Name: Beth Van Duyne
Occupation: Consultant
Age: 48
Website: www.bethfortexas.com
Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding? If yes, please explain:
No.
Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding? If yes,
please explain:
Yes.
Divorce. Contract Dispute – settled out of court. Have twice been sued in my
capacity as Mayor (one of which was by Herb Gears) – both were dismissed.
During other lawsuits against the city, I have been named along with the rest of
the city council.
Why are you seeking this office?
The people of the 24th District deserve to have a representative who is committed to being a strong voice and fierce advocate for them. While Congress has been focused on attacking the President, critical issues for the American people are being ignored: lowering the cost of healthcare, stopping the drug cartels and human traffickers from exploiting loopholes on our southern border, passing a much needed infrastructure bill, and empowering more growth for our hard- working families. We need a U.S. Representative who is focused on delivering solutions and putting progress for the American people ahead of political theater and nonsense.
What would your top 3 policy priorities be?
My priorities will be the priorities that people in the 24th District have been telling me about: 1) focus the federal government on stopping the drug cartels and human traffickers, securing the border with walls where the Border Patrol is
asking for them, and getting cartels designated as foreign terrorist operations so we can bring new tools to bear on these murderous organizations; 2) lowering the cost of health care by expanding options and putting people back in charge of their relationships with doctors; and 3) passing an infrastructure bill so we can help rebuild roads, bridges, and flood control.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
I’m honored to have earned the early support of thousands of grassroots voters,
numerous elected officials, and job creators throughout the District. They know
my record as a tireless public servant who always focused on empowering
growth, opportunity, and people over government. When was the Mayor of
Irving, we were one of the fastest growing cities for job creation and one of the
safest for our families and businesses. I promise to be a voice in Congress that is always focused on getting things done to help us grow and create more
opportunities for our families’ future generations.
The federal government is accumulating record debt, with massive deficits even in a strong economy. What specific steps would you endorse to reduce the deficit?
As Mayor of Irving, we passed a balanced budget every year and maintained a
AAA bond rating, while maintaining city services and paying our public safety
officials. We had to prioritize projects and control debt we took on to make sure
we had the funds necessary to service the debt. This is the mindset and
experience I would take to Congress. Congress must show broad restraint on
federal spending in order to bring down the federal deficit and eventually reduce debt. Additionally, we need to reduce federal regulations which only increase the size of government and costs to our businesses.
What changes should be made in U.S. trade policy?
United States trade policy should always be focused on gaining fair access to
other markets for our products, services, and with the American worker always in mind. When we have trade policies that put our nation at a disadvantage and
harm our ability to fairly compete, especially with state sponsored or subsidized
businesses, we should either re-negotiate or exit those trade policies altogether.
President Trump has done excellent work re-negotiating trade and ensuring
growth for our nation and opportunities for our workers are kept at the forefront.
What changes to immigration law do you support? Would you vote to build any additional border wall or fence? Do you support a path to citizenship for those currently here illegally?
It is critical for Congress to take border control seriously and deal with the
damage drug cartels are causing. In addition to closing asylum loopholes, we need to build walls where the border patrol needs them and hire more border agents to deal with surges of illegal immigrants and interdict drug trafficking.
We need relationships with ICE and local law enforcement so criminal illegals are being apprehended, and deported. For those in our country who are not committing crimes or have been in the US since they were children, we should create a pathway to legal status (not citizenship).
What steps should the federal government take to combat climate change, if any?
Given the remarkable transformation in technology, especially here in Texas, that has allowed our country to become nearly energy independent and driven the development of more clean power plants, we are enjoying a period where
emissions are reducing. Certainly, we can do more by supporting the further
development of more sources of low or no emission baseload power. I am
particularly interested in next generation nuclear reactors that are smaller, safer,
can be sited virtually anywhere and create much less waste. They are emission
free and provide the kind of reliable baseload power that wind and solar simply
cannot do.