Valerie P. Foushee

Foushee says that Donald Trump is the biggest threat to democracy our nation has ever faced. He’s taking away rights, weaponizing the government against his enemies, lining his own pockets, and no one is holding him accountable. In Congress, Foushee has signed on to nine amicus briefs challenging Trump’s policies in court, supported impeachment legislation, exposed his illegal access to confidential data, and boycotted his joint address to Congress. She will continue to fight to hold Trump responsible and do everything in her power to stop Trump’s attack on our democracy.

Foushee will always protect reproductive rights. As a state senator, she sponsored legislation to remove barriers to abortion access in North Carolina. In Congress, she is working to pass legislation to codify Roe so state legislatures are no longer able to pass restrictive and archaic abortion laws and legislation to protect access to contraceptives.

Foushee believes Trump’s immigration policy is cruel, immoral, and a profound abuse of power. As a state senator, she voted to ensure that local law enforcement agencies had the discretion to decide if they work with ICE, something many of our North Carolina Sheriffs decided against. In Congress, she is working to limit ICE’s authority and mandate, ban ICE agents from wearing masks, require that they wear body cameras, and crack down on agents who abuse their power or violate people’s rights. Foushee also introduced Articles of Impeachment against Secretary Kristi Noem and voted against the DHS funding bill that included funding for ICE.

The price of groceries, housing, utilities, and property taxes have gotten out of control and Foushee is working hard to lower everyday costs. In Congress, she is standing up to Trump’s tariffs and taking on corporate price gouging that drives up costs. She is pushing for legislation that would force developers to build housing people can actually afford and stop hedge fund speculators from buying up housing in our area that increases prices. She has brought home millions of dollars to the district for affordable housing projects.

Foushee considers healthcare a universal right. She is working to stop Republicans’ assault on our healthcare system. In the State Senate, she expanded Medicaid in North Carolina and in Congress, she is fighting to defend it from Republican cuts. She strongly supports extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies to ensure that millions of Americans are able to maintain their healthcare. Foushee is also a fierce advocate for Medicare for All and is working to stop pharmaceutical companies from price-gouging on lifesaving medications.

She is a strong supporter of unions and union workers and is working to pass legislation that will require large federal projects like projects funded through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to use unionized labor.

Foushee supports a progressive tax system that provides relief for middle and low-income families while increasing taxes on large corporations and high-income earners. Through this system we can lower costs for working families, increase economic opportunity, and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share. She supports raising the corporate tax rate, increasing capital gains and buyback taxes, closing the carried interest loophole, and instituting a “billionaire” 25% minimum tax rate on households who have a net worth over $100 million. She is working to expand the Child Tax Credit and make it fully refundable for low-income households, broaden the Earned Income Tax Credit, restore the Affordable Care Act subsidies, and create more tax credits around affordable housing and childcare.

Cuts to higher education have threatened the important ground breaking work of research institutions in the Triangle. Foushee is leading the charge to demand accountability and pass appropriation legislation to restore funding levels. She is in favor of cancelling existing student loan debt and working to pass legislation that would eliminate the costs of tuition at community colleges for all students, and at all four-year public schools for students whose household income is under $125,000 annually.

Foushee believes that Social Security and Medicare are promises we made to seniors who worked hard their whole lives. Now Trump is attacking them to give tax breaks to his billionaire buddies. She will never let Trump and Republicans cut seniors’ benefits. She’s passed laws to guarantee that people who paid into the system get what they earned.

Signed nine amicus briefs challenging federal administration policies in court.

• Preserve the completed legal-advocacy record without adopting opponent characterizations.

Supported impeachment legislation in Congress.

• Preserve the completed legislative position without retaining opponent rhetoric.

Conducted congressional oversight concerning access to confidential government data.

• Preserve the completed oversight record while treating illegality claims as allegations.

Voted in the state Senate to let local law-enforcement agencies decide whether to cooperate with ICE.

• Preserve the completed state legislative position.

Limit the authority and mandate of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

• Preserve the explicit federal policy direction.

Prohibit ICE agents from concealing their identities with masks during enforcement operations.

• Preserve the named accountability mechanism.

Require ICE agents to wear body cameras.

• Preserve the explicit oversight mechanism.

Strengthen accountability for immigration agents who abuse authority or violate people's rights.

• Preserve the conditional accountability mechanism without treating alleged misconduct as established.

Introduced articles of impeachment against the Secretary of Homeland Security.

• Preserve the completed congressional action.

Voted against the referenced Department of Homeland Security funding bill because it included ICE funding.

• Preserve the completed vote and stated reason.

Treat access to health care as a universal right.

• Preserve the candidate's stated normative principle.

Helped expand Medicaid while serving in the North Carolina Senate.

• Preserve the completed state legislative record.

Defend Medicaid from federal funding or coverage reductions.

• Preserve the named program and protective direction.

Extend enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies.

• Preserve the explicit subsidy mechanism.

Enact Medicare for All.

• Preserve the named federal health-care mechanism.

Prevent pharmaceutical companies from charging excessive prices for lifesaving medicines.

• Preserve the affordability objective in neutral terms.

Sponsored state legislation to remove barriers to abortion access.

• Preserve the completed legislative record.

Codify the protections formerly provided by Roe v. Wade in federal law.

• Preserve the named legislative mechanism.

Enact federal legislation protecting access to contraceptives.

• Preserve the access and legislative mechanism.

Oppose tariffs that increase prices for households.

• Preserve the trade-policy direction and affordability purpose.

Combat corporate pricing practices the candidate characterizes as price gouging.

• Attribute the characterization and preserve the affordability objective.

Push legislation that would require developers to build housing affordable to local residents.

Restrict hedge funds from purchasing residential housing in the district.

• Preserve the ownership restriction without inventing transaction rules.

Secured federal funding for affordable-housing projects in the district.

• Preserve the campaign-attributed completed funding record without asserting an amount.

Require large federally funded projects, including infrastructure projects, to use union labor.

• Preserve the labor requirement and covered project category.

Use a progressive tax system that provides relief to middle- and low-income families while increasing taxes on large corporations and high-income earners.

• Preserve the distributional tax framework.

Raise the federal corporate income-tax rate.

• Preserve the explicit tax mechanism.

Increase federal taxes on capital gains.

• Preserve the named tax mechanism.

Increase federal taxes on corporate stock buybacks.

• Preserve the distinct tax mechanism.

Close the federal carried-interest tax preference.

• Preserve the explicit tax mechanism.

Establish a 25 percent minimum tax for households with net worth above $100 million.

• Preserve the stated rate and wealth threshold.

Expand the Child Tax Credit and make it fully refundable for low-income households.

• Preserve the two explicit tax-credit mechanisms.

Broaden eligibility or benefits under the Earned Income Tax Credit.

• Preserve the expansion direction without inventing thresholds.

Create additional federal tax credits supporting affordable housing.

• Preserve the housing tax-credit mechanism.

Create additional federal tax credits supporting child-care affordability.

• Preserve the child-care tax-credit mechanism.

Restore federal appropriations for research at higher-education institutions.

• Preserve the funding mechanism and institutional beneficiary.

Cancel existing federal student-loan debt.

• Preserve the explicit debt-cancellation commitment without inventing an amount.

Eliminate tuition at public community colleges for all students.

• Preserve the universal tuition mechanism.

Eliminate tuition at four-year public institutions for students from households earning less than $125,000 annually.

• Preserve the institution type and income threshold.

Support enactment of a federal Green New Deal.

• Preserve the named climate-policy framework.

Increase investment in low- and zero-emission buses, passenger rail, and electric vehicles.

• Preserve the three named transportation technologies.

Advocated for the Raleigh-to-Richmond passenger-rail project, which received a $1 billion grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Prevent reductions in Social Security and Medicare benefits.

• Preserve both named programs and protective direction.

End the use of cash bail.

• Preserve the explicit criminal-justice mechanism.

Abolish privately operated prisons.

• Preserve the explicit institutional commitment.

Decriminalize marijuana under federal law.

• Preserve the explicit criminal-law commitment.

Establish national standards protecting access to voting.

• Preserve the federal standards mechanism without inventing bill text.