>What is your position on same-sex marriage? Should same-sex marriage be dealt with at a state or federal level?
President George W. Bush believes that marriage between a man and a woman is the most enduring human institution, and the foundational building block of our society. Bush has fought to defend traditional marriage laws from activist judges who threaten to legislate from the bench to impose same-sex marriage and deny the voice of the people.
In his second term, Bush would:
Protect the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – Vigorously defend the constitutionality of DOMA, which was passed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in Congress in 1996.
Pursue a Federal Marriage Amendment – Continue to urge Congress to send to the states for ratification an amendment to the Constitution to define and protect the institution of marriage in the United States.
What is your position on abortion?
Bush is committed to leading our nation toward a culture that values life – the life of the elderly and sick, the life of the young, and the life of the unborn. To promote a culture of life, Bush has signed into law the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003. He has also reinstated the Mexico City Policy to end federal funding of international organizations that promote abortion.
In his second term, Bush would:
Defend the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban – Bush would vigorously defend the federal law banning the violent and brutal practice of partial-birth abortion.
Prevent Federal Funding for Abortion – Bush would continue to enforce restrictions that prevent the expenditure of federal funds to support or promote abortion.
Support Parental Notification – Bush supports the right of parents to be involved in the decisions of their minor daughters.
Emphasize Abstinence Education – Bush would develop research-based, best-practices education curricula; would increase funding for abstinence-only education; and would work with faith and community groups to encourage parents and children to communicate about these issues.
What is your position on stem cell research? Should the federal government fund stem cell research?
Bush, the first president to provide federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research, would continue to explore the potential of adult and embryonic stem cell research without encouraging the further destruction of human embryos.
How would you address the rising costs of health care?
Bush believes all Americans should have access to affordable, quality health care. Bush is working to address the root causes of rising health-care costs, rather than shifting the costs to taxpayers or forcing Americans into an inflexible, one-size-fits-all bureaucratic system. Bush’s plan reduces the rising cost of health care; provides affordable coverage to those who need it most – low-income children and families, small businesses, the self-employed and people who do not get health benefits through their job; and improves health-care information, quality and safety. To achieve the goal of more affordable health care, Bush has:
Established new, tax-free Health Savings Accounts which allow Americans to own and control their own health care.
Opened or expanded community and rural health centers with the goal of serving an additional 6.1 million people who live in underserved and rural areas.
Granted waivers and flexibility to states to extend eligibility under Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to an estimated 2.6 million low-income Americans.
Implemented a new rule to lower drug costs for millions of Americans by strengthening competition between generic and brand-name drugs, saving U.S. consumers more than $35 billion in drug costs over the next 10 years.
Created a Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit to help seniors pay for their medicines.
Would you change the current tax policy? If so, how?
Bush would work to make the tax code simpler for taxpayers, encourage saving and investment, and improve the economy’s ability to create jobs and raise wages.
What is your position on funding for higher education and student financial aid?
More than 10.3 million students would be able to afford college through Bush’s record $73 billion in financial aid assistance – an increase of $25.9 billion, or 55 percent, over 2001. Bush’s plan would provide a record $12.9 billion investment in Pell Grants, a 47 percent increase over 2001, to help an additional one million students afford college.
Bush would allow low-income students who take the rigorous high-school curriculum required by the State Scholars Program to receive up to $1,000 in additional Pell Grant funding, bringing the total maximum award up to $5,050.
Bush is increasing to 75,000 the number of AmeriCorps members. Full-time members would receive an education award of $4,725 to pay for college or graduate school.
Bush would increase loan limits for first-year students from $2,625 to $3,000 and allow low-default schools more flexibility in loan disbursements.
Bush would provide $125 million in grants to serve as an incentive for community colleges to provide dual-enrollment programs, which allow high school students to earn college credit and graduate in less time. In addition, he would provide incentives for states to make it easier for students to transfer credits earned at community colleges to four-year institutions.
How should we proceed with military operations in Iraq?
Many in the world seek to use the world’s most dangerous weapons against us. Bush’s national-security strategy gives regimes a choice. They can choose to pursue weapons of mass destruction at great peril, cost and international isolation. Or they can choose to renounce these weapons, take steps to rejoin the international community, and have the help of the United States and the world in creating a better future for their citizens. Libya’s Moammar Ghadafi responded to the United States and our allies and surrendered his weapons of mass destruction program. He has provided critical information about how weapons of mass destruction knowledge is being secretly spread to the most dangerous regimes in the world.
In an era when rogue regimes still seek long-range missiles, Bush continues to protect the United States by pushing forward with missile defense. The administration is beginning to build a multilayered missile defense system to protect the U.S. people and our allies, friends, and forces deployed overseas. Later this year, the first components of the United States’ missile defense system would become operational.
In his second term, Bush would build on his record of making the United States and the world safer.
What is your plan to improve the economy and stimulate job growth?
Bush recognizes the need to provide assistance to communities that have lost a significant portion of their job base and workforce in the past decade. Bush would provide assistance to communities in transition by:
The president’s Opportunity Zones initiative encourages private and public investment within needy communities. In exchange for reducing local barriers to growth and development, these Opportunity Zones would receive tax benefits to encourage businesses to locate, invest and hire new workers in the community. The plan includes incentives to spur the development of residential construction. These areas would also receive priority consideration for federal education, job training and housing funding.
Bush has put our country on a path toward cutting the budget deficit in half over the next five years.
In the critical areas of defense and homeland security, Bush is spending wisely. In other areas, the administration has demonstrated fiscal restraint in a time of war.
Bush would build on this budget discipline by supporting budget rules that make federal spending conform to the kind of constraints and common sense known to every family.
Bush proposes a constitutional line-item veto linked to deficit reduction that would provide authority to reject new appropriations, new mandatory spending or limited grants of tax benefits whenever Bush determines that the spending or tax benefits in question are not essential government priorities. All savings from the line-item veto would be used for deficit reduction and could not be used to increase other spending.
How would you handle the threat of terrorism?
The United States would not wait for new threats to grow and fester. We would face new challenges – swiftly, surely, and with steely resolve. We cannot forget that the terrorists remain determined to kill as many Americans as possible, both abroad and here at home, and would like nothing more than to use the world’s most deadly weapons against us. With such an enemy, no negotiated peace is possible; no policy of containment or deterrence would prove effective.
We would either fight the terrorists abroad, or face the consequences at home.
In the long run, our security is not guaranteed by force alone. We must work to change the conditions of hopelessness and resentment that provide fertile ground for terrorist recruitment. Above all, this requires bringing freedom to people for whom it has been too long denied, for free people do not support terror.
Information provided by www.georgewbush.com
