On education, Southerland supports changing the No Child Left Behind Act to give funding flexibility to state and local officials. He supports school accountability measures using state-level testing and advocated paying teachers based on merit.

During the 2010 House campaign, Southerland attacked Boyd for voting for the 2010 health-care reform bill that also included changes to student-loan programs. Southerland said the changes, which shifted funds for subsidies for private lenders to direct government loans, were responsible for private lender Sallie Mae's decision to close a Panama City facility that employs up to 700 people.

A social conservative, Southerland is unwavering on "the rights of the unborn child." "How barbaric a nation that would destroy the sanctity of life," Southerland said at a May 2010 candidate forum. "I will never compromise on this point."

Fiscal Policy

Southerland supports extending both the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for everyone.

Southerland has proposed cutting funding for three cabinet level departments as a way to minimize spending: Education, Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Though Rep. Allen Boyd's 2010 campaign ran an attack ad against Southerland accusing the Republican of wanting to strip Social Security benefits for those with mental or physical illnesses, Southerland has said he would not cut Social Security or Medicare benefits for seniors. Southerland supports protecting benefits, without raising taxes or the retirement age.

Energy and the Environment

An opponent of cap-and-trade measures to address climate change, Southerland supports eliminating regulations for certain domestic-energy industries, including policies that he says "have scared off private sector companies from building nuclear power plants." Southerland supports opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.

Following the April 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Southerland criticized the Obama administration's comprehensive ban on offshore oil drilling.

"They can't be drilling where they can't solve problems, but I think there's a lot of other places that they should and could be drilling, and if they have a comprehensive plan on how to prevent these types of things from happening, they should be able to drill," Southerland said.

Health-Care Reform

An opponent of the health-care reform bill that passed in March 2010, Southerland says government mandates for insurance should be halted. "I question the constitutionality of what they did," Southerland said. "Repealing it is not possible as long as there's a Democrat in the White House, but we could refuse to appropriate some of the new expenses for it."

Southerland supports traditionally Republican changes to the system, including tort reform, allowing interstate competition, the creation of high-risk pools and changing the tax code to allow people purchasing insurance to receive tax credits.

Immigration

Southerland says the most important issue related to immigration is to secure U.S. borders through a combination of border fences and other technology. Southerland also supports adopting English as the official U.S. language, requiring new citizens to be "fairly proficient in its use." He opposes granting amnesty to illegal immigrants and opposes using guest worker programs as an automatic path to U.S. citizenship or benefits.

Southerland said he supports a 2010 Arizona law allowing local law enforcement to check the legal status of anyone reasonably suspected of being an illegal immigrant.

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