• We should lower taxes on middle income Tennesseans while maintaining fiscal discipline.

• I believe that everyone should pay their fair share to ensure a fair contribution from each of us and a fair opportunity for all of us.

•  We need strong consumer protection laws to protect consumers from the politically powerful special interests, like credit card companies, insurance companies, and big corporate banks.

• Economic policy must encourage research and innovation to fuel future economic growth, including “green collar” job initiatives. Now, more than ever, we need economic policies that encourage innovation here in Tennessee.

• The state government should be fiscally responsible the same way families have to be fiscally responsible.

•  Hard-working Tennesseans must be able to keep more of their income. I will ensure that this happens by opposing the state income tax in the legislature.

Eddie on Education: Transforming Our Workforce

• We need an education system that helps prepare Tennesseans for the kinds of high paying jobs that will be available in the global economy.

• No college student in good academic standing should have to drop out because they cannot afford it. The state government needs to continue its commitment to helping students finance their education—I led the fight to lower the GPA for Lottery scholars and keep more of our children in college.

•  I strongly supported legislation to support early childhood education, that is why I pushed for a bill that created 250 new pre-kindergarten classrooms for our children.

Eddie on Health Care for Tennesseans:

• Accessible and affordable health care for all Tennesseans through a combination of private insurance and public insurance and programs, like TennCare, is an achievable goal.

• We must get more aggressive in stopping the waste and abuse of TennCare and other publically funded health insurance programs to lower the costs for working families.

• I believe that lowering health care costs for hardworking families will spur economic growth.

• We must take care of our seniors by continuing to support home and community-based health care.

Eddie on Protecting the Natural Beauty of Our Community:

• I led the fight to help clean up the Pigeon River not only because it helps protect the health of our families but also because a clean, healthy river will bring jobs and tourism dollars to our community. See HERE to view a picture of Governor Bredesen signing the Pigeon River Bill into law and See HERE to read a story on the bill.

• I supported legislation to ban mountain-top removal strip mining because it destroys the natural beauty of our mountains and causes harm to the tourist opportunities for our community.

• We must ensure that our children inherit a clean, healthy environment. That is why I advanced a proposal to standardize testing the waters flowing through Tennessee’s borders from neighboring states. We know there are entities outside the borders of our state that are directly impacting the water flowing into Tennessee. Thanks to this bill, we can start building an accurate database of the issues going on in the Pigeon and isolate the culprit.

• Bringing clean, fresh water into our rural communities is very important to me. I strongly support any measures that will bring new water lines to our area.

Eddie on Illegal Immigration:

• I support tough, common sense approaches to dealing with illegal immigration in Tennessee.

• I strongly supported legislation that would make it illegal for companies to knowingly hire illegal immigrants. I believe that we must protect jobs for our citizens.

• We must crack down on the people who are bringing illegal immigrants into our community. That is why I co-sponsored a bill that makes it illegal to transport immigrants into the state if they entered the United States Illegally.

Eddie on Energy Policy:

• Frankly, I was ahead of the curve on the energy crisis we now face. In 2005 I sponsored a resolution calling for the U.S. Congress to pursue more offshore drilling for natural gas. I did so because we couldn't wait then and we can't wait now--we must act quickly to lower prices and ease the burden on our working families. Please click HERE to view the resolution.

• I strongly support tax breaks for those who buy new, alternative-energy vehicles. Or offer incentives to people who install Wind, Solar or Thermal energy generators on their land.

• We MUST break our addiction to foreign oil, and we MUST learn to live within our means and truly conserve what we have. But I believe the Tennessee Legislature can ease the burden during this transition and I intend to look for ways to do just that.

Eddie on Second Amendment Rights:

• I strongly support the Constitutional Right to own a firearm--Period. I myself have a concealed weapons permit and I strongly support the rights of hunters.

Eddie on Life:

• I am against abortion—As a Christian, my faith teaches me that abortion is absolutely wrong and that I, as a public servant, have a responsibility to prevent these horrendous acts from happening. I have and continue to support SJR127 and have voted to pass it both in committee and on the floor of the House of Representatives. It is my hope that we can take the partisanship out of this issue and work together to find ways to end abortions, both in this state and this country. 

If you have a question about an issue, please email us at:  issues@eddieyokley.us