Election 2026

Independent, source-first accountability

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Issue record

Schools, college and job training

In short

Braun's campaign backs a federal Parents Bill of Rights, lower tuition and skilled-trades training. Gluesenkamp Perez's campaign would widen apprenticeships, cut degree requirements and let Pell Grants pay for job training. Braun was prime sponsor of a 2015 state tuition-cut law; his campaign's claim that it was the nation's largest is not tested. Gluesenkamp Perez cosponsored a 2023 Pell job-training bill and voted against the much larger 2025 law that created Workforce Pell Grants.

Campaign positions

What each campaign says.

John Braun

His campaign says parents, not bureaucrats, should know what happens in their children's classrooms and that he supports a federal Parents Bill of Rights. It says he will fight to rein in tuition and expand skilled-trades training.

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez

Her campaign says many good jobs do not need a four-year degree, and that she is working to widen apprenticeships and technical training, cut degree requirements for jobs and let Pell Grants pay for job training.

Evidence timeline

What the record shows.

  1. official action

    Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

    She cosponsored H.R.743 in August 2026. It proposes base and incident-response pay changes but remains a bill.

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    In the October 13 KATU debate, Gluesenkamp Perez said she was working on Tim’s Act to increase pay for hotshot firefighters. She cosponsored H.R.743, Tim’s Act, on August 31, 2026. The bill proposes special base pay for federal wildland firefighters and incident-response premium pay. Its latest action is a March 7, 2025 subcommittee referral; it has not become law. Limit: Joe Neguse is the sponsor. The proposal covers federal wildland firefighters more broadly than hotshot crews. Cosponsorship does not establish that pay increased or that she authored the bill.

  2. official action

    Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

    She cosponsored the House bill and voted for the Senate version that became law in December 2025; it passed 399 to 5, so her share is unclear.

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    In the October 7 KOIN 6 debate, Gluesenkamp Perez said Secure Rural Schools funding was pivotal, with schools closing or talking about four-day weeks, and that she championed bringing those tax dollars home. In her closing she said she secured funding for rural schools. She was an original cosponsor of the House bill to renew the Secure Rural Schools program, H.R. 1383, introduced by Rep. Doug LaMalfa on February 14, 2025. The Senate's version, S. 356, passed the House 399 to 5 on December 9, 2025 with her Yea (Roll Call 315), and became Public Law 119-58 on December 18, 2025. It extends the program's payments through fiscal 2026 and orders the 2024 and 2025 payments made within 45 days. Limit: Her cosponsorship and vote show support. The bill passed the House 399 to 5, and the record does not show her share of the result.

  3. official action

    Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

    She cosponsored a 2023 bill to do that, but voted against the much larger 2025 reconciliation act that created Workforce Pell Grants.

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    Full detail

    Her campaign says she is working to let Pell Grants pay for job training, not just college degrees. She joined the JOBS Act of 2023 (H.R. 793), officially a bill to extend Pell Grant eligibility to certain short-term programs, as a cosponsor on May 24, 2023; it had no floor vote. Workforce Pell Grants became law in 2025 as section 83002 of Public Law 119-21, the reconciliation act, which she voted against on passage on May 22, 2025 (Roll Call 145) and on the final House vote on July 3, 2025 (Roll Call 190). Limit: Her cosponsorship shows the direction she states. Her votes against the act that created Workforce Pell Grants were votes on a reconciliation bill of several hundred pages, not on that section, and a vote against a vehicle is not a vote against each of its provisions. They are still the only recorded votes she has cast on a law that did what her campaign says she is working toward, and a reader should see both.

  4. official action

    John Braun: Matches stated record claim

    He was prime sponsor of the 2015 tuition bill, which passed the Senate 48 to 0 and the House 98 to 0 in its final votes; whether it was the nation's largest cut is not tested.

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    His campaign says he authored the College Affordability Program, which it calls the largest cut to public university tuition in the nation. Senate Bill 5954 of 2015, titled "Reducing tuition", names him as its prime sponsor, first of seventeen senators. The Senate passed it three times that year, the last on June 29 by 48 to 0, with his Yea each time; the House passed it 98 to 0 the next day, and it became Chapter 36, Laws of 2015, 3rd Special Session. Limit: The record settles authorship and enactment. It does not settle the superlative: no legislature publishes a ranking of tuition cuts across the states, and his biography words it differently again, as "the first and largest". Testing it would take national tuition data for a defined year and sector, which this desk has not read. Sixteen other senators sponsored the bill with him.

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Sources16 source records

How we use sources

  1. Where I Stand: Issueshttps://www.votebraun.com/issues

    John Braun for Congress · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Campaign-controlled source setting out nine subjects. Three of its sentences are about his opponent's votes; a claim about an opponent is outside what this site checks, and those sentences are not used.

    candidate statement

    For: John Braun: campaign position; John Braun: Matches stated record claim

  2. What Marie Believes: Issueshttps://marieforcongress.com/issues/

    Marie for Congress · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Campaign-controlled source setting out fourteen subjects. Positions are attributed, not independently verified facts.

    candidate statement

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: campaign position; Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  3. KATU debate, October 13: Tim’s Act and wildland-firefighter payhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtDqJEAdAEs&t=2807s

    KATU News · Published Oct 13, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 22, 2026

    Paraphrased from saved English native captions; no second independent transcript. Raw capture association and hash recorded in the dated note.

    candidate statement

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  4. H.R.743, Tim’s Acthttps://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/743

    Congress.gov · Published Jan 28, 2025 · Reviewed Oct 22, 2026

    Congress.gov API/GovInfo: Gluesenkamp Perez joined August 31, 2026; no laws; latest action Forestry and Horticulture subcommittee referral March 7, 2025.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  5. H.R.743 introduced text, sections 2 and 3https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr743ih/html/BILLS-119hr743ih.htm

    U.S. Government Publishing Office · Published Jan 28, 2025 · Reviewed Oct 22, 2026

    Proposed special base rates and wildland-fire incident-response premium pay, with qualifying conditions and limits.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  6. KOIN 6 WA-03 debate, Gluesenkamp Perez on rural schools money, 52:15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY7ixWLOS8U&t=3135s

    KOIN 6 · Published Oct 7, 2026 · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    52:15-52:23, and 53:45-53:47 in her closing statement. Paraphrased, not quoted: the only transcript is the video's English captions, with no second transcript to check the wording against.

    candidate statement

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  7. H.R. 1383, Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1383

    Congress.gov · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    Introduced February 14, 2025 by Rep. Doug LaMalfa; she is an original cosponsor.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  8. Roll Call 315 (2025), S. 356, Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Acthttps://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025315

    Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    December 9, 2025; passed 399 to 5. She voted Yea.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  9. S. 356, Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, Public Law 119-58https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ58/html/PLAW-119publ58.htm

    GovInfo · Reviewed Oct 10, 2026

    Signed December 18, 2025. Extends the program's payments through fiscal 2026 and orders the 2024 and 2025 payments within 45 days.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  10. H.R. 793, JOBS Act of 2023, 118th Congresshttps://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/793

    Congress.gov · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Official title: to extend Federal Pell Grant eligibility of certain short-term programs. She joined as a cosponsor on May 24, 2023. No floor vote.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  11. H.R. 1, 119th Congress, Public Law 119-21https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PLAW-119publ21

    GovInfo · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    The 2025 reconciliation act. Section 83002 creates Workforce Pell Grants.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  12. Roll Call 145, H.R. 1, on passagehttps://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025145

    Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Recorded vote of May 22, 2025 on passage; she voted Nay.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  13. Roll Call 190, H.R. 1, on concurring in the Senate amendmenthttps://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025190

    Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Recorded vote of July 3, 2025, the final House vote on the act; she voted No.

    official legislative record

    For: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez: Matches stated direction

  14. About John Braunhttps://www.votebraun.com/about

    John Braun for Congress · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Campaign-controlled source, used for his biography and for the record claims on this page: the tuition program, the 2017-19 budget, the capital gains and income tax opposition, and the fentanyl bills. His Navy rank and years of service are his campaign's account; no Navy record was read.

    candidate statement

    For: John Braun: Matches stated record claim

  15. SB 5954, 2015-16, Reducing tuition: bill summary and historyhttps://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5954&Year=2015

    Washington State Legislature · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    Sponsor list (Braun first of seventeen) and full history, ending in Chapter 36, Laws of 2015, 3rd Special Session.

    official legislative record

    For: John Braun: Matches stated record claim

  16. SB 5954, 2015-16: roll callshttps://app.leg.wa.gov/bi/RollCallsOnABill/RollCall?biennium=2015-16&billNumber=5954&initiative=false

    Washington State Legislature · Reviewed Sep 23, 2026

    The Legislature's roll-call page for the bill: three Senate final-passage votes in 2015 and the House vote of June 30, 2015. The Legislature's web service carries no roll calls; this page does.

    official legislative record

    For: John Braun: Matches stated record claim