Peter J. Roskam, Candidate for U.S. Congress, 6th District

Peter Roskam

Candidate Full Name: Peter J. Roskam

Office: U.S. Congress, 6th District

Party: Republican

Email Address: info@roskamforcongress.com

Web Site: www.roskamforcongress.com

Campaign Name: Roskam for Congress

Campaign Office Mailing Address: P.O. Box 713 Wheaton, IL 60187

Phone: 630-221-0006

Survey Questions (Character limit of 2,000 per response)

1. Please tell us about yourself, your background and why you believe you are qualified to hold this office.

Five years after the end of the great-recession, millions of Americans are either still out of work, have given up looking for jobs or are underemployed. My top priority continues to be getting our economy back on track and getting Americans back to work in high-quality, good-paying jobs. I am focused on policies to build a 21st Century economy where American innovation and hard work drives growth, so we can once again compete globally, creating jobs here at home. To do that, we must get the federal government out of the way by eliminating outdated, poorly working rules and regulations and replacing them with smarter, more effective ones. We must encourage success, not penalize it. And we must rein in the huge and growing federal government full of wasteful spending to get it off the backs of hardworking families and businesses so that they can thrive, and grow.

2. What are your thoughts on President Obama's plan for military action in Iraq and Syria?

In 2011, rather than listen to our military commanders on the ground, President Obama decided to remove combat troops from Iraq based on an arbitrary withdrawal window in order to fulfill a campaign promise that was a rhetoric-driven decision, not a strategy-driven one. It was a costly mistake that created a power vacuum that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has now filled. While I still have a number of concerns about the president's long-term strategy to eliminate this terrorist threat, I believe we must take action now before it's too late because the threat we face from ISIL is real. The United States should maintain its commitment to NATO but encourage our European allies to play a more pro-active, constructive role in confronting global challenges such as ISIL as well as Russian aggression towards Ukraine. We should not just lead from behind; the United States is uniquely positioned to lead on the global stage and be a force for good in this volatile part of the world.

3. Several major retailers recently disclosed they experienced data breaches. What can Congress do to help prevent this?

Both the House Financial Services Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been examining data security standards after the wave of announcements from major retailers that consumer credit card and personal data had been stolen. Currently, data security and reporting standards are controlled by the Federal Trade Commission and a number of regulations at both the federal and state level, leading to confusion and increased vulnerabilities. Congress can step forward and create a federal standard of data protection, ensuring a more rigorous standard for protecting consumer information and increasing reporting requirements to consumers if their data is stolen. We can also push forward, advancing new technologies like credit and debit cards fitted with microchips which are set to roll out by 2015. These common sense steps won't prevent all fraud and data theft, but could go a long way in making your data more secure.

4. Can the budget deficit be controlled only by spending cuts or does the federal government need to raise more revenue? If you favor more revenue, should there be a general tax hike?

In order to strengthen our economy and get our budget back in order, Washington must work to lower the national debt and reform our broken tax code. In Congress, I have voted to cut wasteful government spending and balance the budget, and I continue to work on solutions to make our broken tax code simpler, fairer and more competitive for families and businesses alike. It's been over 25 years since our tax code was reformed, and since then has become riddled with loopholes, carve outs and crony capitalism. Our tax code is so broken that American companies are fleeing the country, moving their headquarters overseas to escape the record high taxes they face here in the U.S. I strongly support eliminating loopholes and carve outs to create a flatter, fairer tax system for individuals so families can keep more of their hard earned money and fundamentally reforming the corporate tax code to keep and grow American jobs.

5. What are your thoughts on immigration reform?

First, we must address the current humanitarian crisis and secure the southern border. Our open border incentivizes criminals to traffic humans, weapons and drugs into the U.S., and creates a slew of problems from drug cartels violence to a huge wave of illegal migrants causing the health and safety crisis we hear so much about today. If our government will get serious about securing the border, we can then move on high-skilled visas; grant seasonal permits to agricultural workers; and set up a process by which undocumented immigrants can get right with the law. If we work through small bills that fix targeted problems, we will succeed in creating a smarter, more effective immigration system in a way that is transparent and easily understood. One thing we have seen time and again is that one big comprehensive bill just provides excuses to hide bad policy and produces a bad outcome.