Sharon Brannigan's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Sharon Brannigan has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2014 Political Courage Test.
Illinois Congressional Election 2014 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Obamacare includes taxpayer funded abortions. Rep. Lipinski voted countless times to keep all of Obamacare including abortions. This legislation would never have been supported by me at all. | |||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| As long as there is no regulation on individual campaign contributions. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering taxes as a way of promoting growth in the economy? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Lowering the corporate tax rate immediately to 20% and thereafter over a five year period to a permanent 15%. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| The federal government does not belong anywhere in the educational system. Education belongs in the hands of teachers and parents in each district of each school across the United States. | |||
| Yes | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| To clarify, I believe that there needs to be more research done on the hypothesis of climate change. There has been only 150 years of written documentation on climate, a mere blip in the time earth has existed. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| I bring your attention to the 2nd Amendment Rights of the Constitution. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| The federal government belongs nowhere in our healthcare system. My opponent has voted countless times to keep all of Obamacare as well as all of the taxes that go with it. He has refused to repeal or stop any part of this law, including the taxpayer funded abortion. Healthcare costs can be reigned in by passing legislation to allow individuals, small groups and businesses to purchase insurance across state lines. Also, health savings accounts and tort reform should be the avenue to pursue to reign in the costs of healthcare without a government takeover of 1/6 of our economy. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| My opponent voted to not fund border security at all and then voted present to allow the President to do whatever he wished regarding this issue in effect marginalizing Congress and his constituents and paving the way to amnesty. I believe according to our Constitution that one of the federal governments main jobs is to protect the border. In essence, some of the reform of immigration that I would support is funding the border states with proper security including manpower and fencing and better tracking of visas in and out of the country. | |||
| No | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| It is my religious belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. | |||
| Yes | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| Yes | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
SpendingIndicate what federal spending levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category; you can use a number more than once.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.
| Greatly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Arts | ||
| Greatly Increase | c) Defense | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Increase | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| Greatly Decrease | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Greatly Decrease | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| For the safety and security of our nation and its citizens, the $17 trillion deficit needs to be addressed and the only category that should be increased is Defense. Since my opponent was elected ten years ago, he has voted to increase the federal deficit from $9.8 trillion to nearly doubled at $17.8 trillion. | |||
| History has shown that every time taxes have been lowered, more money comes into the treasury, i.e. the Kennedy, Reagan and G.W. Bush Administrations. Tax cuts inherently allow for job creation by business owners thereby rendering the positive domino effect that employment brings forth. | |||
| 1.) SECURE THE BORDERS! Funding to secure the borders and increase our military would be the only increase in funding that I would support. 2.) Stopping Obamacare before further implementation would be the largest offset in order to secure the borders would be priority. 3.) Tax reform. 74,000 pages of tax reform by all accounts is ridiculous. I would support all efforts to push toward a 15% across the board flat tax except on the very poor, while eliminating loopholes and deductions entirely. |
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