Bill Matta's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Bill Matta has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2016 Political Courage Test.
Texas Congressional Election 2016 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Women must have regular, affordable access to healthcare services, including family planning and contraception. When those services are available, abortion rates decline. Without them, abortion rates rise. Those who protest loudest about the relatively small number of abortions done at Planned Parenthood clinics (close to half of those clinics do not perform any abortions!) must know that their efforts to close those clinics will cause a rise in unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. With that reality must come the knowledge that they will directly cause an overall increase in abortions, albeit abortions done elsewhere. How can they live with that choice? | |||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| From the prosperous 1950s through the 1970s, the US tax rate for top incomes stayed between 70% and 90%. The top tax rate today is only 35%, and those who earn more than a million a year often pay much less. We could invest in massive infrastructure rebuilding with more tax revenue, which would create a much-needed economic stimulus. Today's US tax structure is so flat that a May NPR broadcast declared the US the 3rd best tax haven in the world--for the rich. We should also secure Social Security by removing the upper limit on FICA income tax withholding. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Such contributions must be tracked and limited. Corporations are not people. Unions are necessary to represent individual workers against exploitation by businesses; however, they should not collectively be able to contribute to political campaigns. I support the creation of a national Election Holiday, increased voter registration, more opportunities for early voting and government financing of elections, with much shorter election campaign seasons. | |||
| No | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| Yes | Do you support alternatives to incarceration for certain non-violent offenders such as mandatory counseling or substance abuse treatment? | ||
| No | Do you support mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders? | ||
| One major way to keep people out of prison is to end the war on drugs. Rather than labeling drug abuse a crime, call it what it is: a medical/mental health problem. To address this problem, we must change our drug laws so we can treat addictive behavior and mental illness rather than turning people with those problems into criminals with both medical and legal problems. We waste huge amounts of money and countless lives by sending drug-law violators to jail, where they often learn how to become career criminals. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| No | Do you support lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| Tax incentives for businesses can offer new opportunities for business growth in areas that need to be developed, such as sustainable energy, recycling, and other areas. Federal spending is a proven means of stimulating the economy, and federal programs have often been effective means of creating jobs and stimulating growth in conjunction with targeted tax breaks or other incentives for small businesses. Please note that I do NOT advocate replacing our free enterprise system. Maintaining a fair balance between unregulated free enterprise and totalitarian government control is one of the most challenging and important roles of government. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| Emphasizing standardized test-taking does not work, for it misleads administrators and government funding sources into focusing on quantitative assessments of quality that are speculative at best and discriminatory at worst and often result in rewarding schools for doing the wrong things. Instead, we must offer incentives that draw the best and brightest into the teaching profession, such as higher pay and more academic freedom and classroom autonomy. We must emphasize teaching broadly and intensively in academic subject areas and reduce the number of administrators and administrative requirements that keep teachers from teaching. | |||
| No | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| Yes | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support increased regulations on the hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") industry? | ||
| Greenhouse gasses must be strictly regulated. CO2 levels cannot be allowed to go any higher and must be lowered. Other dangerous greenhouse gasses such as methane must be even more tightly restricted if we are to prevent complete global climate-change catastrophe. Although natural gas burns cleaner than coal, the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere by fracking is poorly monitored and virtually unregulated. If fracking is to continue, strict limits on methane emissions must be set and enforced. Pollution of groundwater due to fracking is also a major concern. Such contamination must not be allowed to occur. | |||
| Yes | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| Individuals often harm the environment without realizing it, but the scientific community has clearly identified the causes of environmental degradation caused by our collective actions. The evidence cannot be denied. To ignore the evidence and destroy the earth would be humanity's greatest folly. We cannot allow ourselves to continue polluting at current levels or the earth will be uninhabitable by our children's children. Unless we see a dramatic change in the attitude of self-interested businesses and individuals, the only human agency powerful enough to save us will be an adversarial form of government interference. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I support universal background checks for gun buyers except for firearms transfers between family members. Hunters are required to have licenses to hunt; I am a hunter and have always supported this requirement. I also support licensing of firearms that are used anywhere other than on the owner's private property. Those convicted of violent crimes and those diagnosed with certain mental illnesses should have their gun ownership rights limited or suspended. Fully automatic firearms should remain illegal, and other types of weapons with similarly deadly potential should also be closely regulated. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| We must explore alternative means of providing affordable healthcare for everyone without the costly bureaucracy that depends so heavily on insurance companies. Healthcare is now so expensive that many people cannot afford it or the insurance required to get it. Essential services such as education, prisons, police, and military functions have long been under the purview of the government and, in some cases, cannot be administered fairly by competitive private businesses. Healthcare may also be in that same category. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
| Most undocumented immigrants who have been in the US for a number of years are working, productive members of society. Unless they have committed crimes for which they should be imprisoned or deported, they should be granted amnesty and allowed to begin on a path toward citizenship. Forcing them to return to their country of origin, especially if they have children who are US citizens by birth, would be an expensive, unnecessary, and immoral imposition. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| This should no longer be an issue. People of the same sex who want to live together should be allowed the same legal benefits and protections accorded all married people of the opposite sex. Any other approach constitutes discrimination. | |||
| No | Do you support increased American intervention in Iraq and Syria beyond air support? | ||
| No | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| For military force to be used, the circumstances must be compelling, the evidence clear, and all diplomatic options must have been exhausted. I can imagine few situations where intervention and the risk of war would be justifiable, but I would not want to rule out the possibility. For example, if our government had reliable information that a foreign government were about to use a nuclear weapon, we would be morally obligated to try and stop its use. Having a strong military option available, even if never used, offers the US more diplomatic leverage than not having one. | |||
| No | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| People already have the potential to divert funds into personal retirement accounts. However, if people in general were capable of creating and managing personal retirement accounts successfully on their own, they would do so. Social Security is the single most successful retirement program the US has ever begun. To return to the risks inherent in personal investment management would be a recipe for personal economic misfortune for many. Social Security must be strengthened and preserved for future retirees. | |||
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.
| Maintain Status | a) Agriculture | ||
| Maintain Status | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Greatly Increase | d) Education | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Slightly Increase | g) International aid | ||
| Greatly Increase | h) Medical Research | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Maintain Status | j) Space exploration | ||
| Maintain Status | k) United Nations | ||
| Slightly Increase | l) Welfare | ||
| m) Other or expanded categories | |||
| Slightly Increase | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Small business taxes | ||
| Slightly Increase | d) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Greatly Increase | e) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Slightly Increase | f) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Slightly Decrease | h) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Greatly Increase | i) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Slightly Increase | j) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Greatly Increase | k) Payroll taxes | ||
| Payroll taxes used to support Social Security are currently zero on upper income earners and is levied only on incomes below a set upper limit (currently $118,500, I believe). If the upper limit were removed and all earned income subject to Social Security taxation, the Social Security program would be safe and could even be expanded. | |||
| Education, infrastructure rebuilding, and healthcare are my top priorities. They can all be financed by increasing taxes on the upper 10% and by eliminating business loopholes that allow many big corporations to pay little or no taxes. Additionally, the economic stimulus provided by such investments would boost the entire economy. |
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