For years, we’ve elected people who’ve promised to go to Washington to make a difference, but it’s rarely done. They get back there and immediately forget about the hardworking people who sent them. The ones they’re supposed to be representing.
Utahns are tired of excuses and do-nothing politicians with zero common sense. Who’s fighting for the little guy? The real people who keep our engines running, our lights on and our economy moving. If elected, I will go to Washington to fight for every single Utahn.
While some things are complicated, others are just simply common sense. I understand the difference, and I pledge in my first 100 days in office to work to find solutions to some of the most urgent problems facing our nation.
Our open southern border must be addressed. Immediately. A nation without borders will not long remain a functional nation. Under President Joe Biden, over 7.2 million immigrants have entered our country illegally. This is astronomical, and its impacts, truly incomprehensible. The number of aliens we know about who’ve entered this nation illegally under Biden is greater than the population of 36 states, and the cost to the taxpayer is estimated at up to $451 million annually — according to a House GOP report.
This lawlessness cannot continue. I will propose legislation to immediately fund a border wall that protects our sovereignty, along with more boots on the ground, enhanced security measures, and the re-implementation of Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy.
The U.S. Senate in 2019 couldn’t even pass Trump’s $4.6 billion bill to secure our border, yet we’ve approved well over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine to protect its border. Why is America always last? I will not be putting other countries before our own.
The second thing I will do is propose and support any legislation that reins in federal spending. The bottom line is, we’re broke. America is over $34 trillion in debt. Think about it — 1 trillion seconds is approximately 32,000 years, and we’re adding that much to our debt load every 100 days! The numbers are incomprehensible.
Biden and his supporters have pushed us into such insurmountable debt that there is no way to escape its dire consequences without massive new economic innovation and growth. And either way, a balanced budget amendment is the only way to force the hand of our elected representatives to do right by the American people. I will support such an amendment while in office.
Washington math never makes real sense. Again, this isn’t difficult. Whether lawmakers like it or not, math is still a thing, and there will be a steep price to pay for our profligacy.
I will also be supporting legislation like the REINS Act, which requires any major new rule coming out of a federal agency to be voted on and approved by the House and the Senate. Just like any other law.
Currently, government agencies have little to no oversight and are essentially operating as the fourth branch of government. Bureaucrats should not be writing and passing rules, which have the ability to strip citizens of life, liberty or property, without any accountability and completely outside the bounds of the Constitution.
It’s time to put the government back in its place and start trimming. Transformative change must happen now.
One of the best ways Washington can break out of the status quo and begin to get a handle on this mess is by requiring one-issue bills like we do in Utah. Cramming all kinds of special-interest favors into bills, and horse trading in the dead of night, is resulting in a spending spree that will break our nation.
I will bring a bill to do just this. My old boss, Sen. Mike Lee, has done a fantastic job bringing change to the Senate, and I plan to do the same. Of course, changes are slow and real reform is never easy. But the solutions are a lot simpler than politicians would like us to believe.
The third thing I plan to do is bring reforms to education; the future of this nation depends on it. Our children and grandchildren will be running our country in short order and we must ensure they are prepared to lead the way. We all know, first and foremost, this starts in the home, but their education will have a significant impact.
Federal control over our education system is not helpful. It is creating distractions that are only getting in the way of what John Adams declared as “wisdom and knowledge … diffused generally among the body of the people (are) necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties.”
The recently-released Biden changes to Title IX are the perfect example. Rather than a disciplined focus on the diffusion of wisdom and knowledge in our public schools, federal bureaucrats are forcing the facilitation of boys and men who want to use girls’ private public school spaces.
Local leaders and educators should be leading the way in ensuring an education focused on the basics of math, reading and history. This cannot be done with a federal Department of Education enforcing the whims of an out-of-control executive branch. We can do better, and we must do better.
If elected, I promise to keep my promises. For too long, we’ve sent the same type of politicians back to Washington, D.C., over and over again, to continue doing the very things that put us here in the first place. We deserve better.
Every Utahn is worth fighting for. Every Utahn deserves a real advocate in Washington. Every Utahn deserves leaders who understand that not everything is as complicated as politicians might want to make it, that common sense can rule the day.
I promise to stand by my word, to fight for Utah, for you and for this nation.
Carolyn Phippen is a candidate for the U.S. Senate.