PCCC Congressional Candidate Questionnaire (2023)

Do you support a Green New Deal to create millions of clean-energy jobs in areas like wind and solar energy?

Do you support passing a “Full Employment Act” guaranteeing that any American who wants a job will have one — including public works projects like repairing bridges and roads, wiring rural America with high-speed internet, and other long-term investments in the economy?

Do you support a strong Employee Free Choice Act, along the lines of the original proposal in 2007, which would increase democracy in the workplace with “card-check” elections?

Do you support raising the minimum wage to $15 or more and indexing it to the cost of living so its value does not erode over time?

Do you support eliminating the loophole that allows employers to pay tipped workers less than the minimum wage?

Do you support repealing Taft-Hartley, which allows anti-union “right to work” laws in the states?

Do you support fair trade that protects American workers, the environment, and jobs?

Do you support modernizing overtime rules so employees making less than $51,000 a year are eligible for overtime pay? ($51,000 is approximately what the threshold would be today if the rate set in 1975 were adjusted for inflation.)

Do you support adding trillions to Social Security’s current surplus by “scrapping the cap” so that millionaires and billionaires pay Social Security taxes on more than just the first $132,900 of their income?

Do you support expanding Social Security benefits, to keep up with the real and rising costs of living?

Do you support saving taxpayers approximately $230 billion over 10 years by allowing Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies?

Do you support setting up a publicly-owned, not-for-profit drug company to create more competition in the marketplace and stop big drug companies from jacking up prices?

Do you support a Medicare Buy-In for All, which would allow any American the choice of buying into the federal Medicare program instead of buying private insurance?

Do you support Medicare for All, a single national health insurance program administered by Medicare?

Do you support breaking up “too big to fail” financial institutions, even if that means breaking up some of the major power players on Wall Street?

Do you support the billionaires tax proposed by Senator Ron Wyden and endorsed by President Biden and over 200 economists? (It would tax stock gains for billionaires yearly, just like working families pay yearly taxes on their income.)

Do you believe there has been inadequate prosecution of bankers who engaged in illegal activity before and during the 2007-2008 financial crisis?

Do you support restoring the wall between commercial and investment banking (Glass-Steagall) to protect families’ savings from being used for risky Wall Street speculation?

Do you support a financial transactions fee (aka “speculator’s fee”), which would primarily impact major investors, not ordinary investors, in order to make Wall Street pay their fair share and reduce reckless speculation?

Do you support giving shareholders a binding vote to approve or disapprove of CEO pay packages?

Do you support Elizabeth Warren’s call for a banking option through the U.S. Post Office, to provide competition to Wall Street banks and give consumers more choice for basic services?

Do you support increasing income taxes on those making over $250,000 a year in wages or capital gains so that our system of taxation is more progressive and everyone pays their fair share?

The Fairness In Taxation Act (HR 1723) would raise nearly a trillion dollars over 10 years by raising taxes on income above $1 million per year. It would create new tax brackets above the current top rate of 39.6% — 45% for income above $1 million, 46% above $10 million, 47% above $20 million, 48% above $100 million, and 49% above $1 billion — all below the top rate of 50% under Ronald Reagan. Would you co-sponsor this bill?

Do you support establishing a system of elections in which candidates who choose to accept only small donations (below a level around $150) receive public matching funds, allowing candidates to spend more time talking to voters and less time calling wealthy out-of-state donors?

Do you support reforming our voting system by implementing automatic voter registration nationwide when people turn 18 years old, as Oregon has successfully done?

Do you support a constitutional amendment to reverse the impact of Citizens United and fix campaign finance problems that predate Citizens United?

Do you believe the SEC should use its existing power to require that all publicly traded companies disclose any political donations or donations to trade associations or non-profits that engage in political activity?

Do you support making Election Day a national holiday?

Would you agree to at least one Open Debate in your race with questions submitted and chosen by the public online?

In this campaign, are you rejecting money if offered from Wall Street and fossil fuel industry PACs and executives?

Do you believe climate change is real, caused by humans, and requires immediate action from the government?

Do you support the continued opposition to constructing the Keystone XL Pipeline?

Do you support a repeal of the fracking exemption from the Safe Drinking Water Act?

Do you support federal financial assistance to states and students so that we can achieve a national goal of zero-debt education at all public universities and colleges in America?

Do you support federal investment in universal Pre-K?

The federal government currently lends to banks at very low interest rates. Would you support a plan to extend those low rates to student loans?

Do you support any form of student loan debt forgiveness?

Do you support putting major restrictions on the Pentagon’s transfer of surplus military equipment designed for war zones to our local community police departments?

Do you support federal legislation requiring an outside special prosecutor for cases involving killings by police, to eliminate conflicts of interest?

Do you support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship?

Do you support, and will you work to uphold, the rights decided by Roe v. Wade?

Do you support allowing LGBT couples to marry and receive benefits equal to those of opposite-sex married couples?

A federal judge recently called the NSA’s mass surveillance of the phone and Internet records of millions of everyday Americans “Orwellian” and unconstitutional. Will you fight to stop the NSA’s mass surveillance?

Do you support prohibiting the government from collecting the phone and Internet records of millions of ordinary Americans unless a court decides there is probable cause of criminal action or terrorist activity?

Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), who authored the PATRIOT Act, said, “I can say that if Congress knew what the NSA had in mind in the future immediately after 9/11, the PATRIOT Act never would have passed, and I never would have supported it.” Do you support the bipartisan Surveillance State Repeal Act (SSRA), which repeals the PATRIOT Act?

Do you support the principle of Network Neutrality to guarantee the Internet is a level playing field for all users?

Do you support closing loopholes in gun background check laws?

Do you support a ban on assault rifles?

Are you willing to take pledges on the issues that represent your core Democratic and progressive beliefs, so that voters know on which issues you will draw a line in the sand?

If over 75% of the public supports the progressive position held by congressional Democrats on a high-profile issue, and less than 25% supports the position held by congressional Republicans, would you fight for the progressive position against obstructionist Republicans?

If elected, do you promise not to join the Blue Dog Caucus, the New Democrat Caucus, and Third Way?

If elected, do you promise not to sign on as a member of No Labels' Problem Solvers Caucus?

(For House candidates only.) If elected to the House, do you promise to be a dues-paying member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and work to make it the most effective bloc possible?

How do you identify?

Do you identify as LGBTQIA+?

Are you a member of a union?