Val Arkoosh in 2022 PA Senate race
On Abortion:
We need to codify Roe v. Wade immediately
As a physician who focused on women's health, Val has seen firsthand the difficult decisions women make under difficult circumstances. Those decisions belong between a woman and her doctor, and no politician in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania or
Washington, D.C. should be making those decisions for her. Val will fight to defend Roe v. Wade and expand reproductive justice, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment. She also supports efforts to codify Roe. v. Wade.
It also couldn't be more important that we have voices in the U.S. Senate with the experience to defend Roe v. Wade from the escalating attacks we are seeing on abortion. I specialized in women's health as a physician. We need to codify
Roe v. Wade immediately, and because we know they are going to come after contraception next, we must work now to expand access to contraception and ensure cost is never a barrier to those seeking an abortion.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Civil Rights:
Would be first woman physician elected to the Senate
Ask Val Arkoosh about the possibility that she could become the first Pennsylvania woman elected to the U.S. Senate, and she'll counter with a different historical factoid. "I would also be the first woman physician ever, from either party," she said.
Being one of the only women in male-dominated spaces isn't new for Arkoosh. It was like that in medical school, when she was chair of Drexel's anesthesiology department, and as the first woman to lead Montgomery County since it was founded in 1784.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Jul 5, 2021
On Government Reform:
Overturn Citizens United, won't take corporate PAC money
From gerrymandering to suppressive voting laws, politicians in Pennsylvania, states around the country and in Washington have been working to undermine confidence in U.S. elections and make it harder to vote, putting one of the most essential
American rights at risk. We must act to stop it. That's why Val supports federal legislation to protect the right to vote and make it easy for every Pennsylvanian to cast a ballot.
We must also rein in corporations' role in our elections, which for far too long has diminished the voice of real people in our politics. Val supports overturning
Citizens United, which has allowed for the unlimited flow of dark money into our political system. Val is also refusing to take money from corporate PACs in her campaign.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Civil Rights:
For Equality Act to protect LGBTQ+ community
Val believes our Commonwealth is strongest when everyone is treated equally under the law. Val stands with the LGBTQ+ community against discrimination and supports passage of the Equality Act to protect
LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians from discrimination in housing and employment. She also supports ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment and removing the time limit on the ratification process so women are finally treated equally under the constitution.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Crime:
Train our police in de-escalation techniques
Val supports efforts to better train our police in de-escalation techniques, racial and implicit bias, and interacting with people in need of mental health care or substance use care, not jail time. We need to improve relationships between communities
and the police by increasing diversity among our police and building forces that know the communities they serve, and we need more mental health counselors attached to our police forces.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Drugs:
Decriminalize marijuana, reform on nonviolent drug offenses
While the First Step Act in the U.S. Senate was a tremendous step forward, Val believes we must take additional steps to continue making progress on sentencing for nonviolent drug offenses, decriminalize marijuana,
reinstate voting rights for those who have served their time, and do more to help give returning citizens a second chance.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Education:
COVID: Showed tears realizing what her own teens had lost
She proudly shared that she had only one emotional breaking point last year. She was in a Zoom meeting after she'd learned her twins' high school graduation would be virtual. Someone asked her about the status of local graduations.
That's when the gravity of what the pandemic had stolen from her own kids--no prom, no senior skip day--hit her, as she tried to answer through tears. A flurry of supportive messages followed, with people thanking her for showing emotion.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Jul 5, 2021
On Education:
Supports funding of public schools, childcare, Pre-K
Val supports investments in child care, Pre-K, Early Head Start, and Head Start. To support K-12 education and funding of the Commonwealth's public schools, Val will always stand up for Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Val also supports finally paying teachers what they deserve and investing in additional training of our teachers to help improve the quality of our children's education.
To make higher education more affordable and accessible, Val supports expanding and increasing Pell Grants and letting students refinance their current student loans at a lower rate. We need to find a path toward reducing debt, including
through strengthening programs like the Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness program and other federal programs that allow students who choose certain career paths in their communities to have their debt forgiven.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Energy & Oil:
Supports federal efforts to ban fracking nationwide
Val will support federal efforts to ban fracking nationwide and hold polluters accountable to protect workers, homeowners, and our air and water. We ought to be investing in clean, sustainable energy. By investing in wind and solar energy,
retrofitting older buildings to be more energy-efficient, and creating more energy-efficient vehicles and public transit, we can provide greater job security for Pennsylvania workers and their families.
In Montgomery County we transitioned our County buildings' electricity to renewable resources. We have also entered into an agreement with the three other suburban Philadelphia counties to explore the construction of a solar array to provide electrici
to our counties. Those are the science-based solutions we need nationwide. We also need to ban fracking to protect the next generation from harmful chemicals and make sure that Pennsylvania workers build the green economy, not China.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Families & Children:
Voters set priorities: the economy, jobs, cost of child care
[On family priorities during pandemic]: "My priorities are the priorities I hear from Pennsylvania voters and I hear this from voters all across the state. They're worried about the economy. A lot of people are concerned about their jobs coming back,"
Arkoosh said. "They want to see that minimum wage lifted for the jobs that they do have. Parents are worried about the cost of child care. Too many people still have to pay too much for their prescription medications."
Source: WTAE Pittsburgh Action News on 2022 Pennsylvania Senate race
Jul 25, 2021
On Free Trade:
For robust Buy America policies, incentivize retaining jobs
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed just how important it is to support American manufacturing that can make the things we need in our daily lives, or during a national emergency, right here at home.
That's why she supports boosting American manufacturing and workers through robust Buy America policies and incentives for companies to keep jobs here in Pennsylvania and the U.S., instead of sending them overseas.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Gun Control:
Ban high-capacity magazines, assault weapons
Val believes we can respect the second amendment while also addressing gun violence as the public health crisis it is by passing commonsense reforms. Val supports expanding background checks and making sure that those on the no-fly list, those with a
history of domestic abuse or violent crimes cannot access firearms. She also supports efforts to pass a national extreme risk protective order and a ban on high-capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Health Care:
Focus on disparities in health outcomes for Black moms
Val believes this must include a focus on the disparities in health outcomes for Black moms, which she has seen firsthand during her time on the labor and delivery floor, and her position on Pennsylvania's Maternal Mortality Review Committee.
She understands that improving health outcomes for Black moms will require investment, implicit bias training, programming that reaches moms during pregnancy and when they are postpartum and expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Homeland Security:
Robust funding for military installations & veteran benefits
Val believes it is critical that we sustain and strengthen all the benefits our veterans and their families have earned serving our country. As a physician, Val understands it is critical that veterans and their families can access health care.
In order to help those returning home with the transition to civilian life, Val supports robust educational benefits, including for servicemembers' children and spouses, and resources to help them find a job.
Val knows a strong military is key to our nation's defense. To support all those currently serving, in the U.S. Senate, Val will support robust funding for our country's military installations and training centers.
And in any foreign policy decision that comes before the Senate, Val will always start by evaluating the impact to troops on the ground and their safety.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Immigration:
Fair pathway to citizenship for those willing to work for it
We need Congress to act, while providing certainty for DREAMers and a fair pathway to citizenship for those willing to do the work to earn citizenship. Val supports comprehensive immigration reform which must include securing our border with smart
border management and a way for migrants to apply for asylum from their home country. For those here now, Val supports a fair pathway to citizenship for anyone who is willing to work for it and meet certain requirements, including background checks.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Principles & Values:
I am ready to call Republicans on their BS and get to work
It's more urgent than ever that we stand up to attacks on science and health care and elect more leaders with the knowledge and experience to go toe-to-toe with those who not only refuse to let facts and data guide how we govern, but actively undermine
them, including in our response to this pandemic. I'm running in part because that's the record and experience I bring to the table. I am ready to go to Washington and call Republicans on their BS and get to work to solve our hardest problems.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
On Tax Reform:
Corporations, wealthy must pay their share
For too long, working families have shouldered the burden of an unfair tax system, made worse by the 2017 GOP tax bill. We need to level the playing field by asking corporations and the wealthy to pay their share
and lift up families through permanent expansions of the child tax credit and earned income tax credit included in the American Rescue Plan.
Source: 2022 Pennsylvania Senate campaign website ValArkoosh.com
Dec 19, 2021
Page last updated: Jun 05, 2024