League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA June 3, 2014 Election
	Barbara L. Mulvaney 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 and budget deficits, what are the most important steps that should be taken to improve our nation’s economy and sustain job creation?

Improving the economy should begin with the government. We need to close tax loopholes and cut spending on wasteful pursuits such as the War on Terror and the War on Drugs. Raising taxes is not the solution; it does nothing to collect money from individuals and entities that are already avoiding payment. By closing loopholes we will hold these people and corporations responsible for paying taxes owed.

Next we need to address the student loan debt crisis and come to a solution that will allow the next generation to prosper and participate in a robust economy rather than drown in years of debt. I believe that encouraging companies and positions focused on research and development of new technologies is fundamentally an ever-growing field. Focus on future technology will create a foundation for jobs in years to come.

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

I am for universal healthcare. As a breast cancer survivor I know what it is like to negotiate the healthcare system while also undergoing chemotherapy. There is no reason that our country can't move towards a more universal model of healthcare, citizens shouldn't be struggling with bills while fighting to survive.

I would support extending Medicare to include everyone. Medicare is the only medical plan that has fixed prices and therefore possess the bargaining power to set prices with the healthcare industry. Insurance companies are being run for profit and artificially driving up the costs of treatment and medicine. Healthcare needs to be treated more as a human right than a luxury commodity.

3. What are your priorities with respect to our nation’s energy policy?

Climate change is a reality. That is why we need to incentivize clean energy programs and put money into the research and development of clean and sustainable energies. It is an issue on all levels, local, state, national and global, which compounds exponentially on a daily basis. Everything is based on carbon emissions on a global basis; this includes everything from deforestation to burning coal in China. Humans and industry unavoidably contribute to climate change, which results in both natural and man-made disasters.

We need to listen to research and science to create evidentiary-based laws that charge known polluters with clean up costs. Comparatively taxing and fining corporations that impose on the environment can help to fund federal disaster relief funds, whether that disaster is man-made or natural, an oil spill or a hurricane. Environmental disasters create climate refugees and this type of emergency mass migration has socio-economic and political consequences. Examples include Syria and New Orleans.

4. What, if any, changes should be made with respect to our nation’s security, including our national defense or anti-terrorism measures?

There has been an erosion of civil liberties since September 11, 2001. It will be a fulltime job to regain those liberties that we have lost. I firmly believe that we need to rebuild the trust between citizens and government agencies. I have been at war and I understand the need for security but what I have seen is that civilian privacy needs to be reinstated to conform to constitutional protections. Further, spying on ordinary Americans has not made us safer and tax dollars should not pay for this infringement of rights.

Working for the US State Department in Baghdad I was witness to the waste, fraud and corruption as billions of US dollars were poured into defense. We can maintain a secure nation and still cut funding to the war on terror as well as excessive spending on defense contractors.

5. What is your position on the issue of immigration reform? What, if any, changes to legislation or policy would you support?

There needs to be a clear path to immigration. As an attorney I have worked on immigration law inside and outside of our country and the laws and convoluted and difficult to understand. I believe in immunity, we need to revamp the system and grant immunity to those people who are here. People should not have to hide in the shadows.

For taxation, health issues, public security and so many other reasons we need to account for all people present in our country and on the books. Immigration policy has failed and now it is a matter of national security and economic sense to get everyone who is present signed up + that means immunity.

---

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).

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
SmartVoter Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

---

Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 20, 2014 20:27
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://www.lwvc.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.