League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
State of California (Placer, El Dorado, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Madera, Mariposa, Nevada, Fresno, Alpine Counties) November 6, 2012 Election
	Jack Uppal Answers Questions Candidate for United States Representative; District 4

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. In this time of high unemployment, what are the most important steps that should be taken to improve our nation’s economy?

Long term- invest in government/industry technology programs that will drive American industry for the next 50 years. I believe we need a national program to develop electric cars that have a range over 300 miles and cost less than $30,000. This will require new battery technologies, and this effort will help not only the auto industry, but all industries for a long time to come. Short term- invest in infrastructure projects as we have been doing.

2. How should the federal budget deficit be addressed, now and into the future? How should budget priorities for defense and domestic programs be adjusted?

Americans are willing to sacrifice for the sake of reducing our national debt if we can be sure the sacrifice is fairly shared by all people and by corporations also. This will require some further cuts in spending, but will also require raising more revenues for essential government programs. Defense is certainly a prime responsibility of the federal government, but we can make more judicious cuts in defense spending particularly in weapons programs that are no longer needed. We must make some changes to both medicare and social security to reduce the cost of these programs, but we must also ensure that both medicare and social security are there in present form for present and future generations. I am opposed to privatizing or voucherizing either social security or medicare.

3. What are your priorities with respect to our nation’s energy policy? Should there be an emphasis on clean energy and reducing carbon emissions, and/or on reducing our dependence on foreign sources?

We must develop domestic sources of clean energy and reduce carbon emissions. This will also reduce our dependence on foreign oil and lead to energy independence. I favor solar, wind, hydroelectric, geothermal, and nuclear power. We must do more work on how to safely dispose or utilize the waste from nuclear reactors, but given that new reactors take 10+ years to build, this work can be done in parallel with building new plants.

4. What, if any, changes should be made to federal health care policies or programs?

The affordable care act is a good starting point for making insurance available to millions of uninsured Americans. I am certain this act will need to be tweaked, but we need to give this a chance to be successful.

5. What, if any, changes should be made to federal rules on campaign financing?

We must eliminate the huge influence of big money on politics. This is the cause of most of our difficulties in Congress. I favor overturning the Citizens United decision with a constitutional amendment. I also favor either government campaign financing, or placing severe restrictions on how candidates can raise money and how much can be raised from individuals. I would like to see donations from all special interests (non-human entities such as corporations, unions, PACs) be eliminated.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. References to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 24, 2012 12:59
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