Expanding Veterans Affairs training programs for rural providers.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: CNN "Senate stimulus" analysis of 2021 Biden Promises
Asa Hutchinson on Technology
: Jan 12, 2021
$30 million to expand high-speed internet into rural areas
I'm also asking for support to expand high-speed internet into more rural areas of our state. We have to reduce the digital divide. We have to provide education fairly in all areas of our state. And it takes high-speed internet to do this and so much
more from improving the quality of life to attracting businesses and entrepreneurs. I've set aside $30 million for this purpose in our proposed budget. If we can, let's do more, it is such a great need for our state.
Click for Asa Hutchinson on other issues.
Source: 2021 State of the State Address to the Arkansas legislature
Joe Biden on Free Trade
: Oct 22, 2020
Malarkey that China paid farmers; taxpayers did
Q: What specifically are you going to do to make China pay? You've said you're going to make them pay. New sanctions?TRUMP: First of all, China is paying. They're paying billions and billions of dollars. I just gave $28 billion to our farmers.
BIDEN: Taxpayer's money. Didn't come from China.
TRUMP: No, no. You know who the taxpayer is? It's called China. China pays $28 billion, and you know what they did to pay it, Joe? They devalued their currency and they also paid up, and you know got
the money? Our farmers, our great farmers, because they were targeted. You never charged them anything. Also, I charged them 25% on dumped steel, because they were killing our steel industry. We were not going to have a steel industry. And now we
have a steel industry.
BIDEN: There's a reason why he's bringing up all this malarkey. He doesn't want to talk about the substantive issues. [Based on] the decisions you're making, middle-class families like I grew up in Scranton, they're in trouble.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: Third 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Kristen Welker
Donald Trump on Free Trade
: Oct 22, 2020
China has already paid $28B to our farmers
Q: What specifically are you going to do to make China pay? You've said you're going to make them pay. New sanctions?TRUMP: First of all, China is paying. They're paying billions and billions of dollars. I just gave $28 billion to our farmers.
BIDEN: Taxpayer's money. Didn't come from China.
TRUMP: No, no. You know who the taxpayer is? It's called China. China pays $28 billion, and you know what they did to pay it, Joe? They devalued their currency and they also paid up, and you know got
the money? Our farmers, our great farmers, because they were targeted. You never charged them anything. Also, I charged them 25% on dumped steel, because they were killing our steel industry. We were not going to have a steel industry. And now we have
a steel industry.
BIDEN: There's a reason why he's bringing up all this malarkey. He doesn't want to talk about the substantive issues. [Based on] the decisions you're making, middle-class families like I grew up in Scranton, they're in trouble.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: Third 2020 Presidential Debate, moderated by Kristen Welker
Mike Pence on Free Trade
: Oct 7, 2020
Vote against USMCA was a vote against jobs
American people deserve to know Senator Kamala Harris was one of only 10 members of the Senate to vote against the USMCA (US-Mexico-Canada Agreement). It was a huge win for American auto workers.
It was a huge win for American farmers. But Senator you said it didn't go far enough on climate change, you put your radical environmental agenda ahead of American jobs.
Click for Mike Pence on other issues.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Mike Pence on Jobs
: Oct 7, 2020
Government mandates on energy kill jobs
HARRIS: Joe understands that the west coast is burning. Joe has seen and talked with the farmers in Iowa whose entire crops have been destroyed because of floods. Joe is about saying we're going to invest that in renewable energy, which is going to be
about the creation of millions of jobs. We will achieve net zero emissions by 2050, carbon neutral by 2035. We will also reenter the Climate Agreement with pride.PENCE: You just heard the Senator say that she's going to resubmit America to the
Paris climate accord. Look, the American people have always cherished our environment and will continue to cherish it. We've made great progress reducing CO2 emissions through American innovation and the development
of natural gas through fracking. We don't need a massive $2 trillion Green New Deal that would impose new mandates on businesses. Joe Biden wants us to retrofit four million business buildings.
Click for Mike Pence on other issues.
Source: 2020 Vice-Presidential Debate in Utah
Mike Pence on Tax Reform
: Sep 22, 2020
Something terribly wrong with taxing dead people
According to a Mike Pence press release, "I believe death taxes are immoral. I believe it is morally wrong to make death a taxable event. I believe it is also morally wrong to say to small business owners and family farmers, and any American whatever
their means, that after a lifetime of obeying the law and a lifetime of paying your share honestly and legally to the Federal Treasury, that we will make your death a taxable event." [Congressional Press Releases, 6/22/06]
"The death tax, was enacted in 1916 primarily to raise revenues for World War I, but also because Congress thought it should prevent the transmission of wealth inequalities through inheritance. Last I checked, however,
World War I is long over and there is something terribly wrong with taxing dead people. In fact, it is downright harmful to a capitalist economy like ours." [Press Release--Office of Rep. Pence, 4/13/05]
Click for Mike Pence on other issues.
Source: Trump Research Book on Mike Pence
Joe Biden on Environment
: Sep 17, 2020
WOTUS: clean water rules create rural jobs
Q: Obama Administration policies such as the rules under the Waters of the U.S. Act (WOTUS) threatened to increase regulation. How do you plan to decrease the regulatory burden for farmers and businesses?BIDEN: On regulation that relates to
fertilizer and water tables: In Delaware, we have a $4 billion poultry industry, and all the manure, a consequence of chickens, is polluting the Chesapeake Bay. We've invested a lot of money, and we found out you can pelletize this and take out the
methane, so you can use that fertilizer without the damage that was being done before. The same way with horse manure and cow manure and pig manure. And we can create thousands of jobs in rural America as a consequence of setting up these small
industries within communities. That's the way you'll be able to continue to farm without worrying about whether or not you're polluting, & be in a position where you're able to make money by what you do in the transition as well as be able to grow more.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper
Joe Biden on Environment
: Sep 17, 2020
Pay to put farmland in land banks, for open space & carbon
Q: Over-regulation puts an extreme burden on small- and family-owned farms, and is a contributing factor to many farms going out of business.BIDEN: Two ways. Number one, we should provide for your ability to make a lot more money,
as farmers, by dealing with you being able to put land in land banks, and you get paid to do that to provide for more open space and provide for the ability of you to be able to
be in a position that we are going to pay you for planting certain crops that in fact absorb carbon from the air. That's part of what my plan relates to, in terms of agriculture and the environment.
But if you are talking about regulation that relates to fertilizer and water tables, that's a different thing [and requires regulation].
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 drive-in with Anderson Cooper
Joe Biden on Free Trade
: Jun 17, 2020
Trump's flimsy trade deal sells out US interest to China
[According to the book "The Room Where It Happened"], during a meeting last year, President Donald Trump turned to Chinese President Xi Jinping and asked for an important favor: China should increase its purchase of American soybeans and wheat
because aiding American farmers would help him win the upcoming 2020 election, according to excerpts of a new book by Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton. The request was made during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.
Joe Biden issued a statement saying Trump 'sold out the American people to protect his political future' in his dealings with China that Bolton outlined. 'He was willing to trade away our most cherished democratic values for the
empty promise of a flimsy trade deal that bailed him out of his disastrous tariff war that did so much damage to our farmers, manufacturers, and consumers,' Biden said.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: USA Today excerpts from "The Room Where It Happened"
Donald Trump on Free Trade
: Jun 17, 2020
China should buy more American farm products
During a meeting last year, President Donald Trump turned to Chinese President Xi Jinping and asked for an important favor: China should increase its purchase of American soybeans and wheat because aiding American farmers would help him win the upcoming
2020 election, according to excerpts of a new book by Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton.The request was made during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. In Bolton's book, the former adviser paints the president as someone consumed with
winning a second term and willing to pressure, cajole and plead with foreign powers to aid his quest.
'Trump's conversations with Xi reflected not only the incoherence in his trade policy but also the confluence in Trump's mind of his own political
interests and U.S. national interests,' Bolton writes according to an excerpt published in the Wall street Journal. 'Trump commingled the personal and the national not just on trade questions but across the whole field of national security.'
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: USA Today excerpts from "The Room Where It Happened"
Donald Trump on Corporations
: Feb 29, 2020
No more estate tax on small farms, small business
And, by the way, speaking of farmers, something they don't know but they're learning fast: No more estate tax on your small farm, small businesses, small other things. No more estate tax. People don't talk about it. It's a big thing--big provision.
Big provision. If you love your children, it's great. If you don't love your children, it's irrelevant. Don't leave the money to them. No more estate tax or, as we call it, "death tax."
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: Remarks by President Trump at the 2020 CPAC Conference
Donald Trump on Free Trade
: Feb 29, 2020
No other president ever thought of imposing tariffs on China
I also took the strongest-ever action to confront China's illicit trade practices. You see what happened there. Our strategy worked. We have a great relationship with China now. They didn't even respect us. They were taking out $500 billion a year.
We had a trade imbalance. So we started charging tariffs. They hit our farmers. I gave the farmers everything that they took out, and the money came from China because it came out of the tariffs. No other President ever thought of it.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: Remarks by President Trump at the 2020 CPAC Conference
Bernie Sanders on Health Care
: Feb 25, 2020
Debt forgiveness for doctors & nurses in under-served areas
Sen. Amy KLOBUCHAR: We're going to have a million openings for home health care workers, particularly in rural areas, that we don't know how to fill. I have passed the bill that allows doctors
from other countries that study in our medical schools to stay and serve in rural areas. We need to expand that.SANDERS:
We put $2 billion into a program which would provide debt forgiveness for doctors, nurses, dentists, we have a major dental affordable crisis in this country, to make sure that they are practicing in underserved areas.
The advantage of a Medicare-for-All health care program, because it's not driven by profits for the drug companies and the insurance companies, we will have health care for all people in all parts of this country.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 10th Democratic Primary debate on eve of S.C. primary
Donald Trump on Free Trade
: Feb 4, 2020
Fact-Check:USMCA mostly a cosmetic refreshing of NAFTA
President Trump said, "One of the single biggest promises I made to the American people was to replace the disastrous NAFTA trade deal. I replaced NAFTA and signed the brand new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) into law. The USMCA will
create nearly 100,000 new high-paying American auto jobs, and massively boost exports for our farmers, ranchers, and factory workers."Fact -Check: The agreement updates NAFTA, covering things such as digital commerce,
which barely existed when the original deal was signed a quarter-century ago. But despite the president's claims, USMCA is mostly a cosmetic refreshing of NAFTA, not a wholesale replacement. On the whole, the USMCA's economic effects are expected
to be modest. The main benefit of the deal is that it avoids the disruption that would have come had Trump made good on his threat to scrap NAFTA with no replacement.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: NPR Fact-Check on 2020 State of the Union address
Donald Trump on Technology
: Feb 4, 2020
New roads, bridges & tunnels, plus high-speed rural internet
We must also rebuild America's infrastructure. I ask you to pass Senator Barrasso's highway bill--to invest in new roads, bridges, and tunnels across our land. I am also committed to ensuring that every citizen can have access to high-speed internet,
including rural America.Congressional Summary: S.2302 addresses several provisions related to highway transportation infrastructure, including provisions to accelerate project completions, improve resiliency to disasters, and reduce
highway emissions, [including]:
- a bridge investment program to award competitive grants
- new climate-related grant programs, including for carbon reduction
- expands the flexibility provided out of the Highway Trust Fund; and
- prioritizes
animal detection systems that reduce the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions.
[Legislative status: Introduced by John Barasso (R-WY) on 7/29/19, with 3 bipartisan co-sponsors; Report 1/8/20 to Committee on Environment and Public Works].
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: 2020 State of the Union address to Congress
Bernie Sanders on Free Trade
: Jan 14, 2020
Need trade deal that includes stakeholders, not just CEOs
Q: You support the USMCA?SANDERS: It is not so easy to put together new trade legislation. If this is passed, I think it will set us back a number of years. Senator Warren is right in saying we need to bring the stakeholders to the table, the family
farmers here in Iowa and in Vermont and around the country, the environmental community, and the workers. I am sick and tired of trade agreements negotiated by the CEOs of large corporations behind doors.
Sen. Elizabeth WARREN:
I led the fight against the trade deal with Asia and the deal with Europe, because I didn't think it was in the interests of the American people. But we have farmers who are hurting. They are hurting because of Donald Trump's initiated trade wars.
This new trade deal is a modest improvement. It will give some relief to farmers. It will give some relief to workers. I believe we accept that relief, and we get up the next day and fight for a better trade deal.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 7th Democrat primary debate, on eve of Iowa caucus
Tim Walz on Energy & Oil
: Dec 2, 2019
Climate change is complex problem & existential threat
Climate change is an existential threat that impacts all Minnesotans and our ability to thrive. Communities, farms, and industry face more frequent extreme weather events that threaten the infrastructure that we rely on to connect all parts of our state,
cause undue economic stress, and place our communities and environment at risk. The duties of the Governor's Advisory Council on Climate Change and Subcabinet are as follows:
- Climate Mitigation and Resilience Policy and Strategy Development.
-
Identify policies and strategies that the State may adopt to meet the economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions goals of the 2007 Next Generation Energy Act and achieve 100% clean energy by 2050.
- Identify policies and strategies that will enhance the
climate resiliency of Minnesota's natural resources, working lands, and communities.
- Consider how climate change mitigation and resilience policies and strategies can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy waste.
Click for Tim Walz on other issues.
Source: Minnesota voting records: Executive Order 19-37
Tulsi Gabbard on Free Trade
: Jul 31, 2019
Don't keep Trump tariffs on China
Q: Would you keep President Trump's tariffs on China in place?GABBARD: I would not, because the approach that President Trump has taken has been extremely volatile without any clear strategic plan, and it has
a ravaging and devastating effect on our domestic manufacturers, on our farmers, who are already struggling and now failing to see the light of day because of the plan that Trump has taken.
Click for Tulsi Gabbard on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Kamala Harris on Free Trade
: Jul 31, 2019
Trump's tariffs are a trade tax on workers and farmers
Donald Trump came in making a whole lot of promises to working people that he did not keep. Farmers are now looking at bankruptcy. Auto workers we expect perhaps hundreds of thousands will be out of jobs by the end of the year.
Because of this so called trade policy that has been nothing more than the Trump trade tax that has resulted in American families spending as much as $1.4 billion more on everything from shampoo to washing machines.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: July Democratic Primary debate (second night in Detroit)
Joe Biden on Technology
: Jun 27, 2019
Full electric vehicle future by 2030
We built the largest wind farm in the world, the largest solar energy facility in the world. We drove down the price of both of those renewable energy sources. I would immediately insist that we build 500,000 recharging stations throughout
America, so that we can go to a full electric vehicle future by the year 2030. I would make sure that we invested $400 million in new science and technology, to be the exporter of the green economy that can create millions of jobs.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: June Democratic Primary debate (second night in Miami)
Kristi Noem on Free Trade
: Jun 20, 2019
Supports trade deal with Mexico/Canada
Noem said in a statement that the USMCA would "increase potential for global trade while giving producers the stability to grow, invest,
and create more jobs in South Dakota" in a time when "farmers and ranchers need added market opportunities and certainty."
Click for Kristi Noem on other issues.
Source: South Dakota gubernatorial press release in AgWeek
Howie Hawkins on Environment
: May 28, 2019
Convert corporate agribusiness to organic agriculture
The Green New Deal will convert corporate agribusiness to organic agriculture. Conversion to regenerative agriculture is needed to combat climate change by drawing atmospheric carbon into the biosphere and to end the pesticides and habitat destruction
of industrial farming that is a major cause of the mass extinctions of species now underway. We want to replace monocultural, chemicalized, and industrialized corporate agribusiness with family and cooperative organic farms.
Click for Howie Hawkins on other issues.
Source: Declaration of Candidacy for the Green Party Nomination
Marianne Williamson on Environment
: Apr 14, 2019
Deal with factory farming by having environmentalists at EPA
We would have, if I were president of the United States, a world-class environmentalist at the head of the EPA. No more chemical company executives heading the EPA. No more oil company heading the EPA.
We need to deal with the animal factory farming. Enough with these incremental changes here and these incremental changes there.
Click for Marianne Williamson on other issues.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Bernie Sanders on Corporations
: Apr 12, 2019
Break up big agriculture corporations
Sanders rolled out a proposal to help revitalize rural farming communities and break up big agriculture corporations.
The comprehensive plan would enact "Roosevelt style trust-busting laws," address climate change and propose job training and education for farmers.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Axios.com "What you need to know about 2020"
Bernie Sanders on Corporations
: Mar 30, 2019
Defend farmers & consumers from corporate middlemen
Sanders, for his part, published an op-ed in the Des Moines Register [and] denounced Bayer's Monsanto buyout, adding that "when we are in the White House, we are going to strengthen antitrust laws that defend farmers
from the corporate middlemen that stand between the food grower and the consumer, and have now become so big and powerful that they can squeeze farmers for everything they're worth."
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Mother Jones magazine on 2020 Democratic primary
Kamala Harris on Technology
: Mar 9, 2019
Improve transportation infrastructure in rural communities
The California senator said she's committed to shoring up rural communities, a message the Democratic presidential hopeful shared with voters in some of the most sparsely populated parts of the early voting state of South Carolina.
Harris told a crowd of several hundred gathered in tiny
St. George that a national infrastructure of crumbling roads and bridges makes it difficult for people in communities like this one to get to their jobs, which may be miles and miles away.
Harris also said she wants to make changes to rural hospital funding, tweaks that she hopes will lead fewer health care facilities in such areas to close.
Click for Kamala Harris on other issues.
Source: Sacramento Bee on 2019 SXSW conference
Donald Trump on Families & Children
: Feb 5, 2019
Doubled the child tax credit
Unemployment has reached the lowest rate in half a century. African-American, Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment have all reached their lowest levels ever recorded. More people are working now than at
any time in our history--157 million.We passed a massive tax cut for working families and doubled the child tax credit. We virtually ended the estate, or death, tax on small businesses, ranches, and family farms.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: 2019 State of the Union address to United States Congress
Doug Burgum on Welfare & Poverty
: Jan 3, 2019
World poverty is down; world health is up; ND will benefit
Our total population now surpasses 760,000--for the first time in state history. Many of our citizens had direct experience with our decades of rural depopulation--and claims that "things are getting worse." The facts clearly show otherwise.Extreme
global poverty has been cut in half over the last 20 years. 75% of the world now lives in middle income countries. Global life expectancy is up to 72 years. Across the globe, we've seen dramatic decreases in deaths related to disease, war and natural
disasters--and dramatic increases in access to clean water and electricity, literacy, food production, internet access and immunizations. Abundance--by nearly every measure--is on the rise.
Why does this matter to North Dakota? For two reasons. A
world with improving health and increasing incomes will consume more energy--more food--and more technology. The world will need more and more of what North Dakota has. Second, it matters in the context of the US--and North Dakota's role in the world.
Click for Doug Burgum on other issues.
Source: 2019 State of the State address to North Dakota Legislature
Doug Burgum on Free Trade
: Dec 19, 2018
North American trade deal good for farmers, ranchers
Agriculture can be a volatile industry, so we need to do our best to ensure that our ag producers have as much access as possible to world markets. The USMCA reduces tariff and non-tariff barriers for agricultural markets and increases fairness in the
Canadian wheat grading system, improving our ability to work with Canada and Mexico. This increased market access broadens the customer base for our farmers and ranchers, thereby decreasing market volatility.
Click for Doug Burgum on other issues.
Source: Fargo-Moorhead Forum on 2020 North Dakota gubernatorial race
Ron DeSantis on Free Trade
: Oct 9, 2018
Trump's tariffs will get concessions from China
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?Ron DeSantis (R): Yes. Trump is a master negotiator trying to get concessions.
Andrew Gillum (D): No. "He's threatening Florida's workers, farmers, & companies."
Click for Ron DeSantis on other issues.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Florida Governor race
Tim Walz on Free Trade
: Oct 9, 2018
Rash tariffs on China against interests of America's farmers
Q: Support Trump's imposition of tariffs on Chinese steel & other products?Jeff Johnson (R): No. Concerned about how Chinese tariffs will affect Minnesota farmers.
Tim Walz (D): No. Calls the tariffs "rash" & not in "the interests of America's farmers."
Click for Tim Walz on other issues.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Minnesota Governor race
Asa Hutchinson on Free Trade
: Oct 2, 2018
Supports USMCA trade agreement to replace NAFTA
The USMCA is a new trade pact among the United States, Mexico and Canada, intended as a stronger and modernized replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR): "#USMCA is good news for AR & AR farmers.
The agreement will enable our agricultural producers to continue trade w/ our state's export customers in Mexico & Canada. While I am still studying many of the details, this is a victory for American workers & Pres @realDonaldTrump."
Click for Asa Hutchinson on other issues.
Source: White House press release in 2018 Arkansas Governor's race
Joe Biden on Social Security
: Aug 7, 2018
Freeze entitlements; don't favor special interests
Biden toured the country in 1985 chiding groups like unions and farmers for being too narrowly focused and complained that Democrats too often "think in terms of special interests first and the greater interest second."
In the latter case, Biden was specifically complaining about their opposition to his calls for a spending freeze on entitlements and an increase in the retirement age.
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Kristi Noem on Free Trade
: Jul 9, 2018
China trade wars makes low soybean prices & hurts farmers
Speaking at Politico's State Solutions Conference, Gov. Kristi Noem said, "South Dakota has been devastated by the trade wars that are going on, and agriculture is our No. 1 industry by far. When we aren't able to export our soybeans to the Asia-Pacific
region, when we're struggling with commodity prices, that's impacting not just those farmers who are on the ground but every Main Street business, everybody who has another entity out there that relies on those successful ag industries."
Noem said she's spoken to Trump administration officials and she's consistently advocated for wrapping up trade discussions. The White House is aware South Dakota farmers have previously had soybean shipments unfairly rejected by China,
Noem said. "I think the administration is trying to rectify some of that," she said. "The problem is this has gone on now for a long period of time." Sustained, low commodity prices are "driving a lot of family businesses out of business," she added.
Click for Kristi Noem on other issues.
Source: RouteFifty.com blog on 2020 South Dakota Senate race
Asa Hutchinson on Free Trade
: Jul 9, 2018
Supports high tariffs to eventually lead to low tariffs
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Trump's $12 billion support program to help farmers hurt by the trade war has softened the blow and that "there's a great deal of patience among our farmers" for the president's "tougher" trade policy. "We want very
quickly to get back to low tariffs," Hutchinson said. "No tariffs should be the objective so that we can compete in the global market, and the president I hope will be able to achieve that through negotiations very soon."
Hutchinson said a new trade agreement with China would be unprecedented. "I think it's critical for President Trump that he has a good outcome," Hutchinson said. "I think trade is a key part of that to show industrial
America his trade policies have benefited the working class here in the United States and those that depend on those manufacturing jobs. I think right now that grade is a little bit incomplete, but I'm optimistic it's going to turn around."
Click for Asa Hutchinson on other issues.
Source: RouteFifty.com blog on 2020 Arkansas Senate race
Doug Burgum on Free Trade
: Apr 4, 2018
Trade war with China, & tariffs, hurting domestic farmers
These proposed tariffs are particularly concerning for North Dakotans considering China is our fourth-largest export market and a major buyer of our agricultural products, including our No. 1 export market for soybeans.
Disrupting that trade relationship puts our farmers at a disadvantage, and we urge the administration to negotiate a deal that benefits U.S. producers and blocks these proposed retaliatory tariffs from taking effect.
Click for Doug Burgum on other issues.
Source: West Fargo Pioneer on 2020 North Dakota gubernatorial race
Donald Trump on Environment
: Feb 23, 2018
Cutting overbearing regulations helps farmers & builders
Some of the environmental regulations that I cut--they have the most beautiful titles. And sometimes [I say to myself] I'm going to close my eyes and sign this, because I'm going to get killed on this one. I get so much thanks. The country knows what
I'm doing. We couldn't build, we couldn't farm. If you had a puddle on your land, they called it a lake for the purposes of environmentalism. It is crazy. And I signed certain bills, I would have farmers behind me and have house builders behind me.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: Speech at the 2018 CPAC Convention
Tim Walz on Homeland Security
: May 2, 2017
Enlisted in Army National Guard at 17; served for 24 years
Tim's parents, Jim and Darlene, instilled in him the values that continue to guide his commitment to the common good and selfless service. Summers of farming with his family reinforced these lessons.Tim's dedication to public service began soon after
his graduation from Butte (Nebraska) High School with his 24 classmates. At the age of 17, Tim enlisted in the Army National Guard. Tim's leadership was recognized: in 1989, he was name Nebraska Citizen-Soldier of the Year.
"I loved growing up in a
small town in rural Nebraska. Small-town life and working on family farms each summer taught me fundamental lessons about the importance of family and the value of hard work. I had wonderful public school teachers, great neighbors, and loving parents."
Upon his 1990 return from teaching in China, Tim served full time in the Army National Guard [for the next 24 years]. He joined his battalion overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Click for Tim Walz on other issues.
Source: 2018 Minnesota governor campaign website WalzForGovernor.org
Bernie Sanders on Health Care
: Nov 15, 2016
Real issue is healthcare at all, for rural poor
In Mississippi I learned why health care must be a right of all people, and that must happen as soon as possible. I met with a group of African-American health care workers in the Jackson-Hinds Comprehensive Health Center in Jackson MS. They described
the dismal health care conditions for poor people in that state and how there were entire counties there that had NO doctors. Think about it: In the USA, entire counties that have no doctors.In Mississippi, it also turned out that many people,
despite being poor, were ineligible for Medicaid because of stringent and unfair state requirements. My Republican colleagues in Congress tell me, over and over again, that we have the "greatest" health care system in the world. Really? In Mississippi,
and in many other areas of the country, there are counties in low-income areas where thousands of people have no health insurance at all and, for those who do, there is no access to medical care at all. That system doesn't sound so "great" to me.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Our Revolution, by Bernie Sanders, p. 57-8
Jill Stein on Free Trade
: Oct 9, 2016
NAFTA destroyed jobs in US and Mexico
Donald Trump: I will be a president that will bring jobs back because NAFTA, signed by her husband, is perhaps the greatest disaster trade deal in the history of the world.
Jill Stein: The Clintons' support for NAFTA destroyed millions of jobs, including in Mexico where many farmers became economic refugees.
Click for Jill Stein on other issues.
Source: Stein Twitter posts on Second 2016 Presidential Debate
Mike Pence on Tax Reform
: Oct 4, 2016
Lower taxes across the board, and we'll get growth
Trump and I have a plan to get this economy moving again just the way that it worked in the 1980s, just the way it worked in the 1960s, and that is by lowering taxes across the board for working families, small businesses and family farms, ending the
war on coal that is hurting jobs and hurting this economy even here in Virginia, repealing Obamacare lock, stock, and barrel, and repealing all of the executive orders that Barack Obama has signed that are stifling economic growth in this economy.
Click for Mike Pence on other issues.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Donald Trump on Immigration
: Aug 23, 2016
1885: grandfather Friedrich was illegal German emigrant
Friedrich, Donald Trump's grandfather-to-be, was born on March 14, 1869. Friedrich saw no future in Germany & joined the stream of Germans looking for a better life in the US. Friedrich arrived in New York on Oct. 19, 1885. Immigration records list his
occupation as "farmer" and his name as "Friedrich Trump," [Americanizing it from "Drumpf"]. He was sixteen years old.But Friedrich's departure ran afoul of German law. A three-year stint of military service was mandatory, and to emigrate, boys of
conscription age had to get permission. The young barber didn't do so, resulting in a questionable status that would undermine any future prospect of return: Friedrich Trump was an illegal emigrant. Luckily, US officials didn't care about the
circumstances under which he left Germany. US Immigration law at the time granted Germans preferred status. Friedrich was one of about a million Germans who immigrated to the United States in 1885, more than had ever before come in one year.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: Trump Revealed, by Michael Kranish & Mark Fisher, p. 23
JD Vance on Foreign Policy
: Jul 22, 2016
Address successive failures of Bush/Obama foreign policy
The last point I'll make about Trump is this: these people, his voters, are proud. A big chunk of the white working class has deep roots in Appalachia, and the Scots-Irish honor culture is alive and well. We were taught to raise our
fists to anyone who insulted our mother. I probably got in a half dozen fights when I was six years old. Unsurprisingly, southern, rural whites enlist in the military at a disproportionate rate. Can you imagine the humiliation these people feel at
the successive failures of Bush/Obama foreign policy? My military service is the thing I'm most proud of, but when I think of everything happening in the Middle East,
I can't help but tell myself: I wish we would have achieved some sort of lasting victory. No one touched that subject before Trump, especially not in the Republican Party.
Click for JD Vance on other issues.
Source: The American Conservative on 2024 Veepstakes
Doug Burgum on Corporations
: Apr 26, 2016
Founded software company at age 26; grew to 2,000 staff
At the age of 26, I literally "bet the farm" to provide the seed capital for then fledgling startup, Great Plains Software. Before being acquired by Microsoft, we grew Great Plains to 2,000 team members hailing from more than 220 towns and cities across
North Dakota. After leaving Microsoft, I co-founded Arthur Ventures, which strongly supports the tech startup community in North Dakota, which has grown to more than 120 team members and is working to transform healthcare operations worldwide.
Click for Doug Burgum on other issues.
Source: EmergingPrairie.com on 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial race
Bernie Sanders on Jobs
: Mar 9, 2016
I investigated undocumented farm workers in FL
Ted Kennedy was kind enough to allow me to hold a hearing in 2008 in Congress, dealing with the plight of undocumented tomato pickers in Immokalee, Florida. I went there on my own.
Wasn't an issue really for the state of Vermont to expose the horrendous working conditions and the semi-slavery that those workers lived under. The result of that hearing was to significantly improve the wages and working conditions of those workers.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 2016 PBS Democratic primary debate in Miami
Doug Burgum on Education
: Jan 31, 2016
Accelerate efforts to raise outcomes for all students
Our North Dakota education system, which needs to serve a significant rural as well as increasing urban population, will need to accelerate its efforts to raise outcomes to
ensure students of all ages have the skills they need to be competitive in a global economy.
Click for Doug Burgum on other issues.
Source: Recode.net on 2016 North Dakota gubernatorial race
Nikki Haley on Education
: Jan 20, 2016
Incentivize teachers to work in rural districts
We will aggressively start recruiting teachers to rural districts and, just as aggressively, incentivizing them to stay there. If a student agrees to teach in a challenged district for eight years, we will cover the full cost of their education at a
state university. For recent graduates who agree to the same commitment, we will repay their student loans. For career educators who want to grow professionally and teach in these challenged districts, we will cover the cost of their graduate coursework.
Click for Nikki Haley on other issues.
Source: 2016 State of the State speech to South Carolina legislature
Nikki Haley on Immigration
: Jan 12, 2016
Immigrants have come for generations to live the dream
I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every day how blessed we were to live in this country. Growing up in the rural south, my family didn't look like our neighbors, and we didn't have much.
There were times that were tough, but we had each other, and we had the opportunity to do anything, to be anything, as long as we were willing to work for it.
My story is really not much different from millions of other Americans. Immigrants have been coming to our shores for generations to live the dream that is America. They wanted better for their children than for themselves.
That remains the dream of all of us, and in this country we have seen time and again that that dream is achievable.
Click for Nikki Haley on other issues.
Source: Republican Party response to 2016 State of the Union speech
Bernie Sanders on Gun Control
: Oct 13, 2015
Bring together rural states & urban states with common sense
SANDERS: I come from a rural state, and the views on gun control in rural states are different than in urban states. Our job is to bring people together around strong, commonsense gun legislation. O'MALLEY:
Have you ever been to the Eastern Shore? Have you ever been to Western Maryland? We were able to pass this and still respect the hunting traditions of people who live in our rural areas. We did it by leading with principle, not by pandering to the NRA.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 2015 CNN Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas
Asa Hutchinson on Principles & Values
: Oct 5, 2015
Parents operated a Christian radio station and school
Asa Hutchinson grew up on a farm with his brother Tim who later became a senator. Their parents also operated a Christian radio station in school.
After graduating from Bob Jones University, Asa Hutchinson attended the University of Arkansas law school at the same time that Bill Clinton started teaching there.
He became US attorney in western Arkansas and prosecuted Clinton's half brother, Roger, for cocaine possession.Hutchinson easily won election as Governor in 1996 to succeed his brother, who moved to the Senate.
He combined a conservative voting record with a pleasant demeanor to become an important player in a short time.
Click for Asa Hutchinson on other issues.
Source: Almanac of American Politics on 2022 Arkansas Governor race
Donald Trump on Tax Reform
: Oct 4, 2015
Estate tax is unfair double taxation
Q: Under your tax plan, your family would make potentially hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating the estate tax.TRUMP: The estate tax is a horrible weapon that has destroyed many families.
In particular, farms and things where they make an income and they have a certain value and they have to go out and borrow money and they put mortgages on their farm.
Let's say it's a business that's not very liquid, and people have to go out and borrow against the business, you are having travesty.
And the other thing is, it's a double taxation. The tax has already been paid. I mean you've been hearing this argument for many years.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interview by Martha Raddatz
Bernie Sanders on Tax Reform
: Sep 5, 2015
Lower cutoff for estate tax from $5.4M to $3.5M
Q: What does Bernie think is wrong with the estate tax?A: While for many years this tax unfairly affected middle-class farms, it has been significantly changed to only affect large estates, worth over several millions of dollars. The rate has been
lowered and the cap raised to such an extent that it has amounted to a huge tax break for the super-rich.
Q: So what is Bernie's answer to reforming the estate tax?
A: Bernie has proposed lowering the bar on estate taxes so that individuals who own
estates worth more than $3.5 million and couples who own estates worth more than $7 million will be taxed (at the moment the bar is set at $5.4 million and $11 million). This bill also increases the amount of tax on these estates, and closes loopholes
used to avoid paying these taxes.
Q: Shouldn't people be able to pass on money to their children?
A: They should--but even with Bernie's proposed new estate tax, 99.75% of Americans would not pay any more in estate taxes than they do today.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: 2016 grassroots campaign website FeelTheBern.org, "Issues"
Donald Trump on Energy & Oil
: Aug 10, 2015
Solar hasn't caught on because it has a 32-year payback
In March 2012, Trump said, "Solar hasn't caught on because it's a 32-year payback. Who wants a 32-year payback? The fact is, the technology is not there yet. Wind farms are hurting the country."
Trump has simply dismissed solar as an "unproven technology" despite solar's decades of rock-solid reliability. His 32 year payback assessment, even in 2012, did not take into account any of the tax incentives or rebates available to most Americans.
One can only assume that his criticisms of the government tax breaks for solar are strictly political in motivation, since his real estate empire is built
on the hundred of millions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies his projects receive.
Click for Donald Trump on other issues.
Source: 2015 SolarTribune.com on 2016 presidential hopefuls
Bernie Sanders on Gun Control
: Jun 28, 2015
Gun legislation must work for both rural & urban Americans
Q: Recently you've been criticized as not being truly progressive when it comes to gun control. What's your response to that?SANDERS: Well, I think the people of Vermont know differently. They know in every single race that I have run,
with the exception of one, the NRA and other gun lobbyists supported my opponent.
I voted for banning assault weapons, doing away with the gun show loophole and fighting for instant background checks so that we make sure that guns do not fall in the hands of those people who should not have it. So, I have a strong record.
But what we need to do is bridge this cultural divide between rural America and urban America and come up with some common sense legislation that accommodates everybody. What we really need is a national dialogue.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: ABC This Week 2015 interviews of 2016 presidential hopefuls
Nikki Haley on Education
: Jan 21, 2015
Incentives for teachers, including tuition & grad school
We've proposed a new initiative that will help our rural schools get, and keep, the kind of highly qualified teachers their students deserve.- First, if a student graduating high school is willing to spend eight years teaching in their underserved
home district after college, we will pay for up to four years of tuition at a state school.
- Second, if a teacher who has graduated from college and is burdened by student loans commits to teach in a rural district, we will contribute to their student
loan repayment.
- Third, if a teacher has less than five years' experience and begins teaching in an eligible district, he or she will receive a pay bump, advancing his or her salary to the level of a teacher five years further down the road.
-
Finally, if a teacher wants to attend graduate school at a state college or university, we will cover the cost of that education, again in exchange for a commitment to teach in a rural or underserved district.
Click for Nikki Haley on other issues.
Source: State of the State address to 2015 South Carolina Assembly
Mike Pence on Tax Reform
: Jan 13, 2015
Simplify the tax code
Over the past two years we've made great progress cutting taxes.
Now let's simplify the tax code and prevent the rapid increase of property taxes on family farms.
Click for Mike Pence on other issues.
Source: State of the State address to 2015 Indiana Legislature
Corey Stapleton on Environment
: Jun 6, 2013
Promote & protect agriculture, farming & ranching lifestyle
One of Montana's competitive advantages is our vast agricultural and ranch land. Not only is our heritage tied to the land, but our future will be blessed by it.
As the world population continues to grow, and food distribution technologies continue to improve, we are poised to provide world-class food products to a world-wide market.
I strongly support the farming and ranching lifestyle and see tremendous opportunity in manufacturing (value-added) agricultural products. I served on the Montana senate Agriculture committee for years and I enjoy promoting and protecting the lifestyles
Click for Corey Stapleton on other issues.
Source: 2014 Senate campaign website www.coreystapleton.com: Issues
Nikki Haley on Jobs
: Jan 16, 2013
Fought unionization; new jobs in 45 of 46 counties
In two years, we have announced new jobs in forty-five of South Carolina's forty-six counties. We've announced more than 6,300 new jobs to rural areas of our state.We've cut taxes on small business.
We've passed tort reform that, for the first time ever, puts a cap on lawsuit damages.
We've fought against the unionization of South Carolina, cherishing the direct relationship between our companies--who know how to take care of those that take care of them--and their employees.
We've, through the Department of Social Services, moved more than 14,000 families from welfare to work. We've created an Agribusiness partnership to showcase the largest industry in our state.
Click for Nikki Haley on other issues.
Source: 2013 State of the State address to S. C. Legislature
Jill Stein on Environment
: Nov 1, 2012
Current food subsidies drive system towards FrankenFood
Q: If elected president would you eliminate federal farm subsidies?STEIN: Our food system should be treated for what it is and not as a tool for agribusiness and market share. Our current subsidies drive the food system towards a very unhealthy
industrialized FrankenFood type system. Those subsidies need to be redirected to support small farmers and to support community farms and the institutions that can provide real food in a way that is sustainable for the long haul.
That means localized food systems rather than this globalized industrial factory system which is extremely unhealthy for the economy, farmers and for people who eat the food.
The planet is being poisoned by the pesticides and the greenhouse gases that are being produced by the current system.
Click for Jill Stein on other issues.
Source: iSideWith.com interview of Jill Stein
Bernie Sanders on Budget & Economy
: Oct 9, 2012
Dairy price fluctuations help no one but speculators
Vermont's rural communities and its working landscape were formed by dairy farms. Its rural communities, and its working landscape, continue to be shaped by dairy farms today. Farms, unlike businesses that can slow down or increase production, often
face a stark choice: when prices drop, and loans are called in, they all too frequently must be sold. And then, suddenly, there is not enough milk, and the price of cheese and milk to consumers rises rapidly.
These huge fluctuations help no one but speculators--not consumers, not dairy-based businesses, not tractor salesmen--and they particularly do not help or sustain farmers.
The best policy is to develop a system of supply management, so that dairy farmers never severely overproduce or underproduce, thereby stabilizing prices and ensuring a sufficient amount of high-quality dairy products for our country.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to `Milk Money`, by K. Kardashian, p. vii-viii
Bernie Sanders on Corporations
: Oct 9, 2012
Investigate huge dairy processors for anti-trust violations
The huge dairy processors, such as Dean Foods and Dairy Farmers of America, to my mind siphon off most of the money from dairy. When the price of milk drops, prices to consumers don't drop: the middlemen and the retailers get wealthy. Farmers, especially
modest-size family farms like those we have in Vermont, get little. The price of and demand for milk today is overly controlled by just a few uncompetitive corporate giants, most often through speculation on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The Department of Justice, at my request, has investigated Dean Foods for antitrust violations. Dean Foods has paid settlements to farmers to resolve the legal situation, but in my view the virtual monopoly over milk continues.
There is something very wrong when large processors reap large profits, and family farmers--who can barely survive, or must sell their farms.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to `Milk Money`, by Kirk Kardashian, p. x-xi
Bernie Sanders on Corporations
: Oct 9, 2012
Launch anti-trust investigation of Dean Foods
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) organized a field hearing titled "The State of Competition and Prospects for Sustainability in the Northeast Dairy Industry." Leahy noted, "There has been a breakdown in competition. Vermont dairy farmers are not getting their
fair share of the retail price of milk, but the corporate processors rake in profits."Bernie Sanders [was] the first one to push to launch an antitrust investigation of Dean Foods. He opened with a striking fact: one company, the milk processor Dean
Foods, controls at least 70% of the milk market in the triangle between Michigan, Florida and New England. He advanced with more numbers: in the last year, milk prices to farmers had dropped from $19 per hundredweight to just $11. Then he came in with
the knockout blow: "Meanwhile, Dean Foods reported $76.2 million in profits for the first quarter of 2009, up 147% from the first quarter of 2008. Is there anybody in this room who doesn't see a connection between those facts? Nobody raised a hand.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to "Milk Money", by Kirk Kardashian, p.186
Bernie Sanders on Environment
: Oct 9, 2012
Sophisticated equipment transformed farms to overproduction
Milk overproduction is caused by to many cows being milked, but it also has to do with dramatic changes that have transformed dairy farms over the past decades. How is it that individual cows today produce much more milk than cows in the past?
Science and breeding have transformed a whole sector of farming.
I feel sure that similar techniques in fruit, grain, and vegetable farming, techniques having to do with cross-pollination and grafting and other procedures, mirror the development of our current generation of dairy cows and their great productivity.
Similarly, the development of automated milking machines is paralleled by the use of increasingly sophisticated equipment in other types of farming.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to `Milk Money`, by Kirk Kardashian, p. ix
Bernie Sanders on Environment
: Oct 9, 2012
Very large farms raise questions about animal cruelty
And the cows [on small farms]? Some are contended. I have been on many dairy farms in Vermont where the cows were cared for almost as if they were part of the farmer's family. VT's Bovine Practitioner of the Year says; "The majority of farmers I work
with are farmers because they love their animals. They treat them well." I think those words ring true for the many Vermont famers I have met. They are wonderful people. But very large farms, and veal operations, can raise questions about animal cruelty.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to `Milk Money`, by Kirk Kardashian, p. x
Bernie Sanders on Government Reform
: Oct 9, 2012
Best dairy policy is USDA board's supply management
The best policy is to develop a system of supply management. It is my hope that we in Washington can produce legislation that will give farmers tools to slow the growth of their herds when milk prices are high--yes, there are profits to be made in the
short term, but the slightly longer term result is always an oversupply of milk and milk prices that go into free-fall. Supply management curbs excessive growth of dairy herds when prices are high. And when the prices are low, a modest cushion for
farmers can provide protection against a hard landing. Under legislation I proposed, the USDA, working with dairy farmers on a producer board, would set a rate for how much farmers could boost production according to US demand. I think it makes sense
that, if we can manage supply so that it is never too high or too low, huge price swings should disappear. And our family farmers will live with a security--that hard work and good farming will bring reasonable returns--that eludes them today.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to `Milk Money`, by K. Kardashian, p. viii-ix
Bernie Sanders on Immigration
: Oct 9, 2012
Include dairy in H2A visas (temporary agricultural workers)
The H2-A agricultural visa program is deficient in many ways, but most acutely for dairy farmers in that it applies only to seasonal workers, such as the migrant apple pickers that swarm Washington State during the harvest and then go home when the
trees are bare. But, obviously, cows need to be milked all year long, so dairy farmers can't benefit from this program. S.358, the "H2-A Improvement Act," attempts a simple fix by adding sheepherders, goat-herders, and dairy workers to the list
of "temporary agricultural workers" that H2-A originally blessed with legal status.Dairy farmer's main beef with the H2-A program is that it's too cumbersome. It requires employers to file multiple applications with state and federal labor offices
and they must predict sometimes years in advance how many workers they will need. Furthermore, the law requires employers to show that they put in good faith effort to recruit American workers before applying for visas for immigrant labor.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to "Milk Money", by Kirk Kardashian, p.156-7
Bernie Sanders on Immigration
: Oct 9, 2012
Immigrant labor should be treated as valuable, but are not
Negative aspects of 21st century farming: water and air pollution, the hazards of industrial agriculture (farms in California or Idaho or New Mexico can exceed 10,00 cows), and milk that is perhaps not as healthful as that obtained from pasture-grazed
animals. The labor situation on dairy farms, which are more and more dependent on immigrant labor from Mexico and Central America. Some of these immigrants are treated as the valuable laborers they are; others, unfortunately and tragically, are not.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Sanders Intro to `Milk Money`, by Kirk Kardashian, p. ix-x
Jill Stein on Budget & Economy
: May 16, 2012
Stimulus plan was not big enough
Q: Do you agree with President Obama's 2009 Stimulus Plan?A: Yes, but it was not big enough.
Q: Should the federal government subsidize U.S. farmers?
A: Yes, but include small and organic farmers.
Q: Should Congress raise the debt ceiling?
A: No, raise taxes on the rich and cut spending to offset the debt.
Q: Should the U.S. have bailed out the major banks during the financial crisis of 2008?
A: Yes, but only on the condition that top management be fired without compensation.
Click for Jill Stein on other issues.
Source: Presidential comparison website www.iSideWith.com
Kristi Noem on Environment
: Oct 17, 2011
EPA should allow state & local regulation of farm dust
EPA's announcement does nothing to change the fact that they are still able to regulate farm dust. If the EPA has no intention of regulating farm dust then they should support my legislation, which excludes farm dust managed at the
state or local level from federal regulatory standards. Noem's bipartisan bill (H.R. 1633) would exclude farm dust that is regulated at the state or local level from federal standards.
Click for Kristi Noem on other issues.
Source: 2011 House of Representatives press release, "HR1633"
Marco Rubio on Principles & Values
: Feb 18, 2010
From poor Cuban family; privileged to be a citizen in US
As I reflect on all the opportunities that I've had in my life, it often reminds me of my grandfather. My grandfather was an enormous influence on me growing up. He was born in 1899 to a poor, rural family in Cuba. When he was a very young man, he had
polio, and it permanently disabled him. So he couldn't work the farm, and so they sent him away to school. In fact, he became the only member of his family that can read.When I was growing up my grandfather lived with us, and told me: Because of where
he was born and who he was born to, there was only so much he was able to accomplish. But he wanted me to know that I would not have those limits, that there was no dreams unavailable to me. And he was right.
See, I was not born to a wealthy or
connected family. And yet I have never felt limited by the circumstances of my birth. Why did my dreams have the chance that his didn't? Because I am privileged. I am privileged to be a citizen of the single greatest society in all of human history.
Click for Marco Rubio on other issues.
Source: Speech to 2010 Conservative Political Action Conference
Marco Rubio on Energy & Oil
: Feb 3, 2010
Cap-and-trade scheme destroys jobs
As a U.S. senator, I would oppose a national energy tax on American consumers, farmers and business owners. At a time when our economy is struggling, a cap-and-trade scheme would further strain family budgets and destroy jobs. Creating jobs in the energy
sectors and becoming more energy efficient requires entrepreneurial innovation, not big government mandates. Instead of higher energy bills and job losses, the American people deserve a comprehensive, job-creating energy policy.
Click for Marco Rubio on other issues.
Source: 2010 Senate campaign website, www.marcorubio.com, "Issues"
Chris Christie on Education
: Jul 21, 2009
Public education system is failing; increase accountability
The toughest, most important problems in our state are too often met with simple answers. Take our schools, for example. Our public education system is failing in far too many parts of our state--in our cities, in our suburbs and in the rural
parts of our state. Our children deserve better.All our current government does is simply throw more money at the problem without ever bringing about real change. Change won't come just with more money.
That's the easy answer that hasn't worked for far too long. Change will only come with increased accountability and greater parental involvement.
It is a moral imperative to educate our children in every corner of this state.
It's time we had a Governor with the courage to provide tough answers for tough questions. Chris Christie will be that Governor.
Click for Chris Christie on other issues.
Source: 2009 Gubernatorial campaign website, christiefornj.com
Mike Huckabee on Jobs
: Nov 18, 2008
Continue farm subsidies for low prices & competitiveness
We take for granted that our food is not only plentiful and diverse but also inexpensive. As a percentage of income, we spend about half of what people in other developed countries do, which gives us an enormous economic advantage.
We have so much more money to spend on discretionary items. Part of the reason process are low is that subsidies keep production at high levels, so keeping American farmers in business is not just good for them but for all of us.
What can government do to help our farmers? We must continue subsidies because our farmers compete with highly subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia, and they face fixed costs (land, equipment, seed, supplies)
whether or not they produce a crop. Subsidies insulate farmers from natural disasters like droughts, floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, as well as from sudden spikes in the price of fuel, feed, and fertilizer.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: Do The Right Thing, by Mike Huckabee, p.209
Joe Biden on Government Reform
: Dec 13, 2007
Radical change to preserve family farmers
How do you preserve family farmers? And if you continue the system the way it is, it's breaking the system. It's going to just flat break the system. And the cost of an acreage has gone up with these excessive payments, the fact that we're not
focusing on the things the farm program started out focusing on, helping farmers that are distressed. It's gotten all out of whack, and so it seems to me that we need a radical change. I voted today to lower the caps on the subsidies for big agribusiness
Click for Joe Biden on other issues.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Democratic Debate
Mike Huckabee on Jobs
: Sep 1, 2007
Supports farm subsidies & fully-funded crop insurance
- We need subsidies to help our farmers compete with heavily subsidized farmers in Europe & Asia and to insulate them from the effects of natural disasters.
- We need a counter cyclical revenue program that makes payments based on low yields or
low prices; & we need a fully-funded crop insurance program.
- Our agricultural policies must encourage young people to enter & stay in farming.
- As President, I will watch out for our farmers because our national well-being depends on theirs.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: 2008 Presidential campaign website mikehuckabee.com "Issues"
Mike Huckabee on Free Trade
: Jan 4, 2007
Farm subsidies ok because Europe & Asia do same
It has been policy to pay farmers a stipend for their crops to ensure the farmers will receive a guaranteed minimum price. Some conservatives believe that all agricultural subsidies should be discontinued and allow the market to function.
In an ideal world, this would be good practice, but American farmers are competing with subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia, and the fixed costs faced by farmers involving land, equipment, seed, and supplies means that even if they do not sell a single
stalk of corn, they will have significant expenses. Keeping American farmers in business is also good for the consumer. The theory behind subsidies is that production is maintained at a higher level, driving food costs lower.
This empowers consumers and generates stability in the farming economy so that America remains a producing rather than consuming nation.
Subsidies also help insulate farmers from natural disasters and spikes in the cost of fuel, feed, and fertilizer.
Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.
Source: From Hope to Higher Ground, by Mike Huckabee, p.172-173
Bernie Sanders on Environment
: Jun 17, 1997
Cut subsidies of wealthy farmers; increase grazing fees
- Reduce subsidy of wealthy farmers by limiting payments to $50,000 per person : increased income--$760 million.
- End subsidy of produce purchased by foreign consumers: increased income--$4.2 billion.
- End subsidy of overseas advertising
campaigns and trade shows for US firms: increased income--$500 million.
- End tobacco subsidies: increased income--$287 million.
- Raise fees for grazing on public lands: increased income--$280 million.
- : increased income--$50 billion.
In 1995, I introduced HR 2534, the Corporate Responsibility Act, which contained many of these provisions. While the fight against corporate welfare has been led by progressives in Congress, we've also had support from honest conservatives who are
rightfully appalled at this waste of taxpayer dollars. As a result, the concept of corporate welfare is now filtering into the mainstream, and some legislation has been passed which is beginning to chip away at this outrageous waste of money.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Outsider in the House, by Bernie Sanders, p. 207-10
Bernie Sanders on Gun Control
: Jun 17, 1997
I'm pro-hunting, but no one needs an AK-47 to hunt
During the 1994 campaign the NRA had played a very forceful role against me. They distributed widely a "Bye, Bye, Bernie" bumper sticker. Vermont is a rural state in which tens of thousands of people enjoy hunting and own guns. VT is an "outdoor"
state--and hunting is a key part of that way of life. I am pro-gun, and pro-hunting. But I don't believe that hunters need assault weapons and AK-47s to kill deer. I voted for the ban on assault weapons, which brought the wrath of the NRA down on me.
Click for Bernie Sanders on other issues.
Source: Outsider in the House, by Bernie Sanders, p. 38-9
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