Taking on the Tough Issues

Criminal Justice

Governor Christie laid out a plan focused on keeping communities safe while helping non-violent offenders reclaim their lives

Camden As National Model For Community Policing

Effective law enforcement requires a police force that is engaged in their community and has the necessary resources and support. In Camden, New Jersey – long one of the most violent cities in America – Governor Christie joined a coalition of county and community leaders that brought about a fundamental restructuring of the city’s police force and a rethinking of their engagement with those they serve.

• Police can build trust while also keep people safe through a focus on community outreach, putting officers right on the streets and investing in cutting edge crime-fighting technology.
• In Camden, residents have begun to see the benefits of these types of reforms with a 22 Percent Overall Drop In Violent Crime and a 51 Percent Reduction In Homicides.

Restore Fairness And Common Sense To The Justice System

Focus on Treatment First Through Drug Courts: Governor Christie has championed the use of drug courts in the state of New Jersey, which allow first time, non-violent offenders, the opportunity to get the treatment they need rather than serving jail time. The Governor expanded mandatory drug court for first time non-violent drug offenders across the state, and is calling for the expansion drug courts to every state. Governor Christie is also calling for ending the current dysfunctional, ad-hoc approach for implementing drug courts being used on the federal level and as President, would make drug court mandatory in all 94 federal districts.

Common-Sense Bail Reform: It is fundamentally unfair that in some cases individuals charged with minor, non-violent offenses can be held in jail while awaiting trial simply because they cannot afford bail, while dangerous and violent offenders can be back out on the streets because they can.

• Bail should be issued based on an assessment of risk, and judges should be able to deny release to those with violent records or who pose a threat to their communities.
• Individuals who commit non-violent, minor offenses should have access to non-monetary bail options – giving them a chance to reclaim their lives.

Helping Ex-Offenders Reclaim Their Lives

One-Stop Reentry Services: Governor Christie is calling for an expansion of the one-stop model to help ex-offenders access critical services and support that creates stability and consistency. In New Jersey, a single physical location in each participating city was established to provide access to the services proven most critical to help ex-offenders move forward from addiction, find stability and re-enter their communities: Addiction Treatment, Housing & Employment Services.

Education and Job Training Opportunities for Inmates: Educational and training opportunities for inmates should be expanded so that upon release ex-offenders will have acquired the skills they need to find stable employment. Re-entering the workforce is a critical step for ex-offenders to reintegrate into their communities and lead productive lives.

Ban The Box: One of the biggest challenges facing ex-offenders as they seek to re-enter society is finding and maintaining stable employment. One key step we can
take to help these individuals find jobs is to require employers to first interview job applicants before asking if he or she has ever been convicted of a crime.

Entitlements

Governor Christie’s Plan To Reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid

Governor Christie has laid out a comprehensive series of proposals to reform entitlement spending, ensuring that America’s safety net will continue to exist for today’s seniors and future generations, while at the same time helping to reduce the explosion of national debt and demand for higher taxes that unrestrained growth of these entitlement programs will create.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Social Security exists so America’s seniors, after a lifetime of hard work, don’t fall into poverty. Governor Christie is proposing that Americans pay into this system throughout the course of their life knowing it will be there if they need it to support them, but if they are fortunate enough not to need it, they will have paid into a system that will continue to help Americans who need it most. This proposal will not impact current retirees, and will be phased-in gradually.

MEDICARE

Medicare spending growth is placing an inescapable burden on future generations and failing to produce high-quality health care results for our seniors. In order to make these programs fiscally solvent for future generations and improve the kind of health care services and treatment those utilizing these programs receive, Governor Christie proposes keeping it simple - if you can afford to pay more for your health benefits you will and if you can’t, you won’t. Governor Christie proposes expanding the existing sliding scale for Medicare premiums for higher-income seniors.

MEDICAID

Governor Christie proposes giving each state a set amount of Medicaid funds indexed to the number of enrollees in Medicaid. Under such an arrangement, Medicaid would continue to provide more funding for states and low-income individuals when the economy is doing poorly and unemployment increases. By implementing a per capita cap system, all states will have increased freedom to tailor Medicaid programs to their citizens in the best-suited manner for their state.

DISABILITY INSURANCE

Reforming Disability Insurance (DI) is an urgent challenge. The DI trust fund will become insolvent next year. The best way to save this program and ensure it has the necessary resources to assist those who need it is by focusing on ways to help those beneficiaries who can keep working to return to the workforce and encouraging rehabilitation in lieu of permanent disability. We should require applicants to first work directly with employers and rehabilitation specialists to create a plan and explore alternatives and accommodations that can be made to address their specific needs in their current workplace. We should also offer tax incentives that encourage employers to invest in prevention, accommodation and rehabilitation services for their workers as well as to provide short-term private disability insurance.

Foreign Policy

America’s Role In The World

A Stronger National Defense.

Keeping our military strong must be at the heart of any global agenda. A strong military doesn’t just help us to deal with the threats we face. It helps eliminate them before we even see them. We need to give our men and women in uniform the resources they need to get the job done. As President, Governor Christie will repeal the sequestration cuts and restore funding levels to what Secretary Gates proposed with modest increases in defense spending through the end of the decade.

We also need to build a new generation of weapon systems to protect our interests on every front – on the ground, on the seas, in the air or new frontiers even further out. We need to invest in unmanned aviation, directed energy weapons and space while continuing to be leaders in undersea warfare. When it comes to cyber warfare, we need to be ready not just to defend against threats, we need the offensive capabilities to deter our enemies – or strike back when necessary.

Strong, Reliable Intelligence.

Governor Christie has seen up close just how important the intelligence community is to defending our way of life. As U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, his office focused on fighting terrorism every day. When it comes to preparing for the threats over the horizon, strength and knowledge go hand in hand.

It is disgraceful the way there are folks in Washington who want American intelligence weaker and less informed just to drive their own personal political agendas. Protecting our homeland must be an uncompromising priority. We need to toughen our anti-terror and surveillance laws to give our intelligence services the legal mechanisms to do their job.

We need to invest in new technologies and infrastructure to support our signals intelligence, so that we can actually interpret all the data we’re gathering. At the same time, we need to strengthen our human intelligence capabilities in the parts of the world where they’re weakest. We can also do more to strengthen our cooperation and intelligence sharing with our neighbors, as well as our allies in Europe.

Stand With Our Allies And Stand Up To Our Adversaries.

It’s not just our strength and intelligence that defines us as a country; it’s our willingness to stand with those who share our values and interests. We became the leader of the free world because we also chose to become the arsenal of democracy. And when we make a commitment to stand with our allies, our word is our bond. Or at least it used to be. Right now, we have a government that doesn’t seem to care about all the blood and sweat and treasure that it took to build those alliances. Because we’ve broken our word.

Whoever is going to be our next Commander-in-Chief is going to make restoring America’s word a priority. We need to make it clear to our friends and allies that we stand with them in the cause of freedom, and against all the gathering threats.

Education

Governor Christie’s Education Reform Agenda

NEW JERSEY REFORMS A MODEL FOR THE NATION

Since taking office, Governor Christie acted on his commitment to ensure that every child in New Jersey has access to a high-quality education regardless of their zip code. The sweeping changes he enacted can and should be a model for reform for the nation.

• Reform Tenure To Remove Teachers Who Are Failing Students While Rewarding Good Teachers For Performance: Tenure for teachers should be awarded and retained based on performance. In New Jersey, Governor Christie signed into law a sweeping, bipartisan overhaul of the oldest tenure law in the nation. Also, for the first time in New Jersey history, a new contract for teachers in Newark allows them to earn raises and be eligible for additional bonuses based in part on student performance.


• Promote College Readiness: Focusing specifically on students from low income families, college readiness programs can enroll these students in transitional courses before they graduate high school to better prepare them for college. In New Jersey’s initial pilot of the College Readiness Now Program, 19 community colleges in partnership with over 60 high schools across the state successfully participated.


• Provide School Choice For Those In Failing Districts: Students in struggling districts should have the option of attending a public school outside their district of residence without cost to their parents. Enrollment in New Jersey’s Inter-District School Choice Program increased more than 5-fold since the program was signed into law in 2010.


• Expand Access To Charter Schools: Another way to expand the education options available for children trapped in school districts with the largest achievement gaps is to encourage the best charter school operators. The Christie Administration has increased the overall number of charter schools in New Jersey to 87, serving 37,500 students.

MAKING HIGHER EDUCATION MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR ALL

Governor Christie firmly believes that by ensuring students know the quality of the program they are investing in, giving them the flexibility and innovative tools to get the job done, while expanding access to tuition assistance, America can ensure that every young person can affordably develop the skills they need to compete in the modern economy.

Affordability & Student Aid: Governor Christie proposes to refocus federal student assistance for those at the bottom while expanding alternative funding such as income-share agreements in which students could agree to pay some percentage of their future income for a defined period of time in exchange for private financing as well as tax credits to pay for programs that pay down student debt in exchange for community service.

Transparency & Accountability: Students should be able to see cost itemization for tuition, so they can know what they’re really paying for. If colleges can break out those costs, they should also unbundle them – allowing students, to just pay for the education and not all the add-ons. Greater transparency will also allow schools to analyze and compare their operating costs with other similar institutions.

Innovation And Alternative Education Models: America should strive to give students lots of different ways to learn, and shouldn’t fear alternatives to traditional four-year public universities. ‘Stackable credentials’ would allow students to re-enroll at different colleges over time without losing credits so students have the flexibility to jump in and out of education as needed. We should also expand apprenticeships and training programs while linking employers with education institutions to offer a variety of paths for individuals to develop the skills the labor force needs.