Collin Peterson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
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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.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Collin Peterson has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2020 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2020.
- Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? "Pro-Life" (votesmart.org)
- Rated 11% by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. (votesmart.org)
- Rated 20% by NARAL Pro-Choice America (votesmart.org)
- In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- "The 2019 Cost of Living Adjustment for Social Security will be 2.8%. It's a good thing, but it serves as a reminder of the rising costs Minnesota seniors face, and the real importance of protecting Social Security. I'll fight to make sure seniors get every dollar they've earned." (twitter.com)
- Rated 80% by Alliance for Retired Americans. (votesmart.org)
- "Every Minnesota senior must have access to a trusted, high-quality Medicare option that meets their needs," said Reps. Walz and Peterson. "As Republicans in Washington continue to target Medicare for cuts, the Trump administration has failed to respond in a timely manner to critical health coverage concerns facing Minnesota Medicare beneficiaries this fall if the Cost plan phase-out continues as planned. As a result of CMS' failure to properly prepare our seniors for the transition, it is imperative that the Medicare Advantage transition be delayed. Today, we are introducing the Protect Medicare for Seniors Act to delay the transition so that our seniors have the answers, direction, peace of mind, and health coverage and care they deserve." (votesmart.org)
- "I'm honored by the ARA endorsement and will continue to work for retired and older Americans in Congress," Peterson said. "I am committed to keep working to in a bipartisan way to strengthen and improve Medicare and Social Security for generations to come." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- "Law enforcement officers spend each day guarding our lives and property, often at risk to themselves. As I have done at both the state and federal level, I will continue to work to provide officers with the tools they need to keep Minnesotans safe. The women and men who work in public safety are our neighbors and friends, and vital parts of our communities. I condemn the actions of those like John Thompson who try to paint a few bad actors as representative of the law enforcement community as a whole. I do not condone behavior that creates more divisiveness and I do not support defunding police. Meaningful police reform in our state and across the country can only happen with bipartisan cooperation." (www.facebook.com)
- Voted in favor of HR 7120 - George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. (votesmart.org)
- ""This week, the House passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016. The bill, which I supported, authorizes $515 billion for national defense spending and $89.2 billion for an emergency war fund. The bill also authorizes a 2.3% pay raise for our military service members and strengthens the military retirement system." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- Voted in favor of H.R.22 "Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- ""While this bill claims to make taxes simpler for many individuals by increasing the standard deduction, the elimination of personal exemptions makes the increase very small. It will also create a more complicated system for pass through entities that I believe will be abused and spawn tax shelter businesses. We can lower the corporate tax rate, but shouldn't do it at the expense of individual deductions, or the elimination of Sec. 199 for coops, or the wind power credit." (votesmart.org)
- "The passage of the CARES Act is another bipartisan step taken by Congress to rise to the unique and unprecedented challenge presented by the COVID-19 virus. I support this emergency disaster bill which directs much-needed resources to our rural hospitals, opens up emergency financing to help businesses and nonprofits, and provides significant direct assistance to impacted Americans. I continue to be impressed by the great spirit and sense of community I've been seeing each day and I will continue to do everything I can to support my constituents as we respond and recover from this crisis together." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? "No" (votesmart.org)
- Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- Voted in favor of HR 9 - Climate Action Now Act. (votesmart.org)
- "A number of federal policies that I support contribute to lower emissions like stronger CAFE standards and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Any proposed regulation on greenhouse gas emissions needs to be bipartisan, and meet the needs of our rural economy which is energy intensive." (votesmart.org)
- Do you generally support gun-control legislation? "No" (votesmart.org)
- Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? "No" (votesmart.org)
- Voted in favor of HR 6201 - Families First Coronavirus Response Act. (votesmart.org)
- Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "I am pleased to see the NAFTA renegotiation take one step closer to a possible conclusion, and I look forward to reviewing the agreement in full as Congress takes up its passage. Dairy and poultry are huge concerns for me, and I am encouraged with the access and provisions it appears we've secured in this agreement. While this agreement does not end Canada's supply management policies, this agreement includes provisions that will help dairy farmers in Minnesota and nationwide with less trade distorting exports during the current downturn in the farm economy. I hope the administration will use the momentum from this NAFTA deal to make progress in bringing the trade war with China to a productive end." (votesmart.org)
- Rated 84% by Public Citizen. (votesmart.org)
- "The past two years have underscored just how important global trade is to agriculture and rural communities. I'm glad to see some progress made on tariff reductions in this agreement that will help American farmers and ranchers catch up on some of the access we lost when the Administration pulled us out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership," (votesmart.org)
- Voted in favor of HR 5430 - United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Implementation Act . (votesmart.org)
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.
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| Everything needs to be on the table in order for a comprehensive solution to getting our fiscal house in order. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| I support more local control of education policy. | |||
| Yes | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
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| A number of federal policies that I support contribute to lower emissions like stronger CAFE standards and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Any proposed regulation on greenhouse gas emissions needs to be bipartisan, and meet the needs of our rural economy which is energy intensive. | |||
| No | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I support red flag laws which preserve legal gun ownership rights but give law enforcement, schools and families the ability to intervene in order to prevent violent and unstable individuals from using those weapons in an unlawful way. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| The law is not perfect, but contains important protections for people with pre-existing conditions. | |||
| 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? | ||
| I support protections for DREAMers, expanding physical barriers where appropriate, and have also cosponsored legislation that requires people illegally here to leave the country before reapplying to work or visit our country on equal footing with other immigrants. | |||
| No | Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| No | Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support? | ||
| Any use of American military force needs to be a last resort supported with clear intelligence. I am skeptical about the benefits of additional military action in the Middle East. | |||
| My top priority is to support our rural and agricultural economy. This means passing a five year farm bill reauthorization which provides a backstop against low prices and natural disasters. We also need the strong implementation of the Renewable Fuel Standard to support commodity prices; enact reasonable immigration laws to ensure we have the workforce needed for the agriculture industry; and open up export markets for farmers, ranchers and manufacturers. |
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