Benjamin Everidge's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
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Benjamin Everidge has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
Florida Congressional Election 2024 Political Courage Test
| Pro-choice | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| No | Do you support the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade? | ||
| A woman should have the right to make her own medical decisions. I will work to restore Roe as the law of the land. | |||
| Yes | Do you support expanding federal funding to support social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to balance the budget? | ||
| No | Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs? | ||
| I will introduce legislation to replace our broken progressive tax code with a fair flat tax that will treat individuals and enterprises equally. I will fight any attempt to cut or reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits. Our budget can be balanced over the next 3 to 5 years if we reduce spending, consolidate agencies, sunset duplicative programs, and adopt a fair flat tax. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| Transparent, ethical, and fair campaign contribution regulation is essential to good government and preserving American democracy. | |||
| No | Do you support protecting government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct? | ||
| Misconduct by government officials should not be protected whether you are frontline or president of the United States. | |||
| Yes | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| A strong defense is a strong deterrence and deterrence is badly needed in the face of all the threats we are encountering from Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, terrorist organizations, and others. | |||
| Yes | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth (e.g. grants, tax incentives)? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal government increasing funding for affordable housing programs? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the federal government taking action, beyond those of the Federal Reserve, to alleviate inflation? | ||
| I do not support price controls as a means of alleviating inflation or imposing broad-based tariffs where competition can overcome unfair trading practices. Housing and the cost of living must be made more affordable for our citizens by promoting better-paying jobs, more affordable healthcare, an expanded child tax credit, and direct-to-college or trade school education. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the forgiveness of federal student loan debt? | ||
| If it applies to all students and not just a select few. We must end division in America. These programs that assist some and not all equally are unfair. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring a government-issued identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| A government-issued identification at the polls is not an unreasonable requirement. However, with the requirement of government-issued ID at the polls, we should make it much easier for voters to access the ballot box, not make it harder. | |||
| Yes | Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal government allowing permits for drilling on public lands? | ||
| I support the development of alternative energy resources and making existing energy resources such as oil and coal more energy-efficient and environmental friendly. There are plenty of locations in which to drill for oil than on public lands. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, boyfriend loopholes)? | ||
| I support measures that will reduce gun violence in America, such as red flag laws, boyfriend loopholes, etc., so long as they do not infringe on the rights of healthy Americans to own and bear arms. I do not support banning guns or high-capacity magazines. Effective gun control comes with mandatory training, education, and more mental health services in general. The Second Amendment is clear on the right to own and bear arms, in my opinion. | |||
| No | Do you support a government-run (e.g. single-payer) healthcare program, such as Medicare-for-All? | ||
| Yes | Do you support expanding paid family AND/OR medical leave benefits (e.g. maternity leave)? | ||
| Yes | Should the government be able to regulate the cost of prescription drugs? | ||
| I would eliminate the open season requirement in the Affordable Care Act so that people can access more affordable healthcare every day of the year. I do believe the federal government should permit Medicare to negotiate drug prices and Americans should not be paying more for the prescriptions that citizens of other nations. | |||
| Yes | Do you support increasing security along the southern US border? | ||
| No | Do you support requiring immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship, regardless of their immigration status? | ||
| I will introduce a comprehensive immigration reform bill that will close the southern border immediately but not require immigrants already in the U.S. to return to their country of origin to be eligible for citizenship. To qualify for citizenship, they must register with federal and state officials in the USA within 120 days. Provided they have not committed a crime, they can stay until a path to citizenship grants them permanent status in the country. If immigrants enter the U.S. illegally after a date specific when the border is closed, they will not be eligible for citizenship permanently and will be deported. | |||
| Yes | Do you support economic intervention as a means of resolving international conflicts? | ||
| Yes | Do you support the US providing increased offensive military aid to Ukraine? | ||
| Russia is a threat to our NATO allies and the U.S. must support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia so that Russia does not have a clear path to restoring the old Russian Empire boundaries that will come at western alliance cost. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support increased regulations on social media companies (e.g. Tik Tok, Facebook, etc.)? | ||
| Social media companies must be subject to the same rules, regulations, and laws as other media companies, consistent with our Constitution and Bill of Rights. | |||
| My three priorities are 1) building a better life for Floridians, 2) a better democracy for our country, and 3) restoring sanity to American politics. Restoring sanity requires working across the aisle and bridging gaps between the left and the right, which takes shoe leather and not dollars to accomplish. A better democracy requires tenacity and determination to defend our constitution and honor the rule of law, which also does not cost dollars to accomplish but action. Building a better life for Floridians comes from having access to higher-paying jobs, more affordable healthcare and education, safer neighborhoods, etc. I have listed details on these programs on my website at www.BenForFlorida.com/issues. My fair flat tax and budget discipline proposal would provide the funding with other support from public-private-philanthropic partnerships I champion, which can help make housing more abundant, energy more cost-effective, and infrastructure more dependable. Good old-fashioned hard work can make this happen rather than the same old have your political head in the sand attitude too many of our elected officials in Washington have these days. |
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