Melissa Haluszczak's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Pennsylvania Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| No | b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| C. When pregnancy occurs from incest or rape, the incident must be reported and the procedure performed within 7 days of the incident. | |||
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.
| Eliminate | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Maintain Status | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Maintain Status | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Maintain Status | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Slightly Increase | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Homeland security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Medical research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Scientific research | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Eliminate | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Eliminate | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| 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? | ||
| Replace the income taxes with a more equitable system. | |||
| The best way to stimulate the economy is to allow consumers to keep more of their own money. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| D. I support the ability of workers to unionize as long as workers also have the ability to not join the union as well as not pay the union dues if they are not joining the union. E. I support federal funding for job-training programs as long as they contain "sunset" provisions. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| No | b) Should Congress regulate indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support removing all contribution limits on federal campaigns? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| No | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| A. Capital crimes, including murder of law enforcement officers. E. I believe the judiciary has discretion over the sentence based on the crime and the criminal history of the individual. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | d) Do you support federal funding for K-12 school vouchers? | ||
| No | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| A-E. I believe that education is the responsibility of the parents and the individual states; not the federal government. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| A-D. There is insufficient evidence proving that climate change is man-made, and that is not rational to have the federal goverment make life altering decisions based on a lack of evidence. G. I support the market place development of all forms of energy, including nuclear. | |||
| 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? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| We need to require businesses to institute the use of the E-Verify system for all employees, to verify their status as legal citizens, and heavily fine businesses who hire illegal immigrants. Also, we need to stop giving legal citizenship to "Anchor babies"; children born in the U.S. to parents who immigrated here illegally. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| Yes | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| G. However, I don't think sanctions work alone. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| No | 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? | ||
| A. I support civil unions, and all rights and benefits afforded thereunder. | |||
| My first priority is economic growth and jobs. Proven in both the Kennedy and Reagan administrations were tax cuts that keep money in the hands of consumers and investors restoring economic growth and jobs. My second priority is access to cost effective quality healthcare. We must repeal the 2010 Health Reform Act. Real reform is (1) Individual ownership of health insurance (so it is portable from job to job), (2) Tax credits for individual purchases of health insurance (Health Savings Accounts(HSAs), (3) Cross state purchases of health insurance (so there is competition), (4) Tort reform with regard to non-economic damages. |
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