20 Questions for Ben Cline To Answer
1. Do you support Trump’s and Musk’s blanket firing of Federal Employees? In Virginia, there are 20,000 government employees who will lose their job. These are your constituents. They have families. What are yougoing to do to support these Virginia families once Trump fires them? Are you going to do anything to help them get new jobs or just through them ion the street?
2. Where do you stand on increasing the National Debt? When Trump was President before he increased the debt by $8 TRILLION. The 2025 proposed Republican budget will increase the National Debt by $4 TRILLION. $4.5 TRILLION will go to fund tax cuts primarily to corporations and the rich. Do you think the US should borrow more money so rich people and corporations get a big tax cut?
3. Do you support continued funding of Medicaid? There are 1.8 million Virginia citizens on Medicaid -- 21% of the population! These are your constituents. Virginia healthcare providers have been unable to access theMedicaid portal due to the funding freeze creating financial uncertainty for clinics, particularly in rural areas, affecting their ability to pay staff and procure medical supplies. Are you going to take health care from your most needy constituents, many who live in rural areas?
4. Do you think Trump should cut grants to Community Health Centers? Approximately half of Virginia's community health centers have been cut off from federal grant money, forcing some to cease certain services and others to close branches entirely. Some of your constituents will die from this. Are you no
longer pro-life?
5. Do you support the lawsuits blocking Trump’s 15% cap on overhead to universities doing medical research? University of Virginia will lose $70 Million and Virginian Tech will lose $13 million. This will have a significant impact on their medical schools and research. How does cutting medical research help Virginia’s citizens or the economy?
6. Do you still Back the Blue? Trump pardoned 169 January 6th Insurrectionist convicted of assaulting police. Three have since been rearrested. Do you agree with his decision?
7. Do you think Trump did the right thing when he shut down USAID programs? Among other things, USAIDprograms (1) buy $2 billion in grain from US farmers, (2) prevent human trafficking of young girls in Napal, and (3) prevent the spread of HIV and other infectious diseases that could lead to the next global pandemic. What are farmers who sell to USAID supposed to do? Should they just wait for another Trump bailout that will increase the national debt?
8. What are you going to do to protect consumers? Trump shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Office including programs that protected consumers from (1) predatory lending practices related to mortgages, paydayloans and student loans, (2) unfair credit card fees and interest, (3) bank overdraft fees,
(4) fraud and identify theft, (5) debt collection abuses, (6) protections for elderly from scams and veterans from predatory lenders. Are you going to throw consumers, your constituents, to the wolves?
9. What are you going to do to protect hard-working middle-class workers from workplace injuries? Trump wants to shut down OSHA. There are 5,500 deaths and 2,000,000 workplace injuries every year in US. In Virginia, there were 118 work-related deaths and 52,600 injuries. These are your constituents. Are you going to fight to protect Virginia workers?
10. What are you doing about the number one cause of childhood death - GUNS? 4,300 kids were killed by guns in US -- 72 in Virginia. 60% of Americans favor gun control. Why are you spending time banning gender-affirming care which saved kid’s lives. Banning it will cause more childhood deaths not fewer. Do you really care about kids?
11. How are you going to protect US citizens from the next pandemic, perhaps from bird flu? Trump is making significant changes to CDC and has stopped US collaboration with WHO. He has shuttered the Epidemic Intelligence Service. They have stopped publishing morbidity data. Millions of people will die again just like they did the last time Trump was President. Why shouldn’t Americans be worried?
12. How do you feel about Trump shutting down agencies and firing Inspector General Offices investigating Elon Musk’s companies? (1) The Department of Labor had 17 open investigations into Teslaand SpaceX. (2) The Department of Transportation was investigating Tesla's Autopilot system and its safety implications. (3) The Department of Defense was examining SpaceX's compliance with security
protocols, especially concerning Musk's communications with foreign officials. (4) The Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) was probing Tesla's environmental compliance and potential violations. Are you concerned with government corruption, fraud and conflicts of interest?
13. Why is Trump wasting his time trying to buy Greenland, take over Panama and annex Canada? Priceshave been going up since he took office. Eggs are now $7 a dozen. Gas prices are up. What is he doing to lower prices? What are you going to do?
14. Do you think Trump was correct in shutting down Federal programs that support the disabled? As part of shutting down DEIA, Trump eliminated Accessibility programs that support people with disabilities. There are44.1 Million people in the US that have reported disabilities – 1 Million live in Virginia. Employers will no longer be expected to make accommodation for handicapped employees. Schools will no longer need to make accommodation for disabled students so fewer go to school or college. There will be fewer transportation services for disabled individuals. Do you think this is the Christian way to treat people with disabilities?
15. Do you trust Trump with our nuclear weapons? Trump fired 1,200 to 2,000 DOE employees including 325from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency tasked with managing the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Also, there’s a photo of Elon Musk “humping” the Nuclear Football. Do you
really think Trump should have the nuclear codes?
16. How are you going to prevent fraud, corruption and self-dealing with taxpayer dollars? Trump eliminated of safeguards against government corruption firing 17 Inspector Generals, shutting down ForeignCorruption Office, firing of experienced FBI agents and DOJ Attorneys. Inspector Generals were investigating Starlink contracts with USAID. Isn’t this the fox guarding the hen house?
17. What are you going to do to protect American jobs? Will you shut down H-1B programs? They take away good paying jobs from Americans. Amazon hired 6,400 H1-B, then laid off 27,000 US workers. Meta & Google hired 3,100 H-1B, then laid off 33,000 US workers. TSMC hired 200 and is facing discrimination suit only hiring Asians. Isn’t creating American jobs the core of the MAGA movement?
18. What do you think the long-term impact of Trump’s actions will have on the status of the US in the global community? Isn’t Trump ceding the world to China? How are you going to prevent China from
stepping into the void the US left? What will you do when China opens a naval base in Central or South America?
19. Do you support Trump shutting down the TPS immigration program? There are 350,000 Venezuelans in the US under the TPS program. What do you think will happen to them under Maduro? Are you
concerned about the lives of immigrants in the TPS program who were seeking asylum?
20. What are you going to do to ensure that air travel is safe? Since Trump came to office there have been several airline accidents and considerable turmoil in the FAA. Is it safe to fly?