Introduction #

Our vision for America is a nation strong at home and respected in the world: strong at home because our families are strong and the promise of America is secure; respected in the world because our nation is strong and the promise of our example is restored. We are honored to offer America our vision and we are sure of the promise tomorrow holds for the country we love. #

Today, our country faces challenges that are new and profound. We are fighting a global war against a diffuse and scattered enemy that has already attacked us at home for the first time in generations. The great American middle class, whose hard work and ingenuity built the strong America of the 20th century, is being squeezed by declining incomes and the staggering costs that families are facing in education, health care, and energy. #

At its core, we believe the choice America faces in November comes down to two vastly different visions about how to meet those challenges. #

President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney believe that more wealth for the most fortunate will somehow lead to success for everyone else. We believe that America always does best when all Americans have the opportunity to do well. They believe we can make America safe entirely on our own. We believe that we must never hesitate to defend our people, but that we can only truly be safe if we lead the world in a way that rallies support and commands respect. #

They believe America is on the right course. #

We believe it is time for a new direction. #

This book is our plan to build an America that is stronger at home and respected in the world. We offer this plan because we believe this election should be about ideas to lift America up, not negative attacks that drag America down. #

Our plan is rooted in our values: freedom, family, work; opportunity, equality, responsibility; love of country and faith. #

It reflects certain unshakable principles: that all Americans deserve an equal chance to rise as high and go as far as their hard work and God-given talents can take them; that America’s strength and security depend on our ability to be true to America’s values - at home and abroad; that war should be the last resort, not the first, in the use of American power; and that government has a limited but essential role in American life, beginning with the safety of our people. #

We believe in equal opportunity for all, but special privileges for none. #

We believe the best measure of our nation’s progress is the condition of America’s great middle class. #

We believe America’s national security requires military strength, strong alliances, and homeland defense. #

In this book, we present our plan to address a wide range of problems and opportunities the country will face over the next four years. But we strongly believe that four challenges are especially urgent: keeping America safe and strong; reviving the American economy and providing more opportunity for middle-class families; fixing our health care system by holding down costs and expanding access to coverage; and charting a path to energy independence. #

Our plan is specific, it is realistic, and it is responsible. #

It will reduce, not increase, the federal budget deficit. #

It will expand opportunity, not the size of the federal government. #

And our plan will not raise taxes for the middle class - it will cut taxes for 98 percent of individuals and 99 percent of companies. #

We understand that people have grown skeptical of vague election-year promises. That is why we are offering specific plans that you can read and weigh. And we expect to be held accountable for them. #

If our plan sounds too ambitious, we hope you will remember this: under the last Democratic administration, America succeeded in addressing big challenges. #

After thirty years of federal budget deficits, the budget was balanced and then produced a surplus. After thirty years of stagnant middle-class wages, real incomes rose dramatically, leading to the biggest expansion of the middle class since the 1960s. After a quarter century of rising violent crime rates, crime was cut dramatically year after year, making America’s big cities safer than they had been in decades. #

We have arrived here together from different places. #

Our lives are different stories; our struggles have left different scars; our triumphs tell different tales. But the things we believe are the values our parents taught us, and the lessons America gave - that freedom is sacred, and opportunity must be shared; that responsibility brings strength, and trust requires truth; that faith is a comfort, and service a blessing. And that in America, when we are true to our values and united in our cause, nothing in the world can stop us. There is nothing we cannot do. #

John Kerry and John Edwards

---

Section One

Chapter One
SECURITY #

America was born in pursuit of an idea - that a free people with diverse beliefs could govern themselves in peace. #

John Kerry

A Strong, Respected America #

Government has no greater purpose than the security and welfare of its people. We stand ready to meet that responsibility with a plan to protect our people and safeguard our values; to build a stronger, safer America, once more respected throughout the world. We approach this task with gravity, humility, and resolve. Gravity, because the stakes are high. Humility, because the responsibility is great. And resolve, because we must prevail. #

We offer a vision grounded in the tough-minded tradition of engagement and leadership that was forged by Wilson and Roosevelt in two World Wars, then championed by Truman and Kennedy during the Cold War. Our overriding goals are to protect our people and our way of life; and to help build a safer, more peaceful, more prosperous, more democratic world. #

Alone among nations, America was born in pursuit of an idea - that a free people with diverse beliefs could govern themselves in peace. It is an idea that has changed the course of history and transformed the world, bringing hope and freedom to millions. #

For more than a century, America has spared no effort to defend, encourage, and promote that idea around the world. Over and over, we have done it by exercising American leadership to forge powerful alliances - with longtime allies and reluctant friends, with nations already living in the light of democracy and with peoples struggling to join them. #

The might of those alliances has been a driving force in the survival and success of freedom - in two World Wars, in the Cold War, in the Gulf War, and in Kosovo. America led instead of going it alone. We extended a hand, not a fist. We respected the world - and the world respected us. #

Today, there is a powerful yearning around the world for an America that listens and leads again. An America that is respected, not just feared. We believe that respect is an indispensable mark of our nation’s character - and an indispensable source of our nation’s strength. And it is the indispensable bond of America’s mighty alliances. #

Unfortunately, the Bush administration has walked away from more than a hundred years of American leadership in the world and embraced a new - and dangerously ineffective - American disregard for the world. #

They rushed to force before exhausting diplomacy. #

They bullied when they should have persuaded. They acted alone when they should have assembled a team. They hoped for the best when they should have prepared for the worst. Time and again, this administration has confused leadership with going it alone and engagement with compromise of principle - they fail to understand that real leadership means standing by your principles and rallying others to join you. #

We believe in an America that people all around the world admire and look up to, because they know that we cherish not just our freedom, but theirs. Not just our democracy, but their hope for it. Not just our peace and security, but the world’s. We believe in an America that cherishes freedom, safeguards our people, forges alliances, and commands respect. And that is the America we are going to build. #

Today, we face three great challenges above all others: first, to win the global war against terror; second, to stop the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons; and third, to promote democracy, development, and freedom around the world, starting by winning the peace in Iraq. #

To meet these challenges, we need a new national security policy guided by four new imperatives: first, America must launch and lead a new era of alliances for the post-9/11 world. Second, we must modernize the world’s most powerful military to meet the new threats. Third, in addition to our military might, we must deploy all that is in America’s arsenal - our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, and the appeal of our values and ideas. Fourth and finally, to secure our full independence and freedom, we must free America from its dangerous dependence on Mideast oil. #

DEFEATING TERRORISM #

Today, America is waging a war against a global terrorist movement committed to our destruction. The war against terror is not just a manhunt - we cannot rest until Osama bin Laden is captured or killed, but that day will only mark a victory in the war on terror, not its end. Terrorists like al Qaeda and its affiliates are unlike any adversary our nation has known. We face a global jihadist movement of many groups, from different sources, with separate agendas, but all committed to assaulting the United States and free and open societies around the globe. Despite his tough talk, President Bush’s actions against terrorism have fallen far short. He still has no comprehensive strategy for victory. After allowing bin Laden to escape from our grasp at Tora Bora, he diverted crucial resources from the effort to destroy al Qaeda in Afghanistan to fight the war in Iraq. And his doctrine of unilateral preemption has driven away our allies and cost us the support of other nations. #

We must put in place a strategy to win - an approach that recognizes the complexity of the challenge and uses all the tools at our disposal. We need to recognize that the path to victory in the war on terror will be found in the company of others, not walking alone. We will never, ever wait for a green light from abroad when our safety is at stake - but we will not alienate those whose support we should have, and must enlist, for ultimate victory. #

Victory in the war on terror requires a combination of American determination and international cooperation, and: #

• The ability and willingness to direct immediate, effective military action to capture or destroy terrorist groups and their leaders, #
• A massive strengthening in intelligence gathering, analysis, and coordination coupled with vigorous law enforcement, #
• A relentless effort to shut down the flow of terrorist funds, #
• A global effort to prevent weak and failed states that can become sanctuaries for terrorists, #
• A sustained effort to deny terrorists any more recruits by working for peace, promoting democracy, economic growth and development, and improved education, and by conducting effective public diplomacy. #

Defending our people. #

We will always be prepared to use military force to defeat terrorists before they strike at us. We will ensure that the world’s best fighting forces are trained and equipped to seek out and destroy terrorists and their networks, and effectively conduct the operations necessary to deny them sanctuary. #

Improving intelligence and law enforcement capabilities. #

The global nature of the terrorist threat demands that we have international cooperation in order to succeed. As powerful as we are, we cannot be everywhere and learn everything without assistance from our friends and allies. Al Qaeda alone is known to operate in more than 60 countries. We need the cooperation of intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world to cast a global net for terrorists, infiltrate their cells, learn their plans, cut off their funds, and stop them before they can attack. We will strengthen the effectiveness of intelligence and law enforcement efforts around the world by forging stronger international coalitions and enhancing cooperative relationships. #

We will also enhance the capabilities of our own intelligence services. From the failure to uncover the September 11th plot to the deeply flawed reports about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, we have experienced significant intelligence failures in recent years. It is time for serious reform. This will require the kind of leadership that the president has not provided. We will strengthen our intelligence capabilities so that we can more effectively prevent another terrorist attack by: #

• Restoring the credibility of our intelligence community by ensuring the basic integrity of the intelligence process. We will make certain that our intelligence agencies are protected from political pressures and operate in a culture of diversity of thought, dissent, and forceful challenging of assumptions, #
• Strengthening accountability and leadership by creating a true Director of National Intelligence, a cabinet-level position with the authority to manage and direct all of the components of the intelligence community, including personnel and budgets, #
• Maximizing coordination and integration by structuring the intelligence community around key threats like terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, and hostile countries, so that all available resources are brought to bear on addressing the most pressing threats, #
• Transforming our intelligence services to ensure that they have sufficient personnel with the skills, languages, training, and orientation needed to meet today’s threats. We will make sure that the FBI is fully prepared to perform necessary counter-terrorism intelligence operations and strengthen our capabilities overseas, particularly our clandestine services, so that we have our own robust human intelligence network. #

Cutting off terrorist funds. #

Terrorists need money to operate - without it, they cannot procure weapons, pay for travel, and move freely. Our plan includes decisive steps to cut off the flow of terrorist funds. We will: #

• Impose tough financial sanctions against nations or banks that engage in money laundering or fail to act against it, #
• Strengthen our money laundering laws to prevent terrorists from using unregulated institutions to finance terror, #
• Launch a "name and shame" campaign against those that are financing terror, and shut out of the U.S. financial system those nations that fail to respond, #
• End the Bush administration’s kid-glove approach to the supply and laundering of terrorist money in Saudi Arabia and demand that Riyadh shut down Saudibased "charities" that help finance al Qaeda and other terrorist networks. #

Preventing Afghanistan and other nations from becoming terrorist havens. #

The Bush administration has badly mishandled the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan. Our drive to topple the Taliban regime convincingly demonstrated the courage and skill of our troops, the value of powerful new technologies, and the particular importance of Special Forces units in defeating unconventional enemies in the most difficult terrain imaginable. #

Unfortunately, we have not followed that military victory with a plan or the commitment to win the peace. Two years ago, President Bush promised a Marshall Plan to rebuild that country. Instead, he has all but turned away from Afghanistan, allowing it to become a forgotten front in the war on terror and once again a potential breeding ground for terrorists. We will move immediately to reverse the Bush administration’s dangerous neglect of Afghanistan. And we will take swift measures to help the Karzai government secure the country. We will: #

• Work to further expand NATO forces outside Kabul and make good on its pledge to send additional troops to provide security for national elections, #
• Identify and destroy any al Qaeda training sites, #
• Accelerate training for the Afghan army and police, #
• Accelerate and expand the program to disarm warlord militias and reintegrate them into mainstream society, #
• Address the burgeoning opium trade by doubling our counter-narcotics assistance to the Karzai government. #

Beyond Afghanistan, terrorist attacks from Saudi Arabia and Indonesia to Kenya, Morocco, and Turkey point to a widespread and widening network of terrorists targeting this country and our friends. Failed and failing states, such as Somalia, or countries with large areas of limited government control, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, need international help to close down terrorist havens. #

Improving public diplomacy. #

America needs a major initiative in public diplomacy to support the many voices of freedom in the Arab and Muslim world. To improve education for the next generation of Muslim youth, we need a cooperative international effort to compete with radical madrassas. Democracy will not take root overnight, but America should speed that day with a strategy that aims at breaking down the economic and cultural isolation of much of this region, and supports local efforts to promote democracy, trade, tolerance, and respect for human rights. We will: #

• Undertake a major initiative in public diplomacy to advance our interests and support voices of freedom in the Arab and Muslim world, #
• Lead an international effort to build schools and social services institutions that can marginalize radical organizations, #
• Support human rights groups, independent media, and labor unions working to build democracy and civil society throughout the Arab and Muslim world, #
• Reward governments that work toward the spread of freedom and democracy in the region, not those that work against it. #

STRENGTHENING OUR MILITARY #

We need a new military to meet the new threats of the 21st century. Today’s American military is the best in the world, but tomorrow’s military must be better still - stronger, faster, better armed, and never again stretched so thin. #

We will send a clear message to every man and woman in our armed forces: We guarantee that you will always be the best-led, best-equipped, and most respected fighting force in the world. You will be armed with the right weapons, trained in the right skills, and fully prepared to win on the battlefield. You will never again be sent into harm’s way without enough troops for the task, nor asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace. And you will never be given assignments which have not been clearly defined and for which you are not professionally trained. #

The Bush administration was right to call for the "transformation" of the military - unfortunately, their version of transformation neglected to consider that the dangers we face have also transformed. They were concerned with fighting classic conventional wars, instead of the asymmetrical threats we now face in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in the war against al Qaeda. To rise to the challenges we face, we must strengthen our military, including our Special Forces; improve our technology; renew our commitment to the brave men and women who serve our country, and their families; and respect the advice, wisdom, and experience of our professional military. #

Expanding active duty personnel. #

As a first step, we will expand America’s active duty forces. The war in Iraq has taken a real toll on our armed services. The vast majority of the Army’s active duty combat divisions are committed to Iraq, either currently there, preparing to go, or recently returned. #

To pick up the slack, we’ve called up our Guard and Reserves at historic levels. Some have been on the ground in Iraq for as many as 15 months - much longer than was expected or promised. And many of these units are being pushed to the limit, stretched far too thin. The administration’s answer has just been to stretch further. #

They have extended tours of duty, delayed retirements, and prevented enlisted personnel from leaving the service - effectively using a stop-loss policy and the Individual Ready Reserve call-up as a back-door draft. #

We need to expand the number of active duty soldiers, not to increase the number of soldiers in Iraq, but to sustain our overseas deployments and prevent and prepare for other possible conflicts. This will help relieve the strain on our troops and bring more of our soldiers, guardsmen, and reservists already serving abroad back home to their families. We also need to increase our capabilities in several areas, including: Special Forces, the troops who land behind enemy lines, conduct counter-terrorism operations, perform reconnaissance missions, and gather intelligence; civil affairs troops, those who work with local leaders and officials to get schools back in shape, hospitals reopened, and banks up and running; and military police, experts in securing public order. We will: #

• Expand America’s active duty forces by 40,000, #
• Double the Army’s Special Forces capability within four years, while adding a special operations helicopter squadron to the Air Force, #
• Increase by 50 percent the number of civil affairs troops trained in the special responsibilities of post-conflict reconstruction, #
• Increase our military police, because public order is critical to establishing the conditions that allow peace to take hold, #
• Add 500 "psychological operations" personnel and augment their language training. #

Modernizing our military. #

We cannot have a 21st century military unless we are using 21st century technology and preparing our forces for 21st century threats. That means educating, training, and arming every soldier with state-of-the-art equipment, whether it is body armor or weapons. And it means employing the most sophisticated communications to help our troops prevail and protect themselves in battle. Right now, the technology exists to let a soldier see what is over the next hill or around the next bend in the road. Every soldier in every unit should have access to that technology because it can mean the difference between life and death. And we will see to it that they do. #

The Bush administration talks about military transformation, and takes credit for modernization efforts that were actually undertaken by the Clinton administration. Our troops need more than talk. We need a practical and specific plan for making our forces stronger by making them smarter. We offer a military modernization plan that will: #

• Create more fully modernized "digital divisions," equipped with the latest communications technology crucial to future military success, #
• Create new "anti-proliferation" units trained and equipped to find and destroy nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and to secure the facilities that produce them, #
• Provide full support for 21st century education and training for our troops, including training in how to deal effectively with culturally diverse civilian populations. #

We will also focus defense dollars on investing in the right technologies, including: #

• Advanced communications and information technologies, to give our troops a crucial advantage in situational awareness and coordinating operations, #
• Sensing and control technologies, including robotic systems that minimize the risk of casualties, #
• Precision weapons, including "directed energy" weapons that can incapacitate the enemy, without risking the lives of innocent bystanders, for use in areas with large civilian populations. #

Standing up for military families. #

We have an ironclad commitment to the men and women of our armed forces and their families. We will enact a Military Family Bill of Rights to ensure that our men and women in uniform and their families receive the benefits and respect they deserve. That includes: #

• A commitment to full, mandatory funding of veterans’ health care, #
• A commitment to competitive pay for service members, including special compensations for those in combat zones, such as family separation allowances and hazardous duty pay, #
• Up-to-date and accurate notice to military families about deployments and rotations that send troops away from home or back home, #
• Financial help for families affected by extended deployments, #
• A guarantee of adequate housing for military families, beginning with the accelerated construction by private developers of new housing on or near military bases, #
• Full access for all military personnel, whether active duty, National Guard, or Reserves, to TRICARE, the Defense Department’s health care system, #
• Full funding for Department of Defense schools serving military families, which the Bush administration has sought to cut, #
• A new $250,000 gratuity for families of service members killed in a combat zone, #
• Doubling the period during which families of service members killed in action can continue to live in military housing. #

Keeping our Promise to American Veterans. #

America entered into a covenant with those it drafted and those who enlisted, but the truth is, with every story of a veteran who goes without quality health care, housing, and a quality education, that covenant is broken. There are countless veterans who fought our wars who are now fighting year after year for the benefits they earned. Time and again the Bush administration has broken our nation’s promise to our veterans. #

The Bush administration refuses to fully fund veterans’ health care, #

• While boasting of cutting waitlists for VA health care, the Bush administration has done so by excluding nearly 500,000 veterans from enrolling, #
• The Bush administration has strongly opposed granting our nation’s veterans full disability and retirement pay. #

We will end the game of playing politics with funding for veterans health care by making it mandatory. And we will end the "disabled veterans tax," under which military retirees who receive both veteran’s pensions and disability compensation must surrender a dollar from their military retirement pay for every dollar they get for military compensation. #

America deserves a commander-in-chief who will fight for a constant standard of decency and respect for those who serve their country in our armed forces - on active duty and as veterans. It should be no other way and in our administration, it will be no other way. #

Making better use of the National Guard. #

Finally, we need to make better use of what should be a key asset in homeland defense - our National Guard. The National Guard has served in every war, and they are serving now. They were the first ones called on to line city streets, guard bridges, and patrol our airports after September 11th. We will make homeland security one of their primary missions, and assign Guard units to a standing national task force on homeland security commanded by a National Guard general. #

KEEPING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION OUT OF THE HANDS OF TERRORISTS #

There is no greater threat to American security than the possibility that a terrorist could acquire a chemical, biological, or nuclear weapon. Preventing terrorists from gaining access to weapons of mass destruction must be our number one security goal. #

Defeating this massive threat requires American leadership of the highest order - leadership that brings our allies to greater collaboration, our friends to greater vigilance, our partners to greater participation. Unfortunately, the administration’s policies have moved America in the opposite direction. They have weakened international agreements and initiatives instead of strengthening them. They have not done nearly enough to secure existing stockpiles and bomb-making materials. They have failed to take effective steps to stop the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs. Our security requires an immediate change of course. #

Defend America against attack at all costs. #

First, the world should be on notice that we will take every possible measure to defend ourselves against the possibility of attack by unconventional arms. If such an attack appears imminent, we will do everything necessary to stop it. If such a strike does occur, we will respond with overwhelming and devastating force. We will do whatever is necessary to defend our country, and we will never cede our security to anyone. But we must not wait to act until we have no other choice but war. In this new world, we must deploy all the power in America’s arsenal. We must build and lead an international consensus for early preventive action to lock up and secure existing weapons of mass destruction, and the material to manufacture more. #

Secure and reduce existing nuclear weapons and material. #

The first step is to safeguard all bomb-making material worldwide. We need to find it, catalog it, and lock it away. Our approach should be simple: treat the nuclear #

24 materials that make bombs like they are bombs. There is enough nuclear material to make literally thousands of nuclear weapons stored in inadequately protected sites all around the world. At the current pace, it will take 13 years to secure all the potential bomb material in the former Soviet Union alone. And the administration recently announced plans to remove bomb material from certain vulnerable sites outside the former Soviet Union over the next ten years. We cannot wait that long. #

We cannot secure or destroy this material alone. International cooperation, especially with Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union, is absolutely necessary. This will be the highest possible priority in our administration, because there is no greater threat. We will: #

• Make security of vulnerable nuclear material in the former Soviet Union a central issue in U.S.-Russian relations so that we can break through bureaucratic logjams and secure these dangerous materials within four years, #
• Complete a Global Cleanout by securing highly enriched uranium at research reactors in dozens of countries outside the former Soviet Union within four years, #
• Establish global standards for safeguarding nuclear materials and provide assistance, through expansion of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, where necessary to help countries meet these standards, #
• Accelerate the timetable for joint U.S. and Russian reductions in nuclear arsenals, #
• Work with Russia to convert highly enriched uranium into energy reactor fuel, and to dispose of plutonium, #
• Lead by example, and end U.S. development of a new generation of nuclear weapons, #
• Work to reduce tension between India and Pakistan and guard against the possibility of their nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands. #

End production of new fissile material for nuclear weapons. #

Given the challenge of securing the thousands of nuclear weapons that already exist, the world does not need more nuclear weapons. There is strong international support for a ban on all production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for use in nuclear weapons. We will immediately ask the members of the United Nations Security Council to formally pledge never again to produce such material for weapons. We will then lead a broad international coalition to verifiably ban production of these materials for use in nuclear weapons. #

Lead international efforts to shut down nuclear programs in North Korea, Iran, and elsewhere. #

We must show determined leadership to end the nuclear weapons program in North Korea and prevent the development of nuclear weapons in places such as Iran. North Korea has sold ballistic missiles and technology in the past. The North Koreans have made it clear to the world - and to the terrorists - that they are open for business and will sell to the highest bidder. But while this administration has been fixated on Iraq, the nuclear dangers from North Korea have multiplied. North Korea has reportedly made enough new material to make six to nine nuclear bombs. At the same time, just as we are scouring Iraq for signs of weapons of mass destruction, they appear to be working to build them next door in Iran. We will: #

• Work toward negotiating a comprehensive agreement with North Korea that will completely, irreversibly, and verifiably end North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, #
• Continue the current six-nation negotiations with North Korea, but be prepared to engage in direct U.S. bilateral negotiations with Pyongyang as part of those talks, #
• Join our European allies to offer Iran a simple deal - to supply Tehran with the nuclear fuel it needs for peaceful energy purposes and recapture any spent fuel so it cannot be redirected into a weapons program, #
• Strengthen the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by offering every country a deal like the one we propose for Iran: nuclear fuel in exchange for an agreement to shut down enrichment and reprocessing facilities. #

Enhance international efforts to stop trafficking in nuclear materials. #

We must also strengthen our ability to prevent trafficking in bomb-making materials and components. We will: #

• Work with the international community to toughen export controls, stiffen penalties, and strengthen law enforcement and intelligence sharing so that disasters like the AQ Khan network do not ever happen again, #
• Work through the United Nations and international treaties to outlaw trade in the technologies and weapons of mass destruction, #
• Increase participation in the Proliferation Security Initiative, which provides for inspection of shipments that might hide dangerous materials. #

Make prevention of nuclear terrorism a top national security priority. #

We will: #

• Appoint a Presidential Coordinator who will focus exclusively on directing a top line effort to secure all nuclear weapons and materials around the world and ensure that efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism are prioritized and integrated into a comprehensive plan, #
• Instruct the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, and State to make counter-proliferation efforts a major emphasis in every element of national security policy. #

PROMOTING DEMOCRACY, DEVELOPMENT, PEACE, AND SECURITY #

Promoting democracy, human rights, and the rule of law is vital to our long-term security - Americans are safer in a world of democracies. We will restore America’s ability and commitment to act as a credible force for democracy and human rights, starting in Iraq. Torture is unacceptable - we both share the American people’s revulsion at the incidents at Abu Ghraib and other detention facilities. These acts endanger the lives of our soldiers, make their mission harder to accomplish, and contradict everything that the brave men and women of our armed forces are fighting to defend. We are determined to provide the leadership needed to make sure that such behavior never occurs again. Upholding international standards for the treatment of prisoners advances America’s national security, the security of our troops, and the values of our people. #

Winning the peace in Iraq. #

More than a year ago, President Bush stood on an aircraft carrier under a banner that proclaimed "mission accomplished." But today we know that the mission is not accomplished, hostilities have not ended, and our men and women in uniform stand almost alone. #

We both voted to give the president the authority to use force as a last resort to disarm Saddam. We know that people disagree about whether America should have gone to war in Iraq. But this much is certain - the administration badly exaggerated its case, badly mishandled the responsibility to secure international support, and badly mismanaged the planning for peace. They clearly misrepresented the connection between Saddam’s government and al Qaeda - and stubbornly cling to their story despite all evidence to the contrary. They did not build a true international coalition. They disdained the United Nations weapons inspection process and rushed to war without exhausting diplomatic alternatives. They did not send sufficient forces into Iraq to accomplish the mission - ignoring the advice of military leaders. And they simply had no plan to win the peace. #

We must change course. The administration has begun to, in fits and starts, by taking up suggestions that many Democrats, including both of us, first made more than a year ago. But they continue to drag their heels, and that is unacceptable. #

Our troops in Iraq have not had the clarity of mission, the equipment, and the international support they need and deserve. Our helicopter pilots have flown battlefield missions without the best available anti-missile systems. Too many of our nation’s finest troops have died in attacks because thousands were deployed to Iraq without the best bulletproof vests, and there is a shortage of armored vehicles on the ground. Thousands of National Guardsmen and reservists have been forced to leave their families and jobs for more than a year - with no end in sight - because this administration ignored the pressing need for a true coalition. When we are in the White House, that will all change. #

Having gone to war, we cannot afford to fail at peace. We must take immediate measures to prevent Iraq from becoming a failed state that inevitably would become a haven for terrorists and a destabilizing force in the Middle East. #

We must now forge a new policy based on what we know and on what will be most effective. We still have an opportunity to prevent Iraq from becoming a failed state and a haven for global terrorists and Islamic extremists. We can still succeed in promoting stability, democracy, protection of minority and women’s rights, and peace in the region if we construct and follow a realistic path. #

To accomplish this, America must do the hard work to get the world’s major political powers to join in this mission. We must build a real coalition of countries to work together to achieve our mission in Iraq; the international community shares the stakes - they should share the political and military burdens. To do that, of course, we must share responsibility with those nations that answer our call, and treat them with respect. We must lead - and we must listen. We should: #

• Make the creation of a stable and secure environment our immediate priority in Iraq in order to lay the foundation for a sustainable democracy, #
• Fully internationalize the non-Iraqi security and reconstruction personnel in Iraq, to share the costs and burdens, end the continuing perception of a U.S. occupation, and help coordinate reconstruction efforts, draft the constitution, and organize elections, #
• Persuade NATO to deploy a significant portion of the force that will be needed to secure and win the peace in Iraq, #
• Plan for Iraq’s future by working with our allies to forgive Iraq’s multi-billion dollar debt and by supporting the development of a new Iraqi constitution and the political arrangements needed to protect minority rights. We will also convene a regional conference with Iraq’s neighbors to secure a pledge to respect Iraq’s borders and not to interfere in its internal affairs, #
• Launch a massive and accelerated training effort to build Iraqi security forces that can provide real security for the Iraqi people, including a major role for NATO. #

Middle East peace. #

We are fundamentally committed to the security of our ally Israel and the creation of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace between Israel and its neighbors. Our special relationship with Israel is based on the unshakable foundation of shared values and mutual commitment to democracy, and we will ensure that under all circumstances Israel retains the qualitative edge for its national security and its right to self-defense. We believe that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths. We will: #

• Bring genuine resolve and direct personal involvement to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, #
• Work to transform the Palestinian Authority to promote new and responsible leadership, committed to fighting terror and promoting democracy, #
• Support the creation of a democratic Palestinian state dedicated to living in peace and security side by side with the Jewish State of Israel. We believe that the creation of a Palestinian state should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel, #
• Understand that it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949 - and we understand that all final status negotiations must be mutually agreed on, #
• Work to end direct and indirect financing of Palestinian terrorist organizations and anti-Israeli propaganda in the news media and schools. #

Africa. #

U.S. engagement in Africa should reflect its vital significance to U.S. interests as well as the moral imperative to help a continent struggling with the scourge of disease and persistent poverty. The HIV/AIDS pandemic in southern and eastern Africa is a massive human tragedy. It is also a security risk of the highest order that threatens to plunge nations into chaos. Chronic and debilitating hunger also threatens the very survival of communities where investment in agriculture has suffered for over a decade. We are committed to bringing the full weight of American leadership to bear against these challenges. #

We must also work with the United Nations and Africa’s regional organizations to address Africa’s persistent, disproportionate share of the world’s weak, failing states and chronic armed conflicts, and promote sustainable economic development. We support extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides a door to a brighter future for many of the continent’s poorest countries. We will also support effective relief efforts when there is a humanitarian crisis - particularly at this moment in Darfur, Sudan, where genocide is underway. And we will continue to promote policies to support democracy, economic reform, and respect for human rights. #

Asia. #

We believe that we must engage with China effectively to secure Chinese adherence to international trade, nonproliferation, and human rights standards. We are committed to a "One China" policy and will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-Straits issues. We support Taiwan’s vibrant democracy and robust economy and will maintain America’s commitment to provide Taiwan with defensive weapons. We must strengthen the already strong relationship with Japan. We will actively seek to enhance relations with our historic ally South Korea in order to advance our collaborative efforts on economic and security issues. We will continue to work together with these countries to bring about the complete, irreversible and verifiable end to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. We must also work with our friends, India and Pakistan, in their efforts to resolve longstanding differences. #

Europe. #

We are committed to restoring our alliances with European countries and revitalizing the Atlantic partnership that has been badly damaged by the Bush administration. Throughout the 20th century, America’s most trusted and reliable allies were the democracies of Europe; together, the two sides of the Atlantic ensured that democracy and free markets prevailed against all challenges. The Bush administration has allowed the Atlantic partnership to erode, leaving the United States dangerously isolated from its indispensable allies. We look forward to working together with a prosperous and unified Europe in meeting today’s security challenges and expanding the global economy. We also understand that alliances involve mutual obligations; we will expect our European allies to share the responsibility of meeting our mutual security needs. And we will ensure that NATO remains strong, continuing to consolidate peace in Europe even as the alliance takes on new tasks in Afghanistan and Iraq. #

We are committed to the resumption of genuinely active, high-level participation in the Northern Ireland peace process. By pro-actively supporting the leaders in Northern Ireland and the Irish and British Governments, we will work to help achieve the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, including the restoration of the Assembly, the assurance of the permanence of the democratic institutions, the demilitarization of Northern Ireland, an end to all paramilitarism, progress on equality and human rights, and a police service that fairly represents and is widely supported by the people of Northern Ireland. We support giving undocumented workers who have lived and worked here for five years, who pay taxes, and who are successfully screened for security purposes, a path to citizenship. We are also aware of the deportee cases and will take a fresh look at them. #

Latin America and the Caribbean. #

We believe that it is time to create a new Community of the Americas that reflects our close relationship with our regional neighbors. We will return U.S.-Latin American relations to a place marked by dialogue, consensus, and concerted action to address common concerns. We understand that our collective security and prosperity are furthered by mutual efforts to promote democracy, generate wealth, reduce income disparities, and provide sound environmental stewardship. We are committed to strong and steady support for democratic processes and institutions in our hemisphere, and believe that we should exercise our considerable diplomatic and moral force in support of democratically elected leaders. We will make relations with Mexico a priority in order to best address economic, environmental, and social issues of concern. #

We will increase efforts to combat drug-trafficking throughout the Caribbean and assist in combating corruption so that funds made available for development are used appropriately. We will support economic development to increase employment and economic opportunity, reducing incentives for emigration by dangerous and life-threatening means. #

We support effective and peaceful strategies to end the Castro regime as soon as possible and enable the Cuban people to take their rightful place in the democratic Community of the Americas. We will work with the international community to increase political and diplomatic pressure on the Castro regime to release all political prisoners, support civil society, promote the important work of Cuban dissidents, and begin a process of genuine political reform. We support a policy of principled travel to Cuba that promotes family unity and people-to-people contacts through educational and cultural exchanges. #

Global health. #

We believe that addressing global health challenges is a humanitarian obligation and a national security imperative. Epidemics can decimate societies and contribute to failed states, which can become bases for terrorists and other criminal elements. We will restore American leadership to the international community’s effort to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We will double U.S. funding to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria to $30 billion by 2008. And we will ensure that U.S. contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria are substantially increased above the Bush administration’s current funding levels. We are committed to maximizing the effectiveness of our funds by providing those who need treatment with safe, effective, and affordable generic drugs. #

A strong global public health system is essential to effectively combating bio-terror threats. Our global health policy will bring the best of our scientific knowledge, financial resources, management skills, and compassion to the challenge of improving health conditions around the world. And we will restore America’s leadership in global health by rejecting policies driven by ideology instead of science. #

Together, we can make our country a safer America, a stronger America, a respected America. We can do it in a way that safeguards all the greatness of America, by protecting our people, securing our homeland, and reinforcing our values - faith and family, duty and service, individual freedom and a common purpose to build one nation under God. We can do it in a way that keeps faith with the best measures of American leadership around the world - the builder of alliances, the defender of freedom, the champion of human rights. We can do it, and we will. #

HOMELAND SECURITY #

The first responsibility of government is to protect its citizens from harm. We have made some progress since the terrible attacks of September 11th, but we have not done nearly enough. Today the Bush administration has no coherent plan for domestic defense. Our intelligence services remain fragmented and lack coordination. Millions of shipping containers arrive at American ports every year without being searched. Our borders are not secure. Our chemical plants are vulnerable to attack. Across America, police officers, firefighters, and other first responders still lack the information, protective gear, and communications equipment needed to do their jobs safely and successfully. #

We offer a new strategy for homeland security that addresses five major challenges. Our plan will: #

• Improve our ability to gather, analyze, and share information so we can track terrorists down and stop them before they cause harm, #
• Better secure our airports, seaports, and borders, #
• Harden likely terrorist targets and critical infrastructure, #
• Improve domestic readiness, #
• Protect freedom and justice even as we protect our people and our homeland. #

Better intelligence. #

The war on terror begins with good intelligence. Shockingly, many of the same flaws in intelligence-sharing that allowed terrorists to slip in and out of America before September 11th still exist. The government has missed its own deadlines for upgrading and integrating security databases and still fails to share information with the state and local law enforcement agencies on the frontlines. This must change. We will: #

• Create a true Director of National Intelligence with real control over all intelligence personnel and budgets, #
• Transform our intelligence services to ensure that they have sufficient personnel with the skills, languages, training and orientation needed to meet today’s threats, #
• Break down the bureaucratic barriers that prevent vital information-sharing between intelligence agencies and law enforcement at both the national and local levels, including granting security clearances to state and local officials where appropriate. #

More secure borders. #

Our borders are far too porous, especially to cargo that comes by sea or air. Our plan will improve security at our borders, seaports, and airports. We will: #

• Improve the detection equipment in our shipping systems, #
• Ensure that private companies obtain adequate information about items they are shipping, #
• Work with other nations to increase inspections of seaborne cargo, #
• Adopt tighter controls on air cargo, tons of which goes uninspected every day, #
• Replace the unsuccessful airport screening system with a new system that identifies security threats while honoring American values, #
• Work with Canada, Mexico, and Caribbean nations to strengthen border controls, using better technology and more personnel to improve inspections while speeding up commerce. #

Hardened targets. #

We will launch a major effort to harden our critical infrastructure and most vulnerable targets - from chemical and nuclear plants to rails, tunnels and key cyber networks - and better protect them from attack. For example, there are more than 100 chemical plants where an attack could endanger more than one million people, and the FBI has warned that al Qaeda may target our chemical industry. The Bush administration was moving toward a commonsense solution that would set minimum standards for safety at chemical plants - but after heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, they backed down. We will put safety first. We will: #

• Better protect nuclear plants and weapons facilities as an urgent priority, #
• Require new security standards at chemical plants, including more guards, better fencing, and use of less dangerous chemicals where possible, #
• Improve railroad and subway security by taking steps such as providing chemical release detectors and tightening security at critical entry points. #

Domestic readiness. #

First responders are the first ones up the stairs in the event of an emergency, and it is wrong that today they are last in line when it comes to this administration’s budgets. Our plan will improve domestic readiness so people on the frontlines have the training and equipment to respond to any attack with all the speed, skill, and strength required. In the end, homeland security is not about changing the alert from yellow to orange; the colors of safety are firefighter red, EMT white, and police officer blue. We will: #

• Provide assistance to police and fire departments to end serious shortages of manpower, training, and equipment, #
• Modernize our emergency warning system to provide localized warnings, treat frontline fighters as partners, and give families all the information they need, #
• Enlist citizens in homeland security efforts through an expanded AmeriCorps national service program, and a "21st Century Neighborhood Watch" initiative focused on emergency response needs. #

Although there has been progress in preparing for a bioterrorist attack, we still do not have strong national leadership in planning or coordination. Our hospitals are overwhelmed and our public health system cannot handle large, lethal epidemics of disease. We lack adequate supplies, drugs, and vaccines. We will: #

• Put one person in charge of overseeing all bioterrorism programs, budgets, and strategic priorities in order to establish a coordinated, national response strategy, #
• Work with state and local leaders to establish the benchmarks for state and local preparedness required by law and still missing today, #
• Revitalize our public health system to improve monitoring of disease outbreaks, #
• Harness America’s bioscience genius to improve preparedness for a bioterror attack by creating a Medical Arsenal of Democracy dedicated to speeding drug and vaccine development, #
• Strengthen our hospitals and ensure they have emergency plans to address a surge in medical needs under mass casualty and exposure conditions. #

Guarding liberty. #

We must always remember that terrorists do not just target our lives; they target our way of life. And so we must be on constant guard not to sacrifice the freedom we are fighting to protect. We will strengthen some parts of the Patriot Act, like the restrictions on money laundering, and improve other aspects of it, like information sharing. At the same time, we will revise parts of the Patriot Act such as the library provisions to better protect our freedom. We will ensure government can take all needed steps to fight terror. Our government should never round up innocent people only because of their religion or ethnicity, and should always honor our Constitution. We believe in an America where freedom is what we fight for - not what we give up. #

An Energy Independent America #

No strategy for American security is complete without a plan to end America’s dangerous dependence on Mideast oil. We consume 2.5 million barrels of oil per day from the Middle East. Our economy depends on oil controlled by some of the world’s most repressive regimes. This is a real threat to our national security, our economy, and our environment. #

Dependence on foreign oil is a security problem because it forces us to rely on volatile regions ruled by some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes. We believe a strong America must no longer rely on the cooperation of regimes that may not share our values, and we are not willing to risk a future in which our young men and women might have to risk their lives to protect Mideast oil supplies. We must ensure that our dependence on Mideast oil no longer hampers our ability to act as a strong moral force in the world. #

HOW MISMANAGING THE WAR ON TERROR HAS HURT CONSUMERS #

Americans have experienced some of the highest gas prices in over three decades.These record high prices are not just the result of the Bush administration’s failure to create an energy policy that moves America away from dependence on foreign oil. It is also a result of what experts call a "terror premium." #

Before the war in Iraq started, oil was trading at nearly $35 per barrel and the futures market predicted that the price would drop to about $25 per barrel by June 2004. Instead, the price of oil in June rose to over $40 a barrel. Most of this $15 per barrel difference - more than 50 percent higher than expected - is attributed to security threats, unstable conditions in the Middle East and general fears of terrorism.That is the terror premium. #

Experts throughout the oil and gas sector have commented on these unpredictably high prices. Daniel Yergin, a leading energy expert, has argued that anxiety and geopolitical risks have been inflating prices.Wells Fargo’s chief economist argued that fear was driving up prices, noting that speculators in the oil market were betting that geopolitical turbulence would keep prices rising. Almost weekly sabotage events in both Iraq and Saudi Arabia have lent credence to this argument and continued to destabilize the oil markets. If the Bush administration had more effectively managed Iraq after the initial combat, it is reasonable to assume that the price of oil would be more stable today. #

Dependence on foreign oil is an economic problem because it gives other countries that do not always share all of our key interests the power to disrupt economic growth in the United States, Europe, and East Asia by manipulating oil prices and supplies. The price of oil produced everywhere, even in the U.S., is effectively controlled by the OPEC cartel, which is dominated by Middle East producers. OPEC’s stronghold on global oil prices exposes us to price spikes and supply interruptions over which we have little or no control. Rising oil prices over the last several years have already placed a large burden on U.S. citizens and businesses. Together with record increases in the cost of health care, college tuition, and a drop in income, rising gas prices are a burdensome part of the middle-class squeeze that is making it harder and harder for millions of families to make ends meet. We should never forget the lesson of the 1970s, when OPEC producers used the "oil weapon" to cause a price spike that hamstrung our economy for years, slowed growth, accelerated inflation, and caused one of the worst recessions since the Great Depression. #

[Department of Energy, Household Vehicles Energy Consumption 1994, Table 5.2, August 1997; AAA, Fuel Gauge Report, 7/13/04] #

And dependence on oil is an environmental and health problem. The oil products we use to power our cars and trucks causes smog and other forms of air pollution, and contributes to the growing risk of climate change - a risk that, despite the Bush administration’s refusal to acknowledge it, is widely recognized throughout the scientific community. #

For decades, we have been stuck on an energy crisis roller coaster. Gas prices rise and people talk about the need for a new energy policy. When gas prices drop, people drop the issue. If unrest erupts in the Middle East, people talk about the need to address our energy needs. When prices drop and stability returns, we turn to another topic. It is time to get off this ride and chart a new course. #

We believe a strong America must move toward energy independence. In the short-term, we can lower energy costs and help working families. We can provide relief to our farmers who will spend an additional $1.3 billion on gas this year, our truck drivers who will spend an additional $5 billion, and our airlines that will spend an additional $4.5 billion on jet fuel. And for the longterm, we have a comprehensive energy plan to make America independent of Mideast oil. #

And not only can we can achieve it, we can make America stronger, and produce great benefits for our people along the way. Achieving energy independence will improve our ability to protect our values and interests around the world. It will reduce energy costs for our families. It will create high-paying new jobs. And it will improve our environment and make our people healthier. #

This administration has done nothing as gas prices have soared to record levels. Even the administration’s own economists have found that their energy plan will do nothing to reduce gas prices. This president’s approach to energy policy leaves America shackled to foreign oil - dependent and vulnerable. There are few challenges facing America today that affect our future in so many ways as the challenge of achieving independence from Mideast oil. Yet it is a challenge that the current administration has completely failed to address. #

The principle of the Bush administration’s energy plan is more, not less, dependence on oil. Although the president has embraced the far-off solution of hydrogen fuel cells for tomorrow’s transportation system, he lacks a balanced plan for energy diversification today. The centerpiece of the administration’s energy plan is to open up the environmentally sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling - a proposal that promises only minimal improvement in our domestic oil supplies but will inflict permanent damage on the Refuge’s lands and wildlife. #

The Bush administration contends that a strategy for energy independence is not viable because it relies too heavily on government intervention in energy markets. #

Our current policies cost taxpayers billions of dollars today, and create even greater costs for both government and business tomorrow. We need to invest more wisely and lead the country toward energy independence rather than give handouts to special interests that perpetuate our reliance on oil. #

We have a comprehensive plan to lead America to energy independence. Our plan will unleash the full force of American optimism and ingenuity - the genius of our scientists and engineers and the century-long adaptability of our automakers. We invented and built the cars, home energy systems, and power plants of today. And we can invent and build the energy-efficient products and technologies of tomorrow. #

Sixty-two years ago, Franklin Roosevelt brought together America’s best minds and most innovative technologies in a crash project to develop nuclear weapons before they could be developed and deployed by our enemies. The Manhattan Project conveyed a sense of national urgency and focus with an unprecedented partnership between public resources and private innovation. #

Later, America launched another bold initiative known as the Apollo Project to accelerate our search to explore the new frontier of space. Changing the way we produce and use energy is no less urgent a national priority. Our energy plan will marshal the same concentration of brainpower, willpower, and innovation to create new energy sources and technologies and put us on a path toward energy independence. We will pursue three avenues at once by: #

• Exploring and developing new energy sources, #
• Improving energy efficiency and developing renewable energy technologies, #
• Diversifying existing energy sources and reducing prices. #

This plan will generate 500,000 new jobs within a decade, and position America at the leading edge of some of the world’s most profitable industries. #

Exploring and developing new energy sources. #

Our energy plan will embrace a simple but revolutionary goal: harnessing new energy sources to power the world we live in. We believe sources like the sun, wind, and a rich array of crops can provide us with secure forms of energy at reasonable costs for the rest of this century - but only if we start exploring and developing them today. Our plan sets the goal of producing 20 percent of our electricity from renewable sources by the year 2020, reducing our reliance on oil, improving our environment, and creating new "cash crops." To reach that goal, our plan will: #

• Expand the Production Tax Credit for wind and biomass energy to cover the full array of renewable energy sources, #
• Increase Department of Energy research into renewable energy sources and their applications, #
• Create a new public-private partnership to help finance renewable energy research and development in the private sector, #
• Our plan will also expand the use of renewable fuels to power our cars, trucks, and SUVs. We will put 100,000 hydrogen-fueled vehicles on the road by 2010, and 2.5 million by 2020. #

To meet these goals we will: #

• Increase the use of renewable fuels such as ethanol to 5 billion gallons by 2012, #
• Expand federally sponsored research into renewable fuels for automobiles, #
• Create a Hydrogen Institute to unite scientists and researchers in the drive to accelerate hydrogen fuel cell and other advanced fuel technology. #

FUELING RURAL ECONOMIES #

Investing in energy independence and renewable energy sources is critical to the growth of the rural economy and the security of our nation’s energy supply. Renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Instead of sending billions of dollars to unstable and often hostile regimes, we would divert that money back to farmers and Main Streets here at home. #

We must ensure that at least 5 billion gallons of renewable fuel is part of America’s energy supply by 2012. This standard provides a much-needed boost to rural areas by creating new jobs and adding value to products farmers produce. For example, the use of corn and other commodities for ethanol production adds 20 to 40 cents to every bushel of corn. Not only do farmers benefit from the higher price, an increasing number of farmers are joining together in cooperatives to build ethanol production facilities - thereby directly taking advantage of the value-added market through ownership. #

In addition to increasing the use of biofuels, the renewable fuels standards would provide a shot in the arm to our still struggling national economy. According to the Renewable Fuels Association, by 2012, the standard would add $156 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), spur $5.3 billion new capital investments, and create 214,000 new jobs. In rural America, the RFS would mean an increase of $1.3 billion in annual farm income. #

Opportunities in rural America do not end with renewable fuels. In many states, individual farmers and ranchers lease their property to wind power companies and receive an annual payment for having wind turbines on their property. With the right leadership, this could become a "cash crop" for many other farmers and ranchers around the country and stabilize rural economies as well as meet the growing demand for clean sources of electricity. #

New renewable and affordable energy sources are not a science fiction dream. With more aggressive leadership and a real plan, we can expand their use today and build an energy-efficient America tomorrow. #

BENEFITS OF THE RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARD #

Renewable energy can help solve multiple problems: rising energy prices, energy supply shortages and disruptions, and harmful air pollution. A national renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to provide 20 percent of U.S. electricity from sources like wind, solar, and biomass energy by 2020 would have essentially no cost for consumers, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy. Because they are home-grown, renewable energy sources can also increase energy security and create local jobs. #

Diversifying the power supply by developing America’s renewable energy resources creates a more competitive market, which can reduce natural gas prices and save consumers and businesses money on their energy bills. In addition, renewable energy is not subject to the price volatility that plagues natural gas power plants. #

The RPS will stimulate investment in new renewable energy throughout the nation, creating jobs and lifting incomes in rural areas as well as in the high tech and manufacturing sectors. With a strong domestic renewable energy industry, the U.S. economy will benefit from this industry’s large export potential. #

Adopting a strong national renewable portfolio standard will also help to improve the environment, reducing U.S. carbon dioxide emissions as well as emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and mercury, will help address acid rain, smog, water contamination, and will limit our contribution to global warming. #

Improving energy efficiency and reliability. #

The energy economy of the future depends on the development of cleaner, more efficient technology and production methods to make better use of existing energy sources. We can make immediate progress on energy efficiency simply by making a national commitment to do so, with our government leading by example. With respect to energy efficiency in our office buildings, homes, and communities, our plan will: #

• Cut the federal government’s energy bills by 20 percent by 2020, saving an estimated $14 billion for taxpayers, #
• Challenge and help state and local governments, corporations, universities, hospitals, and small businesses to meet the same 20 percent energy efficiency goal, #
• Provide tax incentives for "smart building" practices to spur energy-efficient construction and renovation methods. #

Nearly 70 percent of the oil Americans consume is burned in cars, trucks, trains, and planes. Energy-efficiency in transportation can be rapidly improved, just as it was during the energy crisis of the 1970s, without sacrificing consumer choice. At the same time, we can enhance U.S. automakers’ competitive advantage in the global automotive marketplace of the future. Our plan will: #

• Update and strengthen our fuel-efficiency standards, #
• Create new tax incentives for automakers to build the new, more efficient automobiles of the future, #
• Provide tax incentives for families to purchase more energy-efficient cars, trucks, and SUVs. #

We will work to create better, more efficient technologies for producing electricity, and ensure that our people have access to a secure and reliable supply of electricity at all times. Our plan includes: #

• Mandatory, enforceable reliability standards for our electric grid that will help avoid blackouts, #
• Public-private partnerships to make our power systems more flexible, resilient, and self-healing - and more environmentally friendly than ever before. #

We believe that coal should be part of the solution to our energy and environmental challenges. We need to harness technology to develop clean electric power from coal. At the same time, we believe that we need clear benchmarks and a flexible framework to measure the emissions performance of existing and new uses of coal. Our "clean coal" plan will: #

• Invest $10 billion over the next decade to transform the current generation of coal-fired utility plants into cleaner and more energy-efficient plants, #
• Develop new technologies to generate clean electric power from coal, #
• Employ flexible, market-based strategies to reduce utility plant emissions of nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide while rewarding companies that develop new and cleaner technologies. #

Expanding new energy sources while improving the efficiency of existing sources will go a long way toward reducing dependence on Mideast oil. At the same time, it will dramatically reduce the environmental and health damage being created by our current energy use. Even if we only partly accomplish our goals, we will reverse current trends toward greater dependence on oil, more pollution, and higher costs for businesses and consumers. #

Diversifying and reducing prices for current energy sources. #

Even in the limited universe of fossil fuel sources, we can do more to expand supplies and lower costs right now - without damaging the environment. We must take immediate steps to reduce gasoline prices. Our plan will: #

• Temporarily suspend the Bush administration’s practice of "topping off" the Strategic Petroleum Reserve until prices decrease, #
• Aggressively "jawbone" oil producing nations to keep production levels high enough to stabilize oil and gasoline prices. #

We should explore opportunities to replace OPEC producers with non-OPEC sources of oil. Although this step cannot be the centerpiece for a 21st century energy strategy, we can explore domestic and non-OPEC sources for oil without new damage to the environment. We will: #

• Develop domestic supplies in areas already open for exploration, including the western and central Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, #
• Work to increase the availability of oil from countries outside the OPEC cartel, including Russia, Canada, and certain areas of Africa. #

Finally, we will make a major push to expand the availability - and hold down the price - of the cleanest form of fossil fuel: natural gas. While we may never get back to the days of unlimited natural gas supplies at very low prices, we can make immediate progress to improve supplies and prices. Our plan will: #

• Pursue a North American Energy Initiative, a long-term partnership with Canada and Mexico to develop and expand our continent’s abundant natural gas reserves, #
• Speed construction of an Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline to help move the 35 trillion cubic feet of known natural gas reserves on the North Slope of Alaska into the U.S. marketplace, #
• Ensure a fair and well-functioning natural gas market to prevent abuses and supply shortages like those that recently threatened blackouts and huge price spikes in the western United States. #

Overall, our plan will tackle dependence on Mideast oil, and address the associated risks to our national security, our economy, our environment, and our health and quality of life. It will do this by expanding new and old energy sources, deploying new technologies, increasing efficiency, and producing cleaner energy. #

Given that sixty-five percent of the world’s oil reserves are in the Middle East, America will never be able to drill our way to energy independence. But if we have the will and the imagination to declare our commitment to energy independence today, we can achieve it tomorrow. We can create jobs and build a stronger country. We can once again make America the energy and transportation capital of the world, and make America the world’s best steward of the environment we all share. #

---

Chapter Two
OPPORTUNITY #

I believe the measure of a strong economy is a growing middle class, where every American has the opportunity to succeed. #

John Edwards

Building a Strong Economy #

A strong America begins at home. We must restore the broad economic growth that expands and strengthens the middle class and leaves a stronger foundation to build prosperity for all our people in the generations to come. #

The great promise of America is simple: a better life for all who work for it. It was a revolutionary idea 228 years ago, and it is still remarkable today - no society on earth before ours made such a promise to its people, and it is up to each generation of Americans to keep it alive, and pass it on. #

The heart of that promise has always been the middle class, the greatest engine of economic strength the world has ever known. When the middle class grows in size and security, our economy grows stronger. #

We share faith in American economic growth and the American dream: that we can strengthen our middle class and make it bigger, that we can offer a better future to all those who work hard and act responsibly. #

Opportunity for all, special privileges for none. Simple, straightforward guideposts for equality that have been the watchwords of the Democratic Party. That’s what we believe in. #

But this White House values wealth over hard work, gives special treatment to the most fortunate at everyone else’s expense, and defends the tax breaks companies use to send jobs overseas. #

Today, our nation faces immense economic challenges: spiraling health care costs, historic job loss, rising tuition and energy costs, and a looming Social Security and Medicare solvency challenge. The Bush administration has ignored each of these challenges, focusing all their effort instead on the defense of massive tax cuts for the most fortunate that have driven America deeply into debt. These kinds of policies did not create long-term growth in the 1980s, and they are not working now. #

In the 1990s, we had a strategy of fiscal discipline that rewarded work and invested in the potential of our people. That strategy helped lay a foundation for the economic growth that lifted up all Americans. Not only were nearly 23 million jobs created but family income went up for all income groups, while poverty and unemployment fell to the lowest levels in decades and our nation went from large deficits to record surpluses. #

The American dream means ensuring economic growth that lifts the incomes, the opportunities, and the hopes of all Americans. President Bush is asking America to lower its sights and its standards. He is telling us that even though he is on track to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over net job loss; even though wages have gone down while health, energy, child care and tuition costs have shot up - this is the best America’s economy can do. We do not accept such a pessimistic view of America’s economic potential. We believe America can do better. #

It is time for a new direction. It is time for a stronger America. It is time to be the America we are meant to be. #

So when it comes to the economy, our pledge to America is not new at all - it is the age-old promise of America; we are just going to keep it. #

In our administration, every day, we will work to make sure that no matter who you are, where you come from, or what your background is, as an American you will live in a nation that offers all the possibility your hard work and God-given talent can bring. You will live in a nation with responsible immigration laws that strengthen our borders and recognize the human rights of the millions of families who work in our fields, our manufacturing plants, our service industry; who send their children to our schools, pay taxes, and love and embrace the America that is our home. #

We have a comprehensive economic plan to keep the American promise and breathe new life into every sector of our economy. Our economic strategy recognizes that government does not create jobs or produce economic growth. Free markets, honest competition, America’s entrepreneurial sprit and hard work do that. But the right public policies can foster an environment that makes strong growth and job creation easier, and the wrong policies can hurt. We understand that the right policies can promote an economic climate that will lay the foundation for private sector investment, foster vigorous competition, and strengthen the foundations of an innovative economy. #

We offer America a new economic plan that will put jobs first. We believe in progress that brings prosperity for all Americans, not just for those who are already successful. #

We believe that good jobs will help strengthen and expand the middle class, the strongest middle class the world has ever known. #

We believe Americans are the smartest, toughest competitors in the world. And we believe companies can keep jobs in America without sacrificing competitiveness. #

CREATING GOOD JOBS #

The opportunity to build a better future starts with a good job. It has always been that way. From the time when most people worked the land, through the Industrial Revolution and into the Information Age, the opportunity for work, the rewards from work, and the dignity of work have made Americans successful and America strong. #

In February 2002, the Bush administration said America, under their leadership, would create nearly 6 million jobs by mid-2004. Instead, to date, the economy has lost more than 1 million private-sector jobs under President Bush. We are 7 million jobs short of the administration’s own prediction - and that does not even take into consideration the millions of Americans who have given up looking for work or who are working part-time because they cannot find the full-time work they need to support their families. Over 75 percent of the new jobs being created today are being created in low-wage industries and are 13 percent less likely to offer health care benefits. Indeed the new jobs that are finally being created pay an average of $9,000 less, making it even harder for the middle class to get ahead. #

[Council of Economic Advisors, "Economic Report of the President, 2002," Bureau of Labor Statistics] #

And job losses are not the only problem on the employment front - the jobs that are being created generally pay less, offer fewer benefits, and are of lower quality than the jobs we are losing. In fact, jobs in industries that are expanding pay an average of $9,160 a year less than jobs in industries that are shrinking. More than three quarters of all the jobs created over the last year pay less than average wages. #

Our plan will reverse the job losses of the Bush- Cheney years and lay a foundation that will help our economy create 10 million new jobs over the first four years. Our plan is based on the proven economic policies of the 1990s - policies that created nearly 23 million jobs over eight years. And our plan is designed to create highpaying, high-quality jobs. #

Our economic strategy begins with an all-out effort to jump start the growth of high-paying jobs. It will reduce taxes for businesses that create jobs here in the United States, while eliminating tax incentives to move jobs overseas. It calls for investing in our manufacturing scientific and technological future, by restoring fiscal discipline. It calls for reducing the costs of job creation by tackling rising health care and energy costs. And it will ensure that we have the best educated and most highly skilled workers. Our plan will fight to protect the jobs of today and create the high-wage jobs of tomorrow. #

First, we will immediately move to change our tax laws and put an end to rules that actually encourage companies to send American jobs overseas. Instead, we will offer tax cuts to companies that create jobs here at home. Our plan will: #

• Close the foreign tax deferral loophole that encourages companies to send jobs overseas, #
• Cut tax rates for 99 percent of taxpaying U.S. businesses by using the savings from ending deferral and offshore tax havens to cut corporate tax rates by five percent, #
• Jump start job creation with a New Jobs Tax Credit that will give manufacturers, other business affected by outsourcing, and small businesses a break on federal payroll taxes for every new job created in America, #
• Eliminate capital gains for start-up investments in small businesses. #

Because our manufacturing sector is the critical backbone of our economy and has been hit hardest by job losses, we will make a special effort to create new manufacturing jobs and help smaller manufacturers survive and thrive in the global economy. In addition to lowering taxes for manufacturers who create jobs on our shores, our plan will: #

• Catalyze the creation of new private investment corporations to give small and medium-sized manufacturers access to the capital they need to expand operations and create new jobs, #
• Invest in initiatives to create high-technology manufacturing "clusters" around research institutions, #
• Help small manufacturers innovate and grow through the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and Advanced Technology Program, which the Bush administration has sought to shut down. #

AMERICAN INVESTMENTS IN RESEARCH AND NEW COMPANIES CREATE JOBS, LAUNCH INDUSTRIES, AND IMPROVE OUR LIVES #

Government funding for research and development has helped launch some of the most important and successful businesses in America.Startup capital and early stage loans can turn one entrepreneur’s big idea into a Fortune 500 company. #

Apple Computers grew out of Steve Jobs’ parents’ garage with the help of a venture capital loan provided by the Small Business Investment Corporation.SBIC helped FedEx become the first company in history to earn $1 billion within a decade of its launch, hiring tens of thousands of people along the way. #

The Advanced Technology Program funded research that helped develop digital mammography - a major breakthrough in accuracy, efficiency, and access to a critical test that has helped millions of women and saved lives. An ATP investment in powerful micro-technologies that make it faster and easier to conduct DNA analysis is helping us understand human genetics, open new avenues in the fight to cure and manage diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to cut health care costs. #

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has helped save thousands of jobs by providing expert advice to small manufacturers across the country.The MEP introduces manufacturers to proven strategies that improve efficiency, cut costs, increase profitability, and save jobs as a result. #

We will draw on our experience with small businesses to create tax incentives that encourage investment in small businesses. We will help small businesses pay for health care and create jobs. And we will promote a Small Business Opportunity Fund to expand microlending. #

KILVERT AND FORBES: JOHN KERRY’S SMALL BUSINESS

"After dinner in Boston one evening in 1979, a friend and I were looking for cookies in Faneuil Hall. Fortunately for us, we could not find any. When all we found was some empty retail space, an idea was born: Kilvert and Forbes, a cookie and muffin shop that we opened later that year. #

"It was a late-night inspiration. I had always had an entrepreneurial spirit in me, and this great business opportunity allowed me to put it to use. My favorites were our brownies, but I cannot tell you how hard it was to get the ingredients just right. #

"Fulfilling my American Dream of owning a business was a challenge and I learned a lot about what it means to be part of the American economy. I had to hire a staff and deal with payroll and taxes. I had to get permits, inspections, do the purchasing, get deliveries, and set up orders. It taught me a lot about paperwork, hassles, the bottom line,and government.So when I served as a member and later as Chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee, I knew how important it was for government to work for small business owners, not against them. #

"As president, I will bring the lessons of owning and working in a small business to the Oval Office and fight for these important members of the American economy." #

- John Kerry

If today’s global economy means anything, it means this: new jobs are increasingly tied to new exports. Today, one in every five American factory jobs depends on exports - and those jobs pay more than other jobs. Open markets spur innovation, speed the growth of new industries, and make our businesses more competitive. We need more free trade - but it must be more fair trade also. #

Free and fair trade means truly open markets where American companies compete on a level playing field. Unfortunately, time after time, the Bush Administration has failed to challenge other countries to live up to their commitments under international trade agreements. We will not stand for that. #

Our plan will continue to ensure that America engages in the global economy. We must be honest in telling Americans that we cannot keep every job on our shores or bring back every lost industry. But we will fight at every turn to ensure that our workers and businesses are never put at an unfair disadvantage because our government is sitting on the sidelines instead of fighting for free and fair and expanded trade. We will: #

• Complete a comprehensive review of all existing trade agreements within the first 120 days of our administration, #
• Aggressively pursue the remedies available through the World Trade Organization and under domestic trade laws to stop violations of those agreements and unfair trade practices, #
• Increase international pressure on China to end its manipulation of currency rates, which are subsidizing Chinese exports while inhibiting other countries’ access to rapidly growing Chinese domestic markets, #
• Support international efforts to crack down on abuses of workers’ rights and halt the exploitation of child labor, #
• Protect the intellectual property rights of U.S. businesses and inventors against commercial pirates and fight for U.S. access to key closed-off foreign market sectors, such as the Japanese auto market and Chinese high technology markets, #
• Build upon and strengthen the progress made by President Clinton in the Jordan agreement to include strong and enforceable internationally recognized labor and environmental standards in the core of new free trade agreements, #
• Expand trade adjustment assistance to help employees who lose their jobs because of global economic changes, including workers in the service sector. #

There are two additional challenges we face that have a huge impact on job creation. First, skyrocketing health care costs place a dangerous burden on American businesses. Our plan will hold costs down, expand access to affordable health care, and ease the burden on businesses. That will help release the capital businesses need to expand and create jobs. Second, we believe that America’s dependence on foreign oil poses real risks to our security and economy. Our plan to lead America to energy independence is a great opportunity to create jobs and increase our security through new, high-profit, highwage renewable energy industries. #

RESTORING FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY IN WASHINGTON #

Even as middle-class families struggle to live within increasingly tighter budgets, the federal government, under the complete control of the president and his party, is once again living large and piling up debt in the name of present and future taxpayers. Under President Bush, America has gone from record surpluses to record deficits. #

[Congressional Budget Office] #

President Bush has turned his back on the simple, bipartisan principle that guided everyone from President Clinton to Speaker Gingrich in the 1990s: pay for all proposals. Instead, the president has proposed or passed tax cuts and spending increases that would increase the deficit by more than $6 trillion over the next decade. Not once has this administration made an effort to balance new spending with new savings, or even to pay for new initiatives - including their enormous tax breaks for the wealthy. #

We must restore responsibility and fiscal discipline to our government, or the debt we pass on to our children will strangle opportunity for the next generation of middleclass Americans. Massive public borrowing keeps inflation and interest rates higher than they would otherwise be, and undermines long-term investor confidence in our economy. Today’s deficits also pose a serious threat to our retirement security. They are financed by borrowing from Social Security Trust Fund surpluses at a time when the retirement of the baby boom generation makes that very risky. #

BUDGET DEFICITS HURT AMERICAN FAMILIES #

Excess spending and massive tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans under President Bush have forced the government to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars. When the government borrows huge amounts of money it means there is less money available to everyone else, which increases the price of borrowing, and drives interest rates up. Families end up paying more for everything from home mortgages to student loans to car payments. #

Economists have a simple rule: every one percentage point increase in the government’s budget deficit forces up interest rates by almost half a percentage point. This rule is based on research by leading economists, including President Bush’s current top economic adviser, N. Gregory Mankiw, and his predecessor, Glenn Hubbard. #

President Bush’s tax cuts - $2.3 trillion over the next decade - together with his spending proposals mean that the budget deficit will continue to increase by an average of 2.3 percent of GDP annually. According to the economists’ rule of thumb, that means the Bush deficits will drive longterm interest rates up more than a full point every year. #

Higher interest rates cost families money: #

* For a 30-year home mortgage of $150,000, an increase in the interest rate from 6 percent to 7 percent would raise annual payments by $1,184. #

* A one point increase adds $1,220 to the cost of a 10-year student loan. #

Restoring fiscal discipline will help bring interest rates down. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan credits deficit reduction for lower interest rates in the 1990s: "The lower federal deficits and, for a time, the realization of surpluses contributed significantly to improved national saving and thereby put downward pressure on real interest rates." #

In the 1990s, fiscal responsibility created confidence in the economy, encouraged investment, and led to a record expansion. Today, we face unsustainable foreign borrowing, rising interest rates, and low consumer confidence. We will bring fiscal discipline back to Washington. #

Our plan will cut the budget deficit in half within four years while reversing policies that will explode the deficit down the road if we do not act now. We will impose strict measures to promote budget discipline, including some of the same steps that helped balance the budget during the 1990s. And we will lead a major assault on corporate welfare and pork-barrel spending. #

Specifically, we will: #

• Repeal President Bush’s tax cuts benefiting those earning over $200,000 a year while expanding middle-class tax cuts, #
• Bring back "pay-as-you-go" budget rules that require Congress to come up with offsets to pay for new spending or tax cut initiatives, #
• Bring back tough caps on domestic discretionary spending, reinforced by mandatory across-the-board cuts, if necessary, so that total discretionary spending, outside security and education, grows no faster than inflation, #
• Reduce the number of government contractors by 100,000, #
• Freeze the federal travel budget, #
• Reform student loan programs to eliminate guaranteed, government-provided profits for banks, #
• Enact the Kerry-McCain proposal for a Corporate Subsidy Commission to identify wasteful and economically inefficient corporate welfare items and force Congress to deal with them on a single, up-or-down vote, #
• Eliminate corporate tax loopholes, like the ones Enron used, which enable companies to avoid paying their fair share, #
• Create a constitutionally acceptable line-item veto power, to enable the president to kill pork-barrel projects unless Congress specifically re-enacts them. #

Our plan will decisively cut budget deficits while providing lower taxes for 98 percent of our families and 99 percent of our businesses. At the same time, our plan will enable us to make high-priority investments in our future, and put us in a better position to strengthen the long-term health of Social Security. #

STANDING UP FOR THE GREAT AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS: A PLAN TO EASE THE SQUEEZE #

A good-paying job is only half of the basic economic equation that every family lives with. As everybody who has ever sat around the kitchen table paying bills knows, if there is less coming in than there is going out, sooner or later, something has to give. #

The basic path to middle-class security is not complicated - work hard, pay your bills, save and invest in your children and your future. But if incomes are declining and costs are rising, it is hard to pay today’s bills, let alone save for tomorrow. #

But that is what is happening today. Today, the average American family is earning less than in 2000. At the same time, health care costs are up by nearly one-half, college tuition has increased by more than one-third, child care costs have risen by more than twice as fast as inflation, and gas and oil prices have gone through the roof. One family goes bankrupt every 19 seconds, a onethird increase since 2000. #

Under President Clinton, for the first time in three decades, incomes and the standard of living rose for all Americans. But President Bush and Vice President Cheney turned away from those proven economic policies in an ideological about-face that ignored the evidence. The middle class is paying the price. Instead of working hard to get ahead, they are working hard just to get by. #

It is time for a new direction. It is time to be the America we are meant to be - where the great American promise of a better life is alive and well. Our plan will lead us to an America where the middle class is expanding, our economy is thriving, and America is strong. #

We will begin by restoring our values to our tax code. #

We want a tax code that rewards work and creates wealth for more people - not a tax code that rewards wealth and hoards it for those who already have it. Under President Bush, the tax burden has shifted onto the shoulders of those who can least afford it. With the middle class under assault like never before, we simply cannot afford President Bush’s massive tax cuts for the very wealthiest. As we all know, the most fortunate Americans did well during the Clinton era - we want to reset tax rates for families making more than $200,000 to the same level they were under Bill Clinton. We will make the middle-class tax cuts permanent, as part of a fiscally responsible plan that cuts the deficit in half while investing in health care and other priorities. Under our plan, 98 percent of Americans will pay lower taxes than they would under current law. #

We will provide new tax cuts to help families meet the key economic challenges of their everyday lives - health care, tuition, and child care. In total, we provide more than twice as much in new middle-class tax cuts than this administration - and every dime is fully paid for without increasing the deficit. Millions of families will receive a tax cut that will help them make ends meet without sacrificing something they should not have to give up - good health care, education, or child care. Specifically, we will offer: #

• Tax credits to help families afford health care, including tax credits for small businesses, #
• A tax credit to make four years of college affordable to all Americans. Specifically, we will offer a tax credit on $4,000 of tuition for all four years of college, #
• A tax credit to make child care more affordable, cutting taxes by $800 for the typical middle-class family with two children in child care. #

[Office of Management and Budget, FY 2005; Kerry-Edwards Campaign] #

Even as we work to ease the squeeze, we will make sure to protect middle-class families that have been driven into debt by the combination of lagging incomes and climbing costs. We will crack down on unfair credit card and mortgage lending practices that make personal debt far worse, cost families their homes, and drive working people toward bankruptcy. #

A strong economy requires trust in our economy. Investors need to trust that their money is being managed honestly and in their best interests. Workers need to trust that their pensions are secure. And consumers need to trust the products they buy. The great majority of chief executive officers are hardworking and honest, but we have seen what happens when a few corporations break the rules and break the trust of their shareholders and workers. We will work for corporate responsibility to increase transparency and protect the rights of investors and workers. #

We will also fight to ensure that our legal system is working to establish the rules and incentives that are needed for the economy to function - without wasting time or money. One way we punish wrongdoing and deter misconduct is through our courts. Our courts - and in particular, the juries of regular citizens at their heart - play a central role in making sure that even the most powerful interests are held accountable, and even the most vulnerable people have protections. At the same time, there is no question that abuses of our legal system have hurt companies and individuals who are acting responsibly. #

Frivolous malpractice lawsuits and class actions waste good people’s time and money. That is wrong, and we support reforms that prevent and punish these abuses - while at the same time preserving the principles of responsibility and fairness that make our system work. #

Our plan is not just aimed at strengthening families in the middle class; we are deeply committed to helping families join the middle class. The great middle-class expansion of the 1990s - that lifted our entire economy with it - has been reversed. Three million families have fallen into poverty under President Bush; in many states, welfare rolls are beginning to rise again after being cut in half during the late 1990s. It is time to turn that around so all people who work hard and meet their responsibilities have the chance to lift themselves out of poverty and into the middle class. Our plan will: #

• Raise the minimum wage to $7.00 an hour by 2007. At this minimum wage a family of four with a full-time worker would no longer be forced to raise their children in poverty, #
• Increase tax credits for child care, an essential ingredient in ensuring the continued success of work-based welfare reform, #
• Defend and strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), increasing the reward to work for the most hard-pressed families and lifting millions out of poverty, #
• Invest in programs like Youthbuild that educate and prepare disadvantaged young people for jobs, #
• Encourage more women and minorities to pursue degrees in math and science, which lead to high paying jobs, #
• Invest in lifelong learning so that workers of all skill levels can access education and training to move up to better, higher paying jobs, #
• Encourage entrepreneurship in all our communities through initiatives like the New Markets venture capital initiative. #

RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE IS A WORKING WOMEN’S ISSUE #

The minimum wage is a working women’s issue. Women make up only 48 percent of the overall American workforce, but 61 percent of the people who will get a raise when we increase the minimum wage. People who live on the minimum wage do not get cost of living adjustments - every year that their costs climb but the minimum wage stays the same is another year people living on the minimum wage can afford less. Economists believe that the primary reason the wage gap expanded between middle- and low-wage women in the 1980s was the erosion in the minimum wage. #

Our proposal to increase the minimum wage will especially help working mothers.There are 1.4 million working mothers who will get a direct raise, and another 3 million who could be helped.This will help mothers lift their families out of poverty and put more food on the table. Increasing the minimum wage to $7 would raise the annual earnings of a full-time worker by about $3,800 a year - enough for a lowincome family to pay for ten months of groceries; eight months of rent; or a year’s tuition at community college and an entire year of health care expenses. #

If we are going to have a strong economy, we do not have a person to waste. Discrimination should never get in the way of accomplishment. We need to enforce civil rights laws that bar employers from discriminating based on skin color or disability, and we need new protections, like one banning on-the-job discrimination based on sexual orientation. We need to unleash the potential of America, from our inner cities to our rural farmlands. #

We must restore overtime protections for American workers, and strengthen the right to organize. Achieving our potential as a country means making the most of everyone’s potential as an American. #

We also need to start giving parents the tools they need to live up to their responsibilities. The 1996 welfare reform law focused on helping custodial parents - usually mothers - move from welfare to work. But we know that children do better when they have two involved parents, not just one. Today many parents are struggling with the job of raising children and at the same time face fewer opportunities and higher costs of child care, health care, and education. We will offer greater opportunities and job training to parents and in return, they will be required to fulfill their responsibilities to their children, including child support. That way we can strengthen families and communities at the same time. #

We have an ironclad commitment to America’s middleclass families. We know that the strong America of the 20th century was built by the great American middle class and all those who worked to join it. We understand that a strong America today means a strong and growing middle class. #

We will champion middle-class interests and put middleclass values at the heart of all that we do. We pledge to honor work over wealth, and opportunity over privilege. We will lead America into a real responsibility era, by asking those at the top to do right by their companies and their workers; by challenging Americans to do right by their families, their communities, and their country; and by insisting that Washington balance its books and do right by the taxpayers for a change. We will fight for proven economic policies that bring prosperity to all Americans against discredited ideological theories that only help those who are already successful. We will lift middle-class incomes and cut middle-class taxes. And we will hold Washington strictly accountable for the impact of its policies on the American families that are our most important economic resource. #

INVESTING IN TOMORROW’S ECONOMY #

One of President Bush’s economic advisors once memorably said: "Computer chips, potato chips, what difference does it make what we produce?" That attitude is sadly typical of the Bush administration’s attitude toward the information-age economy, which depends on key public investments and policies aimed at spurring research and innovation. #

Our plan will help America’s innovators and entrepreneurs maintain our edge in tomorrow’s economy through two major avenues. #

The first is support for basic scientific research. We will: #

• Boost the research budgets at the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy, all of which have lost critical research resources during the Bush administration, #
• Support the Advanced Technology Program which helps finance high-potential projects that struggle to obtain private-sector financing, #
• Extend the Research and Development Tax Credit for private R&D efforts, #
• Restore the scientific integrity of federal science review panels, which the Bush administration has often stacked with political appointees, #
• Invest aggressively in biotechnology research, where huge breakthroughs affecting human health, agricultural production, and new industrial projects are already visible on the horizon, #
• Reverse the Bush administration’s ban on federally supported stem cell research which could soon produce cures for a variety of lethal chronic diseases, including diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, and cancer. #

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE #

Signed by 48 Nobel Laureates, June 21, 2004. Presidential elections present us with choices about our nation’s future.We support John Kerry for president and urge you to join us. #

The prosperity, health, environment, and security of Americans depend on presidential leadership to sustain our vibrant science and technology; to encourage education at home and attract talented scientists and engineers from abroad; and to nurture a business environment that transforms new knowledge into new opportunities for creating quality jobs and reaching shared goals. #

President Bush and his administration are compromising our future on each of these counts. By reducing funding for scientific research, they are undermining the foundation of America’s future. By setting unwarranted restrictions on stem cell research, they are impeding medical advances. By employing inappropriate immigration practices, they are turning critical scientific talent away from our shores. And by ignoring scientific consensus on critical issues such as global warming, they are threatening the earth’s future. Unlike previous administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, the Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important to our collective welfare. #

John Kerry will change all this. He will support strong investments in science and technology as he restores fiscal responsibility. He will stimulate the development and deployment of technologies to meet our economic, energy, environmental, health, and security needs. He will recreate an America that provides opportunity to all at home or abroad who can help us make progress together. #

John Kerry will restore science to its appropriate place in government and bring it back into the White House. He is the clear choice for America’s next president. #

We will redouble our nation’s commitment to closing the "digital divide" and expanding the digital economy, which will continue to transform how we work, communicate, shop, and relax, creating jobs and opportunity in the process. Our plan will: #

• Make broadband universally accessible by providing tax credits for rural and underserved areas and the next generation of high-speed broadband, #
• Provide broadband to all first responders by the end of 2006, #
• Take action to "can spam" and ensure online privacy to grow the digital economy, #
• Support efforts to create "digital signatures" that will make e-commerce vastly more secure and convenient. #

INVESTING IN BROADBAND IS AN INVESTMENT IN AMERICA’S FUTURE #

Over the past four years, the United States has dropped from 4th to 10th in broadband use. Countries such as South Korea and Japan are now deploying networks that are 20 to 50 times faster than what is available in the United States.This administration’s short-sighted economic plan does not promote the competition, innovation, and investment necessary to ensure high-speed data transmission, video-on demand, and interactive delivery services are available to all Americans. #

Government research at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) led to the creation of the Internet and the government has an important but temporary role to play in catalyzing the extension of broadband to our entire nation. #

It is especially important in creating new opportunities in areas of America - especially rural areas and some of our inner cities - that are now all but cut off from the economy of tomorrow.The same Internet technologies that make it possible to export technology and services jobs to India can make it possible to create similar jobs in rural areas here in America, which often enjoy a combination of low business costs and high quality of life. #

Economists at the Brookings Institution have estimated that advancing the transition to high-speed broadband will expand the economy by $500 billion, including benefits for consumers and producers. Another researcher has estimated that a national high-speed broadband network would create 1.2 million jobs, including high-skill,high-wage jobs in communications and manufacturing. #

Expanding high-speed broadband is the informationage equivalent of the rural electrification initiatives of the Roosevelt years: a strategic public investment that could pay off a thousand times over in creating new economic opportunities and spreading opportunity throughout our population. It is an investment opportunity that we literally cannot afford to pass up. #

Building a strong economy starts with world-class education and training. #

Today, Americans compete with workers on every continent. Information flows across oceans. High-wage jobs are more dependent than ever on high-level skills. In America, 60,000 engineers graduate a year - about one-tenth the number produced by India and China. No wonder we are falling behind in the competition for high-skill jobs. #

Like no time in history, a good job requires a good education and good skills. A competitive workforce is an educated workforce. In the global economy, education pays. #

That is why our strategy to build a strong economy includes a detailed plan to reform education in America - from preschool to graduate school. Our plan will keep the federal government’s bargain with America’s schools to leave no child behind; it will throw open the doors of college like never before by making it more affordable; it will encourage students to become scientists and engineers; and it will make sure every person willing to work hard has the chance to learn the skills he or she needs to succeed in today’s economy. #

LEE IACOCCA: WHY JOHN KERRY IS BETTER FOR BUSINESS #

Lee Iacocca is one of America’s most respected can-do leaders. He made his career responding to a changing world. When foreign automakers were out-competing Americans in the 1980s, Lee Iacocca sent profits soaring after he introduced a spacious, family vehicle that no other automaker wanted to take a chance on: the minivan. #

Even though he endorsed George W. Bush in 2000, Lee Iacocca believes John Kerry is the best choice in this election to lead America through the challenges we face ahead. #

"I’ve met privately with John Kerry, I’ve talked with him, I read all his position papers, and I would suggest you do likewise. I like him. And I’m endorsing him to be our next president because I like what he says about getting every American a fair shot at a secure, well-paying job so they can provide for their families and enjoy life a little more," he said at an event in San Jose in June. #

"John Kerry would make a great commander-inchief, I have no doubt about that. He would also make one hell of a CEO.That’s what a president is. #

"He knows how to surround himself with good people, and he knows how to set priorities. He’s a doer. And he does know how to make a tough decision now and then, believe me. #

"We need a leader who is really dedicated to creating millions of high-paying jobs all across the country. The bottom line is simple: we need a new CEO and president." #

Our plan to build a strong economy is broad and ambitious, but also specific and responsible. It is based on proven strategies, but it is adapted to today’s challenges. It offers a clear and specific alternative to the poor economic record and missing economic plan of President Bush. But most of all, we offer it in the sure knowledge that America’s best, strongest, most prosperous days lie ahead. All we have to do is return to a path shaped by the enduring values of America: opportunity, responsibility, honesty, fair play, and great rewards for hard work. That is how we give all our people the chance to succeed. That is how we keep on building the America we believe in. That is how we keep the promise of America. #

---

Chapter Three
FAMILY #

We can build an America with strong, healthy families where quality health care and world-class education are affordable and available to every American. #

John Kerry

A World-Class Education for All #

Family is the center of everyday American life. Our parents are our first protectors, first teachers, first role models, and first friends. Parents know that America’s great reward is the quiet but incomparable satisfaction that comes from building their families a better life. Strong families, blessed with American opportunity, guided by personal faith, and filled with American dreams are the heart of a strong America. #

We believe that a strong America begins at home with strong families, and that we can help empower parents to build strong families. #

The simple bargain at the heart of the American Dream offers opportunity to every American who takes the responsibility to make the most of it. And that bargain is the great source of American strength, because it unleashes the amazing talent and determination of our people. As our people seize the opportunity to build a better life, they build a stronger country. #

Now, like never before, education is the key to that opportunity, essential to a strong America. We believe in an America that offers the best education to all our children - wherever they live, whatever their background. Period. #

That means: #

• Every child comes to school ready to learn, #
• Every student is held to high standards, and every school has the resources and responsibility to meet those standards, #
• Every classroom has a great teacher, and every student gets enough personal attention to foster a talent and help with a difficulty, #
• Every teenager expects to graduate from high school with a meaningful diploma, #
• Every qualified young person who wants to go to college can afford it, #
• Every adult who needs additional job training can get it. #

Today our government ignores the shameful truth that the quality of a child’s education depends on the wealth of that child’s neighborhood. Our best public schools are the best schools in the world, but too many children go to schools that just do not work. Too many children who beat the odds and succeed in school cannot afford to go on to college. And too many adults who need additional training are not able to get it. #

In this White House, education is an easy promise - easy come, and easy go. When President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, he said the right things - he asked more from our schools and pledged to give them the resources to get the job done. And then he promptly broke his word, providing schools $27 billion less than he had promised, literally leaving millions of children behind. Over the last four years, college tuitions have risen by 35 percent, pricing 220,000 students out of college.Yet President Bush tried to cut financial aid for 84,000 students. #

We believe that a strong America begins at home with strong families, and that strong families need the best schools. We believe schools must teach fundamental skills like math and science, and fundamental values like citizenship and responsibility. We believe providing resources without reform is a waste of money, and reform without resources is a waste of time. And we believe leaders who expect students to learn responsibility should start by keeping their own promises. #

Our plan for investing in the education and skills of our people begins with a simple pledge: we will keep the federal government’s promise to Leave No Child Behind. #

We both voted for that landmark legislation, which created a new bargain with states and school districts: we will ask more from you, and we will make sure you have the resources to get the job done. The Bush administration has broken that promise; we will keep it. #

But we also believe that No Child Left Behind is only the beginning. That is why we have offered a plan to finish the job of education reform. #

Nothing has a bigger impact than a teacher on the quality of a child’s education. We will make an intensive effort to put a great teacher in every classroom, starting with a new bargain: offering teachers more, and asking more in return. Our plan will: #

• Raise teacher pay, especially in the schools and subjects where great teachers are in the shortest supply, #
• Improve mentoring, professional development, and new technology training for teachers, instead of leaving teachers to sink or swim, #
• Create rigorous new tests for new teachers, #
• Provide higher pay for teachers who have extra skills and excel in helping children learn, #
• Ensure fast, fair procedures for improving or removing teachers who do not perform well on the job, while preserving protections from arbitrary dismissal. #

Instead of pushing private school vouchers that funnel scarce dollars away from public schools, we will support innovations within the public school arena - smaller schools, singlesex schools, and most of all, charter public schools that give teachers, parents, civic organizations, and social entrepreneurs the chance to pursue educational excellence under a simple guideline: flexibility in exchange for tangible results. #

We also need a national campaign to raise graduation rates. Today 3 in 10 young people do not finish high school - and that is true for half of Hispanics, African- Americans, and Native Americans. In America, that is just intolerable. We will keep better track of graduation rates to hold schools accountable for raising them. Working with colleges, community groups, and faith-based organizations, we will offer more tutoring and mentoring to kids at risk. And when big high schools are not working, we need to make them smaller so kids get the attention they deserve. #

Our plan will invest in afterschool programs that give students extra help and give parents peace of mind. We will also rebuild schools that are falling apart. #

We will expand access to college and make it more affordable. The centerpiece of our plan is a college opportunity tax cut for middle-class families and a new bargain with the states. We will: #

• Offer a College Opportunity Tax Credit on $4,000 of tuition for all four years of college that will dramatically reduce college costs for millions of students, especially those who pay their own way and can least afford college now, #
• Simplify the student aid process, with shorter forms and better information about how to get aid, #
• Offer states $10 billion for higher education, if they will keep tuition increases in line with inflation for the next two years, #
• Offer hundreds of thousands of young people the opportunity to pay for college by serving our country for two years. We will pay for that initiative by reforming our student loan system - making sure that the profits of banks are set by an auction in the marketplace, not by lobbyists in Congress. #

PROVIDING OPPORTUNITY THROUGH SERVICE: JOHN KERRY AND YOUTHBUILD #

"One of my proudest achievements as a senator is the YouthBuild program.In 1991 I visited a YouthBuild program and was deeply impressed by the young people I met and the impact the program had on their lives.When I wrote the legislation that provided the funding for the national YouthBuild program, I knew that it was a wonderful program that had the potential to help young people, but over the years I have been amazed by how successful the program has been and the difference it has made in the lives of young people. #

YouthBuild is the only national program that gives young adults the chance to contribute to their community through housing construction and the opportunity to learn basic education toward a diploma, learn skills training toward a decent paying job, develop leadership, find adult mentors and participate in a supportive community. Over the past ten years, 25,000 young people have produced over 10,000 unites of low-income housing. Burntout shells and abandoned buildings have come to life as attractive homes in communities where there’s a critical need for housing. And at the same time that YouthBuild is turning around communities, it is turning around lives. Because what the students are building is not just houses, but a better future for themselves and their families." #

- John Kerry

Getting into college is one thing; getting a degree is another. Today almost 50 percent of college freshmen do not graduate, and more than 60 percent of minorities never wear a cap and gown. We will strengthen preparation for college by expanding the GEAR-UP program to reach 2 million children a year. We will work with states to establish a more rigorous high school curriculum - one that prepares students for college or for higher-paying jobs. And we will create a small but strategic College Completion Fund that rewards colleges for graduating more of the students who have the highest risk of dropping out. #

Nothing is more important to America’s economic success today than our excellence in math and science. #

But America is losing the math and science race. Less than one-third of American students are "proficient" in math and science, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and even at top universities, 20 percent of math classes are at a remedial level. As we mentioned, America graduates one-tenth the number of engineers produced by India and China. And fewer than 30 percent of scientists and engineers are female, African Americans, or Hispanic. If women and minorities joined fields like computer science, engineering, and physical science in proportion to their share of the total population, those shortages would be virtually eliminated. We will boost the number of scientists and engineers our colleges and universities produce. #

Our plan will: #

• Improve math and science teaching in our high schools, by giving teachers special training and partnering schools with colleges and science-based businesses, #
• Double National Science Foundation scholarships for graduate studies in math, science, and engineering, #
• Create a national campaign to attract women and minorities into math and science studies beginning in middle school, with innovations that include girls-only science and math schools, specialized afterschool programs, summer camps, and innovative ideas championed by leaders like Sally Ride, America’s first female astronaut. #

Balancing work and family. #

We believe that helping parents balance their work and family obligations is vital to building strong families. Today, most married families are working 12 hours more than in 1977. That means 12 hours less time to spend helping their kids with homework after school, eating dinner, or going to the ballgame. About 1 in 3 middle school students care for themselves after school, hours during which students are more likely to encounter drugs, alcohol and gangs. #

We will help parents by expanding afterschool opportunities to another 2 million children, through a "School’s Open ’Til 6" plan that meets the needs of working parents and focuses on good transportation to high-quality afterschool programs. #

We will also help parents afford high-quality child care. High-quality early care and education are critical to success in school, the ability to have good relationships, and healthy development. Since 2000, child care costs have risen at twice the rate of inflation. We will raise the child care tax credit and ensure the credit benefits moderate-income families by making it partially refundable. And we will allow stay-at-home parents of infants to receive support from the tax credit. #

We believe that churches and faith-based institutions play in important role in supporting strong families and strong communities. We will encourage these vital institutions to continue to play the role they have always played - as leaders, teachers, and guides in our communities. We will support faith-based efforts, including providing financial support, in a way that honors our Constitution and civil rights laws, and in a way that values the role of faith in building stronger families and communities. #

Affordable Health Care for All Americans #

We believe not just that a strong America begins at home, but that a strong America begins in the home. And just as government’s first responsibility is the health and safety of its people, parents’ first responsibility is the health and safety of their children. #

But today, a family’s ability to ensure that all its members get the quality health care they deserve is challenged like never before. America has the best health care system in the world - for those who can afford it. But tens of millions of Americans pay too much and get too little from our health care system, and tens of millions more have no health insurance at all. #

Roughly 44 million Americans have no health insurance at all. More than 80 million Americans went without health care coverage at some point during the last two years. Even those with heath care coverage have seen costs soar dramatically - health insurance has increased by more than $2,600 for the typical family over the last three years. When that is combined with a $1,500 loss in income for the average family, it is obvious that middle-class families are being squeezed. #

[Kaiser Family Foundation; Census Bureau] #

Skyrocketing health care costs not only hurt our families - they hurt our economy. Small businesses cannot expand because they cannot afford to provide health coverage for their employees. Bigger businesses have trouble competing in the global economy because of the high cost of health care. Raises that workers need and deserve are swallowed by rising insurance premiums. #

But the Bush administration has put drug companies and HMO profits above family health and small business costs. Total health care costs increased four times as fast as wages in the last year alone. Prescription drug spending has more than doubled during the past five years. Rising health care costs have forced businesses to slow hiring and shift jobs to part-time and temporary workers, many of whom lack health insurance. Yet the president has no plan to address any of these challenges. The few proposals he has offered would actually make the health care crisis worse by further dividing the system between one that is affordable for the healthy and wealthy, and one that is unaffordable for the elderly, the sick, and increasingly, for America’s broad middle class. #

[Kaiser Family Foundation] #

Families and businesses across the country are struggling to pay for rising health care costs. We have met people like John and Mary Ann Knowles. John lost his job a year and a half ago, and Mary Ann has breast cancer. And even while she is undergoing chemotherapy, she still has to go to work every day - just to hang onto their health insurance. That is the story of millions of Americans. #

We believe that America can and must do better, and we are going to attack the health care crisis with a thorough and comprehensive approach. Our goal is simple: quality, affordable health coverage for all Americans to keep our families healthy, our businesses competitive, and our country strong. #

Affordable and accessible health care for all Americans. #

It is morally wrong to tolerate an America with so many uninsured and underinsured Americans. Working Americans who do not have health insurance live in the neighborhoods we call home. We see them every day behind the counter and around the corner. They build America’s houses, run our small businesses, bag our groceries, and care for our elderly and our kids. And some American families, more than others, tend to fall through the cracks of our health care coverage system: #

• Employees who work for small businesses that cannot afford to provide health insurance, #
• Middle-class families whose breadwinners are between jobs, #
• Self-employed Americans, independent contractors, and part-time or temporary workers who cannot get coverage from their employers and cannot afford to buy coverage on their own, #
• People near, but not at, the age where Medicare becomes available, who often cannot get affordable private health insurance. This is even more likely for those who lose their jobs, retire early, or suffer from chronic diseases, such as diabetes. #

But no matter why people are uninsured, the consequences can be devastating. The uninsured are more likely to file bankruptcy because of mounting health care bills, less likely to get regular checkups, and less likely to detect a disease in its early and most treatable forms. And it is also a serious economic problem. When some Americans do not have health care, all Americans pay the cost. Americans who do not have health insurance often do not get the preventive care they need. When they get sick, they go to emergency rooms and the bill is paid by other patients or taxpayers. In 2004, Americans are expected to pay $41 billion dollars for this "uncompensated care," with state and local governments, and taxpayers, paying the most. #

A health care plan for every child. #

A strong, healthy nation starts with healthy children. #

Every parent knows the fear of waking up to the cries of a sick baby or a child with an ear infection that will not go away. As parents, we both remember the countless times we called that first pediatrician to get answers to every last question. #

But far too many parents have another fear, on top of their child’s health. They worry that a sick child means financial ruin. There are more than eight million uninsured children in our nation. These children are less likely to get a routine checkup, or to get treatment for common ailments like asthma. They miss more days of school. It is a disgrace that eight million children lack health insurance in the richest nation on earth. #

Our plan starts by providing health insurance for every child in America. Under the Kerry-Edwards plan, the federal government will pay the full costs for the 20 million children in the Medicaid program. In return, we will ask states to expand coverage to children in families with higher incomes than are currently eligible, as well as low-income adults. This plan will expand coverage to millions of people and provide much needed relief for states that are struggling under persistent growing budgetary pressures. #

The plan will also simplify the health care system so we can prevent children from falling through the cracks. Right now, there are millions of kids who are eligible for federalstate health insurance programs but are not signed up. There are lots of reasons - sometimes the enrollment forms require the skills of an accountant to figure out. Some states make parents sign up every six months in person, making it virtually impossible for a parent who cannot get time off or afford to lose a whole day of work. Some parents do not even know these programs are available. #

Under our plan, kids will be signed up automatically at hospitals, community health centers, and schools. And $5 billion in enrollment bonuses will be available to states as an incentive to find uninsured children and keep them covered. Children do not choose their parents. They do not choose whether to have health insurance. Children deserve a good start - with both high quality education and health care. Under our plan, every child in America will have health insurance, and every parent will have a little more peace of mind. #

Giving all Americans access to the same quality health care offered to Congress. #

Too many people who do not have employer-based coverage do not have access to affordable health insurance. A recent study found that only one in ten applicants who need health care in the individual market can get insurance that is affordable and meets their medical needs. #

Small businesses often face the same challenge. Without the buying power of a large corporation, they have a hard time getting high-quality, affordable health plans for their employees. #

That is why our approach gives every American the right to buy the same coverage that Members of Congress give themselves. This is good coverage at a reasonable cost, with plenty of choices among private plans. #

In addition to guaranteeing access to the Congressional Health Plan for all Americans, we will provide additional help for those who need the most help: #

• Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 years old often have the hardest time finding an affordable health plan, because they tend to have more expensive health needs. Our plan provides millions of low and moderate income Americans in this age group with a 25 percent tax credit to help pay the cost of their premiums, #
• Americans who are between jobs often cannot afford health insurance, and some of them are not eligible for any plan at all. Our plan helps low and moderate income Americans between jobs by offering them a 75 percent tax credit to help pay for their premiums, #
• Small business employees are far less likely to have health insurance than employees of large business because health insurers tend to charge small businesses higher premiums for the same coverage. We will make health care more affordable for small businesses by offering them a tax credit that covers up to 50 percent of their premium contribution for low-to-moderate income employees, #
• Finally, low-to-moderate income individuals whose employers do not provide them with coverage will get a tax credit to help pay the cost of participating in the Congressional Health Plan. #

Under our plan, we will make sure that 95 percent of Americans, including all children, have health coverage. Our plan will provide health coverage for 27 million people who are currently uninsured. #

Keeping down spiraling health costs. #

At the center of our strategy to address the health care crisis is a plan to control spiraling health care costs. This is critical to keeping American businesses competitive in the world and for providing relief to middle class families who are being squeezed. #

We have a public-private system that excels at innovation and has some of the best health care professionals in the world. But it is delivered by an enormous, low-tech bureaucracy - especially in the private sector - that soaks up $30 billion a year. That means that nearly one quarter of all our health care spending pays for preparing, submitting, calculating, paying, and collecting medical bills. #

We lead the world in pharmaceutical research and development, but our products are often too expensive, especially for seniors who require costly drugs to treat chronic illnesses. So it is hard to understand how those same drugs - made by American companies - can be available for a fraction of the cost just over the border in Canada. #

If left unchecked, the mounting cost crisis will result in a health care system that is the world’s best for those who can afford it, and all but unreachable for those who cannot. #

We have a plan to hold down costs, eliminate waste, and promote preventive care, better medicine, and disease management. These steps will improve the quality of health care and make it more affordable. #

We will hold down health care premiums without relying on price controls or other outmoded approaches. We will begin by focusing on the largest driver of rising premiums: catastrophic health care costs. Health insurance claims for more than approximately $50,000 are less than one half of one percent of all claims - but they are 20 percent of medical expenses for private insurers. They boost premiums for everybody, bankrupt families with little or no insurance, and keep many small businesses from offering health coverage to their employees altogether. #

Our plan offers employers a new bargain that will hold down costs and expand coverage. Under this bargain, the federal government will pick up 75 percent of the cost of catastrophic health claims for employers who agree: #

• To provide quality coverage for their employees, #
• To share savings from lower premiums with their employees, #
• To adopt disease management programs and other incentives to improve overall employee health and reduce costs. #

This innovative plan will reduce a family’s annual health care premiums by up to $1,000 and help expand employer-based coverage. At the same time, it will push the entire health care system toward better and more cost-effective medical practices. This proposal will also stabilize health care costs for businesses and insurance companies, and make those costs more predictable so businesses can improve their plans for the future. #

We will improve the quality of care and enhance the efficiency of the medical system by cutting billions of wasted dollars in administrative processing and paperwork. As we mentioned, an astonishing 25 percent of total health care expenditures in the economy is spent on non-medical costs - mostly paperwork. Settling a single transaction in the health care system can cost as much as $25, while banks have cut their costs to less than a penny per transaction by using modern technology. If hospitals, doctors’ offices, and health insurers use the same technologies now used throughout the rest of the private sector, they can radically reduce transaction costs. At the same time, they can expand use of medical best practices and reduce deadly medical errors. #

All of this can - and must - occur in a system that rigorously protects patients’ privacy. To promote an information-age revolution in our health care system, our plan will: #

• Require private insurers who do business with the federal government - through programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Administration - to adopt advanced information systems to manage medical records and financial book-keeping, #
• Give health care providers bonuses for streamlining paperwork and using electronic medical record and billing systems, #
• Establish a goal to ensure that all Americans have secure, private medical records by 2008. This will not only cut costs, but eliminate unnecessary tests and drastically reduce medical errors. #

We are committed to affordable health care, and we are committed to quality health care. We will not accept one without the other. #

A recent Institute of Medicine study found that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die of medical errors every year. The vast majority of injuries come not from negligent doctors or hospitals, but from outmoded practices, habits, and systems that are poorly designed to protect patients from errors. The gap between best practices and typical practices is extremely wide. We must close this gap for many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, stroke, congestive heart failure, and arthritis. Reducing the number of medical errors will save and improve tens of thousands of lives - and it will also save money that would otherwise be spent fixing mistakes. #

REDUCING HEALTH CARE COSTS IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS: #

Rising health costs have played an important role in the job losses America has experienced in the last several years, especially in high-wage sectors like manufacturing. The large jump in health costs has led employers to either reduce their hiring or shift more workers to temporary or part-time jobs that do not have health benefits. #

The largest job losses have been in the industries that have the best health benefits. For example, between 2000 and 2002 employment went down 13 percent for carmakers but went up 1 percent for car dealers.Part of the reason for this dramatic difference is health benefits.Automobile manufacturers get much more generous health benefits (total benefits are 25 percent of compensation) compared to auto dealers who get much less generous benefits (only 13 percent of compensation). In contrast, Canada has seen job growth across the board, including in manufacturing, in part because health costs do not vary across sectors. #

[Bureau of Economic Analysis] #

Health care costs continue to drag down employment gains. Mark Zandi of Economy.com recently reported that the current trend of low-wage job growth is based on employers’ unwillingness to hire employees with high-benefit packages. The high price of health care is pushing down the growth of high-paying, high-quality jobs. #

The next part of our plan to reduce health care costs will improve the quality of care, reduce medical errors, and ensure healthier lives for all Americans by encouraging and rewarding disease management and prevention efforts. To reduce injuries and deaths from inadequate care, our plan would: #

• Provide financial incentives to help providers and purchasers improve quality, including upfront capital investments for enhancing infrastructure in hospitals and other medical facilities, #
• Reward health care organizations and physicians with financial bonuses for investing in modern information systems, #
• Provide economic incentives to encourage the use of computers in prescribing medicine, because this can reduce medication errors by 80 percent or more, #
• Making medical errors transparent by changing the culture and habits in health care so that errors and patient injuries are immediately discovered and disclosed to prevent them from happening again. #

Finally, our plan will take steps to curb the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance, which not only raises overall health care costs but also threatens Americans’ choice of providers in the health care system. Access to care is threatened as more providers are leaving their practices due to ever-increasing malpractice insurance premiums. Improvements can and should be made to our medical liability system. Lawsuits should be the last, not the first, line of defense. While we oppose arbitrary caps on malpractice suits that impose the biggest burdens on the victims wronged the most, our plan will reduce unnecessary malpractice costs through five measures. We will: #

• Oppose punitive damages except in cases where intentional misconduct, gross negligence, or reckless indifference to life can be established, #
• Require that individuals making medical malpractice claims first go before a qualified medical specialist to make sure a reasonable grievance exists, #
• Require states to ensure the availability of non-binding mediation in all malpractice claims before cases proceed to trial, #
• Support sanctions against plaintiffs and lawyers who bring frivolous medical malpractice claims, including a "three strikes and you’re out" provision preventing lawyers who file three frivolous cases from bringing another suit for 10 years, #
• Eliminate the special privileges that allow insurance companies to fix prices and collude in ways that increase medical malpractice premiums. #

In the end, our plan to reduce health care costs focuses on applying 21st century efficiency to a system that has gone decades without real reform. Modernized medicine works better and costs less - we can increase health care quality while we decrease health care costs for families, employers, and government. And that is exactly what our plan will do. #

Making prescription drugs affordable. #

In the last year alone, prescription drug prices rose by 17 percent, four times the inflation rate. #

[Kaiser Family Foundation] #

The Medicare prescription drug benefit enacted by Congress last year was long-overdue recognition that prescription drugs are central to modern health care, especially in managing the chronic illnesses of so many seniors. But the new benefit is too costly, too complex, and woefully inadequate for seniors. It is no wonder a majority of seniors have refused to get the new drug discount cards. Despite much Bush administration election-year hoopla, price discounts have already been outstripped by rising prices. Many drugs in high-demand - like Lipitor, Prevacid, and Zocor - cost more with the new discount cards than they cost on the Internet. The unfortunate truth is that the real beneficiaries of the Bush prescription drug benefit are the drug companies and HMOs that have been guaranteed what is essentially an open-ended corporate subsidy. #

Drug companies should make a profit in return for their investment in the research and development that produce life-saving drugs and other critical medicine. But we oppose anti-competitive policies that force American seniors to pay excessive prices on new drugs and prevent Americans from accessing cheaper generic and imported drugs. #

["New Medicare Drug Cards Offer Few Discounts," Minority Staff, Committee on Government Reform, U.S. House of Representatives, April 2004.] #

Our plan for prescription drugs for seniors will: #

• Give Americans access to the discounts available in Canada and other countries by allowing re-importation of safe, FDA-approved prescription drugs, #
• End artificial barriers to the availability of less expensive generic drugs, #
• Require the federal government to negotiate better prices for prescription drugs through programs like Medicare, #
• Demand disclosure of real costs and profits from the pharmacy benefit managers who control drug benefits for more than 200 million Americans under both public and private health plans, #
• Give states incentives to negotiate better drug prices for participants in Medicaid and state employee health plans, #
• Overhaul the new Medicare drug benefit to ensure that seniors are not forced into HMOs. #

Protecting seniors’ health care. #

We are committed to guaranteeing quality health care for seniors, offering them real options for health coverage, and ensuring that they have access to affordable longterm care. #

Our plan will: #

• Ensure quality care throughout Medicare in every part of the country, #
• Give seniors a meaningful choice in health plans, and not coerce them into HMOs, #
• Ensure quality nursing home care with adequate inspections, faster reimbursements, and better training for nursing home workers, #
• Oppose efforts to abandon the national commitment to long-term care by cutting Medicaid or forcing states to take over key aspects of the program, #
• Let Medicaid pay for home and community-based care options, #
• Give caregivers involved in long-term care greater access to information, training, respite and counseling services. #

Passing a Patients’ Bill of Rights. #

We will enact a real Patients’ Bill of Rights to put doctors and nurses back in charge of making medical decisions with their patients - instead of allowing HMO bureaucrats to make medical decisions. Americans deserve the right to choose their own doctor and have access to the specialists they want to see. #

Along with Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator John McCain, we successfully fought to pass a Patients’ Bill of Rights through the Senate for the first time in history. President Bush has blocked this bipartisan effort again and again. The Bush administration has even gone to the Supreme Court to take the side of HMOs against patients - preventing patients from suing an HMO that has wrongfully denied them the medical care they need. We will push for a real Patients’ Bill of Rights that holds HMOs accountable for decisions that harm patients. We will also protect patients by guaranteeing: #

• A right to see the specialists they need, #
• A right to real emergency protections, #
• A real external appeals process that allows patients to appeal an HMO decision, #
• Whistleblower protections that allow health care workers to report quality problems without fear of retaliation. #

Investing in science to battle disease. #

Americans deserve access to the best information about illnesses and potential medical therapies and cures. We must look to the future with hope and confidence that advances in medicine will advance our best values. From working toward therapies for AIDS to working toward a cure for cancer, America has always been a land of discovery - of distant horizons and unconquered frontiers. #

As part of that discovery, we must reverse the Bush administration’s restrictions on embryonic stem cell research - supported by people from Nancy Reagan to Christopher Reeve to Michael J. Fox. We must make the funding of stem cell research a priority in our universities and our medical community, while ensuring strict ethical guidelines. More than 100 million Americans could potentially benefit from this research, including those suffering from Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer. Part of our nation’s greatness lies in our leadership of great medical discoveries, with our breakthroughs and our beliefs going hand-in-hand. If we pursue the limitless potential of our science - and trust that we can use it wisely - we will save millions of lives and ease human suffering. #

Helping vulnerable Americans. #

Many of us have friends, family, co-workers, or neighbors who struggle with a mental illness. We are committed to ending discrimination against Americans with mental illnesses and ensuring equal treatment for mental illness in our health system. #

We must also fight to ensure that people with disabilities can meet their potential and participate fully in the American Dream. Our vision is for an America that ensures freedom, independence, and choices for people with disabilities. Part of that vision includes ensuring access to affordable health coverage and removing barriers to work. While we have made great strides by helping people with disabilities return to work without losing their health care, it is time to make sure that parents caring for children with disabilities can keep their jobs without worrying about paying their kids’ health care bills. We will work to ensure that no one is kept in a nursing home or institution if they prefer to live elsewhere and can do so with the dignity they deserve. #

We must also address the unjust disparities in our health care system - disparities often based on the color of a person’s skin. Whether African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans or Native Americans, the fact is that minorities continue to live less healthy lives and die younger in America. African Americans are one-third more likely than all other Americans to die from cancer. They have the highest rate of hypertension in the world. Latinos have the least insurance, with one in three having no coverage at all. Native Americans struggle with what can only be called the epidemic of diabetes, with rates near 50 percent in certain tribes. Tremendous gains in science and medicine have benefited millions of our citizens, but too often they are out of reach for minorities. We will work to eliminate these health disparities. From expanding health insurance to 95 percent of Americans, including for all our children, to improving language access programs in medical facilities, to ensuring access to quality care through greater disease management and prevention efforts, the time is now to improve the health of those Americans who have been left behind because of the color of their skin. #

Moreover, our health care system has left behind too many of our nation’s heroes. We must honor veterans’ service by making sure they have access to medical services. Returning soldiers should have the care they need to treat wounds they received defending our country. In order to renew America’s promise to its veterans, we will: #

• Fight for mandatory funding for veterans health care, #
• Streamline the process so that veterans hear in a timely manner about their status and their benefits, #
• End fully and immediately the "disabled veterans tax," under which military retirees who receive both veterans’ pensions and disability compensation must surrender a dollar from their military retirement pay for every dollar they get for disability compensation, #
• Support legislation to provide access to TRICARE, the military’s health care system, for all members of the National Guard and Reserves. #

Our goal, and our plan, is to make the best medicine the standard for our health care system, and to make the best of our health care system available and affordable for every American. We believe in an America where every family looks to the future with hope and excitement, without worry that the cost of caring for its loved ones is too great to bear; where health care is a right, not a privilege; where strong, healthy families build a stronger America. #

---

Conclusion: One America #

Four years ago, President Bush promised the American people that he would be a uniter, not a divider - but he has been nothing of the sort. #

He has sought political advantage in dividing people on matters of faith and conscience. #

He has offered countless negative attacks against those who offer principled disagreement to his policies. #

And his stubborn pursuit of a one-note economic strategy has allowed divisions of opportunity, once closing, to widen. #

Today, some Americans have the best health care in the world. Yet more and more Americans find themselves unable to afford insurance for their children or the medicine they need. #

Some Americans send their children to public schools that are among the best in the world. But too many others know that the buildings their children study in are falling down, and quality teachers are in terribly short supply. Very few Americans have reaped huge rewards from the president’s tax cuts for those at the top. But most Americans are living on tighter and tighter budgets, often making less and definitely paying more than they did four years ago. #

It does not have to be this way. And if the American people give us the chance to lead America in a new direction, it will not be this way. #

Together, we will build one America. #

One America - where every child has health insurance and the best health care is affordable for every individual. #

One America - where all our children go to schools that their parents can be proud of, and that prepare them to build a great life. #

One America - where all our people have the chance to prosper together; where the middle class is growing; where incomes are rising because work is honored - not just the wealth it creates; and where opportunity is a birthright that needs only responsibility to redeem. #

One America - where all our people can be proud of the role we play in the world, and where people all around the world look to us for inspiration and with respect. #

With your help, we will build one America - strong at home, respected in the world. #

We will never pursue policies or allow tactics that exploit differences or encourage division. To the contrary, we will dedicate ourselves to building understanding and closing divides. And wherever there is intolerance or discrimination, we will be there to stand up and stand against it. #

The America we believe in is not a divided nation. #

The America we believe in is one great nation - built by people persecuted for their own beliefs; brought to life with a declaration that we are all created equal; and raised up by the courage of citizens in each successive generation determined to make our American Dream come true. #

That is the America we are meant to be. That is the America we are fighting for. That is the America, with your help, we will build. #