by Amy Dominello, Billy House, Sean Mussenden, Neil H. Simon
Published: Thu, October 23, 2008 - 10:29 am CST
Last Updated: Thu, October 23, 2008 - 12:24 pm CST
With Election Day fast approaching, we want to help you cut through the campaign blather. Here’s a quick comparison of where Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama stand on 10 key issues. EDUCATION
- Opposes private school vouchers as a drain on public education funds. - Proposes $18 billion a year in new spending on early childhood classes, teacher recruitment, performance pay and other initiatives.
- Wants bonuses for experienced teachers who train new colleagues, teach in challenging schools or show high levels of performance.
- Supports funding No Child Left Behind but wants to change its standardized testing requirements to measure student readiness for college and the workplace.
- Supports school vouchers, so students can leave underperforming public schools to enroll in private schools. - Wants to increase spending on pre-kindergarten, including $10 million for state-selected Centers for Excellence in Head Start.
- Calls for paying $1.8 billion in bonuses directly to teachers who demonstrate improvement in student achievement.
- Proposes changing No Child Left Behind to focus on individual achievement, saying “our goal cannot be group averages.”
ENERGY
- Wants to invest $150 billion over 10 years in alternative energy to spur creation of five million jobs. - Supports implementing a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.
- Now supports drilling for oil offshore as part of a plan to wean America off foreign oil but opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
- Supports taxing oil companies’ windfall profits.
- Wants to invest $2 billion a year in clean-coal technology.- Wants to give $5,000 tax credits to Americans who buy zero carbon emission cars, encouraging automakers to make the environmentally-friendly vehicles.
- Now favors offshore oil drilling but remains opposed to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an issue on which he and his running mate disagree.
- Opposes a windfall profits tax on oil companies.
FOREIGN POLICY
- Contends Obama’s inexperience shows when he says he would be willing to sit down without preconditions and negotiate with leaders of countries hostile to the United States. - Favors an unspecified boost in U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
- Supported going to war in Iraq, criticized how it was conducted early on and opposes scheduling a troop withdrawal.
- Criticized Obama for signaling before-the-fact that he would consider attacking terrorist targets in Pakistan.
- Says dialogue is needed with leaders of such places hostile to the U.S. as North Korea and Cuba. - Opposed the war in Iraq from the start and says now his plan would complete withdrawal of troops within 16 months.
- Would add about 7,000 troops to the U.S. force of 36,000 in Afghanistan, some being reinforcements from Iraq.
- Threatens unilateral attack on terrorist targets in Pakistan if that country fails to take action to stop terrorists.
GUN CONTROL
- Says the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms should be subject to “common sense” regulation to reduce gun violence. - Wants to make guns childproof and to make permanent the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban.
- Supports closing the “gun-show loophole” by requiring background checks at gun shows.
- Supports closing the “gun-show loophole.” - Opposes reinstating the expired ban on assault weapons.
- Believes the right to bear arms should be protected and opposes additional restrictions on gun ownership.
HEALTH CARE
- Wants the federal government to offer, but not force, public health insurance for all. - Would require that children be covered.
- Persons already insured would not have to give up their current health insurance.
- Wants to create more competition among insurers to lower costs by moving from employer-based coverage and promoting coverage in the private market. - Employers could still offer health insurance, but employees would be taxed on the benefit.
- Wants annual tax credits of $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to offset healthcare costs.
HOUSING CRISIS
- Wants to give judges more leeway to modify mortgages for homeowners who cannot afford to make payments- Wants a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures for homeowners working with banks to obtain new, affordable mortgages
- Wants to give families not currently eligible for the current mortgage interest deduction a tax credit for mortgage interest.
- Now favors using up to $300 billion in taxpayer funds to buy mortgages headed for default directly from banks at face value, despite a steep drop in housing prices over the last year. - Would give troubled homeowners affordable, fixed-rate mortgages so they could stay in their homes.
SPENDING CUTS
- Wants a one-year, across-the-board spending freeze – except for Defense programs -- to allow for a comprehensive review of government spending. - Would veto congressional pet projects known as earmarks.
- Wants to go through the federal budget line by line and cut programs that don’t work.- Says he strongly supports pay-as-you-go budgeting.
SOCIAL ISSUES
- Opposes abortion rights and would seek to overturn Roe v. Wade’s federal guarantee of abortion rights but would not seek a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.- Wants each state to decide whether abortion should be legal.
- Believes in the “unique status” of marriage as between a man and a woman but opposes a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
- Wants each state to decide who can marry.
- Wants same-sex couples to be able to enter into legal agreements for insurance and other purposes.
- Favors abortion rights but is willing to limit late-term abortions to cases where a woman’s health is at risk. - Believes that marriage is between a man and a woman but opposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
- Wants each state to decide who can marry.
- Supports civil unions for same-sex couples to give them equal rights and privileges as married couples.
SUPREME COURT
- Believes judicial decisions should be based on fact but that legal process alone cannot always guide a judge. Some cases should be determined by a judge’s values.- Cites as his justice role models: Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter and the late Chief Justice Earl Warren.
- Believes judges should strictly interpret laws as written and not engage in judicial activism by imposing their own views when making decisions. - Cites as his justice role models: Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and late Justice William Rehnquist.
TAXES
- Wants to cut taxes for everyone who makes less than $250,000 a year.- Would raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year.
- Would give largest tax cuts to poor workers and slightly smaller cuts to middle-income and upper-middle income workers.
- Cost of his tax plan is $2.9 trillion over 10 years.
- Wants to cut taxes for taxpayers in all income classes.- Gives largest percentage cuts to the wealthiest, those making over $250,000 a year.
- Gives smaller cuts than Obama to middle-income workers and almost no tax cuts for the poorest workers.
- Cost of his tax plan is $4.2 trillion over 10 years.
SOURCES: Tax Policy Center, McCain campaign, Obama campaign, third presidential debate, Senate transcripts, media interviews, candidate speeches.
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