Kirsten Gillibrand
Historical Details
Position on Issues
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Facebook Page, 2017
"Senate Republicans could call for a vote on their scam tax bill as soon as tonight. They can hide behind words like reform all they want but they are giving huge tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest among us - by raising taxes on middle-class families kicking 13 million people off their health insurance and setting the stage to gut Medicare and Social Security. If you're part of a middle-class family it's very likely you'll lose if this bill passes."
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Candidate's Website, 2018
"America does not just tolerate immigration; it thrives on the contributions of immigrants. Kirsten supports comprehensive immigration reform that gives immigrants a path to earned citizenship; and she will stand up on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers who deserve to stay in this country by supporting the DREAM Act."
Against| Read My Position
"Senate Republicans just released the text of their (formerly) secret health care bill.
" If you thought the House bill was bad, the Senate bill is even worse! ...And it would allow states to opt out of the essential health benefits required by Obamacare."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Facebook Page, 2013
"I was on Meet The Press to discuss the Senate's bipartisan gun reform legislation, which we'll vote on this week. It's crucial that all Americans make their voices heard in support of expanded background checks, our gun trafficking and straw purchasers bill, as well as other commonsense reforms."
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Candidate's Facebook Page, 2018
"Just a few minutes ago, we defeated a bill in the Senate that would have made abortions illegal after 20 weeks. This was nothing more than an attempt by President Trump and Republican leadership to restrict a woman's right to choose."
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Candidate's Facebook Page, 2015
"On Thursday, I spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate in opposition to the cynical GOP effort to defund Planned Parenthood and threaten yet another government shutdown. Planned Parenthood provides essential health services to millions of women each year, including cancer screenings, STI testing and screening, and access to contraception. We shouldn't have to restrict women's access to health care to avoid a partisan government shutdown. My colleagues' attempts to defund Planned Parenthood are yet another tired effort to roll back Roe v Wade and serve as cheap, political stunts that only distract from doing the work Americans expect and deserve."
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Candidate's Facebook Page, 2018
"Attorney General Sessions' decision to restrict states' ability to legalize and decriminalize marijuana is either willfully ignorant of the medical science or an act of greed on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry. In either case, it's an attack on patients, and it's wrong."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2013
"With nearly 1.8 million New Yorkers earning the minimum wage or just above, Senator Gillibrand is committed to passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $10.10/hour over the next three years. ... Raising the minimum wage would benefit not only those making the minimum wage, but it would help our children by raising families out of poverty and would benefit our entire economy by increasing consumer spending and creating jobs."
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Candidate's Facebook Page, 2010
"In honor of Earth Day, I'm supporting legislation that would renovate 50 million buildings and 3.3 million homes by 2020 in order to make them more energy efficient. This legislation would create over 300,000 sustainable jobs throughout the country over the next ten years while at the same time saving Americans billions of dollars in energy costs and making the air we breathe and the water we drink cleaner and safer. We can protect our environment AND rebuild our economy by improving the energy efficiency of our homes and bringing our outdated buildings into the 21st century."
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Candidate's Facebook Page, 2011
"I'm disappointed that the GOP stood with special interests against the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act tonight. With gas over $4/gallon and the top oil companies reaping huge profits, it's time to end tax subsidies of Big Oil!"
For| Read My Position
"The way I see a green economy is this: I think we need a moonshot. We need to tell the American people 'we are going to have a green economy in the next 10 years, not because it's easy, but because it's hard, because it's a measure of our innovation and effectiveness"
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Candidate's Website, 2012
In the past Gillibrand has supported more aggressive tariffs for China. "Senator Gillibrand called on President Obama to take steps to stonewall China's destructive trade policies and announced new legislation that would preserve the U.S. government's ability to impose punitive tariffs on countries like China that unfairly subsidize their products to undermine the American market."
Other| Read My Position
Gillibrand has not called for Trump's impeachment, but she said the president should resign over allegations of sexual misconduct, and said Congress should investigate him if he does not.
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Other, 2017
Gillibrand has advocated for many transportation infrastructure investments while serving in the U.S. Senate. For example, in 2017 she signed a letter to the Secretary of Transportation urging investment in rail infrastructure. The letter said, "We have serious concerns about President Trump's proposed funding cuts to programs that are critical to advancing the Gateway Project. The proposed cuts would derail important transportation projects all across the country including Gateway, and would have a disastrous impact on our regional and national economy."
Against| Read My Position
"Well, his idea for a wall is ineffective and it's not going to make us safer."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2018
"As the opioid epidemic continues to hurt communities across New York State, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that following her push, the Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies appropriations bill includes critical funding that would help communities combat the opioid crisis. This legislation, which could pass the Senate as soon as this week, includes $3.7 billion in federal funding for treatment and prevention programs that would help communities throughout New York fight against the opioid epidemic."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"Health care is one of the largest out-of-pocket expenses for middle- and working-class families nationally, and our health care system still leaves too many Americans hurting. We need Medicare for All to make high-quality, universal, affordable health care a reality for everyone. We also need to crack down on greedy drug companies that raise prices to the point of being out of reach. Kirsten has led the fight to lower the cost of health care and take on big pharmaceutical companies, including introducing legislation to hold companies accountable for price gouging."
Other| Read My Position
While Gillibrand has supported a diplomatic approach to North Korea, she signed a letter to the Secretary of State expressing support for strict sanctions for North Korea, saying, "First, the administration should use the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York to highlight North Korea's continued defiance of its international obligations, and to insist that all countries, particularly China, strictly enforce existing multilateral sanctions. After all, multilateral sanctions imposed severe costs for the rogue regime's illegal nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, which helped drive them to the negotiating table. It should be clear that these multilateral sanctions should not be lifted until North Korea changes course."
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2018
"As a member of the Senate Aging Committee, Kirsten will oppose any efforts to cut the Social Security and Medicare benefits seniors have earned. Kirsten is also focused on ways to create more job opportunities for seniors, stop their exploitation, and help these New Yorkers save for retirement. She firmly opposes all efforts to privatize Social Security and believes in ensuring its solvency for the next generation without raising the retirement age. She is also leading the charge to combat senior fraud by introducing legislation to protect vulnerable citizens from scammers who try to steal personal information and harm them financially."
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2018
"As a member of the Senate Aging Committee, Kirsten will oppose any efforts to cut the Social Security and Medicare benefits seniors have earned. Kirsten is also focused on ways to create more job opportunities for seniors, stop their exploitation, and help these New Yorkers save for retirement. She firmly opposes all efforts to privatize Social Security and believes in ensuring its solvency for the next generation without raising the retirement age. She is also leading the charge to combat senior fraud by introducing legislation to protect vulnerable citizens from scammers who try to steal personal information and harm them financially."
For| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2017
"Russia has been relentless in its attacks against democratic institutions and values, including our own elections here in the United States. These sanctions send a clear message that we will not tolerate attacks against our institutions and democracy, nor will we tolerate efforts to sow violence and chaos."
Other| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2019
"U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand feels strongly that higher education is the pathway to the American Dream, and because of the rising cost of higher education, more and more Americans are finding it out of reach. She is committed to working to ease the burden on the millions of Americans struggling with crushing student loan debt.
"To accomplish this, Senator Gillibrand has introduced the Federal Student Loan Refinancing Act, which would allow student borrowers to refinance their student debt at a lower interest rate, just as business-owners and homeowners are able to do. Interest rates on government debt remain low-currently below 2 percent-yet interest rates on unsubsidized federal student loans remain up at 6.8 percent and expected to rise."
For| Read My Position
"If you really want to attack global climate change effectively, you should put a price on carbon, because what you're doing is you're incentivizing good behavior"
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Website, 2018
"By walking away from the agreement, the President has opened the door to Iran going back to developing a nuclear weapons program. This unilateral decision will cost us the ability to maintain a strong coalition holding Iran accountable and the ability to increase leverage and oversight with our European allies. It also severely undermines our country's credibility as a partner that can be trusted; this is especially troubling as the Trump Administration prepares to negotiate with North Korea. It took years of coordinated international sanctions coupled with diplomacy to reach this accord and it is a mistake to think we can simply restart this process with a clean slate. I hope that the other parties to the agreement continue to abide by the agreement, and I urge President Trump to reconsider this mistake. Rather than unraveling nuclear oversight, we should be focusing on adding additional levers to address Iran's dangerous behavior in the region."
Against| Read My Position
Candidate's Facebook Page, 2017
"Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord would be a complete disaster for our future, an absolute failure of leadership and vision."
Voting Record
H J Res 31 (2019)
Final 2019 federal budget bill, including $1.4 billion for 55 miles of physical barrier on the border with Mexico, $415 million for humanitarian relief at the border, $12 billion for disaster relief, and $3.3 billion for highway and bridge infrastructure.S 1 (2019)
Reauthorizes a cooperation agreement with Jordan, authorizes sanctions against Syria, extends a loan gaurantee program with Israel, and increases protections for state and local governments that refuse to invest in or contract with companies which boycott Israel.S Amdt 5 (2019)
Republican bill to end the government shutdown and fund the government through September 2019. The bill includes $5.7 billion for a border wall.
H J Res 46 (2019)
Ends the national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border declared by President Trump.
S Amdt 6 (2019)
Democratic bill to end the government shutdown and fund the government through September 2019. The bill does not include $5.7 billion for a border wall.S J Res 7 (2019)
Prevents the U.S. from fighting in or assisting in Yemen's civil war.S 2155 (2018)
Eases some of the financial regulations of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
S 139 (2018)
Extends so-called "section 702" surveillance by the NSA under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
HR 195 (2018)
Stopped a federal government shutdown by funding the government through February 8, 2018. This bill also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years. This bill does not include an extension of the immigration program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or any other immigration-related policy.
S 756 (2018)
Makes various reforms to the criminal justice system, such as mandating de-escalation training for correctional officers, improving feminine hygiene for prisoners, and adding more leniency to sentences for non-violent offenders.
HR 2 (2018)
"Farm bill" that authorizes a variety of agriculutral programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The final version of this bill did not include stricter work requirements for SNAP, as originally proposed. The bill also legalizes industrial hemp.
HR 1628 (2017)
"American Health Care Act" that repeals parts of the Affordable Care Act (also known as "Obamacare") and revises many health care laws. For example, this bill would cap Medicaid funding, repeal various insurance coverage requirements, and replace the requirement to buy health insurance with a penalty the next time you get insurance if you allow your coverage to lapse.
HR 1 (2017)
Reduces the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, reduces the individual income tax rate for high earners from 39.6% to 37%, increases the income threshold to qualify for the alternative minimum tax, and repeals the mandate to purchase health insurance.HR 1370 (2017)
Stopped a federal government shutdown by funding the government through January 19, 2018.S Con Res 3 (2017)
Sets the federal budget. This bill also establishes rules that pave the way for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare."
H J Res 43 (2017)
Allows states to withhold federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
H J Res 42 (2017)
Effectively allows states to drug test anybody claiming unemployment benefits or food stamps.
S J Res 34 (2017)
Overtuns a rule from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that requires all internet browsing and app usage data be subject to the same privacy requirements as private personal information. The FCC rule is stricter than previous regulations, which had various privacy requirements depending on the sensitivity of the online information.
