Valerie Foushee, 70, a retired Chapel Hill police department administrator, was elected to U.S. Congress in 2023 after serving for 10 years in the state legislature — first in the state House of Representatives and then in the state Senate. She served eight years on the Orange County Board of Commissioners, and seven years on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education. She lives in Chapel Hill.
Candidate Q&A
The following responses were provided by Valerie Foushee.
What do you see as the biggest financial and administrative challenge to implementing the work requirements for Medicaid that were included in the One Big Beautiful Bill?
I do not support Medicaid work requirements and time limits. I believe healthcare is a human right and all Americans deserve accessible, equitable, and robust healthcare.
What would be your plan for ensuring the future security strength of Social Security and Medicare?
At the state-level, I fought to expand Medicare in North Carolina, efforts that I’ve continued at the federal level as an original cosponsor of the Medicare For All Act. Ensuring equitable healthcare and public health throughout our country doesn’t stop with accessibility. We must also continue to address minority health disparities, disparities in mental health treatment, and the social determinants of health that affect our most vulnerable communities.
What would you support in Congress as a plan to help control health care/ pharmaceutical costs?
I am also an original cosponsor of the Medicare for All Act. I will continue working to stop pharmaceutical companies from price gouging on lifesaving medications.
What steps would you take to improve access to health care in rural areas? How do we make the Rural Health Transformation Program successful in North Carolina?
First and foremost, the federal government must assist in keeping more rural hospitals open so they can provide critical services in their community. We must ensure funding is available to rural hospitals and Medicare-certified rural health clinics.
The rollout of AI is moving fast, including in health care, and leaders in that space are calling for things to slow down. What federal moves should be taken to regulate it, if at all?
I support strong federal guardrails on data centers—I have cosponsored the Data Center Community Impact Act and AI Data Center Site Selection Transparency Act, and I support communities passing local moratoriums.
Where do you stand on federal vaccine policy? What should be done to prevent future disease outbreaks?
I believe that the federal government should fully fund scientific research to prevent a future disease outbreak. I will also fight to ensure all constituents have equitable healthcare access.
We’ve had some high-profile food contamination outbreaks, yet the federal government is pulling back on regulation of food, air and water. What level of federal regulation do you support and why?
I support strong federal oversight, regulation, and funding to ensure food safety and consumer protection.
PFAS contamination is a nationwide issue; how do you address it while balancing public safety and business interests?
In Congress I am a member of the Congressional PFAS Task Force and the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition and I have been working with my colleagues to safeguard environmental protections and keep pressing environmental issues at the forefront. I believe that public safety should always be at the forefront which is why I’ve sponsored numerous bills that would monitor PFAS in drinking water, clean up coal ash, incentivize clean and renewable energy, and move North Carolina towards a more environmentally friendly future.
The building and placement of data centers have become big issues, particularly in many rural communities. What should be the federal government’s role, if any, in how these are developed?
Data Centers are putting the energy, water, and environment across our communities at risk—I support our local counties which have decided to implement moratoriums, and I will continue to fight for regulations in Congress. I have cosponsored the Data Center Community Impact Act to authorize federal studies on data centers and AI Data Center Site Selection Transparency Act to establish protections for public comment periods, and co-led the Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act to create standardized energy measurements for data centers.
Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?
We must continue to address minority health disparities, disparities in mental health treatment, and the social determinants of health that affect our most vulnerable communities. I will continue to fight for accessible, equitable, and robust healthcare that all Americans deserve.
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