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| Energy | ||
OBAMA: Key opportunities to support increased U.S. production
of oil and gas that do not require opening up currently protected
areas include:
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State Offshore Oil Exploration and Drilling | McCAIN: Believes the current federal moratorium on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf stands in the way of energy exploration and production, and that it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions. He says we should keep more of our dollars here, lessen our foreign dependency, increase our domestic supplies and reduce our trade deficit - 41 percent of which is due to oil imports. McCain believes in the promotion and expansion of the use of domestic natural gas supplies. The Outer Continental Shelf alone contains 77 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. |
| OBAMA: Will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerating the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promoting development of commercial-scale renewable energy, investing in low-emissions coal plants, and beginning the transition to a new digital, smart-energy grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that domestically developed products are rapidly commercialized and deployed around the globe. Obama will double federal science and research funding for clean-energy projects and invest in the development of biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol. | Investment in Renewable and Clean Energy Sources | McCAIN: Believes the United States must become a leader in a new international green economy. Green jobs and green technology will be vital to our economic future. He will commit $2 billion annually to advancing clean coal technologies. Coal produces the majority of our electricity today. Some believe that marketing viable clean coal technologies could be more than 15 years away. McCain believes that this is too long to wait, and we need to commit significant federal resources to advance this critical technology. Once commercialized, the United States can then export these technologies to countries like China that are committed to using their coal-creating new American jobs and allowing the United States to play a greater role in the international green economy. Believes alcohol-based fuels hold great promise as both an alternative to gasoline and as a means of expanding consumers' choices. |
| OBAMA: Will crack down on excessive energy speculation by closing energy market loopholes, increasing transparency to help bring oil prices down and preventing traders from unfairly lining their pockets at the expense of the American people. | Oil Speculation | McCAIN: Believes we must understand the role speculation is playing in our soaring energy prices. He believes that where they exist, abuses need to be punished swiftly. To make sure abuse doesn't happen again, we must reform the laws and regulations governing the oil futures market, so that they are just as clear and effective as the rules applied to stocks, bonds and other financial instruments. |
| OBAMA: Will enact a windfall profits tax to provide energy rebates worth $500 for individuals and $1,000 for married couples. The rebates will be fully paid for with five years of windfall profit taxes. They are intended to offset the entire increase in gas prices for a working family over four months or pay for the entire increase in winter heating bills for a typical family in a coldweather state. | Taxes on Oil Companies | McCAIN: Does not support a windfall profits tax. He believes such a tax on oil companies will ultimately result in increasing our dependence on foreign oil and hinder investment in domestic exploration. |
| OBAMA: Proposes a cap-and-trade system with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050. His cap-and- trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. Proceeds will go to investments in a clean energy future, rebates and other transition relief for families. | Climate Change | McCAIN: Proposes a cap-and-trade system that would set limits on greenhouse gas emissions while encouraging the development of low-cost compliance options. This cap-and-trade system would aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 66 percent by 2050. A climate cap-and-trade mechanism would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allow entities to buy and sell rights to emit. The key feature of this mechanism is that it allows the market to decide and encourage the lowest-cost compliance options. |
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| Health Care | ||
| OBAMA: Require all children to have health insurance. Create a new public plan, and expand Medicaid and SCHIP. Create the National Health Insurance Exchange through which small businesses and individuals without access to other public programs or employer-based coverage could enroll in the new public plan or in approved private plans. | Expanding Access to Healthcare | McCAIN: Remove the favorable tax treatment of employersponsored insurance and provide a tax credit to all individuals and families to increase incentives for the purchase of insurance; promote insurance competition and individual choice of insurance by allowing individuals and families to purchase insurance across state lines. |
| OBAMA: Will mandate employers to offer "meaningful" coverage or contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the public plan. Small businesses will be exempt from this mandate. Obama's proposal does not specify what would define a "small business." | Employer Mandated Requirements to Offer Healthcare | McCAIN: None. Opposes mandates for coverage. |
| OBAMA: Small businesses would be eligible for a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent of premiums paid on behalf of their employees if an employer pays a "meaningful share" of the cost of "a quality health plan." Obama's plan does not specify what would be considered "small" "meaningful" or "quality." Obama would make federal income-related subsidies available to help individuals buy the new public plan or other qualified private insurance plans. | Premium Assistance / Tax Changes for the Purchase of Health Insurance | McCAIN: Reform the tax code to eliminate the exclusion of the value of health insurance plans offered by employers from workers' taxable income. McCain would provide a refundable tax credit of up to $2,500 (individuals) and $5,000 (families) to all individuals and families for the purchase of insurance. |
| OBAMA: Create a National Health Insurance Exchange through which individuals could purchase the new public plan or qualified private insurance plans. Participating insurers would be required to offer coverage on a guaranteed issue basis, charge a fair and stable premium that is not based on health status and meet standards for quality and efficiency. | Pooling | McCAIN: Will work with states to create a federally supported Guaranteed Access Plan to ensure patients who have been denied will have access to health coverage. One approach would establish a nonprofit corporation that would contract with insurers to cover patients who have been denied health insurance and could join with other state plans to enlarge pools and lower overhead costs. |
| OBAMA: Obama's campaign estimates cost to be between $50 billion to $65 billion a year when fully phased in. Expects much of the financing to come from savings within the healthcare system. Additional revenue to come from discontinuing tax cuts for those with incomes over $250,000. | Financing | McCAIN: Not yet specified, although he indicates that cost containment measures would make insurance more affordable. |
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| Taxes | ||
| OBAMA: Will reverse most of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Will provide 150 million workers with tax relief through a "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person ($1,000 per working family). | Current Tax Rates | McCAIN: Would extend the lower income tax rates passed in 2001 and 2003. McCain believes that in order to raise taxes, a three-fifths majority vote should be required in Congress. |
| OBAMA: Was not present for the vote on H.R. 5140, The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. | Small Business Expensing | McCAIN: Voted for H.R. 5140, The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which included a one-year expansion of small business expensing for equipment and technology investments. |
| OBAMA: Would eliminate capital gains for small businesses and startups, but would increase the rate to 20 percent for families earning more than $250,000. Obama's proposal does not specify what would define a "small business." | Capital Gains | McCAIN: Would keep the rate as is, at 15 percent. |
| OBAMA: Will eliminate special-interest loopholes and deductions, such as those for the oil and gas industry. | Corporate Income Tax | McCAIN: Will reduce the federal corporate tax rate (C Corp) to 25 percent from 35 percent. He believes the taxes we impose on American companies should be no higher than the average rate our major trading partners impose on theirs. |
| OBAMA: Will simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Will ensure that the IRS uses information it already gets from banks and employers to give individuals the option of a completed form to verify, sign and return. He will also eliminate income taxes for seniors making less than $50,000 per year. Under his plan, 27 million American seniors will not have to file an income tax return. | Tax Reform / Simplification | McCAIN: Will propose a new and simpler tax system. When this reform is enacted, all who wish to stay under the current system could do so, or could choose a less complicated system with a generous standard deduction and two tax rates. |
| OBAMA: Supports a $7 million exemption per couple with a 45 percent tax rate for estates above $7 million. | Estate Tax | McCAIN: Supports a $10 million exemption per couple with a 15 percent tax rate for estates above $10 million. |
| OBAMA: Is committed to ensuring Social Security is solvent and viable, now and in the future. He will ask those making more than $250,000 a year to contribute more to Social Security via the payroll tax system. Currently, the Social Security payroll tax applies to only the first $102,000 a worker makes. | Social Security Payroll Tax | McCAIN: Will reform Social Security by fighting to save the program's future while still meeting today's obligations to retirees. He does not support raising taxes; instead, he wants to supplement the current Social Security system with personal accounts, but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept. |
| OBAMA: According to the Tax Policy Center (June 11, 2008) Obama supports "fiscally responsible AMT reform." | Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) | McCAIN: Will permanently repeal the AMT - a tax that will be paid nearly exclusively by 25 million middle class families. |
| OBAMA: Will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Obama will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports. Additionally, Obama will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement so that it works for American workers. | Competition / Free Trade | McCAIN: Will end policies that contribute to higher transportation and food costs such as ethanol subsidies, tariff barriers and sugar quotas. He will lower barriers to trade. Ninety-five percent of the world's customers lie outside our borders and the United States needs to be at the table when the rules for access to those markets are written. To do so, McCain believes we should engage in multilateral, regional and bilateral efforts to reduce barriers to trade, level the global playing field and build effective enforcement of global trading rules. |
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OBAMA: Believes that a critical step in restoring fiscal discipline
is enforcing pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting rules that require
new spending commitments or tax changes to be paid for by cuts
to other programs or new revenue. He will slash earmarks to no greater than 2001 levels and ensure that all spending decisions are open to the public. Obama has passed legislation that would require more disclosure and transparency for special-interest earmarks. |
Federal Spending / Budget Reform | McCAIN: Will balance the budget by the end of his first term by encouraging economic growth and comprehensive spending controls. McCain will seek the line-item veto to reduce waste and eliminate earmarks that have led to corruption. He has a record of not asking for earmarks, which he believes restrict America's ability to address genuine national priorities and interfere with fair, competitive markets. McCain will reform budgeting to treat spending and taxes equally and to stop damaging tax hikes. |
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| Labor Issues | ||
| OBAMA: Voted in support of cloture on H.R. 800. His Web site states: "Obama believes that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to join a union without harassment or intimidation from their employers. Obama cosponsored and is a strong advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right to organize. He will continue to fight for EFCA's passage and sign it into law." | Card Check | McCAIN: Voted against cloture for H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act (Senate vote 227, June 16, 2007). The bill would allow unions to organize businesses more easily by removing the secret ballot in union organizing drives and mandating binding, compulsory arbitration. He is a cosponsor of S. 1312, the Secret Ballot Protection Act, which would require a secret ballot election for union organizing drives. |
| OBAMA: Is a cosponsor of S. 910, the Healthy Families Act, a bill mandating seven days of paid sick leave for employers with 15 or more employees. His Web site says, "Barack Obama supports efforts to guarantee workers seven days of paid sick leave per year, a moderate proposal that should not impose too onerous a burden on employers." | Paid Leave | McCAIN: His Web site states that he supported the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and that "This was a needed minimum standard to ensure that parents were not penalized for making the important decision to raise a family." He also cosponsored the Family Friendly Workplace Act (S. 1241 in the 106th Congress), a bill that would allow "employees to take compensatory time-off rather than be paid overtime." He has not indicated his stance on legislation mandating paid sick leave. |
| OBAMA: Voted for cloture on H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a bill to remove the statute of limitation for employees filing compensation discrimination charges. His Web site states "Barack Obama believes the government needs to take steps to better enforce the Equal Pay Act, fight job discrimination, and improve child care options and family medical leave to give women equal footing in the workplace." | Wage Discrimination | McCAIN: Has indicated his opposition to removing the statute of limitation for an employee filing a compensation discrimination charge. While he missed the cloture vote on H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (Senate vote 110, April 23, 2008), he stated that "I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation ... opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems." (AFL-CIO Blog, April 24, 2008) |