Andrew Yang'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.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Andrew Yang has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2020 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2020.
- “Access to safe and affordable abortion services should also be provided to all Americans.” (votesmart.org)
- “I respect the different feelings that Americans have on this issue, but I would personally defer to women when it comes to protecting women’s reproductive rights - and will act to protect their rights.” (www.facebook.com)
- “Other countries have approached remedying the concentration of wealth through a value-added tax that taxes those who benefit most from and consume the most in our society. It is proven and it works.” (twitter.com)
- “Senator Warren is 100 percent right that we're in the midst of the most extreme winner-take-all economy in history. And a wealth tax makes a lot of sense in principle. The problem is that it's been tried in Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, and all those countries ended up repealing it, because it had massive implementation problems and did not generate the revenue that they'd projected.” (votesmart.org)
- “Well, first you have to reflect on the fact that we're in the midst of the greatest economic transformation in the history of our country, the fourth industrial revolution. We've eliminated 4 million manufacturing jobs and now doing the same to millions of retail call center, fast food and truck driving jobs. So, when you have a transition this large, it requires solutions like a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month which would help millions of Americans transition more effectively.” (votesmart.org)
- "Through a Medicare for All system, we can ensure that all Americans receive the healthcare they deserve." (www.yang2020.com)
- "Work with Congress to create a Medicare for All system to provide healthcare to all Americans." (www.yang2020.com)
- “In the wake of the Citizens United ruling, money has flooded our political system like never before. A handful of wealthy individuals can now influence policy as much or more than millions of ordinary Americans. This has led to both increasing distance between policymakers and citizens as well as disenchantment with politics among more and more people. It has also led to policies that increase the record wealth and income inequality in our country, which is as extreme as it has ever been in our history.” (votesmart.org)
- "I will gladly push for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and return the American government to its people." (www.yang2020.com)
- “Direct the Secretary of Defense to identify areas where military spending is going to programs that aren’t making us safer in the context of modern warfare that can be eliminated or are redundant.” (www.yang2020.com)
- “Regularly audit the Department of Defense.” (www.yang2020.com)
- “Today, loose nuclear material, cyberterrorism, misinformation and other unconventional attacks pose a grave threat to America, and these are less impacted by manpower and equipment on military bases. Money and resources should be redirected to places where it can do the most to protect us from the actual threats we're facing today.” (votesmart.org)
- "Taking care of our basic needs first will allow us to better focus on solving the big problems of our time like climate change. That's why we need to pass the #FreedomDividend and get the economic boot off the throats of millions of Americans." (votesmart.org)
- “Well, first you have to reflect on the fact that we're in the midst of the greatest economic transformation in the history of our country, the fourth industrial revolution. We've eliminated 4 million manufacturing jobs and now doing the same to millions of retail call center, fast food and truck driving jobs. So, when you have a transition this large, it requires solutions like a freedom dividend of $1,000 a month which would help millions of Americans transition more effectively.” (votesmart.org)
- “We need to immediately invest in infrastructure. Not only can we avoid the negative repercussions, but we can create up to 15 million jobs over a ten-year period.” (votesmart.org)
- “Big companies and rich people are excellent at moving things around to avoid taxes -- Amazon, Google, and other companies funnel hundreds of billions in earnings overseas. A VAT makes it impossible for them to benefit from the American people and infrastructure without paying their fair share.” (votesmart.org)
- "We need to rewrite the rules so that trillion dollar tech companies aren't paying less in taxes than the average American. If we put a mechanism in place where we all benefit from new innovations we can easily afford a dividend of $1,000 a month." (votesmart.org)
- "Schools now are largely assembly lines built around tests, which are a limited way to evaluate a child - they donât measure human worth, character, or creative thinking. Frankly, they primarily test how resourceful your family is and your test-taking abilities. The focus on testing as the sole metric that matters means our teachers are teaching in a way they know isnât particularly effective. It teaches our children that life is a set of tests that they can cram for, instead of a constant series of challenges and problems that theyâll need to overcome. Flexibility in thinking is almost trained out of our children, which is a mistake given the rapidly evolving world and economy." (www.quora.com)
- “Nuclear isn't a perfect solution, but it's a solid solution for now, and a technology we should invest in as we move to a future powered primarily by renewable energy.” (votesmart.org)
- “Renewable energy must be invested in, not only as a means of moderating climate change but also to drive economic growth.” (www.yang2020.com)
- “A carbon fee and dividend, similar to the one proposed by the conservative Climate Leadership Council, would allow businesses to find market-based solutions to their carbon release while benefiting American citizens and providing funding for alternative fuel research and upgrades to our current energy systems. It could also be used to subsidize fuel costs for low-income Americans.” (votesmart.org)
- "By providing grants, investments, and tax incentives, we can develop clean energy and carbon capture technologies, and then help the rest of the world get their energy from clean, American-made sources." (www.cfr.org)
- "Whether these investments are initiated by our government or by private corporations, the government needs to incentivize these projects to proceed in ways that are environmentally sustainable." (www.yang2020.com)
- “However, guns are a major responsibility and thus we need to have common-sense gun safety measures,” (votesmart.org)
- “Responsible gun owners should continue to enjoy the right to bear arms, subject to licensing and education requirements that will enhance public safety. But we need to ban the most dangerous weapons that make mass shootings as deadly as they have become,” (www.yang2020.com)
- "Access to quality healthcare is one of the most important factors in overall well being, and yet America is one of the few industrialized nations not to provide healthcare for all of its citizens. Instead, we have a private healthcare system that leaves millions uninsured and bankrupts even some of those who do have health insurance. At the same time, our cost of care is higher than in almost any other industrialized country while providing worse outcomes. The Affordable Care Act was a step in the right direction, providing funds to states to innovate while expanding Medicaid substantially. However, it didnât address the fundamental issues plaguing our healthcare system" (www.yang2020.com)
- "Trump says build a wall, I'm going to say to Immigrants come to America because if you come here your son or daughter can run for president. #DemDebate" (votesmart.org)
- “Outside of increasing our guest worker program and making sure that those who receive temporary permission to come to the US to work leave when their time is up, we also need to find ways to address this massive community of undocumented immigrants who entered the country illegally.” (www.yang2020.com)
- “Rounding up and deporting that many people is a nonstarter-it would be prohibitively expensive, disruptive, and inhumane to many communities, so a pathway to citizenship must be provided (after securing our southern border, so that we don’t end up right back where we started).” (www.yang2020.com)
- “Iran’s incentives to adhere to the 2015 multilateral nuclear agreement are limited if US economic sanctions are being imposed. I would re-enter negotiations with the existing agreement as a starting point. The goal should be to reduce tensions while moving our interests forward.” (twitter.com)
- “Leaving the JCPOA was a massive strategic mistake, and one that only served to increase the likelihood of armed conflict in the country. The American people have no desire for armed conflict with Iran, which would lead to another multi-decade engagement that would spread throughout the region and have no clear benefit for the American people.” (www.cfr.org)
- “You can’t find solutions to problems if you’re not willing to talk. I would engage with North Korea without preconditions in order to find a path towards complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization. We can’t leave any options off the table, and we need to accept incremental gains in order to reach our eventual goal.” (www.cfr.org)
- "Escalating tensions with Iran are a massive move in the wrong direction - the American people have very low desire for another conflict in the region. I would re-enter the multilateral 2015 Iran agreement with the UK France Russia and Germany and pursue diplomatic solutions." (votesmart.org)
- “I have already signed the pledge to end the forever wars. As President, I would bring the troops home, deescalate tensions with Iran, and I would start investing our resources in our own communities. #DemDebate2” (votesmart.org)
- "We need to get our combat troops out of Afghanistan. By utilizing our diplomatic options, we can bring our troops home during my first term." (www.cfr.org)
- “Tariffs hurt businesses and workers on both sides. As someone who has run a business I would want greater notice if prices are going to change - companies make investments years in advance.” (www.facebook.com)
- “Well, certainly the tariffs and the trade war are the wrong way to go. We're now entering a very dangerous phase of potentially competitive devaluations.” (votesmart.org)
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