Steve Mueller's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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.
Additional Information: Click on this icon to reveal more information about this candidate's position, from their answers or Vote Smart's research.
Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Steve Mueller has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Texas Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| The biological fact is that the life of a new and unique human being begins when the human egg and human sperm join together at fertilization. The only difference between you and a human baby in-utero is 1) age, 2) place of residence, and 3) degree of dependence. None of these three factors keep a human baby from being human. None of these three factors make a human baby guilty of a heinous crime and subject to torture and execution. Whether very young, very old, or handicapped, people are people and have God-given rights. | |||
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? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
| Yes | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
| Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
| The federal government, read that, Congress and the President, are risking the future of our nation by plunging it into massive debt. We need to elect people to Congress, like me, who are willing to make the tough decisions that are required to "live within our means." I have personally been deeply in debt before and am still climbing out of it. It is not easy, but it must be done. | |||
| Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | |||
| I need to learn more about this issue and the implications of one action or the other before making a decision on it. I have 5 children still at home and work a full-time job, so have not dedicated much time to learn about this particular issue. In general, I am for less government regulations, but clear accountability. | |||
| Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | |||
| A government does have a right of capital punishment for certain crimes/situations, but I am generally not for capital punishment, the direct killing of a person concluded to be guilty beyond reasonable doubt by his/her peers. If we are going to kill a criminal, I would much rather it be done via hanging or firing squad and be shown on the late news so that it is a 'public square' event and has a greater deterrent effect. | |||
| 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? | ||
| No | Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| No | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | ||
| I do NOT support any government activity just "for the purpose of job creation"! We do have infrastructure projects that could be done for good and proper reasons, but the government using tax-payer's money just to create jobs is not the right or a good reason. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| The federal government has no legal jurisdiction in the area of education. Please read the Constitution of the United States of America, the supreme Law of the Land. Article 1 Section 8 lists out the things that Congress CAN DO LEGALLY and Amendment 10 says 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.? It is very clear! | |||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| For those who have not had any issues, YES!!! For those who have had issues, NO!!! It is not intelligent or fair to treat every company the same when some obviously have good performance and a clean record and others do not. Some regulations are necessary, but don't burden an entire industry based on the actions of just a few poorly operated companies. | |||
| Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | |||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| By definition, the largest greenhouse gas by far is Water Vapor. We did not have enough water vapor in Texas in the summer of 2011. We had a record drought and terrible fires. I like water vapor. The second largest greenhouse gas is Carbon Dioxide. Plants need it and I like plants. Human activity has an effect on the environment, but there are much larger factors than human activity affecting "climate change". | |||
| Unknown Position | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
|
|||
| I support the instant background check used by firearm dealers to check for felons as long as there is no retention of the record of who purchased the weapon after the check is done. Gun registration was used by Adolph Hitler and I consider anyone who suggests registering guns to be a Hitler. The Founding Fathers knew that the thing to fear the most is a powerful government gone out of control. Having a well-armed citizenry is a great deterrent. | |||
| Yes | 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? | ||
| This bill/law is unconstitutional and should never have been passed. Hopefully the Supreme Court will throw the entire law out. | |||
| 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? | |||
| Do you support the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local police? | |||
| Unknown Position | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
|
|||
| I propose the following: 1) Secure the borders so that terrorist cannot enter our country via the borders or ports of entry, 2) Have all illegals register as documented aliens with fingerprints and pictures, throw out any illegals that do not register, 3) Documented aliens may work, must pay taxes, but do NOT get financial benefits (those are reserved to citizens), 4) Harshly crack down on employers that hire undocumented workers. Documented aliens may not apply for citizenship for one generation (20 years) since they have proven not to be law-abiding folks. AND FIX THE IMMIGRATION PROCESS! | |||
| No | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| Marriage is between one man and one woman. This marriage between one man and one woman forms the basic building block of a civil society and is the ideal environment to rear children. That is the way God designed it. Homosexuals have rights that must be strongly protected. However, the government should not be condoning a perverse union and acting like it is good and wholesome. Sin is sin and no government that wants to last should promote what is sinful. | |||
| Yes | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| Unknown Position | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
|
|||
| Because the leader of Iran is a shrewd lunatic who promotes a historical lie as the truth, we must consider him a very serious and dangerous threat. I lean toward declaring war on Iran, but not initiating battle with them, but working for a peaceful solution. If that cannot be worked out, then we should do whatever is necessary to remove the threat if it becomes more imminent. I'm don't like the wording of 'suspected' terrorists in this question. If the question were 'known' terrorist, then yes I would be for that. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
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.
| Greatly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Eliminate | d) Education | ||
| Slightly Decrease | e) Environment | ||
| Greatly Decrease | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Greatly Decrease | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Decrease | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Decrease | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Slightly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| Greatly Decrease | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| b) Corporate taxes | |||
| c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | |||
| d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | |||
| e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | |||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Eliminate | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | k) Other or expanded categories | ||
| I am for the Fair Tax (H.R. 25 / S. 13) , that replaces ALL income based taxes with a flat sales tax on new goods and services only and provides a monthly tax prebate to every head of household to prevent any resgressive effect. This change in taxation is expected to cause an ecomomic growth rate of over 10% in the very first year!!! | |||
| Some of my top priorities are: 1. Shrink the federal government back to its Constitutional limits and balance the federal budget! 2. Replace all income based taxes, both individual and corporate, with the Fair Tax as defined in H.R. 25 and S. 13 that are before the current Congress so that we can grow the US economy over 10% in the very first year!! 3. Fight to regain and preserve Freedom and Liberty for all our citizens!!! |
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.