Opinions from politicians
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Elaine Chao,
disagrees
Tariffs
Smoot and Hawley ginned up The Tariff Act of 1930 to get America back to work after the Stock Market Crash of '29. Instead, it destroyed trade so effectively that by 1932, American exports to Europe were just a third of what they had been in 1929. World trade fell two-thirds as other nations retaliated. Jobs evaporated.
Jack Layton,
agrees
Universal Health Care
Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let's continue to move forward.
Alan Greenspan, American economist
disagrees
Tariffs
Protectionism will do little to create jobs and if foreigners retaliate, we will surely lose jobs.
Asa Hutchinson, United states politician
disagrees
Tariffs
As we learned after President Herbert Hoover signed the Smoot-Hawley tariff at the outset of the Great Depression, vibrant international trade is a key component to economic recovery; hindering trade is a recipe for disaster.
Preneet Kaur,
disagrees
Tariffs
The electricity tariff in Punjab is highest in north India, and it should be decreased.
Bernie Sanders, American politician
agrees
Universal Health Care
Health care in Denmark is universal, free of charge and high quality. Everybody is covered as a right of citizenship.
Manmohan Singh, Former prime minister of India
disagrees
Tariffs
Protectionism is a very real danger. It is understandable that in times of a severe downturn protectionist pressures mount but the lessons of history are clear. If we give in to protectionist pressures, we will only send the world into a downward spiral.
Barack Obama, Former President of United States of America
agrees
Universal Health Care
I think it [health care] should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition ...
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Xi Jinping, General secretary of the communist party of china and paramount leader of china
disagrees
Tariffs
Pursuing protectionism is just like locking one's self in a dark room: Wind and rain might be kept outside but so are light and air.
David Hanson,
This report shows that immigration since 2001 has contributed to the public finances as well as to the economy. However the impact of different kinds of immigration varies and the system needs to be fair - so we need stronger border controls to tackle illegal immigration and stronger action against employers who use immigration to undercut local wages and jobs, but we should welcome international ... See More
Bernie Sanders, American politician
I happen to believe that certain types of assault weapons, which are manufactured and designed for military purposes to kill people very quickly should not be used in civilian society.
Bob Beauprez,
agrees
Fracking
I’m pro-fracking, because I’m pro-good science driving good policy. And the science is overwhelming. It’s, this isn’t brand new. It’s brand new to a lot of people, but as you know, Hugh, we’ve been fracking wells in the United States for over 60 years. Over a million of those wells have been fracked. Even people like Lisa Jackson, when she was the EPA administrator for Barack Obama, far from some ...
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Dennis Kucinich,
agrees
Universal Health Care
Everyone should have health insurance? I say everyone should have health care. I'm not selling insurance.
Bob Corker, Politician, businessman
disagrees
Tariffs
As the president taxes Americans with tariffs, he pushes away our allies and further strengthens [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. It is time for Congress to step up and take back our authorities. We have legislation to do that. Let’s vote.
Andrea Leadsom, Conservative Member of Parliament for South Northamptonshire
agrees
Fracking
In 2003, we were a net exporter of gas. By 2030 we expect to be importing close to 75% of the gas we consume. By making the most of our home-grown gas we can safeguard our own domestic supply whilst also cutting our carbon emissions.
Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
agrees
Universal Health Care
I’m a conservative on most issues but a liberal on this one … We must have universal healthcare …We need, as a nation, to reexamine the single-payer plan.
Guy Ryder,
agrees
Universal Health Care
Health protection is central to decent work and must be a reality for all.
Lisa Jackson, American politician
agrees
Fracking
I’m not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water.
Dr Liam Fox MP,
disagrees
Tariffs
[Trump's tariff on steel is] patently absurd. It would be a great pity if we ended up in a tit-for-tat trade dispute with our closest allies.
David Cameron, Former UK Prime Minister
agrees
Fracking
I passionately believe that there is big potential for fracking and unconventional gas in Britain, which has some shale reserves that could make a real difference.
Chuck Schumer, U.s. senator from the state of new york
The only people who use them [so-called assault weapons] are mass murderers.
Donald J. Trump, President of the USA
agrees
Fracking
Fracking will lead to American independence. With price of natural gas continuing to drop, we can be at a tremdendous advantage.
Jim Yong Kim,
agrees
Universal Health Care
Achieving universal health coverage will make the world a more just and prosperous place.
Ken Salazar, American politician
agrees
Fracking
Hydraulic fracking is very much a necessary part of the future of natural gas.
Kirsten Gillibrand, United states senator from new york
agrees
Universal Health Care
Health care should be a right; it should never be a privilege. We should have Medicare for all in this country.
Mark Udall, American politician
I've come to the conclusion that military style weapons really don't have any place in our society. We ought to reinstate the assault weapons ban that served us well for 10 years from 1994 to 2004.
Rand Paul, American politician, ophtalmologist, and united states senator from kentucky
disagrees
Universal Health Care
With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to health care, you have to realize what that implies. It's not an abstraction. I'm a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me. It means you believe in slavery...
You’re saying you believe in taking and extracting from another person. Our founding documents were very clear about this. You have a right to pur...
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Benjamin Netanyahu,
agrees
Surrogacy
Single mother have the right to the surrogacy process, but single fathers don’t have that right. It simply isn’t fair.
Agnes Binagwaho,
agrees
Universal Health Care
Governments have everything to gain when they prioritize human health – it is an investment. I am hopeful for global progress because universal health coverage has been included in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Winona LaDuke,
disagrees
Fracking
Someone needs to explain to me why wanting clean drinking water makes you an activist, and why proposing to destroy water with chemical warfare doesn't make a corporation a terrorist.
Ronald Reagan, Former US president
disagrees
Universal Health Care
One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine.
Ron Paul, American politician and physician
disagrees
Universal Health Care
You have a right to your life and you have a right to your liberty and you have a right to keep what you earn in a free country... You do not have the right to services or things.
Stephen Harper, Canadian economist
disagrees
Tariffs
We have to remember we're in a global economy. The purpose of fiscal stimulus is not simply to sustain activity in our national economies, but to help the global economy as well, and that's why it's so critical that measures in those packages avoid anything that smacks of protectionism.
Mark Mustio, Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
disagrees
Soda taxes
We’re seeing that those places where families buy their food and groceries are starting to lose money, and we don’t want them to close.
Theresa May, Prime minister of the United Kingdom
agrees
Fracking
I have to say to the honourable gentleman that this is an issue on which we are simply going to have to disagree because I think shale gas does have the potential to power economic growth in this country.
I think it will support thousands of jobs in the oil and gas industries and in other sectors and it will provide a new domestic energy source and we have more than 50 years of drilling experie...
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Elizabeth Warren, 28th united states senator from massachusetts (class 1)
agrees
Universal Health Care
Disease, sickness, and old age touch every family. Tragedy doesn't ask who you voted for. Health care is a basic human right.
Dianne Feinstein, American politician
Our support for assault weapons ban is very broad...I think we've got all the police, we have all the mayors virtually - the conference of mayors, mayors against guns. We have medical experts, we have virtually dozens of religious organizations of every creed supporting us. We have just lists and lists.
Peter Piot, Belgian un official
agrees
Universal Health Care
Weak links in a health system are deadly fuel to pandemics. Universal health coverage fills gaps and strengthens our defenses.
Juan Manuel Santos,
disagrees
Tariffs
Protectionism is something that will hurt everybody, but especially the United States.
Margaret Chan, Former Director-General of the World Health Organization
agrees
Universal Health Care
UHC [universal health coverage] is the ultimate expression of fairness and one of the most powerful social equalizers among all policy options.
Tedros Adhanom,
agrees
Universal Health Care
For me, universal coverage is an ethical issue. Do we want our fellow citizens to die because they are poor? Or millions of families to fall into poverty because they lack financial risk protection? These are very important questions.
As you know, today more than 400 million people lack access to essential health services and 40% of the world’s population lack social protection.
These people...
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Mark DeWine,
agrees
Fracking
I'm for the fracking. I think its an opportunity for Ohio to really get a lot of jobs. But we have to do it right. We have to really take a deep breath, do it right, make sure the public is protected, make sure our land is protected.
Ted Kennedy, American politician
agrees
Universal Health Care
It [universal health care] has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society.
John Campbell, Former US Representative
disagrees
Universal Health Care
In school, we were taught that the first 10 amendments to the Constitution were ratified in 1791, and collectively they form our Bill of Rights... Rights are not about giving you something for free; they are about protecting natural liberties from those who would take them away from you. For instance, the Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. It does not however, say that you get gun...
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Bernie Sanders, American politician
disagrees
Fracking
I'm very proud that the state of Vermont banned fracking. I hope communities all over California, and all over America do the same.
Rod Blagojevich, Former Governor of Illinois
agrees
Universal Health Care
Health care is not a privilege. It's a right. It's a right as fundamental as civil rights. It's a right as fundamental as giving every child a chance to get a public education.
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