League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
State of California November 2, 2010 Election
	Carly Fiorina Answers Questions Candidate for United States Senator

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California 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?

We must start by supporting our nation's job creators, the small businesses and entrepreneurs that employ about half our nation's private-sector workforce and create two-thirds of the new jobs in our country. As outlined in my Jobs for Americans Plan, we must provide tax certainty and regulatory sanity to our economy. Particularly during these difficult economic times, the last thing we should be doing is raising taxes on our state's families, communities and enterprises.

To get Californians back to work, we must fight for every job; that requires incentivizing investment and, in some cases, re-investment in the American economy. I have proposed, for example, the creation of "Jobs for Americans Zones," where selected geographic areas would be created throughout the country to help lure manufacturing jobs back to America through targeted, substantial federal tax benefits, in partnership with state and local regulatory relief. I have also called for a two-year payroll tax holiday for small businesses and start-up businesses that hire unemployed workers.

2. How should federal budget priorities be changed, now and into the future? How will you balance the costs of military action overseas and national security with the costs of domestic needs?

As the challenges facing our nation evolve, our national priorities must also adapt. Regardless of what these future challenges are, we must move quickly to eliminate the billions in wasteful spending that restrict our nation's ability to respond to pressing issues as they emerge. The fact is that Washington has a spending and accountability problem + and the last thing we should be doing is sending it more of our hard-earned money. Instead, we must work to cut waste, restore accountability, control spending and pay down the federal debt so that our country has the fiscal footing to swiftly respond to critical priorities that arise. That is why I have proposed a plan to reform our national budget, improve transparency into how our tax dollars are spent and pay down our debt. You can find that plan on my web site at http://www.carlyforca.com.

We must continue to invest in our military men and women and fund our national security efforts to fulfill government's most fundamental role: protecting the safety of our fellow Americans. At the same time as we continue pursuing these goals, we must also ensure that we cut waste, restore accountability, find efficiencies and then make priority decisions. This is work Congress has put off for too long.

3. What, if anything, should be done by the federal government to address our dependence on fossil fuels or spur the use of clean energy?

I believe we can both reduce energy costs and improve our environment by reducing our dependence on foreign oil and by investing in clean technology. To do this, we need a comprehensive, national energy policy that promotes the development of all domestic forms of energy. We must also significantly increase energy research and development, harnessing the power of innovation to build on the advancements in clean, green technology that we have made so far.

4. What, if any, changes should be made to current federal policies or programs that promote or provide health coverage for Americans?

As a breast cancer survivor, I've seen the best and the worst of our nation's health care system, and I believe that our nation's health care system is in desperate need of reform in order to make high-quality health care more affordable and more accessible to all. The health care overhaul recently signed into law was a missed opportunity. It increases the cost of health care and has restricted access to health coverage; it does nothing to improve the quality of patient care or bend the rising cost curve.

Instead, our pursuit of health care reform should focus on measures we know from experience work and that have bipartisan support. Specifically, I believe we should build on programs that provide incentives for receiving preventative care and for healthy lifestyles, reform malpractice on a national level as has been done successfully in California, provide greater access to lower-cost community-based primary care clinics, encourage more transparency about pricing and quality of health care services, allow consumers to purchase any health plan from anywhere in the country, and create more market-based competition for everything from health insurance to prescription drugs.

5. What, if any, changes should be made to federal rules on campaign financing or disclosure of political expenditures?

I respect the Supreme Court's decisions on campaign finance laws that have gone "too far" in restricting protected First Amendment speech. Congress should take notice of the Constitutional speech rights of all Americans and proceed with caution before enacting any new restrictions. I am also skeptical about the motives of career politicians who wish to restrict certain kinds of political speech, but insert loopholes in legislation for certain special-interest organizations. I do believe we need to give the public better and timelier access to campaign finance information and hope to work to improve that as a member of the Senate.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. No candidate may refer to another candidate in the response.

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

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 8, 2010 16:12
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