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Abortion-Related Issues
Booker supports taxpayer funding for abortions in nearly all instances; he opposes parental-consent laws for minors seeking abortions; and he opposes the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which was passed by bipartisan congressional majorities in 2003 and was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
Civil Liberties & Civil Rights
Booker voted YES on S Amdt 2175 – Authorizes the Use of Funds for the Transfer or Release of Guantanamo Detainees to the United States (2013) – an amendment to authorize the transfer or release of individuals detained at Guantanamo Bay to the United States.
Criminal Justice Issues
Booker believes that the key to fighting crime is to minimize poverty and improve education.
Booker laments that the “mass incarceration” of nonwhite minorities is one of the biggest problems which the U.S. must confront.
Education Issues
Unlike most Democrats, Booker supports school voucher programs designed to enable low-income parents to send their children to private schools rather than to the failing public schools of many U.S. cities.
Employment & Wages
Booker voted YES on S 815 – Employment Non-Discrimination Act (2013) – a bill to prohibit employment discrimination based on the real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of an individual.
Booker favors Affirmative Action programs that require employers to give preference to women and minorities in hiring and promotion practices.
Energy & Environmental Issues
Booker voted NO on S 1 – Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline (2015) – a vote to override President Obama’s veto of a bill that would have authorized the construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline and cross-border facilities.
Booker voted NO on S 2280 – Bill to Approve the Keystone XL Pipeline (2014) – a bill that sought to authorize the construction and operation of the Keystone XL Pipeline and cross-border facilities.
Booker has voted multiple times against bills that called for approving the construction of the Keystone oil pipeline (see here, here, and here).
Gun Rights Issues
Booker voted NO on S Amdt 2915 – the Defend Our Capital Act of 2015 – which required the police chief of the District of Columbia to issue a concealed-carry firearms license to any qualified individual who completes the application process.
Health Care Issues
Booker strongly favors the expansion of Obamacare.
Booker voted NO on S Amdt 667 – the Health Care Freedom Act of 2017 – which called for replacing Obamacare with the Health Care Freedom Act of 2017, commonly known as the “skinny repeal” option.
Booker voted NO on S Amdt 271 – Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act of 2017 – which called for a repeal of existing sections of Obamacare.
Booker voted NO on HR 3762 – Restoring Americans’ Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act (2015) – which sought to override a veto of a bill that would have repealed certain provisions of Obamacare and to rescind public funds from abortion providers.
Immigration, Nationality, & English Language Issues
Among the issues on which Booker has been most outspoken is immigration. He supports the passage of the DREAM Act and strongly favors a pathway-to-citizenship for the millions of illegal aliens currently residing in the U.S. In December 2013, Booker joined fellow New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez in a 24-hour fast designed to draw attention to the need for comprehensive immigration reform. During his tenure as Newark mayor, Booker refused to allow his city’s police department to “play an I.N.S. function” and enforce immigration laws. “We are not to be running around doing interrogations about whether someone is documented or not,” said Booker.
Booker voted NO on S 2193 – an amendment to invoke cloture on, and thus overcome a filibuster against, the Stop Illegal Reentry Act (2016) – a bill designed to increase the maximum prison term for an illegal immigrant who reenters the United States after being denied admission or deported.
Booker voted NO on S 2146 – an amendment to invoke cloture on, and thus overcome a filibuster against, the Stop Sanctuary Policies and Protect Americans Act (2015) – a bill designed to prohibit sanctuary jurisdictions from receiving federal grants and increases penalties for an illegal immigrant who reenters the United States after being deported.
Military Issues
Booker opposes the expansion of the U.S. military.
Minimum Wage Issues
Booker favors raising the minimum wage. In 2014 he voted in YES on Minimum Wage Fairness Act, which called for a $2.85-per-hour increase in the minimum wage over a two-year period.
Social Security Issues
Booker is opposed to raising the retirement age in order to help the Social Security program remain solvent. He strongly opposes the privatization of Social Security.
Taxation & Economic Issues
Booker voted NO on HR 1 – Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (2017) – which reduced the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, and moderately reduced most individual tax brackets.
Booker favors a steeply progressive income-tax structure where “the wealthy pay their fair share.”
Rather than blaming the government regulations that required lending institutions to give mortgage loans to underqualified nonwhite borrowers in the name of “racial justice,” Booker attributes the financial crisis of 2008 to the “predatory lending” and “unchecked avarice” of “over-leveraged financial institutions.”
Welfare & Entitlement Issues
Booker favors the expansion of government entitlement programs.
Women’s Issues
In 2014 Booker voted in favor of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which sought to prohibit employers from paying women less than they paid equally qualified male workers. (For an explanation of why the premise that women are underpaid is false, click here.)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For a more comprehensive look at Cory Booker’s voting record, visit VoteSmart.org, OnTheIssues.org, and GovTrack.us.