Mark Gibson's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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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.
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Mark Gibson has demonstrated Political Courage by telling citizens where he stands on the issues he may face if elected.
Virginia Congressional Election 2012 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
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| I support policies that make options to abortion more available while removing government intrusion on medical decisions | |||
Indicate which proposals you support (if any) for balancing the federal budget.In order to balance the budget,
| do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | |||
| do you support reducing Medicare spending? | |||
| Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | |||
| Unknown Position | do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
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| Unknown Position | do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
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| The federal budget should be in surplus during prosperous times to retire debt and in deficit with the economy in recession to take advantage of lower borrowing and goods/services costs. Income taxes should be transparent and equitable with income from labor and income from capital treated equally. There is sufficient duplication and excesses in all programs to make a fiscal difference. Current Medicare beneficiaries must not be affected, but future benefits based on later eligibility and need. Government paid fee-for-service medical services must end, with payments based on medical outcome. | |||
| Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | |||
| All campaign contributions exceeding $50 from any one source must be made public regardless of source. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | |||
| Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | |||
| Federal spending must be based on the need for public goods and services. Government should not spend during down economic times merely to promote growth or job creation, but should be so because it's less expensive to provide infrastructure, R&D, etc. when interest rates and resources are relatively inexpensive. All unemployment benefits should be temporary and designed so that work is attractive. All employment taxes -- employer and employee FICA, Medicare, and FUTA/SUTA -- should end immediately to make it less costly to hire and retain. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
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| I support competition in the provision of educational services and the federal government using its purchasing power to make educational resources and best practices free for all. | |||
| Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | |||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
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| I support the use of taxes to reduce pollution rather than subsidies to promote "clean" energy. | |||
| Unknown Position | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
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| Responsible gun owners must demonstrate that they have the capacity to own guns and show that they can operate their guns safely and proficiently. | |||
| Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
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| PPACA must be revised as it implements too many unfunded mandates, too little innovation, and a new regulatory environment without removing existing barriers to cost competition and buyer participation. Goals must include: emphasize cost containment by moving away from fee-for-service while encouraging speedy diagnosis and treatment; remove barriers to national insurance markets to maximize cost competition, coverage, and portability; reduce government's footprint ? currently 50 percent of all U.S. healthcare spending ? while seeking economies of scale; and revise and update existing programs to meet these goals before implementing new programs. | |||
| 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? | |||
| No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
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| Ensure there are no barriers or disincentives to free movement of American workers within our borders. Establish a guest worker program based on skills, knowledge, and employer. Offer permanent resident status to all foreign-born graduates of American colleges with chance for citizenship based on employer need. Establish a substantial yet reasonable fee for all immigrants ? legal and illegal ? wanting citizenship with no threat of further punishment. Allow all illegal immigrants with established U.S. residences to move to citizenship or guest worker status without being "deported", but deport all those that do not attempt to establish legal status. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
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| Government has no role in determining who may marry. | |||
| No | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| Social Security should revert to a retirement safety net based on need. Encourage individual savings by replacing all tax-deferred accounts with single $25,000/year contribution to one account, allowing "catch up" contributions in subsequent years. | |||
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.
| a) Agriculture | |||
| b) Arts | |||
| c) Defense | |||
| d) Education | |||
| e) Environment | |||
| f) Homeland Security | |||
| g) International aid | |||
| h) Medical Research | |||
| i) Scientific Research | |||
| j) Space exploration | |||
| k) United Nations | |||
| l) Welfare | |||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| a) Capital gains taxes | |||
| b) Corporate taxes | |||
| Eliminate | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | |||
| Eliminate | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| f) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| i) Inheritance taxes | |||
| Eliminate | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| Broad-based system on sales transactions, wage income, and investment income -- no deductions or exemptions; one $25,000 pre-tax exclusion for each taxpayer; no employment taxes; no annual tax return for most individuals; no commodity or excise taxes. Tax distributed corporate earnings not tied to individual U.S. tax ID at single personal rate; do not tax retained earnings. National sales tax of 5% on all goods/services so everyone contributes. Tax deferral on first $25,000/year of new savings and investments in a single account; can be transferred to another owner and not taxed until asset is sold or those gains/earnings redeemed. | |||
| 1. Reduce Executive branch to Seven cabinet-level departments and Congressional committees mirror: State; Treasury; Defense, including Veteran Affairs; Justice; Homeland Security; Health and Human Services, including housing and income assistance; "New? Department of Commerce includes "old" departments of Commerce, Labor, Education, Agriculture, Interior, and Energy as well as Urban Development, ?Interstate? Transportation, Environmental Protection, and Markets & Competition. 2. Eliminate incentives for personal indebtedness including mortgage interest deductibility and all loan and loan guarantee programs, and strengthen Pell Grants by eliminating Federal Student Aid. 3. Eliminate all barriers to interstate commerce and free movement of labor (including state-by-state professional licensing.) |
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