David Trone's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Office:
- U.S. House (MD) - District 6, Democratic
On The Ballot: Running, Democratic for U.S. Senate (MD) - Sr
Key
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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.
Maryland Congressional Election 2016 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I'm 100% pro-choice. I'll fight to protect and expand the right to choose. I'ts personal for me, politicians and judges have no right to make decisions for my three daughters or any woman in this district or this county. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| I'm self-funding so that I can be independent of all of the money that influences our political system. But we need new strict campaign finance laws so that the other 434 members of Congress can be free from that influence as well. | |||
| No | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| I'm a passionate supporter of criminal justice reform and I've been a supporter of the ACLU my entire adult life. I support a comprehensive approach to criminal justice reform that includes keeping people out of prison for minor offenses, rehabilitating inmates, and creating opportunities for those who are re-entering society. In my business we've "banned the box" on employment forms and I will support legislation to do it nationwide. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| I support getting our economy working for the middle class and small businesses. I support incentives that lower taxes on which middle class so they can reinvest it in the economy. We need to invest in infrastructure as a long term investment; it will create jobs and help put our crumbling transportation system back on track. I also support tax incentives for small local businesses, which are the lifeblood of the American economy. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
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| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I support comprehensive gun control reform that limits access to assault weapons and expands safety regulations. If we are going to prevent violence, we need a multifaceted approach to gun control. We need to bring back the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, expand background checks to at least one week, tighten regulation of the gun dealers, require safe firearm storage in homes, and implement smart gun technology. We need to close loopholes from private sales, including gun shows. There is also no reason why we can not have a national gun and ammunition registry. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| The Affordable Care Act was a good first step, but we have more to do. We need to control premiums and out of pocket costs and close the Medicaid coverage gap. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| I support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Requiring them to return to their home country would be a costly and counterproductive step, and it sounds like something out of Donald Trump's "policy" playbook. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| I absolutely support same-sex marriage, and my company has provided same-sex partner benefits since 2002. I also support the Full Equality Act. It's time to end discrimination against LGBT people once and for all. | |||
| Yes | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? | |||
| No | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| I believe we need to protect and strengthen Social Security. I support raising payroll taxes on the wealthiest Americans to ensure the system stays solvent for the next generation. | |||
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 | |||
| Greatly Increase | b) Arts | ||
| c) Defense | |||
| Greatly Increase | d) Education | ||
| e) Environment | |||
| f) Homeland Security | |||
| g) International aid | |||
| Greatly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Scientific Research | ||
| j) Space exploration | |||
| Greatly Decrease | k) United Nations | ||
| l) Welfare | |||
| a) Capital gains taxes | |||
| b) Corporate taxes | |||
| c) Small business taxes | |||
| Greatly Increase | d) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| f) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | |||
| g) Income taxes (low-income families) | |||
| h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | |||
| i) Income taxes (high-income families) | |||
| j) Inheritance taxes | |||
| k) Payroll taxes | |||
| I strongly support increased funding for the arts. The arts foster creativity that is the lynchpin of entrepreneurship. I think we should decrease funding for the United Nations until they hold Israel to the same standards as they do every other country. | |||
| I propose we reform our budgeting system so that we start thinking long term instead of short term. Honest budgeting can help Members of Congress and America as a whole plan for the future rather than the next election cycle. | |||
| I support doubling the budget of the NIH and overall medical and scientific research. I also support offering a debt free college option for graduates who complete five years of national service. We also need a national commission on gerrymandering to stop hyper partisanship in Congress. |
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