Political positions of Tulsi Gabbard

The political positions taken by Tulsi Gabbard in her 2020 presidential campaign are broadly similar to those of other Democratic primary contenders on domestic issues such as healthcare and environment. Gabbard, however, has placed more emphasis on foreign policy issues, calling for a debate centered exclusively on that topic.

Domestic policy

Gabbard highlights, aside from the "one main issue that is central to the rest, … war and peace", the issues of national health insurance, big pharmaceutical and insurance companies; criminal justice reform, drug laws and the private prison industry; financial reform, including holding big banks and their executives accountable; and climate change and pollution as her major issues.

Campaign finance reform

Gabbard has supported campaign finance reform, and the Financial Times describes it as one of her signature issues. She is opposed to the influence of Super PACs in politics and states "Politicians must represent and listen to the people who elected them to serve — not whatever lobbyist writes them the biggest check."

In December 2016, Gabbard co-sponsored the We the People Amendment, which proposes an amendment to the Constitution that would abolish corporate personhood and would hold that campaign contributions would not be protected under the First Amendment.

In May 2017 Gabbard pledged to no longer accept money from political action committees (PACs). In July 2017 Gabbard was one of only seven members of the No PAC Caucus. In October 2018 The Intercept reported that Gabbard was one of only four members of Congress who had pledged not to accept corporate campaign donations.

In February 2018 Gabbard gave closing remarks at the Unrig the System Summit of RepresentUs, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocates for state and local laws based on model legislation called the American Anti-Corruption Act. Gabbard lamented the influence of big money in politics: “Getting to the heart of how corrosive an effect money has on our politics and really regaining that voice and trust and confidence of the people, that’s how we begin to get back to a government of, by, and for the people.”

Criminal justice system and drug laws

Gabbard has been outspoken against a “broken criminal justice system” and abuse of private prisons that together put “people in prison for smoking marijuana while allowing corporations" such as Purdue Pharma, "who are responsible for the opioid-related deaths of thousands …, to walk away scot-free with their coffers full. This so-called criminal justice system, which favors the rich and powerful and punishes the poor, cannot stand.” In December 2018 she co-sponsored the First Step Act as a "first in a long line of steps toward comprehensive criminal justice reform, … greater sentencing reform, and [to] eradicate the private prison industry.”

Her plans for criminal justice reform include federal decriminalization of marijuana, sentencing reform to reduce certain mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders, and diverting youth away from juvenile courts and towards community-based systems of support.

Gabbard, in discussing legislation she cosponsored to delist marijuana as a federally controlled substance, remarked that federal policies “have turned everyday Americans into criminals, torn families apart, and wasted huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate people for nonviolent marijuana charges.”

Gabbard has sponsored and cosponsored many cannabis-related bills during her time in Congress. In February 2017 she was the lead Democratic cosponsor of a measure to federally deschedule marijuana. In January 2018 she signed onto the far-reaching Marijuana Justice Act to 1) remove marijuana and tetrahydrocannabinols" from the Controlled Substances Act and 2) withhold federal funds from states that disproportionately enforce cannabis laws. In March 2019 she was the lead sponsor of H.R.1587, the Marijuana Data Collection Act, which would direct the National Academy of Sciences to study the effects of state marijuana legalization programs "on the economy, public health, criminal justice and employment." She has also supported bills to "shield medical marijuana states from federal interference, legalize industrial hemp, protect banks that service cannabis businesses, provide tax fairness for the cannabis industry, address various aspects of the federal-state marijuana policy gap, and remove roadblocks to research."

In June 2018 Gabbard cosponsored a resolution expressing House sentiment that the drug war had failed and apologizing to “individuals and communities that were victimized by this policy”. She also cosponsored a separate resolution asking states to “repair the most egregious effects of the war on drugs on communities of color, in particular to those who now hold criminal records for a substance that is now legal and regulated.”

Disability issues

Gabbard has stated that resources need to be dedicated "at every level of education as well as beyond" to help people with disabilities get the jobs they need to succeed. In addition to cosponsoring several bills of importance to the disability community, she has opposed bills such as the ADA Education and Reform Act on the grounds it would impose undue requirements on individuals with disabilities before they could sue businesses for violating accessibility laws. She believed strongly that the bill would dismantle the ADA and voiced “strong opposition to this harmful legislation."

In January 2019, together with Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), she introduced the Retired Pay Restoration Act to ensure disabled veterans receiving 40 percent or lower rates of service-connected disability would receive both their military pension as well as Veterans Affairs’ disability compensation or combat-related special pay. As founder and co-chair of the Post-9/11 Veterans Caucus, she said: “Retirement benefits and disability benefits are two different things, and one should not be counted against the other" and that this bipartisan legislation will "ensure that our veterans receive the benefits they’ve earned and deserve.”

Economy and financial reform

Gabbard has advocated for financial reform since first running for Congress, including such measures as restoring the Glass-Steagall Act, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks, strengthening protections against predatory lending practices, increasing capital requirements for the nation’s largest banks, and banning naked credit default swaps.

In 2012, during her first campaign for Congress, Gabbard critiqued JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon "and an army of Wall Street lobbyists” for having "anchored down” the process of implementing Dodd-Frank legislation "to the point that half of the modest regulations included in it aren’t even in place today, including the Volcker Rule, which limits risky trading behavior." She also called for breaking up big banks (noting that the five largest control 56 percent of the U.S. economy) and for preventing banks "from becoming too big and too precarious to ever again endanger our livelihoods as they did in 2008, and as they continue to do today."

In 2014 she voted for Audit the Federal Reserve legislation.

In 2015 in a written statement to President Obama regarding his State of the Union message, wrote “America also needs true Wall Street reform, which begins with reinstating Glass-Steagall. The financial stability of our nation depends on serious efforts to prevent Wall Street from making risky investments at taxpayer expense. The focus must always be on the needs of Main Street; we must prevent big banks from gambling with the well-being of our nation."

In 2017 Gabbard co-sponsored a bill to reinstate provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act in order to separate investment banking from commercial banking and prevent the largest banks from engaging in speculative trading. and urged her colleagues to oppose the Financial CHOICE Act, a bill rolling back financial regulations put into effect after the 2008 financial crisis. She also supported a bill to increase the hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2024.

In 2018 Gabbard voted with the minority against a bill she said worked to undo state-level legislation seeking to curb maximum interest rates on loans, noting that, in Hawaii, which has no such state-level legislation, interest rates could reach an annual percentage rate (APR) of 459 percent.

On July 23, 2019, Gabbard introduced the Wall Street Banker Accountability for Misconduct Act, which would require Wall Street's biggest banks to establish a deferment fund funded annually by senior executives who receive compensation more than 10 times the compensation of the median paid employee of the covered bank, receive total compensation of over $1 million, and receive one of the 100 largest compensation packages, and who have authority to expose more than 0.5% of covered bank’s capital. The deferred compensation would be held for 10 years to be used to pay penalties for violations occurring on their watch. Gabbard remarked "We need to change the culture of Wall Street and ensure that big banks and their executives are accountable to their account holders, shareholders and the American taxpayer."

Education

Gabbard supports making community college tuition free for all Americans while making all four-year colleges tuition free for students with an annual family income of $125,000 or less. The tuition would be funded by a new tax on trading stocks and bonds.

In 2017, Gabbard, as co-chair of the Post 9/11 Veterans Caucus helped introduce the Forever GI Bill to extend and improve the GI Bill benefits granted to veterans, surviving spouses, and dependents. The bill passed with bipartisan support.

Environment

Gabbard at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Hawaii in September 2016

Gabbard received the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter's endorsement in the 2012 Democratic primary election for Congress and in her 2014 reelection campaign.

In December 2016, Gabbard, along with approximately 2,000 U.S. military veterans dubbed "The Veterans Stand for Standing Rock," traveled to North Dakota to join the protests against the construction of the final leg of the Dakota Access Pipeline near the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations.

In September 2017 Gabbard introduced legislation seeking to transition the United States to clean renewable energy. The bill would require electric utilities to transition to 80% renewable energy resources by 2027 and 100% renewable by 2035, while setting similar vehicle emission standards goals and banning hydraulic fracturing.

In November 2018 Gabbard spoke in favor of a Green New Deal, which was at the time a draft resolution to task a special House committee with coming up with legislation to eliminate fossil fuel use from the economy within a decade. In February 2019 expressed concerns about vagueness in the version of the Green New Deal proposed by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, and so did not co-sponsor the legislation.

Gun control

Standing with fellow House Democrats to demand a vote on gun control measures

Gabbard has an F-rating from the NRA, a 0% rating by the Hawaii Rifle Association and a 100% rating by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. According to an editorial in The Hill, "Gabbard has advocated for sensible gun control similar to the positions Bernie Sanders has taken” and cites Gabbard’s website for this explanation: "She is focused on building bipartisan solutions that can actually be passed into law, rather than using the issue as a partisan political football."

Gabbard supports an Assault Weapons Ban, and universal background checks.

The New York Times has quoted Gabbard as saying, “In an ideal world, we would listen to people instead of political action committees and the gun lobby and the N.R.A.”

Health care

Gabbard supports universal health care. In 2017, she co-sponsored the Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act to create a national health insurance program that covers uninsured as well as underinsured people; allows for private insurance supplemental to but not duplicative of benefits provided under the program; and paid for in part by raising taxes on the wealthy and taxing financial transactions. Gabbard called the Republican-sponsored American Health Care Act of 2017 "really a handout to insurance and pharmaceutical companies that will further exacerbate the burden on American families."

In Gabbard's view, “If you look at other countries in the world who have universal health care, every one of them has some form of a role for private insurance.” In 2019, she cosponsored House Resolution 1384, Medicare for All Act of 2019 (a similar but more detailed version of the bill by the same name introduced in the Senate by Bernie Sanders) that would provide universal healthcare to all Americans.

In 2017 Gabbard cosponsored and worked toward passing the Preventing Diabetes in Medicare Act to extend Medicare medical nutrition therapy services to those with pre-diabetes or risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes so as to "help identify and treat diabetes earlier and more effectively."

In 2019, Gabbard cosponsored the Affordable and Safe Prescription Drug Importation Act to allow wholesale distributors, pharmacies, and individuals to import affordable and safe drugs; the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Act to allow the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies under Medicare Part D; and the Prescription Drug Price Relief Act to end government-granted monopolies for manufacturers that charge drug prices higher than the median prices at which the drugs are available in other countries.

Immigration

Gabbard differs from other Democrats on some aspects of immigration. She sees the "root cause of mass immigration on our southern border" as being the "history of US military intervention in Latin America that left countries destroyed." She continues: "Before we talk about a wall, we need to end our ongoing threats of intervention – this time in Venezuela.” In 2015 she voted with Congressional Republicans in favor of a bill requiring "extreme vetting" of Syrian and Iraqi refugees; the Obama administration reacted by saying the bill would effectively stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States. That same year she called for a suspension of the visa waiver program for European passport holders.

In response to President Trump's announcement of a newly revised blanket ban of refugees, Gabbard said "True to our history and values as a nation, we have served as a place of refuge to the most vulnerable in the world. We should not be putting in place a blanket ban of refugees, especially when we have actively been fueling the counterproductive regime change wars that have caused them to flee their homes in the first place. These people would much rather stay in their homes and live in peace. That's why we must address the cause of this refugee crisis and end the destructive U.S. policy of counterproductive regime-change wars, as we've seen most recently in Iraq, Libya, and now in Syria."

Labeling GMOs

In 2013 Gabbard sponsored legislation to require GMO labeling. In 2016 she voted against a GMO-labeling bill, saying it was too weak. In early February 2019, she "courageously criticized Monsanto for falsifying pesticide safety studies" when she tweeted that Monsanto manufactured "'scientific studies' to influence the EPA while destroying small farmers," and unleashed "the scourge of Roundup."

LGBTQ+ rights

Gabbard is a member of the House LGBT Equality Caucus, and has a 100% record in Congress for pro-LGBT legislation from the Human Rights Campaign, a group that advocates for LGBT rights. Gabbard's position on LGBT issues has changed over the course of her lifetime. In 1998, at age 17, she campaigned for an anti-gay rights organization founded by her father. She continued to oppose gay rights after becoming a state representative, when she testified at a Hawaii legislative hearing in opposition to civil unions. Since then, Gabbard has apologized for her previous stances, and has said that her views were changed by her experience in the military "with LGBTQ service members both here at home and while deployed" as well as seeing "the destructive effect of having governments … act as moral arbiters for their people."

Since joining Congress in 2013, Gabbard has co-sponsored pro-LGBT legislation, signed an amicus brief supporting Edith Windsor's challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, and supported the Equality Act (a bill to amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to protect LGBT individuals), and other efforts to promote LGBT equality, including the repeal of DOMA, the Restore Honor to Servicemembers Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Equality for All Resolution.

Opioid Addiction

In May 2016 Gabbard, citing a Los Angeles Times investigation into the manufacturer of OxyContin, called drug company marketing of painkillers “the root cause of the problems”, as they were selling Oxycontin as a 12-hour drug while it wore off early in many patients, increasing the risk of addiction.

In May 2018 Gabbard, Senator Bernie Sanders, and Representatives Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal introduced The Opioid Crisis Accountability Act of 2018 "to penalize drug companies found to be profiting from the opioid epidemic [targeting] companies that engage in false marketing or distribution of opioids."

Taxation

According to Politico, Gabbard supports eliminating corporate income tax breaks for "offshoring", but has taken no positions on capital gains taxes, tax credits, Wall Street taxes, and wealth taxes.

Tech industry

Gabbard has called for breaking up "big tech companies" who, together with "overreaching intel agencies", she says "take away our civil liberties and freedoms in the name of national security and corporate greed". She supports net neutrality, and has criticized Facebook for banning users.

Transparency

Gabbard has highlighted the importance of transparency across a broad range of domestic and foreign policy issues:

• Civil liberties and national security: In remarking on an NSA phone data mining bill: "We still have yet to hear of a single example of how national security has been strengthened by allowing bulk data collection."
• Julian Assange's arrest: "This is a blow to transparency … where … our government … can basically create this climate of fear against … those … publishing things that they don't like …. This … threatens every American — the message … we are getting is 'Be quiet, toe the line, otherwise there will be consequences.'"
• Veterans affairs: the inspector general's report highlights how Veterans Affairs "really continues to fail when it comes to accountability and ensuring that there is a true change of reform in this culture of corruption."
• GMO labeling: The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act "makes a mockery of transparency and leaves U.S. consumers in the dark;" and that it merely creates "an illusion of transparency, making things more difficult for consumers, not easier."
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement: "Because of a woeful lack of transparency, the American people know very little about his this agreement will benefit multi-national corporations at the expense of the American worker. … Despite the lack of transparency, one can predict the impact of TPP and whose interests this deal will serve, based on who favors the agreement."
• In her September 2015 criticism of the DNC decision to limit the number of 2016 presidential primary debates to six: This decision "limits the ability of the American people to benefit from a strong, transparent, vigorous debate between our presidential candidates, as they make the important decision of who will be our Democratic presidential nominee. … We are the party that represents democratic principles, openness and transparency and ensuring that all people regardless of who they are or where they are from, have a level playing field and equal opportunity. By limiting Democratic debates to just six, more people will feel excluded from our political process, rather than included.”
• Prompted by unsatisfactory and conflicting explanations regarding the January 13, 2018 nuclear alert in Hawaii, Gabbard introduced a civil defense accountability bill requiring FEMA, the DoD, and FCC to provide greater transparency in regard to incident and recommendation reports.
• Google's suspension of her Google Ads account for several hours after the first primary debate: "Google plays favorites, with no warning, no transparency — an accountability (until now)."
• In August 2019, she criticized lack of transparency in both the stark drop in number of polls released by DNC-qualified polling organizations from six in the two weeks following the first debate to two in the two weeks following the second debate (where Gabbard had one of the strongest on-stage performances) and the failure of the DNC to publish their criteria for selecting the sixteen polling organizations they deem “certified.”

Women's issues and abortion

Gabbard was an original cosponsor of the Military Justice Improvement Act to transfer decision-making in military sexual assault cases from the chain of command to experienced trial counsel to determine the appropriate trial path to pursue.

She has also cosponsored: the Congressional Accountability and Hush Fund Elimination Act to that ensure congressional perpetrators are held personally and financially accountable for sexual harassment abuses of power by ending taxpayer-funded harassment settlements and requiring full reimbursement to the Treasury for past settlements; the Power Act which requires every state's U.S. attorney to promote and expand pro-bono legal services, specifically for domestic violence survivors; and the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2018 to revise and reauthorize various programs and activities to prevent and respond to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking.

Gabbard supports reproductive rights, including federal funding for abortion. While when young she had opposed abortion, her views on this were changed (along with her views on LGBTQ) by her military experience in Iraq seeing "the destructive effect of having governments … act as moral arbiters for their people." She has a 100% voting record with both Planned Parenthood and NARAL and says she believes the government has no place in a woman's right to choose. Gabbard does support regulating abortions during the third trimester of pregnancy, however, stating on The Rubin Report, "I think [in] the third trimester, unless a woman's life or severe health consequences is at risk, then there shouldn't be an abortion in the third trimester."

Foreign policy

Gabbard's criticism of what she describes as the "establishment war machine's" push for more US involvement in foreign wars is directed at those in both parties she identifies as "chickenhawks", as well as corporate media and the congressional military industrial complex for promoting war "for their own power and profit.”

Gabbard describes herself as both a hawk and a dove: “When it comes to the war against terrorists, I'm a hawk," but "when it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, I'm a dove." She has said that such wars "undermine our national security and … actually increase the suffering of people in the countries where we wage them.” Asked if there were any wars that justified the use of US military force, Gabbard said there are "very few examples" and cited World War II.

Gabbard is widely portrayed as an apologist for America’s enemies and has been accused of being a “Russian asset”. When asked about her coverage in the mainstream media, Gabbard has said "We have seen for a long time how the mainstream media has been complicit in further pushing and pursuing the foreign policy establishment narrative."

Assange, Snowden, and Manning

Gabbard has stated the U.S. government should drop charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying "his arrest and all … that just went down … poses a great threat to our freedom of the press and to our freedom of speech." She would also pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and take action to "close the loopholes" in the law Snowden exposed. Of Snowden and Chelsea Manning, she said, "there is not an actual channel for whistle-blowers like them to bring forward information that exposes egregious abuses of our constitutional rights and liberties, period. There was not a channel for that to happen in a real way, and that's why they ended up taking the path that they did, and suffering the consequences."

Counterterrorism

Following her 2017 visit to Syria, Gabbard opposed US involvement in regime change, calling it counterproductive to defeating ISIL, Al-Qaeda, and other terrorist organizations.

Gabbard considers herself a hawk on war on terror. She favors a "very limited use of drones" in situations where the "military is not able to get in without creating an unacceptable level of risk."

Gabbard criticized the Obama Administration for "refusing" to say that "Islamic extremists" are waging a war against the United States. She has said it was Al-Qaeda who "attacked us on 9/11" and it is they who "must be defeated." She continued: "Obama won't bomb them in Syria. Putin did."

She proposed the Stop Arming Terrorists Act which would ban federal funding for Al-Qaeda, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and ISIL, thereby forcing "the CIA to stop aiding militants in Syria." As of September 2019, the bill has obtained 14 cosponsors.

Gabbard's views on Islamic terrorism have distinguished her from many mainstream Democrats. In 2015 she met with U.S.-backed Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to discuss "the threat of ISIS and Islamic extremist groups". She has advocated increasing pressure on Pakistan to stop terrorist attacks and expressed "solidarity with India" in reference to the 2016 Uri attack.

Nuclear arms race

Gabbard decries powerful politicians who "beat the drums of war and ratchet up tensions" between the U.S. and nuclear-armed countries", dragging the country toward a "New Cold War" arms race, thereby bringing "the front lines … to our doorstep, as we sit on the precipice of nuclear war." She notes that nuclear strategists say "we are at a greater risk of nuclear war than we ever have been before.”

Gabbard has introduced legislation to prevent the use of taxpayer dollars for weapons that violate the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and has expressed disappointment no moderators at the Democratic presidential primary debates have "raised the issues or asked a question related to the most existential threat we face in this country.”

Regime change

In an 2018 interview with The Intercept, Gabbard said U.S. efforts at regime change “have ended up worse off for the people of those countries and have been counterproductive to the interests of the American people.” The Intercept described her as "an outspoken critic of U.S. involvement in the Middle East from the disastrous Iraq War to NATO’s 2011 intervention in Libya that followed Arab Spring protests against the brutal regime of Moammar Gadhafi." She has also called for an end to the nearly two-decades-long U.S. war in Afghanistan. In her February 2, 2019 campaign launch, Gabbard called on everyone to take a stand against what she described as the "neolibs and neocons” from both parties promoting regime change. In a campaign email released later that week, she wrote that “media giants ruled by corporate interests … in the pocket of the ‘establishment war machine'" deploy journalism to "silence debate and dissent.”

Matt Taibbi has noted that Gabbard's position is "not as has been represented in most press accounts. … She’s not an isolationist. She’s simply opposed to bombing the crap out of, and occupying, foreign countries for no apparent positive strategic objective, beyond enriching contractors".

Torture

In a December 2014 interview Gabbard said she was "conflicted" about the report published that week on the CIA's use of torture in interrogations, saying, "the jury is still out on the report". She also said that while she abhorred torture, were there an imminent danger to American citizens, as president she "would do everything in my power to keep the American people safe."

In a February 2019 interview with the Status Coup, Gabbard said, "Through my time on the armed services committee in congress over the last five years I've supported amendments to the defense bill that ban torture, ban these enhanced interrogation techniques, and as president will continue to strongly oppose torture and the use of those techniques".

Trump administration — meeting and critique

On November 21, 2016, Gabbard became the second Democrat (after Michelle Rhee) to meet with President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team at Trump Tower. She described the meeting as "frank and positive" and said she accepted the meeting to influence Trump before Republicans grew in influence and escalated the war to overthrow the Syrian government. She later called the Trump administration's 2017 Shayrat missile strike reckless and "short-sighted."

Gabbard did not join the 169 congressional Democrats who signed a letter of opposition to Steve Bannon's appointment as Trump's chief strategist, but she joined 182 other colleagues to co-sponsor a bill to remove him from the National Security Council.

Gabbard vehemently criticized the 2017 United States–Saudi Arabia arms deal and the administration's decision not to sanction Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

In an October 29, 2019 press conference with family members of victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Gabbard requested the Trump administration to declassify the findings of its investigation into a possible involvement of Saudi Arabia government officials in the September 11 attacks and to end all aid for Saudi Arabia until this information is made public. Gabbard reintroduced House resolution 663 from 2017 as resolution 662 to push for this goal.

Specific nations and regions

Afghanistan

At the Democratic debate on July 31, 2019, Gabbard accused Trump of continuing to betray Americans by repeatedly walking back his plans to withdraw from Afghanistan, adding that withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan was about leadership" and that “the leadership” she would bring would be ”to do the right thing” and “bring our troops home within the first year in office and end the wasteful regime change wars …."

India

Gabbard and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York on September 28, 2014

Gabbard supports a strong US-India relationship. She has repeatedly praised Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister and leader of the ruling Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Her support has led some critics to charge that she is too close to Modi and to Hindu Nationalists in India. She has disputed claims that she is partial to the BJP or to any other political party in India, and has stated that she has met with officials from both major parties.

Gabbard was critical of the U.S. decision to deny Modi a visa over allegations of his involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots, calling it a "great blunder" that could have undermined the U.S.-India relationship. In 2013 she joined some of her colleagues on the House Foreign Affairs Committee in opposing a House resolution that called for continuing the ban on Modi and for "religious freedom and related human rights to be included in the United States-India Strategic Dialogue and for such issues to be raised directly with federal and state Indian government officials". The bill admonished India to protect "the rights and freedoms of religious minorities" and specifically mentioned incidents of mass violence against India's Muslim minority that took place during Modi's tenure. Gabbard justified her opposition by saying the resolution would weaken the friendship between India and the US and citing its timing as potential interference in the Indian elections, while emphasizing the need for the U.S. to stand for religious freedom.

In January 2019 The Intercept published an article stating that Gabbard had links with Hindu nationalist organization Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America and the Hindu American Foundation. Gabbard rejected the idea that meeting with a democratically elected leader was evidence of collusion with that leader's party. An earlier version of The Intercept's article searched Gabbard's donor list for "names ... of Hindu origin" to "show Gabbard's broad base of support in the Hindu-American community". Gabbard criticized this as religious bigotry, saying that Christians would not be subject to such scrutiny based on their names. The Intercept removed the sentence with an apology, saying that it was not intended "to question the motives of those political donors" and apologizing "for any such implication".

Iran

Gabbard voted in favor of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement with Iran that imposed restraints on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting nuclear-related sanctions against Iran. She opposes the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and has said that as president she would reenter the agreement, but also negotiate on remaining issues in order to find a diplomatic solution and deescalate tensions.

In May 2019 Gabbard warned about the danger, costs, and consequences of a potential war with Iran and criticized the Trump administration for elevating tensions. She said it would be illegal for the Trump administration to take action against Iran relying on a 2001 law that authorized the use of U.S. Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11 attacks and any "associated forces".

US congressional delegation at Halifax International Security Forum 2014

Israel

Gabbard supports a strong U.S.-Israel relationship. In March 2015, unlike 58 other Democrats, she did not boycott Benjamin Netanyahu's address to the U.S. Congress, saying at the time that relations "must rise above the political fray, as America continues to stand with Israel as her strongest ally." On July 14, 2015, Gabbard attended the Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a conservative leaning organization.

In January 2017 Gabbard voted against a House resolution condemning the U.N. Security Council resolution on Israeli settlements built on the occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank. She said, "While I remain concerned about aspects of the U.N. resolution, I share the Obama administration's reservation about the harmful impact Israeli settlement activity has on the prospects for peace." She criticized Israel's use of live ammunition along the Gaza fence in May 2018.

Saudi Arabia

Gabbard opposed a $1.15 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. She declared, "The U.S. must stop arming Saudi Arabia, stop fueling this fire and hold Saudi Arabia accountable for their actions.”

Gabbard has called for ending U.S. support for the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, saying the U.S. is complicit in a humanitarian disaster. In September 2018 she supported legislation invoking the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to stop U.S. involvement in the war.

In November 2018, after Trump indicated the U.S. would not sanction Saudi Arabia over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, Gabbard tweeted at Trump, "being Saudi Arabia's bitch is not 'America First’."

In October 2019, Gabbard requested the Trump administration to end all aid to Saudi Arabia until the findings of it's investigation into possible Saudi involvement in the September 11 attacks are made public.

Syria

In 2013, Gabbard opposed the Obama administration's proposed military strikes in Syria and in November 2015 introduced legislation to block CIA activities in Syria and U.S. military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This legislation was referred to House committees and subsequently blocked.

In March 2016, Gabbard was one of three members of Congress to vote against House Resolution 121, which condemned the government of Syria and "other parties to the conflict" for war crimes and crimes against humanity," saying that though Assad was a "brutal dictator," the resolution was "a War Bill—a thinly veiled attempt to use the rationale of 'humanitarianism' as a justification for overthrowing the Syrian government". In November 2016 she met with Trump in an effort to convince him of her point of view. In 2017, Gabbard cited US "regime-change" involvement in Syria as a source of the Syrian refugee crisis.

In January 2017, Gabbard had an unplanned meeting with Assad during a trip to Syria and Lebanon. Gabbard said that the Syrian people's message was "powerful and consistent: there is no difference between ‘moderate’ rebels and al-Qaeda (al-Nusra) or ISIS—they are all the same". She described the Syrian conflict as “a war between terrorists under the command of groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda and the Syrian government".

In April 2017, Gabbard expressed skepticism that evidence then available had shown that Assad ordered the use of chemical weapons against Syrian civilians. Following the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Gabbard called for a U.N. investigation into the attack and prosecution of Assad by the International Criminal Court should he be found responsible. After Trump ordered the 2017 Shayrat missile strike targeting the Syrian airfield believed to be the source of the attack, Gabbard called the strike reckless and expressed skepticism regarding claims that Assad was responsible for the attack. Her statements were sharply criticized both by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and Center for American Progress President Neera Tanden.

In a 2018 interview with The Nation, Gabbard said the United States had "been waging a regime change war in Syria since 2011. Central to that war to overthrow the Syrian government of Assad, the U.S., along with its allies Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, has been providing direct and indirect support to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda". In an August 2019 interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Gabbard said of Assad: "He's a brutal dictator. Just like Saddam Hussein. Just like Gadhafi in Libya. The reason that I'm so outspoken on this issue of ending these wasteful regime-change wars is because I have seen firsthand this high human cost of war and the impact that it has on my fellow brothers and sisters in uniform".

Gabbard told the Washington Post in September 2019: “It is in our national security interests to end our regime change war in Syria. That war is prolonging the suffering of the Syrians, preventing Syrian refugees from returning home, strengthening al-Qaeda and Iran’s influence. Diplomatic relations are not a stamp of approval — they’re necessary to prevent war and resolve conflict. I would reestablish relations with Syria, whoever their president is, and work to bring peace to its long-suffering people.”

In October 2019, Gabbard introduced legislation invoking the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to remove all troops from Syria which have no Congressional authorization for deployment. The legislation specifically opposes US President Trump's announcement to militarily "secure the oil" in Syria with the prospect of perhaps having to "fight for it", as well as Secretary of Defense Esper's announcement to deny Syrian forces access to the oil. Gabbard called the US government's action in Syria "the next step of the modern day siege that has been happening in Syria since 2011. It deprives the Syrian people of the resources they need to survive and to rebuild their lives." Gabbard also called for an end to arming terrorist groups and an end to the "draconian" sanctions against Syria that prevent "the most vulnerable people" in Syria from getting "power, food and medicine".

Trans-Pacific Partnership

Gabbard opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership and led protests against it. A member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, she criticized both the deal itself and the secrecy surrounding the negotiations, arguing that it would primarily benefit multinational corporations and be a detriment to American workers and the environment.

Venezuela

In the wake of the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, Gabbard said the United States needed to stay out of Venezuela and not get involved in overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. She said Venezuela, not the United States, should choose its government.

See also

• List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
• Women in the United States House of Representatives

External links

• Tulsi 2020 official presidential campaign website
• Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard official U.S. House website
• Tulsi Gabbard on the issues - TulsiGabbard.org
• Tulsi Gabbard for Congress
• Healthy Hawai'i Coalition (HHC)
• Political positions of Tulsi Gabbard at Curlie

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Tulsi Gabbard Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
• Tulsi Gabbard Marriage Tulsi Gabbard's marriage in Vedic tradition