What does Tulsi Gabbard think? Where the candidate stands in 7 questions

Tulsi Gabbard is a four-year congresswoman, a soldier who served in Iraq, a former US Senate assistant, and a native Pacific Islander. Her resume is a stack of firsts: she is the youngest person ever elected to the Hawaii legislature and the first Hindu in Congress, and one of the first two female combat veterans. Gabbard is American-Samoan, a passionate surfer (who became engaged while surfing) and has spanned the political spectrum — in 2016 he nominated Bernie Sanders for president and later that year met with then-President-elect Donald Trump.

If she were elected President in 2020, she would take office before the age of 40 and would be the youngest person to ever hold office. Here’s what Tulsi Gabbard thinks on some key issues in the 2020 race.

climate change: Mandate an end to the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation by 2050. Ban fracking.

Gabbard’s OFF Fuels for a Better Future Act, one of the most aggressive climate change legislation in Congress, would mandate a dramatic shift away from fossil fuels. The plan calls for electric utilities to use 80 percent renewable resources by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035. In addition, he would set similar targets for auto emissions, mandating zero emissions by 2050. Eventually he would end all subsidies and tax breaks on fossil fuels and it would ban fracking.

Education: Free community college for all and free public university for most families.

Gabbard supports Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ proposal to cut or eliminate college tuition for most Americans. It would make community colleges tuition-free for all Americans and would make four-year public colleges tuition-free for students whose families make $125,000 or less a year. The plan would pay for those tuition fees by imposing a new tax on stock and bond trading.

Weapons: Ban assault weapons and require universal background checks.

In Congress, Gabbard has co-sponsored bills that would ban assault weapons and require background checks on all gun purchases, including closing the so-called “gun show loophole.”

health care: Create Medicare for All, a universal, government-sponsored healthcare system.

Gabbard co-sponsored a bill to create a government-run system to provide health care to all residents of the United States. This bill, “The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act,” would pay for health care by raising taxes for the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans, introducing a progressive excise tax on payroll and self-employment, taxing unearned income, and also taxing stocks and Bond transactions (not just the profits from those transactions).

Social Issues: protect abortion rights. Prohibition of discrimination based on sexual preference, identity.

Gabbard believes abortion should remain legal and accessible. She voted against a proposed ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. She supports the legal status of same-sex marriage, opposes attempts to bar transgender Americans from the military, and supports legislation outlawing discrimination based on sexual preference.

In both areas, Gabbard has changed positions since she entered politics at the age of 21. She was originally against abortion or against expanded access to abortion. In 2004, she opposed a bill that would allow same-sex couples in Hawaii to have civil partnerships. Hawaii’s LGBT caucus refused her approval in 2016. She said that her time in Iraq sparked soul searching and led to a change in her beliefs.

Military intervention: Withdrawal from Afghanistan and Syria.

More generally, Gabbard believes the US should become less involved in foreign conflicts and have a reduced troop presence in many places around the world. She has specifically urged the US military to pull out of Afghanistan, arguing that American troops completed their mission there and allowed the country to chart its own course.

Gabbard is also opposed to the presence and actions of the US military in Syria. In 2017, she sparked controversy after revealing that she had met at the invitation of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. A few months later, she sharply challenged US conclusions that a chemical attack in 2017 was directed by Assad’s regime. And recently she has criticized those who say US troops should remain in the country. Gabbard believes the US is in Syria primarily to force regime change, something she believes is a mistake and is being pushed by leaders “connected to the war”.

The congresswoman believes US actions around the world often benefit extremists. She has also argued that Democrats and others should not shy away from the term “Islamic extremists.”

Saudi Arabia: End US support for the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen.

Gabbard said the US is complicit in a humanitarian catastrophe by supporting the Saudis for halting aid to large sections of the Yemeni population while they are fighting rebels there. She also sent a controversial tweet that was highly critical of Trump after it was revealed that the US was standing with the Saudi leadership despite intelligence information implicating the kingdom’s crown prince in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Gabbard believes Saudi Arabia is a center of anti-Western extremism.

Note: This story contains an update on Gabbard’s positions on climate change.

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