Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing the federal budget.

In order to balance the budget,

Our first priority has to be to create jobs and end our unemployment crisis. We can't slash employment programs and support for working Americans without caring about the consequences. We'll have a stronger economy when we get people working again and joining the ranks of proud American taxpayers. Cuts to popular, necessary programs like Medicaid will only hurt more. The richest two percent of the country needs to start paying its fair share after years of taxpayer giveaways. Balancing the budget will take time and can't be done at the expense of working families or the unemployed.

Corporations are not people and money is not speech. We should never have started to treat corporations as thought they have the same rights as individuals. Southern Arizonans know they'll never be able to match wealthy corporations dollar for dollar in an election. Working people should never feel they've lost control of their democracy, but that's exactly what's happened. We need to reverse that.

I support targeted tax benefits for small businesses when they make sense and increase employment, but do not support the expensive corporate welfare we give big companies each year. I support continuing the lower 2010 tax rate for the vast majority of the country, but think the richest two percent should pay their fair share and return to the more effective Clinton-era tax rate.

I believe that flexibility for states is vital in measuring progress and designing a curriculum. But accountability and attention to basic equity and fair resource allocation must be a constant with any federal funding. Title 9 support for children with disabilities, Title 1 support for children from low income families, support for English as a Second Language programs, and other standards that ensure equal access to education must be followed and not left solely to the discretion of the states.

Oil companies are sitting on too much claimed but unused property already. There's no such problem as "too many restrictions." They've already received public property at cheap rates and now just want more. We need to wean ourselves off oil, not give more of it away to big oil corporations at taxpayer expense.

The law creates exemptions to the personal responsibility rule for certain religious groups, cases of economic hardship, and other factors. I support those exemptions. I also support the federal subsidies and other regulations that will make sure tens of millions of Americans can afford health coverage they previously lacked. Opponents should explain their alternative, if they have one.

The Supreme Court has decided this, so the question is moot. Even if it had not, under Sheriff Arpaio and Sheriff Babeu, local law enforcement became a tool for politicized attacks on specific populations rather than the protector of the public it was designed to be, and I would not support returning to that model. Turning local police or sheriff's deputies into federal crime officials has not produced better results for Arizona and has antagonized hundreds of thousands of Arizonans that law enforcement officials are sworn to protect.

Using force is not a permanent solution, and will only harden their willingness to wage war and attack us in response. A diplomatic or sanctions-based solution is preferable and is very much within reach, despite what some conservatives want us to believe.

Spending

Indicate 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.

Transportation and infrastructure investments

Taxes

Indicate 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.

Questions about tax policy shouldn't be about blanket generalities. The discussion should be about creating a fair tax system that rewards reinvestment in America and the American workforce. The tax code should foster government partnerships with the private sector to promote the return of jobs sent offshore and improving alternative energy manufacturing technologies here in the United States. Working people should not be overwhelmed by having to pay for our national budget while the richest two percent of the population sidesteps its obligations.

My top priority is job creation, which is why I introduced the Restore the American Dream
for the 99% Act and the Border Infrastructure and Jobs Act, among other bill, earlier this
Congress. Our unemployment rate is a crisis and some conservatives aren't taking it
seriously; they prefer to keep the economy weak and root against the president. My
second priority in the coming year is reinvestig in public education, especially for
underserved communities. Our schools have been overlooked as we talk about how to rebuild a sustainable economy, and that's a big mistake I hope to help correct.