KYLE FOUST
Foust for Congress www.foustforcongress.com

IRAQ

LEAD has been calling for a timely withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, and we oppose any future attempts to substitute pre-emptive war for diplomacy. What is your position on the Iraq war and a timetable for ending it?

The Iraq war has been a mistake from conception to execution to the present. Let alone the catastrophic loss of lives and injuries suffered by Americans and Iraqis, the half trillion borrowed dollars we have spent there will be left for our kids to pay.

I want American troops out of Iraq as quickly as it can be accomplished safely and while salvaging as much of the billions of dollars in equipment we have in-country.

I am obviously very hopeful that a Democratic President in January 2009 will not need a timetable to begin this process. However, if this is not the case, I will vote for a date certain.

HEALTH CARE

Are you in favor of single payer health care?

I will vote in Congress for any bill that meets the following tests:
1) The coverage is universal – for every American, period.
2) The coverage is portable – it is not dependent on employment.
3) The coverage covers all pre-existing conditions.
4) The coverage includes wellness and preventive care, mental health and dental.
The time is now for universal health care. If a single-payer bill comes to the floor that meets these principles, I will vote for it. If President Obama’s or President Clinton’s bill comes to the floor and meets these principles, I will vote for it.
What I will not do is let the ideal become the enemy of the necessary.

EARTH

LEAD advocates preservation of our environment as vital to both the health and economic well-being of our families and future generations. Briefly, tell us your positions on energy conservation, climate change, protecting our water and air quality, building the proposed tire plant on the IP Industrial site, and on legislating more wilderness areas in the Allegheny National Forest.

It is as the father of an eight-month-old child that I feel the importance of this issue most. In Congress, I will make energy and the environment one of my top legislative priorities.

For too long, Phil English and other oil-company apologists have painted the energy/environment question as though we could only have an energy-rational economy by driving tiny cars and shivering in the dark. But I think healing our environment and ending the stranglehold of oil is an opportunity for growth, jobs and a new renaissance in our economy. I will push to make northwestern PA a center for alternative fuels research and development and conservation technology innovation.

There won’t be one single answer on alternative energy and conservation. We must invest in a broad portfolio of research, from bio-fuels to gridded and local solar, wind and probably some technologies we haven’t even heard of yet.
I was and continue to be one of the few elected officials opposing the tire plant. I took this stand even though it angered some of my long-time allies in labor, because I think the plant is, simply, a terrible idea.

I will sponsor and advocate for expanding wilderness areas in the ANF.

TRADE

Fast Track and Free Trade now appear to have not only cost millions of American jobs and destroyed thousands of American workplaces, they have also caused capital flight and a decline in our nation's position in the world economy. What are you willing to do to reverse this trend and to move towards fair trade to protect our working people?

I will push for all current trade agreements to be suspended and renegotiated to include environmental and worker standards abroad and worker protection at home. We cannot continue to gut the American economy for the benefit of job-exporting multinational corporations.

FREEDOM

LEAD values individual rights ensured by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, especially freedom of conscience and the principle of church-state separation. Do you affirm such rights? How will they guide your decisions on federal legislation?

For the past eight years, Congress has been acquiescent while the Administration made government too strong where it should be weak (and ineffective where it should be strong). I absolutely affirm the First Amendment and the entire Constitution. Regardless of who the next President is, I will strongly oppose and fight to push back Executive-branch encroachments on civil liberties, including illegal wiretaps and immunity for telecom companies.

REPRODUCTIVE ISSUES
What is your stand on abortion?

I am pro-choice and will vigorously oppose any attempts to weaken or turn back Roe v Wade. Health decisions should be made among patients, doctors and families. The last people we want involved in these intimate and personal matters are politicians.

We also need to enact a truly pro-family agenda, including universal health care and investment in education from pre-K through college (every $1 we invest in education returns $12 to the broad economy).

DEATH PENALTY

Do you favor a repeal of the death penalty?

I oppose the death penalty, and if it cannot be repealed, I will work for greatly expanded resources for due process and the principles of the Innocence Project.

MILITARY

In view of the marked deterioration of our armed forces in the past 6 years, and the resulting risk of terrorist attacks to the United States, would you favor a military draft?

I oppose a draft. We need to get out of Iraq and stop breaking our armed forces in the Middle East. We also need to stop wasting valuable resources on Cold War-era weapons systems and Star Wars.

ECONOMY

What would you propose to correct the declining U.S. economy?

In addition to investing in new jobs in clean energy, conservation and environmental cleanup, we need to rebalance our tax system to strengthen working families.

Also, one of the benefits of universal, portable health care that is not spoken of as much is that when health insurance is portable, more people are free to take risks, start new ventures, get more education, or even stay home with their young children if they decide to, rather than being bound to an unrewarding job simply for the benefits.

OTHER

What else would you like to let people know about you?

Everything I have accomplished so far in life is the result of two great American institutions – public schools and organized labor. My father was a public school teacher, and union member, for 34 years. His union membership afforded our large family a comfortable, middle-class life. The public schools gave me the foundation for higher education, which is doing the same for my family.

The issues in the primary are important, and there are significant differences among the candidates – on health care, on taxes, and on reproductive choice, among other things. But the most important question Democrats should ask themselves is: who can beat Phil English this November? I have taken on a tough, well-financed Republican incumbent, and won. We cannot afford any more missed opportunities in the 3rd District.

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