Tom Carper in State of Delaware Archives
On Abortion:
Fund Planned Parenthood; contraception reduces abortion
One audience member asked if they thought human rights or religious rights were more important. Another asked if the candidates would vote to fund Planned Parenthood.Carper said most religions instruct followers to treat others the way they would
like to be treated. "I think we have a moral obligation to show our faith by our deeds," he said. Carper said he would fund Planned Parenthood because 98 percent of women use contraception, and contraception will reduce the need for abortions.
Source: Cape Gazette on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
Let competition work instead of capping credit card interest
[In October 1987, a House] amendment would have limited the allowable interest rate on all U.S. credit cards to 15%. A 1978 Supreme Court ruling had rendered state-level interest rate caps useless, allowing lenders to charge 40% or more in some states.
With a healthy 257-177 advantage, House Democrats had the numbers to force the federal cap through. But Democrats on the House Banking Committee wanted no part of significantly depressing credit card profits,
having struck down this amendment almost unanimously in committee.
One young Democrat from Delaware stepped forward to urge a no vote. His name was Tom Carper. "The bill before us without this amendment is a good bill,"
Carper said. "But I think it's premature to try to make that point. We can do a lot of good things with this legislation and a free enterprise competitive system. Let's let that competition work."
Source: The Intercept on 2018 Delaware Senate race
Aug 22, 2018
On Civil Rights:
Let state legislatures decide who can get married
Carper said it is up to the states' legislatures to decide who can get married in their state.
Pires criticized Carper for speaking in "double-talk" while answering "I support gay marriage. Gay people are equal."
Source: Newark Post on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Civil Rights:
Repeal DOMA; it's unconstitutional
Carper said he agrees with recent courts' ruling that the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1996 giving states the grounds to bar same-sex couples from getting married, is unconstitutional. "Would
I vote to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act? I would. And when you've got four of five courts saying something is unconstitutional, I think we should fix it," Carper said.
Source: Newark Post on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Corporations:
Roadmap for deficit reduction should raise corporate taxes
Carper said President Barack Obama has created a roadmap for deficit reduction, which includes raising tax rates on corporations. He said the president's proposal has earned bipartisan support. "This is a good roadmap; we should do it," Carper said.
Carper said a comprehensive deficit reduction plan would demonstrate fiscal responsibility. The government does not create jobs, Carper said; it creates a nurturing environment where businesses can thrive.
Source: Cape Gazette on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Corporations:
22-year history of pro-business support of banking lobby
[When opposing a cap on credit card interest rates in 1987], Carper said that young college graduates and the working poor would not be able to access credit if interest rates were capped. It rehashed a perennial claim from banking industry supporters:
You have to let banks gouge their customers, because how else will customers obtain vital services?Against an alliance of Banking Committee Democrats and pro-business Republicans, the amendment failed.
It took two decades for a federal interest rate cap to be debated again, as part of credit card reform legislation called the CARD Act. This time, Sen. Bernie Sanders would fail to overcome the power of the banking lobby. Among the 60 senators voting
no was the senior member from Delaware: Tom Carper. It was still, 22 years later, premature.
For nearly 40 years, banks have found a reliable ally in Carper. Carper has taken the side of the industry in virtually every policy debate over that period.
Source: The Intercept on 2018 Delaware Senate race
Aug 22, 2018
On Immigration:
If immigrants stay out of trouble, they can stay
Asked for his opinion on undocumented workers, Carper said he has worked to establish legislation that secures U.S. borders, and that children who have migrated here with their families should not be forced to leave. "If they've stayed
out of trouble, if they're doing well in school, they can stay," he said. "They can't become citizens, but they can stay."
Source: Newark Post on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Education:
Focus on discipline in schools
School reforms won't be effective in classrooms that are too disruptive for teachers to teach and students to learn. To help create disciplined classroom environments, we've initiated disruption prevention programs in every Delaware public school.
We've created alternative learning centers for chronically disruptive students in each of our counties. It hasn't been enough. This year, I will propose to increase by 50% what we currently spend on discipline, to expand the program statewide.
Source: 1999 Delaware State of the State Speech
Jan 21, 1999
On Education:
Introduce market forces into our schools
In the US Senate, I have worked tirelessly to preserve Dover Air Force Base; to save the Delaware National Guard, to replenish our DE beaches. In the US Senate what
I've done is to build bipartisan coalitions, not only to address global warming, but to clean up our air. I've built bipartisan coalitions to better educate our children and introduce market forces into our schools.
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV
Oct 20, 2006
On Foreign Policy:
Keep lid on North Korea until reunification, like Germany
Q: What would be the next move to calm the North Korea situation?CARPER: Now that North Korea is where it is, we ought to talk with them and engage them directly.
TING: The reality is that we're talking to the North Koreas all the time, formally
and informally. So that channel of communication is open. The key to any of our plans succeeding in North Korea is the cooperation of China and Russia. We ought to remember how Communism dissolved in Eastern Europe. In our contingency planning, we
ought to think about how people can get out of North Korea. We need to reassure China that they won't be stuck with a million refugees. We ought to have alternatives in North Korea instead of only military solutions.
CARPER: We had a West Germany and
an East Germany, and we were able to keep the lid on there long enough until they could become one country again. Our challenge with North Korea is to keep the lid on until those natural family attractions can go together and create one country.
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV
Oct 20, 2006
On Free Trade:
Work very, very hard to knock down trade barriers
Carper said that in order to keep taxes lower, he has worked to "pull the plug" on outdated tax credits, and that he supports the Investment Tax Credit, which places incentives on companies' investments in technologies that can be sold around the world
as commercial products and services. "We need to work very, very hard to knock down trade barriers so the products that we do develop, we can sell them to countries--not just Korea, Columbia and Panama, but to other countries as well," Carper said.
Source: Newark Post on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Government Reform:
I never received any money from Jack Abramoff
TING: I'm outraged at the campaign financing system which allows a 1st-term Senator like Tom Carper to raise millions of dollars from special interests and lobbyists, including Jack Abramoff & his clients. It's an outrage that people whose profession is
affecting our legislation are allowed to give money to our legislators. If you think it's ok, support Tom Carper. If you want change, vote for Jan Ting. CARPER: I've never received any money from clients of Jack Abramoff and I hope Mr. Ting knows that
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV (X-ref Ting)
Oct 20, 2006
On Health Care:
Universal coverage for children is within our grasp
We're waging a war against infant mortality, too -- and we're winning. On January 1, we took another giant step forward: kids without coverage from families earning between 100 and 200 percent of poverty became eligible to participate in a good,
comprehensive plan of health care known as the Delaware Healthy Children Program -- for as little as $10 to $25 per month, per family.Universal health care coverage for children in Delaware -- a goal that many of us share -- is finally within our grasp.
Source: 1999 Delaware State of the State Speech
Jan 21, 1999
On Immigration:
No one proposes that illegal aliens receive Social Security
TING: The immigration system is completely broken down. Every night of the year thousands of people cross our borders. Laws that are not enforced are not really laws. A nation that can't defend its own borders is not really a nation. The solution that
Sen. Carper has proposed, which he calls comprehensive immigration reform, amounts to an amnesty with Social Security credit for illegal aliens, and permission for them to bring their families into the US, immediately, without numerical limits, from
anywhere in the world. I think that's a defeatist solution and frankly I don't think that's a solution at all. One amnesty will simply lead to another. If we want open borders, then we ought to support Sen. Carper's plan. If we want to maintain control
of our borders, and defend the most generous legal immigration system in the world, then vote for Jan Ting.CARPER: It's unlawful for illegal aliens to receive Social Security. They can't do it under the law [nor the comprehensive immigration reform].
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV (X-ref Ting)
Oct 20, 2006
On Principles & Values:
I've built bipartisan coalitions in the US Senate
In the US Senate, what I've done is to build bipartisan coalitions, not only to address global warming, but to clean up our air. I've built bipartisan coalitions to better educate our children and introduce market forces into our schools. Bipartisan
coalitions to bring Amtrak and the Postal Service into the 21st century. Bipartisan coalitions to build a foreign policy that's strong and tough. My job in the Senate is to get people to work with each other. We're need more people like that, not less.
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV
Oct 20, 2006
On Principles & Values:
2000: Twenty debates are "the Delaware way"
Kevin Wade, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, is challenging Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) to a series of "twenty debates or thirty debates" in the upcoming campaign. He issued the challenge on WDEL radio Friday afternoon. Wade said that
Carper challenged then-incumbent senator William V. Roth (R-DE) to a series of twenty debates statewide in 2000. Carper defeated Roth in that election, and called the debate challenge "the Delaware way."
"There are 880,000 people in the state that
have questions they'd like to ask of Senator Carper" Wade said during his call-in to a popular Wilmington radio program. "Maybe we can get 500 at a time into a room and get the questions asked and he can describe his vision from his 35-year incumbency
standpoint," he continued.
Wade described Carper as "silent Tom down in the Senate." He said the debates in 2000, which he referred to as "the Carper rule," were a good idea then and are a good idea now. "Good ideas don't age," he said.
Source: Delaware Republican Examiner on 2012 Delaware Senate debates
May 26, 2012
On Principles & Values:
We need bridge-builders in Washington
Carper, the incumbent, said he has worked across the aisle to accomplish things in Delaware. "We need bridge-builders in Washington,"
Carper said. "We need leaders who don't build themselves up by tearing other people down."
Source: Cape Gazette on 2012 Delaware Senate debate
Oct 19, 2012
On Technology:
America's Water Infrastructure Act :good for entire nation
America's Water Infrastructure Act Is Good for the Entire Nation:U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. He spoke on the Senate floor on the need to pass
America's Water Infrastructure Act. Barrasso said that President Trump has called on Congress to take up major infrastructure legislation.
Last week, both Barrasso and EPW Committee Ranking Member Tom Carper, a Democrat from
Delaware, announced a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on the comprehensive water infrastructure legislation with the leadership from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The bill is the most sweeping
infrastructure package to be considered this Congress. It grows the economy, keeps communities safe, cuts red tape and lowers the deficit.
Source: Sheridan (WY) Media on 2018 Delaware Senate race
Sep 19, 2018
On War & Peace:
Multinational embargo, not unilateral, against North Korea
Q: What would be the next move to calm the North Korea situation?CARPER: We took our eye off the ball when the President put the primary emphasis on regime change in Iraq. Now that North Korea is where it is, we ought to talk with them and engage them
directly. The idea of saying that we can only meet with other nations at the table is foolish. Just because you ignore somebody doesn't mean they're going to go away. The approach that makes sense is not a unilateral embargo-but a multinational embargo.
We can cover shipments by sea, but we need the Chinese to cover their borders as well. Our willingness to engage directly with North Koreans means we can say, "You're not gonna have nuclear weapons. If you're willing to set that aside, you can have a
non-aggression treaty with us, and food and energy for your people." If we're willing to take that direct course, then The Russians and the Chinese will be more willing to enforce not a unilateral embargo but an international embargo that shuts them down
Source: Delaware 2006 Senate Debate, hosted by WHYY-TV
Oct 20, 2006
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023