Brian Hetrick's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Brian Hetrick has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Michigan Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I am a Catholic and do not believe in abortion. I would never condone abortion for anyone in my family. I do not support any government funding for abortion procedures. I support strong restrictions on abortion such as forbidding all late-term or partial birth abortions. I also support restricting abortions to less than 20 weeks gestation. | |||
| No | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
| The day Bin Laden was killed and sunk to the bottom of the ocean President Obama should have declared an end to the war in Afghanistan and ordered the immediate withdrawal of all American troops. | |||
Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing the federal budget.In order to balance the budget,
| Yes | do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| No | do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| No | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| No | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| Congress needs to pass legislation which implements zero baseline budgeting. What this means is that each governmental department will no longer receive their automatic budget increases each year. Congress also needs to pass legislation to start the path to a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people and these corporations may participate in our political process. While I do not agree with the conclusion of the Court, I respect their decision and the power given to the Court through our Constitution. | |||
| Yes | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Capital punishment should be restricted to cases where there is DNA evidence, video evidence or direct eyewitness tesimony connecting the person to crime. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| The Government needs to return money to the taxpayers and not to businesses or corporations. Tax payers will spend their money and stimulate the economy. I believe in the principles of supply and demand and not to the idea that business and corporations are "job creators." The job creators in this country are tax paying citizens when given purchasing power. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| I believe that the quality of our education system is poor. I believe that the root cause of most of society's problems stem from a lack of education. I believe that crime, unemployment, and poverty could all be reduced by providing a quality education. I believe that the responsibility of a child's education starts with the parents and that state and local governments need to be setting the standards, not the federal government. | |||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| I believe we need to explore all sources of energy but only when we set a timeline by which no oil from the Middle East is allowed to be imported. I believe in setting a timeline of 10 years on this restriction and pursuing more offshore drilling as well as hydraulic fracturing to extract natural gas as long as the process is proven to be safe. | |||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| I do not believe that science has proven without a doubt that global warming is caused by human activity. If and when the scientific evidence is overwhelming, I may support federal regulations. If the science proves that we can fix global warming like we fixed the ozone layer then we need to take action. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| I support the current laws regarding background checks. I do not believe any new regulations need to be created. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| No | Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| The Affordable Care Act is not perfect by any measure. As I stated in my position on corporate money in politics, I respect the decision of the Supreme Court and the power given to the court through our Constitution. I will only support repealing the Affordable Care Act when the Republican party creates an outline for replacing the legislation. I do not support going back to the system of the past that is broken and not working. I will work to find solutions to the parts of the legislation that are disliked by most Americans or help craft new legislation. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Yes | Do you support allowing illegal immigrants, who were brought to the United States as minors, to pursue citizenship without returning to their country of origin? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police? | ||
| As stated on my website, I propose that a timeline be set for all illegal immigrants to obtain a common state or national ID card. The current e-Verify program could be expanded or used as a model. Illegal immigrants will be granted American citizenship after being taxed 50% of their income over ten years of a 40 hour work week. They will be required to learn the English language and pass our current citizenship test. | |||
| Yes | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| No | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| We have Iran in a box. They currently have no means to sell the oil they are pumping from the ground and are stuck storing it on cargo ships. Sanctions work and we need to keep turning the screws. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| I believe in a system that requires all citizens to save their own money for retirement. This can be in the form of a 401K style account that the individual can manage on their own or a savings account at any banking institution that would be guaranteed a certain interest rate. The government's only responsibility would be to would be to guarantee the principal of any account in the case of a bank closing or market crash. | |||
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.
| Maintain Status | a) Agriculture | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Arts | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Defense | ||
| Eliminate | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Maintain Status | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Eliminate | g) International aid | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Medical Research | ||
| Maintain Status | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Slightly Decrease | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Maintain Status | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| f) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| Eliminate | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| j) Payroll taxes | |||
| Eliminate | k) Other or expanded categories | ||
| I have left the ratings regarding income taxes blank because we need to eliminate the entire tax code, including the IRS and implement a flat tax that is the same percentage across all income levels. We need to eliminate the conversation of class warfare and make the tax code fair for all citizens. | |||
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