Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina

Born on September 6, 1954, Carly Fiorina is American business executive who led Hewlett-Packard Company as CEO from 1999-2005. Among other accomplishments, Fiorina was the first woman CEO listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. She is seeking the Republican Party nomination for president in 2016. (Britannica)

Official Website

Tax Reform

Fiorina's Tax Reform (section page)

Simplify the tax code

• The tax code is too complicated and "needs to go from "73,000 pages down to about three pages." (CFWTR)
• Move from revenue-neutral to revenue-reducing tax reform (CFWTR)

Lower rates and close loopholes

• Supports a low, flat tax for businesses and individuals (CFWTR)
• Supports The Hoover Institution and Congressman Michael Burgess's plans

Jobs and Business Policy

Fiorina's Jobs and Business Policy (section page)

Fiorina's background at HP

• "I was recruited to HP to save a company. It was a company that had grown into a bloated bureaucracy that cost too much and delivered too little to customers and shareholders. As an outsider, I tackled HP's entrenched problems head-on, I cut the bureaucracy down to size, reintroduced accountability, focused on service, on innovation, on leading in every market and every product segment. It was a difficult time. However, we saved 80,000 jobs. We went on to grow to 160,000 jobs. I had to make tough calls in tough times. I think people are looking for that in Washington." (RD3)

Fiorina's two fundamental problems with the American economy

1. "We have tangled people up in a web of dependence from which they can't escape" (FOX)
2. "We're crushing small businesses now" (FOX)

Her solution:

• "if we want the middle class growing again, we've got to get small and family-owned businesses going and growing again." (Fox)
• Fiorina "recognizes the importance of increasing access to capital so that small businesses have the resources they need to succeed, reducing the cost of doing business so that home-grown entrepreneurs have the opportunity to thrive, and eliminating barriers to job creation to put Americans back to work." (CFCW)

Health Policy

Fiorina's Health Policy (section page)

Repeal Affordable Care Act

• Affordable Care Act not the solution (CFWHC)
• "We were promised improved access and higher-quality care, but the complexity of Obamacare is preventing the very competition that would allow more and better options for patients." (CFWHC)
• Repeal Affordable Care Act and replace with plans [1] [2] she claims "protect those with pre-existing conditions in state-run high-risk pools, reduces costs, protects religious liberty, and moves us closer to the one thing we've never tried before: real competition." (CFWHC)

Pro-life

• Would sign Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act
• Would stop allowing taxpayer money to fund Planned Parenthood (CFWL)
• Would support those pregnancy centers and women's health clinics "that are actually serving their communities." (CFWL)
• Watch her "Welcoming Every Life" speech

Drug Policy

Fiorina's Drug Policy (section page)

Opposes marijuana legalization but respects states' choices

• "I don't support legalized marijuana for a whole host of reasons, including the fact that this is a very complex chemical substance, and when we tell young people it is just like drinking a beer, we are not telling them the truth. But I think Colorado voters made a choice. I don't support their choice, but I do support their right to make that choice." (Hill)

Drug addiction a serious problem

• "I very much hope I am the only person on this stage who can say this, but I know there are millions of Americans out there who will say the same thing. My husband Frank and I buried a child to drug addiction. So, we must invest more in the treatment of drugs." (RD2)

• Putting people in prison for drug related crimes is not the solution (RD2)
• "We do need criminal justice reform. We have the highest incarceration rates in the world. 2/3 of the people in our prisons are there for non-violent offenses, mostly drug related. It's clearly not working." (RD2)

Lost daughter to drug addiction

• There's a very real reason Carly Fiorina is against legalizing marijuana: She watched her stepdaughter, Lori Ann Fiorina, battle drug addiction and die an early death, at just 35 years old. (CNN)

Middle East

Fiorina's Middle East (section page)

Would call Iran on first day of office, call off nuke deal

• "My second call will be to the Supreme Leader of Iran. He might not take the call, but he will get the message. I will tell him: new deal. Unless and until Iran opens itself to full and unfettered inspections of all nuclear and military facilities, we are going to make it very hard for Iran to move money around the global financial system." (CFWP)

Familiar with Middle Eastern leaders

• Fiorina said, ""I know Bibi Netanyahu," and "I know King Abdullah of Jordan," as a way to critique the Obama Administration's policies in the Middle East. (OTI)
• Told Hillary Clinton to "Please, name an accomplishment," arguing that traveling the world doesn't count as one. Essentially, Fiorina was arguing that a long political resume doesn't necessarily mean a candidate is qualified--and suggesting that her short one shouldn't disqualify her. (OTI)

Calls for more arms to Middle East

• "The Egyptians are asking us to share intelligence, we are not, I will. The Kurds have asked us to arm them for three years, we are not, I would. The Egyptians, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Bahrainis, the Emirati, the Kurds--all of these understand ISIS is their fight, but they must see leadership support and resolve from the United States of America. We have the strongest military on the face of the planet, and everyone has to know it." (RD4)

Trade

Fiorina's Trade (section page)

Against TPP

• Carly Fiorina said she supports free trade, but didn't want President Barack Obama to have the congressional green light to finalize a massive Pacific Rim deal. (MLN)
• Said of the TPP: "There’s a whole bunch of stuff in there that can only be described as crony capitalism, special giveaways to certain industries,” adding the agreement is “a mess.”" (MLN)

Favors bilateral agreements

Fiorina favors bilateral trade agreements over trade pacts because “bilateral agreements are always more effective. We have more leverage.” (MLN)

Immigration

Fiorina's Immigration (section page)

Secure border

• Says securing border "will take money, manpower, and technology—but most of all it will take political will." (CFWI)
• Supports Heritage Foundation plan, which would "support the National Guard and Coast Guard, invest in infrastructure and the right technology, and encourage federal-state-local cooperation." (CFWI)

Fix legal immigration system

• Wants to reform broken visa system (CFWI)
• Wants an upgraded employer verification system (CFWI)

Will not grant amnesty to those who are in the United States illegally

• "Those who cut the line and broke our laws as their first act entering this country have foregone that opportunity." (CFWI)

"I will not support citizenship for those here illegally."

Environmental

Fiorina's Environmental (section page)

Reinstste the Keystone XL Pipeline

• This would "ensure that the United States is the global energy powerhouse of the 21st century." (CFWEn)

Repeal regulations on fracking

• These limit the "ability to be energy independent by regulating drilling on federal lands." (CFWEn)
• The Environmental Protection Agency needs to "roll back" regulations, said Carly Fiorina at a town hall meeting. "The regulations that the EPA is rolling out now will destroy livelihoods. They will increase the cost of energy," she said. "They will destroy industries." (PTS)
• Fiorina believes the EPA is standing in the way of affordable and reliable electricity. (PTS)

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Fiorina's Entrepreneurship and Innovation (section page)

Interview on Entrepreneurship

• "Small businesses employ half the people in this country and create 65 percent of the new jobs and they innovate at seven times the rate of big companies. So small business is the economic growth and innovation engine of the nation. And while many small businesses turn into huge businesses, such as Google or Microsoft, a whole bunch don't." (INC)

• "Unlocking capital is very important, and of course since the financial crisis, the surviving big banks have gotten bigger, but the community banking system is really struggling, and that means small businesses are struggling. It is community banks that provide most of the capital to small business, and [we need to] start unlocking small business loans again."(INC)

GOP Debate

• I know more about innovation and entrepreneurship than anyone on this panel because I have led innovative businesses in the most highly competitive industry in the world for decades. The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. (RD4)

• The point is Obamacare is crushing small businesses, it is not helping the families it was intended to help. So, let us allow states to manage high risk pools. Let us try the one thing in health insurance we've never tried, the free market. (RD4)

• "Small businesses are getting crushed. Community- based businesses and farms are getting crushed. Community banks are going out of business. Big government favors the big, the powerful, the wealthy and the well-connected, and crushes the small and the powerless." (RD3)

• As an outsider, I tackled H.P.'s entrenched problems head-on. I cut the bureaucracy down to size, re-introduced accountability, focused on service, on innovation, on leading in every market, in every product segment. And yes, it was a very difficult time. However, we saved 80,000 jobs and we went on to grow to 160,000 jobs, and scores of technology companies literally went out of business -- like Gateway -- taking all their jobs with them. (RD3)

• "The truth is the secret sauce of America is innovation, and entrepreneurship, it is why we must cut our government down to size, and hold it accountable. It's why we have to take our government back, because innovation and entrepreneurship is crushed by the crushing load of a 73,000 page tax code. It is crushed by regulatory thicket that is so vast we don't even know what's in it anymore. It is crushed as well by government bureaucrats who don't do their jobs very well, and who are not held accountable, which is why I've said we got to take our government back, and to do that, we have to know where every dollar being spent, and be able to move any dollar. We have to hack through this regulatory thicket, repeal so much, but, also, know what's in that regulatory thicket — we don't even know what regulations have been passed." (RD4)

Sources Key

(Britannica) = [3]

(Fox) = [4]

(RD3) = [5]

(CFWTR) = [6]

(CFCW) = [7]

(CFWHC) = [8]

(CFWL) = [9]

(Hill) = [10]

(RD2) = [11]

(CNN) = [12]

(CFWFP) = [13]

(RD4) = [14]

(MLN) = [15]

(OTI) = [16]

(CFWI) = [17]

(CFWEn) = [18]

(PTS) = [19]

(INC)= [20]