Federal taxonomy

Issues we cover

The political issues that shape federal policy — The Candidate tracks 15 issues across the 2026 cycle. Each entry below is a neutral one-paragraph explainer plus a per-candidate breakdown sourced from voting records and claimed-page statements. Pick a political issue to see who supports it, who opposes it, and who has no public position on file.

Political issues here are scoped to federal policy — economic policy, healthcare, immigration, energy and climate, gun policy, and the rest of the 15-issue taxonomy. Each political issue carries a stance count, a neutral explainer, and per-candidate links to the voting record behind the stance.

• Economy & jobs

  Federal economic policy spans Federal Reserve monetary policy, fiscal action, wage and labor law, and workforce programs. Debate focuses on inflation, interest rates, the minimum wage, deficits, manufacturing reshoring, and how actively government should intervene.

  155 support · 153 oppose · 9 mixed · 140 no position

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• Healthcare

  U.S. healthcare policy covers Medicare, Medicaid, ACA marketplaces, prescription-drug pricing, and private-insurance regulation. Debate centers on coverage expansion, drug-cost negotiation, work requirements, and the federal role in providing or regulating care.

  216 support · 228 oppose · 4 mixed · 9 no position

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• Immigration

  Federal immigration policy is set by the Immigration and Nationality Act and administered by Department of Homeland Security agencies. Debate focuses on border security, asylum processing, work and family visas, DACA, sanctuary policy, and pathways to legal status.

  178 support · 176 oppose · 27 mixed · 76 no position

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• Climate & environment

  Federal climate and environmental policy is administered by EPA, DOE, and Interior under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the IRA. Debate focuses on emissions standards, fossil-fuel leasing, clean-energy tax credits, methane rules, and the pace of decarbonization.

  181 support · 199 oppose · 2 mixed · 75 no position

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• Education

  Federal education policy supplements state and local funding via ESEA grants, civil-rights enforcement, and Higher Education Act loans. Debate focuses on student-loan repayment, Pell Grants, school choice, parental rights, Title IX, and the federal role in K-12 and higher ed.

  170 support · 197 oppose · 0 mixed · 90 no position

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• Gun policy

  Federal gun policy rests on the Second Amendment and statutes including the Gun Control Act and Brady Act. Debate focuses on background checks, assault-weapon and magazine bans, red-flag laws, concealed-carry reciprocity, and ATF authority after the Supreme Court's Bruen ruling.

  185 support · 188 oppose · 8 mixed · 76 no position

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• Abortion & reproductive rights

  After Dobbs (2022) returned abortion regulation primarily to the states, debate focuses on a possible federal floor or ceiling, Hyde Amendment funding limits, FDA mifepristone rules, interstate-travel protections, contraception access, and IVF after embryo-personhood rulings.

  153 support · 161 oppose · 2 mixed · 141 no position

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• Criminal justice & policing

  Federal criminal-justice policy spans federal sentencing, the Bureau of Prisons, and DOJ grants to state and local police. Debate focuses on First Step Act implementation, mandatory minimums, qualified immunity, use-of-force standards, fentanyl scheduling, and reentry programs.

  222 support · 96 oppose · 2 mixed · 137 no position

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• Housing

  Federal housing policy runs through HUD, the FHA, and government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Debate focuses on Section 8 vouchers, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, FHA mortgage terms, zoning preemption, homelessness funding, and fair-housing enforcement.

  139 support · 143 oppose · 0 mixed · 175 no position

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• Foreign policy & national security

  Federal foreign-policy authority is shared by the President and Congress. Debate focuses on aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan; U.S.-China competition; alliance posture; nuclear modernization; the 2001 and 2002 AUMFs; FISA Section 702; and defense spending levels.

  181 support · 64 oppose · 139 mixed · 73 no position

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• Tax policy

  Federal tax policy is set through the Internal Revenue Code and administered by the IRS. Debate focuses on the 2025 expiration of TCJA individual rates, corporate tax levels, capital-gains taxation, the Child Tax Credit, the SALT cap, and IRS enforcement funding.

  215 support · 231 oppose · 2 mixed · 9 no position

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• Voting rights & election integrity

  Federal voting law rests on the Constitution, the Voting Rights Act, NVRA, HAVA, and the Electoral Count Reform Act. Debate focuses on voter ID, mail-ballot rules, redistricting, automatic registration, election-worker protections, post-election audits, and federal preclearance.

  190 support · 195 oppose · 0 mixed · 72 no position

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• Technology & AI policy

  Federal tech policy spans the FTC, NIST, NTIA, FCC, and White House. Debate focuses on AI safety standards, generative-AI training and copyright, federal data privacy, Section 230, broadband, CHIPS Act semiconductor funding, platform antitrust, and minors' online safety.

  195 support · 36 oppose · 151 mixed · 75 no position

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• Trade

  Federal trade policy is set jointly by Congress and USTR. Debate focuses on Section 301 tariffs on China, USMCA review, trade-promotion authority, outbound-investment limits, the de minimis threshold, Buy American rules, and labor and environmental terms in trade deals.

  60 support · 155 oppose · 172 mixed · 70 no position

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• Government accountability & ethics

  Federal ethics policy is set by the Ethics in Government Act, IG Act, Lobbying Disclosure Act, FECA, and chamber rules. Debate focuses on congressional stock trading, IG independence, lobbying disclosure, dark-money limits, Supreme Court ethics, and revolving-door restrictions.

  136 support · 139 oppose · 0 mixed · 182 no position

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Positions on these political issues are derived from federal roll-call voting records (cycle 2026). Source: GovTrack. Read our methodology for how we collect and verify the political issues data on this page.