League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA November 6, 2012 Election
	Henry A. Waxman Answers Questions Candidate for United States Representative; District 33

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?

I support an economic approach that lifts all Americans, not just the privileged few.

We need to create good jobs and lay a strong foundation for our economy + that is how we revitalize the middle class. I helped implement a broad economic plan to bring opportunity and fiscal security to all Americans by raising the minimum wage and providing recovery rebates to more than 130 million American families.

That economic plan cut taxes for small businesses, increased incentives to create clean-energy jobs, and invested in infrastructure projects that directly created jobs. And, I am working hard to end tax loopholes for American companies that outsource jobs overseas.

I cosponsored and strongly supported the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Act helped create and save over 3.5 million jobs, offer 98% of American working families and individuals a tax cut, and rebuild America's road, rail, and water infrastructure.

I am also a strong proponent of the Make it in America agenda, which would revitalize our domestic manufacturing and create high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future.

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?

Protecting the environment has been a top priority of mine throughout my career. I have fought tirelessly for clean air and drinking water, and am now fighting to address global climate change, create new clean energy jobs in America, and reduce our nation's dependency on foreign oil.

I introduced the first bill in Congress to stabilize the climate in 1992. Since then, I have continued my work to advance legislation to avoid dangerous, irreversible global warming. In 2009, the House of Representatives passed the Waxman-Markey bill, aimed at limiting pollution by capping greenhouse gas emissions and putting a price on carbon.

Climate change is an environmental issue. It is an economic issue. But it is also fundamentally a moral issue. I am fighting every day to address the impacts of global climate change to forestall great harm to our nation and the world. The anti-science, anti-environment agenda may serve the interests of the oil companies, but it is not what Americans want and it is endangering our future.

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

In one of the most powerful, industrialized countries in the world, no parent should have to choose between taking a child to the doctor and paying the rent. I have spent decades working in Congress to craft policy that advances equality and opportunity, taking on the special interests that delay progress at the expense of the health and well-being of the American public.

I was a chief sponsor of the health insurance reform package that was passed in 2010. The law expands affordable health coverage to individuals of all ages and backgrounds while lowering costs, creating jobs, and strengthening the middle class. Some benefits, including 50% discounts on brand name drugs for seniors in the Medicare "Donut Hole," have already taken effect, and all provisions will be implemented by 2014.

The Affordable Care Act puts the American people, not insurance companies or the government, in charge of their health care.

I believe that repealing the Affordable Care Act would not just keep tens of millions of Americans uninsured or underinsured; it would have a devastating impact on our economy by significantly adding to our national debt and raising costs on individuals and businesses.

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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: September 4, 2012 14:24
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