HOW THE CANDIDATES SEE THE ISSUES
01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 2, 2008
We look at the views of the top presidential hopefuls in Tuesday’s primary
| ISSUE | CLINTON | OBAMA | McCain |
| ABORTION | Supports Roe vs. Wade and opposes a ban on partial-birth abortions. Believes abortions should be safe, legal and rare. | Supports Roe vs. Wade and opposes any attempt to limit a woman’s reproductive rights. | Says that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned. Supports the Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on partial-birth abortions. |
| ECONOMY | Proposes a $110-billion economic stimulus package that includes $40.billion in tax rebates for working-class and middle-class families; $30 billion in emergency housing aid for states and cities; $25 billion for families facing increased heating bills; and $10 billion to extend and broaden unemployment insurance. Supports a 90-day foreclosure moratorium on subprime mortgages on owner-occupied homes. Supports a five-year rate freeze on sub-prime adjustable rate mortgages. | Offers a $120-billion economic stimulus package that includes an immediate $250 tax credit for 150 million workers and an additional $250 tax credit per worker if the unemployment rate rises three months in a row; a $250 payment to Social Security recipients and additional $250 payment if the unemployment rate rises three months in a row; a $10 billion "foreclosure prevention fund;" $10 billion to help states and local governments hit hardest by the housing crisis; and $10 billion to extend and broaden unemployment insurance. | Supports cutting corporate tax rate to 25 percent from current 35 percent. Supports first-year deductions of equipment and technology investments. Supports permanent research-and-development tax credits for business. |
| EDUCATION | Would end No Child Left Behind. Would promote early childhood education, including nurse home visitationm programs for new parents, quality child care and Head Start and prekindergarten for all 4-year-olds. Would create a new $3,500 college tax credit and increase the maximum Pell Grant. | Would reform No Child Left Behind. Favors ensuring access to high-quality early childhood education programs and childcare opportunities. Would make science and math education a national priority. | Voted for No Child Left Behind. Favors creating more charter schools and a school voucher system. |
| ENVIRONMENT | Supports a mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Would focus international attention on efforts to solve the problem of global deforestation. Would focus the mission of the Department of Energy on moving toward energy independence with a new approach to solar, wind, biofuels, hydropower, geothermal and other sources of renewable energy. | Supports a mandatory cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Would make the United States a leader in the global effort to combat climate change by leading a new international global warming partnership. Would establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard to speed the introduction of low-carbon non-petroleum fuels. | Co-sponsored the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007 designed to significantly reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Would advocate use of alternative energy sources, including nuclear. |
| HEALTH CARE | Would mandate individual health-insurance coverage for all Americans and offer federal subsidies for those who cannot afford it. Would allow individuals to choose from among several private plans also offered to members of Congress, as well as a new public insurance plan modeled after Medicare. Would require large businesses to provide or help pay for employee coverage. Expand Medicaid and federal children’s health-care programs. Offer tax credits to limit health-care premiums to a certain percentage of a family’s income. Cost estimated at $110 billion annually, to be paid for by eliminating the Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000, as well as by reducing waste and inefficiencies in the current system. | Would create a national health-insurance program for individuals who do not have employer-provided health care and who do not qualify for other existing federal programs. Allow individuals to choose between the new public insurance program or from among private insurance plans that meet certain coverage standards. Would require employers who do not provide health coverage for employees to pay into the national health insurance program. Would not mandate individual coverage for all Americans, but would require coverage for all children. Cost estimated between $50 billion and $65 billion, to be paid for by eliminating Bush tax cuts for those earning over $250,000. | Advocates a free-market, consumer-based system and opposes mandate requiring everyone to obtain health insurance. Has pledged to provide affordable health care for every American. Would make controlling health costs a top priority and would seek to bring greater competition to drug markets by streamlining the process for introducing generic drugs. |
| IMMIGRATION | Supports creating a path that would allow illegal immigrants to gain citizenship that includes requiring them to learn English and pay fines. Would impose tougher penalties on employers for hiring illegal immigrants. Voted in favor of building a fence along Mexican border. Supports agricultural jobs programs but opposes a guest-worker program. Once favored allowing illegal immigrants to obtain drivers’ licenses but is now opposed. | Supports creating a path that would allow illegal immigrants to gain citizenship that includes requiring them to learn English and pay fines. Would impose tougher penalties on employers for hiring illegal immigrants. Voted for building a fence along Mexican border. Supports a guest worker program. Supports allowing illegal immigrant workers to obtain driver’s licenses. | Co-sponsored legislation that would have provided a legal path for some illegal immigrants to obtain citizenship while increasing financing for enhanced border security. Voted in favor of building a fence along the Mexican border. |
| IRAQ | Voted to authorize the use of force against Iraq in 2002 but says she would have voted differently if she had known then what she knows now. Opposed last year’s troop increase. Pledges to start a phased withdrawal of troops within 60 days of taking office, with the goal to have most troops out of Iraq by the end of 2013. | Opposed invasion from the beginning. Opposed last year’s troop increase. Would withdraw one or two brigades a month and have all troops withdrawn from Iraq within 16 months. | Voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq and stands by that vote. Was an early advocate of increasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq. Opposed to setting any timetable for troop withdrawal. |
| SAME-SEXMARRIAGE | Opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions. Opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and says the decision should ultimately be left up to the states. | Opposes same-sex marriage but supports civil unions. Opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. | Opposes same-sex marriage and is personally opposed to civil unions. Would favor a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman only if federal courts upheld same-sex marriages. Believes the ultimate decision should be left up to the states. |
| TAXES | Opposed the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts. Opposed extending the tax cuts through 2010. | Opposed extending the 2003 Bush tax cut law through 2010. Supports eliminating the marriage penalty and extending child tax credit. Supports scaling back capital gains and dividends tax cuts and reexamining tax benefits for the top one percent of earners. | Voted against 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts but later voted in favor of extending them through 2010. Says he opposes repealing the income tax and abolishing the IRS but has also said he would sign such a measure into law as president. |
Compiled from wire services
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL/BILL TROBERMAN