Steve Smith's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
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Steve Smith has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2018 Political Courage Test.
Arizona Congressional Election 2018 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Life begins at conception. Mother Teresa once said that 75% of abortion's victims are women: half the babies and all the mothers. I wholeheartedly support the prohibition of abortion. I oppose taxpayer-funded abortion and would fully support a Constitutional Amendment making abortion illegal. Named Friend of the Family by the Arizona Family Project, I've got a 100% voting record in favor of promoting and defending family values. | |||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| It's important to note that I fully support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. One of the most dangerous threats we face as a country is our crippling national debt. We are not immune to the laws of financial prudence. Our national debt is currently over 21 trillion dollars, which breaks down to nearly 65,000 dollars per citizen. We cannot continue to live beyond our means, and hence, resort to kicking the can down the road while mortgaging our children?s future. I think the Penny Plan is an effective mechanism to combat out-of-control federal spending. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Arizona is now one of America's most successful states when it comes to job creation in large part to tax-cutting and deregulatory policies. The tax relief bill signed into law by President Trump was a huge step in the right direction in stimulating economic growth, growing wages, increasing small business/private sector confidence, bringing unemployment numbers to the lowest they've been in decades, and finally, putting more money into the pockets of working men and women. In addition, more than three million jobs have been created since the President took office, and second quarter growth is projected to be 4.1%. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| I thoroughly believe in the Jeffersonian principle that government governs best which governs least, and furthermore, giving much of the power back to the States where it rightfully belongs. I come from a family of teachers, so advancing education has always been vitally important to me. I oppose and have voted against Common Core because I believe local control over education is best and that more resources should be aimed at the classroom. | |||
| No | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| No | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Guns don't kill people. People kill people. I'm A+ rated by the NRA and supported by GOA. Throwing more gun control legislation into the mix will not fix our problem. The city of Chicago has some of the most strict gun control laws on the books, yet gun-related violence statistics remain at an all-time high. We desperately need to address our rampant culture of dysfunction in modern society. I support arming and training some of our school employees, and I support an increase in school resource officers per campus to better combat school shootings. We cannot leave our kids unprotected. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| Obamacare has resulted in skyrocketing health insurance premiums and has caused people to lose their jobs. It has taken the personal component from the patient-doctor relationship and severely limited the overall supply of health care options available to consumers. I applaud this Congress for working to remove the crippling effects of the individual mandate; however, more work remains to be done. We need a full repeal of Obamacare. Congress must pass meaningful health care reform to expand Health Savings accounts, allow people to purchase insurance across state lines, and create a system that is more affordable and accessible, and portable. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border? | ||
| Yes | Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Border security is national security, and we must build the wall FIRST. In the effort to uphold the rule of law and protect our national security and economic interests, I vehemently oppose amnesty. Amnesty dishonors the spirit of legal immigration and the people who have taken extraordinary strides to go through the process the right way. There are, without a doubt, a myriad of mechanisms that can be implemented to reform the legal immigration system; however, our first priority should be building the wall and giving our border patrol personnel the resources they need to effectively do the job. | |||
| Yes | Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| Yes | Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support? | ||
| With the ISIS caliphate in shambles and very nearly destroyed, we must resolve to finish our mission in Syria. Although the President and his Administration have worked steadfastly to destroy the transnational threat of ISIS, we must continue to partner with our allies and utilize the full resources of our coalition in the effort to eradicate the globe of radical Islamic terrorism. | |||
| We must prioritize border security and the rule of law, we must cut spending and be serious about balancing our budget, we must protect the American taxpayer and continue to cut taxes for individuals and small businesses to stimulate economic growth, we must emphasize the importance of free but FAIR trade, we must work ensure our public safety, we must legislate with the focus on being to uplift the Constitution, we need to resolve to fully repeal Obamacare and passing meaningful health care reform, and we must conduct our foreign diplomacy with a "peace through strength" approach. |
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