Bill Pascrell, Jr.'s Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- U.S. House (NJ) - District 9, Democratic
On The Ballot: Running, Democratic for U.S. House (NJ) - District 9
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What is the Political Courage Test?
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.
New Jersey Congressional Election 2010 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | a) Do you consider yourself pro-choice or pro-life? | ||
| No | b) Should abortion be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy? | ||
| Yes | c) Should abortion be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape? | ||
| Yes | d) Should abortion be legal when the life of the woman is endangered? | ||
| Yes | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? | ||
| I support a woman's right to make a personal medical decision about her reproductive rights. These personal decisions should involve a woman, her family, her faith and her physician. If an abortion is a personal decision, the government should not interfere nor should taxpayers fund such procedures. I do support some limitations in federal policy, including parental notification and late term abortions. | |||
1) SpendingIndicate what federal funding levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category- you can use a number more than once.2) 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 | ||
| Slightly Increase | b) Arts | ||
| Maintain Status | c) Defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | 1) Intelligence operations | ||
| Maintain Status | 2) Military hardware | ||
| Slightly Decrease | 3) National missile defense | ||
| Slightly Increase | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel | ||
| Slightly Increase | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates | ||
| Maintain Status | 6) Research and development of new weapons | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Increase | e) Environment | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Homeland security | ||
| Maintain Status | g) International aid | ||
| Maintain Status | h) Medical research | ||
| Slightly Increase | i) Scientific research | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Space exploration | ||
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
| Maintain Status | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Maintain Status | a) Alcohol taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | b) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | c) Cigarette taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | d) Corporate taxes | ||
| Maintain Status | e) Gasoline taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| i) Other or expanded categories | |||
| No | 3) Do you support the elimination of the federal estate tax? | ||
| Yes | 4) Do you support requiring the federal budget to be balanced each year? | ||
| Yes | 5) Do you support using government funds in an effort to stimulate and improve the economy? | ||
| As New Jersey's only member on the Ways & Means Committee, I support a fair tax system for the citizens I represent. That is why I would like to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, I have introduced legislation to expand the EITC, and I support tax cuts for the middle class. I am also a strong supporter of pay-as-you-go principles, and I believe that they should be maintained within the budget process for both taxes and spending. | |||
| No | a) Do you support privatizing elements of Social Security? | ||
| No | b) Do you support reducing government regulations on the private sector? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing the federal minimum wage? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support the ability of workers to unionize? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support federal funding for job-training programs that retrain displaced workers? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| No | a) Do you support increasing the amount individuals are permitted to contribute to federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | b) Should Congress regulate indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| No | c) Do you support removing all contribution limits on federal campaigns? | ||
| Yes | d) Should candidates for federal office be encouraged to meet voluntary spending limits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support giving the President the power of the line item veto for items concerning appropriations? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support limiting the President's ability to define how legislation is applied through the use of signing statements? | ||
| g) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related training and job-placement assistance when released? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support programs that provide prison inmates with substance abuse treatment? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenders? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support mandatory prison sentences for selling illegal drugs? | ||
| There has been a precipitous rise in both gang activity and violence in urban areas. That is why it is vital that the federal government provide the appropriate resources to help our local and state law enforcement, as well as the federal law enforcement, to take on these problems. A specific program that I have supported in the past and believe should be fully funded in the future, is the COPS program. We need a comprehensive approach to combating the scourge of illicit narcotics. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support federal education standards and testing requirements for K-12 students? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support federal funding for universal pre-K programs? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support federal funding for charter schools? | ||
| No | d) Do you support federal funding for K-12 school vouchers? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support the federal government providing college students with financial aid? | ||
| f) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support enacting environmental regulations aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support international emissions targets aimed at reducing the effects of climate change? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support allowing energy producers to trade carbon credits under a "cap and trade" system? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support strengthening fuel efficiency standards on all gasoline and diesel-powered engines, including cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles? | ||
| No | e) Do you support domestic oil exploration in federally-protected areas? | ||
| Yes | f) Do you support federal funding for the development of alternative energy? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support the development of nuclear reactors? | ||
| h) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right of individual citizens to own guns? | ||
| No | c) Do you support allowing individuals to carry concealed guns? | ||
| Yes | d) Do you support a ban on assault rifles? | ||
| e) Other or expanded principles | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a publicly-administered health insurance option? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support expanding access to health care through commercial health insurance reform? | ||
| No | c) Should the federal government expand eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts? | ||
| No | d) Do you support monetary limits on damages that can be collected in malpractice lawsuits? | ||
| No | e) Do you support relaxing regulations on the importation of prescription drugs? | ||
| I believe we must do more to help physicians with the rising cost of malpractice insurance, which Congress has failed to act upon. I am pleased that health care reform included funding for demonstration projects on malpractice. While I do not support caps on malpractice awards for victims, I am open to looking at proposals that will bring liability premiums down for physicians and will decrease costs for all by reducing the practice of defensive medicine in the health care industry. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? | ||
| No | b) Do you support decreasing the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country? | ||
| No | c) Do you support establishing English as the official national language? | ||
| No | d) Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration laws by state and local police? | ||
| I support actions like those taken by the State of New Jersey to notify federal immigration officials of undocumented individuals who are arrested in connection with an indictable crime. However, I don't support racial and ethnic profiling and believe such actions create mistrust in the local community and are counter productive. In the end comprehensive immigration reform is the only answer to reversing the number of undocumented individuals in our nation. Reform should also include my legislation to reform the H1-B and L-1 visa program in order to prevent abuse and ensure that jobs are offered first to American workers. | |||
| Yes | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? | ||
| Yes | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? | ||
| Yes | e) Do you support granting aid to countries when it is in the security interests of the United States? | ||
| Yes | f) Should the United States support the creation of a Palestinian state? | ||
| Yes | g) Do you support increasing sanctions on Iran if it continues to defy United Nations mandates? | ||
| Yes | h) Do you support the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq? | ||
| Yes | i) Do you support the United States' involvement in free trade agreements? | ||
| The United States should only enter into trade agreements that will create equitable, broad-based growth for all Americans and raise living standards here and abroad. Trade must create a level playing field so that our works can compete, and in order to do this we must insist on protections for workers rights and the environment. | |||
| Yes | a) Should marriage only be between one man and one woman? | ||
| Yes | b) Do you support allowing openly-gay men and women to serve in the United States military? | ||
| Yes | c) Do you support federal funding for embryonic stem cell research? | ||
| No | d) Should the federal government end affirmative action programs? | ||
| I support the right of same sex couples to form civil unions. Within these civil unions I believe that these same sex couples should have all the same rights as married couples do. | |||
| Jobs: We must continue making investments in our aging national infrastructure and help incentivize the new green energy economy that will create new manufacturing jobs for American workers - we need to make things in America again. Tax Reform: As a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I believe in scrutinizing the federal tax structure to continue closing offshore tax loopholes, repeal the AMT and provide more tax relief for working-class Americans. Deficit: We must make deficit reduction a priority by continuing Pay-Go principles and examining the expiration of Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of Americans. |
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