Krishna K. Bansal: Candidate profile

Bio

Party: Republican

City: Naperville

Office sought: U.S. House, District 11

Age: 49

Family: Married for 26 Years 2 Daughters - In High School and College

Occupation: Business owner

Education: BS, MBS

Civic involvement: Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission; Republican nominee in 2014 for Illinois House 84th District; former Republican Committeeman; Chair Indian Community Outreach, Naperville Mayor's Office; Advisory Board Member Kids Matter; Board Member, Illinois Chamber of Commerce; and multiple others

Elected offices held: Republican committeeman

Incumbent? If yes, when were first elected: No.

Website: https://www.krishnaforcongress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrishnaBansalUS

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

Questions and Answers

1. What have the past three years of Donald Trump's unconventional leadership taught us about politics in the United States? What is the best thing his presidency has done? What is the most significant criticism you have of it?

Our nation is very divided with large amounts of people very supportive of the President, and a similar amount very opposed to him. There is not much dialogue or solution-based collaboration between the two major political parties. His presidency has been excellent for the economy, with many manufacturing jobs returning from overseas, record low unemployment in all demographic groups, and improvements in trade agreements and deficits. I do wish he would sometimes communicate his message in a way that is less critical and attacking of others.

2. What needs to be done to get Congress to work constructively, whether that be senators and representatives of both parties working with each other or Congress itself working with the president?

The House wasted too much time and money on impeachment. Elections should decide political disagreements, not political theater. Passing USMCA with 88 votes in the Senate and 385 votes in the House was a victory for the President, Congress, and American people. Pressure from the American people through voting out Democrats who supported impeachment will help change future behavior. I will be a congressman always looking for bipartisan support for bills I sponsor and co-sponsor to help ensure passage into law. I will always listen to all sides in the debates and will hold frequent Town Halls in the District to seek public opinion.

3. What do you see as the most important issues to address regarding immigration reform? If you oppose funding for a wall, what steps do you support to try to control illegal immigration?

Our great nation is a nation built by immigrants. In-fact I am a first-generation legal immigrant myself and understand the intricacies. My focus will be to revamp our immigration policies to streamlining LEGAL Immigration while strengthening our borders. A path to citizenship for DREAMers who have committed no crimes and are performing well in school should be developed. I, too, would wait for guidance from the Supreme Court on DACA. I would also look at and prioritize the legal DREAMers - children who arrived here legally and have aged out while their tax paying/law abiding parents are waiting in line for being permanent residents. I do oppose chain migration (except for immediate family) but support a merit-based system when the rules are followed. We need to streamline and quicken the path to citizenship for those qualified and waiting in line.

There is no Nation without borders. We have a large porous southern border. It is very important to build a deterrent to stop the flow of opioids and criminals to safeguard our citizens while also stopping illegal crossings. I am in favor of a barrier coupled with modern surveillance systems to supplement our human surveillance to protect our country and citizens.

4. Please define your position on health care reform, especially as it relates to the Affordable Care Act.

A system that allows people to buy insurance across state lines and create a more competitive marketplace is better. As well. people should be able to create tax free Medical Savings Accounts to save for unforeseen expenses. The high costs of line items in hospital and doctors' bills must be looked at to weed out waste, fraud and abuse that drives up costs. Too often bills paid by insurance are not properly scrutinized. Prescription drugs should be allowed to be imported and a more competitive world marketplace would cause savings. Pressure on the manufacturers to curb excessive profits has worked as implemented by President Trump. The time frame of exclusive patents should be shortened as well. Medicare for All is completely impossible to implement due to the cost.

5. What is your position on federal funding for contraception, the Violence Against Women Act and reproductive rights?

I am a pro-life candidate and all three of these issues are already settled law in Illinois. I do believe in states' rights to determine policies most representative of the people of that state. I would like to see more pro-family policies in Illinois, but that will be up to the state legislators.

When discussing contraception, birth control pills are one thing, but "morning after" and abortifacient drugs go too far and should never receive federal funding. And no federal funding should go to clinics and organizations that perform abortions, regardless of other services they provide, IE Planned Parenthood.

VAWA is good in principle, but in practice has problems, like taking away gun rights of citizens based on unproven charges.

6. What do you consider America's role in world affairs? What are we doing correctly to fill that role? What else should we be doing?

United States government should protect the interest of its citizens and key allies with diplomats, logistics, sanctions, even weaponry in certain key strategic situations. We should not put American troops on the ground in foreign countries except in the most critical and urgent national interests. The United States military is not the police force for the world. We want to protect and defend vital interests and allies with our forces but avoid protracted wars and conflicts that are hopelessly deadlocked in civil wars and historic disagreements.

Preventing terrorist attacks are critically important, and the intervention of surgical strikes like the one against Soleimani are the right move.

We need to continue to be supportive and be collaborative with key Democratic allies like Great Britain, India, Israel, Poland and many others, but other countries must primarily provide their own defenses, rather than expect the US to do it.

7. Do you believe climate change is caused by human activity? What steps should government be taking to address the issue?

Climate change is an issue that should be handled by enforcing environmental laws on the books and pressuring China and other known polluters to have more and better regulations enforced there. This is an issue for our diplomats to monitor on a global basis but should not be an area where we spend too much money or resources that affect other priorities. Much of climate change is cyclical and natural earth changes, but bad actors on the world stage, and some US companies that break the law, should be punished.