John Rutherford
Conservative
Republican
House Representative
Florida - District 5
Current Position: US House Representative FL-5
Running For: House Representative - District 5
Policy Positions
Economic Policy
- For blocking new taxes and cutting existing taxes to fight inflation, and for reducing government regulations on small businesses
- For the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and Trump-era tax cuts for families and small businesses
Health Care
- Against the Honoring our PACT Act of 2022, which expanded VA benefits for veterans exposed to toxic substances
- For protecting pre-existing condition coverage, allowing dependents to stay on parental insurance until age 26, and lowering prescription drug and premium costs
- For repealing the Affordable Care Act (supported 2017 repeal effort)
- For blocking government requirements to ask domestic flight passengers about COVID-19 vaccination status
Education
- For authoring and passing the STOP School Violence Act to fund school safety measures
Environment
- For banning offshore oil drilling off Florida's coasts, including sponsoring legislation to ban seismic air gun testing and extend moratoriums on drilling in the Gulf and Atlantic
- Against the Green New Deal, calling it a 'socialist manifesto'; acknowledges climate change exists but questions scientific consensus on human causation
Civil Rights
- For VA reform and accountability measures, increased troop pay, mental health/PTSD funding for veterans, and grant programs to help veterans transition to civilian life and access service animals
- Against the Equality Act (voted against in 2019 and 2021)
- Against abortion; described U.S. as having a 'culture of death' resulting from Roe v. Wade
- For allowing local referendums to decide the fate of public Confederate monuments
Voting Rights & Democracy
- Against certifying the 2020 election results; voted not to count Arizona and Pennsylvania electoral votes and signed an amicus brief supporting Texas v. Pennsylvania seeking to overturn the election
- For eliminating or restricting the Senate's 60-vote cloture rule to reduce gridlock
Immigration & Foreign Affairs
- For funding and building a border wall and stricter immigration enforcement
- For defending the Trump administration's policy of separating parents and children at the border, while opposing legislation to end the practice; later welcomed Trump's reversal of the policy
- For creating a path to citizenship for holders of E-2 Treaty Investor Visas
Public Safety
- For banning bump stocks
- Against shorter prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenses; called Black Lives Matter a 'hate group'
- Against capital punishment, citing Catholic faith
- Against legalization of marijuana, including opposing 2014 Florida medical marijuana ballot initiative