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Show Thursday, October U, 2004 DAILY HERALD AA5 Where Bush and Kerry stand on the issues Calvin Woodward THE ASSOCIATED v55-- - PRESS If s I A look at some of the posi- tions of Republican President Bush and Democratic candidate John Kerry: ' MKHlie CMSl OIIU ivaaici u cai- rope. "We're not going to have a draft so long as I am the president Iraq and war on terrorism have stretched both active-dut- y ine forces and reserves. Kerry: Boost active-dut- y forces worldwide by 40,000, double Army special forces cas pability, increase boost half, by military troops police and psychological-operation- s personnel "I don't support a draft." ABORTION civil-affair- AT. Bush: Only in cases of rape or incest or when a woman's life is endangered. Signed bill to ban a it procedure that opponents call partial-birt- h abortion. Kerry: Yes. Would nominate only Supreme Court justices who support abortion rights. Voted against partial-birt- h ban. NUCLEAR THREATS . , ( BUDGET Bush: Record deficits in a time of war, terrorism and tax cuts. Deficit expected to surpass $400 billion this year; the government had a $127. billion surplus three years earlier; Says deficits can be halved in five years but has not fully explained how. Bush proposes that Congress limit discretionary spending in programs outside defense and homeland security to a 0.5 percent increase next year. ..'; Kerry: Cut deficit by half , at least, in first term, but has not fully explained how he would do so in light of major proposals on health care, education, defense and more. Repeal of Bush tax cuts for wealthier Americans would cover some costs. DEATH PENALTY Bush: Supports. Kerry: Opposes "other than in cases of real international and domestic terrorism'.'' ECONOMY-TAXE- S Bush's record: The economy has lost 821,000 jobs since Bush took office. Won $1.35 trillion in tax cuts for all income levels in 2001, a $96 billion stimulus in 2002 and a $330 billion package in 2003 half of what he had sought. Congress this year approved $146 billion in tax cuts, extending the $ 1,000 child tax credit, the 10 percent income tax bracket and breaks for married couples; and $136 billion in corporate tax cuts over 10 years. Bush's plans: Wants $3,000 reemployment accounts to help the unemployed with jorsearch expenses. Wants to make recently passed temporary tax cuts permanent, ease business regulations, pursue more free-tradeals, increase domestic n energy production, limit lawsuits and medical malpractice liability. Also, give tax breaks, regulatory relief and investment incentives to needy communities. Kerry: Keep Bush's tax cuts for middle- - and people but raise taxes on people earning over $200,000. He promises taxpayers earning less than $200,000: "I am not going to raise taxes." Would increase child-car- e tax credit by $1,000. Spend on highways; school construction, pollution cleanup, energy projects and more to create 3 million jobs in 500 days. Provide $50 billion over two years to states struggling with budget deficits. -- JEFF CHIUAssociated Press Bush: Championed a 2002 overhaul of elementary and secondary education that toughened standards for teachers, schools and student achievement. Budget proposal would increase spending on poor school districts, children with disabilities, Pell grants to help poor students attend college, and experi- - DAVID J. PHILLIP Associated Press RETIREMENT-SOCIA- mental private-schovoucher programs. The plan would cut spending on vocational education, a family literacy program, arts in education, dropout prevention and more. Budget proposal, if passed, would mark 43 percent increase in federal spending on programs under the No Child Left Behind Act since Bush took off ice. Kerry: Establish community service plan for high school students that would qualify them for the equivalent of their states' four-yepublic college tuition if they perform two years of national service. Provide a tax credit for every year of college on the first $4,000 paid in tuition. Credit would provide 100 percent of the first $1,000 and 50 percent on the rest. Opposes private-schovouchers. Backed 2002 changes but says insufficient money was spent on them and too much emphasis is placed on tests for measuring student achievement. Wants to establish $200 billion education trust fund to help pay for the 2002 school reforms and special ol . ar . education. FARMING not eliminate maintenance backlog as promised. Balked at requiretougher ments for cars, supported modest increase for SUVs and pickup trucks. Bush plans: Change clean air laws to use a market-baseapproach to reduce pollution from power plants, including first national cap on mercury emissions. Cut spending next year loans for local on clean water projects. Increase federal support for development of hydrogen-fuele- d car. Open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. "in the deKerry: velopment of an international climate change strategy to address global warming"; no ex- plicit endorsement of Kyoto treaty. No drilling in Arctic refuge. Has supported tougher fuel economy standards for vehicles. Goal of 20 percent of electricity from renewable or alternative sources by 2020. Steer $20 billion from oil and gas royalties to development of cleaner energy. Goal of independence from Middle East oil in 10 years. Tougher standards for compa- - t nies operating on public lands. fuel-econo- st . A Bush: Signed a nearly 80 percent expansion of farm subsidies in 2002 despite previous GAY RIGHTS misgivings that the extra money would cause overproduction and depress prices. Budget plan for 2005 would reduce spending on rural development programs and conservation funds. Kerry: Supports ban on meat-packownership of livestock to help ensure markets for farmers. Unspecified increase in farm conservation programs. Supported 2002 bill that boosted farm subsidies. er ENVIRONMENT-ENERG- Bush: Proposes constitutional amendment banning gay mar-riagHas continued former President Clinton's policy allowing gays to serve in military if they are not open about their homosexuality. Kerry: Opposes gay marriage but also opposes constitutional amendment against it; supports right to civil unions. Would ban job discrimination against hoe mosexuals, extend protections to gays and let gays serve openly in the military. e. , hate-crim- Y GUNS " Bush record: Withdrew from Kyoto global warming treaty. Reversed 2000 campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide, a main gas linked to climate change. Proposed easing rules that require older industrial plants and refineries to add pollution controls if they expand. Required cleaner engines for g diesel trucks. Sped up projects on public woodlands. Spent $3 billion on s in national parks but did forest-thinnin- fix-up- . Favors granting gun makers immunity from civil lawsuits, but that measure failed in the Senate. Backed congressional maneuvers letting the ban on assault-typ- e weapons expire, while saying he supports the ban and a requirement for background checks at gun shows Criticized Clinton for weak enforcement of existing gun laws, but prosecution of people who lie on Bush: L SECURITY background checks has contin- -' uedtolag. Kerry: Supports ban on ult-type weapons and requirassa- ing background checks at gun shows. Opposes granting immunity to gun makers. d class-actio- EDUCATION Kerry. Supports talks between U.S. and North Korea alongside the six nation negotiations. Says U.S. and other nations should offer Iran nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes, than tnltp hnrU thp cnpnt fupt Qn it cannot be used to develop nuclear weapons. one-on-o- de low-inco- Bush: Using diplomacy to try to stop nuclear proliferation in the remaining "axis of evil" countries, North Korea and Iran. May offer Iran economic incentives to suspend its uranium enrichment activities; prepared to push for economic sanctions if Iran does not conn cede. negotiations have produced little progress in persuading North Korea to end HEALTH CARE Bush: Number of Americans without health insurance has risen in his presidency, reaching nearly 45 million in 2003, up from nearly 40 million in 2000. Achieved prescription drug benefit for older Americans that subsidizes costs for patients and encourages private insurance companies to offer coverage for the elderly willing to opt out of traditional Medicare. Cost of drug benefit and other Medicare changes now estimated at $534 biffion over 10 years, up from $395 n when changes were debatlow-inco- bil-lio- ed. New tax-fre- e medical sav- ings accounts can be opened by people under 65 who meet certain conditions. Monthly Medicare premiums for doctor visits are rising a record $11.60 next year, or 17 percent. Independent study finds family health insurance premiums in employer-sponsore- d plans up 11 percent, averaging $9,950 annually for family of four. Kerry: Expand existing insurance system for federal employees to private citizens through tax credits and subsidies. Unemployed would get 75 percent tax credit to help pay for insurance. Tax credits for small businesses and their employees for health insurance. People aged 55 to 64 could buy into federal employees' health plan at affordable price. Government would help companies and insurers pay an employee's catastrophic medical costs if the firms would agree to hold down premiums. Federal support to expand access to health insurance for children. Overall costs estimated by outside analyst at $895 billion over 10 years, to cover 27 million more people. IMMIGRATION Bush: Proposes granting legal status to millions of illegal workers as well as people outside the United States who line up jobs in America. Plan would give temporary legal status and expand the current program for highly skilled foreign workers and farm labor to other sectors of the economy where jobs are not being filled by Americans.' Opposes giving illegal immigrants an "automatic path to Bush: Give younger workers the option of putting part of their payroll tax into personal retirement accounts, giving them a chance to make a higher return on that investment in return for smaller Social Security benefits. Kerry: Opposes partial privaticitizenship." zation of Social Security. Would Kerry: People who have been in the United States at least fiveVj reauire comoanies switching to years, paid taxes and stayed cheaper lump-supension plans out of trouble ought to be able to offer retiring workers the choice of staying with traditionto translate into an American citizen immediately." al company pension. m IRAQ WAR STEM-CEL- Bush: Swift military victory followed by violent aftermath Bush: Signed executive order in August 2001 limiting federal and halting efforts at stabilizing new government, with more than 1,000 U.S. military deaths. Won congressional approval of $87 billion for continued military operations and aid in Iraq and Afghanistan. Defends decision to go to war despite later . findings that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, the central rationale at the time, and that Saddam Hussein's ties to were tenuous at most. Says Saddam had the will to foment unrest, cooperate with terrorists and develop such weapons over time. Kerry: Supported congressional resolution letting Bush go to war but says he did so based on faulty U.S. intelligence and with the belief the president would build a true coalition and exhaust options short of war. Opposed $87 billion package for Iraq and Afghanistan. Says he would try to begin U.S. troop withdrawal in six months and complete it in four years, by encouraging allies to commit more forces. MILITARY Bush: Says military commanforces ders believe active-dut- y are adequate. "If they need more, I will make sure they get it." Is beginning an overhaul of overseas deployments, with 70,000 troops coming out of South Korea and Europe, many Cold-Wa- r era bases to be closed, and more troops to be stationed in U.S. with temporary assignments to growing network of "forward operating sites" in Asia, Africa, no-fril-ls L RESEARCH research money to embryonic l lines then in existence, to ensure government does not support future production of embryos for research purposes. No controls on private embryonic stem-cel- l research. Kerry: Would reverse Bush's restrictions and put money into the research, ensuring unspecified ethical standards are followed through "good will and good sense." Aides say Kerry would not support creation of embryos specifically for research, but would finance research letting scientists study leftover embryos created for infertility treatment. stem-cel- TRADE Bush: Supports liberalized trade and is pursuing a variety of bilateral trade deals as well as one for the Western Hemisphere. Kerry: Supported North American and world trade agreements and elevated trade status with China. Would place all such trade agreements uny der review to see if they are fair, taking unspecified "necessary steps" if they are not. Would require companies moving jobs to other countries to give the government and workers notice. Says all trade deals should have labor and environmental standards, but United States cannot insist in these deals that foreign standards rise to the level of America's. New tax credit for manu facturers that expand their U.S. work force, covering payroll taxes of new workers. 120-da- : Election experts examine complaints in Afghanistan Stephen Graham THE ASSOCIATED ForKABUL, Afghanistan eign election experts on Wednesday studied complaints from candidates in Afghanistan's first-evpresidential election, setting aside suspect ballot boxes and further delaying the vote count. Despite the problems, a top U.S. general said Saturday's vote "spells the end" of the rule of the gun in a country still controlled i by warlords. With ballot boxes pouring in by road, air and even donkey from across the rugged and impoverished land, officials had forecast that the counting could begin on Wednesday. But a three-persopanel set up to investigate alleged irregularities said Wednesday they were still examining 43 objections made by some opponents of President Hamid Karzai and the tallying cannot start until all the complaints are reviewed. Craig Jenness, a Canadian er n lawyer who is one of the pan-elists, said the body had recom- - . mended that ballot boxes from 10 sites in four provinces be isolated. Jenness did not say when the review would be completebut said counting would begin "very , quickly" afterward. He said candidates had until ' Thursday to file additional conv plaints, but that would not be held up further. Karzai is widely tipped to secure a clear victory over the 15 other candidates when final results are announced toward the end of the month. The establishment of the panel appeased Karzai's opponents, who had threatened to reject the result. Election staff were supposed to mark voters' left thumbs with indelible ink, but some apparently used pens meant for marking the ballots or ink meant for stamping them instead. The wrong ink was easily washed off, opening the way to claims of multiple voting. Election organizers had issued 10.5 ; PRESS vote-counti- million registration cards, far more than expected, fueling concern that some people had obtained several. A spokesman for ethnic Haz-ar- a candidate Mohammed said he also had filed written complaints to the panel about polling stations running out of ballot papers and a dearth of voting centers in west Kabul, where many Hazaras live. Meanwhile, eight people stranded for 24 hours since a helicopter sent to retrieve ballots crash-lande- d at high altitude in northeastern Afghanistan were rescued Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silvasaid. The rescue helicopter was reassigned to pick up ballots from remote Badakhshan province, though it was unclear when the collection would be complete. While the complaints from many candidates have raised questions about the legitimacy of the eventual outcome, the election has been a clear triumph for Mo-haq- the massive security operation mounted to protect it from militant attack. Lt. Gen. David Barno, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, said the lack of major violence and the enthusiastic turnout were a "resounding defeat" for Taliban rebels. and "This turning point spells the end of more than two decades of the rule of the gun in this nation and confirms the bright hope of all the Afghan people in a democratic future centered on the rule of law," he told reporters in Kabul. The upbeat assessment came as NATO defense ministers met in Romania to consider issues inforces cluding merging U.S.-le- d in Afghanistan with the alliance's separate contingent. The US. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Bums suggested Tuesday that the alliance could take over the U.S.-le- d military mission in Afghanistan as early as 2005, prompting Germany's defense minister to quickly reject the pro-posa- L KW XIUOOfMAssociated Pres election worker sorts out a ballot at the center in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday. Afghanistan was expected to start counting votes on Wednesday. A special committee was formed on Tuesday to investigate the alleged fraud in the presidential election. An vote-counti- |
