Recind the Supreme Court's decision to allow corporations to contribute unlimited funds to/for political campaigns.

Many people are loosing their homes, still! Either they see no hope of recoverying the cost of their homes due to dramatic home devaluations or they have no means of covering the mortgage payments due to loss of jobs or having to take lower paying jobs. Instead of allowing foreclosure as the only means to address this, Banks should step up to address this properly. Additionally, if done properly, this would put more money in the hands of people to further help stimulate the economy and NOT increase the deficit.

Voter ID laws were passed in Kansas in 2011. The law requires all voters to show a photo ID at the polls. The law is nearly identical to other American Legislative Exchange Council voter suppression measures in other states. ALEC requires ten-thousand dollars from corporate members, using this money to provide “scholarships” for state legislators to come to lavish parties and conferences at resort hotels. At these conferences, big businesses and state legislators get together to strategize what they see as the best path forward for their own interests, while reporters and journalists are explicitly banned from the proceedings so as to prevent the public from knowing the truth about ALEC’s plans. Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, ALEC member, and author of the Voter ID laws, purposefully included a "free photo ID" for all citizens. This law was to go into effect January 1st, 2012. As of January 3rd, local DMV's have received no resources or training to supply the thousands of temporary IDs necessary to ensure all Kansans can vote in the critical 2012 election. Currently, Kobach is pushing for a rushed implementation of the second half of his law, originally set to go into effect in 2013: all citizens must provide a birth certificate or proof of citizenship to register to vote. Kobach has publicly stated that he wants this half-baked law to go into effect before the 2012 election. Despite failing to implement the first half of the voter-ID laws, Kobach and other politicians still want to rush on with requiring proof of citizenship to register. These laws will disenfranchise thousands and make it impossible for anyone but the state or extremely well-funded organizations to register voters. Worse yet, with DMVs reporting to volunteers across the state they currently have no training on how to provide the IDs, citizens are left wondering what happened to the ~$60,000 allotted to implementing the first part of this misguided law. And what will happen if rushed implementation of the proof-of-citizenship requirement is allowed to move up before the next election?

Support a Ban on Single-Use Grocery Bags

The chronic issue with Social Security is that Congress has "borrowed" funds from the Social Security Trust Fund for use for non-social security purposes. It's time Congress paid those funds back.

Among the many dubious provisions in the 2005 energy bill was one dubbed the Halliburton loophole, which was inserted at the behest of then-Vice President Dick Cheney, a former chief executive of Halliburton. It stripped the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its authority to regulate a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing. Invented by Halliburton in the 1940s, it involves injecting a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals, some of them toxic, into underground rock formations to blast them open and release natural gas.

In April, the Obama Administration said that clean water is the foundation for healthy communities and a healthy environment. I agree completely, and urge you to make sure that the clean water policies being proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers move forward.

Do not promote students repeatedly when they fail to master basic grade-level math skills.

Presently the Arizona Insurance Commission does not get involved if a health insurance company pays any money toward a claim. Consequently, in emergency situations a health insurance company can get away with paying out-of-network 60% vs the 80% that should be paid for emergency situations. example: a car accident where the patient is taken to the closest hospital. This causes personal hardship and an increase in filing for personal bankruptcy in Arizona.

Stop lobbyist power by stopping their access to Congress and the President.

Public Finance of all campaigns

Our present system of financing campaigns for all offices is destroying democracy. Having politicians write the rules of campaign financing is self-serving. Presently almost no one runs for office without backing from organizations. Corporations, unions and foreign countries expect a return on their money when they contribute to a candidate. Their interests seldom support the 99%. Corporations are not people and yet our Supreme Court has ruled they are when it comes to financing campaigns. Doing what's right for the country is secondary to doing what's good for a particular political party. Besides costing billions, never-ending campaigning takes leaders away from their elected jobs and is an intrusion in our lives