Bill Bradley on the Issues
Other Candidates
Key and General Description of Political Views
Bill Bradley (Democrat) Web Site
Abortion
I am strongly pro-choice. I
believe that the decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy is a private
one between a woman and her doctor, and we must protect that privacy. --
www.billbradley.com
Budget/Economy
The government has to have a
prudent fiscal policy. We have to keep our markets open. We have to keep capital
flowing freely around the world. We have to have the lowest possible tax rates
for the greatest number of Americans. And we have to make an investment in
research in both the public and private sectors. If the government gets those
big things right, then I think the dynamism of the private sector [will]
guarantee us a very good growth rate. -- www.billbradley.com
Civil Rights
"If you're a gay American,
you can serve openly in the Congress, in the judiciary, in the Treasury
Department, in the White House," Bradley said. "You ought to be able
to serve openly in the military." -- Boston, MA 2/17/00 (Reuters)
Gore called in December for an end to the
current policy on gays in the military. He also last week was endorsed by the
Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian rights group. --
Reuters 2/17/00
Q: Where do you stand on the
issue of discrimination on sexual orientation? A: I would propose adding to the
1964 Civil Rights Act the category of sexual orientation. I also believe that
gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military. I think it’s very
important that we push anti-hate crime legislation that is aimed at adding
sexual orientation. I don’t support gay marriage. and we could achieve the
same objectives by having a domestic partners act. -- Town Hall Meeting, Nashua,
NH 12/18/99
Crime
Q: How do you plan to address
terrorist threats? A: [We need] an approach to terrorism that is across the
board. It has to include the best intelligence in the world. It has to include a
response if terrorism takes place, going after them wherever they are. It must
also include a degree of honesty with the American people. But the key thing is
to make sure that the government is organized in a way that you get support
among all agencies aimed at countering terrorism. -- Town Hall Meeting, Nashua,
NH 12/18/99
Defense
We must reexamine our military
policies and objectives in light of the fact that we live in a post-Cold War
era. That will help us define our defense needs. We must also be careful about
funding weapons systems that powerful congressional sources want, but the
military doesn’t. I don’t think we need to increase the defense budget as
much as the President has proposed, particularly if we are able to eliminate
those unnecessary weapons systems. -- www.billbradley.com
Drugs
Q: How much of a factor do you
believe the long-past drug use of any candidate should be? A: I think the public
has a right to know from a crook, but not a sinner. In terms of a crook, the
question [would be], "Did you break the law smoking marijuana?" You
break the law. I admitted that I have smoked marijuana. And I don’t think that
it’s an issue if it occurs 30 years ago. People have a deeper understanding of
the human condition, of the nuances of life. I don’t think this is a
determinative issue. -- Town Hall Meeting, Nashua, NH 12/18/99
Education
We need to look out at the
future: what do we have to face in this country over the next decade? We’re
going to lose 2.2 million teachers. The key priority is to make sure that there
is a good teacher in every classroom. I have proposed a combination of
scholarship and loan forgiveness that would create 60,000 new teachers every
year going into urban and rural school districts across this country to help
those school districts meet the needs of their students. -- Debate at Dartmouth
College 10/28/99
Environment
Why is it so important that we
preserve our natural world? You protect the natural world from pollution or you
clean up that which has been polluted so that individuals may encounter
something that is bigger than they are and lasts longer than they do. Every time
I have some moment on a seashore or in the mountains or sometimes in a quiet
forest, I think that this is why the environment has to be preserved, so that
people can have this experience. -- Debate at Dartmouth College 10/28/99
Families/Children
Every child in America [should
have] a chance to realize his or her potential. We’ve got to do something
about the one in five children in America living in poverty. We’ve got to help
their parents help them [and] make sure they have access to health care. We have
to make sure that in their first year or two of life they have a nurturing
experience. We have to make sure that their parents have child care available to
them after the children are three or four years of age. -- www.billbradley.com
Foreign Policy
I believe, as the most powerful
nation in the world today, we have an obligation to give the world a map to
democracy, a sense of physical security against blatant aggression, and a set of
economic institutions that allow more people a chance... --
www.billbradley.com
Free Trade
I was a strong backer of NAFTA. I
think it’s created more positive results than negative. Some people have been
hurt by it. Those people ought to be helped. But I think that, overall, it’s a
benefit to the country. I also was a major backer of the WTO. I think that the
answer to a lot of our economic problems is more trade, more fairly shared
worldwide. -- "Meet the Press" 8/1/99
Government Reform
Q: What would you do to advance
real campaign finance reform? A: No soft money; public financing of elections;
free TV time for people in the last six weeks of an election. How is it going to
happen? First, it requires a grassroots movement. Second, people in finance, in
business, in religion and in academic life have to step forward and say, "The
current system is not working, we demand a change." And third, you need a
president that is going to make campaign finance reform one of the top issues.
-- Debate at Dartmouth College 10/28/99
Gun Control
He [Bill Bradley] called for the
registration and licensing of all handguns, insisted that gun dealers not
operate in residential neighborhoods and called for trigger locks and background
checks at gun shows. -- Reuters 2/17/00 on Bradley campaign appearance in New
Haven, CT.
Bradley’s agenda on guns includes a one-per-month limit on handgun purchases, banning anyone convicted of domestic violence from owning a gun, restricting firearms dealers to commercial areas, bumping up the cost of licenses for gun dealers, requiring a registration process for handguns similar to auto registration, and requiring background checks on buyers at gun shows. -- CNN All Politics 7/18/99
Health Care
Bradley has proposed a sweeping
plan to replace Medicaid with a new system of vouchers and tax credits, which he
contends would help poor Americans afford private health-care insurance. --
Reuters 2/17/00
Q: What will you do to strengthen
Medicare? A: The health care system is in real distress. I think we have to help
middle-class American pay for their health coverage, and we have to help cover
44 million Americans who don’t have any health insurance. I’ve offered a
plan to do that. It’s a plan that will make access to affordable health care
available to everyone in this country. It saves billions of dollars in waste and
fraud. It provides a prescription drug benefit for the elderly. -- Town Hall
Meeting, Nashua, NH 12/18/99
Schools
Frequent tangling is developing
over the question of taxpayer-financed vouchers for private schools. Bradley
[voted] in the Senate to support voucher experiments in Cleveland and Milwaukee.
But Bradley has said that unlike several Republican contenders, he does not see
vouchers as the solution to public education’s problems. In any case, vouchers
involve a fraction of the nation’s students and have little to do with who is
president. -- NY Times 1/4/2000
Social Security
What can we do to stabilize the
Social Security trust fund? We could get a higher return on existing savings-i.e.,
put the money in the stock market-but I am rather skeptical about that option.
We could reduce benefits or increase taxes-but there is no single benefit cut or
tax increase that would solve the problem. [We should] keep economic growth high
over a long period of time [so] Americans will be making more than they do now
and therefore will be paying more tax into the trust fund. --
www.billbradley.com
Tax Reform
The best income tax system is the
one with the lowest rates and the fewest loopholes. That way, equal incomes pay
about equal tax, and those who have more pay a little bit more. The closest
we’ve ever been to that is 1986, when we got tax rates down to 28% and 14%,
and we got there by eliminating billions of dollars in special interest
loopholes. When we eliminated special interest loopholes, we were able to cut
taxes rates for all Americans. --
www.billbradley.com
Welfare/Labor
The lowest-paid workers in
America are those who take care of our children and those who take care of our
elderly parents when they are dying. Those workers deserve to be represented by
a union because they deserve to have the power of the union behind them to give
them leverage to get more money and better benefits for their family. -- Speech
at Iowa AFL-CIO 8/18/99
- Al Gore (Democrat)
- Alan Keyes (Republican)
- Gary Bauer (Republican)
- George W. Bush (Republican)
- Harry Browne (Libertarian)
- Howard Phillips (Constitution)
- John McCain (Republican)
- Pat Buchanan (Reform)
- Steve Forbes (Republican)
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