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Alan Grayson'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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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 2022.

  • "After the Alito draft decision was released in early May, helpless anomie settled over many pro-choice leaders. Well, anomie is the enemy. I believe that the right to control one’s own body is the most fundamental right of all. No one should ever interfere in someone else’s decision about whether to have a child. That goes against a bedrock principle of government and civilization: “Mind Your Own Business.” In other words, if you’re against abortion, then don’t have one. For all of us who support the Right to Choose, we must fight for what’s right." (electgrayson.com)
  • "What the Senate abortion vote actually flushed out is that a pro-choice reconciliation bill that would institute Roe v. Wade by amending Obamacare minimum insurance coverage would draw 51 votes, and be enforceable under the Supremacy Clause. #abortion #prochoice #MyBodyMyChoice" (twitter.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "Increase Social Security. Seniors have gotten nothing but weak “cost of living” adjustments for more than 40 years now. My ‘Seniors Deserve a Raise Act’ would change that. Also, people pay taxes on the money that they pay into the Social Security Trust Fund, and on the money that they take out. That ain’t right. Seniors shouldn’t have to pay taxes on the same money twice." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Medicare for Eyes, Ears and Teeth. When the Medicare Act was passed, in 1965, one line prohibited dental benefits, and another line prohibited vision and hearing benefits. No one knows why. Today, 84% of the public favors Medicare coverage for eyes, ears and teeth, and only 8% are opposed. My “Seniors Have Eyes, Ears and Teeth Act,” a one-page bill, strikes those two lines from the Medicare Act, and sets things right." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Get Dirty Money out of politics. I was in the courtroom when the Citizens United decision was handed down. I said on MSNBC, “if we do nothing, you can kiss this country goodbye.” I was right. Big Money – Dirty Money – has corrupted American politics to the core. I wrote the Save Democracy Platform to save us from this. Part of it passed the House, but it was filibustered by Dirty Money in the Senate. If I were in the Senate today, I would eliminate the filibuster in order to pass the ‘For the People Act,’ H.R. 1, and start to clean up this mess. Elected officials must be beholden to the voters, not Dirty Money; you cannot serve two masters." (electgrayson.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "Cut military spending. We don’t need to spend nearly $1,000,000,000,000.00 each year to defend ourselves. That’s close to the military budget for every other country combined. The military itself needs to analyze and explain how it could save $100 billion, $200 billion or more each year, without putting us in any danger." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Fix our roads, bridges and schools. The American Society of Civil Engineers says that it would cost $3.6 trillion just to repair our roads, bridges, schools, buses, trains, airports, water and sewer systems, ports and public hospitals. The first “Build Back Better Act” laid out $1 trillion for this, over a 10-year period. That leaves a long way to go. We need to get there. It may seem like a lot of money, but it’s only half of what we spend each year on the military, and our “domestic security” is important, too." (electgrayson.com)
  • "High-speed internet for everyone. The internet is the passport to the 21st century. It has become the center of the economy, entertainment and even social life. Yet around 40 million Americans still have no access to high-speed internet, regardless of their willingness to pay. The government already has appropriated tens of billions of dollars to bring high-speed internet to everyone—just like everyone has a mailbox. Local cable and telephone companies need to be told to take the money, and get the job done." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Every profitable corporation must pay taxes. Last year, 55 major USA corporations paid zero in federal income taxes. That includes Nike, HP, the Dish Network and Duke Energy. Together, they made $40 billion in profit, and they received $3.5 billion in tax refunds. President Biden’s 15% minimum tax on corporations would be a good start. Human beings pay federal taxes on every dollar they make; corporations should, too." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Tax corporations the same as people. Corporations get to write off their rent and utilities. People don’t. Corporations get to write off their cars and computer purchases. People don’t. Why not? Human beings should get the same tax breaks that corporations do." (electgrayson.com)
  • "There are 5M employers in the US, and there were, pre-COVID, 160M employees. So why did 80%+ of CARES Act COVID relief go to employers, and <20% to employees? More 'trickle-down' economics--or the new caste system. #TrumpDepression #CARESAct #Trumpistan #WeWontGetFooledAgain" (twitter.com)
  • "Guaranteed, universal, free Pre-School Education. ‘Head Start’ – federal funding for pre-school education – is a huge success story. It raises test scores, improves student health, and makes students 10% more likely to graduate high school and 12% more likely to attend college. So let’s make free Pre-School available to everyone." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Clean energy: pay attention, Congress, the future is knocking at your door. #SaveTheEarth #ClimateAction" (twitter.com)
  • "End pollution—Save the Planet. In 1958, the year that I was born, the CO² concentration in the atmosphere was 314 ppm. Today, it’s 416 ppm, a 1/3 increase. And, not surprisingly, back then, there were 30 days a year when the temperature in Indialantic, FL was 90° or more. Now, it’s 70 days each year. Last year, it was 100° in Siberia. Planet Earth is changing right in front of our eyes, and we have to work together to cut CO² and methane pollution to save it. The whole world, not just the U.S., should tax carbon and methane pollution until the problem is under control, and the climate catastrophes stop." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Tax polluters, not people. It was Ronald Reagan who said, “if you want more of something, subsidize it; if you want less of something, tax it.” We want less pollution; it’s overheating the planet. (Today, in mid-December, it’s 85 degrees here in Orlando.) So we should tax it. Sweden’s tax on carbon pollution has cut transportation pollution there by 11%, and it raises $2.3 billion a year. In the United States, which produces roughly 120 times as much carbon pollution as Sweden, that would be around $275 billion – enough revenue to cut taxes on 75% of Americans to zero." (electgrayson.com)
  • "Ban assault weapons—it’s too easy to kill too many people too quickly. The US banned assault weapons from 1994 to 2004. During that time, assault weapons deaths dropped by 50%. When the ban expired, they went back up—as we often see, sadly, in the news. Here in Orlando, at the Pulse Nightclub, Omar Mateen fired 200 rounds in less than five minutes, killing 49 people. My one-sentence “Freedom From Fear Act” would reinstate the assault weapons ban." (electgrayson.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "Paid sick leave and family leave for everyone who works. Do we really want someone to have to come to work sick, under penalty of being fired? COVID has taught us that sick leave is a ‘benefit’ for everyone’s benefit. And the same is true if a family member is sick. Every other developed country in the world provides for paid sick leave by law. Sick leave and family leave not only reflect human decency, but they improve public health, too." (electgrayson.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
  • "If Trump had honored the Iran Nuclear Agreement, this would have never happened: But, of course, the words "Trump" and "honor" don't belong in the same sentence. #IranDeal #JCPOA #DrumsOfWar" (apnews.com)
  • "Bring our troops home. President Biden, carrying out the treaty commitment that Trump had made, withdrew the last 3500 American troops from Afghanistan. That was only 2% of the US soldiers abroad. There still are 170,000, in more than 150 countries, mainly in Japan, Italy, South Korea, Germany and the UK. They cost us as much as $1 million apiece, each year, to maintain. Bring them home." (electgrayson.com)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.

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