ON ENERGY
John McCain: McCain has said his top priority is to reduce the United States’ dependence on foreign oil. The solution he proposes is to drill for oil and natural gas domestically, particularly on the Outer Continental Shelf. He also wants to transform U.S. transportation into a greener system, which he will do by offering tax credits to those citizens who buy cars that reduce emissions. The largest tax credit would be $5,000. McCain says he would offer a $300 million prize to the company that produces a fully electric car for the market. To transform the energy market overall, McCain wants to instate a cap-and-trade emissions system, eliminate oil price speculation and not offer a windfall tax, which is levied against industries that experience above-average profits when economic conditions allow.
Barack Obama: Obama says his first goal is to make fuel less expensive for Americans. He plans to do that by instating a windfall tax and eliminating the practice of oil price speculation. He wants to save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela in ten years, and would do so by instating national fuel economy standards and offering a clean car tax rebate of up to $7,000. Obama also wants to ensure that 25 percent of U.S. energy comes from renewable resources by 2025. He would also instate a cap-and-trade system with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
ON FOREIGN POLICY
Barack Obama: Obama strongly opposed the Iraq war before it began and has said he wants to dictate a phased withdrawal from the conflict, passing more responsibility onto the Iraqi government. On Iran, he has stated the U.S. should not rule out any options, including military action; an opinion McCain criticized in the debates. He has supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestine conflict and believes the U.S. must be willing to strike al Qaeda inside Pakistan. Obama has taken a more cautious stance on Russia, emphasizing discretion from the U.S. and Russia. He wants to increase foreign aid, and double the amount spent annually to $50 billion by 2012.
John McCain: McCain has said the U.S. should remain in Iraq for as long as it takes to set up a stable Iraqi government. He has been less hawkish than Obama on Iran, emphasizing sanctions and U.N. action. He has pledged to create a “league of democracies” to help relieve situations in Iran, Russia and Darfur without the consent of China and Russia, who have stake in those conflicts. McCain wants to rule out military intervention in Pakistan because he believes it is inappropriate to threaten the country at this point.
McCain wants to increase foreign aid, though he has been cautious in how he wishes to do so, targeting his aid at specific issues, such as malaria in Africa, rather than proposing broad increases.
ON HIGHER EDUCATION
John McCain: McCain hopes to make college affordable for students and families by simplifying existing tax benefits to ensure more parents can claim benefits while sending their students to college, according to his campaign Web site. He also plans to simplify the federal aid applications by consolidating programs that help students determine what aid is available to them.
McCain also plans on educating more parents on what kinds of federal aid and tax exemptions already exist of which they can take advantage.
Finally, McCain hopes to “fix the student lending program” by holding private lenders to the highest standards and expanding the “lender-of-last-resort capability of the federal student loan program.”
Barack Obama: Obama has several plans he believes will make college more affordable for many Americans, according to his campaign Web site. Foremost is his plan to create an American Opportunity Tax Credit, which his Web site claims will make the first $4,000 of college free and “will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students.” The credit is fully refundable and recipients must conduct at least 100 hours of community service.
Additionally, Obama plans to simplify the application process for financial aid by allowing families to indicate directly on their tax forms that they want their information to be used for financial aid, thus eliminating the current federal aid application entirely.
He also hopes to expand the Federal Pell Grant for low income students, support programs in community colleges and eliminate some federal funding for private loans to create more student aid.
ON HEALTH CARE
Barack Obama: Obama wants to make health insurance more accessible by creating a Small Business Health Tax Credit to make it easier for small businesses to provide affordable health care to their employees. In addition, Obama would require large businesses that do not offer health coverage or make contributions to their employees’ health coverage to contribute a portion of payroll to their employees’ health care. He also proposes the establishment of a National Health Insurance Exchange that would offer a variety of private insurance options and a new public plan based on the insurance benefits available to members of Congress. Obama says his plan will have the average American paying up to $2,500 less in health care costs by reforming the insurance market to increase competition.
John McCain: McCain plans to make health care more affordable by creating greater competition in the drug market via safe re-importation of drugs and faster introductions of generic drug brands. In addition, McCain plans to reform the Tax Code to make health care choices independent of employer-based health insurance. McCain’s plan would give each individual a refundable $2,500 tax credit and each family a $5,000 tax credit that would be sent to the insurance company of their choice to offset insurance costs. McCain also says his plan would make health insurance more available to individuals and families because of increased market competition, and the option for individuals to purchase health care on a national scale.