Английская Википедия:Aaron Kaufer

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Aaron D. Kaufer (born July 11, 1988) is an American politician currently serving as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 120th district.

Early life and education

Kaufer was born on July 11, 1988, in Kingston, Pennsylvania, the son of Neil and Larinda Kaufer. He graduated from Wyoming Valley West High School in 2007 and earned dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in 'government and law' and 'international affairs' from Lafayette College in 2011.

Political career

Kaufer first ran for state representative in 2012 against incumbent Democrat Phyllis Mundy, losing 56% to 43%. In December 2013, Mundy announced that she would be retiring. For the 2014 election, Eileen Cipriani was chosen as the Democratic nominee. Kaufer ran again against Cipriani and won, defeating her 56% to 44%. He was reelected in 2016 with 68% of the vote against Democrat Robert McDonald. Kaufer was reelected for a third term in 2018 unopposed. He again won reelection to a fourth term in 2020, defeating Democrat Joanna Bryn Smith 63% to 37%. Kaufer won against Democrat Fern Leard in the 2022 election by a similar margin.

Kaufer was a co-founder of the PA HOPE (Heroin, Opioid, Prevention and Education) Caucus as part of his effort to improve Pennsylvania's drug and alcohol services.

Kaufer was appointed to the Higher Education Funding Commission in 2019.

In 2023, Republican State House Leader Bryan Cutler named Kaufer to be the top Republican on the House Government Oversight Committee.

Political positions

Kaufer believes in a smaller state government and has focused on pursuing job and economic development initiatives. He also supports efforts to address the opioid epidemic.

Kaufer is known for his commitment on bipartisan cooperation. He often wears an orange tie on the House floor as a symbol of his bipartisanship.

2020 presidential election

Kaufer and 69 other Pennsylvania legislators signed an amicus brief in the case Texas v. Pennsylvania, which challenged the 2020 United States presidential election results in Pennsylvania and three other states won by President-elect Joe Biden. He defended the brief saying it was only to provide background information on changes made to Pennsylvania's election operations, "It did not seek to take sides in the decision, nor did it seek to overturn the election."

Following the election, Kaufer said his name was erroneously added to a letter signed by Pennsylvania legislators urging Congress to reject Pennsylvania's electoral votes. His name was later removed from the final version of the letter. Kaufer said he agreed with U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr's assessment that no major irregularities occurred to alter the election results. When asked in 2022, Kaufer said he accepted the results of the election.

Abortion

According to Kaufer himself, he has never supported an outright ban on abortion and believes in exceptions for rape, incest, health of the mother, and viability of the child. He supports moving the threshold for abortions in Pennsylvania from 24 weeks into a pregnancy to 20 weeks. He was absent from a vote in the State House on a constitutional amendment that stated, "there is no right to abortion or funding for an abortion" in Pennsylvania. Kaufer later said he would have voted against the amendment.

Gambling

Kaufer believes that online gambling should not be tied to a credit card. Prior to being elected, Kaufer worked at Mohegan Sun Pocono where he would see customers repeatedly taking out, often large, sums of money on their credit card "just so they could play one more game."

Israel-Palestine

Following Ben & Jerry's 2021 announcement that the company would not longer sell its ice cream in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Kaufer called for the enforcement of 2016 Act 163, which says the state will not associate with businesses that boycott Israel.

Kaufer has said the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) "is little more than a poorly hidden anti-Semitic economic attack."

Following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Kaufer co-sponsored a resolution in the State House that declared the House "stand[s] with Israel as it defends itself against the barbaric war launched by Hamas." The resolution passed unanimously.

Legislative reform

Leading up to the 2014 Pennsylvania state house election, Kaufer campaigned as a supporter of term limits stating he would only serve four terms. In 2022, however, Kaufer ran for a fifth term. When asked why he seemingly abandoned his pledge to only serve four terms, Kaufer said it was conditional on if he could get term limits passed. He also listed his seniority in the State House as a reason to keep his seat.

Kaufer has supported a ban on gifts to lawmakers, and voted to reduce the size of the legislature.

Kaufer opposed a 2021 decision by Pennsylvania's Legislative Reapportionment Commission that changed how state prison inmates were counted with respect to state-level legislative districts. The change meant that state inmates would count towards the districts they lived in prior to incarceration and not where they were currently imprisoned. Kaufer opposed it on the basis it would almost exclusively benefit Democratic representation, and hurt Republicans.

LGBTQ+

In 2023, Kaufer and Representative Alec Ryncavage were the only two Republicans in the State House who voted for the passage of an LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination bill. Kaufer defended his support for the bill by saying it would serve to deter more "radical" measures.

Marijuana

Kaufer believes that decriminalizing marijuana would aid law enforcement in prioritizing the seizure of opioids and fentanyl, something he describes as "larger priorities." He also thinks that prohibition of marijuana is not an effective policy.

Taxation

Kaufer supports the elimination of property taxes. During his first term as a state representative, Kaufer supported a homestead exemption so that property tax would be eliminated on a person's primary residence.

In 2023, Kaufer was among a group of Republicans who signed onto several bills meant to give tax breaks to families in areas such as child care, school supplies, and home improvement.

Welfare reform

Kaufer believes in reforming what he describes as Pennsylvania's "bloated welfare system". In 2015, he helped to pass a bill that closed a loophole in Pennsylvania that allowed individuals to accept welfare from multiple states.

Personal life

Kaufer is Jewish. He is married to his wife Annie; they have one daughter. He resides in Kingston, Pennsylvania.

In 2019, Kaufer visited Poland where he saw the graves of relatives who were victims of the Holocaust.