James Mackler'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.
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James Mackler has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2020 Political Courage Test.
Tennessee Congressional Election 2020 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| Women who cannot make health care decisions with their doctor are not free, and that's not who we are as Americans. I've fought to defend individual rights on the battlefield and in the courtroom and will continue to do so as Tennessee's next senator. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Social Security and Medicare are promises we must keep. In the U.S. Senate, I'll oppose any legislation that cuts funding for either of these earned benefits. COVID-19 has made it more clear that Tennessee can't afford another senator who's in favor of giving trillion dollar tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of Social Security and Medicare. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| Our system works best when people vote, volunteer, and make their voices heard. When our voices are drowned out by floods of corporate cash, we all suffer. Citizens United has unleashed a flood of secret, corporate cash on our democracy, and it's keeping us from starting conversations about fixing health care, reducing gun violence, and expanding 21st century infrastructure to rural Tennessee. In the Senate, I'll reduce the influence of money in politics by passing legislation to increase transparency or by a constitutional amendment. I don't accept corporate PAC money, and I'm proud to be endorsed by End Citizens United. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| Our Department of Defense budget should always be configured to address modern security threats, and should undergo regular audits to ensure money is being spent wisely as waste, fraud and abuse does not enhance our national security. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Yes | Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19? | ||
| We can't have a healthy economy without healthy people. While cities and states face huge tax revenue shortfalls, Senator McConnell and Bill Hagerty say they should go bankrupt. Without resources, first responders and other critical workers will face layoffs when we need them the most. All of these folks live in our community, spend money that fuels the economy, and analysts say doing nothing may cause another Great Depression. Anytime we talk about spending taxpayer dollars we have to ensure it's done wisely, which is why restoring real U.S. Senate oversight is so critical. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards? | ||
| Public Education is and has always been the best pathway to opportunity. Today, in Betsy DeVos, we have a Secretary of Education at the Federal level who doesn't believe in that mission. In the Senate, I'll oppose nominees like DeVos and the many other cabinet members we have currently who are more focused on looking out for themselves than the people they're entrusted to serve. We cannot accept a system that diverts dollars we desperately need for public education elsewhere. We must reform testing to ensure we're prioritizing learning. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation? | ||
| I support gun safety improvements like expanding background checks to all gun sales. We can never accept gun violence as normal. I'm a veteran, and a gun owner. I know we can both protect our Second Amendment rights and keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people like terrorists, domestic abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill. Like 80% of Tennesseans, I support expanding background checks on all gun sales. I'm proud to be endorsed by Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Giffords PAC, and to be called a Gun Sense candidate by Moms Demand Action. | |||
| No | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")? | ||
| Yes | Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19? | ||
| All Tennesseans need the opportunity to care for a loved one without putting their paycheck on hold, especially during public health crises. I support the PAID Leave Act because I know that good leaders look out for the health and safety of their communities and prepare for the worst. Should another public health crisis arise, we need to be prepared to combat it while protecting the safety of all Americans and that starts with having a plan in place to give workers paid medical leave during public health crises. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Our immigration system is broken and it's keeping millions in the shadows, making us all less safe and holding back our economy. We must pass comprehensive immigration reform. I support the approach taken in 2013, when the Farm Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Workers Union, and 68 senators passed sensible, bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform. Passing comprehensive immigration reform will help protect our Dreamers, secure our borders, improve our economy, and help reduce the deficit by $900 billion. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)? | ||
| Tennessee's economy can benefit from a global economy but only if we aren't taken advantage of in bad trade deals. The Administration's trade war of choice hurts Tennessee's economy more than any other state, making it harder for Tennesseans to sell our products. Because we're part of a global economy, some of those markets aren't coming back. In the Senate, I will only support fair trade deals that put American workers on an equal playing field and I won't make it easier to ship our jobs overseas. | |||
| Fixing our health care system is the number one issue and will be my top priority in the Senate. We need to fix the Affordable Care Act, expand Medicaid, allow the government to negotiate prices to reduce prescription drugs prices and ensure everyone with a preexisting condition can be covered. We must rebuild the middle class and make a hard day's work earn a living wage. The Federal government can play a role in investing in things we know will create good, high-paying jobs now and into the future like infrastructure, education and a clean energy economy. |
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