| Full Name: | William Lacy Clay, Jr. |
|---|---|
| Office: | U.S. House (MO) - District 1, Democratic |
| First Elected: | 11/2000 |
| Last Elected: | 11/06/2012 |
| Next Election: | 2014 |
| Gender: | Male |
|---|---|
| Family: | Wife: Ivie; 2 Children: Carol, William III |
| Birth Date: | 07/27/1956 |
| Birth Place: | Saint Louis, MO |
| Home City: | Saint Louis, MO |
| Religion: | Roman Catholic |
What is the Political Courage Test?
In response to the increasing unwillingness of candidates to answer issue questions, Project Vote Smart has researched Presidential and Congressional candidates' public ecords to determine candidates' likely responses on certain key issues. These issue positions, from the year 2012, are provided below as a courtesy to voters.
| Pro-choice |  |
Abortion: Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? |  |
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| Yes | |
Afghanistan: Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | |
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| Yes | |
Budget: In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | |
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| Yes | |
Budget: In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | |
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| Yes | |
Economy: Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | |
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| Yes | |
Economy: Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | |
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| Yes | |
Education: Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | |
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| Unknown Position |  |
Energy: Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | |
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| Yes | |
Environment: Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | |
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| Yes | |
Guns: Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | |
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| No | |
Health Care: Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | |
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| No | |
Immigration: Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | |
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| Yes | |
Marriage: Do you support same-sex marriage? | |
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| Yes | |
National Security: Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | |
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| No | |
Social Security: Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | |
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Official Position: Candidate had the Political Courage to address this issue directly.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue directly, but Project Vote Smart inferred this issue position based on the candidate's public statements, voting record, and evaluations from special interest groups.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue.
Project Vote Smart's Research: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as the candidate has submitted it. Project Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
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.
| 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? |
| No | e) Should federal subsidies be prohibited from being used for abortion procedures? |
| f) Other or expanded principles |
1) Spending | |
Indicate 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. | |
| Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture |
| Maintain Status | b) Arts |
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense |
| Slightly Decrease | 1) Intelligence operations |
| Slightly Decrease | 2) Military hardware |
| Greatly Decrease | 3) National missile defense |
| Slightly Increase | 4) Salary and benefits for active duty personnel |
| Maintain Status | 5) Programs to improve troop retention rates |
| Greatly Decrease | 6) Research and development of new weapons |
| Slightly Increase | d) Education |
| Slightly Increase | e) Environment |
| Slightly Decrease | f) Homeland security |
| Slightly Decrease | g) International aid |
| Greatly Increase | h) Medical research |
| Slightly Increase | i) Scientific research |
| Greatly Decrease | j) Space exploration |
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations |
| Maintain Status | l) Welfare |
| m) Other or expanded categories |
2) 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. | |
| Slightly Increase | a) Alcohol taxes |
| Maintain Status | b) Capital gains taxes |
| Maintain Status | c) Cigarette taxes |
| Maintain Status | d) Corporate taxes |
| Slightly Increase | 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? |
| 6) Other or expanded principles |
| 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 |
| No | 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? |
| f) Other or expanded principles |
| 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? |
| No | 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? |
| Yes | 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? |
| Yes | e) Do you support relaxing regulations on the importation of prescription drugs? |
| f) Other or expanded principles |
| Yes | a) Do you support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants? |
| Yes | 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? |
| e) Other or expanded principles |
| Yes | a) Do you support United States military action in Afghanistan? |
| No | b) Do you support increasing military assistance for Afghanistan? |
| No | c) Do you support increasing economic development assistance for Afghanistan? |
| Yes | d) Should the United States continue to strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan? |
| No | 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? |
| j) Other or expanded principles |
| No | 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? |
| e) Other or expanded principles |
| Please explain in a total of 100 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding. |
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