09-30-2000
POLITICS: Bush and Gore: Issue by Issue: An Update
The following is an update on our recent charts on the presidential
candidate's positions.
ABORTION
Summary
Bush: Consistently opposes abortion.
Gore: Supports abortion rights across the board.
Public Funding
Bush: Opposes the use of public funds to provide or to advocate abortions.
Can be expected to cut federal funds for domestic family-planning services
through Title X. As Texas governor, signed laws that restricted state
family-planning funds. Wants to greatly increase federal funding for
abstinence-only sex education.
Gore: Supports federal funding of abortions for Medicaid recipients in
cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment. Supports Clinton
Administration increases in federal funding for family planning, including
abortion, through Title X.
International Family Planning
Bush: Would reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which during the
Administration of his father, President Bush, banned overseas
family-planning groups that received federal funding from providing
abortion-related services, even with private money.
Gore: Supports the Clinton Administration's reversal of the Mexico City
Policy.
Military
Bush: Would reinstate the ban that was in effect during his father's
Administration prohibiting privately funded abortions at overseas military
bases.
Gore: Supports the Clinton Administration's policy of allowing military
personnel to obtain privately funded abortions at military bases
overseas.
"Partial-Birth" Abortion
Bush: Would sign legislation to ban the procedure.
Gore: Opposes Republican-authored legislation that would ban the
procedure.
AGRICULTURE
Summary
Bush: Supports a more market-oriented approach to agriculture than does
Gore. Touts opening overseas markets as the best way to boost American
farm income.
Gore: Would instate regular federal payments to farmers to stabilize farm
income from year to year.
Freedom to Farm Act
Bush: Supports eliminating most federal subsidies, but advocates covering
more commodities under federal crop insurance. Would phase out the estate
tax and pursue tax incentives to encourage farmers to save money for lean
years.
Gore: Critical of the market-oriented 1996 Freedom to Farm Act, which
exchanged farm subsidies for "transition payments" aimed at
encouraging farmers to plant as the market dictates. Favors targeting
federal aid to small- and medium-sized farms, and more-aggressive
enforcement of antitrust laws in agribusiness.
Biotechnology
Bush: Would call upon the European Union to open its markets to
bioengineered crops.
Gore: Supports federal funding of bioengineered agricultural products and
of efforts to open foreign markets for them. But also urges strong
scientific review to address consumers' safety concerns about
bioengineered foods.
Trade
Bush: Would push for fast-track trade-negotiating authority and pursue new
markets abroad for American agricultural products. Opposes withholding
food and medicine from countries as part of unilateral trade sanctions or
embargoes.
Gore: Supports opening markets and reducing tariffs abroad for American
farm products, despite opposition from labor leaders. Like Bush, opposes
including food and medicine in unilateral trade embargoes.
Ethanol
Bush: Supports federal funding for research into effective ways to use
ethanol and other biofuels.
Gore: Supports federal funding for research on ethanol and tax incentives
for using it.
BANKING
Summary
Bush: Supports vigorous enforcement of existing laws, but opposes
increased government regulation of the industry.
Gore: Favors increased consumer-protection regulations in the banking
industry.
Bankruptcy
Bush: Favors Republican-authored 1999 Bankruptcy Reform Act, which is
awaiting final action in Congress. The bill would force some bankruptcy
filers to pay off more of their debts to credit card issuers.
Gore: Opposes 1999 Bankruptcy Reform Act on the grounds that it provides
insufficient consumer protections. Backs compromise reforms that would
require credit card issuers to provide easy-to-understand information
about their interest rates and fees.
Privacy
Bush: Backs industry position that consumer-privacy protections in the
1999 Financial Services Modernization Act are adequate. (Act limits the
information that banks can share with third parties, but lets them use
that information to pitch additional products to their customers.)
Gore: Supports strengthening the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act
to prevent banks from using their customers' personal data for marketing
purposes.
Community Reinvestment Act Reform
Bush: Supports provisions enacted in recent financial reforms that require
community groups filing comments on bank mergers and expansions to
annually report information about their own borrowing. Also supports the
newly mandated and less onerous regulatory reviews of small banks'
fair-lending practices.
Gore: Supports a review of the new financial services law's fair-lending
provisions, on the grounds that the rules may invite small banks to skirt
their obligations to lend to the poor. Also believes the law's supposed
"sunshine" provisions may actually discourage public comment on
bank mergers and expansions.
BUDGET
Summary
Bush: Wants to set aside one-quarter of the surplus for broad tax cuts,
and has proposed myriad tax credits in areas from education to health
care. Has been less explicit about direct domestic spending, but wants to
aid farmers, boost military salaries, and invest in schools and in
research and development.
Gore: Has been a longtime advocate of fiscal restraint through
"reinventing" government and reducing debt; would aim to pay off
the federal debt by 2012. At the same time, would increase domestic
spending in key areas.
Surplus
Bush: Projects it to total $265 billion over 10 years after tax cuts,
spending plans, and putting aside Social Security and Medicare.
Gore: Would establish a $300 billion reserve fund after tax cuts,
spending, and Social Security and Medicare funds are put aside. Has
outlined a 10-year surplus plan that would furnish a Medicare prescription
drug benefit and boost federal spending on education, law enforcement,
environmental protection, and defense.
National Debt
Bush: Would eliminate the national debt by 2016.
Gore: Would retire natioanl debt by 2012.
Budget Process
Bush: Wants to overhaul the budget process. Would push for biennial
federal budgets and for legislation that would keep the government
operating even if some appropriations bills were not signed into law.
Would impanel a bipartisan commission to eliminate pork barrel spending.
Would ask Congress for new line-item veto authority, notwithstanding the
Supreme Court's 1998 ruling that the line-item veto approved by Congress
in 1995 was unconstitutional.
Gore: No specific plan, although Clinton Administration has supported
biennial budgeting.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
Summary
Bush: Supports raising campaign contribution limits, but would tighten
disclosure and lobbying rules.
Gore: Has proposed a sweeping reform package that would ban unregulated
money and furnish generous public subsidies to candidates. Has pledged to
make a "soft-money" ban the first bill that he sends to
Congress.
Soft Money
Bush: Would bar corporations and labor unions from making unlimited
"soft-money" contributions to the political parties. However,
would permit wealthy individuals to continue making unregulated soft-money
donations.
Gore: Wants to ban all "soft money," including unregulated
contributions from unions, corporations, and individuals.
Disclosure
Bush: Wants to require Internet disclosure of campaign contributions
within a week of receipt. Endorsed recently enacted disclosure laws aimed
at so-called 527 political organizations. But does not support requiring
other types of politically active groups to disclose their issue-oriented
expenditures.
Gore: Wants to require all politically active groups that broadcast issue
ads within 60 days of an election to disclose their funding
sources.
Public Financing
Bush: Opposes public financing of elections.
Gore: Has proposed a public-private Democracy Endowment, which would raise
$7.1 billion over seven years to finance the campaigns of general election
candidates who agree not to accept any other private money.
"Paycheck Protection"
Bush: Endorses so-called paycheck-protection legislation that would
require labor unions to get members' permission before spending members'
dues on political activities.
Gore: Opposes paycheck-protection legislation.
Contribution Limits
Bush: Wants to increase the limit on campaign contributions to keep pace
with inflation. For example, the individual $1,000 contribution limit
would be indexed to $3,400.
Gore: Gore: Opposes raising the existing contribution limits.
Lobbying Reform
Bush: Wants to ban members of Congress from asking lobbyists for political
contributions while Congress is in session.
Gore: Wants to require lobbyists to disclose more about their activities,
including the names of those to whom they've contributed, and to post that
information monthly on the Internet.
CHILDREN, FAMILIES
Summary
Bush: Emphasizes the family's role in child care and wants to give states
discretion in spending federal grants. Has proposed a $2.3 billion
"Strong Families, Safe Children" child welfare reform initiative
that would give states $1 billion in additional resources for preventative
services to help families in crisis.
Gore: Proposes a $38 billion, 10-year federal program to make child care
more affordable for working families. Some $30 billion of the funding
would come out of his $250 billion middle-class tax cut proposal, the rest
from the federal budget surplus.
Child Care Tax Credits
Bush: Would double the $500-per-child federal tax credit to $1,000.
Supports block grants that would allow low-income families to choose child
care providers. Proposes bigger tax cuts for adoptive families and $2.3
billion for child-welfare programs over five years.
Gore: Would offer a refundable tax credit to help parents cover as much as
50 percent of child care costs, compared with 30 percent today. Low-income
families with no tax liabilities would receive up to $2,400 for child
care. Would offer a $500 tax credit to stay-at-home parents with infants
under age 1.
Child Care Standards
Bush: Supports measures, now in place in Texas, that require child care
workers to undergo background checks, receive training, and submit to
surprise spot inspections. As Texas governor, has boosted child care
spending by $360 million since taking office.
Gore: Would provide $8 billion in grants to states for day care
improvements, provided that they set up early-childhood reading programs,
improve health and safety standards, require training and background
checks for child care workers, and perform spot inspections of
centers.
Out-of-Wedlock Births
Bush: Would direct the Health and Human Services Department to work with
states to establish, administer, and publicize the existence of paternity
registries. Wants to see at least as much federal spending on abstinence
education as on teen-contraception programs. Wants to study the
effectiveness of federally funded sex education programs.
Gore: Wants states to pass laws requiring all fathers who owe child
support to pay up or go to work. Wants to strengthen child-support
enforcement and give credit bureaus data on "deadbeat" parents
and challenge credit card companies to deny them new cards.
Adoption and Foster Care
Bush: Has proposed a variety of tax credits and vouchers to promote
adoption and assist children in foster care. These include $300 million
over five years for vouchers to cover college tuition or vocational
training to young people who "age out" of foster care.
Gore: Promoted adoption legislation while in Congress, and touts the
Clinton Administration's enactment of the Adoption and Safe Families Act
of 1998-a bill authored by congressional Republicans-which was followed by
a 29 percent increase in the number of children adopted from foster
care.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Summary
Bush: Opposes quotas and racial preferences. Has proposed initiatives to
assist the disabled, but takes issue with hate crimes legislation now
pending on Capitol Hill.
Gore: Strongly backs affirmative action; supports legislation to expand
federal prosecution of hate crimes; defends gay rights; supports programs
to assist the disabled. Pledges that "the first civil rights act of
the 21st century" will be a ban on racial profiling by
police.
Affirmative Action
Bush: Supports what he calls affirmative-access programs. His "Texas
10 percent plan" automatically admits those students who graduate in
the top 10 percent of their high school class to any state college or
university. Would increase federal funding for historically black colleges
and Hispanic-serving institutions. Declined to support the 1999
Nondiscrimination Employment Act, which extends federal workplace
discrimination protections to gays. Advocates breaking down government
contracts into smaller sizes to promote entrepreneurship in all
communities.
Gore: Has championed the Clinton Administration's establishment of an
Education Department Advisory Board to advise the Education Secretary on
ways to strengthen historically black colleges. Has worked with the Small
Business Administration to provide business development and federal
contract support to minority-owned businesses. Supports pay equity for
women.
Hate Crimes
Bush: Declined to back a Democratic-sponsored hate crimes bill, saying:
"All crime is hate crime."
Gore: Strongly supports congressional hate crimes legislation.
Gay Rights
Bush: Declined to support the 1999 Employment Non-Discrimination Act,
which extends federal discrimination protections in the workplace to gays
and lesbians.
Gore: Strongly supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Persons With Disabilities
Bush: Has proposed a "New Freedom" initiative that would furnish
more than $1 billion over five years to promote technologies aimed at
further integrating Americans with disabilities into the work force and
into community life.
Gore: Has pledged to move persons with disabilities out of institutions
and into their communities, and to expand their employment and
educational opportunities and health care.
CRIME
Summary
Bush: Would support tough laws for domestic violence, juvenile offenders,
and sex offenders. Also wants strong penalties and longer prison terms for
violent offenders.
Gore: Would support tough gun and gang laws, but places greater emphasis
than Bush on prevention. For example, would give federal grants to states
for crime-mapping software to target crime hot spots. Supports federal
funding to help local governments hire 50,000 new police officers.
Death Penalty, DNA Testing
Bush: Supports the death penalty for those who commit violent crimes.
Supports post-conviction DNA testing if, in the context of all the
evidence, it can help determine guilt or innocence.
Gore: Supports the death penalty for heinous crimes; says it has a
deterrent effect. Has not stated a position on post-conviction DNA
testing.
Mandatory Drug Testing of Prisoners, Parolees
Bush: Has not staked out a position.
Gore: Supports mandatory drug testing and treatment of state prisoners
before release; would furnish states with $500 million in grants to cover
the costs.
Victims' Rights
Bush: Supports a constitutional amendment that would give victims the
right to be notified of trials and probation hearings, to give input in
plea bargains, and to be told when a prisoner's release is
imminent.
Gore: Supports a constitutional amendment giving victims the right to be
notified of trials and probation hearings, to give input in plea bargains,
and to be told when a prisoner's release is imminent.
Juvenile Crime
Bush: Supports aggressive enforcement of existing handgun laws and
prosecution of gun offenses. Says he would support legislation to prevent
juvenile offenders from buying a gun when they become adults.
Gore: Would support tough juvenile crime laws and additional federal
funding for school anti-drug programs.
DEFENSE
Summary
Bush: Embraces high-tech weapons, including ones for a national missile
defense program.
Gore: Advocates spending increases; would exercise caution on national
missile defense plans.
Defense Spending
Bush: Would increase defense spending, particularly for troops' pay and
for weapons research.
Gore: Would continue recent steady increases in defense spending.
National Missile Defense
Bush: Would dramatically expand the proposed system of ground-based
rockets, probably adding sea-based and possibly air- and space-based
interceptors; would do so, if need be, at the expense of the
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and of arms control in
general.
Gore: Would continue President Clinton's cautious course by balancing a
limited, ground-based system against international objections and the
strictures of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia.
Gays in the Military
Bush: Would retain the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy,
which allows closeted gays and lesbians to serve in the military.
Gore: Rejects the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy as
unworkable, and would work to overturn the law that bans openly gay and
lesbian people from serving in the military.
Modernizing the Military
Bush: Would increase military research-and-development spending by $20
billion over five years and focus research on revolutionary weapons that
would "skip a generation" ahead of current technology.
Gore: Focuses on reorganizing the Pentagon, particularly streamlining
business practices and increasing cooperation among the Air Force, Army,
Navy, and Marine Corps, rather than on developing radically new weapons
for each service.
Military Readiness
Bush: Has blasted the Clinton-Gore Administration for underfunding and
overusing U.S. forces, arguing this has eroded their readiness to fight
and win a major war.
Gore: Defends military downsizing as well managed, and emphasizes that the
U.S. military remains the strongest on Earth.
ECONOMY
Summary
Bush: Favors a major cut in income tax rates and the privatization of
Social Security.
Gore: Favors targeted tax cuts, broader increases in spending, but no
major reforms or deregulation of the U.S. economy.
The Surplus
Bush: Favors making broad tax cuts, paying down the debt, and targeting
spending increases and tax credits for education, health, and
defense.
Gore: Favors eliminating the national debt more than cutting taxes or
increasing spending.
Federal Reserve
Bush: Has said almost nothing about rising interest rates, a major
complaint of U.S. business, but generally supports Alan Greenspan and the
Federal Reserve Board's strategy of raising rates to rein in inflation.
Bush advisers have voiced skepticism that the "new economy" can
grow fast without inflation. Any successor to Greenspan would probably be
less inclined to support bailouts of foreign economies or U.S.
banks.
Gore: Takes Clinton's tack of praising Greenspan and largely keeping quiet
on the Fed. Fully endorses the new-economy model. Candidates for replacing
Greenspan: former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and current Treasury
Secretary Larry Summers.
Antitrust
Bush: Would likely focus on price-fixing cases. On Microsoft case, has
suggested he'd prefer an out-of-court settlement.
Gore: Has given no indication he would depart from current policy. On
Microsoft, supports action against predatory behavior that impedes
competition.
EDUCATION
Summary
Bush: Supports vouchers and charter schools, but would expand federal
funding in a few areas, such as early-childhood education and teacher
training.
Gore: Supports greatly expanding the federal role in education, including
teacher hiring and training, school construction, and early-childhood
education.
School Choice
Bush: Would give vouchers to students in schools that remain on a state's
"failing" list for three years; the vouchers would be worth
about $1,500 and could be used at a public or private school. Would offer
$3 billion in loan guarantees to establish or improve 2,000 charter
schools in the next two years.
Gore: Opposes vouchers but supports charter schools and public school
choice. Would use federal money to triple the number of charter schools to
5,100 by 2005.
Accountability
Bush: Would require states to annually test pupils in grades 3 through 8.
Would establish a $500 million fund to reward schools that improve their
test scores; would give vouchers to pupils in schools that fail. States
that do not improve test scores would lose administrative money.
Gore: Would create a $500 million Accountability Fund to pay for state
improvement plans. Schools would have to improve or face being shut down.
Would reward states that improve their scores on the National Assessment
of Educational Progress.
Teacher Quality
Bush: Would consolidate federal funding for teachers; the move would
dissolve President Clinton's class-size-reduction program and increase
total funding for teacher recruiting, hiring, and training from $2 billion
to $2.4 billion. Would expand the current Troops-to-Teachers program
budget from $2.4 million to $30 million.
Gore: Supports Clinton's effort to pay for 100,000 new teachers. Would
offer grants to poor school districts to lure top teachers by giving
higher salaries. Wants teacher testing and "fast, fair" removal
of bad teachers. Would establish a Teacher Corps to encourage
professionals and high school graduates to teach.
School Safety
Bush: Supports federal prosecution of juveniles who bring guns to school.
Would rate schools on their safety and make the information available to
parents.
Gore: Would offer grants to schools that enforce zero-tolerance policies
for guns on campus and for alternative schools for children who have
discipline problems. Unlike Bush, has no formal plan for rating schools on
their safety.
Paying for Education
Bush: Would increase the annual limit on contributions to tax-free
education accounts from $500 to $5,000; the savings could help pay for
education from kindergarten through college. Boosts the maximum award for
Pell grants from $3,300 to $5,100 for college freshmen. Proposes a $1.5
billion program to help states establish merit-scholarship
programs.
Gore: Would create tax-free accounts for education throughout a person's
life. Employers would be permitted to contribute. Persons could contribute
up to $2,500 a year to the account and withdraw funds without paying taxes
if they used the money for educational purposes. Would allow families to
deduct from their taxes up to $10,000 a year for college tuition and
fees.
Early-Childhood Education
Bush: Wants to make Head Start more focused on education, and to require
evaluations of each program's effectiveness. Would spend $1 billion
annually on a new federal reading initiative based on testing, remedial
help, and teacher training. Proposes $400 million more a year for
after-school "certificates" for low-income families.
Gore: Supports Clinton's proposal to spend $1 billion more on Head Start.
Would set aside money to train preschool teachers. Favors voluntary
universal prekindergarten for all 4-year-olds.
EMPLOYMENT POLICY
Summary
Bush: Says that his $483 billion, five-year tax cut will free up capital
for investment, help the economy to expand, and create jobs. Shares his
party's traditional skepticism of federal job training programs.
Gore: Supports minimum-wage hikes. Like Clinton, rejects the notion that
federal spending can create jobs and tacitly shares the GOP view that that
job creation and job training are best left to the private sector.
However, supports some state-based job-training initiatives.
Minimum Wage
Bush: Has favored an unspecified increase in the minimum wage, provided
the President could rescind it if it is judged to threaten job creation.
After House GOP leaders backed Clinton's plan for a $1-an-hour wage
increase, endorsed the $1 figure, with his opt-out clause.
Gore: Supports Clinton's call for a $1-an-hour hike in the minimum wage,
phased in over two years. But he does not back the additional increases
advocated by some labor unions.
Job Training
Bush: Has no specific plan for job training. His $7 billion college
education plan is geared to those just out of high school.
Gore: Would leave the responsibility for most new job-training
opportunities to states and employers, with matching grants used to
encourage new spending. For example, the federal government would pay half
the cost of an additional 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, to allow a
recipient to complete job training. Dislocated workers would be helped by
plan to make most college education expenses tax-deductible.
ENVIRONMENT
Summary
Bush: Promises a more state-directed, industry-friendly environmental
policy, although his reliance on this approach while governor of Texas has
come under attack from environmental groups.
Gore: Promotes a continuation and, in some cases, an acceleration of the
Clinton Administration's environmental policies.
Global Warming
Bush: Agrees that human activity is causing warming, but opposes the 1997
Kyoto treaty, an international pact signed by the Clinton Administration,
which would force industrial nations to reduce their greenhouse-gas
emissions.
Gore: Supports the Kyoto global-warming treaty.
Energy Policy
Bush: Has not articulated a detailed energy policy, but would furnish tax
incentives for ethanol use, and has said that he supports the development
of energy-efficient technologies. Supported provisions in the Texas
electricity deregulation bill that require state utilities to reduce
pollution at their oldest coal-fired power plants.
Gore: Calls for a 10-year, $125 billion energy plan that would help
electric firms retrofit coal-fired power plants; develop new energy
technologies; and provide tax breaks, loans, and grants to consumers and
businesses who switch to environment-friendly homes, factories, and
vehicles.
Brownfields
Bush: Advocates flexible cleanup standards and new financial support to
speed up reclamation and development of brownfields-- contaminated waste
sites in urban regions.
Gore: Calls for more funding to help companies rehabilitate urban
brownfields. Would let state and local governments float bonds to pay for
cleaning up abandoned factories.
Oil Policy
Bush: Opposed tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Gore: Supported tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to supplement low
heating oil supplies in the Northeast.
Snake River Dams
Bush: Opposes tearing down four dams on Washington state's Snake River to
protect the seriously depleted local species of salmon and other fishes.
Instead, recommends alternative methods to save the fish.
Gore: Promises to hold a "salmon summit" to decide whether to
breach the dams to protect the declining populations of salmon and other
fishes in the Snake River.
FOREIGN POLICY
Summary
Bush: Emphasizes free trade and internationalism, with an emphasis on
unilaterally asserting American interests.
Gore: Emphasizes free trade and internationalism, with an emphasis on
cooperative engagement through international institutions such as the
United Nations.
Arms Control
Bush: Opposes the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and would withdraw
from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, if necessary, to build a robust
national missile defense system. Is generally skeptical of multilateral
arms control agreements.
Gore: Supports the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and a
renegotiated Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Is generally supportive of
multilateral arms control agreements.
Peacekeeping
Bush: Would strive to reduce the role of U.S. forces in peacekeeping
missions around the world by shifting peacekeeping duties in the Balkans
to European allies, and by shunning future missions unless vital U.S.
interests were at stake.
Gore: Strongly supports the use of U.S. forces in recent peacekeeping
missions.
China
Bush: Favors a "one-China" policy, and supports the Taiwan
Security Enhancement Act, which commits the United States to closer
defense cooperation with Taiwan.
Gore: Supports a "one-China" policy, but opposes the
Republican-crafted Taiwan Security Enhancement Act.
Cuba
Bush: Supports tight economic sanctions and international
isolation.
Gore: Backs the recent relaxation of sanctions on Cuba to allow for
shipments of food and medicine, and for greater dialogue.
Russia
Bush: Would refocus U.S.-Russian relations on security matters. Would
likely oppose further loans to Russia by the International Monetary
Fund.
Gore: Helped fashion current policy of multilayered engagement with
Russians to promote both economic reforms and nonproliferation
efforts.
Middle East
Bush: Would move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Gore: Would delay any decision on moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem
until a Middle East peace settlement is reached.
Kosovo
Bush: Advocates a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops and transferring
the peacekeeping mission to European allies.
Gore: Advocates the continued participation of U.S. troops in a NATO-led
peacekeeping force.
Latin America and Mexico
Bush: Supports NAFTA and fast-track trade-negotiating authority, and
proposes a hemispheric free-trade area for the Americas.
Gore: Supports NAFTA and fast-track authority, and proposes a free-trade
area of the Americas.
Iraq
Bush: Supports continued economic sanctions and advocates increasing
support for Iraqi opposition groups seeking to oust Saddam Hussein. Has
publicly threatened to unilaterally strike any known Iraqi sites used to
produce weapons of mass destruction.
Gore: Defends the present policy of economic sanctions and
"containment" of Iraq.
North Korea
Bush: Has aligned himself with foreign-policy advisers who have criticized
the Clinton Administration deal that freezes North Korea's nuclear weapons
program, but provides fuel oil to and constructs civil nuclear reactors
for that country.
Gore: Supports the Clinton Administration's deal that freezes North
Korea's nuclear weapons program, but provides fuel oil to and constructs
civil nuclear reactors for that country.
United Nations
Bush: Supports the paying of past U.S. dues, but only if U.S.-backed
reforms are fully instituted and the percentage of peacekeeping dues paid
by the United States is reduced. Has pledged never to put U.S. troops
under U.N. command. Has called for reforms to make the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank less activist.
Gore: Has called for the repayment of all past U.S. dues; advisers close
to Gore support recent proposals for significantly strengthening U.S.
peacekeeping capabilities.
GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS
Summary
Bush: Proposes dramatic restructuring and cuts to reduce the size of
government.
Gore: Has been a longtime champion of "reinventing government."
Touts federal staffing reductions and efficiency gains made on his
watch.
Government Jobs
Bush: Would eliminate 40,000 civil service management jobs. Would give
more government work to private contractors. Would change civil service
rules to reward individual performance.
Gore: Says that the Clinton-Gore Administration has eliminated 370,000
federal jobs over eight years. Has not specifically called for more job
cuts, outsourcing of federal work, or changes to civil service rules.
Supports giving federal workers more on-the-job flexibility, as long as
goals are met.
E-Government
Bush: Would offer more government services and data online. Would create a
chief information officer and furnish $100 million for computer
automation.
Gore: Would offer more government services and data online, including his
Across America initiative, which would target students, the elderly, and
rural communities.
Oversight
Bush: Would establish a bipartisan Sunset Review Board to eliminate
duplicative and ineffective programs.
Gore: Has not stated a position. As an eight-year incumbent, has less
reason than challenger Bush to emphasize oversight.
GUN CONTROL
Summary
Bush: Supports strong enforcement of existing gun laws, and funding for
such federal programs as Project Exile, which brings prosecutors and law
enforcement officials together to target armed, convicted felons and
violent criminals.
Gore: Supports strong gun control measures.
Background Checks at Gun Shows
Bush: Supports immediate background checks of prospective buyers at gun
shows.
Gore: Supports background checks at gun shows, even if they cannot be done
instantly.
Gun Registration and Licensing
Bush: Opposes government-mandated registration of guns.
Gore: Supports national, mandatory licensing; supports an alternative to
registration, whereby sellers report identities of buyers to state
authorities; backs photo licenses and gun safety tests for new handgun
owners.
Child Safety Locks
Bush: Supports voluntary efforts to equip guns with safety locks; however,
will sign gun-lock mandates if Congress approves them.
Gore: Supports mandatory child safety locks.
Concealed Weapons
Bush: Believes that individuals who pass background checks and a firearms
proficiency test should be able to carry concealed weapons, but says that
this decision is best left to individual states.
Gore: Strongly opposes any laws that loosen the restrictions on carrying
concealed weapons.
HEALTH CARE
Summary
Bush: Advocates reducing the number of uninsured citizens by subsidizing
their purchase of private health coverage. Also supports limited patients'
rights.
Gore: Supports incremental movement toward reducing the number of
uninsured citizens, first by expanding coverage through existing
government programs. Also supports broad patients' rights legislation,
including patients' right to sue their health plans for denied
services.
Tax Credits
Bush: Would give people who don't have employer-sponsored health insurance
an annual tax credit of up to $1,000 per individual and $2,000 per family
to cover up to 90 percent of the cost of health insurance. The subsidy
would vary depending on income.
Gore: Advocates the use of tax credits as a way to make insurance more
affordable for the uninsured. The tax credit would be the equivalent of 25
percent of a person's health insurance costs.
CHIP
Bush: Wants to give states more flexibility in administering the
Children's Health Insurance Program, a federal block grant, and allow them
to expand CHIP to other eligible people, including some parents.
Gore: Supports enrolling more children, and some parents, in the state
Children's Health Insurance Program and in Medicaid. Would expand
eligibility to include children living at up to 250 percent of the federal
poverty level (which would make a family of four earning $41,000
eligible), and make states responsible for enrolling eligible
children.
Medical Savings Accounts Bush
Wants to make existing medical-savings-account pilot programs permanent
and to lift the federal cap of 750,000 on the number of accounts. Would
allow all employers to offer MSAs, and would let both employers and
employees contribute to them. Would lower the minimum deductible for
accompanying catastrophic health plans to $1,000 for an individual and
$2,000 for families.
Gore: Opposes the widespread use of medical savings accounts, which he
argues would mostly attract healthy people and pull them out of the
regular insurance market, ultimately boosting costs for others.
Patients' Bill of Rights
Bush: Supports giving patients in federally governed health plans a
limited ability to sue their health plans for denied medical
services.
Gore: Wants a broad patients' bill of rights that allows people who are
denied medical services to sue their health plans.
Long-Term Care
Bush: Would make the cost of long-term-care insurance fully deductible,
and establish a personal tax exemption for home caregivers.
Gore: Wants a $3,000 tax credit for home caregivers. Has not proposed a
tax break for the purchase of long-term-care insurance because he wants to
see quality improvements in that market.
Group Purchasing
Bush: Would allow small businesses to band together across state lines and
form association health plans, in order to buy health insurance through
bona fide trade associations.
Gore: Would give tax credits to small-business employees who join health
care purchasing cooperatives, which could be run by nonprofit
organizations or other groups. Opposes association health plans.
HOUSING
Summary
Bush: Would let local public housing authorities give low-income renters
up to a year's worth of rental vouchers in a lump-sum payment, to cover
home-purchase costs. Would permit the use of Section 8 vouchers to
subsidize monthly mortgage payments. Would furnish $1 billion in federal
homeownership assistance over five years.
Gore: Supports President Clinton's call for $690 million for 120,000 new
Section 8 vouchers for fiscal 2001. Would also increase support for the
Housing and Urban Development Department's Home Investment Partnership
program and Community Development Block Grant program.
IMMIGRATION
Summary
Bush: Calls for changes in structure and policy of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service.
Gore: Supports changes in laws to allow families to stay together;
supports Clinton Administration policies intended to streamline the
naturalization process.
INS Reform
Bush: Would divide the INS into two agencies-one that handles enforcement
of current immigration law and one that focuses on naturalization. Calls
for a $500 million funding increase over five years to improve service
through employee incentives.
Gore: Would encourage the agency to separate enforcement and service
operations more clearly, but opposes creating two separate agencies.
Supports the Administration's call for more than $200 million in
additional INS funding, most of it for enforcement and border
patrols.
H1-B Immigrant Visas
Bush: Calls for an unspecified increase in the number of H1-B visas for
high-skilled foreign workers.
Gore: Would increase the number of H1-B visas offered annually from
115,000 to 200,000, but would raise the fee for them and use that money
for education programs.
Naturalization
Bush: Calls for a six-month deadline for processing applications.
Gore: Supports Clinton Administration efforts to streamline the process
with a goal of reducing the time of processing applications to three
months.
Family Reunification
Bush: Would change INS policy so that spouses and children of permanent
legal residents can more easily obtain visitor visas while their
applications for permanent residency are pending.
Gore: Supports provisions that would more easily allow families to stay
together; would allow immigrants to have their papers processed in the
United States, rather than in their home countries.
Status of Refugees
Bush: Has declined to take a position on recent legislation proposed by
Democrats on Capitol Hill that would relax restrictions on Central
American and Caribbean immigrants fleeing human rights violations.
Gore: Supports recent legislation authored by Democrats on Capitol Hill
that would allow Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Haitians fleeing
human rights violations to become legal immigrants. (At present, only
Cubans and Nicaraguans enjoy that privilege.) The legislation also would
make it easier for long-term migrants to obtain permanent legal
residency.
LAND USE
Summary
Bush: Advocates making greater use of the nation's natural resources and
handing over more authority for land use policies to the states.
Gore: Would expand the land preservation policies of the Clinton
Administration.
Land Preservation
Bush: Would encourage land conservation with tax credits for private
parties and local governments. Recommends abolishing the inheritance tax
so landowners won't be tempted to sell property to developers to pay
taxes. Supports full funding of the federal Land and Water Conservation
Fund, with a mandate that 50 percent of the proceeds be spent on state and
local conservation efforts.
Gore: Recommends setting aside more federal lands and paying for them with
new mining royalties from other federal property. Calls for $2 billion in
tax incentives to protect wilderness areas from development. Supports the
use of habitat conservation plans, under which landowners agree to
preserve local species.
Resource Extraction
Bush: Supports increased domestic production and exploration, including in
the protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Would continue
the current moratorium on offshore drilling in California and
Florida.
Gore: Opposes new oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. Would go beyond the current moratorium on oil-exploration leases
off the coasts of California and Florida and ban new drilling under
existing leases.
National Monuments
Bush: Opposes President Clinton's policy of protecting federal lands by
designating them as national monuments.
Gore: Supports President Clinton's designation of new national
monuments.
National Forests
Bush: Would reverse Clinton Administration proposals to protect 43 million
acres of road-free national forests. Recommends more logging on all
national lands.
Gore: Supports Administration proposals to bar new road-building on
as-yet-untouched national forest lands, but would take the issue further
by including Alaska's Tongass National Forest in the road-free
designation. Also would prohibit logging in those wilderness
regions.
LEGAL AFFAIRS
Summary
Bush: Opposes expansive readings of the Constitution by judges. Strong
supporter of measures to discourage proliferation of lawsuits.
Gore: Has opposed measures that would limit class action suits and
citizens' access to courts.
Tort Reform
Bush: Favors a reduction in what he sees as a proliferation of frivolous
civil lawsuits that he argues undermines U.S. competitiveness. Favors
making losers in civil lawsuits pay costs of litigation. Would push class
action cases into federal courts. Favors a cap on punitive damages.
Gore: Opposes efforts to limit non-economic damages or cap punitive
damages or otherwise limit recoveries for workplace injuries. Opposes
limits on class action lawsuits.
MEDICARE
Summary
Bush: Advocates additional private-sector health plan choices for Medicare
beneficiaries, including options with prescription drug coverage.
Gore: Defends the rights of the elderly to remain in traditional
fee-for-service health insurance plans if they so desire, and advocates a
prescription drug benefit that applies to all Medicare
beneficiaries.
Medicare Reform
Bush: Wants to build on the work of the National Bipartisan Commission on
the Future of Medicare; its leaders recommended opening up Medicare to
more health plans as a way to give the elderly more choices while lowering
costs.
Gore: Advocates rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse and giving Medicare
more competitive tools, so long as beneficiaries are protected from
premium inflation. Would bar HMOs that leave Medicare from re-entering for
four years.
Prescription Drugs
Bush: Supports spending $48 billion over four years to fund state
assistance programs that would provide prescription drugs to low-income
seniors. Would furnish another $110 billion over eight years for broader
Medicare reforms that would give seniors a choice of health plans,
including plans providing prescription coverage. Seniors living in poverty
would get full or partial subsidies for prescription insurance premiums,
depending on their income levels. All other seniors would receive 25
percent of the premium costs for coverage, as well as catastrophic
protections after $6,000 in out-of-pocket payments.
Gore: Would create a prescription drug benefit that would cover half the
cost of medicines up to $5,000 with no deductibles, and catastrophic
protections after $4,000 in out-of-pocket payments. Elderly people with
annual incomes below $11,000 would pay no premiums or co-payments.
Lockbox
Bush: Has not taken a position on Gore's proposal to put Medicare in an
off-budget lockbox.
Gore: Wants to put Medicare in an off-budget lockbox, so that savings from
Medicare cannot be spent on other programs.
Trust Fund
Bush: Proposes a unified trust fund for Medicare Part A, which covers
hospitalization, and Medicare Part B, which covers doctor visits. Also
supports doubling federal funding for Medicare over 10 years, but has not
said where the extra money would come from.
Gore: Advocates using $75 billion of budget surplus money over 10 years to
extend the life of Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund until at least
2030.
Provider Giveback
Bush: Proposes to restore $40 billion in Medicare funding that was lost to
doctors, hospitals, and other Medicare providers as a result of the
Balanced Budget Act of 1997.
Gore: Would use $40 billion in budget surplus money to restore funding to
hospitals and other health care providers that was lost as a result of the
1997 Balanced Budget Act.
PRIVACY
Summary
Bush: Has endorsed "opt-in" rules under which companies must get
their customers' explicit approval for use of data collected from each
transaction. "The principle ought to be [that] people should not be
able to use your information or mine without permission." However, it
is not clear whether these proposed rules would apply only to particularly
sensitive data, such as medical and financial information, or to all
transactions, including routine online purchases. Has generally adopted a
free-market, anti-regulation approach to economic matters, but has also
expressed some sympathy for citizens unwilling to provide extensive
personal details required by the federal census.
Gore: Promotes an "electronic bill of rights" that would allow
consumers to learn how much companies know about them and how the data is
used. It would also block the transfer of that data to other companies.
But while supporting new laws to protect financial and medical privacy,
Gore also supports self-regulation by the online industries, possibly
giving them greater freedom to collect and share personal data. Would also
propose a law banning the sale of Social Security numbers, and would
provide citizens with "digital keys" to allow them to view
information held by the federal government about them-such as retirement
data or medical records-without exposing the data to others.
RELIGION
Summary
Bush: Says government should turn first to faith-based organizations to
help needy people. Would extend the role and reach of charities and
churches, communities and corporations, synagogues and mosques, and
mentors and ministers.
Gore: Defends separation of church and state.
Faith-Based Initiatives
Bush: Would establish an Office of Faith-Based Action in the Executive
Office of the President. Would remove barriers to faith-based groups'
participation in government programs.
Gore: Supports allowing states to enlist faith-based organizations to
provide basic welfare services as long as there is a secular alternative
and no one is required to participate in religious observances to receive
services. Opposes the use of faith-based organizations as a substitute for
governmental programs.
Public Funding
Bush: Would offer competitive grants to faith-based groups for programs
that address problems such as the needs of children of prisoners. Would
expand the federal charitable deduction to people who do not itemize on
their tax returns, would promote a new charitable state tax credit, and
would provide incentives for corporate giving.
Gore: Supports public funding for faith-based organizations, but not to
the exclusion of government programs. Calls for more private support for
religious groups.
Religion in School
Bush: Lamented recent Supreme Court ruling that public school districts
cannot allow students to lead stadium crowds in prayer before high school
football games. Supports student-led prayer and posting of the Ten
Commandments in public schools.
Gore: Opposes government-mandated prayer in public schools.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Summary
Bush: Would promote technology innovation with free-market policies,
increased government research, free trade, and legal reforms to curb
lawsuits.
Gore: Would promote technology innovation with free-market policies,
increased government research, and free trade.
Internet Taxes
Bush: Has endorsed a five-year moratorium on any federal law allowing the
states to collect sales taxes from out-of-state Internet vendors, and a
permanent extension of the research- and-development tax credit.
Gore: Has supported an extension of the moratorium on any federal law
allowing the states to collect sales taxes from out-of-state Internet
vendors. His economic plan endorses a ban on tariffs imposed on
international Internet sales, and supports a permanent extension of the
research-and-development tax credit.
Biotech and Medical Research
Bush: Would add $20 billion to Pentagon research and double health
research spending, but would bar federal funding for experiments on stem
cells taken from human embryos. Also supports a "medical moon
shot" program to cure a variety of diseases.
Gore: Would double spending on health care research, increase spending on
environmental technologies, and create 20 biomedical computer centers.
Would support federal spending for experiments on stem cells that were
taken from human embryos by private researchers. His economic plan
criticizes European countries for unfairly excluding U.S. biotech
products.
Media and Entertainment
Bush: On marketing of violence and sex to children, has said the industry
must better police itself and do more "to reduce the violence that
our children see on the screen." Has also called for more values
education in the schools. Dick Cheney has called for new rules to foster
cooperation among entertainment companies, along with internal industry
sanctions and a standardized ratings system.
Gore: Has called on the Internet and entertainment industries to better
use content ratings and porn-filtering software to help parents monitor
and control their children's media habits. And, "if necessary we will
support strengthening of the current laws that cover false and deceptive
advertising" by the movie industry, if the industry does not act by
spring of 2001.
Education and Training
Bush: Would boost government funding for use of the Internet and
computers in schools. Would bolster math and science education, and
supports vouchers for students in low-performing schools.
Gore: Would add more Internet links to schools, hire additional teachers,
and provide more loans for university education.
Digital Divide and Telecommunications
Bush: Generally favors a free-market approach, but has offered a plan to
extend Internet and telecommunication services to underserved
areas.
Gore: Would provide incentives for companies to extend telecommunication
links to rural areas, spend $2 billion per year to link schools to the
Internet, and create centers to help citizens get and use Internet
technology.
H-1B Visas
Bush: Says he is more willing than Gore to allow large increases in
immigration of foreign-born technical workers to the U.S.
Gore: Has supported increases in annual H-1B visa awards.
SOCIAL SECURITY
Summary
Bush: Proposes allowing younger workers to divert an unspecified portion
(uses 2 percent in his examples) of their Social Security payroll taxes
into individual investment accounts. Has pledged to maintain existing
benefits for disabled workers and survivors, as well as for both current
retirees and workers nearing retirement.
Gore: Proposes to use the federal budget surplus to pay down debt and
reduce the need for federal borrowing. Would credit the resulting interest
savings to the Social Security system as an accounting mechanism to extend
the life of the funds.
Solvency
Bush: Proposes a plan that would not extend the life of the trust fund, as
now defined, because his plan would siphon younger workers' taxes out of
the U.S. Treasury in an expensive transition to private-sector accounts.
Has ruled out tax hikes to bridge the shortfall, leaving unspecified
benefit cuts or a diversion of general revenues as the future
alternative.
Gore: Relies on federal debt reduction and reduced interest costs to
extend the life of the Social Security trust fund to 2050. Advisers say he
could apply additional interest savings as they materialize to extend
solvency even further-to 2075.
Private Investment
Bush: Would allow workers to move some of their tax payments into the
equity and bond markets to invest as they wish. Touts the "wealth
creation" potential of private accounts, which are controversial and
would accrue more dramatically to upper-income investors.
Gore: Would offer workers supplemental individual tax-free retirement
accounts ("Retirement Savings Plus") matched with government tax
credits on a sliding scale. Workers could deposit as much as $1,500 a year
in accounts managed by private financial institutions and invested in
broad-based equities, bonds, and government securities.
Benefits
Bush: Acknowledges that individual accounts would mean less in the way of
guaranteed benefits for the elderly, but says that nothing about the
Social Security system has been "guaranteed" since 1935, because
Congress has made and continues to make legislative changes along the
way.
Gore: Would add an expensive new benefit: government-matched private
accounts similar to 401(k) plans. The Gore plan includes no benefit
reductions to deal with the anticipated shortfall resulting from too few
workers covering the costs of too many retirees.
General Revenues
Bush: Would divert an estimated $950 billion from federal coffers between
2002 and 2010 into privately managed stocks and bonds, according to one
recent analysis. Additional revenues would be needed to cover benefits to
future retirees, unless benefits are reduced.
Gore: Says his supplemental accounts plan would cost $200 billion over 10
years, but most independent analysts say the price tag would likely go
much higher.
SUPREME COURT
Summary
Bush: Has promised not to apply ideological litmus test on abortion or
other issues in considering nominees to the Court. Supports "strict
construction" of the Constitution. Has said that he most admires
Associate Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the two most
conservative members of the Court.
Gore: Has said that he will nominate Justices who recognize that the
Constitution is a living, breathing document. Defends abortion rights and
the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, and stated at the Democratic National
Convention that "the last thing this country needs is a Supreme Court
that overturns Roe vs. Wade." Has said that he most admires the late
Thurgood Marshall, the Court's most liberal member.
TAXES
Summary
Bush: Favors tax cuts of some $483 billion over five years, including cuts
in the rate structure.
Gore: Favors targeted tax cuts for specific purposes, as opposed to Bush's
more-sweeping cuts. Favors modified universal savings accounts, which
would encourage retirement savings for people who cannot take advantage of
IRAs or 401(k)s.
Rates
Bush: Replaces current five-rate structure of 15, 28, 31, 36, and 39.6
percent with four lower rates of 10, 15, 25, and 33 percent.
Gore: Would make no overall changes to rate structure.
"Marriage Penalty"
Bush: Favors an $88 billion tax cut over 10 years for married couples.
Would restore the 10 percent deduction for two-earner families so they
could deduct up to $3,000 more than now permitted.
Gore: Would address the so-called marriage penalty by providing an $80
billion tax cut over 10 years for married couples, which is less than that
proposed by congressional Republicans.
Low-Income Families
Bush: Would cut the marginal rate by more than 40 percent for low-income
families with two children, and by nearly 50 percent for families with one
child. Would increase the existing child tax credit from $500 to $1,000
per child.
Gore: Would expand the earned-income tax credit by up to $500 for families
with three or more children, and increase by $1,450 the maximum income
that two-wage married couples can earn before their credit is phased out.
Favors a $1-an-hour increase in the hourly minimum wage over the next two
years.
Research and Development
Bush: Would make permanent the research-and-development tax credit, which
provides tax breaks to businesses conducting research.
Gore: Would make permanent the research-and-development tax credit, which
provides tax breaks to businesses conducting research.
Savings
Bush: Would allow people to make additional contributions to the personal
retirement accounts that would be established under a Bush Social Security
plan.
Gore: Has proposed "Retirement Savings Plus" accounts that would
provide a tax credit match to encourage families to save.
Education
Bush: Would expand tax-exempt bonds that private contractors can receive
to build public facilities to include schools. Under the plan, the private
firms would then lease the school buildings to school districts.
Gore: Would provide tax credits for bonds to modernize up to 6,000 school
buildings. Would also create a college opportunity program that would
provide tax credits or deductions for college tuition.
Earned-Income Tax Credit
Bush: Unlike Gore, has not proposed expanding the Earned- Income Tax
Credit.
Gore: Would expand EITC by increasing the credit for families with three
or more children and for married couples.
Estate Tax
Bush: Would eliminate the estate tax.
Gore: Has not proposed eliminating estate tax.
Health Insurance
Bush: Would provide tax credit of up to $1,000 per individual and $2,000
per family for those without health insurance.
Gore: Would provide a 25 percent refundable tax credit for families
without employer-provided health insurance.
Long-Term Health Needs
Bush: Would provide a 100 percent above-the-line deduction to help people
purchase long-term-care insurance and would establish an additional
exemption for each elderly spouse, parent, or relative cared for in the
home.
Gore: Would provide a $3,000 tax credit for families that must provide
long-term health care.
Child-Care Expenses
Bush: Would fund certificates to help low-income families pay for
after-school activities.
Gore: Would expand the child care tax credit to 50 percent of cost of care
for moderate-income families and make it refundable.
TRADE
Summary
Bush: An unabashed free-trader. Wants free-trade agreements with Latin
America.
Gore: Supports free-trade policies, but emphasizes "fair trade,"
a code word for a get-tough trade policy. Wants to reduce the trade
imbalance.
Trade With China
Bush: Supported permanent normal trade relations with China as part of the
requirements for Beijing's membership in the World Trade
Organization.
Gore: Supported permanent normal trade relations with China, over
opposition from organized labor.
Labor and Human Rights, Environmental Standards
Bush: Opposes conditioning trade liberalization on progress on labor,
human rights, and environmental issues.
Gore: Supports using trade deals to improve worker and human rights and to
protect the environment.
High-Tech Trade
Bush: Committed to easing export restrictions on commercially available
technologies, but supports trade sanctions to promote his foreign policy
agenda.
Gore: Supports relaxing export restrictions on commercially available
technologies.
TRANSPORTATION
Summary
Bush: Hasn't announced a transportation agenda, but has attacked the
Clinton Administration for higher gas prices, and has proposed a modest
plan to help disabled Americans.
Gore: Supports transportation alternatives to reduce urban sprawl and help
clean the environment.
Investment
Bush: Would set aside $145 million over five years to provide easier
transportation access to disabled Americans and would target community and
faith-based organizations to provide this transportation.
Gore: Would provide $25 billion over 10 years to give Americans more
transportation choices, such as high-speed rail, light rail, and cleaner
and safer buses.
Gasoline Prices
Bush: Blames today's high gas prices on the Administration's quest for
cleaner fuel and its failure to develop a comprehensive national energy
policy. Also argues that the Administration should pressure OPEC to
increase the supply of oil. Opposes efforts to suspend the
18-cent-per-gallon federal gasoline tax to alleviate higher gas
prices.
Gore: Blames today's high gas prices on possible price-gouging by the oil
industry. Would provide tax credits to Americans who buy energy-saving
vehicles and appliances. Like Bush, opposes suspending the federal tax on
gasoline purchases.
National Journal
