Mark Zaccaria's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Mark Zaccaria has refused to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2016 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
Rhode Island Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | |||
| c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | |||
| d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | |||
| Yes | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? | ||
| We can't make Abortion Illegal. We need to make it unthinkable. We need a vigorous public education program that explains options to parents at risk of abortion. We should not forsake these citizens or close out communication by making them outlaws. We need to engage them to show them cultural leadership to get them to turn away from this terrible practice. By the way, No Federal Funding for Abortion should also include Military Hospitals. | |||
1) SpendingIndicate what federal funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.2) TaxesIndicate what federal tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.
| Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Arts | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Maintain Status | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Homeland security | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Medical research | ||
| Slightly Decrease | i) Scientific research | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Space exploration | ||
| Slightly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Slightly Decrease | m) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Other or expanded categories | ||
| Yes | 3) Do you support the elimination of the federal estate tax? | ||
| Yes | 4) Do you support requiring the federal budget to be balanced each year? | ||
| No | 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy? | ||
| 6) Other or expanded principles | |||
| We need to make real, actual reductions in the cost of federal government and we need to do it immediately. Every function in every department is on the table. Decreasing military salaries & benefits means decreasing troop strength, not cutting individuals pay. To do that we need to conclude expeditionary activities abroad and return substantial forces to the US from overseas postings. Congress should appropriate only a portion of the budget levels used in the last fiscal year and then federal managers should Manage - to live within those limits. | |||
| Fees and taxes for income purposes should also be dramatically reduced, with the possible exception of Customs Duties. We should compensate for any revenue reductions that result from this policy by aggressively lowering expenditures. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support privatizing elements of Social Security? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing the federal minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the ability of workers to unionize? | ||
| No | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should Congress regulate indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support removing all contribution limits on federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should candidates for federal office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support giving the President the power of the line item veto for items concerning appropriations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support limiting the President's ability to define how legislation is applied through the use of signing statements? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related training and job-placement assistance when released? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenders? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students? | ||
| No | b) Do you support federal funding for universal pre-K programs? | ||
| No | c) Do you support federal funding for charter schools? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support federal funding for K-12 school vouchers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| Federal aid for tuition to college students should be merit scholarships, not general entitlements. | |||
| No | a) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | b) Do you support international emissions targets aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| No | c) Do you support allowing energy producers to trade carbon credits under a "cap and trade" system? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support strengthening fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support domestic oil exploration in federally-protected areas? | ||
| No | f) Do you support federal funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| The federal government may well wish to promote the development of Alternative Energy technologies, but this should be done through economic incentives NOT through grants that immunize businesses from the free market. | |||
| No | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individual citizens to own guns? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| No | d) Do you support a ban on assault rifles? | ||
| We have plenty of laws in place on the the subject of individual behavior. This is the proper province of criminal justice. We do not need any laws banning technologies. We need to have faith in the ability of ordinary citizens to use the Authority granted them by the US Constitution and to use it Responsibly. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| Yes | c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support relaxing regulations on the importation of prescription drugs? | ||
| Government should use its legislative authority to create an environment where a personal, portable Health Savings Account (HSA) can exist for the life of an individual. Government should also create the legislative environment where there can be nationwide competition for insurance products that can be chosen to cap expenditures from an HSA. Then government should get out of the way and let the industry operate without artificial market limitations. | |||
| No | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support establishing English as the official national language? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| here is already a path to citizenship for those coming to America to become Americans. Each year that path is taken by more new US Citizens than all other nations on earth admit. Our problem is with those coming here only for economic purposes. For them we need to have an easy to use Guest Worker program (9 months in, 3 months out) and robust sanctions against scofflaw employers to shut of under-the-table exploitation opportunities. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? | ||
| No | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| No | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support granting aid to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support increasing sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy United Nations mandates? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq? | ||
| No | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| As we have them today, Free Trade Agreements are stacked against the US Manufacturer because we operate in a higher overhead environment of regulation and workplace safety. We need to compete in a global marketplace, but we need to do so on equitable terms. The privilege of equal access to US Markets should carry with it the responsibility of complying with US Standards when making the goods for exchange. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the United States military? | ||
| No | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | ||
| Military service for soldiers of all sexual preferences should be approved only when the military command is ready for it. The problem is not in the trenches. The problem is in the religious, educational, and health systems the US Military runs worldwide. Should an ordained member of clergy who is also a military chaplain be required by order of the president to act against the spiritual teachings of the hierarchy of his or her faith? There are sticky questions to be resolved internally. When the Military is ready, I'm Ready. | |||
| Cutting US Federal Expenditures - We need to live on less Cutting federal mandates that induce needless overhead in the US Private Sector Realigning the US Monetary System with Article 1, Section 4 of the US Constitution These steps would result in an immediate liberation of the US Economy and an explosion of business activity - and the jobs and prosperity that go with it. |
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