Bernie Sanders 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.
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.
Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
I support a woman's right to choose. |
Yes | Do you support a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan? | ||
No | Do you support United States' combat operations in Afghanistan? | ||
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I support a timetable for quick and complete US withdrawal from Afghanistan. We went to war against Afghanistan to capture Osama bin Laden. He is now dead, and our reason for being there no longer pertains/. |
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? | ||
Yes | do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
No | do you support reducing Medicaid spending? | ||
No | do you support reducing Medicare spending? | ||
Yes | Is balancing the budget a legislative priority? | ||
We should move toward serious deficit reduction, most importantly by taxing the wealthy, who do not pay their fair share of the tax burden, and by closing tax loopholes for large corporations and corporations which ship jobs abroad to fatten their corporate profits. We should NOT blance the buget on the shoulders of the elderly, children, the poor, veterans or the currently hard-pressed middle class. |
Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
Citizens United, which decided that corporations are persons and have an almost unlimited capacity to contribute to political campaigns and the issues which shape political campaigns, is one of the two or three worst decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. I jhave introduced legislation which would, by constitutional amendment, reverse Citizens United. |
Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
Yes | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
Yes | Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purpose of job creation? | ||
Yes | Do you support the temporary extension of unemployment benefits? | ||
Do you support the 2010 temporary extension of tax relief? | |||
[...support the temporary extension of tax relief?] Candidate answered "Yes" and "No". I support the extention of tax relief for middle class and working families. I do not, emphatically, support the extension of tax breaks for those earning over $250,000 a year. I believe that federal investment in infrastructure both creates jobs, and makes our nation stronger and more economically competitive. In terms of stimulating our economy and creationg jobs -- as well as sustaining those trapped by this severe economic recession -- I think both unemployment compensation at food stamps are essential to support Americans devastated by the recession. |
No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
I believe states, which along with communities have traditionally been the main support for our public schools, should be the entities which decide on reforms. I strongly support both early education (and child care) and extended education (after school programs, summer programs) as ways to strengthen our education of children and youth. I strongly support Pell grants, which help make college more affordable to the children of working families |
No | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
Global warming is real, and a threat to not only future generations, but to our very planet itself. I strongly support sustainable energy -- solar, wind, biomass, geothermal -- as a way to reduce carbon emissions, and to reduce our dependence of foreign oil. |
Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
Global warming, and climate change, are one of the great challenges we face today. We must act aggressively to reduce carbon emissions. Solar, wind, thermal and biomass can greatly help us to move in tht direction. I ction. So can the development of hybrid-electric and electric vehicles, energy efficiency, and greater investment in mass transit. |
Unknown Position | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
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I believe that most concerns about owndership, purchase and possession of guns is best addressed at the state level. As a senator, I believe in deferring this question to the states. |
Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
Yes | Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
The Affordable Care Act is a step forward toward universal health care, but it is imperfect, and so I voted for it but without strongly endorsing it. I have long believed that health care is a right of every citizen -- every citizen -- and that the best way to achieve a strong and fair health care system is through a Medicare-for-all, single payer system. I have consistently introduced, and strongly supported, legislation to establish a single-payer approach to health care. |
No | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
Yes | 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? | |||
Legal immigration is and should be our practice and our goal. But with 11.5 undocumented immigrants currently residing in the US, we must address that reality. I support the DREAM Act, which would confer citizenship on young people who grew up in the United States if they serve in the military or graduate from high school. The 14th amendment of the Constitution makes the federal government, not the states, the arbiter of citizenship. |
No | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
No | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent Iran from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
While we must aggressively pursue international terrorists and all of those who would do us harm, we must do it in a way that protects the Constitution and the civil liberties which make us proud to be Americans. |
No | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
I am opposed to the privatization of Social Security. |
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.
Slightly Decrease | a) Agriculture | ||
Maintain Status | b) Arts | ||
Greatly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
Greatly Increase | d) Education | ||
Slightly Increase | e) Environment | ||
Maintain Status | f) Homeland Security | ||
Maintain Status | g) International aid | ||
Slightly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
Maintain Status | i) Scientific Research | ||
Slightly Decrease | j) Space exploration | ||
Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
Maintain Status | l) Welfare | ||
Greatly Increase | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
Greatly Increase | b) Corporate taxes | ||
Maintain Status | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
Maintain Status | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
Maintain Status | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
Slightly Decrease | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
Maintain Status | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
Greatly Increase | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
Greatly Increase | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
j) Payroll taxes | |||
1 Develop sustainable energy and create green jobs 6 Eliminate corporte welfare | |||
Payroll taxes: I favor ending the payroll tax reduction, which was instituted as a short-term measure to stimulate the economy, because over the long term it will weaken the Social Security Trust Fund. I favor removing the cap on payroll taxes for those earning over $250,000 a year, because doing so would guarantee that all Social Security benefits could be paid for the next 75 years. I believe, I stated earlier, that the wealthy and corporations need to pay their fair share of taxes. |
REversing the decline of the middle class, which is in good measure due to outsourcing of American jobs and an unfair tax code which has greatly reduced taxes on the wealthy while their share of both the ntion's ealth and its income have soared dramatically, REducign glob al warming and creating new, good-paying jbos by investing in sustainable energy and eenrgy efficiency. Bringing transparency to the banking industry, to the Federal Reserve, and to military contracting. |
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