Joe Serra for IL CD-14

Background:

I am 46 Married for 19 Years and have six children. I ran for Illinois State Representative in 2006 and worked on the John Laesch for Congress Campaign in 2006.

Goals:

I am running because I feel that the elected officials in Congress today are not getting the peoples business done. I am running to rebuild our greatest asset - our military.

Issues:

1. Rebuilding our Military
The U.S. military is the most professional, best-trained, and best-equipped military in history. For all the challenges presented in Afghanistan and Iraq, its combat capabilities are unmatched. Indeed, the greatest threats we face no longer come from peer competitors, but from foes that
seek out weakness on other planes of battle. This excellence is under siege. Our military has been at war for the last six years, but��\"other
than at our airports��\"our nation has not. There has been no call to service and no mobilization on a national scale. Instead, our leaders have deferred the tough challenges, which are
beginning to create serious crunches on both military personnel and equipment that no serious candidate for President can ignore. The U.S. military’s ability to field sufficient, high-quality, well-equipped forces is at a “tipping
point.” It is certainly far from broken, but warning symptoms are clearly mounting. Small
compromises��\"such as accepting gaps in personnel and equipment��\"are beginning to have huge Consequences. What keeps me awake at night, is what will this all-volunteer force look like in 2007? What it will look
like in 2008 and beyond keeps me awake at night too. Ensuring that the U.S. military does not break down is a critical��\"and unavoidable��\"challenge that I feel is of primary concern.

As a representative to our congress I will introduce the following measures;
• formulate a national call to service that would support recruitment efforts
• ensure that recruiting standards are not lowered
• restore funding of troop levels now deemed “temporary”
• expand the force only in a manner that addresses severe gaps and needs
• create a Joint Stabilization Command to better plan and support operations
• establish a Military Families Advisory Board to better support retention
• end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that puts social politics above national security
• make sure our troops have the supplies and equipment they need
• reevaluate weapons acquisitions to meet the realities of the post-9/11 world
• end abuse of the supplemental budget appropriations mechanism
• eliminate and punish waste and corruption that undermine security and
• reform the acquisition process to work the market rather than be worked by it

As a Congress man Representing the 14th District I will call on our next President to unleash, as called for in the Iraq Study Group Report, a \"diplomatic offensive\" to achieve a workable peace
agreement for Iraq. Congress will call on the President to vigorously seek the engagement of a special United Nations envoy to serve as a neutral arbiter in helping to broker political accommodation among the conflicting groups in Iraq, just as the United States relied on the United Nations to broker first an agreement on the timing of elections and then the Interim Government for Iraq in 2004. U.S. troops in Iraq should aim to provide the security needed to create a political environment to
negotiate a peace agreement to end the Iraq War. Throughout recent history, civil wars characterized by insurgency and guerilla fighting have required political settlements to achieve
peace. Moreover, weak and failed states have required external assistance to achieve effective self-governance. An urgent and energetic international political effort with focused mediation is
required to complement military deployments to Iraq. Both need to advance together to create the basis for sustainable peace. This mediation should be an intensive and well-coordinated
joint effort of the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union.
If the parties in Iraq cannot reach a political settlement to reduce the violence and ultimately achieve peace, then military force alone cannot succeed and must be redeployed back to the United States or to other bases abroad ending America’s military involvement in Iraq.

2. Reforming our Department of Veteran Affairs.
Both the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department fall short in providing adequate mental
health care as well as timely and fair disability payments. Immediate extra payments to injured
veterans, many of whom feel they lose out on benefits because of an overly narrow government
focus on earnings losses or other reasons. I DEMAND that the Veterans Administration fix an
outdated system that is broken. The changes I ask for will take into account new medical
therapies, prosthetics and other effects of war injuries on the daily functioning of wounded
warriors and their families.
Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are in danger of slipping through the
cracks because there is little coordination among agencies to ensure they get the full range of
services from needed medical treatment to proper compensation and vocational rehabilitation
so they can return to work. Many of our Veterans are with the National Guard and need to
return to their normal everyday lives.
The Bush administration has yet to find clear answers to some of the worst problems afflicting
wounded warriors, such as personalized medical care and reducing backlogs in disability pay.

I will work with Congress to provide the following
benefits for our veterans:

Immediately INCREASE of Veterans disability payments by up to 25 percent as an
sweeping overhaul to compensate for our wounded warrior\'s lost quality of life.
• I DEMAND a mandatory re-examination of all Veterans for PTSD to gauge treatment and
other issues every two to three years.
• Expand mental-health counseling for all returning soldiers AND their immediate family.
• Improve training for Iraq-bound soldiers AND their families on the emotional hardships of
combat.
• Benefits should be awarded to veterans for any service-related injury, regardless of
whether it was incurred during combat.
• The VA must make better use of technology as a way to reduce its overwhelming delay of 177 days, on average, in handing out disability payments.

3. Reforming our Child Molestation Laws.

Child Molestation Laws need to be toughened. Child molestation and sexual assault is the most rapid growing violent crime in the U.S. About 1.3 million children are sexually assaulted each year and statistically there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America. Of the
60 million survivors, 95 percent of molested children know their perpetrators and nearly half of the victims are under the age of 18. Shockingly, 1 in 6 boys will be sexually molested by age 18
and 1 in 4 girls will be sexually molested by age 18. Sexual offenders who prey on children are the vilest of all offenders. These offenders must be
sent a strong message that they must seek treatment or suffer the consequences when caught. Just as importantly, we must send a message to mothers and fathers indicating that we understand their concerns and fears and we are taking steps to contain and control this heinous crime.

• Child-sexual abuse requires a mandatory 15 years with no parole.
• Upon conviction of a second offense - life in prison.
• Crimes of a sexual nature against children should become Federal Offenses, enabling the courts to hand down harsher sentences and avoid early releases.
• Advocate much longer sentences and absolutely advocate a two strikes law in essence putting Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators away forever upon conviction of their second offense.
• Sexual Offenders and Sexual Predators are fitted with permanent monitoring devices upon their release enabling law enforcement officials to track their whereabouts anywhere in the country.

Grassroots Support:

Grass Roots is extremely important in this race and at the moment is all that I have. my base of supporters is growing in numbers. However, Grass roots support alone will not sustain this campaign. Much more professional support will be required to win.

DFA Values:

I am pro choice, pro union and believe in eliminating our nation's deficit.