Lauren Underwood: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Lauren Underwood

City: Naperville

Website: HTTPS://www.underwoodforcongress.com/

Twitter: @LUnderwood630

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnderwoodforCongress/

Party: Democrat

Office sought: U.S. House of Representatives, 14th Congressional District

Age: 31

Family: Clarence Underwood, Darla Underwood and Lindsey Underwood

Occupation: Registered Nurse and health policy expert.

Education: Neuqua Valley High School, Naperville, 2004; University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 2008 - BSN; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 2009 - MSN/MPH.

Civic involvement: Appointee in the Administration of President Barack Obama, Senior Adviser, October 2016 - January 2017; Special Assistant, November 2014 - October 2016, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; City of Naperville Fair Housing Advisory Commission, 2003 - 2004.

Elected offices held: None.

Questions & Answers

Did you support or oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017? Why or why not? Please outline your basic view of what the national economic policy should be?

Tax reform should be simple and fair, putting the middle class and small businesses first. The Republican tax plan does the opposite, overwhelmingly favoring corporations and the wealthiest few, all while exploding the national deficit.

Economic growth must touch all of our families - not just the wealthiest Americans. My opponent will argue that Illinois families are feeling the benefits of this plan, and that's true for the wealthiest among us. But for the middle class, wage growth is flat, and the majority of small business owners will not be able to hire new employees or give raises as a result of the Republican plan (Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform data).

Under the Republican plan, families are seeing higher tax burdens all across the 14th due to restrictions on popular deductions, including the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Nearly half - 48.6 percent - of the households in the 14th claimed the SALT deduction in 2014 (Tax Policy Center data).

In 2015, the average SALT deduction in the 14th District was $14,453 (Government Finance Officers Association data). That puts local filers a good $4,000 over the new $10,000 SALT deduction cap.

For too long, middle class families across northern Illinois have been overburdened with tax hikes from Springfield. Our community deserves a leader who seeks real solutions to create jobs and improve our local economy. Instead, my opponent once again put politics ahead of thousands of families in our community. From Antioch to Warrenville, folks spoke out against the Republican tax plan and we were ignored by our representative. That's unacceptable.

How strong is the threat of so-called cyberwarfare? What should the U.S. be doing in response to that threat in addition to what is now being done?

We've known for a while that our state board of elections here in Illinois was penetrated by Russian hackers in 2016, compromising the personal information of thousands of Illinois voters. Hackers appear to be readying to do the same thing during our forthcoming midterms and our leaders have put few substantive measures in place to protect our elections.

While President Trump seems to accept Vladimir Putin's denials of interference over the assessment of our intelligence agencies, my opponent has voted numerous times to block congressional investigation into Russian meddling and voted against election security funding.

Free and fair elections are vital to our democracy, as is voters' confidence in our elections. This is not a partisan issue: it's an American issue.

An aggressive preparedness posture is required for the forthcoming election, beginning with federal resources to bolster security measures to protect sensitive voter information in each precinct. Congress should be doing everything in its power to ensure these security breaches never happen again and ensure our social media companies are held accountable when their algorithms boost false information.

We need leaders who will fight back against these attacks, not leave our democracy open to foreign manipulation. The current Congress has displayed an alarming complacency toward our vulnerable election systems. We must hold Russia, and any other adversary, accountable for their actions by applying sanctions, and swift penalties for these illegal activities.

Please outline your position on immigration. What should the nation's philosophy be on the issue? Should there be a wall along most of the country's southern border? What should the nation's philosophy be on how the government treats and responds to undocumented immigrants?

Immigrants have been vital to the cultural fabric and economic success of America since our nation's founding. I'm proud to say that the 14th District is home to more than 1,700 entrepreneurs who immigrated to this country while world-class science organizations like Fermilab attract the best and brightest researchers from around the globe.

Our policies must honor and recognize the value and dignity of all of our immigrant communities and I strongly condemn the divisive rhetoric and anti-immigrant policies that have become commonplace under this administration.

Simple, structural barriers such as the president's proposed border wall will not solve this complex, multifaceted problem. This ill-conceived project would take away resources from effective interventions like border surveillance, radar technology and customs agents. I cannot support the construction of a structure rooted in racism that wastes taxpayer resources and isolates the United States from our global trade partners.

Our immigration system is broken - we need comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, offers a solution for young DREAMers who only know the United States as their home and offers hardworking immigrants a pathway to citizenship. My opponent, in contrast, has voted at least 18 times to block consideration of the DREAM Act and voted in favor of ending the DACA program in 2015. He has had eight years to demonstrate he's serious about fixing our immigration system and has nothing to show for it. It's time for new leadership on this issue.

What is your evaluation of President Trump's job performance? Please specify what you view as its highs and lows.

I welcomed the president's campaign commitments to infrastructure investments and a paid family leave policy, but those commitments proved to be empty promises.

I strongly condemn the administration's separation of immigrant children from their families, the continued failure to reunite these families, the abrupt cessation of the DACA program, and the travel ban policy, all of which only serve to inflame divisions at home and alienate us from our allies abroad. Congressional Republicans, on these issues and numerous others, have utterly failed to exercise oversight over this administration - and in doing so have abandoned the core principles of dignity and respect that define the American spirit.

I've been similarly dismayed to see this administration, emboldened by Republicans in Congress, take policy stances that don't reflect science and don't respect facts. From the denial of climate science to the gutting of our environmental protections, this administration seems to pay no mind to the fact that when our water, air and land become polluted, people get sick.

My opponent claims that he stands up to the president, but his record shows the truth: he votes with President Trump 96 percent of the time. Families across our community deserve a representative who will stand up to the president when he proposes dangerous policies like taking away health care or arming public school teachers. We need true leadership that will carry forward the voices and values of local families in the midst of the chaos and confusion of Trump's Washington.

How important is Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation? What's your assessment of its fairness and professionalism?

Free and fair elections are foundational to our democracy and we must fully investigate the interference in our 2016 election. Unlike my opponent, I support legislation to protect the special counsel from the president's threats of political interference.

Special counsel Mueller has a distinguished record of service to our country and has shown himself to be measured and thoughtful throughout his investigation.

The American people deserve answers about what occurred during our 2016 elections, and a Congress committed to thoughtfully weighing the facts. Any collusion or criminal interference in our electoral process should be treated as an affront to our constitutional rights.

The president and my opponent's unwillingness to put Mueller's inquiry above partisan politics is simply unacceptable. On this and so many issues, we deserve better.

Would you vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act? Should there be a penalty for those who do not comply with the individual mandate?

Every American has a right to high-quality, affordable health care - I bring a decade of experience as a nurse, and am focused on ensuring all families across the Illinois 14th, and throughout America, can access truly affordable health care.

Since his election to Congress, our representative has been complicit in a sabotage of our health care system. The cavalier way he abandoned his own promise to protect coverage for folks with pre-existing conditions in the spring of 2017 inspired me to seek the Democratic nomination. Again, his actions are unacceptable and we deserve better.

In the 14th District, 37,000 hard working folks have coverage through Obamacare. It was an incredible honor to work at the federal level to implement this program. I am committed to ensuring that all Americans maintain the coverage they rely upon, and that we continue to work to expand coverage to those who cannot currently access or afford it.

The Affordable Care Act is not perfect and I support policies that will improve the law, including:

1. Helping more middle class families afford coverage by stabilizing and properly funding the ACA risk adjustment provisions and expanding eligibility for tax credits and cost-sharing reductions so we can lower premium prices and bring more plan options to each community.

2. Lowering prescription drug prices - the federal government is the nation's single largest purchaser of health care services, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). We must leverage that strength to negotiate fair prices for the middle class.

What other issues are important to you as a candidate for this office?

For too long, we have seen no movement on a range of nonpartisan economic security issues that predominantly affect women. This includes equal pay, paid family and sick leave, affordable child care services and access to reproductive health services. We need representatives who are willing to put their political capital on the line to fight for these issues, not merely offer supportive rhetoric.

I believe that every child deserves a high quality public education. Here in the 14th District we have excellent public schools, but this requires continued investment. Additionally, we should be making it easier for students to afford college by increasing our investment in higher education institutions. I support increased funding for Pell grants, increased availability of affordable subsidized student loans, and the continuance of the public service loan forgiveness program. Higher education should not be a privilege of a certain class of people.

Climate change presents both an existential threat to our way of life and one of our most pressing national security issues. The impact of climate refugees, fights for basic resources like food and water caused by these events, and the increased numbers of public health emergencies and disasters, will pose real, destabilizing challenges - and we have a responsibility to curb these threats. I support expanded investment in and deployment of renewable energy projects, investment in public transportation projects, and a fully funded and appropriately staffed Environmental Protection Agency.

In addition, here a few questions meant to provide more personal insight into you as a person:

What's the hardest decision you ever had to make?

I was working for a Medicaid managed care company in Chicago when I found myself at my opponent's one and only public event of 2017 - it was during that spring the Congress took a series of health care repeal votes. I'm a registered nurse and a woman with a pre-existing condition, so I was watching the debate closely. During that public event April 18, 2017, my opponent made a promise. He promised that he wouldn't support a bill that didn't provide affordable coverage options for people with pre-existing conditions. That promise was important to me, and I took him at his word.

Just a few weeks later, he cast one of the deciding votes for the American Healthcare Act, a version of repeal that would have made care unaffordable for those of us with pre-existing conditions. And I was upset - I believe representatives should be transparent and honest about their votes and accessible to our community. I knew someone should challenge our representative, and stand up for families across our district.

I prayed on it and I talked to my friends and family and I decided to run for this position and hold our congressman accountable. That was more than a year ago now, and it remains the most difficult, most consequential and one of the very best decisions I've ever made.

Who is your hero?

Shirley Chisholm was our nation's first African American woman elected to the United States Congress. When she ran for president in the 1970s, her campaign slogan was: "unbought and unbossed." This gusty declaration inspires me nearly 50 years later.

I aspire to be a bold representative for our community, someone who is wholly responsive and accountable to her constituents. For too long, our community has gone without effective representation because our congressman puts partisanship before people. His record shows he is more interested in following the Republican Party line and pleasing his corporate donors than engaging with his constituents.

Now, more than ever, the people of northern Illinois need to have a voice in the decisions facing our country. By electing representatives with the courage to stand with the farmers in Maple Park and teachers in Wauconda, we can break through the partisan gridlock and pass legislation that truly helps our families.

Washington clearly needs independent thinkers who are both unbought and unbossed: we can all learn something from Shirley Chisholm's fearless leadership and pioneering mantra.

Each amendment in the Bill of Rights is important, but which one of those 10 is most precious to you?

The freedoms guaranteed to us under the First Amendment: the freedoms of speech, religion, press and peaceful assembly are foundational to our democracy and have been under assault by President Trump. His anti-democratic statements and policies are unacceptable, as is the Congress' unwillingness to exercise oversight over the president.

The president's remarks that journalists are "the enemy of the people" are dangerous and deserve censure, as are his remarks suggesting the act of protesting be made illegal. Further, the administration's "travel ban" is clearly discriminatory to people of the Muslim faith, and I look forward to the day the Supreme Court sees the error in upholding that decision. The representative for the 14th District has a sworn duty to protect and defend the constitution, including these first amendment rights, for all people in our community.

Over the last few years, many Americans have stepped forward and become active in our democracy for the first time - many have marched, joined local activist groups and made their voices heard. I have been so inspired by this spirited engagement and look forward to seeing our democracy at work once again Nov. 6.

What lesson of youth has been most important to you as an adult?

As a young girl entering kindergarten, I carefully learned the words to the Girl Scout pledge, and promised "to serve God and my country, and to help people at all times." I have remained a member of the organization all my life and have always striven to carry forward those commitments to my faith and public service.

Those early lessons informed my passion for public service and led to my career in nursing. Throughout this campaign, I have relied on the teachings of Joshua 1:9, and followed the command to be strong and courageous.

Think back to a time you failed at something? What did you learn from it?

I never learned how to tread water.

The summer after I finished the third grade, a new wave pool opened in Naperville. I was desperate to go to the wave pool and Centennial Beach, but my mother would not let me go to either until I had taken swimming lessons.

I was excited to swim, but I dreaded learning how to tread water because we had to learn that lesson in the deep end of the pool. I was so scared that day - I still remember it - my heart was absolutely racing as we prepared to tread water. I was crying and apparently disruptive, and my dad soon pulled me out of the pool. With a still racing heart I ended up at my doctor's office and later the emergency room. I was soon diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, a manageable heart condition which occasionally prevents my heart from maintaining a normal rhythm.

Thanks to skilled pediatric cardiologists, my condition is well-controlled, but it will be with me all of my life - it's my pre-existing condition. The amazing treatment I received as a child inspired me to become the nurse I am today and fight to ensure everyone has access to quality, affordable health care. One of these days I'll get around to learning to tread water!