US Senate Candidate Doug Jones (D) on the Issues [View all]

(Yes, we have real Democratic candidates in Alabama. Primary vote August 15.)

Health care

"The Affordable Care Act was never intended to be the end-all, be-all. It is too complicated. It was always meant to be a work in progress - to see what works, what doesn't work. But unfortunately, the Republicans co-opted it and turned it into a political football. They wanted to repeal Obamacare when the real objective was to try and repeal President Obama.

"How do we fix the Affordable Care Act? No one truly knows because the Senate and the House refuse to have open hearings, they refuse to bring experts in and talk to people like you and me in an open forum to try to understand the basic issues of what's wrong. Every piece of legislation needs to be reviewed."


Immigration

" (Trump's proposal to require immigrants to speak English) was about legal immigration. He wants to roll back legal immigration and make it tougher. If you have to speak the English language before you get here, it will stop a lot of people from coming. That is going to greatly reduce a workforce that we need to be working to expand. It's going to hurt Huntsville and (north Alabama) up here.

"We're not going to build a wall. It's going to cost too much money and it's just a dumb idea. And now, we've got even bigger problems with Donald Trump's wall because he said we're going to ignore all the EPA regulations to build the wall."


What could be done to help the environment after pulling out of the Paris Accord?

"Maybe build a wall around the White House."

http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2017/08/democrat_senate_forum_has_enth.html


Women's health and equality

"I will defend women’s access to contraception and a woman’s right to choose and fight any legislation or executive action that would allow insurance companies to discriminate against women. Planned Parenthood provides essential preventative and reproductive health care services like cancer screenings, STD testing and low-cost birth control to millions of American women who have no insurance or otherwise can’t afford these services. I stand with Planned Parenthood.

"Today’s champion of equal pay is Lilly Ledbetter and her battle for equality in Gadsden, Alabama. In the Senate, I will work to extend the spirit of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to make if mandatory that two people, doing the same job with the same qualifications are paid equally – regardless of their gender. The shenanigans around the 2016 campaign must be pushed aside and full equality for women made the law and the norm in America."

http://dougjonesforsenate.com/priorities/