Democratic presidential challenger; Independent RI Governor; Republican Senator (1999-2007)
No tapping of our phones without a warrant
The freedoms granted to America in our Constitution should never be abridged. Recently certain of our rights have been wrongfully infringed upon. Particularly the Fourth Amendment forbids the tapping of our phones without a warrant.
And the Eighth Amendment outlaws cruel and unusual punishment or torture. I will never allow our liberties to be diminished. And I will always steadfastly support our First Amendment rights.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website Chafee2016.com
, Jun 4, 2015
Sales & use tax on online sellers with no physical presence
I also see an opportunity in the near future to change the tax climate in Rhode Island. I and the Congressional Delegation have lobbied in recent years for passage of the federal Marketplace Fairness Act. This would level the playing field between
bricks-and-mortar and online retailers by allowing each state t o collect sales and use taxes from sellers with no physical presence in the state. After a series of encouraging signs, including 69-27 passage by the US Senate, I now urge the House to take
action on this important legislation. While current Rhode Island law dictates that should Marketplace Fairness Act pass, the state sales tax would be reduced from 7.0% to 6.5%, I believe that there are more effective ways to use the resulting revenues
to increase our relative competitiveness. My proposed budget calls for reducing the corporate tax rate to 6.0% consistent with my goals in previous budgets. I also propose to eliminate the sales tax on electricity and gas for all businesses.
Voted YES on restoring $550M in funding for Amtrak for 2007.
An amendment to provide an additional $550,000,000 for Amtrak for fiscal year 2007. Voting YEA would increase Amtrak funding from $900 million to $1.45 billion. Voting NAY would keep Amtrak funding at $900 million.
Proponents of the bill say to vote YEA because:
[In my state], Philadelphia's 30th Street station is the second busiest train station nationally, with over 3.7 million boarding a year. And 3,000 people are employed by Amtrak in Pennsylvania. Amtrak and the health of Amtrak is important.
Last year the Senate transportation bill had $1.45 billion for Amtrak, which is obviously more than the $900 million in the current budget proposal. I am offering an amendment to increase that funding from the $900 million which is in the bill right now to the $1.45 billion level and adding $550 million.
I support funding through the section 920 account [without a tax increase]. We have seen that without raising the cap or without raising taxes, the Senate has been able to
come up with a robust number for Amtrak which I will support within the context of a responsible budget.
We have spent less money on Amtrak in the last 35 years than we will on highways in this year alone. And highways don't pay for themselves, even with the gas tax. Neither does mass transit, either in this country or anywhere else in the world. But we subsidize them because they improve the quality of our lives.
We have never provided the kind of commitment to Amtrak that we have for other modes of transportation, and this amendment will be an important step to getting Amtrak off the starvation budgets that it has subsisted on for far too long.
Opponents of the bill say to vote NAY because:
The problem with that is there is no money in the section 920 account. If we want to talk about "funny money" financing, that is it--taking money from an account that has no money. This whole budget takes money we don't have. The result is we keep running up the debt.
Voted YES on disallowing FCC approval of larger media conglomerates.
Vote to pass a joint resolution expressing congressional disapproval of the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission. The rule would therefore have no force or effect. The rule in question deals with broadcast media ownership and would allow media conglomerates to own more television stations and newspapers.
