Show I Guide to the Candidates' Candidates Positions Domestic Issues Issues' f Glenn Kessler and Amy Goldstein r The Washington Post ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE Favors increased insurance regulation and greater availability of private and government- government sponsored health coverage Wants to require that all children but not adults be insured Would forbid insurance companies to reject people or charge them more if they already are sick Says employers should be required to offer health benefits to their workers or pay into a national health insurance fund Supports expansion of Medicaid and the State Childrens Children's Health Insurance Program Wants to provide uninsured people an yet unspecified tax credit to help them buy coverage Proposes a new national health insurance exchange through which individuals and small businesses 4 could buy coverage from government- government approved private health plans or a new federal insurance option McCain Favors a market free-market approach to foster more competition among insurers and less dependence on employer health benefits Wants to create refundable tax credits of 2500 for individuals and for families to encourage them to obtain insurance or keep their current coverage Proposes eliminating the exclusion fr from fu workers' workers federal taxes of the value of health benefits they receive from their job Favors letting people buy coverage from insurance carriers anywhere in the country preempting state regulations of health benefits and rates Proposes a guaranteed access plan in which the government would spend an estimated S 15 15 billion to 20 billion a year to help expand risk high-risk pools arrangements that exist on ona ona ona a small basis now in most states to provide coverage c to people rejected by th the e insurance industry because they already are sick OFFSHORE DRILLING Had long opposed a an n expansion of offshore oil drilling in areas o othe of f the Outer Continental Shelf currently off-limits off including the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific and Atlantic coasts But in August as voters became angry about gasoline prices he said he would support an expansion of offshore drilling if it were part o oa of ofa f a package that included incentives for renewable energy sources and for more fuel-efficient fuel vehicles Still opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a million-acre million area of land in northeastern Alaska McCain As voters' voters ire over high gasoline prices grew during the campaign reversed his steadfast opposition toan toan to toan an expansion of offshore drilling to areas in federal waters currently off Now favors drilling off all US U.S. coasts though he has not altered his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge His running mate Alaska Gov Sarah Palin Palen favors drilling in and has vowed to change McCains McCain's mind CLIMATE CHANGE Supports an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared Wim u levels eve s s1 1 by y 2050 through a federal cap- cap trade and s system stem Proposes auctioning off percent of the pollution allowances the government would distribute to greenhouse gas emitters generating hundreds of billions of dollars a year in federal revenue that would be used to help develop renewable energy sources and reduce energy costs for low- low income Americans Is open to additional nuclear power plants but says the country should find a permanent solution Jo to storage o of f nuclear waste that th the e plants generate Supports a binding international climate-change climate agreement that would commit the United States and other countries to significant greenhouse gas cuts McCain Supports a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050 Favors a federal trade cap system to achieve that goal and opposes a tax on carbon to reduce emissions Has not specified what percentage of pollution allowances he would auction off at the start of a trade cap-and-trade program but indicates he would give some allowances for free to help utilities and manufacturers to tn the v m A uJ J strong proponent of nuclear energy he proposes that the country build 45 more nuclear plants by 2030 and supports billions of dollars in current government subsidies to help construct them Favors the idea of ofa a binding international climate-change climate agreement but only if major developing countries such as China and India agree to firm cuts in greenhouse gases IMMIGRATION The issue has seldom surfaced on the campaign trail and was absent from the presidential deb debates tes Favors allowing undocumented immigrants to become citizens eventually if they pay y f ack taxes arid and a afine fi fine learn English and obey the law Says the federal immigration bureaucracy is dysfunctional and must be fixed Supports efforts to tighten US U.S. borders to curb the entry of illegal immigrants including through more Border Patrol agents Favors stronger enforcement against employers that hire undocumented workers Supports expedited citizenship for immigrants who have served in the US U.S. mili military tary McCain Last year sponsored co-sponsored with Sen Edward Kennedy D a reaching far-reaching immigration bill that angered fellow Republicans so much that it threatened to derail his campaign Now says immigration changes should be a two-stage two process The first phase would be to secure the nations nation's borders through technology and prosecutions to stop illegal entry into the United States After that he says he e would support a path for undocumented immigrants to gain permanent legal status Also in favor of improved verification of whether immigrants are eligible to tobe tobe tobe be hired and of temporary- temporary worker programs including or rI C r. r r 1 n UL AO JL Ji 1 til laborers and highly skilled foreigners who were trained here EDUCATION Would add 18 billion a year in federal money for preschool through high school plus 12 billion for higher education Wants to spend 10 billion of that amount to expand and improve child care and early-childhood early education 1 1 au 1 JIl uni universal versal pre pre- pre kindergarten classes Favors efforts to improve teacher training and recruitment including college scholarships for students willing to take teaching jobs in subjects or communities where good la ilLY L instructors ar are scar Supports pay merit-pay programs developed jointly with teacher unions Opposes school vouchers but would double federal funding of charter schools to million a year Calls for more federal funding of school after-school programs and greater emphasis on science instruction and hiring better math and science teachers Favors creating refundable tax credits of a year toward tuition for college students in exchange for hours of community service McCain Thinks the government should play playa a limited role in public education and would increase federal education funding by about mill ion a year Says that child childcare childcare care and early-childhood early education receive enough federal money but that such programs should be better coordinated with more emphasis in Head Start on testing whether children are prepared for school Wants to devote 18 billion in existing funding for teacher quality to merit pay for those whose students' students test scores improve or who take jobs in schools Does not call for school vouchers nationwide but would increase subsidy to expand congressionally t 1 voucher program in the District of Columbia by 1000 students Proposes million for development of online courses Wants to federally certify private tutoring companies and allow them to market directly to parents Proposes revising a federal program that subsidizes private lenders that make college loans ABORTION supports abortIOn rights Opposes term late-term abortions except when a womans woman's life or health is at risk Wants the government to expand availability of contraception and health information Would increase federal money money for fort family 1 I 4 I. I t IJU Jand J I planning a and a s' s sex x education and would reverse a recent federal change th that t has made it more difficult for college students and low- low income women to obtain birth control at a discount McCain Although he has not talked about it much on the campaign trail has voted consistently against abortion rights though he supports exceptions in incases incases incases cases of rape or incest or for women whose pregnancy endangers their lives Favors reversing Roe vs Wade the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide But in contrast with most abortion opponents he has voted in support of federal funding for biomedical research using embryonic stem cells GUN CONTROL An issue he has played down Supports gun control but believes in a constitutional right for individuals to bear arms Supports reinstating a federal ban on assault weapons and restoring the ability of police departments to gain access to a federal gun registry database to help trace guns while investigating crimes McCain Supports the right to bear arms and says gun control has not curbed crime Has opposed bans on assault weapons efforts to hold gun manufacturers liable for crimes committed with their products and waiting periods before guns can be bought Supports instant background checks including on firearms sold soldat at gun shows where they are not now required S SEX SAME A M E E- E ES S E X MARRIAGE Ob ma Says that he believes marriage should be between a man and a woman but that each state should be allowed to decide Has opposed state and federal efforts to ban sex same-sex marriage Supports civil unions and IV V wr r a ua a f d i w. w to guarantee guarante people in such relationships the same same rights and benefits benefit as heterosexual married couples McCain Supports legal definition of marriage as between a aman aman aman man and a woman Says that states have a right to regulate marriage and enact civil union laws but that neither the federal government nor other states need to recognize any states state's decisions |