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Aaron Godfrey'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.

Aaron Godfrey has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.

What is the Political Courage Test?

Ohio Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test

Pro-choice Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
Yes 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?
First question is a bit loaded. I am in favor of a more progressive tax code that will lower taxes on the working class and raise them on top earners. We need to shift the tax burden away from the working & middle class, and I would seek to do that.
Yes Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
Citizens United has been a disaster for our country. We need campaign finances fully disclosed, and an end to dark money in politics.
Unknown Position Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct?
No Do you support increasing defense spending?
Defense budget is fine as-is. We should support audits of Defense programs to decrease waste and redundancy in spending.
Yes Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
No Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
Unknown Position Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
Some programs are shown to have a positive effect on economic growth - for instance, infrastructure spending. Others have been shown to have little or no effect, while only growing the income and economic inequality in this country - such as tax breaks for the rich.
Yes Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
Ohio is a prime example of a state that just can't get it right - with a education funding structure ruled unconstitutional and yet still exists today. Our future is too important to bet on state-level politics, like the impasse in Ohio, or even worse, the public education system in Kansas. We can and must do better, and if states won't, the federal government should.
Yes Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
Yes Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
Climate change is a disaster in the making. We can still avert the worst of the effects with smart spending & investment. Putting money into research programs - for both energy harvesting and energy storage technologies - and investing in the construction of new green energy plants (solar, wind, etc) has the benefit of preventing some climate change damage and simultaneously making the world a cleaner, safer place. We should be all-in on this.
Yes Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
Universal background checks, red flag laws, and magazine size restrictions are the top of my priorities when it comes to gun control.
No Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
Unknown Position Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
We must build on & expand the ACA, NOT repeal it. It was a good start, but too many are still underinsured or uninsured, and too many still go bankrupt from medical bills or find themselves rationing medicine like insulin. This system is a national embarrassment, and in the light of a potential pandemic like the coronavirus, a national security risk. We must catch up with the rest of the world in ensuring our people are happy, healthy, and no longer worried about doctor visits bankrupting them.
No 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?
Diplomacy works better than a wall that can be sawed through.
No 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?
We must expend all other alternatives to force when trying to prevent other countries from acquiring nuclear weapons. Diplomacy should be our first, second, and third approach to arms regulations.
No Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
It depends by sector. The Trump Trade War is clearly a disaster that is costing the American people money out of their own pockets. However, we should find a way to penalize countries stealing our intellectual property, and I am open to using trade barriers to effect that change - so long as they were shown to not put American workers and jobs at risk.
1.) Excise corruption. Money in politics - especially dark money via Super PACs/Citizens United - needs to be removed to return the power to the people of this country, not the corporations. 2.) Healthcare - protect & expand the ACA, and work towards a single-payer system to ensure every American has health insurance. 3.) Climate change - fighting climate change can create new jobs here and new technology that we can export into the world. This issue is too important to ignore - we must protect this planet if we want our kids to inherit anything at all.

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