Ron Tupa's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
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Ron Tupa has provided voters with clear stances on key issues by responding to the 2024 Political Courage Test.
Colorado 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? | ||
| I am 100% pro-choice - the Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned Roe was a terrible ruling. My past voting record as a state legislator on women's health and reproductive choice has consistently earned me 100% ratings from abortion rights organizations. I believe every woman deserves the freedom to choose what is best for her body, her family, and her future. To prevent future conservative state and federal court rulings I would cosponsor the Women's Health Protection Act of 2023. If elected I would also introduce a federal Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing a woman's right to an abortion. I also support federal protections against harassment and discrimination to ensure women have access to In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and over the counter abortion drugs such as mifepristone and misoprostol. | |||
| Yes | Do you support expanding federal funding to support social safety net programs such as Social Security and Medicare? | ||
| No | Do you support a decrease in income taxes in order to balance the budget? | ||
| Yes | Do you support a wealth tax in order to pay for public programs? | ||
| Your question should have said "Do you support an INCREASE in income taxes in order to balance the budget?" - as that is the only way to balance the budget...since the total debt is now close to $36 TRILLION and the annual deficit is close to $2 Trillion you could never cut enough to balance the budget...I support allowing the Trump tax cuts to expire and raising the corporate income tax rate from 37% up to 39.6%, back to what it was BEFORE Trump and the Republican Congress lowered it in 2017 and helped balloon the debt. Although I am an INDEPENDENT candidate for US CONGRESS, I support some of the Democrats' proposals for increasing taxes on BILLIONAIRES. | |||
| Yes | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations, unions, and individuals? | ||
| I have always advocated for getting money out of politics and introduced several bills while in office to do just that. In the 14 years I served in the CO Legislature I never took a dime of special - interest PAC money, and in my campaign for Congress I also refused PAC money. Money already has too much influence in the halls of CONGRESS. The 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC made it worse by allowing corporations and other outside groups the ability to spend unlimited funds on elections...the controversial 5-4 decision essentially stated that corporations were persons, and were therefore entitled to 1st Amendment rights when it came to elections - just like real persons. I support a federal CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT overturning Citizens United and limiting the amount of money spent on elections and to influence members of Congress. I also support a lifetime ban on former members of Congress from ever lobbying Congress. | |||
| No | Do you support protecting government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct? | ||
| Colorado state law struck the right balance making only the most egregious behavior subject to civil lawsuits. The bar should be set high enough to ensure ethical and principled law enforcement officers are protected from frivolous lawsuits, but particularly bad apples in law enforcement should be held liable for actions or behaviors that clearly violate the rights of apprehended individuals / the public. | |||
| No | Do you support increasing defense spending? | ||
| NO. The United States already spends nearly $1TRILLION every year on defense and military expenditures - which is more than the next 10 countries COMBINED...there is no military threat to the United States that justifies such a large expenditure, which makes up nearly 1/2 of the entire discretionary budget. I support ensuring the troops and military personnel are being paid fairly - which include annual raises above inflation - but the remaining portions of the Dept. of Defense budget should be trimmed and that money reallocated into higher priority areas of the federal budget like education, healthcare, social programs, mental health, housing and childcare assistance, senior services, etc. | |||
| 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 support passing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the US CONSTITUTION and have been on record supporting a BBA since the late 1990s. Having to balance the federal budget would reduce spending and put downward pressure on inflation. I support allowing the Trump tax cuts to expire, which will result in more money coming into the federal budget. Increased IRS auditing will bring in hundreds of BILLIONS more over the next 10 years and reallocatin money away from Defense spending into other higher priority areas (answered above) will also result in hundreds of billions more going to higher priority areas - like affordable housing programs. | |||
| No | Do you support the forgiveness of federal student loan debt? | ||
| It's important to keep college affordable - lowering administrative costs and salaries would help. I was the first in my family to go to college and I received no help from my parents; I worked and borrowed about $10,000 for my undergraduate degree and paid that back over time. I again borrowed money for my graduate degree and am still paying that loan back. I don't support forgiveness for my loan or anyone else's - however, there are fair and equitable ways to ensure college remains affordable. One would be to allow loans to be serviced like mortgages: a 20 or 30 year loan with a low fixed interest rate that would be low - perhaps as low as what the Federal Reserve charges banks when it loans them money. I would also not allow student loan repayments to affect a person's credit rating. Getting an education or advanced degree should be incentivized, not penalized...and I would support allowing generous loans for trade or technical school attendance, apprenticeships, etc. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring a government-issued identification in order to vote at the polls? | ||
| Colorado has never required this in the 3 decades I have lived here, and this would be impossible in a state such as ours that uses all-mail ballot voting anyway. | |||
| 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? | ||
| Climate change is real and the consequences of its denial will lead to more Hurricane Helenes and other destructive weather events in the future. As a state senator I passed legislation that created the Governor?s Energy Office, Environmental Sustainability Programs, Incentives for Renewable Energy, and increased sales of Hybrid-Electric Vehicles. I support America?s inclusion in the Paris Agreement but I support making emission targets legally binding and enforceable on all countries (including India, Russia, and China) so their effectiveness can be achieved on a global scale. I supported the hundreds of billions in tax credits and incentives that President Biden included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to expedite the transition away from carbon dirty fossil fuel production and further investment in carbon clean green technologies like wind, solar, hydroelectric, geothermal, and safe nuclear power. Finally, if we are serious about meeting our carbon reduction goals then we must raise the mileage standard for cars and increase tax credits to increase the number of hybrid and Electric Vehicles (EVs) on the road. I want to re-emphasize that I think clean, green energy needs to take precedent. However, until America can supply ALL its energy from only renewable sources, we will need to slowly wean ourselves off fossil fuels. Until that happens, oil and gas drilling will continue, but I support a moratorium on new permits on public land. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support gun-control legislation (e.g. red flag laws, boyfriend loopholes)? | ||
| I support the 2nd Amendment. I own a shotgun and bought my son a .22 caliber rifle so I have no issue with citizens owning firearms. That said, the right is not unlimited and I do support most common sense restrictions to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals intent on doing harm, such as an assault weapons ban, background checks and red-flag laws, banning ghost guns and bump stocks, etc. I have received the Moms Demand Action Gun Sense Candidate distinction. | |||
| Yes | 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 believe that healthcare is a human right. No one chooses to be sick, and all of the components that add �profit� into the system - from insurance premiums and high deductibles, to for-profit hospitals and mystery billing charges, to unethically overpriced administrative and pharmaceutical costs compared to other countries - make the US healthcare system the most expensive in the world while delivering among the worst in health quality outcomes of any wealthy country. A person�s health is not a commodity and profit should not be a part of the equation in keeping people healthy - I support the Medicare for All Act and other legislation that removes the profit incentive from the system and gets rid of private insurance. I would expand on President Biden�s plan to allow Medicare to negotiate ALL drug prices, not just the limited ones in the Inflation Reduction Act - and the price of all out-of-pocket drug expenses should be capped, not just insulin. Further, states should be able to import drugs from Canada and pharmaceutical drug advertising should be banned (like cigarette ads). Finally, no one should go bankrupt from getting sick or taking care of a sick family member, and medical bills should not negatively impact a person�s credit rating. | |||
| 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? | ||
| It�s obvious neither political party is willing to work with the other to solve this particular issue. The Senate legislation was an election year �band-aid� that didn�t address the underlying drivers of supply and demand necessary for a long-term solution. As a state senator I was one of the few that voted against a similar 'compromise bill' that later turned out to be a mistake that legislators' apologized for, so I know how to stand up to both parties to ensure something meaningful gets done. For example, a progressive path forward ensures a workable policy that is both compassionate to immigrants, but also respectful of the rule of law. It will balance the needs of new immigrants for a better life with the needs of the business community for workers. That means more border patrol agents and asylum officers to expedite claims of asylum, cutting down the current 7-year window for processing cases. But it also means working with the governments of native countries to reduce the demand to emigrate to America in the first place. Congress should work with the US Chamber of Commerce and all 50 state Chambers on a 'needs assessment' to establish how many immigrants are needed in each state and in what professions, with a pathway for citizenship for those arriving legally. Dreamers and long-time residents also need to be given a pathway for citizenship as well - which may include a fine or fee to acknowledge adherence to the rule of law. | |||
| Yes | Do you support economic intervention as a means of resolving international conflicts? | ||
| No | Do you support the US providing increased offensive military aid to Ukraine? | ||
| America spends $1Trillion annually on defense and has over 750 military bases in 80 countries around the globe. This is an unsustainable expense in light of our $2Trillion ANNUAL deficits and underfunded but higher priority programs in the budget. Instead, we need to scale back and draw down our international military presence while increasing our diplomatic and economic development efforts in countries that welcome our partnership. China is our only economic rival and Russia cannot compete with America militarily. However, the war in Ukraine has become a test of Russia's nationalistic pride and influence in the region. And because Russia is essentially a dictatorship and not a democracy - dictator Putin can drag out the ground war for as long as he remains in power...making a military victory unlikely for Ukraine. Instead, America needs to add pressure to India and China and our other trading partners to stop buying Russian oil and natural gas, which is propping up the Russian economy. | |||
| Yes | Do you generally support increased regulations on social media companies (e.g. Tik Tok, Facebook, etc.)? | ||
| The evidence is clear social media is harmful to children's educational growth and mental health - I support limiting it to teenagers under 18 years of age. As far as adults - the 1st Amendment protects most of what the social media companies do or say....that said, I support reasonable oversight and the establishment of competitive media platforms whose goal is unbiased objective news that is not infotainment and doesn't cater to the right or the left (conservative or liberal mindset) . | |||
| If elected to Congress as an INDEPENDENT I�ll end the partisan dysfunction that makes progress on issues all but impossible by bringing the same independent mindset to Washington that I used to pass 100 bi-partisan bills into law � 50% of all the legislation I introduced � by working with members of both the minority and majority party. I�ll prioritize the issues CD7 voters care the most about: inflation / bringing down the high cost of living; reducing the price of housing and healthcare costs; supporting education and protecting the environment; addressing immigration reform and crime; reining in federal spending and budget reform, including a Balanced Budget Amendment to the US Constitution; political reform and tax fairness. More funding for Housing Assistance, Healthcare Reform, and increased support for Education, Childcare, and Seniors can all be paid for by letting the Trump tax cuts expire and reallocating hundreds of billions out of the $1TRILLION Dept. of Defense budget. Investments in Housing, Healthcare, and Education/Job Training will help individuals and grow the economy, creating more revenue in the future while shrinking the annual deficit. |
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