Anthony Catella'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.
Anthony Catella has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Illinois Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| As a pro-life politician I believe the right to life is the civil and human rights issue of our time. When pro-choice people say it is strictly a woman's right over her own body, they don't factor in the reality that she has a body within her who is human life and that life has a right to live. I believe in women's rights but no one has a right to decide the life or termination of life to this extent. I believe life begins at conception and beyond natural decease life is eternal and I believe in bodily resurrection. | |||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| Yes | Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| The way to balance the budget is not to increase taxes but rather to reduce taxes. I believe the smartest thing to do is to maintain a flat tax, this is the real fair tax, this is how everyone "pays their fair share". The more we reduce taxes the more money the people have to spend, save and invest. This is the way to prosperity. Social security is not an entitlement, people pay the tax for it during their working years and then it is part of retirement. Medicare is a help to pay Dr's bills for seniors, good program. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| All campaign contributions (direct or indirect) from corporations and unions should follow specific rules and guidelines to both help the candidate gain endorsements and raise money within the legal limits of the law. | |||
| Yes | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| We need to be the strongest military force on earth, there can be no peace but through strength. This requires an immense military and defense component. The task is to maintain a ready defense while at the same time, guard against the encroachment of the dangers of the "Military-industrial complex." A strong armed force is necessary to stand ready to defend peace and freedom, anywhere in the world, but it is wrong to make wars only to fight them because we want to try out a new weapon. The US must fight just wars and devise a strategy of peace. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| The way to economic growth is for the people to spend and invest in the private sector of the economy, Much of the money the federal government spends is wasted. We must have a rigid economy in public expenditure. We need to pay the national debt, we need to reduce the tax burden on the people because, the less money taken by government, the more money the people will have and the economy then receives the stimulus it needs to engender prosperity. Federal spending to promote economic growth is priming the pump, I believe in supply-side economics, it is sensible. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| Education is the job of the states and local school boards not the federal government, we need to abolish the Dept. of Education. We need to restore prayer in the schools, the pledge of allegiance, greater emphasis on civic ritual and virtue., make the Bible a study course, its history and literature and morality can be a great influence for good. Education was intended by the founding fathers to do two things; to educate for liberty, to be good citizens and then to educate for morality by way of the scriptures which also strengthened good citizenship. This is essential. | |||
| No | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| The green new deal is an example of a huge waste of government (people's money). It would cost us perhaps $93 trillion in tax money, WRONG ANSWER! I am for deregulation and let the scientific community make decisions on the environment instead of the government. The government can grant money to an environmental need only if it is necessary and asked for by the environmental experts. | |||
| No | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| Gun -control only helps the criminal, They don't follow the laws like good citizens. Gun -control laws inhibit lawful citizens from their 2nd amendment rights while killers and criminals find ways to commit all kinds of violent crime. We need to get rid of FOID cards, a driver's license is good enough, if a person can be trusted to operate an automobile (a potential weapon) then they can be trusted to own and operate a firearm which for practical purposes is either a weapon or a tool, depending upon how it is chosen to be used. I favor citizen defense. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| Health care is the job of the private sector and not the government. The government should step in and help when needed but primarily this is for the private sector to provide affordable health care. I am for repealing the Affordable Care Act. The way to solve this problem is to allow insurance companies to cross state lines to allow people more options and secondly reduce the cost of Dr's malpractice premiums and lower the cost of medical malpractice suites. The state of a family's health must never be determined by the size of a family's wealth, Sen. Ted Kennedy | |||
| Yes | Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Immigrants here illegally need to make a decision to either stay and become legal citizens or return to their own country. I support the wall, it has become necessary to stem the tide of illegals into our country heedless of our laws and customs. We should keep illegals out but if they've been here for a period of time after they've been discovered they need to choose either stay and become legal or return to their country of origin, and we make it their choice and whatever they choose, they must resolve to try that pathway to citizenship or leave. | |||
| Yes | Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts? | ||
| I am for diplomacy first and use of military force as a last resort. We must always negotiate from a position of strength. We should begin to drawn down our military involvement in the Middle East. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| As a nation, we need to invest in our country and re-negociate trade deals, we must be able to tax imports into our country so the trade deal is more in our favor. I support prosperity and jobs. We have had six straight years of job growth. These jobs have put more money into the pockets of our people. The job is to keep jobs in our country and not let Mexico or Canada take them away. China must not devalue their currency and rob us of jobs. We must keep manufacturing jobs here. American jobs and companies stay here. | |||
| My three priorities when I make it to Congress are to Balance the budget by 1) Propose a balanced budget amendment to the constitution 2) propose a line item veto for the president to reduce waste and fraud in government programs and 3) reduce the unlimited influence of the special interest lobbies. I will propose tax breaks and reductions to put more money into the economy which is more helpful to Americans than the government getting the money, which usually leads to boondoggles and the growth of government and the lessening of individual initiative which is essential for our freedom. |
Vote Smart does not permit the use of its name or programs in any campaign activity, including advertising, debates, and speeches.