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Tom McClintock's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)

Office:

On The Ballot: Running, Republican for U.S. House (CA) - District 5

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.

Tom McClintock has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2024 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.

What is the Political Courage Test?

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 2024.

  • SBAProlife "Rep. McClintock has stood up against the ever-growing pro-abortion agenda of the Biden-Harris administration and the radical bureaucrats who are actively working to expand abortion access, resources, and funding. Rep. McClintock has voted consistently to defend the lives of the unborn and infants." (sbaprolife.org)
  • DCCC "In July, Tom McClintock signed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, despite the fact that the longstanding decision is supported by 77% of the American people." (dccc.org)
  • Rated 100% by California Pro-Life Council (None)
  • Rated 0% by National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSM) (None)
  • "As paygo works, the first installment payment for this Biden binge is $345 billion of spending cuts every year for the next 5 years, and that includes $52 billion in paygo and BCA cuts to Medicare, which is expected to go broke in 2024 as it is." (None)
  • DCCC "Rep. Tom McClintock, as a member of the Budget Committee, voted last night to advance an extremely harsh, partisan budget that slashes Social Security, Medicare, infrastructure investments, and many other popular programs." (dccc.org)
  • Voted against S 610 "Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act" (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 7024 "Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024" (None)
  • "In my California district, the average family is paying $1,900 less Federal income tax this coming year. That means 1,900 more dollars that they can spend to meet their own needs...But the real importance of tax reform is expanding our overall economy. That is the rising tide that lifts all boats." (None)
  • Rated 100% by FreedomWorks. (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 1 "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (votesmart.org)
  • Rated 100% by FreedomWorks. (None)
  • "Now, the left says this is just tax relief for the rich. Obviously, they don't understand that this is precisely what produces higher pay, better jobs, greater opportunities, and stronger financial security for every American." (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 1 "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (votesmart.org)
  • Rated 0% by Common Cause. (None)
  • "Madam Speaker, democracies die when one party seizes control of the elections process, eliminates the safeguards that have protected the integrity of the ballot, places restrictions on free speech, and seizes the earnings of others to promote candidates they may abhor. That is the bill before us today. The most dangerous provision nationalizes the mass mailing of ballots to voter rolls that contain untold numbers of people who have moved or died. It allows ballot harvesters to knock on doors and collect these ballots. There is no chain of custody from the time the ballot is mailed until the time it is returned." (None)
  • "The Citizens United case protects the First Amendment right of any group of Americans to pool its resources to participate in the public policy debate." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 1 "For the People Act of 2021." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against S 4003 "Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022" (None)
  • "Finally, lest we forget, when faithful, dedicated and honest police officers – the overwhelming majority of those who serve -- are attacked, degraded, disrespected, demoralized, hamstrung and withdrawn, those most at risk are the poor and defenseless." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • Voted against HR 1280 "George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted in favor of H J Res 42 "Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022" (None)
  • Voted against HR 2670 "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024" (None)
  • "Our total defense spending this year is roughly $675 billion. Every 1 percent increase in interest rates adds roughly $200 billion to our annual interest costs. If capital markets believe we have no plan and no inclination to control our spending, they could soon begin demanding higher rates to compensate their added risk." (votesmart.org)
  • "Reagan rightly said that defense is not a budget issue -- we spend what we must to defend our nation." (None)
  • Pramila Jaypal '"The Streamline Pentagon Budgeting Act, introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), is a commonsense measure that will help restore sound budget practices within the Department of Defense (DoD). This bill would repeal statutory unfunded priorities list requirements, reduce wasteful reporting burdens for branches and commands that do not have unfunded priorities in a given year, and make it easier for civilian leadership at DoD to curb the wish list practice within the Pentagon." (jayapal.house.gov)
  • "I have fought the High Speed Rail since its inception. The cost figures for this project were absurd from the start -- currently $68 billion (more than $5,000 for every family in California) for a train that goes from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two hours longer than it takes to fly. Energy consumption for the HSR is estimated at 16,000 kilowatts of electricity per trip at a time of sky-rocketing electricity prices and when we can't guarantee enough electricity to keep your refrigerator running this summer. The sad fact is that we could add about ten times the passenger mile capacity of our transportation system simply by investing the same money into expansion of California's chronically congested highway system. I opposed this project in the legislature and, 17 years later, oppose the squandering of any federal funds on it in Congress." (votesmart.org)
  • "I believe that we need to restore our highway taxes for our highways, and undertake the long-overdue modernization of our once vaunted highway system." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 3684 "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act." (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 7301 "Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020" (None)
  • Voted against HR 8294 "Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2023" (None)
  • "The sad and sober reality is that government cannot put a single dollar into the economy that it has not first taken out of the same economy. When government spends a dollar for you it has already decided to take a dollar from you – and it can only be taken back in three ways: from your current earnings through higher taxes, from your future earnings through borrowing and from your savings, retirement income and purchasing power through inflation. There is no other way to pay for every dollar government spends.Inflation is the most insidious of these taxes because it silently hollows out everything that a family labors to achieve." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • "Just as you can't drink yourself sober, you cannot spend your way out of inflation or tax yourself out of recession or borrow your way out of debt." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • Voted against HR 5376 "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022" (None)
  • Voted against HR 2547 "Comprehensive Debt Collection Improvement Act" (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 4531 "Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act" (None)
  • "If the Supreme Court rules against the President’s arbitrary student loan forgiveness, as anticipated, it prevents the President from circumventing it by pausing repayments indefinitely. That’s nearly a trillion dollars in taxpayer savings right there." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • "Every fraudulent vote disenfranchises a legitimate voter. THAT is the ultimate in voter suppression. H.R. 4 effectively makes it impossible for states to restore integrity measures like in-person election day voting or voter ID." (twitter.com)
  • "This bill effectively makes it impossible for States to restore integrity measures like in-person election day voting or voter ID. It ensures that the chaos and turmoil of recent elections is magnified and institutionalized. In every election, somebody wins and somebody loses. Democracy depends on both sides having the confidence that an election was fair and accurately reflects the will of the majority. How can anyone have that confidence under such a system as the left would impose? The answer is we can't." (None)
  • Voted against HR 4 "John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2021" (None)
  • Voted against HR 4447 "Expanding Access to Sustainable Energy Act of 2019." (votesmart.org)
  • "If we are serious about an all-of-the-above energy policy, we have to stop using taxpayer money to pick winners and losers in the energy industry and require every energy technology and every energy company to compete on its own merits." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • "We don't know how much all of these mandates waste because, as the GAO reports, ``There is currently no comprehensive inventory of which Federal agencies are implementing renewable energy related initiatives and the types of initiatives they are implementing.'' But outside estimates are as much as $10 billion for the Department of Defense last year, a figure that continues to grow. We are told this program is necessary to maintain flexibility. Well, shouldn't flexibility free us to get cheaper and more plentiful fuels rather than more expensive and more exotic ones?" (votesmart.org)
  • Voted against HR 1146 "Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act" (None)
  • Rated 100% by American Energy Alliance (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 4394 "Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024" (None)
  • Voted against HR 1808 "Assault Weapons Ban of 2022" (None)
  • "The DOJ's efforts to force its administration's agenda onto ATF are particularly disturbing. Local ATF field agents have shared they feel pressured to take actions against individual businesses that they do not feel are appropriate or in the interest of public policy." (None)
  • Rated 100% by Gun Owners of America (GOA) (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 3091 "Federal Law Enforcement Officer Service Weapon Purchase Act" (None)
  • Voted against HR 1425 "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Enhancement Act" (None)
  • "If seniors are unable to access care because their provider no longer participates in the Medicare program, this rule will undermine its stated goal." (None)
  • Rated 0% by National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSM) (None)
  • Voted against HR 5378 "Lower Costs, More Transparency Act" (None)
  • Voted against HR 2694 "Pregnant Workers Fairness Act" (None)
  • "Once the public health crisis is passed, the House bill threatens to postpone the economic recovery by guaranteeing employees up to three months of paid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act. In theory, the purpose is to self-quarantine, recuperate or care for family members who are idled or afflicted, but in reality, it opens the door for anyone who wants to game the system. The costs -- which could run into hundreds of billions of dollars -- are to be fronted by businesses and ultimately borne by taxpayers, leaving a massive debt to repay. The more employees who claim extended leaves, the more productivity losses the business will suffer, potentially leaving some employees no jobs to return to." (None)
  • Voted against HR 6201 "Families First Coronavirus Response Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "The problem is that price controls – which date back to Hammurabi's Code – consistently and unerringly produce a shortage of whatever commodity they're trying to control -- in this case, life-saving drugs." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • "The answer to the drug crisis is not more governmental interference, but less, which is why I support the alternative proposed by the Republican Study Committee." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • Voted against HR 6833 "The Affordable Insulin Now Act" (None)
  • Voted in favor of H Res 957 "Denouncing the Biden administration's open-borders policies, condemning the national security and public safety cr ..." (None)
  • "NO, we can’t afford to support the five million illegal aliens the Democrats have allowed to enter our country." (twitter.com)
  • "On President Biden's first day in office, he began repealing the successful border control security policies that were implemented...to signal to his radical, far-left, open borders supporters that he would do their will." (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 5525 "Continuing Appropriations and Border Security Enhancement Act, 2024" (None)
  • "Thirty-eight percent are being released into our country. In April, ICE deportations fell to their lowest number in history. Felons that the law requires to be deported are instead deliberately being released into our neighborhoods." (None)
  • "No effort is made to safely return them to their homes. Every effort is made to place them in the United States, often with family or friends who are themselves here illegally." (None)
  • "We have expressed concerns, many times and in various ways, with how the Biden Administration has handled their self-inflicted crisis at the border. Specifically, when an illegal alien is apprehended by border officials, there are several options if the alien is not detained...Over half of those given a 60-day NTR have failed to report to ICE and begin their deportation proceedings." (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 7217 "Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024" (None)
  • "This bill appropriates $40 billion to support Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion. I have serious concerns that it includes appropriations beyond military support, including support for the civil operations of the government and addressing global food shortages. I am also concerned that there is insufficient oversight of these funds and that it makes no effort to cut domestic spending to pay for it. Finally, while appropriating such a staggering sum to defend Ukraine's borders, the Democratic majority continues to ignore the security of our own." (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 5692 "Ukraine Security Assistance and Oversight Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024" (None)
  • Voted in favor of HR 6968 "Suspending Energy Imports from Russia Act" (votesmart.org)
  • "What can the United States do? Most immediately, all forces resisting Russian aggression should have the lethal aid they need to fight in every manner they can." (mcclintock.house.gov)
  • "I have said all along that the Russian invasion is primarily a European security issue and must not become an American security issue by engaging directly with Russia or by expanding NATO. This appropriation could be a game-changer in stabilizing the region before the conflict spreads to a point that directly threatens American security or triggers American treaty obligations." (None)
  • "This bill appropriates $40 billion to support Ukraine to repel the Russian invasion. I have serious concerns that it includes appropriations beyond military support, including support for the civil operations of the government and addressing global food shortages. I am also concerned that there is insufficient oversight of these funds and that it makes no effort to cut domestic spending to pay for it. Finally, while appropriating such a staggering sum to defend Ukraine's borders, the Democratic majority continues to ignore the security of our own." (None)
  • Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
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.
The Political Courage Test asks candidates which items they will support if elected. It does not ask them to indicate which items they will oppose. Through extensive research of public polling data, we discovered that voters are more concerned with what candidates would support when elected to office, not what they oppose. If a candidate does not select a response to any part or all of any question, it does not necessarily indicate that the candidate is opposed to that particular item.

1. Which of the following tax measures, if any, will you support if elected to the Congress in 1992?

X Reducing the capital gains tax rate on profits from the sale of stocks, bonds and real estate.
X Permitting tax-free withdrawals from IRAs in limited circumstances.
X Providing some kind of middle-class tax break.
Increasing the income taxes of those with incomes over $100,000.
X Providing a tax credit for first-time home buyers.
X Repealing luxury taxes on limited items.
X Providing a temporary investment tax credit.
Other

Please evaluate the following general program areas and indicate the level of federal funding that you will support if you are elected to Congress.

Decrease Spending Health Care
Decrease Spending Unemployment
Decrease Spending AIDS Research
Decrease Spending Environment
Keep Spending The Same Defense
Keep Spending The Same Education
National Debt Payments
Keep Spending The Same Drugs

If you are elected to Congress, how will you confront the issue of the national debt?

X Reduce governmental defense spending.
X Reduce governmental domestic spending.
Raise personal income taxes for all citizens.
Raise personal income taxes for citizens with incomes over $100,000.
Raise corporate taxes.
Do nothing at the present time.
Other

Which of the following measures designed to address the issue of unemployment do you support or oppose?

Strongly Oppose Extending unemployment compensation further.
Oppose Federal support of job retraining programs.
Oppose Federal grants to states for creating jobs in inner cities.
Strongly Support Mandating workfare for welfare recipients.
Strongly Support Minimizing governmental intervention and letting the market take a more natural course.
Support Federal investment in America's infrastructure.
Other

Which of the following policies, if any, should be pursued by the federal government in the area of the United States/Japenese trade?

Restricting the overall volume of goods entering the United States from Japan.
Imposing tariffs on goods entering the United States from Japan.
Requiring Japan to eliminate its trade surplus with the United States over a period of five years.
Requiring reciprocal trade agreements between the United States and Japan based on equal dollar values.
X Imposing no restrictions on trade between the United States and Japan.
Other

Which of the following defense proposals do you support or oppose?

Strongly Support Reduction of the number of American military troops.
Support Continued funding of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

Do you consider the fact that many Americans do not have health insurance to be a problem, and if so, please note which of the following proposals you favor?

Elimination of private insurance in favor of a program administered and paid for by the federal government and run by the states, similar to the health care system in Canada.
X Offering tax incentives to all small employers in return for guaranteed health insurance coverage of all employees and their families.
Implementation of a "play or pay" program where employers must enroll their employees and families in a basic health plan or contribute to a public fund that will provide health care for everyone without coverage.
Creation of a fund designed to provide health insurance to the unemployed and supported by additional tax levies on large employers.
X A system of tax credits and vouchers to provide health insurance for the working poor and people of moderate income.
No reform necessary at this time.
Other

If elected to Congress, which of the following proposals designed to change our nations' public education system will you support?

Increased federal funding.
Increased state and local funding.
Improved teacher recruitment and training.
National curricula and standards.
Smaller classes.
Increased national testing.
X A "choice" or "vouchers" program.
No major changes are necessary at this time.
Other

If elected to Congress, how will you confront the War on Drugs?"

Provide federal funds to educate people about the dangers of drugs.
Provide federal funds to help drug addicts overcome their addictions.
Work with foreign governments to stop the export of drugs to this country.
X Impose mandatory federal jail sentences for drug dealers.
Impose mandatory federal jail sentences for drug users.
Legalize the possession and use of drugs.
Other

What is your opinion on the following environmental proposals?

Support Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration.
Strongly Support Amending the Clean Water Act's section on wetlands to provide landowners with greater rights.
Oppose Reauthorization of The Endangered Species Act in its current form.

Please indicate which of the following positions you support or oppose.

Strongly Support Parental or spousal notification prior to permitting an abortion.
Oppose Abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.
Oppose Federally funded abortions should be permitted.
Oppose Women should be able to get abortions if they want no matter what the reason.
Support Abortion should be legal only in limited circumstances, for example, when the life of the mother is endangered or in the case of rape or incest.

Which of the following anti-crime measures do you support or oppose?

Strongly Support Expansion of the number of federal crimes punishable by death.
Strongly Oppose A mandatory waiting period before the purchase of a handgun.
Oppose Increased federal spending for state and local police programs.
Strongly Oppose A ban on the sale and possession of assault-style semiautomatic weapons.
Strongly Support A limitation on habeas corpus appeals for death row inmates.
Other

['Whare are your two top priorities if elected to the Congress?']

b. How will you finance (when necessary) each priority?
1. TAX AND SPENDING CUTS. The federal government is now consuming the largest percentage of family income since World War II, and has amassed a debt for which the interest alone consumes half of all income taxes. In Sacramento, I have led the fight for a dramatic reduction in state government expenditures, and intend to undertake the same effort in Washington. 2. REGULATORY RELEIF. In addition to the enormous drain on family and business incomes created by the federal government, oppressive regulations have sapped the productivity of the business secotr and destroyed our competitiveness as a nation. I want to see a freeze on all new regulations, and the elimination of existing restrictions which have proven to be uneconmical.

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