet Tyranny the assistance of the military, business, and hacker Internet firewall circumvention and anti- communities to better protect our country. censorship technology must become a national pri- ority in light of the way authoritarian governments Protection Against an such as China, Cuba, and Iran restrict free press and Electromagnetic Pulse isolate their people limiting political, cultural, and A single nuclear weapon detonated at high alti- religious freedom. Leaders of authoritarian gov- tude over this country would collapse our electrical ernments argue that governments have the same grid and other critical infrastructures and endanger legal right to control internet access as they do to the lives of millions. With North Korea in possession control migrant access. A focus on internet freedom of nuclear missiles and Iran close to having them, an is a cost-effective means of peacefully advancing EMP is no longer a theoretical concern — it is a real fundamental freedoms in closed and authoritarian threat. Moreover, China and Russia include sabo- societies. But it is also an important economic in- tage as part of their warfare planning. Nonetheless, terest, as censorship constitutes a trade barrier for hundreds of electrical utilities in the United States U.S. companies operating in societies like China with have not acted to protect themselves from EMP, and advanced firewall protection policies. they cannot be expected to do so voluntarily since A Republican administration will champion an homeland security is a government responsibility. open and free internet based on principles of free The President, the Congress, the Department of expression and universal values and will pursue Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the policies to empower citizens and U.S. companies States, the utilities, and the private sector should operating in authoritarian countries to circumvent work together on an urgent basis to enact Re- internet firewalls and gain accurate news and infor- publican legislation, pending in both chambers, to mation online.

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The Platform Committee

Republican National Committee Chairman

Chairman Senator John Barrasso

Co-Chairs Governor Mary Fallin Representative Virginia Foxx

Subcommittee Co-Chairs

Restoring the American Dream Delbert Hosemann Andy Puzder

A Rebirth of Constitutional Government Rayna Casey Kathy Kiernan Leslie Rutledge

America’s Natural Resources: Agriculture, Energy, and the Environment Kelly Armstrong Victor Sprouse

Government Reform Tom Schriebel Russ Walker

Great American Families, Education, Healthcare, and Criminal Justice Carolyn McLarty Patricia Longo

America Resurgent Jim Carns Ron Rabin Steve Yates

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Committee Members

ALABAMA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA KENTUCKY Jim Carns Rachel Hoff Julie Adams Judy Carns Chip Nottingham Nathan Haney

ALASKA FLORIDA LOUISIANA Jim Crawford Cindy Graves Sandra (Sandy) McDade Judy Eledge Joe Gruters Tony Perkins

AMERICAN SAMOA GEORGIA Brandon Smart Ranya Casey Eric Brakey Curtis “Scott” Johnson Stacey Guerin ARIZONA Andrea Kadar GUAM MARYLAND Lynden (Len) Munsil Juan Carlos Benitez Joeylynn Hough Margaret Metcalfe Michael (Ben) Marchi ARKANSAS John Nabholz HAWAII Leslie Rutledge Adrienne Amy Carnevale William McClary Bob Maginn CALIFORNIA Noel Hentschel IDAHO MICHIGAN Andy Puzder Vicki Keen Joe Hune Steve Yates Meshawn Maddock COLORADO Robin Coran MINNESOTA Justin Everett Stephanie Holderfield Andy Aplikowski John Lynch Janet Beihoffer CONNECTICUT Anthony D’Amelio INDIANA MISSISSIPPI Patricia Longo Lynn Fitch Brenda Goff Delbert Hosemann DELAWARE Allison Brokaw IOWA MISSOURI Timothy Houseal Ben Barringer Hardy Billington Tamara Scott Bev Ehlen

KANSAS Mary Kay Culp Kris Kobach

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MONTANA NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS TEXAS Seth Berglee Ivan Blanco David Barton Debra Lamm Diana Denman NEBRASKA David Johnson UTAH Debby Brehm Tracey Monroe-Winbush Boyd Matheson Brian Buescher Gayle Ruzicka OKLAHOMA NEVADA Marc Hader VERMONT Juanita Cox Carolyn McLarty Rick Cochran Jesse Law Darcie Johnston NEW HAMPSHIRE Donna Cain VIRGINIA Juliana Bergeron Russ Walker Cynthia Dunbar Thomas Valentine PENNSYLVANIA NEW JERSEY Jim McErlane VIRGIN ISLANDS Joseph Pennacchio Carol Sides April Newland Jill Space Humberto O’Neal PUERTO RICO NEW MEXICO Jenniffer González-Colón WASHINGTON Jonathan Gardner Jorge San Miguel Manette Merrill Andrea Moore Philip Wilson RHODE ISLAND Giovanni Cicione WEST VIRGINIA Thomas Dadey Lee Ann Sennick Melody Potter Anne Dickerson Victor Sprouse NORTH CAROLINA Alan Clemmons Mary Forrester LaDonna Ryggs Kathy Kiernan Ron Rabin Tom Schreibel SOUTH DAKOTA NORTH DAKOTA Nancy Neff WYOMING Kelly Armstrong Hal Wick Marti Halverson Kelly Schmidt Dick Shanor TENNESSEE Victor Ashe Connie Hunter

57 • REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 2016 • Platform Staff Ben Key, Executive Director , Policy Director Bill Gribbin, Editor , Assistant Editor Mary Salvi, Executive Assistant David Schiappa, Parliamentarian Justin Riemer, Counsel , Clerk Allison Curry, Clerk Sloane Skinner, Clerk Karen Portik, Graphic Designer Marcia Brown, Production Sheila Berkley, Platform Consultant Mike Mears, Director of Strategic Partnerships Rachel Packebush, Intern

Administrative Team Brian O’Malley, Ed Cowling, Blake Glovitz, Kim Owens, Will Gillette, Gordon James

Court Reporter Stephen Mengelkamp, Nate Riveness

Policy Staff

Restoring the American Dream Government Reform Jeff Schlagenhauf Danielle Cutrona Eric Ueland Katy Talento

A Rebirth of Constitutional Government Great American Families, Education, Stephen Higgins Healthcare, and Criminal Justice Robert Porter Katie Altshuler Cyrus Artz America’s Natural Resources: Agriculture, Energy, and the Environment America Resurgent Brian Clifford Jonathan Burks Justin Memmott Michael Stransky

Former Executive Directors Ambassador , 1984; Judy Van Rest, 1992; William Martin, 1996; Mitch Bainwol, 2000; Anne Phelps, 2004; Steven Duffield, 2008

Special Thanks Mike Ambrosini, Caroline Anderegg, Carl Anderson, Alex Angelson, Christine Anton, Sara Armstrong, Michael Babyak, Gineen Bresso, Tyler Brown, Jeffrey Brownlee, Courtney Butcher, Anna Katherine Cabaniss, Joseph Chang, Jason Chung, CC Cobaugh, Paul Coyer, Sharon Day, Logan Dryden, Kim Ekmark, Max Everett, Dirk Eyman, Jonathan Du, Grant Gardner, Mike Gilding, Ed Goeas, Jackson Greene, Julia Griswold, William Heartsill, Rebecca Heilig, Lauren Hernandez, Mike Holley, CJ Jordan, Katie Hrkman, Dave Juday, Kate Karnes, Sarah Keeny, Jennifer Ketchum, Kirsten Kukowski, Dan Kunsman, Dee Dee Lancaster, Bronwyn Lance-Chester, Gerrit Lansing, Jeff Larson, Anne Lesser, Ryan Mahoney, Matthew Mazzone, Arjun Mody, Janet Montesi, Kimberly Morrall, Vanessa Morrone, Maison Newenhouse, Kathryn Neville, Lexi Nord, Denise Northrup, Andrew Olmem, Mike Omegna, Caroline Ozer, John Phillippe, Brandon Renz, Jackie Rivera, Christine Samuelian, Audrey Scagnelli, Sendek, , Lani Short, Harold “Hal” Smith, Steve Smith, Veronica Smith, , Elizabeth Stangl, Elizabeth Steil, Melinda Stell, Maddison Stone, Jan Sumrall, James Tobin, Lauren Toomey, Courtney Uckele, Mike Vallante, Evan Walker, , Lindsey Walters, David Wilezol, , Kathi Wise

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