Talk:Carly Fiorina/Summary sandbox

See: Talk:Carly Fiorina#Summary sandbox

Political positions of Carly Fiorina	Actual content of section	Very short summary of section
Assembled Lead	Abortion Fiorina describes herself as "pro-life" and favors banning late-term abortions. She has called for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, and supports defunding Planned Parenthood. Her characterization of a controversial Planned Parenthood undercover video attracted controversy, with news media and fact-checkers concluding that her statements on this subject were inaccurate or exaggerated. Climate change Fiorina acknowledges the scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by human activity, but has expressed doubt on government's ability to stop the problem. Fiorina has criticized "liberal environmentalists" and has opposed targeting the coal industry. Drugs Fiorina has expressed support for decriminalization of drug use, but opposes legalization of marijuana. Fiorina has said that as president she would not enforce the federal ban on marijuana in states that have legalized it. Fiorina has said that she favors investing more in substance abuse treatment. Economy Education Foreign and military policy Health care Immigration LGBT issues Maternity leave Minimum wage Net neutrality Government regulation Taxation Technology employees	<--- THAT'S IT, FOLKS, <--- YOUR NEW LEAD! <--- THAT'S IT, FOLKS, <--- YOUR NEW LEAD! <--- THAT'S IT, FOLKS, <--- YOUR NEW LEAD! <--- THAT'S IT, FOLKS, <--- YOUR NEW LEAD! The temporary headings are removed when it's fully assembled.
Abortion	Fiorina describes herself as "pro-life" and has expressed support for legislation to ban abortions 20 weeks after fertilization, with an exception for cases of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother. Fiorina supports overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. Fiorina supports eliminating federal funding for Planned Parenthood, although federal funding for abortions is mostly banned. In August 2015, Fiorina called upon Republicans in Congress to shut down the government in order to strip Planned Parenthood of federal funding. In a September 2015 appearance on Meet the Press, Fiorina receded from this stance, saying that "she was open to a government shutdown if it would make President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party defend 'the butchery' of Planned Parenthood," but that "I believe there are a variety of ways to deal with this." The National Right to Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, and the California ProLife Council all endorsed Fiorina's 2010 U.S. Senate campaign in California. In a September 2015 Republican presidential candidates' debate on CNN, Fiorina was harshly critical of the Planned Parenthood organization for their involvement in fetal tissue donation. Referencing videotapes made public by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress (CMP), she stated: "I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says, 'We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.'" The videos mostly contain secretly taped conversations between Planned Parenthood employees and individuals posing as tissue brokers interested in purchasing fetal tissue for medical research. According to PolitiFact, however, the video footage Fiorina referred to was not obtained from a Planned Parenthood clinic. It was stock footage of an unrelated live fetus, obtained from the Grantham Collection, "an organization that hopes to stem abortion by promoting graphic images of the procedure." It was then added by CMP to dramatize the description by StemExpress procurement technician Holly O'Donnell. In the edited video, O'Donnell alleged that while she was working in a pathology lab at a Planned Parenthood clinic, her supervisor told her that they would procure a brain from a well preserved fetus. O'Donnell said: "I'm sitting here looking at this fetus, and its heart is beating, and I don't know what to think." According to The Wall Street Journal, "there was never any video that depicted, as Ms. Fiorina stated, a live fetus on a table being prepared for organ harvesting." The New York Times reported that "while the authenticity of the videos remains a subject of debate, Mrs. Fiorina appears to have exaggerated their contents," and PolitiFact said "Fiorina makes it sound as if the footage shows what Planned Parenthood is alleged to have done. In fact, the stock footage was added to the video to dramatize its content. We rate her statement Mostly False."	Fiorina describes herself as "pro-life" and favors banning late-term abortions. She has called for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, and supports defunding Planned Parenthood. Her characterization of a controversial Planned Parenthood undercover video attracted controversy, with news media and fact-checkers concluding that her statements on this subject were inaccurate or exaggerated.
Climate change	In a February 2015 speech, Fiorina acknowledged the scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by human activity, but expressed skepticism that government can affect the issue, and has "implied that targeting the coal industry will not solve the problem". On April 4, 2015, Fiorina spoke about how California has fared in the 2012–15 North American drought, stating that "liberal environmentalists" have brought what she described as a "tragedy", and that California is an example of "liberals being willing to sacrifice other people's lives and livelihoods at the altar of their ideology".	Fiorina acknowledges the scientific consensus that climate change is real and caused by human activity, but has expressed doubt on government's ability to stop the problem. Fiorina has criticized "liberal environmentalists" and has opposed targeting the coal industry.
Drugs	Fiorina said in May 2015 that "drug addiction shouldn't be criminalized" and cited "decriminalizing drug addiction and drug use" as an example of a successful reform. Fiorina opposes legalization of marijuana, but says that she believes in states' rights, and that as president she will not enforce the federal ban on marijuana in Colorado, where voters have legalized marijuana as a matter of state law. In the second Republican Presidential debate, on September 16, 2015, Fiorina responded to a question about enforcing Federal laws against marijuana by stating that we should invest more in substance abuse treatment, and that she had "buried a child to drug addiction", referring to her stepdaughter Lori who died at age 35, after struggling with alcohol, prescription drugs and bulimia.	Fiorina has expressed support for decriminalization of drug use, but opposes legalization of marijuana. Fiorina has said that as president she would not enforce the federal ban on marijuana in states that have legalized it. Fiorina has said that she favors investing more in substance abuse treatment.
Economy	Fiorina opposed the 2009 federal stimulus act, calling it a waste of taxpayer money. Fiorina has said she would cut the pay of federal workers and base their compensation on performance.
Education	While running for president, Fiorina has been a critic of the Common Core State Standards, calling them a "heavy-handed and standardized" example of "Washington bureaucracy" in May 2015. In September 2015, Fiorina said: "No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Common Core — they’re all big, bureaucratic programs that are failing our nation. This was a reversal of her position on federal education policies during her 2010 campaign for U.S. Senate from California. In that campaign, Fiorina issued a position paper in which she "strongly advocated for metric-based accountability in schools" and "praised No Child Left Behind as setting high standards, and Race to the Top for using internationally-benchmarked measures." Also in 2010, Fiorina supported "a voucher program for the areas, or neighborhoods, or student populations most in need". In 2015, Fiorina wrote that she supported a school choice or voucher program for all students. Fiorina said at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference that President Obama's proposal for free community college was intended "to distract us from the fact that we have too many failing high schools". At a May 2015 event, Fiorina asserted that the federal government "in the last several years under the Obama administration has nationalized the student loan industry." The Annenberg Public Policy Center's FactCheck.org stated that "Fiorina gave a misleading description" since "private and federal student loans are available now, just as they were in the past."
Foreign and military policy	Fiorina has criticized the international nuclear agreement with Iran, saying that Iran is "at the heart" of evil in the Middle East; that the agreement is a "flawed deal"; and that "there is a lot of reason to be suspicious" of it. Fiorina said that: "It would be different if Iran was a good actor and had negotiated in good faith all this time but they haven't" and said "If you want a good deal, you've got to walk away sometimes. We never did." Fiorina also suggested that vertification provisions in the agreement were insufficient and that approval of the agreement by the international community and the U.S.'s negotiating partners was suspect because Russia and China have an interest in gaining access to Iran's economy and the European Union "has negotiated, frankly, a number of weak deals." Speaking on Russia-U.S. relations and the Ukraine crisis during her 2015 campaign, Fiorina said that if president, "I wouldn't talk to him (Russian president Vladimir Putin) at all." Instead, she would "arm Ukraine," "conduct regular, aggressive military exercises in the Baltic states," "begin rebuilding the Sixth Fleet," "begin rebuilding the missile defense program in Poland," and "probably send a few thousand more troops into Germany" to "send a very clear message to Vladimir Putin." Fiorina has also expressed support for an additional "50 Army brigades, 36 Marine battalions, between 300 and 350 naval ships, and an upgrade of 'every leg of the nuclear triad.'" This proposed military buildup would be an increase of more than US$500 billion (excluding a nuclear arsenal overhaul, which would cost some additional sum of money) over existing planned defense spending of US$5 trillion over the next decade. Fiorina opposes the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations, telling Hugh Hewitt that if elected she would close the U.S. embassy in Havana. In a January 2015 discussion with an Iowa political blogger, Fiorina said of the Chinese: "They're not terribly imaginative. They’re not entrepreneurial. They don't innovate. That's why they're stealing our intellectual property." At a forum at The Citadel in September 2015, Fiorina said that if president she would cancel a scheduled state dinner during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping and instead would confront the leader on Chinese hacking: "I'd have a long conversation in the Oval Office to say, 'Understand, there will be consequences. We will retaliate. We consider this an act of aggression.'" Fiorina did not give specifics on what type of retaliatory measures she would favor if elected president. Fiorina supports keeping the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba open. In September 2015, Fiorina "offered a vigorous defense of CIA waterboarding," a tactic used by the United States during the George W. Bush-era War on Terror. Fiorina rejected the conclusions of the Senate Intelligence Committee Study of the CIA's Detention and Interrogation Program (publicly released in 2014), which "portrayed waterboarding as 'near drownings' that were tantamount to torture and concluded that the agency's often brutal interrogations produced little actionable intelligence." Fiorina called the report "disingenuous" and "a shame" and said that "I believe that all of the evidence is very clear — that waterboarding was used in a very small handful of cases [and] was supervised by medical personnel in every one of those cases. And I also believe that waterboarding was used when there was no other way to get information that was necessary."
Health care	Fiorina criticized the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health care reform legislation during the debate in 2009 that led to the act's passage. Fiorina has supported repealing the ACA during both her 2010 Senate run in California and her 2015 presidential campaign. Fiorina has called the law "deeply flawed" and a "vast legislative overreach." In a 2013 appearance on Crossfire, Fiorina called the law "an abomination" but said that she supported the law's requirement that individuals obtain health insurance and the law's prohibition on health insurance companies denying coverage on the basis of a policyholder's pre-existing condition. In 2015, a spokeswoman said that Fiorina's support for an individual mandate differs from the ACA's mandate, because the ACA mandate requires health insurance plans to have a minimum threshold of health care-coverage, while Fiorina's proposal would mandate that individuals carry only "some type of catastrophic care" coverage. ("Catastrophic care" plans have higher deductibles and a lower threshold of services than more comprehensive plans.) In 2011, Fiorina joined the advisory board of Foundation for Health Coverage Education, a group "which assists Americans with identifying health coverage options through simplified eligibility information." The group, which Fiorina promoted in her 2013 CNN appearance, assisted Americans in signing up for health coverage though Healthcare.gov. Fiorina criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the ACA in King v. Burwell, calling it "outrageous." Fiorina has proposed establishing federally-subsidized but state-run "high-risk pools to help those who are truly needy." In 2010 and 2015, Fiorina called for making the health insurance market more competitive, although she has not provided specifics. Referring to childhood vaccinations, Fiorina has said: "When in doubt, it is always the parents' choice." She has defended the right of school districts to require that children be vaccinated against common communicable diseases, but said that districts should not be permitted to require that children receive "some of these more esoteric immunizations" in order to attend public schools.
Immigration	In California, Fiorina supported the DREAM Act, which would allow children brought to the U.S. by their parents when they were under the age of 16 to secure permanent U.S. residency and a path to citizenship, if they graduate from college or serve in the armed forces. In a May 2015 interview with Katie Couric, Fiorina said that she does not support a path for citizenship "for those who came here illegally and who have stayed here illegally." Fiorina drew a distinction between people in that category, and those who came legally but overstayed their visas. Fiorina has stressed the need to improve border security before undertaking comprehensive immigration reform.
LGBT issues	In November 2009, during a Wall Street Journal interview, Fiorina said that she voted in favor of Proposition 8, a California ballot proposition that banned same-sex marriage in that state, but noted that "she created a strong program of domestic partner benefits while at HP." During the 2010 United States Senate election in California, Fiorina was endorsed by GOProud, a gay conservative organization. In 2010, while answering a Christian Coalition questionnaire, Fiorina said that she supported a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. During an interview with the conservative Christian website Caffeinated Thoughts at a Dallas County, Iowa Republican event in May 2015, Fiorina reversed her previous position, saying that she now opposed such a measure: "I think the Supreme Court ruling will become the law of the land, and however much I may agree or disagree with it, I wouldn't support an amendment to reverse it." She further stated that "government shouldn't discriminate on how it provides benefits and ... people have a right to their religious views and those views need to be protected." In August 2010, Fiorina indicated on a Christian Coalition questionnaire that she opposed enforcing the 1993 law banning homosexuals in the military. In 2010, Fiorina stated that she supported the Defense of Marriage Act, but also supported civil unions. In 2015, Fiorina reaffirmed her support for civil unions and stated that those in such unions should receive the same government benefits accorded to married persons. On September 19, 2010, in a Faith2Action survey, she opposed the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. On March 17, 2013, on ABC News, Fiorina said "I think we have to be careful, because John Boehner's views, which are different from Rob Portman's views, are equally sincere. And I think when we get into trouble on this debate when we assume that people who support gay marriage are open and compassionate and people who don't are not. It's why I believe the right way to solve these very personal issues is to let people vote on them, don't have judges decide it, don't even have representative government decide it, let people vote on it in the states. I think people of both points of view, accept the democratic process. What they don't always accept is a bunch of self-important, self-appointed judges saying this is culturally the new norm." In April 2015, Fiorina defended Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. She stated that the Indiana bill is about the "opportunity to practice their religions freely" and "It has not and has never been a license to discriminate." On April 2, 2015, in an interview with USA Today, she described it as "shameful" how, in her view, liberals have fanned the furor over the Indiana law. "I honestly believe this is a set of liberal political activists who practice a game of identity politics and divisive politics to whip people into a frenzy, and I think it's very destructive to the fabric of this country," she said. She blasted business leaders in Silicon Valley and elsewhere who have criticized the Indiana law as discriminatory, questioning why there isn't similar outrage "...in the Twitterverse about the subjugation of the rights of women and gays in many countries in which these companies do business. Where is the outrage about that? Where is the outrage about how gays are treated in Iran, for example? Where is the outrage about how women are treated in Algeria?" During an April 2015 interview with ABC News, Fiorina stated, "I think it's really too bad, honestly, that CEOs are being pressured [...] What this law basically says is that a person can push back against ... either federal government mandate or state government mandate to exert their religious liberties. In June 2015, as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which held that there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage under the Fourteenth Amendment, Fiorina said the decision was "only the latest example of an activist Court. I do not agree that the Court can or should redefine marriage. I believe that responsibility should have remained with states and voters where this conversation has continued in churches, town halls and living rooms around the country."
Maternity leave	Fiorina believes employers should decide whether they should provide paid maternity leave to their employees and it should not be mandated by the government, noting that some companies in the private sector, such as Netflix, are already doing so to attract talent. She also pointed out that HP, while she was CEO, offered paid maternity leave voluntarily.
Minimum wage	Fiorina believes that the federal minimum wage "is a classic example of a policy that is best carried out in the states", saying a national minimum wage does not make sense because economic conditions in New Hampshire varies significantly from more expensive economic conditions in Los Angeles or New York. She also believes that raising the federal minimum wage would "hurt those who are looking for entry-level jobs."
Net neutrality	Fiorina opposes net neutrality rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission, and has said she would "roll back" that policy, because "Regulation over innovation is a really bad role for government."
Government regulation	Fiorina "generally believes that reducing government regulations helps to spur the economy." Fiorina has condemned the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, saying in April 2015 that "We should get rid of Dodd-Frank and start again." Fiorina has inaccurately stated that not "a single regulation has ever been repealed." Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post "Fact Checker" column gave this statement three out of four Pinocchios, finding that "Important parts of the economy have been deregulated in recent decades. While the repeal of a specific rule is relatively rare, there are certainly examples." Susan E. Dudley, director of the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University, said that Fiorina is "generally right that regulations, once issued, are rarely revisited and even more rarely actually repealed".
Taxation	During her 2010 Senate campaign, Fiorina "called for eliminating the estate tax and capital gains taxes for investments in small businesses, and lowering marginal tax rates." Fiorina opposes proposals to increase the federal gas tax or state gas taxes in order to fund the Highway Trust Fund, asserting in a February 2015 Wall Street Journal op-ed that "Any gas tax hike, big or small, will harm American families and hurt economic growth." She favors lowering tax rates, simplifying the tax code, and closing loopholes that she says mostly benefit wealthy taxpayers.
Technology employees	Fiorina favors expanding the H-1B visa program. Writing in opposition to proposals she considered protectionist in a 2004 Wall Street Journal op-ed, Fiorina said that while "America is the most innovative country," it would not remain so if the country were to "run away from the reality of the global economy." Fiorina said to Congress in 2004: "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore. We have to compete for jobs as a nation." While Fiorina argued that the only way to "protect U.S. high-tech jobs over the long haul was to become more competitive [in the United States]," her comments prompted "strong reactions" from some technology workers, who argued that lower wages outside the United States encouraged the offshoring of American jobs.

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