EVERYTHING
FOR YOUR FAMILY
KID
QUIPS
During last July’s 5.8 earthquake, 3-year-old Bronwyn told her 1-year-old sister, “We’re going for a wiggle.” READ MORE
Feature Story
|
||||
|
While many voters in 2000 saw little difference between candidates, this year's contenders contrast one another. President George W. Bush saw his administration radically strengthened by 2001's terrorist attacks on America, and he has eagerly adopted the title of "wartime president." He has embraced a Republican agenda at home, following through on the party's long-promised tax cuts and welfare reforms. John Kerry, a decorated combat veteran and career civil servant in his fourth term as a U.S. senator, offers a different vision for America, based on multilateral foreign policy and strong government support for America's lower-income citizens. He has emerged as a strong opponent of Bush's war in Iraq despite voting to authorize it in 2003. EDUCATION BUSH Bush remains proud of his No Child Left Behind Act, despite inadequate funding, and has pledged to continue with his push for school accountability. The Bush campaign says, "It is unfair to require a student to stay in a low-performing or unsafe school," and the president promises to continue his efforts for parents' choice if their children's schools continue to languish (think vouchers). Bush has pledged to increase access to post-secondary job training. Bush's 2005 budget increases Pell Grant funding 47% from 2001. KERRY Has pledged to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act, a Bush-sponsored act that has not been adequately supported. Saying Bush is "breaking his promise," Kerry has promised to create the National Education Trust Fund in his first 100 days in office. The fund would provide no-questions-asked money for public schools. Kerry has vowed to ban school vouchers and place renewed emphasis on federal funding for special education programs and schools. HOMELAND SECURITY BUSH Calls national security his most important job as president. In 2001, the president created the Department of Homeland Security, which consolidated the 22 disparate agencies involved in national security. Riding on his success here and in passing the controversial Patriot Act, Bush pledges to continue funding homeland security agencies, to create project BioShield to prevent biological terrorism, and to increase terrorism preparedness funding by $3.6 billion next year. KERRY His campaign says the senator "has the courage to roll back George Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans so we can invest in homeland security." John Kerry's six-point plan for homeland security: a national "Defend America" initiative; a "First Defenders" initiative to ensure local responders are funded and ready; increase technological innovation in homeland security; reform domestic intelligence; implement his national "Homeland Health" initiative; and improve port security and other economically sensitive infrastructure. MEDICINE/HEALTH BUSH Hopes to reform medical liability, lowering medical malpractice premiums that inflate health-care costs. He supports Association Health Plans, which allow small businesses to pool for the same health-insurance purchasing power as large corporations. He proposes a tax credit that will allow 4.5 million more Americans to purchase health insurance. Bush's 2005 budget doubles to $100 million the federal funding for health information technology projects like computerized medical records for hospitals and communities. KERRY Has marked health care as a campaign priority and promises to provide nearly all Americans, including all children, with medical insurance. He plans to encourage employers to offer insurance with premium relief, and will allow all Americans to buy into the same health plan as members of Congress. Additionally, he promises a 50% tax credit to small employers who offer health insurance to low- and moderate-income employees, and to limit premiums to 6% of a below-poverty worker's income. ADOPTION/ABORTION BUSH Opposes women's right to choice except in cases of rape, incest, or to save a woman's life. He pledges to appoint judges to the federal district and appellate courts, and to the Supreme Courts who oppose Roe v. Wade. Bush wants to continue funding education programs promoting abstinence, and will continue with his controversial decision not to fund any national initiatives that deliver birth control rather than abstinence education. KERRY Supports a woman's right to choose and will continue to appoint federal judges who support Roe v. Wade. Kerry also supports federal funding for family planning clinics. His support on choice has hurt him in some corners of the Catholic Church, which views abortion as a grave sin; he is a Catholic. SOCIAL SECURITY BUSH Continues to support private investment of some Social Security taxes in the stock market. However, the president places emphasis on individual responsibility on saving for retirement, and has relaxed restrictions on 401(k) plans and increased other savings incentives to encourage Americans to help care for their own retirement. KERRY Pledges not to cut Social Security as a means to balance the budget, and his so-called Compact with America that Social Security will always exist to give seniors "the protection they have earned." He opposes privatizing Social Security in any form. HOUSING BUSH Points to record homeownership rates and household wealth as evidence of his success in providing housing for Americans. Bush is prodding Congress to pass his American Dream Downpayment Act, which would help approximately 40,000 families a year with downpayment and closing costs, and has announced a national goal of increasing minority homeowners by 5.5 million before the end of the decade. KERRY Points to a crisis in American housing, noting that more than 14 million working families pay more than 50% of their income to housing costs. Kerry has promised to reverse Bush's $1.8 billion cut to the Section 8 voucher program, which ended federal housing assistance to 250,000 families. Kerry points to his status as a ranking member of the Senate's housing subcommittee as proof of his experience in the area. CRIME/VIOLENCE BUSH Supports the death penalty, seeks to protect gun makers from lawsuits, and opposes expanding federal hate crime legislation to include sexual orientation. Vice President Dick Cheney has campaigned extensively on the president's behalf promising to preserve Americans' right to keep and bear arms. Bush continues to support faith-based solutions to quell areas of the country where violence is prevalent. KERRY Authored the amendment to expand the federal COPS program to add 100,000 more police to America's streets. The senator supports the right to bear arms but seeks to strongly enforce existing federal firearm laws, and has promised to close the "gun show loophole," which allows criminals to purchase guns at some firearm shows without background checks. He also promises that all handguns be sold with a childproof lock, and promises to build on his record as original co-sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act. POVERTY BUSH Opposes government handouts to individuals and will continue to push state- and community-based solutions to poverty, including faith-based organizations. The Bush campaign hasn't ruled out raising the minimum wage - deferring to congressional advice on the matter - but isn't keen on the idea either. KERRY Supports increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation. He pledges to place a priority on fighting for a worker's right to unionize, and will support restoration of pre-Bush overtime laws. Kerry promises to create a "State Tax Relief and Education Fund" that will assist states in budget crises to avoid cutting services. TAXES BUSH Says his extensive tax cuts are responsible for America's current economic rebound, but additional cuts seem unlikely. Bush promises to reduce the national deficit by holding budget increases to 4% annually. The president plans to streamline tax regulations and fiscal reporting requirements to make America's tax code more user-friendly. KERRY Has promised to repeal those tax cuts President Bush extended to Americans earning more than $200,000 annually. The senator pledges to enforce existing corporate tax regulations through the Securities Exchange Commission, and has pledged to end corporate offshoring, by which major American corporations claim headquarters in tax havens like Bermuda to escape American taxes. ENVIRONMENT BUSH Is pushing his Clear Skies legislation, which would reduce power plants' emissions, and recently announced a plan to protect at least 3 million acres of wetlands over the next five years. While scrapping multilateral treaties like the Kyoto Protocol, Bush nevertheless pledges to reduce America's output of greenhouse gases 18% over the next 10 years. KERRY Supports a "new Manhattan Project" to make America independent of Middle East oil in 10 years. The Kerry campaign charges "special interests rule and the environment suffers" under Bush, and pledges to restore America's waters and reinvigorate the neglected Superfund cleanup program, which decontaminated former industrial and military sites in populated or sensitive areas with federal funding. |
||||
RSS Subscribe
Digg This ArticleSEARCH THE SITE
