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Joe Morelle
DWon the General, 2024 New York U.S. House District 25
Won the General, 2022 New York U.S. House District 25
Won the General, 2018 New York U.S. House District 25
Representative, United States House of Representatives, District 25 (2018 - Present)
To be claimed
Former Chair, Committee on Insurance, New York State Assembly
Former Member, Rules Committee, New York State Assembly
Former Member, Speaker's Task Force on Budget Reform, New York State Assembly
Former Co-Chair, Welfare Reform Task Force, New York State Assembly
Former Member, Workers' Compensation Reform Task Force, New York State Assembly
Former Chair, Committee on Insurance, New York State Assembly
Former Member, Rules Committee, New York State Assembly
Former Member, Speaker's Task Force on Budget Reform, New York State Assembly
Former Co-Chair, Welfare Reform Task Force, New York State Assembly
Former Member, Workers' Compensation Reform Task Force, New York State Assembly
Member, Armed Services Committee
Member, Committee on Rules
Member, Committee on the Budget
Member, Education & Labor Committee
Member, Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems
Member, Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
Member, Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Vice Chair, Subcommittee on Legislative and Budget Process
Member, Subcommittee on Rules and Organization of the House
Member, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Yes
2. Do you support expanding federal funding to support entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare?
- Yes
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Yes
1. Do you support the protection of government officials, including law enforcement officers, from personal liability in civil lawsuits concerning alleged misconduct?
- No
Do you support increasing defense spending?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
3. Do you support providing financial relief to businesses AND/OR corporations negatively impacted by the state of national emergency for COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, geo-thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- No
2. Do you support requiring businesses to provide paid medical leave during public health crises, such as COVID-19?
- Yes
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
1. Should the United States use military force to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a weapon of mass destruction (for example: nuclear, biological, chemical)?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support reducing military intervention in Middle East conflicts?
- Unknown Position
Do you generally support removing barriers to international trade (for example: tariffs, quotas, etc.)?
- Yes
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should always be legal.
- X
3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- No Answer
6. Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer
7. Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Education (Higher)
- Slightly Increase
2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase
3. Emergency preparedness
- Maintain Status
4. Environment
- Maintain Status
5. Health care
- Slightly Decrease
6. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase
7. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase
8. Welfare
- Maintain Status
9. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase
10. Capital gains taxes
- Slightly Decrease
11. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase
12. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Decrease
13. Gasoline taxes
- Slightly Decrease
14. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease
15. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status
16. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status
17. Vehicle taxes
- Maintain Status
18. Should the state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
- Yes
19. Should accounts such as a ?rainy day? fund be used to balance the state budget?
- No
20. Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
- No Answer
21. Should the New York Legislature list discretionary spending item by item in the budget?
- Yes
22. Greatly decrease: property taxes
- Greatly decrease: Medicaid
Greatly increase: Economic Development
1. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York governors?
- No
2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for New York state senators and representatives?
- No
3. Individual
- Yes
4. PAC
- Yes
5. Corporate
- Yes
6. Political Parties
- Yes
7. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
8. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- Yes
9. Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes?
- Yes
10. Do you support prohibiting media exit polling of voters until all polling locations in New York are closed?
- No
11. Should New York recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- Yes
12. Describe what you believe must be done to complete rebuilding efforts near Ground Zero in New York City. Please use forty (40) words or less.
- No Answer
13. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
- No Answer
2. Support the death penalty in New York.
- No Answer
3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- No Answer
4. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- X
5. Implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- X
6. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- No Answer
7. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- No Answer
8. Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes.
- X
9. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- X
10. Eliminate the statute of limitations for criminal sex cases.
- X
11. Eliminate the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits seeking damages in sex cases.
- No Answer
12. Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing pseudophedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine).
- X
13. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- X
2. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- X
3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer
4. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- X
5. Increase funds for hiring additional teachers.
- X
6. Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay.
- No Answer
7. Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
- No Answer
8. Support requiring public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer
9. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- No Answer
10. Increase funding for Head Start programs.
- X
11. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- X
12. Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods.
- X
13. Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
- No Answer
1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that retrain displaced workers and teach skills needed in today?s job market.
- X
2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X
3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X
4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X
5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X
6. Support the inclusion of sexual orientation in New York's anti-discrimination laws.
- X
7. Increase the state minimum wage.
- X
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
9. Public employment
- Yes
10. State college and university admissions
- Yes
11. State contracting
- Yes
1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X
2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
- No Answer
3. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- X
4. Increase funding for improvements to New York's power generating and transmission facilities.
- X
5. Support funding for open space preservation.
- X
6. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- X
2. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
3. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
4. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer
5. Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
- X
6. Require a license for gun possession.
- X
7. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- X
2. Transfer current Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- X
3. Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
4. Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
- X
5. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer
6. Legalize physician assisted suicide in New York.
- No Answer
7. Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- X
1. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- X
2. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X
3. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- X
4. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- No Answer
5. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
- X
6. Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
- No Answer
7. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
Please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- No Answer
1. Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
- Pro-choice
1. In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
- Unknown Position
2. In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
- Yes
2. Do you support lowering corporate taxes as a means of promoting economic growth?
- No
1. Do you support requiring states to adopt federal education standards?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support government funding for the development of renewable energy (e.g. solar, wind, thermal)?
- Yes
2. Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
- Yes
1. Do you generally support gun-control legislation?
- Yes
1. Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")?
- Unknown Position
1. Do you support the construction of a wall along the Mexican border?
- No
2. Do you support requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
- No
Do you support the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes?
- Unknown Position
1. Should the United States use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the U.S. from possessing a nuclear weapon?
- Unknown Position
2. Do you support increased American intervention in Middle Eastern conflicts beyond air support?
- Unknown Position
Latest Action: House - 06/20/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 06/13/2019 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Tracker:Latest Action: House - 06/13/2019 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Tracker:Type: bill Chamber: lower
Type: resolution Chamber: lower
Type: bill Chamber: lower
By Joe Morelle Two-thirds of Americans cite unexpected and surprise medical costs as their top financial worry -- a burden they have little to no control over thanks to a health care system that offers little transparency or assistance for those in need. As a result, patients recovering from an emergency are often buried by overwhelming, unexpected medical bills that become financially debilitating and threaten their long-term economic stability. Nationally, one in six emergency room visits results in an unexpected medical bill and one in seven in-network admissions end with a surprise medical bill. Nearly 70 percent of patients fail to pay off those bill balances--and this number is expected to climb to 95 percent by 2020. These are staggering numbers, and this is a crisis that demands our immediate attention and action. During my time serving in the New York State Assembly, I helped author and pass landmark legislation to address the practice of surprise billing statewide. Now, I'm proud to partner with my colleagues to establish a similar nationwide measure and ensure peace of mind for families everywhere. Our legislation, the Protecting People from Surprise Medical Bills Act, allows insurance companies and doctors to negotiate surprise medical bills, taking the patient out of the middle. If they cannot reach an agreement, a neutral, independent arbiter can step in and decide which party has offered a reasonable amount. This discourages doctors from submitting outrageous charges and prevents health plans from low-balling providers. Most importantly: the patient is not stuck with the bill. Since enactment, New York's law has yielded $400 million in savings to consumers, a 34 percent decrease in out-of-network charges, and 9 percent decrease in in-network emergency room payments. It's clear that the Independent Dispute Resolution model has proven to be both effective and equitable -- and it is critical that any measure advanced by the House of Representatives to address the predatory practice of surprise billing nationwide must include this system of arbitration. An alternate proposal, espoused by health insurance companies, calls for government price setting. This would enable insurance plans to dictate what doctors may charge for their services--or drop them from their networks if they step out of line. The result would endanger networks and access to care, especially in underserved communities and rural areas across the United States. While I applaud the intent of my colleagues who have advanced alternate proposals to end surprise billing, I have serious concerns about the equity of benchmarking and price-fixing systems which would give tremendous power to insurers. Our top priority must be protecting patients--not padding the pockets of insurance companies. Independent Dispute Resolution prioritizes the needs of patients and allows for a balance of power between providers and insurers. This model is also fiscally responsible and can yield large savings. As the end of the year rapidly approaches, we cannot let the opportunity to take action and finally end surprise billing pass us by. I am hopeful that we can reach a compromise based on the framework of neutral and fair arbitration to provide much-needed relief and peace of mind to patients across America. There is much work still to be done to repair our broken health care system -- but this legislation marks an important step forward in our efforts to create a more affordable, transparent, patient-centered system of care that works for everyday Americans. Morelle represents New York's 25th District and is a member of the Education and Labor Committee.
Fri 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM EST
Temple B'rith Kodesh Rochester, NY
