We wholeheartedly agree.
Long-Term Care Insurance
As Americans live longer, we must consider the costs of spending more years in retirement and the increasing health care needs associated with aging.
There is a growing need for long-term care and it calls for long-term planning, both by individuals and by government.
We encourage, at all levels of government, regulatory flexibility and sensitivity to individual needs in nursing homes and related facilities.
Sacrifices are being made by millions of men and women to care for their mothers and fathers.
We support proposals by President Bush and Republicans in Congress to recognize and reward individual responsibility and compassion by creating an above-the-line tax deduction for premiums of long-term care insurance and allowing an additional personal tax exemption for taking care of an elderly parent at home.
Honoring America's Veterans
As Americans, we must honor our commitment to the 25 million veterans in the United States.
America is dedicated to honoring its commitment to these patriots.
Veterans have helped shape the American character, and their service represents the highest form of national service.
President Bush and Congress have increased funding for veterans services, including substantial increases in Veterans' Administration (VA) health care funding.
This additional funding has made it possible for the VA to improve health care access for veterans who need it most, including low-income veterans, those with service-connected disabilities, and those who need VA's specialized services.
President Bush has twice signed legislation effectively providing "concurrent receipt" of both military retiree pay and VA disability compensation for combat-injured and highlydisabled veterans, thus reversing a century-old law preventing concurrent receipts.
In addition, President Bush has fulfilled his promise to cut the disability claims backlog that existed when he took office and reduce waiting times for veterans seeking initial medical care.
We support more care to more veterans in more places where they need it most.
We also applaud the President's efforts to maintain and expand our national cemeteries.
And with World War II veterans dying at the rate of 4,000 a day, we note with great appreciation the opening of the nation's World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Our veterans have fought and defended this country in many wars and proudly raised the American flag on such far-away places as San Juan Hill, Iwo Jima, and Pork Chop Hill, and it has become a symbol of our American spirit and unity.
We, as well as they, deplore the deliberate desecration of our flag and state that its deliberate desecration is not "free speech," but rather an assault against both our proud history and our greatest hopes.
We therefore support a Constitutional amendment that will restore to the people, through their elected representatives, their right to safeguard Old Glory.
Respecting and Protecting the Environment
Republicans know that economic prosperity is essential to environmental progress.
That belief is supported by compelling historical evidence.
For example, over the last 30 years, air pollution from the six major pollutants decreased substantially, even as our population grew, our energy consumption increased, and the economy expanded.
Our Party's environmental policies are geared towards results.
Thanks to President Bush's strong leadership and the commitment of Congressional Republicans to reform and innovation, air pollution has been reduced, water quality has improved, wetlands have been restored, and more than a thousand brownfields sites are being revitalized.
Republicans also acknowledge the progress made by states and local communities in environmental stewardship efforts.
As the laboratories of innovation, they should be given flexibility and authority to address many environmental concerns.
Finally, we link the security of private property to our environmental agenda because environmental stewardship has been best advanced where property is privately held.
After all, people who live on the land, work the land, and own the land also love the land and protect it.
President Bush and the Republican Congress will safeguard private property rights by enforcing the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment and by providing just compensation whenever private property is needed to achieve a compelling public purpose.
Clear Skies
We support President Bush's Clear Skies proposal, the most aggressive Presidential initiative in history to reduce power plant emissions.
Clear Skies, through a proven cap-and-trade system, will reduce by 70 percent emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury.
The market-based policies in Clear Skies, along with a 90 percent cut in pollution from diesel vehicles, will help states meet new, more stringent standards to protect public health.
The President's plan also provides regulatory certainty, enabling power plants to install state-of-the-art pollution control technologies.
These steps will lead to significant environmental improvements while ensuring a reliable, affordable electricity supply and keeping America's coal industry strong.
Revitalizing Urban Communities
Two years ago, President Bush fulfilled a campaign promise and signed legislation to clean up more of the abandoned and polluted industrial sites known as brownfields.
So far, the Bush Administration has restored more than 1,000 brownfields to usable condition, which is more than were restored in the previous seven years.
And that work continues.
By prioritizing cleanup of brownfields, we are encouraging growth on existing sites and thus preserving greenfields and undeveloped land.
We are also opening usable land for small businesses and residents in hundreds of communities, and creating thousands of jobs.
We support these efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods, both aesthetically and economically.
National Parks
President Bush's commitment to national parks is producing results: parks are better managed, better funded, and better protected.
Over the last four years, President Bush has been fulfilling his campaign promise to address the $4. 9 billion maintenance backlog plaguing the National Park system.
Republicans will continue to support President Bush's approach to improving national parks, and will move forward with common-sense management reforms that maximize visitor satisfaction and protect and conserve the parks' natural resources for future generations.
Land Conservation and Stewardship
Our air, land, and water have all become cleaner in the last four years - and this progress can be seen all across America.
The 2002 Farm Bill provided unprecedented levels of funding to enhance conservation efforts by farmers and ranchers.
And last year President Bush worked with the Republican leadership in Congress to pass the Healthy Forests Restoration Act.
This law, based on the President's Healthy Forests Initiative, is reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire, saving lives and property, and improving the health of our forests.
Protecting America's Water Resources
America's wetlands serve as habitat for thousands of species of wildlife.
They also help to trap pollution, clean the water, reduce the impact of floods, and stabilize shore areas.
Three decades ago, the United States was losing wetlands at the rate of about 500,000 acres each year.
President Bush is working with the Republican Congress and state and local officials to fulfill his new national goal to increase wetland acres and quality by restoring, improving, and protecting at least three million wetland acres over the next five years.
To achieve this worthy goal, our Party also will focus on critical resource needs, including implementing a sensible plan to address coastal erosion in the Gulf Coast region.
Chronic water shortages in the West are one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the nation in the coming decades.
We support efforts by the Administration to work with states and local communities in the West to expand the use of proven tools like market-based voluntary transfers through water banks and other water-marketing tools.
We also endorse the President's efforts to work with the state of Florida to implement the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
Our Party reaffirms the traditional primacy of states over water allocation.
We steadfastly oppose diverting water away from the Great Lakes region.
Protecting Oceans
Republicans are committed to developing an integrated, comprehensive national oceans policy.
The President and Congress have supported the work of the U.S. Oceans Commission, which will offer important recommendations to improve management, observation, and conservation of oceans and coastal resources for future generations.
Global Climate Change
Republicans are committed to meeting the challenge of long-term global climate change by relying on markets and new technologies to improve energy efficiency.
These efforts will help reduce emissions over time while allowing the economy to grow.
Our President and our Party strongly oppose the Kyoto Protocol and similar mandatory carbon emissions controls that harm economic growth and destroy American jobs.
Modernizing the Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) serves a noble purpose, which Americans overwhelmingly support.
Our Party remains committed to the goal of protecting species to enhance their chances for survival.
Over the last 30 years, successes under ESA have been limited due to confrontation and polarization - including an ever-growing barrage of litigation preventing the Fish and Wildlife Service from protecting new species and recovering plants and animals already listed as threatened or endangered.
Republicans believe we can achieve greater progress in protecting species for future generations through results-based cooperative conservation programs and voluntary agreements that encourage private stewardship.
The ESA must be updated to reflect new approaches that focus resources on species in need of recovery, not lawsuits.
As with other major federal environmental laws, ESA should require peer-reviewed science, so resources can be focused on the most pressing recovery efforts.
Just as importantly, the Act should encourage expansion of voluntary agreements with private property owners while ensuring that ESA enforcement respects and upholds private property rights.
Agriculture and Rural America
American farm and ranch families embody some of the best values of our nation: hard work and risk-taking, love of the land and love of our country.
Farming is the first industry of America - the industry that feeds us, the industry that clothes us, and the industry that increasingly provides more of our energy.
The success of America's farmers and ranchers is essential to the success of the American economy.
The President put his words into action when he signed the 2002 Farm Bill, passed with strong support from Republicans in Congress.
And President Bush continues to pursue and enforce international trade agreements that affect farmers and ranchers.
Republican policies are working, such as the recently revitalized WTO Doha round negotiations that will create new opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers by cutting foreign tariffs, expanding quotas for American products, and eliminating agricultural export subsidies.
Since 2001, the U.S. farm economy has enjoyed tremendous improvement and is today in a position of historic strength.
Farmers' net cash income for 2003 was $63 billion, an 11. 5 percent increase from 2000.
And farmers' equity reached a record $1. 16 trillion last year, putting American agriculture in its best financial health ever.
There is much more to rural America than agriculture, ranching, and forestry.
The kind of economic development that generates family-sustaining jobs is critical to small towns and rural communities.
President Bush and the Republican Congress are promoting good schools, accessible health care, decent housing, safe drinking water and waste disposal, and efficient transportation.
They also are expanding the availability of the Internet and broadband service to allow people in rural America to access world-class technology.
Revitalizing America's Cities
We are proud to meet in a city that enjoyed a new birth of vitality under the leadership of one of America's foremost Republican mayors, Rudy Giuliani.
New York City evolved from a city plagued by crime, smothered by government, and void of opportunity, into one that attracts both families and young people looking to build careers and enjoy an urban lifestyle.
New York's turnaround is a testament to the great power of turning Republican ideals into policies and solutions.
By focusing on economic growth and opportunity, business development, crime control, and the revitalization of urban eyesores, we can inject fresh energy and opportunity into America's urban centers.
Lower taxes, passed by the Republican Congress, are stimulating development and investment in cities around the country.
New homeownership opportunities are giving residents a stake in urban neighborhoods.
Violent crime rates, including robberies and rapes, were down in 2003.
The President's commitment to cleaning up brownfields and making them ready for productive purposes is transforming once-crumbling communities.
His Faith-Based Initiative is extending the work of religious and charitable groups that operate in cities - serving meals, helping the homeless, and providing mentors for children.
And the No Child Left Behind law is bringing new hope to parents and students in inner city schools.
President Bush is building on the successes of Republican mayors who bring opportunity to inner cities.
At the same time, the President is working with mayors and local leaders across America to ensure that the unprecedented homeland security funding provided by the Republican Congress is spent on shoring up the security of major cities and preparing first responders for any potential future attack.
By making America's cities places of opportunity and safety, attractive to citizens of all backgrounds, we ensure that urban centers remain vital and vibrant communities.
The District of Columbia
Washington, D.C.
, is a special responsibility of the federal government and should be a model for urban areas throughout the country.
The city's downhill slide was stopped in the 1990s, both through its own internal efforts and through the active intervention of Congressional Republicans.
The D.C. homebuyer's tax credit helped to revitalize marginal neighborhoods and should be reinstated.
A landmark tuition assistance act opened the doors of America's public colleges and universities to residents of the District.
And, thanks to President Bush acting in concert with Republicans in Congress, District elementary and high school students are now benefiting from the $14 million D.C. School Choice initiative - the first federally-funded school choice demonstration program.
Local government reform is an issue of importance to both Congress and residents of the District.
Recent city administrations have made great strides in improving the operations of city government and, as these efforts continue, we support yielding more budgetary and legal autonomy to local elected officials.
As the seat of our federal government and a likely target of the September 11th attacks, Washington, D.C. also plays a critical role in homeland security.
The federal government should continue to work closely with city officials to ensure maximum public safety for both residents of and visitors to the District, and respect the unique budgetary constraints under which the city operates.
We respect the design of the Framers of the Constitution that our nation's capital has a unique status and should remain independent of any individual state.
Combating Chronic Homelessness
We support efforts to end chronic homelessness by providing support services and housing for chronically homeless individuals.
Although these individuals comprise roughly ten percent of the homeless population, they consume a disproportionately large share of all homeless emergency services because their housing, health, and other needs have not before been comprehensively addressed.
By taking on the toughest cases, we can bring help and hope to individuals who may feel that society long ago left them behind.
Protecting Our Rights, Fighting Criminals, and Supporting Victims
Republicans and President Bush strongly support an individual right to own guns, which is explicitly protected by the Constitution's Second Amendment.
Our Party honors the great American tradition of hunting and we applaud efforts by the Bush Administration to make more public lands available to hunters, to increase access to hunting clinics and safety programs for children and adults, and to improve opportunities for hunting for Americans with disabilities.
We believe the Second Amendment and all of the rights guaranteed by it should enable law-abiding citizens throughout the country to own firearms in their homes for self-defense.
To protect the rights and safety of law-abiding citizens, the Congress passed and President Bush signed the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act, which allows active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed guns in public while off-duty.
We support efforts by the Administration and Congress to enhance the instant background check system for gun purchases and to ensure that records of lawful transactions are destroyed in a timely manner.
We applaud Congressional Republicans for seeking to stop frivolous lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, which is a transparent attempt to deprive citizens of their Second Amendment rights.
We oppose federal licensing of lawabiding gun owners and national gun registration as a violation of the Second Amendment and an invasion of privacy of honest citizens.
We agree that the best way to deter crime is to enforce existing laws and hand down tough penalties against anyone who commits a crime with a gun.
This approach is working.
Since Project Safe Neighborhoods was instituted in 2001, hundreds of new federal, state, and local prosecutors have been hired to target criminals who use guns.
Prosecutions are up 68 percent, and the violent crime victimization rate is down 21 percent.
The Republican Party and President Bush support a federal Constitutional amendment for victims of violent crime that would provide specific rights for victims protected under the U.S. Constitution.
We support courts having the option to impose the death penalty in capital murder cases.
We praise President Bush and Republicans in Congress for the measures they have taken to protect pregnant women from violent crime by passing Laci and Conner's law, which recognizes the common-sense proposition that when a crime of violence against a pregnant woman kills or injures her unborn child, there are two victims and two offenses that should be punished.
Helping Ex-Offenders Contribute to Society
This year, more than 600,000 inmates will be released from prison.
Studies show that, without intervention, approximately two-thirds will likely be rearrested within three years of their release.
The President has proposed a four-year, $300 million initiative to reduce recidivism and help released inmates contribute to their communities.
The initiative will harness the resources and experience of faith-based and community organizations in providing job training and placement services to 50,000 non-violent adult ex-offenders, transitional housing for up to 30,000, and voluntary mentoring support for those desiring it.
Promoting Drug-Free Communities
Drug abuse and addiction ruin lives.
There can be no debate about it.
Every adult has a responsibility to teach children about the dangers of drugs - in terms of both physical harm and potential death, as well as lost opportunities for success.
After witnessing eight years of Presidential inaction on the war against drugs during the prior Administration, we applaud President Bush for his steady commitment to reducing drug use among teens.
The Administration recently exceeded its two-year goal of reducing drug use among young people.
The most recent survey shows an 11 percent drop between 2001 and 2003 in the use of illicit drugs by teenagers.
Among teens, some drugs- such as LSD- have dropped to record-low levels of use.
For other drugs, we are seeing the lowest levels of use in almost a decade.
To continue this progress, we must ensure that jail time is used as an effective deterrent to drug use and support the continued funding of grants to assist schools in drug testing.
At the same time, we should make drug treatment available to people willing to take the courageous step of admitting they have a problem and working hard to 6overcome it.
The President's Access to Recovery (ATR) program is giving individuals seeking drug treatment expanded access to effective providers through a new voucher program.
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
The renewal of entire communities is an awesome task that involves one human face, and one human heart at a time.
But the American people have a long and seasoned history of working wonders.
Government does have a role to play, but as a partner, not a rival, to the armies of compassion.
These forces have roots in the areas they serve, often based in local churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples.
Their leaders are people to whom the disadvantaged are not statistics, but neighbors, friends, and moral individuals created in the image of God.
We applaud President Bush's efforts to promote the generous and compassionate work of America's faith-based and neighborhood charities.
The President established the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the White House to coordinate federal, state, and local efforts to tear down barriers that have prevented religiously affiliated groups from applying for government grants on an equal footing with secular organizations.
While the federal government must not promote religious activity, advocate on behalf of any religion, or fund any organization that discriminates on the basis of religion when providing taxpayer-funded services, no organization should be disqualified from receiving federal funds simply because it displays religious symbols, has a statement of faith in its mission statement, or has a religious leader on its board.
As a result of the President's leadership, the federal government is ending discrimination against faith-based organizations and now welcomes these groups as partners and allies in the effort to deliver social services to people in need.
Faith-based groups must show that their programs are effective at providing help - whether it be serving the needs of the homeless, mentoring children, or helping Americans who battle addiction.
Faith can often be a crucial element in the struggle to overcome personal challenges - and now Americans have the option of receiving treatment that meets their physical as well as spiritual needs.
We commend the President for his steadfast support of people and institutions of faith, and we urge the Congress to act on legislative proposals to enhance private-sector works of charity and compassion.
We also affirm that the hiring rights of religious organizations must be maintained so that religious charities do not have to abandon their religious character in order to provide publicly funded services.
Calling Americans to Service
We support the President's efforts to encourage volunteer service and civic involvement to strengthen our communities and our nation, and to help people in need.
In 2002, the President called on all Americans to dedicate at least two years or 4,000 hours over the course of their lifetimes to serving others, and created the USA Freedom Corps to strengthen America's culture of service.
Today more than 63 million Americans are answering the call to serve.
The number of volunteers has increased by 4 million since 2002.
The new Citizens Corps is training people to respond to law enforcement and emergency needs in more than 1,300 communities across America and Peace Corps enrollment is at its highest level in 28 years.
Ensuring Equal Opportunities
Our nation is a land of opportunity for all, and our communities must represent the ideal of equality and justice for every citizen.
The Republican Party favors aggressive, proactive measures to ensure that no individual is discriminated against on the basis of race, national origin, gender, or other characteristics covered by our civil rights laws.
We also favor recruitment and outreach policies that cast the widest possible net so that the best qualified individuals are encouraged to apply for jobs, contracts, and university admissions.
We believe in the principle of affirmative access - taking steps to ensure that disadvantaged individuals of all colors and ethnic backgrounds have the opportunity to compete economically and that no child is left behind educationally.
We support a reasonable approach to Title IX that seeks to expand opportunities for women without adversely affecting men's athletics.
We praise President Bush for his strong record on civil rights enforcement, and for becoming the first President ever to ban racial profiling by the federal government.
Finally, because we are opposed to discrimination, we reject preferences, quotas, and set-asides based on skin color, ethnicity, or gender, which perpetuate divisions and can lead people to question the accomplishments of successful minorities and women.
Voting Rights
The foundation of our democratic republic is our commitment to conducting free and fair elections.
Unfortunately, in November 2000, too many people believed they were denied the right to vote.
Many African Americans, Hispanics, and others fear they may lose the right to vote because of inaccurate or insecure technology or because of a rolling back in the gains made by the passage of civil rights legislation.
Our national commitment to a voting process that has integrity was underscored in 2002 when the Congress passed and the President signed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
We will continue to do all we can to ensure that every lawful vote counts for all Americans.
Removing Barriers for Americans with Disabilities
We support the New Freedom Initiative, President Bush's plan for fully integrating Americans with disabilities into all aspects of American life.
The New Freedom Initiative is helping Americans with disabilities by increasing access to assistive technologies, expanding educational opportunities, increasing the ability of Americans with disabilities to integrate into the workforce, and promoting increased access into daily community life.
These are strong efforts to help Americans with disabilities lead independent, fulfilling lives.
We applaud the President and Congress for increasing funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires that eligible students with disabilities be provided a free, appropriate public education.
We also endorse efforts to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a controlled substance in order to attend school.
Native Americans
The federal government has a special responsibility, ethical and legal, to make the American dream accessible to Native Americans.
Unfortunately, the resources that the United States holds in trust for them, financial and otherwise, have been misused and abused.
While many tribes have become energetic participants in the mainstream of American life, the serious social ills afflicting some reservations have been worsened by decades of mismanagement from Washington.
In its place, we offer these guiding principles:
•Tribal governments are best situated to gauge the needs of their communities and members.
•Political self-determination and economic self-sufficiency are twin pillars of an effective Indian policy.
•Private sector initiatives, rather than public assistance, can best improve material conditions in Indian communities.
•High taxes and unreasonable regulations stifle new and expanded businesses and thwart the creation of job opportunities and prosperity.
We will continue to work with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make the tribal recognition process more transparent.
We will strengthen Native American selfdetermination by respecting tribal sovereignty, encouraging economic development on Native lands, and working with them to reorganize the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service.
We applaud President Bush for keeping his promise to eliminate within five years the maintenance and repairs backlog afflicting Indian schools.
This promise will be achieved in only four years with funding in the 2005 budget.
We support efforts to provide higher quality health care through the Indian Health Service.
We uphold the unique government-to-government relationship between the tribes and the United States and honor our nation's trust obligations to them.
We support efforts to ensure equitable participation in federal programs by Native Americans, Native Alaskans, and Native Hawaiians and to preserve their cultures and languages.
In an age of new threats, we recognize the critical role tribes play in securing our homeland and contributing to our national defense.
We honor the sacrifices made by Native Americans serving in the military today.
They are upholding the high ideal of service on behalf of liberty.
We will ensure that Indian veterans receive the care and respect they have earned through their service to America.
Supporting Judges Who Uphold the Law
In the federal courts, scores of judges with activist backgrounds in the hard-left now have lifetime tenure.
Recent events have made it clear that these judges threaten America's dearest institutions and our very way of life.
In some states, activist judges are redefining the institution of marriage.
The Pledge of Allegiance has already been invalidated by the courts once, and the Supreme Court's ruling has left the Pledge in danger of being struck down again - not because the American people have rejected it and the values that it embodies, but because a handful of activist judges threaten to overturn commonsense and tradition.
And while the vast majority of Americans support a ban on partial birth abortion, this brutal and violent practice will likely continue by judicial fiat.
We believe that the self-proclaimed supremacy of these judicial activists is antithetical to the democratic ideals on which our nation was founded.
President Bush has established a solid record of nominating only judges who have demonstrated respect for the Constitution and the democratic processes of our republic, and Republicans in the Senate have strongly supported those nominees.
We call upon obstructionist Democrats in the Senate to abandon their unprecedented and highly irresponsible filibuster of President Bush's highly qualified judicial nominees, and to allow the Republican Party to restore respect for the law to America's courts.
The sound principle of judicial review has turned into an intolerable presumption of judicial supremacy.
A Republican Congress, working with a Republican president, will restore the separation of powers and re-establish a government of law.
There are different ways to achieve that goal, such as using Article III of the Constitution to limit federal court jurisdiction; for example, in instances where judges are abusing their power by banning the use of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance or prohibiting depictions of the Ten Commandments, and potential actions invalidating the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
Additionally, we condemn judicial activists and their unwarranted and unconstitutional restrictions on the free exercise of religion in the public square.
Leading the Fight against HIV/AIDS - At Home and Abroad
HIV/AIDS is one of the deadliest epidemics in human history.
An estimated 38 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS and more than 20 million people have died as a result of the disease.
This disease has created an estimated 14 million HIV/AIDS orphans - children who have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS.
In the U.
S.
, nearly one million Americans are believed to be infected with HIV.
We fully support the President's leadership in dramatically expanding resources to find an HIV/AIDS vaccine and in devoting at least $15 billion over five years towards global prevention, care, and treatment programs.
Since taking office, President Bush has virtually tripled the United States' annual financial commitment to the global war on HIV/AIDS.
We support the emphasis on prevention in the President's Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS relief and endorse its embrace of the successful Ugandan model promoting the "ABC" approach to prevention that encourages abstinence and being faithful to one lifetime partner, along with other behavioral changes intended to eliminate or reduce exposure risk.
We support the President's Advancing HIV Prevention Initiative that emphasizes routine testing, early diagnosis, ongoing monitoring, and elimination of HIV/AIDS in newborn babies and infants.
We also support the President's efforts to double the amount spent on abstinence-only education and to promote healthy relationships.
We recognize the unique and special vulnerability of women and girls to HIV infection from abusive and coercive behavior beyond their control and encourage expanded efforts to address this problem through legal and cultural reform.
We also support more efforts to eradicate sex trafficking and prostitution and their underlying causes.
We support the expansion of programs providing support for those orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
We fully support the use of faith-based organizations as partners on the ground in HIV/AIDS relief efforts because they often have the most capability, credibility, and conviction for performing this important work in different communities, regions, and countries.
We also believe treatment and prevention of drug abuse are essential components of HIV protection.
We commend the President for his support of the Ryan White CARE Act and call for its reauthorization.
We believe that ensuring access to treatment must be the priority of HIV/AIDS care programs.
The President's policy is to provide safe, effective, high quality HIV/AIDS drugs at the lowest possible cost.
He has accelerated the FDA review process for HIV/AIDS drugs and therapies for use under the Emergency Plan for HIV/AIDS Relief.
President Bush led the G-8 in endorsing the establishment of a Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, a virtual consortium to accelerate HIV vaccine development.
The President also announced plans to establish a second HIV Vaccine Research and Development Center in the U.S. , in addition to the one at the National Institutes of Health.
The new center will become a key component of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise.
Americans In The Territories
We welcome greater participation in all aspects of the political process by Americans residing in Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, and Puerto Rico.
Since no single approach can meet the needs of those diverse communities, we emphasize respect for their wishes regarding their relationship to the rest of the Union.
We affirm their right to seek the full extension of the Constitution, with all the rights and responsibilities it entails.
We support the Native American Samoans' efforts to preserve their culture and land-tenure system, which fosters self-reliance and strong extended-family values.
We support increased local self-government for the United States citizens of the Virgin Islands, and closer cooperation between the local and federal governments to promote private sector-led development and self-sufficiency.
We recognize that Guam is a strategically vital U.S. territory in the far western Pacific, an American fortress in the Asian region.
We affirm our support for the patriotic U.S. citizens of Guam to achieve greater local self-government, an improved federal-territorial relationship, new economic development strategies, and continued self-determination as desired with respect to political status.
We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state after they freely so determine.
We recognize that Congress has the final authority to define the Constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico to achieve a permanent non-territorial status with government by consent and full enfranchisement.
As long as Puerto Rico is not a state, however, the will of its people regarding their political status should be ascertained by means of a general right of referendum or specific referenda sponsored by the United States government.
Supporting Humane and Legal Immigration
The Republican Party supports reforming the immigration system to ensure that it is legal, safe, orderly and humane.
It also supports measures to ensure that the immigration system is structured to address the needs of national security.
America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants, and the Republican Party honors them.
A growing economy requires a growing number of workers, and President Bush has proposed a new temporary worker program that applies when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs.
This new program would allow workers who currently hold jobs to come out of the shadows and to participate legally in America's economy.
It would allow men and women who enter the program to apply for citizenship in the same manner as those who apply from outside the United States.
There must be strong workplace enforcement with tough penalties against employees and employers who violate immigration laws.
We oppose amnesty because it would have the effect of encouraging illegal immigration and would give an unfair advantage to those who have broken our laws.
To better ensure that immigrants enter the United States only through legal means that allow for verification of their identity, reconnaissance cameras, border patrol agents, and unmanned aerial flights have all been increased at the border.
In addition, Border Patrol agents now have sweeping new powers to deport illegal aliens without having first to go through the cumbersome process of allowing the illegal alien to have a hearing before an immigration judge.
We support these efforts to enforce the law while welcoming immigrants who enter America through legal avenues.
PROTECTING OUR FAMILIES
"We are living in a time of great change - in our world, in our economy, in science and medicine.
Yet some things endure - courage and compassion, reverence and integrity, respect for differences of faith and race.
The values we try to live by never change.
And they are instilled in us by fundamental institutions, such as families and schools and religious congregations.
These institutions, these unseen pillars of civilization, must remain strong in America, and we will defend them.
We must stand with our families to help them raise healthy, responsible children.”
President George W.
Bush
Families are the cornerstone of our culture - the building blocks of a strong society.
In families, children learn values and ideals, as well as the basic lessons that get them started on a lifelong path of education.
We believe that every child deserves the chance to be born and grow up in a loving family.
We also believe that while families exist in many different forms, there are ideals to strive for.
Evidence shows us that children have the best chance at success when raised by a mother and a father who love and respect each other as well as their children.
We also know that family breakdown makes America less stable.
To create a sturdy foundation for the strength and success of our citizens and our nation, Republicans support policies that promote strong families.
We also support a government that makes it easier for parents to raise their children in a world that offers unprecedented opportunities and new challenges.
We offer an approach based on our common values and our common hopes.
It will lead to a better America, one family at a time.
The Next Steps in Welfare Reform
In 1996, the Republican Congress made history by passing welfare reform that revolutionized the way the government helps people build better lives for themselves.
The federal government gave states the flexibility to manage the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and both states and federal authorities began treating welfare as a step up rather than a way of life.
Since the 1996 Republican-led law, welfare caseloads have declined by half, and nearly three million Americans have been lifted out of poverty.
But there is more work to do.
We need to build on the results of the 1996 reforms and continue to move welfare recipients into jobs and off the welfare rolls.
This is especially important for single women and mothers, who continue to rely on welfare and fear that they cannot find a job or enter a training program because they need to care for their children.
We endorse President Bush's plan to extend the benefits of welfare reform by strengthening work requirements and promoting healthy marriages, and offering training, transportation, and child care services to help people become self-sufficient.
Every American deserves a chance to know the pride of earning a paycheck and providing for his or her family.
Promoting Healthy Marriages and Responsible Fatherhood
We support the President's welfare reform proposals that promote child wellbeing and stronger marriages.
We recognize the importance of having in the home a father and a mother who are married.
The two-parent family still provides the best environment of stability, discipline, responsibility, and character.
We recognize that fathers play a critical role in providing stability for their children.
Studies show that children are much more likely to do well in school and avoid crime and drugs when they have a responsible father in their lives.
Promoting responsible fatherhood will have longlasting benefits for families and for communities.
We support President Bush's initiatives to reaffirm the important role fathers play in their children's lives and to help men meet the responsibilities of fatherhood.
Supporting Adoption and Foster Children
We support the President's strong efforts to promote adoption through increased tax incentives and bonuses to states that place older children in permanent family homes, as well as his efforts to promote foster care by increasing the allocation of funds for preventive and family services.
Promoting Healthy Choices, Including Abstinence
Children's health remains a top priority for every family and for our country.
Despite advances in medicine, environmental progress, and increased efforts to keep children safe at home and in communities, alarming trends in overweight children and childhood obesity jeopardize the health of millions of children.
Too many of America's youth do not exercise, are overweight, and have poor dietary habits.
This leads to complications in childhood and as adults.
Five chronic diseases associated with obesity - heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (such as bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma), and diabetes - account for more than two-thirds of all deaths in the United States.
Extensive research, much of it conducted or funded by the federal government, has shown that improving overall health, and thus preventing disease and premature death, is as easy as making small adjustments and improvements in the activities of daily life.
We applaud the President's effort to increase public awareness about the benefits of physical fitness through programs like "HealthierUS," which focuses on physical activity; a nutritious diet; medical screenings; and healthy choices - and "VERB," which encourages young people to be physically active every day.
Each year more than three million American teenagers contract sexually transmitted diseases, causing emotional harm and serious health consequences, even death.
We support efforts to educate teens and parents about the health risks associated with early sexual activity and provide the tools needed to help teens make healthy choices.
Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of-wedlock pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including sexually transmitted HIV/AIDS.
Therefore, we support doubling abstinence education funding.
We oppose school-based clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for contraception and abortion.
We oppose school-based mental health programs that include recommendations for the use of psychotropic drugs.
Improving Work Schedule Flexibility
The President and Republicans in Congress are working to provide private-sector workers the same flexible scheduling options that government employees already enjoy.
Now that more families have both parents in the workforce, American workers need more control over their work schedules.
More flexibility in the workplace will help Americans to better manage the demands of work and family.
And that will make families stronger.
Comp-time and flex-time enable employees to choose paid time off as an alternative to overtime pay.
Both of these programs would be voluntary to employees and would include employee protections to prevent employers from coercing or forcing employees to take time off in lieu of receiving overtime pay.
Protecting Family Privacy
President Bush created the National Do Not Call Registry, a tool that will help ensure that telemarketers respect the privacy of our nation's citizens.
It will allow people to limit most unwanted telemarketing calls by registering their home or cell phone numbers.
Registration can be completed by phone or over the Internet, and it is free of charge.
The service also comes at no expense to the taxpayers.
Unauthorized and unwelcome email, commonly known as spam, interferes with efficient and effective business and family communications.
We support efforts to address this growing problem.
Identity theft is one of the fastest growing financial crimes in our nation.
Last year alone, nearly 10 million Americans had their identities stolen by criminals who robbed them and the nation's businesses of nearly $50 billion through fraudulent transactions.
The crime of identity theft undermines the basic trust on which our economy depends.
And like other forms of stealing, identity theft leaves the victim poorer and feeling terribly violated.
We praise President Bush and Republicans in Congress for passing the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, which established a national system of fraud detection so that identity thieves can be stopped before they run up tens of thousands of dollars in illegal purchases.
Thanks to this law, victims can make one phone call to report the crime to alert all three major credit rating agencies and to protect their credit ratings.
We further praise President Bush and Republicans in Congress for passing the Identity Theft Penalty Enhancement Act, which provides a real deterrent by toughening the prison sentences for those who use identity theft to commit other crimes, including terrorism.
It reflects our government's resolve to answer serious offenses with serious penalties.
And we praise President Bush for the broader effort he has waged to prevent identity theft.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the FBI, and Secret Service are working with local and state officials to crack down on the criminal networks that are responsible for much of the identity theft that occurs in America.
The Federal Trade Commission is training local law enforcement in the detection of identity theft and has set up the ID Theft Data Clearinghouse, which keeps track of complaints across the country and provides those records to prosecutors seeking to take down organized identity theft rings.
Protecting the Educational Rights of Parents and Students
As stated earlier, we applaud efforts to promote school choice initiatives that give parents more control over their children's education.
By the same token, we defend the option for home schooling and call for vigilant enforcement of laws designed to protect family rights and privacy in education.
Children should not be compelled to answer offensive or intrusive questionnaires.
We will continue to work for the return of voluntary school prayer to our schools and will strongly enforce the Republican legislation that guarantees equal access to school facilities by student religious groups.
We strongly support voluntary student-initiated prayer in school without governmental interference.
We strongly disagree with the Supreme Court's rulings against student-initiated prayer.
Protecting Children from Obscenity and Exploitation
The Republican Party shares the position of the United States Supreme Court in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), that obscene material is "unprotected by the first amendment" (413 U.S. at 23) and that "to equate the free and robust exchange of ideas and political debate with commercial exploitation of obscene material demeans the grand conception of the first amendment and its high purposes in the historic struggle for freedom” Miller, 413 U.S. at 34.
We therefore support vigorous prosecution of obscene material by the U.S. Department of Justice.
We applaud the Congress for passing, and the President for signing, the Protect Act.
As the President said, this law "will greatly assist law enforcement in tracking criminals who would harm our children, and will greatly help in rescuing the youngest victims of crime.
" The law formally established a national Amber Alert coordinator in the Department of Justice to help facilitate efforts to find missing children.
It also added important tools to fight child exploitation by making obscene images of children, even those created with computer technology, illegal.
We agree that strengthening the laws against child abuse will protect our children, help preserve the family structure, and promote a healthy environment in which our children can grow.
With ever more children accessing material over the Internet, we support efforts to bolster online protections that prevent children from being exposed to pornographic images and solicitations.
And we applaud public and private efforts to create online safe areas for children.
We praise President Bush and Congressional Republicans for their leadership in passing the Dot Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act, which created a secure domain on the Internet where parents know that it is safe for their children to learn and play and explore.
Protecting Marriage
We strongly support President Bush's call for a Constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage, and we believe that neither federal nor state judges nor bureaucrats should force states to recognize other living arrangements as equivalent to marriage.
We believe, and the social science confirms, that the well-being of children is best accomplished in the environment of the home, nurtured by their mother and father anchored by the bonds of marriage.
We further believe that legal recognition and the accompanying benefits afforded couples should be preserved for that unique and special union of one man and one woman which has historically been called marriage.
After more than two centuries of American jurisprudence, and millennia of human experience, a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization, the union of a man and a woman in marriage.
Attempts to redefine marriage in a single state or city could have serious consequences throughout the country, and anything less than a Constitutional amendment, passed by the Congress and ratified by the states, is vulnerable to being overturned by activist judges.
On a matter of such importance, the voice of the people must be heard.
The Constitutional amendment process guarantees that the final decision will rest with the American people and their elected representatives.
President Bush will also vigorously defend the Defense of Marriage Act, which was supported by both parties and passed by 85 votes in the Senate.
This common sense law reaffirms the right of states not to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states.
President Bush said, "We will not stand for judges who undermine democracy by legislating from the bench and try to remake America by court order.
" The Republican House of Representatives has responded to this challenge by passing H.R. 3313, a bill to withdraw jurisdiction from the federal courts over the Defense of Marriage Act.
We urge Congress to use its Article III power to enact this into law, so that activist federal judges cannot force 49 other states to approve and recognize Massachusetts' attempt to redefine marriage.
Promoting a Culture of Life
As a country, we must keep our pledge to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence.
That is why we say the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.
We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and we endorse legislation to make it clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children.
Our purpose is to have legislative and judicial protection of that right against those who perform abortions.
We oppose using public revenues for abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it.
We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.
Our goal is to ensure that women with problem pregnancies have the kind of support, material and otherwise, they need for themselves and for their babies, not to be punitive towards those for whose difficult situation we have only compassion.
We oppose abortion, but our pro-life agenda does not include punitive action against women who have an abortion.
We salute those who provide alternatives to abortion and offer adoption services, and we commend Congressional Republicans for expanding assistance to adopting families and for removing racial barriers to adoption.
We join the President in supporting crisis pregnancy programs and parental notification laws.
And we applaud President Bush for allowing states to extend health care coverage to unborn children.
We praise the President for his bold leadership in defense of life.
We praise him for signing the Born Alive Infants Protection Act.
This important legislation ensures that every infant born alive - including an infant who survives an abortion procedure - is considered a person under federal law.
We praise Republicans in Congress for passing, with strong bipartisan support, a ban on the inhumane procedure known as partial birth abortion.
And we applaud President Bush for signing legislation outlawing partial birth abortion and for vigorously defending it in the courts.
In signing the partial birth abortion ban, President Bush reminded us that "the most basic duty of government is to defend the life of the innocent.
Every person, however frail or vulnerable, has a place and a purpose in this world.
" We affirm the inherent dignity and worth of all people.
We oppose the non-consensual withholding of care or treatment because of disability, age, or infirmity, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which especially endanger the poor and those on the margins of society.
We support President Bush's decision to restore the Drug Enforcement Administration's policy that controlled substances shall not be used for assisted suicide.
We applaud Congressional Republicans for their leadership against those abuses and their pioneering legislation to focus research and treatment resources on the alleviation of pain and the care of terminally ill patients.
SUMMARY AND CALL TO ACTION
For 150 years, our Party has found its purpose in its principles.
We confront big challenges instead of passing them on to future generations.
We move forward with needed reforms to make the government work better for citizens.
We fight important battles and champion freedom because by expanding liberty, we make our nation more secure.
This is the choice the American people face - moving forward or looking back, reforming government or settling for the status quo, producing results or playing politics.
As Republicans, we know who we are and what we believe.
As the Party of the open door, while steadfast in our commitment to our ideals, we respect and accept that members of our Party can have deeply held and sometimes differing views.
This diversity is a source of strength, not a sign of weakness, and so we welcome into our ranks all who may hold differing positions.
We commit to resolve our differences with civility, trust, and mutual respect, and to affirm the common goals and beliefs that unite us.
As the Party of Lincoln, we stand for freedom.
We stand for the freedom of families and individuals to have good schools, good health care, and affordable housing and services.
We stand for the freedom that comes with a good paying job in a growing economy.
We stand for the freedom and dignity of every human life, in every stage of life.
We know that freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty's gift to every man, woman, and child in the world.
And we stand for a hopeful tomorrow that will come from total and complete victory in the War on Terror.
These are values worthy of a great nation.
And they are values worth fighting for.
That is exactly what President George W. Bush continues to do.
He is protecting us from danger by being prepared, strong, and steadfast.
Vigilance is never easy.
But it is always essential, now more than ever.
George W. Bush has done the hard work and made the hard choices required of an American President in challenging times.
Because of his leadership, we are strong.
Because of his vision, we will be even stronger.
That is the pledge of this platform … and the promise of this convention.
Defending Our Nation, Supporting Our Heroes, Securing the Peace
Three decades ago, in a world as dangerous as today's, Americans of all stripes came together to advance the cause of freedom.
They had witnessed the wreckage of inexperienced good intentions at the highest levels of government, the folly of an amateur foreign policy.
And so, in defiance of a world-wide Marxist advance,
they announced a goal as enduring as the vision of Isaiah, to "proclaim liberty to the captives,~ and summed up America's strategy for achieving that end in a timeless slogan: Peace through strength — an enduring peace, based on freedom and the will to defend it.
That goal still requires the unity of Americans beyond differences of party and conflicts of personality.
The rancor of past years must now give way to a common goal of security for our country and safety for our people.
For seven years, the horror of September 11, 2001 has not been repeated on our soil.
For that, we are prayerfully grateful and salute all who have played a role in defending our homeland.
We pledge to continue their vigilance and to assure they have the authority and resources they need to protect the nation.
Defending Our Nation The Current Conflict Abroad
All Americans should affirm that our first obligation is the security of our country.
To all those who defend it, we owe our full support and gratitude.
The waging of war — and the achieving of peace — should never be micromanaged in a party platform, or on the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives for that matter.
In dealing with present conflicts and future crises, our next president must preserve all options.
It would be presumptuous to specify them in advance and foolhardy to rule out any action deemed necessary for our security.
Homeland Security
We acknowledge and appreciate the significant contributions of all of America's First Responders, who keep us safe and secure and who are ever ready to come to our aid.
The security of our country is now everyone's responsibility, from the Department of Homeland Security to state and local first responders, private businesses, and individual families.
The fact that eighty percent of our critical infrastructure is in private hands highlights the need for public-private partnerships to safeguard it, especially in the energy industry.
Along with unrelenting vigilance to prevent bioterrorism and other WMD-related attacks, we must regularly exercise our ability to quickly respond if one were to occur.
We must continue to remove barriers to cooperation and information sharing.
Modernized 9-1-1 services must be made universally available and be adequately funded.
We must be able to thwart cyber attacks that could cripple our economy, monitor terrorist activities while respecting Americans' civil liberties, and protect against military and industrial espionage and sabotage.
All this requires experienced leadership.
Terrorism and Nuclear Proliferation
The attacks of September 11, 2001 were a pivot point in our national experience.
They highlighted the failure of national policy to recognize and respond to the growth of a global terror network.
They should have put an end to the Democrats' naive thinking that international terrorists could be dealt with within the normal criminal justice system, but that misconception persists.
The gravest threat we face — nuclear terrorism — demands a comprehensive strategy for reducing the world's nuclear stockpiles and preventing proliferation.
The U.S. should lead that effort by reducing the size of our nuclear arsenal to the lowest number consistent with our security requirements and
working with other nuclear powers to do the same.
In cooperation with other nations,
we should end the production of weapons-grade fissile material, improve our collective ability to interdict the spread of weapons of mass destruction and related materials, and ensure the highest possible security standards for existing nuclear materials wherever they may be located.
But that is not enough.
We must develop and deploy both national and theater missile defenses to protect the American homeland, our people, our Armed Forces abroad, and our allies.
Effective, layered missile defenses are critical to guard against the unpredictable actions of rogue regimes and outlaw states, reduce the possibility of strategic blackmail, and avoid the disastrous consequences of an accidental or unauthorized launch by a foreign power.
Better Intelligence — the Key to Prevention
Intelligence is America's first line of defense.
We must increase the ranks and resources of our human intelligence capabilities, integrate technical and human sources, and get that information more quickly to the warfighter and the policy maker.
The multi-jurisdictional arrangements that now prevail on Capitol Hill should be replaced by a single Joint Committee on Intelligence.
Intelligence is Key to Fighting Bioterrorism and Cyber terrorism
Bioterrorism and cyber terrorism, once the stuff of science fiction films, are immediate threats to our nation's health and safety.
Our food and water distribution systems require special vigilance.
By the same token, a well-placed cyber-attack could cripple our economy,
shut down our energy and transportation systems, wreck our health care delivery systems,
and put millions of lives at risk.
Although our country has thwarted new terrorist attacks since 2001, those threats do persist.
That is why our reform of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was so vital, and why the Democrats' opposition to it was so wrong.
Immigration, National Security, and the Rule of Law
Immigration policy is a national security issue, for which we have one test: Does it serve the national interest?
By that standard, Republicans know America can have a strong immigration system without sacrificing the rule of law.
Enforcing the Rule of Law at the Border and Throughout the Nation
Border security is essential to national security.
In an age of terrorism, drug cartels, and criminal gangs, allowing millions of unidentified persons to enter and remain in this country poses grave risks to the sovereignty of the United States and the security of its people.
We simply must be able to track who is entering and leaving our country.
Our determination to uphold the rule of law begins with more effective enforcement,
giving our agents the tools and resources they need to protect our sovereignty, completing the border fence quickly and securing the borders, and employing complementary strategies to secure our ports of entry.
Experience shows that enforcement of existing laws is effective in reducing and reversing illegal immigration.
Our commitment to the rule of law means smarter enforcement at the workplace, against illegal workers and lawbreaking employers alike, along with those who practice identity theft and traffic in fraudulent documents.
As long as jobs are available in the United States, economic incentives to enter illegally will persist.
But we must empower employers so they can know with confidence that those they hire are permitted to work.
That means that the E-Verify system—which is an internet-based system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees—must be reauthorized.
A phased-in requirement that employers use the E-Verify system must be enacted.
The rule of law means guaranteeing to law enforcement the tools and coordination to deport criminal aliens without delay — and correcting court decisions that have made deportation so difficult.
It means enforcing the law against those who overstay their visas, rather than letting millions flout the generosity that gave them temporary entry.
It means imposing maximum penalties on those who smuggle illegal aliens into the U.S., both for their lawbreaking and for their cruel exploitation.
It means requiring cooperation among federal, state and local law enforcement and real consequences, including the denial of federal funds, for self-described sanctuary cities, which stand in open defiance of the federal and state statutes that expressly prohibit such sanctuary policies, and which endanger the lives of U.S. citizens.
It does not mean driver's licenses for illegal aliens, nor does it mean that states should be allowed to flout the federal law barring them from giving in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens, nor does it mean that illegal aliens should receive social security benefits, or other public benefits, except as provided by federal law.
We oppose amnesty.
The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity.
The American people's rejection of en masse legalizations is especially appropriate given the federal government’s past failures to enforce the law.
Embracing Immigrant Communities
Today's immigrants are walking in the steps of most other Americans' ancestors, seeking the American dream and contributing culturally and economically to our nation.
We celebrate the industry and love of liberty of these fellow Americans.
Both government and the private sector must do more to foster legally present immigrants' integration into American life to advance respect for the rule of law and a common American identity.
It is a national disgrace that the first experience most new Americans have is with a dysfunctional immigration bureaucracy defined by delay and confusion; we will no longer tolerate those failures.
In our multiethnic nation, everyone — immigrants and native-born alike — must embrace our core values of liberty, equality, meritocracy, and respect for human dignity and the rights of women.
One sign of our unity is our English language.
For newcomers, it has always been the fastest route to prosperity in America.
English empowers.
We support English as the official language in our nation, while welcoming the ethnic diversity in the United States and the territories, including language.
Immigrants should be encouraged to learn English.
English is the accepted language of business, commerce, and legal proceedings, and it is essential as a unifying cultural force.
It is also important, as part of cultural integration, that our schools provide better education in U.S. history and civics for all children, thereby fostering a commitment to our national motto, E Pluribus Unum.
We are grateful to the thousands of new immigrants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving in the Armed Forces.
Their patriotism is inspiring; it should remind the institutions of civil society of the need to embrace newcomers, assist their journey to full citizenship, and help their communities avoid patterns of isolation.
Welcoming Refugees
Our country continues to accept refugees from troubled lands all over the world.
In some cases, these are people who stood with America in dangerous times, and they have first call on our hospitality.
We oppose, however, the granting of refugee status on the basis of lifestyle or other non-political factors.
Supporting Our Heroes
Republican leadership, from the presidency to the Congress, has given America the best-manned, best-trained, best-equipped, and best-led military in the world.
That is a radical change from the late 1990's, when national defense was neglected and under-funded by the Clinton Administration.
Our Armed Forces today are modern, agile, and adaptable to the unpredictable range of challenges in the years ahead.
We pledge to keep them that way.
Providing for the Armed Forces
The men and women who wear our country's uniform — whether on active duty or in the Reserves or National Guard — are the most important assets in our military arsenal.
They and their families must have the pay, health care, housing, education, and overall support they need.
We must significantly increase the size of our Armed Forces;
crucial to that goal will be retention of combat veterans.
Injured military personnel deserve the best medical care our country has to offer.
The special circumstances of the conflict in Iraq have resulted in an unprecedented incidence of traumatic brain injury, which calls for a new commitment of resources and personnel for its care and treatment.
We must make military medicine the gold standard for advances in prosthetics and the treatment of trauma and eye injuries.
We must always remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice; their families must be assured meaningful financial assistance.
It is the solemn duty we owe and honor we give to those who bravely don the uniform of freedom.
National Guard and Reserves
We pledge to maintain the strength of the National Guard and Reserves and to ensure they receive pay, benefits, and resources befitting their service.
Their historic role as citizen-soldiers is a proud tradition linking every community with the cause of national security.
We affirm service members' legal right to return to their civilian jobs, whether in government or in the private sector, when their active duty is completed, and we call for greater transition assistance from employers across the nation to smooth their return to the work force.
Personnel policies
The all-volunteer force has been a success.
We oppose reinstituting the draft, whether directly or through compulsory national service.
We support the advancement of women in the military and their exemption from ground combat units.
Military priorities and mission must determine personnel policies.
Esprit and cohesion are necessary for military effectiveness and success on the battlefield.
To protect our servicemen and women and ensure that America's Armed Forces remain the best in the world, we affirm the timelessness of those values, the benefits of traditional military culture, and the incompatibility of homosexuality with military service.
Fulfilling our Commitment to our Veterans
To military personnel who have served honorably and then retire or leave active duty, we owe a smooth transition to civilian life.
Funding for the programs that assist them should be sufficient, timely, and predictable and never be subject to political gamesmanship.
Economic Opportunity for Veterans
Returning veterans must have access to education benefits, job training, and a wide variety of employment options.
We want to build on the bipartisan expansion of the GI Bill by encouraging private colleges to bridge the gap between GI Bill education benefits and tuition costs.
We will strongly enforce the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act so that returning veterans can promptly return to their former jobs.
Our existing "veteran preference" regulations must lead to real action, not hollow promises.
We encourage private businesses to expand their outreach to the veterans community, especially disabled veterans.
Veterans’ Health Care and Disability System
We will hold the VA accountable for tangible results and steady improvement of its services.
The VA must become more responsive and more efficient by eliminating its disability backlog and reducing waiting times for treatment.
To ensure that the VA provides veterans with world class medical care, both at its own facilities and through partnerships with community providers, we must recruit the next generation of highly qualified medical professionals.
Where distance or crowding is an obstacle to traditional VA facility-based care, our veterans should be provided access to qualified out-of-network providers.
We call for greater attention by the VA to the special health care needs of women veterans, who will comprise an even larger percentage of VA patients in the future.
The VA's current disability compensation formulas need to be restructured and modernized.
Those who have borne the burden of war must have access to training, rehabilitation, and education.
Their families and caregivers deserve our concern and support.
We pledge special attention to combat stress injuries.
There must be adequate counseling when veterans return home — for them and their families.
They should have ongoing professional care, whether in a VA facility or closer to home, so that the natural and usually temporary responses to the horrors of war do not become permanent conditions.
We recognize the need for more mental health professionals who can give the highest quality treatment to our veterans.
We applaud the non-profit organizations which assist veterans and their families materially and in other ways.
They represent the best of the American spirit and merit our support.
Procurement Reform
The military's partners are the men and women who work in the defense industry and civilian sector, supplying the Armed Forces with weapons and equipment vital to the success of their mission.
To ensure that our troops receive the best material at the best value, we must reform the defense budgeting and acquisition process to control costs and ensure vigorous and fair competition.
We will not allow congressional pork to take the place of sound, sustained investment in the nation's security.
Securing the Peace
The Republican vision of peace through strength requires a sustained international effort, which complements our military activities, to develop and maintain alliances and relationships that will lead to greater peace and stability.
Promoting Human Rights and American Values
The international promotion of human rights reflects our heritage, our values, and our national interest.
Societies that enjoy political and economic freedom and the rule of law are not given to aggression or fanaticism.
They become our natural allies.
Republican leadership has made religious liberty a central element of U.S. foreign policy.
Asserting religious freedom should be a priority in all America's international dealings.
We salute the work of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and urge special training in religious liberty issues for all U.S. diplomatic personnel.
To be successful international leaders, we must uphold international law, including the laws of war, and update them when necessary.
Our moral standing requires that we respect what are essentially American principles of justice.
In any war of ideas, our values will triumph.
State Department Reform
Advancing America's values should be the core mission of every part of the federal government, including the Department of State.
America's diplomatic establishment must energetically represent our country's agenda to the world.
We propose a thorough reform of its structure to ensure that promotions and appointments are based on performance in supporting the nation's agenda.
Our diplomats must be the best our country has to offer, and America’s diplomatic abilities must be an integral part of America's national security system.
Public Diplomacy
Throughout the Cold War, our international broadcasting of free and impartial information promoted American values to combat tyranny.
It still does, through Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio/TV Marti, and it remains an important instrument in promoting a modernizing alternative to the culture of radical terror.
Getting America's message out to the world is a critical element in the struggle against extremism, and our government must wage a much more effective battle in the war of ideas.
Human Trafficking
Generations after the end of slavery in America, new forms of bondage have emerged to exploit men, women and children.
We salute those across the political spectrum who have come together to end the commerce in our fellow human beings.
We advocate the establishment of an Inter-Agency Task Force on Human Trafficking, reporting directly to the President,
and call for increased diplomatic efforts with foreign governments that have been negligent toward this evil.
The principle underlying our Megan's Law — publicizing the identities of known offenders — should be extended to international travel in order to protect innocent children everywhere.
Sovereign American Leadership in International Organizations
The United States participates in various inter national organizations which can, at times, serve the cause of peace and prosperity, but those organizations must never serve as a substitute for principled American leadership.
Nor should our participation in them prevent our joining with other democracies to protect our vital national interests.
At the United Nations, our country will pay a fair, but not disproportionate, share of dues, but we will never support a UN-imposed tax.
The UN must reform its scandal-ridden and corrupt management and become more accountable and transparent in its operations and expenses.
As a matter of U.S. sovereignty, American forces must remain under American command.
Discrimination against Israel at the UN is unacceptable.
We welcome Israel's membership in the Western European and Others Group at the UN headquarters and demand its full acceptance and participation at all UN venues.
We likewise oppose the ideological campaign against Vatican participation in UN conferences and other activities.
Because the UN has no mandate to promote radical social engineering, any effort to address global social problems must respect the fundamental institutions of marriage and family.
We assert the rights of families in all international programs and will not fund organizations involved in abortion.
We strongly support the long-held policy of the Republican Party known as the "Mexico City policy,~ which prohibits federal monies from being given to non-governmental organizations that provide abortions or actively promote abortion as a method of  family planning in other countries.
We reject any treaty or agreement that would violate those values.
That includes the UN convention on women's rights, signed in the last months of the Carter Administration, and the UN convention on the rights of the child.
For several reasons, particularly our concern for US sovereignty
and America's long-term energy needs,
we have deep reservations about the regulatory, legal, and tax regimes inherent in the Law of the Sea Treaty.
To shield the members of our Armed Forces and others in service to America from ideological prosecutions, the Republican Party does not accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Americans.
We support the American Servicemembers Protection Act, to shield U.S. personnel and officials as they act abroad to meet global security requirements.
Helping Others Abroad
Americans are the most generous people in the world.
No nation spends more in combined public and private efforts to combat disease and poverty around the world, and no nation works harder to ensure the continued vitality of the global economy.
Our reasons for doing so are both moral and practical, for a world where half of the human race lives on a few dollars a day is neither just nor stable.
Including the world's poor in an expanding circle of development is part and parcel of the Republican approach to world trade through open markets and fair competition.
It must also be a top priority of our foreign policy.
Decades of massive aid have failed to spur economic growth in the poorest countries, where it has often propped up failed policies and corrupt rulers.
We will target foreign assistance to high-impact goals:
fostering the rule of law through democratic government;
emphasizing literacy and learning; and, concentrating on the foundations for economic development — clean water, agricultural improvement, and microcredit funding for small enterprises.
Maternal and child health, especially safer childbirthing and nutrition, must be priorities, especially in countries affected by epidemics of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.
Further, we call for the development of a strategy for foreign assistance that serves our national interest.
Specifically we call for a review and improvement of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 oriented toward: alignment of foreign assistance policies, operations, budgets and statutory authorities; development of a consensus on what needs to be done to strengthen the non-military tools to further our national security goals; greater attention to core development programs — education, child survival, and agricultural development; and greater accountability by recipient countries so as to ensure against malfeasance, self-dealing, and corruption, and to ensure continued assistance is conditioned on performance.
Strengthening Ties in the Americas
Faith and family, culture and commerce, are enduring bonds among all the peoples of the Americas.
Republicans envision a western hemisphere of sovereign nations with secure borders, working together to advance liberty and mutually-beneficial trade based on sound and proven free enterprise principles.
Our relations with our immediate neighbors, Canada and Mexico, are grounded on our shared values and common purpose, as well as our steadily increasing trade.
We pledge to continue this close association and to advance mutually beneficial trade agreements throughout Latin America, promoting economic development and social stability there while opening markets to our goods and services.
Our strong ties with Canada and Mexico should not lead to a North American union or a unified currency.
Two factors distort this hemispheric progress.
One is narco-terrorism, with its ability to destabilize societies and corrupt the political process.
In an era of porous borders, the war on drugs and the war on terror have become a single enterprise.
We salute our allies in the fight against this evil, especially the people of Mexico and Colombia, who have set an example for their neighbors.
We support approval of the free trade agreement with Colombia, currently blocked by Capitol Hill Democrats and their union boss supporters, as an overdue gesture of solidarity for this courageous ally of the United States.
The other malignant element in hemispheric affairs is the anachronistic regime in Havana, a mummified relic from the age of totalitarianism, and its buffoonish imitators.
We call on the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean to join us in laying the groundwork for a democratic Cuba.
Looking to the inevitable day of liberation, we support restrictions on trade with, and travel to, Cuba as a measure of solidarity with the political prisoners and all the oppressed Cuban people.
We call for a dedicated platform for transmission of Radio and Television Marti into Cuba and, to prepare for the day when Cuba is free, we support the work of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba.
We affirm the principles of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the rights of Cubans fleeing Communist tyranny, and support efforts to admit more of them through a safe, legal, orderly process.
Advancing Hope and Prosperity in Africa
The great promise of Africa has been dimmed by disease, hunger, and violence.
Republicans have faced up to each of those challenges because, in addition to humanitarian concerns, the U.S. has important security interests in the stability and progress of African nations.
The devastating toll of HIV/AIDS threatens to destabilize entire societies through large numbers of orphaned youths.
In response, the U.S. has become the unrivaled leader in fighting the diseases that are the scourge of much of the continent.
Republican-sponsored legislation has brought jobs and investment to sub-Saharan Africa.
To continue that progress, we advocate continued expansion of trade with African nations.
Genocide must end.
The horrendous suffering of the people in the Darfur region of Sudan, as well as less publicized human tragedies elsewhere, calls for a far more energetic and determined response from Africa's elected leaders.
The United States stands ready to assist them with materiel, transportation, and humanitarian supplies.
We will continue America’s diplomatic efforts to secure a comprehensive and humane settlement for the people of the southern and western Sudan.
The promise of democracy and freedom in Africa is diminished by the government of Zimbabwe, which has seized lands without compensation, debased the currency, murdered and tortured its people, and so intimidated voters that free and fair elections are impossible.
We support sanctions against this government, free elections, and the restoration of civil government in Zimbabwe.
Partnerships across the Asia-Pacific Region
The U.S. is a Pacific nation, and our historic ties to Asia will grow stronger in the years ahead.
Australia has stood shoulder to shoulder with us in every major conflict.
The ties between our peoples, our economies, and our governments are extraordinary.
We cherish our bonds with our Freely Associated States in the Pacific Islands.
Our longstanding alliance with Japan has been the foundation for peace and prosperity in Asia, and we look for Japan to forge a leadership role in regional and global affairs.
Another valued ally, the Republic of Korea remains vigilant with us against the tyranny and international ambitions of the maniacal state on its border.
The U.S. will not waver in its demand for the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, with a full accounting of its proliferation activities.
We look toward the restoration of human rights to the suffering people of North Korea and the fulfilment of the wish of the Korean people to be one in peace and freedom.
India
We welcome America’s new relationship with India, including the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Accord.
Our common security concerns and shared commitment to political freedom and representative government can be the foundation for an enduring partnership.
Pakistan
We must expand our ties with the government and the people of Pakistan.
We support their efforts to improve democratic governance and strengthen civil society, and we appreciate the difficult but essential role Pakistan plays in the fight against terror.
Taiwan
Our policy toward Taiwan, a sound democracy and economic model for mainland China, must continue to be based upon the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act.
We oppose any unilateral steps by either side to alter the status quo in the Taiwan straits on the principle that all issues regarding the island's future must be resolved peacefully, through dialogue, and be agreeable to the people of Taiwan.
If China were to violate these principles, the U.S., in accord with the Taiwan Relations Act, will help Taiwan defend itself.
As a loyal friend of America, the democracy of Taiwan has merited our strong support, including the timely sale of defensive arms and full participation in the World Health Organization and other multilateral institutions.
China
We will welcome the emergence of a peaceful and prosperous China, and we will welcome even more the development of a democratic China.
Its rulers have already discovered that economic freedom leads to national wealth; the next lesson is that political and religious freedom leads to national greatness.
That is not likely to be learned while the government in Beijing pursues advanced military capabilities without any apparent need, imposes a "one-child" policy on its people, suppresses basic human rights in Tibet and elsewhere, and erodes democracy in Hong Kong.
China must honor its obligations regarding free speech and a free press as announced prior to the Olympics.
Our bilateral trade with China has created export opportunities for American farmers and workers, while both the requirements of the World Trade Organization and the realities of the marketplace have increased openness and the rule of law in China.
We must yet ensure that China fulfils its WTO obligations, especially those related to protecting intellectual property rights, elimination of subsidies, and repeal of import restrictions. China's full integration into the global economy requires that it adopt a flexible monetary exchange rate and allow free movement of capital.
China's economic growth brings with it the responsibility for environmental improvement, both for its own people and for the world community.
Vietnam
Our relations with Vietnam have improved, but two grave matters remain.
The first is the need for unceasing efforts to obtain an accounting for, and repatriation of the remains of, Americans who gave their lives in the cause of freedom.
The second is continued repression of human rights and religious freedom, and the retribution by the government of Vietnam against its ethnic minorities and others who assisted U.S. forces there.
We owe them a debt of honor and will do all we can to relieve their suffering.
Burma
We urge all the nations of East Asia to join the worldwide effort to restore the suffering people of Burma to the democratic family of nations.
The military dictatorship in Burma is among the worst on the planet.
Its savagery demands a strong response from the world community, including economic and financial sanctions and isolation of the illegitimate regime.
Strengthening Our Relations with Europe
Our country's ties to the peoples of Europe are based on shared culture and values, common interests and goals.
We particularly appreciate our close friendship with the United Kingdom, a relationship that has led the forces of freedom for generations.
The enduring truth — that America's security is inseparable from Europe's — was reaffirmed by our European allies after September 11, 2001.
NATO, the most successful military alliance in history, has been greatly strengthened by the addition of new members in Central and Eastern Europe.
We believe the door to NATO membership should remain open to all democratic nations who share our values and meet the requirements for NATO membership.
We strongly support NATO-endorsed efforts to deploy missile defenses to protect our European allies from the threat of Iranian missiles, and we appreciate the willingness of the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic to host these needed defensive systems.
We condemn the Russian Federation's attempts to intimidate states, formerly under Soviet domination, in order to prevent their deploying missile defenses.
The decision on this question is for each sovereign nation to decide.
We support the ongoing reconciliation efforts in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, including the appointment of a U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.
We condemn the escalation of anti-Semitic violence, arson, and desecration in Europe and other areas of the world.
Russia
Americans and the Russian people have common imperatives: ending terrorism, combating nuclear proliferation, promoting bilateral trade, and more.
But matters of serious concern remain particularly the Russian government's treatment of the press, opposition parties, and institutions of civil society.
It continues its aggressive confrontations with its neighbors, from economic intimidation to outright warfare, and has aligned with dangerous anti-democratic forces in the Middle East.
As a condition for its continued acceptance in world organizations, Russia must respect the independence and territorial integrity of all the nations of the former Soviet Union, beginning with the republic of Georgia, and move toward a free and democratic society.
The Middle East
The momentum of change in the Middle East has been in the right direction.
From Morocco to the Gulf States, the overall trend has been toward cooperation and social and economic development, especially with regard to the rights of women.
We acknowledge the substantial assistance the U.S. has received from most governments in the region in the war on terror.
Those countries that have made peace with Israel, whether officially or in fact, deserve our appreciation and assistance.
We urge the continued isolation of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah because they do not meet the standards of the international community.
We call for the restoration of Lebanon's independence and sovereignty and the full implementation of all UN resolutions concerning that country.
The struggle in which we are engaged is ideological, not ethnic or religious.
The extremists we face are abusers of faith, not its champions.
We appreciate the loyalty of all Americans whose family roots lie in the Middle East, and we gratefully acknowledge the contributions of American Arabs and Muslims, especially those in the Armed Forces and the intelligence community.
Israel
Israel is a vigorous democracy, unique in the Middle East.
We reaffirm America's commitment to Israel's security and will ensure that Israel maintains a qualitative edge in military technology over any potential adversaries. Israel must have secure, defensible borders and we support its right to exist as a Jewish state able to defend itself against homicide bombings, rocket and mortar fire, and other attacks against its people.
We support the vision of two democratic states living in peace and security: Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital, and Palestine.
For that to become a reality, the Palestinian people must support leaders who reject terror, embrace the institutions and ethos of democracy, and respect the rule of law.
We call on Arab governments throughout the region to help advance that goal.
We support Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and moving the American embassy to that undivided capital of Israel.
The U.S. seeks a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, negotiated between the parties themselves, without the imposition of an artificial timetable, and without the demand that Israel deal with entities which continue to pledge her destruction.
At the heart of any peace process must be a mutual commitment to resolve all issues through negotiation.
Part of that process must be a just, fair, and realistic framework for dealing with the Palestinian refugee issue.
Like all other elements in a meaningful agreement, this matter can be settled only on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect today's realities as well as tomorrow's hopes.
Iraq
A stable, unified, and democratic Iraqi nation is within reach.
Our success in Iraq will deny al Qaeda a safe haven, limit Iranian influence in the Middle East, strengthen moderate forces there, and give us a strategic ally in the struggle against extremism.
To those who have sacrificed so much, we owe the commitment that American forces will leave that country in victory and with honor.
That outcome is too critical to our own national security to be jeopardized by artificial or politically inspired timetables that neither reflect conditions on the ground nor respect the essential advice of our military commanders.
As the people of Iraq assume their rightful place in the ranks of free and open societies, we offer them a continuing partnership.
Afghanistan
In the seven years since U.S. troops helped topple the Taliban, there has been great progress — but much remains to be done.
We must prevail in Afghanistan to prevent the re-emergence of the Taliban or an al Qaeda sanctuary in that country.
A nationwide counterinsurgency strategy led by a unified commander is an essential prerequisite to success.
Additional forces are also necessary, both from NATO countries and through a doubling in size of the Afghan army.
The international community must work with the Afghan government to better address the problems of illegal drugs, governance, and corruption.
We flatly reject the Democratic Party’s idea that America can succeed in Afghanistan only by failure in Iraq.
Iran
We express our respect for the people of Iran who seek peace and aspire to freedom.
Their current regime, aggressive and repressive, is unworthy of them.
The Iranian people, many of whom risk persecution to speak out for democracy, have a right to choose their own government.
As a rogue state, Iran’s leadership supports terror, threatens its neighbors, and provides weapons that are killing our troops in Iraq.
We affirm, in the plainest words we can use, that the U.S. government, in solidarity with the international community, will not allow the current regime in Tehran to develop nuclear weapons.
We call for a significant increase in political, economic, and diplomatic pressure to persuade Iran's rulers to halt their drive for a nuclear weapons capability, and we support tighter sanctions against Iran and the companies with business operations in or with Iran.
We oppose entering into a presidential-level, unconditional dialogue with the regime in Iran until it takes steps to improve its behavior, particularly with respect to support of terrorism and suspension of its efforts to enrich uranium.
At the same time, the U.S. must retain all options in dealing with a situation that gravely threatens our security, our interests, and the safety of our friends
Reforming Government to Serve the People
The American people believe Washington is broken ... and for good reason.
Short-term politics overshadow the long-term interests of the nation.
Our national legislature uses a budget process devised long before the Internet and seems unable to deal in realistic ways with the most pressing problems of families, businesses, and communities.
Members of Congress have been indicted for violating the public trust.
Public disgust with Washington is entirely warranted.
Republicans will uphold and defend our party's core principles:
Constrain the federal government to its legitimate constitutional functions.
Let it empower people, while limiting its reach into their lives.
Spend only what is necessary, and tax only to raise revenue for essential government functions.
Unleash the power of enterprise, innovation, civic energy, and the American spirit — and never pretend that government is a substitute for family or community.
The other party wants more government control over people's lives and earnings; Republicans do not.
The other party wants to continue pork barrel politics; we are disgusted by it, no matter who practices it.
The other party wants to ignore fiscal problems while squandering billions on ineffective programs; we are determined to end that waste.
The entrenched culture of official Washington — an intrusive tax-and-spend liberalism — remains a formidable foe, but we will confront and ultimately defeat it.
Washington’s Failure: the Scope of the Problem
The federal government collects $2.7 trillion a year from American families and businesses.
That's $7.4 billion a day.
Even worse, it spends over $3 trillion a year: $8.2 billion a day.
Why? Largely because those who created this bloated government will not admit a single mistake or abolish a single program.
Here are some staggering examples of the overall problem: * Recent audits show that 22% of all federal programs are ineffective or incapable of demonstrating results. * 69 separate programs, administered by 10 different agencies, provide education or care to children under the age of 5. * Nine separate agencies administer 44 different programs for job training.   • 23 separate programs, each with its own overhead, provide housing assistance to the elderly.
With so many redundant, inefficient, and ineffective federal programs, it is no wonder that the American people have so little confidence in Washington to act effectively when federal action is really needed.
The Budget Process — A Fraud that Guarantees Runaway Spending
For more than three decades — since enactment of the Budget Act of 1974 by a Democrat-controlled Congress — the federal government has operated within a rigged system notable for its lack of transparency.
The earlier approach — annual passage of the appropriation bills, amended and voted up or down, with the numbers there for all to see — had its flaws and generated much red ink.
But its replacement, the current budget process, only worsened the money flow and came to rely on monstrous omnibus spending bills.
The results are adverse to all seeking to limit government's growth.
For example: * The budget process assumes every spending project will be on the books forever, even if the law says the spending will expire — but it assumes tax relief will be temporary. * It treats well-deserved tax cuts as a kind of spending, so that letting Americans keep more of their earnings is considered the same as more spending on pork projects. * It fails to recognize the positive impact that lowering tax rates has on economic growth. * In its deceptive and irresponsible accounting, an increase in a program's funding is actually a decrease if it is less than the rate of inflation. * Once a budget is produced under that sys tem, the budget law itself limits the time Congress can consider it before voting.
Moreover, the budget's review process is a sham.
Of the $3 trillion spent annually, only one-third is reviewed each year during the budget and appropriations process. The remaining $2 trillion automatically goes to interest on the national debt or entitlements.
And because the budget process assumes an automatic increase in spending, the debate on the remaining one-third is only over how much more spending to approve.
Finally, while government requires corporations to budget for future pension and health care costs, our government ignores those requirements.
No family or private sector business could keep its books the way Washington keeps ours.
A Plan to Control Spending
Republicans will attack wasteful Washington spending immediately.
Current procedures should be replaced with simplicity and transparency.
For example: * We favor adoption of the Balanced Budget Amendment to require a balanced federal budget except in time of war.
Earmarking must stop.
To eliminate wasteful projects and pay-offs to special interests, we will impose an immediate moratorium on the earmarking system and reform the appropriations process through full transparency.
Tax dollars must be distributed on the basis of clear national priorities, not a politician's seniority or party position.
* Government waste must be taken off autopilot.
We call for a one-year pause in nondefense, non-veterans discretionary spend   ing to force a critical, cost-benefit review of all current programs.
* We call for a constitutionally sound presidential line-item veto.
* If billions are worth spending, they should be spent in the light of day.
We will insist that, before either the House or Senate considers a spending bill, every item in it should be presented in advance to the taxpayers on the Internet.
* Because the problem is too much spending, not too few taxes, we support a supermajority requirement in both the House and Senate to guard against tax hikes.
* New authorizations should be offset by reducing another program, and no appropriation should be permitted without a current authorization.
* Congressional ethics rules governing special interests should apply across the board, without the special exemptions now granted to favored institutions.
* We support the Government Shutdown Protection Act to ensure the continuance of essential federal functions when advocates of pork threaten to shut down the government unless their wasteful spending is accepted.
* We will insist that the budget reasonably plan for the long-term costs of pension and health care programs and urge the conversion of such programs to defined contribution programs.
Empowering the States, Improving Public Services
The long term solution for many of Washington's problems is structural.
Congress must respect the limits imposed upon it by the Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
We look to the model of Republican welfare reform, which, since its enactment in 1996, has accomplished a major transfer of resources and responsibility from the federal government back to the states — with an accompanying improvement in the program itself.
Applying that approach to other programs will steer Congress back into line with the Constitution, reversing both its intrusion into state matters and its neglect of its central duties.
To aid in the fulfillment of those duties, we propose a National Sunset Commission to review all federal programs and recommend which of them should be terminated due to redundancy, waste, or intrusion into the American family.
The Congress would then be required by law to schedule one yea or nay vote on the entire sunset list with no amendments.
Additionally, as important as returning power to the states is returning power to the people.
As the Declaration of Independence states, our rights are endowed to us by our Creator and are inalienable: rights to life, liberty, and property.
Government does not confer these rights but is instituted by men to protect the rights that man already possesses.
The Republican Party strongly affirms these rights and demands that government respect them.
Congress Must Improve Oversight of Government Programs
Congress has a fundamental duty to conduct meaningful oversight on the effectiveness of government programs, not use every hearing as an opportunity for political grandstanding.
To that end:  • We urge every congressional committee to reserve at least one week every month to conduct oversight of the nearly 1,700 separate grant and loan programs of the federal government.
* To prevent conflicts of interest, a Truth in Testimony mandate should require all committee witnesses to detail the amount of federal funding they and their employer currently receive and, in the case of associations, how much federal money their members would receive from the proposed legislation.
* Because official Washington does not even know how much land it owns, we call for a national audit of all federally-owned properties as a first step toward returning unnecessary properties to the American people or to state and local government for public use.
Improving the Work of Government
Modern management of the federal government is long overdue.
The expected retirement over the next ten years of more than 40 percent of the federal workforce, and 60 percent of its managers, presents a rare opportunity: a chance to gradually shrink the size of government while using technology to increase its effectiveness and reshape the way agencies do business.
Each agency must be able to pass a financial audit and set annual targets for improving efficiency with fewer resources.
Civil service managers should be given incentives for more effective leadership, including protection against the current guilty-until-proven-innocent grievance procedures which disgruntled employees use against them to thwart reform.
Due process cannot excuse bad behavior.
We will provide Internet transparency in all federal contracting as a necessary step in combating cost overruns.
We will draw on the expertise of today's successful managers and entrepreneurs in the private sector, like the "dollar-a-year" businesspeople who answered their country's call during the Second World War, to build real-world competence and accountability into government procurement and operations.
Domestic Disaster Response
Americans hit by disaster must never again feel abandoned by their government.
The Katrina disaster taught a painful lesson: The federal government's system for responding to a natural calamity needs a radical overhaul.
We recognize the need for a natural disaster insurance policy.
State and local cooperation is crucial, as are private relief efforts, but Washington must take the lead in forging a partnership with America's best run businesses to ensure that FEMA's Emergency Operations Centers run as well as any Fortune 500 Company.
We must make it easier for both businesses and non-profits to act as force-multipliers in relief situations.
We believe it is critical to support those impacted by natural disasters and to complete the rebuilding of devastated areas, including the Gulf Coast.
Restoring Our Infrastructure
The American people can have safer roads and bridges, better airports and more efficient harbors, as long as we straighten out the government's spending priorities.
The politics of pork distorts the allocation of resources for modernizing the nation's infrastructure.
That can leave entire communities vulnerable to natural disasters and deprive others of the improvements necessary for economic growth and  job creation.
We pledge a business-like, cost-effective approach for infrastructure spending, always mindful of the special needs of both rural and urban communities.
We support a level of investment in the nation's transportation system that will promote a healthy economy, sustain jobs, and keep America globally competitive.
We need to improve the system's performance and capacity to deal with congestion, move a massive amount of freight, reduce traffic fatalities, and ensure mobility across both rural and urban areas.
We urgently need to preserve the highway, transit, and air facilities built over the last century so they can serve generations to come.
At the same time, we are committed to minimizing transportation's impact on climate change, our local environments, and the nation's energy use.
Careful reforms of environmental reviews and the permitting process should speed projects to completion.
Safeguarding our transportation infrastructure is critical to our homeland security.
An integrated, flexible system — developed and sustained in partnership between state and local governments and the federal government — must also share responsibilities with the private sector.
We call for more prudent stewardship of the nation's Highway Trust Fund to restore the program's purchasing power and ensure that it will meet the changing needs of a mobile nation.
Entitlement Reform
The job of modernizing Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid calls for bipartisanship, not political posturing.
Through the last four presidential terms, we have sought that cooperation, but it has not been forthcoming.
The public demands constructive action, and we will provide it.
Social Security
We are committed to putting Social Security on a sound fiscal basis.
Our society faces a profound demographic shift over the next twenty-five years, from today's ratio of 3.3 workers for every retiree to only 2.1 workers by 2034.
Under the current system, younger workers will not be able to depend on Social Security as part of their retirement plan.
We believe the solution should give workers control over, and a fair return on, their contributions.
No changes in the system should adversely affect any current or near-retiree.
Comprehensive reform should include the opportunity to freely choose to create your own personal investment accounts which are distinct from and supplemental to the overall Social Security system.
Medicare and Medicaid
As discussed in the health care section of this document, we commit to revive Medicare by rewarding quality care, promoting competition, eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, and giving patients and providers control over treatment options.
We envision a new Medicaid partnership with the states, improving public health through flexibility and innovation.
Appointing Constitutionalist Judges for the Nation’s Courts
Judicial activism is a grave threat to the rule of law because unaccountable federal judges are usurping democracy, ignoring the Constitution and its separation of powers, and imposing their personal opinions upon the public.
This must stop.
We condemn the Supreme Court's disregard of homeowners' property rights in its Kelo decision and deplore the Court's arbitrary extension of Americans' habeas corpus rights to enemy combatants held abroad.
We object to the Court's unwarranted interference in the administration of the death penalty in this country for the benefit of savage criminals whose guilt is not at issue.
We lament that judges have denied the people their right to set abortion policies in the states and are undermining traditional marriage laws from coast to coast.
We are astounded that four justices of the Supreme Court believe that individual Americans have no individual right to bear arms to protect themselves and their families.
Republicans will insist on the appointment of constitutionalist judges, men and women who will not distort our founding documents to deny the people's right to self-government sanction federal powers that violate our liberties, or inject foreign law into American jurisprudence.
We oppose stealth nominations to the federal bench, and especially to the Supreme Court, whose lack of a clear and distinguished record leaves doubt about their respect for the Constitution or their intellectual fortitude.
Nominees must have a record of fidelity to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law.
We reject the Democrats' view that judicial nominees should guarantee particular results even before the case is filed.
Judges should not be politicians.
Jurists nominated by a Republican president will be thoughtful and open-minded, always prepared to view past error in light of stare decisis, including judicial fiats that disenfranchised the American people.
No qualified person should be denied the opportunity to serve on the federal bench due to race, ethnicity, religion or sex.
In affirming Article VI of the Constitution — that no religious test shall ever be required for any office — we insist that the Senate should never inquire into a nominee's religious convictions and we condemn the opposition, by some members of the Democratic Party, to recent judicial nominees because of their ethnicity or religion.
Protecting the Right to Vote in Fair Elections
Many members of the Armed Services will find it difficult to participate in this year's elections because of the government's reliance on outdated and inadequate voting, notification, and ballot delivery systems.
The mishandling and delaying of registration forms and absentee ballots disenfranchises thousands of our servicemen and servicewomen.
The Commander-in-Chief, the Department of Defense, and state and local election officials must do more to protect the voting rights of those on the front lines of freedom.
That means using expedited mail delivery to bring ballots to and from our troops abroad, including those serving in areas of conflict, while completing work on an electronic ballot delivery system that will enable our military personnel to receive and cast their ballots in a secure and convenient manner.
We oppose attempts to distort the electoral process by wholesale restoration of the franchise to convicted felons, by makeshift or hurried naturalization procedures, or by discretionary ballot-reading by election boards.
Preventing voting fraud is a civil rights issue.
We support the right of states to require an official government-issued photo identification for voting and call upon the Department of Justice to deploy its resources to prevent ballot tampering in the November elections.
We support efforts by state and local election officials to ensure integrity in the voting process and to prevent voter fraud and abuse, particularly as it relates to voter registration and absentee ballots.
The rights of citizenship do not stop at the ballot box.
They include the free-speech right to devote one’s resources to whatever cause or candidate one supports.
We oppose any restrictions or conditions upon those activities that would discourage Americans from exercising their constitutional right to enter the political fray or limit their commitment to their ideals.
Guaranteeing a Constitutional Census in 2010
The integrity of the 2010 census, proportioning congressional representation among the states, must be preserved.
The census should count every person legally abiding in the United States in an actual enumeration.
We urge all who are legally eligible to participate in the census count to do so; at the same time, we urge Congress to specify — and to constitutionally justify — which census questions require a response.
Working with Americans in the Territories
We appreciate the extraordinary sacrifices the men and women of the territories are making to protect our freedom through their service in the U.S. Armed Forces.
We welcome greater participation in all aspects of the political process by Americans residing in Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, and Puerto Rico.
We affirm their right to seek the full extension of the Constitution, with all the political rights and responsibilities it entails.     We recognize the valuable contributions made by the people of the United States Virgin Islands to the common welfare of the nation, including national defense, and their contributions to the federal treasury in the form of federal excise taxes paid on products produced in the territory.
We support the Native American Samoans~ efforts to protect their right to self-government and to preserve their culture and land-tenure system, which fosters self-reliance and strong extended-family values.
We support increased local self-government for the United States citizens of the Virgin Islands, and closer cooperation between the local and federal governments to promote private sector-led development and self-sufficiency.
We recognize that Guam is a strategically vital U.S. territory, an American fortress in the western Pacific.
We affirm our support for the patriotic U.S. citizens of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to achieve greater self-government, an improved federal territorial relationship, new economic development strategies, a strong health care system that meets their needs, and continued political self-determination.
We support a review to determine the appropriate eligibility of territories as well as states for Supplemental Security Income and other federal programs.
We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state after they freely so determine.
We recognize that Congress has the final authority to define the constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico to achieve a permanent non-territorial status with government by consent and full enfranchisement.
As long as Puerto Rico is not a state, however, the will of its people regarding their political status should be ascertained by means of a general right of referendum or specific referenda sponsored by the U.S. government.
Preserving the District of Columbia
The nation's capital is a special responsibility of the federal government.
Yet some of the worst performing schools in the country are mere blocks from the Department of Education, and some of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in the country are blocks from the Department of Justice.
Washington should be made a model city.
Two major Republican initiatives — a first-time D.C. homebuyers credit and a landmark school choice initiative — have pointed the way toward a civic resurgence, and a third piece of GOP legislation now guarantees young D.C. residents significant assistance in affording higher education.
Because Washington's buildings and monuments may be top targets of terrorist groups, the federal government must work closely with local officials to improve security without burdening local residents.
We call on the District of Columbia city council to pass laws consistent with the Supreme Court's decision in the Heller case.
We honor the contributions of the residents of the District of Columbia, especially those who are serving honorably, or have served, in our Armed Forces.
Expanding Opportunity to Promote Prosperity
America's free economy has given our country the world's highest standard of living and allows us to share our prosperity with the rest of humanity.
It is an engine of charity, empowering everything from Sabbath collection plate to great endowments.
It creates opportunity, rewards self-reliance and hard work, and unleashes productive energies that other societies can only imagine.
Today, our economy faces challenges due to high energy costs.
Our task is to strengthen our economy and build a greater degree of security — in availability of jobs, in accessibility of health care, in portability of pensions, and in affordability of energy.
That is an urgent task because economic freedom — and the prosperity it makes possible — are not ends in themselves.
They are means by which families and individuals can maintain their independence from government, raise their children by their own values, and build communities of self-reliant neighbors.
Economic freedom expands the prosperity pie; government can only divide it up.
That is why Republicans advocate lower taxes, reasonable regulation, and smaller, smarter government.
That agenda translates to more opportunity for more people.
It represents the economics of inclusion, the path by which hopes become achievements.
It is the way we will reach our goal of enabling everyone to have a chance to own, invest, and build.
Republican Tax Policy: Protecting Hardworking Americans
The most important distinction between Republicans and the leadership of today's Democratic Party concerning taxes is not just that we believe you should keep more of what you earn.
That's true, but there is a more fundamental distinction.
It concerns the purpose of taxation.
We believe government should tax only to raise money for its essential functions.
Today's Democratic Party views the tax code as a tool for social engineering.
They use it to control our behavior, steer our choices, and change the way we live our lives.
The Republican Party will put a stop to both social engineering and corporate handouts by simplifying tax policy, eliminating special deals, and putting those saved dollars back into the taxpayers' pockets.
The Republican Agenda: Using Tax Relief to Grow the Economy
Sound tax policy alone may not ensure economic success, but terrible tax policy does guarantee economic failure.
Along with making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent so American families will not face a large tax hike, Republicans will advance tax policies to support American families, promote savings and innovation, and put us on a path to fundamental tax reform.
Lower Taxes on Families and Individuals
American families with children are the hardest hit during any economic downturn.
Republicans will lower their tax burden by doubling the exemption for dependents.
* New technology should not occasion more taxation.
We will permanently ban internet access taxes and stop all new cell phone taxes.
* For the sake of family farms and small businesses, we will continue our fight against the federal death tax.
* The Alternative Minimum Tax, a stealth levy on the middle-class that unduly targets large families, must be repealed.
* Republicans support tax credits for health care and medical expenses.
Keeping Good Jobs in America
America’s producers can compete successfully in the international arena — as long as they have a level playing field.
Today's tax code is tilted against them, with one of the highest corporate tax rates of all developed countries.
That not only hurts American investors, managers, and the U.S. balance of trade; it also sends American jobs overseas.
We support a major reduction in the corporate tax rate so that American companies stay competitive with their foreign counterparts and American jobs can remain in this country.
Promoting Savings through the Tax Code
We support a tax code that encourages personal savings.
High tax rates discourage thrift by penalizing the return on savings and should be replaced with incentives to save.
We support a plan to encourage employers to offer automatic enrollment in tax-deferred savings programs.
The current limits on tax-free savings accounts should be removed.
Fundamental Tax Reform
Over the long run, the mammoth IRS tax code must be replaced with a system that is simple, transparent, and fair while maximizing economic growth and job creation.
As a transition, we support giving all taxpayers the option of filing under current rules or under a two-rate flat tax with generous deductions for families.
This gradual approach is the taxpayers~ best hope of overcoming the lobbyist legions that have thwarted past simplification efforts.
As a matter of principle, we oppose retroactive taxation, and we condemn attempts by judges, at any level of government, to seize the power of the purse by ordering higher taxes.
Because of the vital role of religious organizations, charities and fraternal benevolent societies in fostering charity and patriotism, they should not be subject to taxation.
In any fundamental restructuring of federal taxation, to guard against the possibility of hypertaxation of the American people, any value added tax or national sales tax must be tied to simultaneous repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, which established the federal income tax.
The Democrats Plan to Raise Your Taxes
The last thing Americans need right now is tax hikes.
On the federal level, Republicans lowered taxes in 2001 and 2003 in order to encourage economic growth, put more money in the pockets of every taxpayer, and make the system fairer.
It worked.
If Congress had then controlled its spending, we could have done even more.
Ever since those tax cuts were enacted, the Democratic Party has been clear about its goals: It wants to raise taxes by eliminating those Republican tax reductions.
The impact on American families would be disastrous:
Marginal tax rates would rise.
This is in addition to their proposal to target millions of taxpayers with even higher rates.
* The "marriage penalty" would return for two-earner couples.
* The child tax credit would fall to half its current value.
* Small businesses would lose their tax relief.
* The federal death tax would be enormously increased.
* Investment income — the seed money for new jobs — would be eaten away by higher rates for dividend and capital gain income.
All that and more would amount to an annual tax hike upwards of $250 billion — almost $700 per taxpayer every year, for a total of $1.1 trillion in additional taxes over the next decade.
That is what today's Democratic Party calls "tax fairness."
We call it an unconscionable assault on the paychecks and pocketbooks of every hard-working American household.
Their promises to aim their tax hikes at families with high incomes is a smokescreen; history shows that when Democrats want more money, they raise taxes on everyone.
Small Business: the Engine of Job Growth
We proudly call ourselves the party of small business because small businesses are where national prosperity begins.
Small businesses such as Main Street retailers, entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and direct sellers create most of the country's new jobs and have been the primary means of economic advancement by women and minorities.
Eight years ago, when Democrats controlled the Executive Branch, small business faced a hostile regulatory agenda, from OSHA's ergonomics standards and attempts to intrude into the homes of telecom-muting employees to IRS discrimination against independent contractors.
Republicans turned back those threats, along with much of the onerous taxation that limited the growth of small businesses.
We reduced their marginal tax rates, quadrupled the limit on their expensing of investments, and phased out the death tax on family owned small businesses and family farms.
We enacted Health Savings Accounts to help small business owners secure health insurance for themselves and their employees.
All those gains are jeopardized if Democrats gain unfettered power once again.
Republicans will advance a multi-pronged plan to support small business and grow good-paying jobs:
* Through the energy agenda laid out elsewhere in this platform, we will attack the rise in energy costs that is making it so difficult for entrepreneurs to compete.
* Our tax reduction and tax simplification agenda will allow businesses to focus on producing and selling their products and services — not on paying taxes.
* Our plan to return control of health care to patients and providers will benefit small   business employers and employees alike.
* Our determination to vigorously open foreign markets to American products is an opportunity for many small businesses to grow larger in the global economy.
* Our approach to regulation — basing it on sound science to achieve goals that are technically feasible — will protect against job-killing intrusions into small businesses.
* Our commitment to legal reform means protecting small businesses from the effects of frivolous lawsuits.
Using history as our guide, we look to innovative entrepreneurs for the ingenuity and daring that can give us the next generation of technological progress.
The advances our country needs, in everything from health care to energy to environmental protection, are most likely to come from the men and women of small business.
Technology and Innovation
American innovation has twin engines: technology and small business, employing over half the private-sector work force.
The synergy of our technology and small business drove a world-wide economic transformation of the last quarter-century.
To maintain our global leadership, we need to encourage innovators by reforming and making permanent the Research and Development Tax Credit as part of the overall agenda outlined in this platform.
Innovation is our future — in our approach to energy, to education, to health care, and especially to government.
As a symbol of that commitment, we share the vision of returning Americans to the moon as a step toward a mission to Mars.
In advancing our country's space and aeronautics program, NASA will remain one of the world's most important pioneers in technology, and from its explorations can come tremendous benefits for mankind.
Developing a Flexible and Innovative Workforce
To master the global economy, our work force must be creative, independent, and able to adapt to rapid change.
That challenge calls for better education and training and new approaches to employer-employee relations.
It means investing in people, not institutions.
The Failed Model of Employer-Employee Relations
The Democrats' approach to employment policy is a retreat to failed models of the past: new regulatory burdens on employers that make it more difficult for businesses, big and small, to hire and keep employees.
That failed model empowers union bosses at the expense of their members, trial lawyers at the expense of small businesses, and government bureaucrats at the expense of employer-employee partnerships.
Its goal is not to create jobs but to control the workplace and the work force.
The Republican Model: Investing in People
Republicans believe that the employer-employee relationship of the future will be built upon employee empowerment and workplace flexibility.
The Industrial Revolution treated people like machines; today's economy must treat them as individuals.
We recognize that work schedules should be more flexible when employers and employees are not negatively affected such as removing outdated distinctions between full time and part time, clock-punching and overtime.
The federal government should set an example in that regard.
• The workplace must catch up with the way Americans live now.
For increasing numbers of workers, especially those with children, the choice of working from home will be good for families, profitable for business, and energy efficient.
* All workers should have portability in their pension plans and their health insurance, giving them greater job mobility, financial independence, and security.
* Global competitiveness will increasingly require an entrepreneurial culture of cooperation and team work.
Making the best talent part of our team is the rationale for the H-1B visa program, which needs updating to reflect our need for more leaders in science and technology while we take the necessary steps to create more of them in our own school systems.
By complementing the U.S. work force with needed specialists from abroad, we can make sure American companies and their jobs remain here at home.
Businesses and employees, working together, are best suited to addressing the challenges ahead.
Empowering official Washington and the trial bar, as Democrats prefer, will only lead to more antagonistic relations.
Individual-Based Unemployment Insurance and Training
Government can play an important role in addressing economic dislocations by modernizing its re-training and unemployment assistance programs.
We must make these programs actually anticipate dislocations so that affected workers can get new skills quickly and return to the workforce.
We advocate a seamless approach to helping employees stay on the job and advance through education.
Workers should be able to direct a portion of their unemployment insurance into a tax free Lost Earnings Buffer Account that could be used for retraining or relocation.
With financial incentives to return to work as soon as possible, this approach will also require strengthening community colleges and making them more accessible through Flexible Training Accounts.
Protecting Union Workers
We affirm both the right of individuals to voluntarily participate in labor organizations and bargain collectively and the right of states to enact Right-to Work laws.
But the nation`s labor laws, to a large extent formed out of conflicts several generations ago, should be modernized to make it easier for employers and employees to plan, execute, and profit together.
To protect workers from misuse of their funds, we will conscientiously enforce federal law requiring financial reporting and transparency by labor unions.
We advocate paycheck protection laws to guard the integrity of the political process and the security of workers' earnings.
Stopping the Assault on the Secret Ballot
The recent attempt by congressional Democrats to deny workers a secret ballot in union referenda is an assault, not only against a fundamental principle of labor law, but even more against the dignity and honor of the American work force.
We oppose "card check" legislation, which deprives workers of their privacy and their right to vote, because it exposes workers to intimidation by union organizers.
Rebuilding Homeownership
Homeownership remains key to creating an opportunity society.
We support timely and carefully targeted aid to those hurt by the housing crisis so that affected individuals can have a chance to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home's market value.
At the same time, government action must not implicitly encourage anyone to borrow more than they can afford to repay.
We support energetic federal investigation and, where appropriate, prosecution of criminal wrongdoing in the mortgage industry and investment sector.
We do not support government bailouts of private institutions.
Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.
We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all.
We encourage potential buyers to work in concert with the lending community to educate themselves about the responsibilities of purchasing a home, condo, or land.
Republican policy aims to make owning a home more accessible through enforcement of open housing laws, voucher programs, urban homesteading and — what is most important — a strong economy with low interest rates.
Because affordable housing is in the national interest, any simplified tax system should continue to encourage homeownership, recognizing the tremendous social value that the home mortgage interest deduction has had for decades.
In addition, sound housing policy should recognize the needs of renters so that apartments and multi-family homes remain important components of the housing stock.
Reforming the Civil Justice System to Improve Competitiveness
The rule of law demands that injured parties have access to the forums to vindicate their rights, but the rule of law does not mean the rule of lawyers — especially trial lawyers who manipulate the system to enrich themselves rather than protecting consumers, workers, or taxpayers.
While no one should be denied access to the courts, the rule of lawyers threatens our global competitiveness, denies Americans access to the quality of justice they deserve, and puts every small business one lawsuit away from bankruptcy.
The Republican approach to eliminate frivolous lawsuits has advanced in Congress through efforts like the Class Action Fairness Act and in many states through the adoption of medical liability reforms, which we will continue to pursue on the federal and state level.
But because their Democratic donees currently control Congress, the trial lawyers are on the offensive.
They are trying to undermine federal health and safety regulations by allowing trial lawyers at the state level to preempt the reasoned judgments of independent experts.
They seek to weaken lower-cost dispute resolution alternatives such as mediation and arbitration in order to put more cases into court.
In bill after bill, their congressional allies insert new private causes of action — trial lawyer ear-marks — designed to drag more Americans into court.
Our repeated warnings about the corruption at the heart of the trial bar have been vindicated by high-profile criminal convictions and prison terms for some of the nation's leading class action and personal injury trial lawyers.
All plaintiffs, especially those who must hire personal injury lawyers on a contingency basis, should be protected against abuse by their attorneys, and the attorney-client privilege should be defended as a bulwark in the defense of liberty.
Free and Fair Trade
Greater international trade, aggressively advanced on a truly level playing field, will mean more American jobs, higher wages, and a better standard of living.
It is also a matter of national security and an instrument to promote democracy and civil society in developing nations.
With 95 percent of the world's customers outside our borders, we need to be at the table when trade rules are written to make sure that free trade is indeed a two-way street.
We encourage multilateral, regional, and bilateral agreements to reduce trade barriers that limit market access for U.S. products, commodities and services.
To achieve that goal, Congress should reinstate the trade promotion authority every president should have in dealing with foreign governments.
Trade agreements that have already been signed and are pending before Congress should be debated and voted on immediately.
An aggressive trade strategy is especially important with regard to agriculture.
Our farm economy produces for the world; its prosperity depends, more than ever before, on open markets.
U.S. agricultural exports will top $100 billion this year.
We will contest any restrictions upon our farm products within the World Trade Organization and will work to make the WTO's decision-making process more receptive to the arguments of American producers.
We pledge stronger action to protect intellectual property rights against pirating and will aggressively oppose the direct and indirect subsidies by which some governments tilt the world playing field against American producers.
To protect American consumers, we call for greater vigilance and more resources to guard against the importation of tainted food, poisonous products, and dangerous toys.
Additionally, we recognize the need to support our growth in trade through appropriate development and support of our ports in order to ensure safe, efficient and timely handling of all goods.
Supporting our Agricultural Communities
Farming communities have been hard hit this year by flood and violent weather, as well as the escalation of fuel costs.
Especially under those circumstances, federal agricultural aid should go to those who need it most as part of a sensible economic safety-net for farmers.
We advocate the creation of Farm Savings Accounts to help growers manage risks brought on by turbulence in global markets and nature itself.
Mindful that 98 percent of the 2 million farms in this country are owned by individuals or family farming partnerships, we affirm our fight against the death tax.
Those who live on and work the land are our finest environmental stewards.
They understand, better than most, the need for safe water, clean air, and conservation of open space.
We oppose attempts to hamper agricultural production with heavy-hand  ed mandates, including any expansion of the Clean Water Act to regulate ditches, culverts, converted cropland, and farm and stock ponds.
We reaffirm traditional state supremacy over water allocations and will continue to make available renewable rangeland under sound environmental conditions.
We support greater investment in conservation incentive programs to help rural communities improve and sustain environmental quality.
Agricultural policy should be formulated by giving careful consideration to the expert opinions of those most knowledgeable on the topic — the farmers and ranchers.
To meet surging global demand for food and biofuel, farmers must have the technology to grow higher yields using fewer inputs.
The USDA must remain the international leader in agricultural research to ensure that America and the world will never have to choose between food and fuel.
The U.S. government should end mandates for ethanol and let the free market work.
Energy Independence and Security
All Americans are acutely aware of the energy crisis our nation faces.
Energy costs are spiraling upward, food prices continue to rise, and as a result, our entire economy suffers.
This winter, families will spend for heat what they could have saved for college, and small businesses will spend for fuel what could have covered employee health insurance.
Our current dependence on foreign fossil fuels threatens both our national security and our economy and could also force drastic changes in the way we live.
The ongoing transfer of Americans' wealth to OPEC — roughly $700 billion a year — helps underwrite terrorists' operations and creates little incentive for repressive regimes to accept democracy, whether in the Middle East or Latin America.
It didn't have to be this way, and it must not stay this way.
Our nation must have a robust energy supply because energy drives prosperity and increases opportunity for every American.
We reject the idea that America cannot overcome its energy challenges — or that high gasoline prices are okay, as long as they are phased in gradually.
We reject half-measures and believe "No, we can't" is not a viable energy policy.
Together we can build a future around domestic energy sources that are diverse, reliable, and cleaner.
We can strengthen our national security, create a pathway to growing prosperity, and preserve our environment.
The American people will rise to this challenge.
Growing Our Energy Supply
We must aggressively increase our nation's energy supply, in an environmentally responsible way, and do so through a comprehensive strategy that meets both short and long term needs.
No amount of wishing or hoping can suspend the laws of supply and demand.
Leading economists agree that any actions that will increase future energy supplies will lead to lower energy prices today.
Increasing our production of American made energy and reducing our excessive reliance on foreign oil will: * Bring down the high cost of gasoline and diesel fuel.
* Create more jobs for American workers.
* Enhance our national security.
In the long run, American production should move to zero-emission sources, and our nation's fossil fuel resources are the bridge to that emissions-free future.
Growing American Energy Production
If we are to have the resources we need to achieve energy independence, we simply must draw more American oil from American soil.
We support accelerated exploration, drilling and development in America, from new oilfields off the nation’s coasts to onshore fields such as those in Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska.
The Green River Basin in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming offers recoverable shale oil that is ready for development, and most of it is on federal lands.
To deliver that energy to American consumers, we will expand our refining capacity.
Because of environmental extremism and regulatory blockades in Washington, not a single new refinery has been built in this country in 30 years.
We will encourage refinery construction and modernization and, with sensitivity to environmental concerns, an expedited permitting process.
Any legislation to increase domestic exploration, drilling and production must minimize any protracted legal challenges that could unreasonably delay or even preclude actual production.
We oppose any efforts that would permanently block access to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Nuclear Power: the Earth’s Clean Future
Nuclear energy is the most reliable zero-carbon emissions source of energy that we have.
Unwarranted fear mongering with no relationship to current technologies and safeguards has prevented us from starting construction of a single nuclear power plant in 31 years.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has for decades relied upon nuclear-powered vessels, and other nations have harnessed nuclear power to pro vide a major portion of their energy consumption.
There is no reason why the United States cannot catch up and do the same.
Confident in the promise offered by science and technology, Republicans will pursue dramatic increases in the use of all forms of safe, affordable, reliable — and clean — nuclear power.
As new plants are constructed using the highest safety and operation standards, the nation’s industrial and manufacturing base will be rejuvenated.
The labor force will expand, with nearly 15,000 high quality jobs created for every new nuclear plant built — and those workers will lead the nation away from its dependence on foreign oil.
Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Hydropower
Alternate power sources must enter the mainstream.
The technology behind solar energy has improved significantly in recent years, and the commercial development of wind power promises major benefits both in costs and in environmental protection.
Republicans support these and other alternative energy sources, including geothermal and hydropower, and anticipate technological developments that will increase their economic viability.
We therefore advocate a long-term energy tax credit equally applicable to all renewable power sources.
Republicans support measures to modernize the nation’s electricity grid to provide American consumers and businesses with more affordable, reliable power.
We will work to unleash innovation so entrepreneurs can develop technologies for a more advanced and robust United States transmission system that meets our growing energy demands.
Clean Coal
Although alternate fuels will shape our energy future, coal — America's most affordable and abundant energy resource and the source of most of our electricity — remains a strategic national resource that must play a major role in energy independence.
We look to innovative technology to transform America’s coal supplies into clean fuels capable of powering motor vehicles and aircraft.
We support coal-to-liquid and gasification initiatives, just as we support investment in the development and deployment of carbon capture and storage technologies, which can reduce emissions.
We firmly oppose efforts by Democrats to block the construction of new coal-fired power plants.
No strategy for reducing energy costs will be viable without a commitment to continued coal production and utilization.
Natural Gas
Natural gas is plentiful in North America, but we can extract more and do a better job of distributing it nationwide to cook our food, heat our homes, and serve as a growing option as a transportation fuel.
Both independently and in cooperation with alternative fuels, natural gas will be an essential part of any long-term energy solution.
We must ensure it gets to consumers safely and quickly.
Energy Cooperation
We embrace the open energy cooperation and trading relationship with our neighbors Canada and Mexico, including proven oil reserves and vast, untapped Canadian hydroelectric generation.
Reducing Demand for Fossil Fuels
While we grow our supplies, we must also reduce our demand — not by changing our lifestyles but by putting the free market to work and taking advantage of technological breakthroughs.
Increase Conservation through Greater Efficiency
Conservation does not mean deprivation; it means efficiency and achieving more with less.
Most Americans today endeavor to conserve fossil fuels, whether in their cars or in their home heating, but we can do better.
We can construct better and smarter buildings, use smarter thermostats and transmission grids, increase recycling, and make energy-efficient consumer purchases. Wireless communications, for example, can increase telecommuting options and cut back on business travel.
The Republican goal is to ensure that Americans have more conservation options that will enable them to make the best choices for their families.
New Technologies for Cars and Other Vehicles
We must continue to develop alternative fuels, such as biofuels, especially cellulosic ethanol, and hasten their technological advances to next-generation production.
As America develops energy technology for the 21st century, policy makers must consider the burden that rising food prices and energy costs create for the poor and developing nations around the world.
Because alternative fuels are useless if vehicles cannot use them, we must move quickly to flexible fuel vehicles; we cannot expect  necessary investments in alternative fuels if this flexibility does not become standard.
We must also produce more vehicles that operate on electricity and natural gas, both to reduce demand for oil and to cut CO2 emissions.
Given that fully 97 percent of our current transportation vehicles rely on oil, we will aggressively support technological advances to reduce our petroleum dependence.
For example, lightweight composites could halve the weight and double the gas mileage of cars and trucks, and together with flex-fuel and electric vehicles, could usher in a renaissance in the American auto industry.
Environmental Protection
By increasing our American energy supply and decreasing the long term demand for oil, we will be well positioned to address the challenge of climate change and continue our longstanding responsibility for stewardship over the environment.
Addressing Climate Change Responsibly
The same human economic activity that has brought freedom and opportunity to billions has also increased the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
While the scope and longterm consequences of this are the subject of ongoing scientific research, common sense dictates that the United States should take measured and reasonable steps today to reduce any impact on the environment.
Those steps, if consistent with our global competitiveness will also be good for our national security, our energy independence, and our economy.
Any policies should be global in nature, based on sound science and technology, and should not harm the economy.
The Solution: Technology and the Market
As part of a global climate change strategy, Republicans support technology-driven, market-based solutions that will decrease emissions, reduce excess greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, increase energy efficiency, mitigate the impact of climate change where it occurs, and maximize any ancillary benefits climate change might offer for the economy.
To reduce emissions in the short run, we will rely upon the power of new technologies, as dis cussed above, especially zero-emission energy sources such as nuclear and other alternate power sources.
But innovation must not be hamstrung by Washington bickering, regulatory briar patches, or obstructionist law suits.
Empowering Washington will only lead to unintended consequences and unimagined economic and environmental pain; instead, we must unleash the power of scientific know how and competitive markets.
International Cooperation
Because the issue of climate change is global, it must become a truly global concern as well.
All developed and developing economies, particularly India and China, can make significant contributions in dealing with the matter.
It would be unrealistic and counterproductive to expect the U.S. to carry burdens which are more appropriately shared by all.
Using Cash Rewards to Encourage Innovation
Because Republicans believe that solutions to the risk of global climate change will be found in the ingenuity of the American people, we propose a Climate Prize for scientists who solve the challenges of climate change.
Honoraria of many millions of dollars would be a small price for technological developments that eliminate our need for gas-powered cars or abate atmospheric carbon.
Doing No Harm
Republicans caution against the doomsday climate change scenarios peddled by the aficionados of centralized command-and-control government.
We can — and should — address the risk of climate change based on sound science without succumbing to the no-growth radicalism that treats climate questions as dogma rather than as situations to be managed responsibly.
A robust economy will be essential to dealing with the risk of climate change, and we will insist on reasonable policies that do not force Americans to sacrifice their way of life or trim their hopes and dreams for their children.
This perspective serves not only the people of the United States but also the world's poorest peoples, who would suffer terribly if climate change is severe — just as they would if the world economy itself were to be crippled.
We must not allow either outcome.
Continuing Our Stewardship over the Environment
The Republican perspective on the environment is in keeping with our longstanding appreciation for nature and gratitude for the bounty the Almighty has bestowed upon the American people.
It was Republican President Theodore Roosevelt who said, "The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem.
Unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others."
We agree.
Whether through family vacations, hunting or fishing trips, backpacking excursions, or weekend hikes, Americans of all backgrounds share a commitment to protecting the environment and the opportunities it offers.
In addition, the public should have access to public lands for recreational activities such as hunting, hiking, and fishing.
In caring for the land and water, private ownership has been the best guarantee of conscientious stewardship, while the world's worst instances of environmental degradation have occurred under governmental control.
By the same token, it is no accident that the most economically advanced countries also have the strongest environmental protections.
Our national progress toward cleaner air and water has been a major accomplishment of the American people.
By balancing environmental goals with economic growth and job creation, our diverse economy has made possible the investment needed to safeguard natural resources, protect endangered species, and create healthier living conditions.
State and local initiatives to clean up contaminated sites — brownfields — have exceeded efforts directed by Washington.
That progress can continue if grounded in sound science, long-term planning, and a multiuse approach to resources.
Government at all levels should protect private property rights by cooperating with landowners' efforts and providing incentives to protect fragile environments, endangered species, and maintain the natural beauty of America.
Republican leadership has led to the rejuvenation and renewal of our National Park system.
Future expansion of that system, as well as designation of National Wilderness areas or Historic Districts, should be undertaken only with the active participation and consent of relevant state and local governments and private property owners.
Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First
Americans have the best doctors, the best hospitals, the most innovative medical technology, and the best scientists in the world.
Our challenge and opportunity is to build around them the best health care system.
Republicans believe the key to real reform is to give control of the health care system to patients and their health care providers, not bureaucrats in government or business.
There are reasons why American families and businesses are dissatisfied with the current state of health care: * Most Americans work longer and harder to pay for health care.
* Dedicated health care providers are changing careers to avoid litigation.
* The need to hold onto health insurance is driving family decisions about where to live and work.
* Many new parents worry about the loss of coverage if they choose to stay at home with their children.
* The need — and the bills — for long-term care are challenging families and government alike.
* American businesses are becoming less competitive in the global marketplace because of insurance costs.
* Some federal programs with no benefit to patients have grown exponentially, adding layers of bureaucracy between patients and their care.
It is not enough to offer only increased access to a system that costs too much and does not work for millions of Americans.
The Republican goal is more ambitious: Better health care for lower cost.
First Principle: Do No Harm
How do we ensure that all Americans have the peace of mind that comes from owning high-quality, comprehensive health coverage?
The first rule of public policy is the same as with medicine: Do no harm.
The American people rejected Democrats~ attempted government takeover of health care in 1993, and they remain skeptical of politicians who would send us down that road.
Republicans support the private practice of medicine and oppose socialized medicine in the form of a government-run universal health care system.
Republicans pledge that as we reform our health care system: * We will protect citizens against any and all   risky restructuring efforts that would complicate or ration health care.
* We will encourage health promotion and disease prevention.
* We will facilitate cooperation, not confrontation, among patients, providers, payers, and all stakeholders in the health care system.
* We will not put government between patients and their health care providers.
* We will not put the system on a path that empowers Washington bureaucrats at the expense of patients.
* We will not raise taxes instead of reducing health care costs.
* We will not replace the current system with the staggering inefficiency, maddening irrationality, and uncontrollable costs of a government monopoly.
Radical restructuring of health care would be unwise.
We want all Americans to be able to choose the best health care provider, hospital, and health coverage for their needs.
We believe that real reform is about improving your access to a health care provider, your control over care, and your ability to afford that care.
We will continue to advocate for simplification of the system and the empowerment of patients.
This is in stark contrast to the other party's insistence on putting Washington in charge of patient care, which has blocked any progress on meeting these goals.
We offer a detailed program that will improve the quality, cost, and coverage of health care throughout the nation, and we will turn that plan into reality.
Patient Control and Portability
Republicans believe all Americans should be able to obtain an affordable health care plan, including a health savings account, which meets their needs and the needs of their families.
Families and health care providers are the key to real reform, not lawyers and bureaucrats.
To empower families, we must make insurance more affordable and more secure, and give employees the option of owning coverage that is not tied to their job.
Patients should not have to worry about losing their insurance.
Insurance companies should have to worry about losing patients’ business.
The current tax system discriminates against individuals who do not receive health care from their employers, gives more generous health tax benefits to upper income employees, and fails to provide every American with the ability to purchase an affordable health care plan.
Republicans propose to correct inequities in the current tax code that drive up the number of uninsured and to level the playing field so that individuals who choose a health insurance plan in the individual market face no tax penalty.
All Americans should receive the same tax benefit as those who are insured through work, whether through a tax credit or other means.
Individuals with pre-existing conditions must be protected; we will help these individuals by building on the experiences of innovative states rather than by creating a new unmanageable federal entitlement.
We strongly urge that managed care organizations use the practice patterns and medical treatment guidelines from the state in which the patient lives when making medical coverage decisions.
Because the family is our basic unit of society, we fully support parental rights to consent to medical treatment for their children including mental health treatment, drug treatment, alcohol treatment, and treatment involving pregnancy, contraceptives and abortion.
Improving Quality of Care and Lowering Costs
While delivering control of health coverage to families and individuals, Republicans will also advance a variety of targeted reforms to improve the quality of care, lower costs, and help Americans — men, women, and children — live longer and healthier lives.
Prevent Disease and End the “Sick Care” System
Chronic diseases — in many cases, preventable conditions — are driving health care costs, consuming three of every four health care dollars.
We can reduce demand for medical care by fostering personal responsibility within a culture of wellness, while increasing access to preventive services, including improved nutrition and breakthrough medications that keep people healthy and out of the hospital.
To reduce the incidence of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and stroke, we call for a national grassroots campaign against obesity, especially among children.
We call for continuation of efforts to decrease use of tobacco, especially among the young.
A culture of wellness needs to include the treatment of mental health conditions.
We believe all Americans should have access to affordable, quality health care, including individuals struggling with mental illness.
For this reason, we believe it is important that mental health care be treated equally with physical health care.
Empower Individuals to Make the Best Health Care Choices.
Clear information about health care empowers patients.
It lets consumers make better decisions about where to spend their health care dollars, thereby fostering competition and lowering costs.
Patients must have information to make sound decisions about their health care providers, hospitals, and insurance companies.
Use Health Information Technology to Save Lives
Advances in medical technology are revolutionizing medicine.
Information technology is key to early detection and treatment of chronic disease as well as fetal care and health care in rural areas — especially where our growing wireless communications network is available.
The simple step of modernizing recordkeeping will mean faster, more accurate treatment, fewer medical errors, and lower costs.
Closing the health care information gap can reduce both under-utilization (the diabetic who forgets to refill an insulin prescription) and over-utilization (the patient who endures repetitive tests because providers have not shared test results).
Protect Good Health Care Providers from Frivolous Lawsuits
Every patient must have access to legal remedies for malpractice, but meritless lawsuits drive up insurance rates to outrageous levels and ultimately drive up the number of uninsured.
Frivolous lawsuits also drive up the cost of health care as health care providers are forced to practice defensive medicine, such as ordering unnecessary tests.
Many leave their practices rather than deal with the current system.
This emergency demands medical liability reform.
Reward Good Health Care Providers for Delivering Real Results
Patients deserve access to health care providers they trust who will personalize and coordinate their care to ensure they receive the right treatment with the right health care provider at the right time.
Providers should be paid for keeping people well, not for the number of tests they run or procedures they perform.
The current cookie-cutter system of reimbursement needs restructuring from the view of the patient, not the accountant or Washington bureaucrat.
Drive Costs Down With Interstate Competition
A state-regulated national market for health insurance means more competition, more choice, and lower costs.
Families — as well as fraternal societies, churches and community groups, and small employers — should be able to purchase policies across state lines.
The best practices and lowest prices should be available in every state.
We call upon state legislators to carefully consider the cost of medical mandates, and we salute those Republican governors who are leading the way in demonstrating ways to provide affordable health care options.
Modernize Long-Term Care Options for All
The financial burdens and emotional challenges of ensuring adequate care for elderly family members affect every American, especially with today's aging population.
We must develop new ways to support individuals, not just institutions, so that older Americans can have a real choice whether to stay in their homes.
This is true not only with regard to Medicaid, where we spend $100 billion annually on long-term care, but also for those who do not qualify for that assistance.
Encourage Primary Care as a Specialty
We believe in the importance of primary care specialties and supporting the physician's role in the evaluation and management of disease.
We also encourage practice in rural and underserved areas of America.
Funding Medical Research
We support federal investment in basic and applied biomedical research.
This commitment will maintain America's global competitiveness, advance innovative science that can lead to medical breakthroughs, and turn the tide against diseases affecting millions of Americans — diseases that account for the majority of our health care costs.
The United States leads in this research, as evidenced by our growing biotechnology industry, but foreign competition is increasing.
One way government can help preserve the promise of American innovation is to ensure that our intellectual property laws remain robust.
Federal research dollars should be spent as though lives are at stake — because, in fact, they are.
Research protocols must consider the special needs of formerly neglected groups if we are to make significant progress against breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, and other killers.
Taxpayer-funded medical research must be based on sound science, with a focus on both prevention and treatment, and in accordance with the humane ethics of the Hippocratic Oath.
In that regard, we call for a major expansion of support for the stem-cell research that now shows amazing promise and offers the greatest hope for scores of diseases — with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells — without the destruction of embryonic human life.
We call for a ban on human cloning and a ban on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos for research purposes.
We believe medicines and treatments should be designed to prolong and enhance life, not destroy it.
Therefore, federal funds should not be used for drugs that cause the destruction of human life.
Furthermore, the Drug Enforcement Administration ban on use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide should be restored.
Protecting Rights of Conscience
The health care profession can be both a profession and a calling.
No health care professional — doctor, nurse, or pharmacist — or organization should ever be required to perform, provide for, or refer for a health care service against their conscience for any reason.
This is especially true of the religious organizations which deliver a major portion of America’s health care, a service rooted in the charity of faith communities.
Medicare
We support the provision of quality and accessible health care options for our nation’s seniors and disabled individuals and recognize that in order to meet this goal we must confront the special challenges posed by the growth of Medicare costs.
Its projected growth is out of control and threatens to squeeze out other programs, while funding constraints lead to restricted access to treatment for many seniors.
There are solutions.
Medicare can be a leader for the rest of our health care system by encouraging treatment of the whole patient.
Specifically, we should compensate doctors who coordinate care, especially for those with multiple chronic conditions, and eliminate waste and inefficiency.
Medicare patients must have more control of their care and choice regarding their doctors, and the benefits of competition must be delivered to the patients themselves if Medicare is to provide quality health care.
And Medicare patients must be free to add their own funds, if they choose, to any government benefits, to be assured of unrationed care.
Finally, because it is isolated from the free market forces that encourage innovation, competition, affordability, and expansion of options, Medicare is especially susceptible to fraud and abuse.
The program loses tens of billions of dollars annually in erroneous and fraudulent payments.
We are determined to root out the fraud and eliminate this assault on the taxpayer.
Medicaid
Our Medicaid obligations will consume $5 trillion over the next ten years.
Medicaid now accounts for 20-25 percent of state budgets and threatens to overwhelm state governments for the indefinite future.
We can do better while spending less
. A first step is to give Medicaid ~ recipients more health care options.
Several states have allowed beneficiaries to buy regular health insurance with their Medicaid dollars.
This removes the Medicaid "stamp" from people’s foreheads, provides beneficiaries with better access to doctors, and saves taxpayers~ money.
We must ensure that taxpayer money is focused on caring for U.S. citizens and other individuals in our country legally.
Building a Health Care System for Future Emergencies
To protect the American people from the threats we face in the century ahead, we must develop and stockpile medicines and vaccines so we can deliver them where urgently needed.
Our health care infrastructure must have the surge capacity to handle large numbers of patients in times of crisis, whether it is a repeat of Hurricane Katrina, a flu pandemic, or a bioterror attack on multiple cities.
Republicans will ensure that this infrastructure, including the needed communications capacity, is closely integrated into our homeland security needs.
Education Means a More Competitive America
Education is a parental right, a state and local responsibility, and a national strategic interest.
Maintaining America's pre-eminence requires a world-class system of education, with high standards, in which all students can reach their potential.
That requires considerable improvement over our current 70 percent high school graduation rate and six-year graduation rate of only 57 percent for colleges.
Education is essential to competitiveness, but it is more than just training for the work force of the future.
It is through education that we ensure the transmission of a culture, a set of values we hold in common.
It has prepared generations for responsible citizenship in a free society, and it must continue to do so.
Our party is committed to restoring the civic mission of schools envisioned by the founders of the American public school system.
Civic education, both in the classroom and through service learning, should be a cornerstone of American public education and should be central to future school reform efforts.
Principles for Elementary and Secondary Education
All children should have access to an excellent education that empowers them to secure their own   freedom and contribute to the betterment of our society.
We reaffirm the principles that have been the foundation of the nation’s educational progress toward that goal: accountability for student academic achievement; periodic testing on the fundamentals of learning, especially math and reading, history and geography; transparency, so parents and the general public know which schools best serve their students; and flexibility and freedom to innovate so schools and districts can best meet the needs of their students.
We advocate policies and methods that are proven and effective: building on the basics, especially phonics; ending social promotion; merit pay for good teachers; classroom discipline; parental involvement; and strong leadership by principals.
We reject a one-size-fits-all approach and support parental options, including home schooling, and local innovations such as schools or classes for boys only or for girls only and alternative and innovative school schedules.
We recognize and appreciate the importance of innovative education environments, particularly homeschooling, for stimulating academic achievement.
We oppose over-reaching judicial decisions which deny children access to such environments.
We support state efforts to build coordination between elementary and secondary education  and higher education such as K-16 councils and dual credit programs.
To ensure that all students will have access to the mainstream of American life, we support the English First approach and oppose divisive programs that limit students' future potential.
All students must be literate in English, our common language, to participate in the promise of America.
Early Childhood Education
The family is the most powerful influence on a child's ability to succeed.
As such, parents are our children's first and foremost teachers.
We support family literacy, which improves the literacy, language, and life skills of both parents and children along with the continued improvement of early childhood programs, such as Head Start, from low-income families.
We reaffirm our support for the child care tax credit that helps parents choose the care best for their family.
Giving Students the Best Teachers
For students to meet world class standards, they must have access to world class teachers, whether in person or through virtual public schools that can bring high-quality instruction into the classroom.
School districts must have the authority to recruit, reward, and retain the best and brightest teachers, and principals must have the authority to select and assign teachers without regard to collective bargaining agreements.
Because qualified teachers are often not available through traditional routes, we support local efforts to create an adjunct teacher corps of experts from higher education, business, and the military to fill in when needed.
Teachers must be protected against frivolous litigation and should be able to take reasonable actions   to maintain discipline and order in the classroom.
We encourage the private-public partnerships and mentoring that can make classroom time more meaningful to students by integrating it with learning beyond school walls.
These efforts are crucial to lowering the drop-out rate and helping at-risk students realize their potential.
We encourage state efforts to ensure that personnel who interact with children pass thorough background checks and are held to the highest standards of conduct.
Partnerships between schools and businesses can be especially important in STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and math.
The need to improve secondary education in those fields can be measured by the number of remedial courses now offered at the college level.
Our country's reliance upon foreign talent in those areas begins with insufficient emphasis upon them in the high school years.
We applaud those who are changing that situation by giving young people real-world experience in the private sector and by providing students with rigorous technical and academic courses that give students the skills and knowledge necessary to be productive members in a competitive American workforce.
Asserting Family Rights in Schooling
Parents should be able to decide the learning environment that is best for their child.
We support choice in education for all families, especially those with children trapped in dangerous and failing schools, whether through charter schools, vouchers or tax credits for attending faith-based or other non-public schools, or the option of home schooling.
We call for the vigilant enforcement of laws designed to protect family rights and privacy in education.
We will energetically assert the right of students to engage in voluntary prayer in schools and to have equal access to school facilities for religious purposes.
We renew our call for replacing "family planning" programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and expected standard of behavior.
Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against out-of wedlock pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS when transmitted sexually.
We oppose school-based clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for abortion and contraception.
Schools should not ask children to answer offensive or intrusive personal non-academic questionnaires without parental consent. It is not the role of the teacher or school administration to recommend or require the use of psychotropic medications that must be prescribed by a physician.
Reviewing the Federal Role in Primary and  Secondary Education
Although the Constitution assigns the federal government no role in local education, Washington's authority over the nation's schools has increased dramatically.
In less than a decade, annual federal funding has shot up 41 percent to almost $25 billion, while the regulatory burden on state and local governments has risen by about 6.7 million hours — and added $141 million in costs — during that time.
We call for a review of Department of Education programs and administration to identify and eliminate ineffective programs, to respect the role of states, and to better meet state needs.
To get our schools back to the basics of learning, we support initiatives to block-grant more Department of Education funding to the states, with requirements for state-level standards, assessments, and public reporting to ensure transparency.
Local educators must be free to end ineffective programs and reallocate resources where they are most needed.
Maintaining our Commitment to IDEA
Because a federal mandate on the states must include the promised federal funding, we will fulfill the promise of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to cover 40 percent of the costs incurred because of that legislation.
We urge preventive efforts in early childhood, especially assistance in gaining pre-reading skills, to help many youngsters move beyond the need for IDEA’s protections.
Higher Education
Our country's system of higher education — public and private, secular and religious, large and small institutions — is unique for its excellence, its diversity, and its accessibility.
Learning is a safeguard of liberty.
Post-secondary education not only increases the earnings of individuals but advances economic development.
Our colleges and universities drive much of the research that keeps America competitive.
We must ensure that our higher education system meet the needs of the 21st century student and economy and remain innovative and accessible.
Meeting College Costs
Students and their parents face formidable challenges in planning for college as costs continue to outpace inflation.
Higher education seems immune from market controls and the law of supply and demand.
We commend those institutions which are directing a greater proportion of their endowment revenues toward tuition relief.
The Republican vision for expanding access to higher education has led to two major advances, Education Savings Accounts and Section 529 accounts, by which millions of families now save for college.
While federal student loans and grants have opened doors to learning for untold numbers of low-and middle-income students, the overall financial aid system, with its daunting forms and confused rationales, is nothing less than Byzantine.
It must be simplified.
We call for a presidential commission to undertake that task and to review the role of government regulations and policies in the tuition spiral.
We affirm our support for the public-private partnership that now offers students and their families a vibrant marketplace in selecting their student loan provider.
Innovation Will Lead to Lifelong Learning
The challenge to American higher education is to make sure students can access education in whatever forms they want.
As mobility increases in all aspects of American life, student mobility, from school to school and from campus to campus, will require new approaches to admissions, evaluations, and credentialing.
Distance learning propelled by an expanding telecommunications sector and especially broadband, is certain to grow in importance — whether through public or private institutions — and federal law should not discriminate against the latter.
Lifelong learning will continue to transform the demographics of higher education, bringing older students and real-world experience to campus.
Community Colleges Continue to Play a Crucial Role
Community colleges are central to the future of higher education, especially as they build bridges between the world of work and the classroom.
Many of our returning veterans find community colleges to be welcoming environments where they can develop specific skills for use in the civilian workforce.
As the first responders to economic development and retraining of workers, these schools fulfill our national commitment of an affordable and readily accessible education for all.
Special Challenges in Higher Education
Free speech on college campuses is to be celebrated, but there should be no place in academia for anti-Semitism or racism of any kind.
We oppose the hiring, firing, tenure, and promotion practices at universities that discriminate on the basis of political or ideological belief.
When federal taxes are used to support such practices, it is inexcusable.
We affirm the right of students and faculty to express their views in the face of the leftist dogmatism that dominates many institutions.
To preserve the integrity and independence of the nation` s colleges, we will continue to ensure alternatives to ideological accrediting systems.
Because some of the nation’s leading universities create or tolerate a hostile atmosphere toward the ROTC, we will rigorously enforce the provision of law, unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court, which denies those institutions federal research grants unless their military students have the full rights and privileges of other students.
That must include the right to engage in ROTC activities on their own campus, rather than being segregated elsewhere.
Protecting Our Families
Republicans remain the party of vigorous action against crime and the party that empowers the law-abiding by protecting their right to keep and bear arms for self-protection.
Our national experience over the past twenty years has shown that vigilance, tough yet fair prosecutors, meaningful sentences, protection of victims' rights, and limits on judicial discretion protect the innocent by keeping criminals off the streets.
Stopping Online Child Predators and Ending Child Pornography
The Internet must be made safe for children.
That's why Republicans have led efforts to increase the funding necessary to track down and jail online predators through the Adam Walsh Act.
We commit to do whatever it takes, using all the tools of innovative technology, to thwart those who would prey upon our children.
We call on service providers to exercise due care to ensure that the Internet cannot become a safe haven for criminals.
Child pornography is a hideous form of child abuse.
Those who produce it — and those who   traffic in it — must be punished to the maximum extent of the law.
Because it is an international problem, the Executive branch must carry the fight overseas to where the molesters perpetrate their evil.
Congress should expand the range of companies required to report the existence of child pornography, and we congratulate the social networking sites that agree to bar known sex offenders from participation.
Internet Gambling
Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families.
We support the law prohibiting gambling over the Internet.
Ridding the Nation of Criminal Street Gangs
Gang violence is a growing problem, not only in urban areas but in many suburbs and rural communities.
It has escalated with the rise of gangs composed largely of illegal aliens, most of whose victims are law-abiding members of immigrant communities.
We call for stronger enforcement and deter mined prosecution of gang conspiracies.
Illegal allien gang members must be removed from the United States immediately upon arrest or after the completion of any sentence imposed.
Aliens convicted of crimes that render them removable from the United States must be removed as soon as possible after the completion of their sentences through the immediate transfer of their custody to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Locking Up Criminals
Criminals behind bars cannot harm the general public. To that end: * We support mandatory sentencing provisions for gang conspiracy crimes, violent or sexual offenses against children, rape, and assaults resulting in serious bodily injury.
* Gang rape, child rape, and rape committed in the course of another felony deserve, at the least, mandatory life imprisonment.
* We oppose the granting of parole to dangerous or repeat felons.
* Courts must have the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases and other instances of heinous crime, while federal review of those sentences should be streamlined to focus on claims of innocence and to prevent delaying tactics by defense attorneys.
* We encourage the use of advanced technology to monitor nonviolent criminals.
Reforming Prisons and Serving Families
Public authorities at all levels must cooperate to regain control of the nation’s correctional institutions.
It is unacceptable that prison officers should live in fear of the inmates they guard.
Similarly, persons jailed for whatever cause should be protected against cruel or degrading treatment by other   inmates.
We cannot allow correctional facilities to become ethnic or racial battlegrounds.
Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children of those who are incarcerated.
Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, these youngsters should be a special concern of our schools, social services, and religious institutions.
Government at all levels should work with faith-based institutions that have proven track records in diverting young and first offenders from criminal careers through Second Chance and similar programs.
Individuals, including juveniles, who are repeat offenders or who commit serious crimes need to be prosecuted and punished.
Protecting Law Enforcement Officers
In solidarity with those who protect us, we call for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving bodily injury to law enforcement officers.
Reviews of death sentences imposed for murdering a police officer should be expedited, and a retrial of the penalty phase of the killer's trial should be allowed in the absence of a unanimous verdict.
We support the right of off-duty and retired officers to carry firearms.
Criminals should be barred from seeking monetary damages for injuries they incur while committing a crime.
Improving Law Enforcement
In recent years, many federal resources for law enforcement have been shifted to the fight against terror.
To compensate for that loss of manpower — and with the significant increase in cybercrime, identity theft, and human trafficking — several thousand new FBI agents, U.S. marshals, immigration officers, and Border Patrol agents are needed.
Continuing the Fight against Illegal Drugs
The human toll of drug addiction and abuse hits all segments of American society.
It is an international problem as well, with most of the narcotics in this country coming from beyond our borders.
We will continue the fight against producers, traffickers, and distributors of illegal substances through the collaboration of state, federal, and local law enforcement.
We support the work of those who help individuals struggling with addiction, and we support strengthening drug education and prevention programs to avoid addiction.
We endorse state and local initiatives, such as Drug Courts, that are trying new approaches to curbing drug abuse and diverting first-time offenders to rehabilitation.
Protecting the Victims of Crime
Twenty-six years ago, President Reagan~ s Task Force on Victims of Crime, calling the neglect of crime victims a national disgrace, proposed a constitutional amendment to secure their formal rights.
Today, that disgrace persists in courtrooms across the nation.
Innocent victims — battered women, abused children, the loved ones of the murdered — still may not be told when their case is being heard.
They can be excluded from the courtroom even when the defendant and his friends may be present.
They have no right to a speedy trial, and a judge or parole board has no obligation to consider their personal safety in making release decisions.
In short, the innocent have far fewer rights than the accused.
We call   on Congress to correct this imbalance by sending to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to protect the rights of crime victims.
In addition, crime victims should be assured of access to legal and social services, and the Crime Victims Fund established under President Reagan should be used solely for that purpose.
Securing Our Civil Liberties
Because our Constitution is based on the principles of individual liberty and limited government, we must always ensure that law enforcement respects the civil and constitutional rights of the people.
While we wage war on terrorism in foreign lands, it is sometimes necessary for intelligence agencies and law enforcement officials to pursue terrorist threats at home.
However, no expansion of governmental powers should occur at the expense of our constitutional liberties.
Renewing Neighborhoods, Building Communities
The two most effective forces in reducing crime and other social ills are strong families and caring communities.
Both reinforce constructive conduct and ethical standards by setting examples and providing safe havens from dangerous and destructive behaviors.
Given the weight of social science evidence concerning the crucial role played by the traditional family in setting a child's future course, we urge a thoughtful review of governmental policies and programs to ensure that  they do not undermine that institution.
Decentralized decision-making in the place of official controls empowers individuals and groups to tackle social problems in partnership with government.
Bureaucracy is no longer a credible approach to helping those in need.
This is especially true in light of alternatives such as faith-based organizations, which tend to have a greater degree of success than others in dealing with problems such as substance abuse and domestic violence.
To accomplish their missions, those groups must be able to rely upon people who share their faith; their hiring must not be subjected to government regulation and mandates.
Preserving Our Values
From its founding, America has been an idea as much as a political or geographic entity.
It has meant, for untold millions around the world, a set of ideals that speak to the highest aspirations of humanity.
From its own beginning, the Republican Party has boldly asserted those ideals, as we now do again, to affirm the rights of the people under the rule of law.
Upholding the Constitutional Right to Keep and Bear Arms
We uphold the right of individual Americans to own firearms, a right which antedated the Constitution and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amendment.
We applaud the Supreme Court's decision in Heller affirming that right, and we assert the individual responsibility to safely use and store firearms.
We call on the next president to appoint judges who will similarly respect the Constitution.
Gun ownership is responsible citizenship, enabling Americans to defend themselves, their property, and communities.
We call for education in constitutional rights in schools, and we support the option of firearms training in federal programs serving senior citizens and women.
We urge immediate action to review the automatic denial of gun ownership to returning   members of the Armed Forces who have suffered trauma during service to their country.
We condemn frivolous lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, which are transparent attempts to deprive citizens of their rights.
We oppose federal licensing of law-abiding gun owners and national gun registration as violations of the Second Amendment.
We recognize that gun control only affects and penalizes law-abiding citizens, and that such proposals are ineffective at reducing violent crime.
Ensuring Equal Treatment for All
Individual rights — and the responsibilities that go with them — are the foundation of a free society.
From the time of Lincoln, equality of individuals has been a corner stone of the Republican Party.
Our commitment to equal opportunity extends from landmark school-choice legislation for the students of Washington D.C. to historic appointments at the highest levels of government.
We consider discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, or national origin to be immoral, and we will strongly enforce anti-discrimination statutes.
We ask all to join us in rejecting the forces of hatred and bigotry and in denouncing all who practice or promote racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice, or religious intolerance.
As a matter of principle, Republicans oppose any attempts to create race-based governments within the United States, as well as any domestic governments not bound by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
Precisely because we oppose discrimination, we reject preferences, quotas, and set-asides, whether in education or in corporate boardrooms.
The government should not make contracts on this basis, and neither should corporations.
We support efforts to help low-income individuals get a fair shot based on their potential and merit, and we affirm the commonsense approach of the Chief Justice of the United States: that the way to stop discriminating on the basis of race is to stop discriminating.
Protecting Our National Symbols
The symbol of our unity, to which we all pledge allegiance, is the flag.
By whatever legislative method is most feasible, Old Glory should be given legal protection against desecration.
We condemn decisions by activist judges to deny children the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance in public school.
Freedom of Speech and of the Press
We support freedom of speech and freedom of the press and oppose attempts to violate or weaken those rights, such as reinstatement of the so-called Fairness Doctrine.
Maintaining The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life
Faithful to the first guarantee of the Declaration of Independence, we assert the inherent dignity and sanctity of all human life and affirm that the unborn   child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.
We support a human life amendment to the Constitution, and we endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to unborn children.
We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion and will not fund organizations which advocate it.
We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity and dignity of innocent human life.
We have made progress.
The Supreme Court has upheld prohibitions against the barbaric practice of partial-birth abortion.
States are now permitted to extend health-care coverage to children before birth.
And the Born Alive Infants Protection Act has become law; this law ensures that infants who are born alive during an abortion receive all treatment and care that is provided to all newborn infants and are not neglected and left to die.
We must protect girls from exploitation and statutory rape through a parental notification requirement.
We all have a moral obligation to assist, not to penalize, women struggling with the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy.
At its core, abortion is a fundamental assault on the sanctity of innocent human life.
Women deserve better than abortion.
Every effort should be made to work with women considering abortion to enable and empower them to choose life.
We salute those who provide them alternatives, including pregnancy care centers, and we take pride in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives.
Respect for life requires efforts to include persons with disabilities in education, employment, the justice system, and civic participation.
In keeping with that commitment, we oppose the non-consensual withholding of care or treatment from  people with disabilities, as well as the elderly and infirm, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on the margins of society.
Because government should set a positive standard in hiring and contracting for the services of persons with disabilities, we need to update the statutory authority for the Ability One program, the main avenue by which those productive members of our society can offer high quality services at the best possible value.
Preserving Traditional Marriage
Because our children's future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it.
In the absence of a national amendment, we support the right of the people of the various states to affirm traditional marriage through state initiatives.
Republicans recognize the importance of having in the home a father and a mother who are married.
The two-parent family still provides the best environment of stability, discipline, responsibility, and character.
Children in homes without fathers are more likely to commit a crime, drop out of school, become violent, become teen parents, use illegal drugs, become mired in poverty, or have emotional or behavioral problems.
We support the courageous efforts of single-parent families to provide a stable home for their children.
Children are our nation’s most precious resource.
We also salute and support the efforts of foster and adoptive families.
Republicans have been at the forefront of protecting traditional marriage laws, both in the states and in Congress.
A Republican Congress enacted the Defense of Marriage Act, affirming the right of states not to recognize same-sex "marriages' licensed in other states.
Unbelievably, the Democratic Party has now pledged to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which would subject every state to the redefinition of marriage by a judge without ever allowing the people to vote on the matter.
We also urge Congress to use its Article III, Section 2 power to prevent activist federal judges from imposing upon the rest of the nation the judicial activism in Massachusetts and California.
We also encourage states to review their marriage and divorce laws in order to strengthen marriage.
As the family is our basic unit of society, we oppose initiatives to erode parental rights.
Safeguarding Religious Liberties
Our Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and forbids any religious test for public office, and it likewise prohibits the establishment of a state-sponsored creed.
The balance between those two ideals has been distorted by judicial rulings which attempt to drive faith out of the public arena.
The public display of the Ten Commandments does not violate the U.S.Constitution and accurately reflects the Judeo-Christian heritage of our country.
We support the right of students to engage in student-initiated, student-led prayer in public schools, athletic events, and graduation ceremonies, when done in conformity with constitutional standards.
We affirm every citizen's right to apply religious values to public policy and the right of faith-based organizations to participate fully in public programs without renouncing their beliefs, removing religious objects or symbols, or becoming subject to government-imposed hiring practices.
Forcing religious groups to abandon their beliefs as applied to their hiring practices is religious discrimination.
We support the First Amendment right of freedom of association of the Boy Scouts of America and other service organizations whose values are under assault, and we call upon the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to reverse its policy of blacklisting religious groups which decline to arrange adoptions by same-sex couples.
Respectful of our nation's diversity in faith, we urge reasonable accommodation of religious beliefs in the private workplace.
We deplore the increasing incidence of attacks against religious symbols, as well as incidents of anti-Semitism on college campuses.
Preserving Americans’ Property Rights
At the center of a free economy is the right of citizens to be secure in their property.
Every person has the right to acquire, own, use, possess, enjoy, and dispose of private property.
That right was undermined by the Supreme Court's Kelo decision, allowing local governments to seize a person's home or land, not for vital public use, but for transfer to private developers.
That 5-to-4 decision highlights what is at stake in the election of the next president, who may make new appointments to the Court.
We call on state legislatures to moot the Kelo decision by appropriate legislation, and we pledge on the federal level to pass legislation to protect against unjust federal takings.
We will enforce the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to ensure just compensation whenever private property is needed to achieve a compelling public use.
We urge caution in the designation of National Historic Areas, which can set the stage for widespread governmental control of citizens' lands.
Supporting Native American Communities
The federal government has a special responsibility to the people in Indian country and a unique trust relationship with them, which has been insufficiently honored.
The social and economic problems that plague Indian country have grown worse over the last several decades, and we must reverse that trend.
Ineffective government programs deprive Indians of the services they need, and longterm failures threaten to undermine tribal sovereignty itself.
Republicans believe that economic self-sufficiency is the ultimate answer to the challenges in Indian country and that tribal communities, not Washington bureaucracies, are better situated to craft local solutions.
Federal — and state — regulations that thwart job creation must be reconsidered so that tribal governments acting on Native Americans' behalf are not disadvantaged.
The Democratic Party's repeated undermining of tribal sovereignty to advantage union bosses is especially egregious.
Republicans reject a one-size-fits-all approach to federal-state-tribal partnerships and will work to expand local autonomy where tribal governments seek it.
Better partnerships will help us to expand opportunity, deliver top-flight education to future generations, modernize and improve the Indian Health Service to make it more responsive to local needs, and build essential infrastructure.
Native Americans must be empowered to develop the rich natural resources on their lands without undue federal interference.
Crime in Indian country, especially against women, is a special problem demanding immediate attention.
Inadequate resources and neglect have made Native Americans less safe and allowed safe havens to develop in Indian country for criminal narcotics enterprises.
The government must increase funding for tribal officers and investigators, FBI agents, prosecutors, and tribal jails.
The legal system must provide stability and protect property   rights.
Everyone's civil rights must be safeguarded, including the right to due process and freedom of the press, with accountability for all government officials.
We support efforts to ensure equitable participation in federal programs by Native Americans, including Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians, and to preserve their culture and languages.
We honor the sacrifices of all Native Americans serving in the military today and in years past and will ensure that all veterans receive the care and respect they have earned through their service to America.
Moving America Forward 2012 Democratic National Platform
Moving America Forward
Four years ago, Democrats, independents, and many Republicans came together as Americans to move our country forward.
We were in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression,
the previous administration had put two wars on our nation’s credit card,
and the American Dream had slipped out of reach for too many.
Today, our economy is growing again,
al-Qaeda is weaker than at any point since 9/11,
and our manufacturing sector is growing for the first time in more than a decade.
But there is more we need to do, and so we come together again to continue what we started.
We gather to reclaim the basic bargain that built the largest middle class and the most prosperous nation on Earth –
the simple principle that in America, hard work should pay off,
responsibility should be rewarded,
and each one of us should be able to go as far as our talent and drive take us.
This election is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties,
but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our families.
We Democrats offer America the opportunity to move our country forward by creating an economy built to last and built from the middle out.
Mitt Romney and the Republican Party have a drastically different vision.
They still believe the best way to grow the economy is from the top down
– the same approach that benefited the wealthy few but crashed the economy and crushed the middle class.
Democrats see a young country continually made stronger by the greatest diversity of talent and ingenuity in the world,
and a nation of people drawn to our shores from every corner of the globe.
We believe America can succeed because the American people have never failed
and there is nothing that together we cannot accomplish.
Reclaiming the economic security of the middle class is the challenge we must overcome today.
That begins by restoring the basic values that made our country great,
and restoring for everyone who works hard and plays by the rules the opportunity to find a job that pays the bills, turn an idea into a profitable business, care for your family, afford a home you call your own and health care you can count on, retire with dignity and respect,
and, most of all, give your children the kind of education that allows them to dream even bigger and go even further than you ever imagined.
This has to be our North Star – an economy that’s built not from the top down, but from a growing middle class,
and that provides ladders of opportunity for those working hard to join the middle class.
This is not another trivial political argument.
It’s the defining issue of our time and at the core of the American Dream.
And now we stand at a make-or-break moment, and are faced with a choice between moving forward and falling back.
The Republican Party has turned its back on the middle class Americans who built this country.
Our opponents believe we should go back to the top-down economic policies of the last decade.
They think that if we simply eliminate protections for families and consumers, let Wall Street write its own rules again, and cut taxes for the wealthiest, the market will solve all our problems on its own.
They argue that if we help corporations and wealthy investors maximize their profits by whatever means necessary, whether through layoffs or outsourcing, it will automatically translate into jobs and prosperity that benefits us all.
They would repeal health reform,
turn Medicare into a voucher program,
and follow the same path of fiscal irresponsibility of the past administration – giving trillions of dollars in tax cuts weighted towards millionaires and billionaires while sticking the middle class with the bill.
But we’ve tried their policies – and we’ve all suffered when they failed.
It is not enough to go back to where the country was before the crisis.
We must rebuild a strong foundation that ensures it never happens again.
Democrats know that America prospers when we’re all in it together.
We see an America where everyone has a fair shot, does their fair share, and plays by the same rules.
We see an America that out-educates, out-builds, and out-innovates the rest of the world.
We see an America with greater economic security and opportunity, driven by education, energy, innovation and infrastructure, and a tax code that helps to create American jobs
and bring down the debt in a balanced way.
We believe in deficit reduction not by placing the burden on the middle class and the poor, but by cutting out programs we can’t afford
and asking the wealthiest to again contribute their fair share.
These values are why we enacted historic health care reform that provides economic security for families
and enacted sweeping financial reform legislation that will prevent the recklessness that cost so many their jobs, homes, and savings.
They’re why we rescued the auto industry
and revived our manufacturing supply chain.
They’re why we helped American families who are working multiple jobs and struggling to pay the bills save a little extra money through tax cuts, lower health care costs, and affordable student loans.
They’re why we fought to reclaim the value of treating all Americans with dignity and respect.
And they’re why President Barack Obama has ended one war and is responsibly drawing down another.
They’re why we’re restoring our alliances and image around the world
and pursuing a foreign policy that’s making us safer.
But there is more to be done.
We knew that renewing the American Dream wouldn’t be easy – we knew it would take more than one year, or one term, or even one president.
The problems we’re facing right now have been more than a decade in the making.
We are the party of inclusion and respect differences of perspective and belief.
And so, even when we disagree, we work together to move this country forward.
But what is holding our nation back is a stalemate in Washington between two fundamentally different views of which direction America should take.
We must keep moving forward and doing the hard work of rebuilding a strong economy
by betting on the American worker
and investing in a growing middle class.
We need a government that stands up for the hopes, values, and interests of working people,
and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.
Rebuilding Middle Class Security
We’ve come a long way since 2008.
The President took office in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression; that month 800,000 Americans lost their jobs – more than in any single month in the previous 60 years.
On Day One, he took immediate action to stop the free fall and put Americans back to work. In the midst of the crisis,
President Obama knew what Democrats have always known: that American workers are tougher than tough times.
Since early 2010, the private sector has created 4.5 million jobs,
and American manufacturing is growing for the first time since the 1990s.
The President knew from the start that to rebuild true middle class security, we can’t just cut our way to prosperity.
We must out-educate, out-innovate, and out-build the world.
We need an economy that creates the jobs of the future and makes things the rest of the world buys –
not one built on outsourcing, loopholes, or risky financial deals that jeopardize everyone, especially the middle class.
We’ve already made historic progress.
States have more flexibility to raise standards and reform schools,
more students are receiving grants and scholarships,
and young adults can stay on their parents’ health insurance plans as they finish their education and enter the workforce.
More working families than ever before have received tax cuts,
and fuel-efficiency standards are doubling.
The President cracked down on Wall Street recklessness
and abuses by health insurance, credit card, and mortgage companies.
Our work is far from done.
A crisis this deep didn’t happen overnight and it won’t be solved overnight.
Too many parents sit around their kitchen tables at night after they’ve put their kids to bed, worrying about how they will make a mortgage payment or pay the rent, or how they will put their children through college.
We now stand at a make-or-break moment for families,
and America faces a clear choice in this election: move forward toward a nation built from the middle class out where everyone has the chance to get ahead,
or go back to the same failed ideas that created the crisis in the first place.
The Republicans in Congress and Mitt Romney have a very different idea about where they want to take this country.
To pay for their trillions in additional tax cuts weighted towards millionaires and billionaires, they’ll raise taxes on the middle class
and gut our investments in education, research and technology, and new roads, bridges, and airports.
They’ll end Medicare as we know it.
They want to let Wall Street write its own rules again
and allow insurance companies to once again deny health care to working families.
Their troubling and familiar economic scheme doubles down on the same bad ideas of the last decade while arguing that, somehow, this time, they’ll lead to a different result.
We can’t afford to go back or abandon the change we’ve fought so hard for.
We have to move forward.
Putting Americans Back to Work
When President Obama took office, the economy was in the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression.
His Recovery Act represented the largest education investment since President Johnson,
the largest infrastructure investment since President Eisenhower,
the single largest clean energy investment ever,
and the broadest tax cut in American history.
It helped keep teachers, police officers, nurses, and firefighters on the job.
It ensured that as we re-built our country, we bought American-made iron, steel, and manufactured goods wherever feasible, consistent with our international obligations.
It helped the President stop the bleeding and reverse the free fall.
But just as the recession was not created overnight, we knew it would take time to recover from the crisis – and more needs to be done.
Last September, President Obama put forward the American Jobs Act to provide an immediate boost to the economy and strengthen the recovery.
We have already enacted key parts of the American Jobs Act – payroll tax relief, tax credits for businesses that hire veterans,
and an extension of unemployment insurance that also included reforms like work-sharing,
a “Bridge to Work” to help the long-term unemployed reconnect with the labor force,
and support for unemployed workers looking to become entrepreneurs.
But Republicans in Congress blocked other provisions that independent analysis said could create one million jobs.
Even as President Obama remains committed to working with both parties, he and his cabinet pursued a series of executive actions to help spark economic growth and job creation,
including expanding access to refinancing for families who have stayed current on their mortgages,
challenging Community Health Centers to hire veterans,
accelerating permitting for transportation projects,
cutting waste and reducing improper payments,
and enabling student loan borrowers to cap their payments at a percentage of income.
That’s why President Obama and the Democratic Party have cut taxes on American workers and businesses
and made sweeping reforms to the unemployment system to help get people back to work.
And we continue to fight for measures that would strengthen the recovery and create jobs now,
including keeping teachers and first responders on the job, putting construction workers back to work by investing in our roads, bridges, schools, and water supply, helping families refinance their mortgages and save hundreds of dollars a month, cutting taxes for small businesses that invest and hire, and putting veterans back to work.
That’s why we continue to fight for relief for the long-term unemployed,
including a ban on hiring discrimination against the unemployed
and a reformed and expanded universal worker training proposal to provide more training and job search assistance to all displaced workers regardless of how they lost their job.
The President’s plan includes many measures that have long had bipartisan support.
The Middle Class Bargain
Middle Class Tax Cuts. President Obama and Democrats in Congress cut taxes for every working family, putting more money in the pockets of Americans who need it most.
A typical family has saved $3,600 during his first term.
Now he’s fighting to stop middle class families and those aspiring to join the middle class from seeing their taxes go up
and to extend key tax relief for working families and those paying for college,
while asking the wealthiest and corporations to pay their fair share.
That is why we will always vigorously oppose the type of tax reform supported by Mitt Romney which independent experts have found would require raising taxes on typical families with children by at least $2,000 if it were paid for.
At the same time, Mitt Romney’s plan would cut taxes for those making over $3 million by an average of $250,000
and would create incentives that will lead to hundreds of thousands of jobs going overseas at the expense of American workers.
Health Care. We believe accessible, affordable, high quality health care is part of the American promise,
that Americans should have the security that comes with good health care,
and that no one should go broke because they get sick.
Over the determined opposition of Republicans, we enacted landmark reforms that are already helping millions of Americans, and more benefits will come soon.
As a result of our efforts, today, young Americans entering the workforce can stay on their parents’ plans.
Insurers can no longer refuse to cover kids with pre-existing medical conditions.
Insurance companies will no longer be able to arbitrarily cap and cancel coverage,
or charge women more simply because of their gender.
People with private insurance are getting preventive services like cancer screenings, annual well-woman visits, and FDA-approved contraception with no out-of-pocket costs.
We’ve established new Offices of Minority Health,
and are helping state Medicaid programs fund home and community-based services.
Small businesses are receiving tax credits to help them cover their workers,
and businesses and families are receiving rebates from insurers who overcharged them.
Soon, working families will finally have the security of knowing they won’t lose health care or be forced into bankruptcy if a family member gets sick or loses their job.
And soon, insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Medicaid will cover more working families.
Those who don’t get insurance at work will be able to shop in new exchanges and will be eligible for new tax credits.
As a result, all Americans will have access to health care.
We heard powerful testimony before the platform drafting committee about the difference it will make in Americans’ lives when, for the first time, 30 million of our fellow citizens finally gain health insurance.
Mitt Romney and the Republican Party would repeal health reform.
They are more concerned with playing politics than supporting families in this country.
No law is perfect and Democrats stand willing to work with anyone to improve the law where necessary, but we are committed to moving forward.
We will continue to stand up to Republicans working to take away the benefits and protections that are already helping millions of Americans every day.
We refuse to go back to the days when health insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your health policy, deny you coverage, or charge women more than men.
At the same time, the Affordable Care Act is not the end of efforts to improve health care for all Americans.
Democrats will continue to fight for a strong health care workforce with an emphasis on primary care.
We remain committed to eliminating disparities in health
and will continue to make sure families have access to mental health and substance abuse services.
We will strengthen Medicaid
and oppose efforts to block grant the program, slash its funding, and leave millions more without health insurance.
We will continue to invest in our public health infrastructure – ensuring that we are able to respond to emergencies and support community-based efforts to prevent disease.
The Recovery Act and the health reform law made historic investments in Community Health Centers,
and Democrats will continue to support these valuable institutions.
We Democrats have increased overall funding to combat HIV/AIDS to record levels and will continue our nation’s fight against HIV/AIDS.
President Obama established the first-ever comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for responding to the domestic epidemic,
which calls for reducing HIV incidence, increasing access to care, optimizing health outcomes, and reducing HIV-related health disparities.
This is an evidence-based plan that is guided by science and seeks to direct resources to the communities at greatest risk, including gay men, black and Latino Americans, substance users, and others at high risk of infection.
And we will continue to support America’s groundbreaking biomedical researchers in their lifesaving work.
Stabilizing the Housing Market and Hard-Hit Communities. For more than a decade, irresponsible lenders tricked buyers into signing subprime loans while too many homeowners got in over their heads by buying homes they couldn’t afford.
But when the housing bubble burst, it hurt everyone, including responsible homeowners who played by the rules, but saw their home values decline and their neighbors’ houses sit vacant.
The housing market’s dramatic collapse did more than punish millions of innocent Americans; it also triggered the economy’s downward spiral into recession.
President Obama took swift action to stabilize a housing market in crisis,
helping five million families restructure their loans to help them stay in their homes,
making it easier for families to refinance their mortgages and save hundreds of dollars a month,
and giving tax credits to first-time home buyers.
He also cracked down on fraudulent mortgage lenders and other abuses that contributed to the housing crisis.
Democrats have held the largest financial institutions accountable by requiring them to provide relief for homeowners still struggling to pay their mortgages
and to change practices that took advantage of homeowners.
Democrats also understand the importance of helping communities fight back against the foreclosures that threaten entire neighborhoods,
which is why the President proposed to expand the successful neighborhood stabilization efforts in his American Jobs Act.
Too many people still owe more on their homes than they are worth.
That is why Democrats are fighting to give every responsible homeowner the chance to refinance their home, spurring investment in communities that have been hit hardest by foreclosure, and taking whatever steps we can to avoid more foreclosures.
The President remains committed to creating an economy that’s built to last,
where home ownership is an achievable dream for all Americans.
Social Security and Medicare. We believe every American deserves a secure, healthy, and dignified retirement.
America’s seniors have earned their Medicare and Social Security through a lifetime of hard work and personal responsibility.
President Obama is committed to preserving that promise for this and future generations.
During their working years, Americans contribute to Social Security in exchange for a promise that they will receive an income in retirement.
Unlike those in the other party, we will find a solution to protect Social Security for future generations.
We will block Republican efforts to subject Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market through privatization.
We reject approaches that insist that cutting benefits is the only answer.
President Obama will also make it easier for Americans to save on their own for retirement and prepare for unforeseen expenses by participating in retirement accounts at work.
The Republican budget plan would end Medicare as we know it.
Democrats adamantly oppose any efforts to privatize or voucherize Medicare;
unlike our opponents we will not ask seniors to pay thousands of dollars more every year while they watch the value of their Medicare benefits evaporate.
Democrats believe that Medicare is a sacred compact with our seniors.
Nearly 50 million older Americans and Americans with disabilities rely on Medicare each year, and the new health care law makes Medicare stronger by adding new benefits,
fighting fraud,
and improving care for patients.
And, over 10 years, the law will save the average Medicare beneficiary $4,200.
President Obama is already leading the most successful crackdown on health care fraud ever, having already recovered $10 billion from health care scams.
We will build on those reforms, not eliminate Medicare’s guarantees.
The health care law is closing the gap in prescription drug coverage known as the “doughnut hole.”
More than five million seniors have already saved money – an average of $600 last year – and the doughnut hole will be closed for good by 2020.
In short, Democrats believe that Social Security and Medicare must be kept strong for seniors, people with disabilities, and future generations.
Our opponents have shown a shocking willingness to gut these programs to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest, and we fundamentally reject that approach.
An Economy that Out-Educates the World and Offers Greater Access to Higher Education and Technical Training. Democrats believe that getting an education is the surest path to the middle class,
giving all students the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and contribute to our economy and democracy.
Public education is one of our critical democratic institutions.
We are committed to ensuring that every child in America has access to a world-class public education so we can out-educate the world and make sure America has the world’s highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.
This requires excellence at every level of our education system, from early learning through post-secondary education.
It means we must close the achievement gap in America’s schools
and ensure that in every neighborhood in the country, children can benefit from high-quality educational opportunities.
This is why we have helped states and territories develop comprehensive plans to raise standards and improve instruction in their early learning programs
and invested in expanding and reforming Head Start.
President Obama and the Democrats are committed to working with states and communities so they have the flexibility and resources they need to improve elementary and secondary education in a way that works best for students.
To that end, the President challenged and encouraged states to raise their standards so students graduate ready for college or career and can succeed in a dynamic global economy.
Forty-six states responded, leading groundbreaking reforms that will deliver better education to millions of American students.
Too many students, particularly students of color and disadvantaged students, drop out of our schools, and Democrats know we must address the dropout crisis with the urgency it deserves.
The Democratic Party understands the importance of turning around struggling public schools.
We will continue to strengthen all our schools
and work to expand public school options for low-income youth, including magnet schools, charter schools, teacher-led schools, and career academies.
Because there is no substitute for a great teacher at the head of a classroom, the President helped school districts save more than 400,000 educator jobs.
We Democrats honor our nation’s teachers, who do a heroic job for their students every day.
If we want high-quality education for all our kids, we must listen to the people who are on the front lines.
The President has laid out a plan to prevent more teacher layoffs while attracting and rewarding great teachers.
This includes raising standards for the programs that prepare our teachers, recognizing and rewarding good teaching, and retaining good teachers
. We also believe in carefully crafted evaluation systems that give struggling teachers a chance to succeed
and protect due process if another teacher has to be put in the classroom.
We also recognize there is no substitute for a parent’s involvement in their child’s education.
To help keep college within reach for every student, Democrats took on banks to reform our student loan program, saving more than $60 billion by removing the banks acting as middlemen so we can better and more directly invest in students.
To make college affordable for students of all backgrounds and confront the loan burden our students shoulder, we doubled our investment in Pell Grant scholarships and created the American Opportunity Tax Credit worth up to $10,000 over four years of college,
and we’re creating avenues for students to manage their federal student loans so that their payments can be only 10 percent of what they make each month.
President Obama has pledged to encourage colleges to keep their costs down by reducing federal aid for those that do not,
investing in colleges that keep tuition affordable and provide good value,
doubling the number of work-study jobs available to students,
and continuing to ensure that students have access to federal loans with reasonable interest rates.
We invested more than $2.5 billion in savings from reforming our student loan system to strengthen our nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Alaska, Hawaiian Native Institutions, Asian American and Pacific Islander Institutions, and other Minority Serving Institutions.
These schools play an important role in creating a diverse workforce,
educating new teachers,
and producing the next generation of STEM workers.
We Democrats also recognize the economic opportunities created by our nation’s community colleges.
That is why the President has invested in community colleges and called for additional partnerships between businesses and community colleges to train two million workers with the skills they need for good jobs waiting to be filled,
and to support business-labor apprenticeship programs that provide skills and opportunity to thousands of Americans.
The President also proposed to double key investments in science to educate the next generation of scientists and engineers,
encourage private sector innovation,
and prepare at least 100,000 math and science teachers over the next decade.
And to make this country a destination for global talent and ingenuity, we won’t deport deserving young people who are Americans in every way but on paper,
and we will work to make it possible for foreign students earning advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to stay and help create jobs here at home.
Mitt Romney has a radically different vision.
He says we need fewer teachers, cops, and firefighters – good middle class jobs – even after losing hundreds of thousands of such jobs during the recession and at a time when state, local, and territorial governments are still shedding these jobs.
He supports dramatic cuts to Head Start and the Pell Grant program.
Tuition at public colleges has soared over the last decade and students are graduating with more and more debt;
but Mitt Romney thinks students should “shop around” for the “best education they can afford.”
And he supports the radical House Republican budget that would cut financial aid for more than one million students while giving tax cuts to the rich.
We Democrats have focused on making sure that taxpayer dollars support high-quality education programs,
but Mitt Romney is a staunch supporter of expensive, for-profit schools – schools that often leave students buried in debt and without the skills for quality jobs and that prey on our servicemembers and veterans.
Cutting Waste, Reducing the Deficit, Asking All to Pay Their Fair Share
After the previous administration put two wars and tax cuts weighted towards the wealthy on the nation’s credit card,
and in the wake of the worst recession since the Great Depression,
Democrats took decisive steps to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington.
We reinstated the tough pay-as-you-go budget rules of the 1990s so that all permanent new spending and tax cuts must now be offset by savings or revenue increases.
President Obama has already signed into law $2 trillion in spending reductions as part of a balanced plan to reduce our deficits by over $4 trillion over the next decade
while taking immediate steps to strengthen the economy now.
This approach includes tough spending cuts that will bring annual domestic spending to its lowest level as a share of the economy in 50 years,
while still allowing us to make investments that benefit the middle class now
and reduce our deficit over a decade.
We are committed to defeating efforts that would return us to the failed economic policies of the past, in which tax relief for the wealthy explodes the deficit and asks the middle class to shoulder that burden.
To help spur economic growth, President Obama and the Democratic Party cut taxes for every working family – providing $3,600 in tax relief to the typical family over the President’s first term in office –
and we are committed to extending the middle class tax cuts for the 98 percent of American families who make less than $250,000 a year,
and we will not raise taxes on them.
The Republican Party has a different vision—instead of asking everyone to do their fair share and making investments we need for an economy built to last, they would slash taxes for corporations and the wealthiest Americans,
let Wall Street once again write its own rules,
and balance the budget on the backs of the middle class.
Romney and Congressional Republicans share the same, distorted view of the economy and support the same, lopsided budget.
Romney would roll back the tax relief Democrats provided to working families and college students, and would require massive new taxes on the middle class to pay for his $5 trillion tax plan that primarily benefits the wealthy.
The Democratic Party opposes efforts to give additional tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle class and investments in our future.
Economy Built to Last
All-of-the-Above Energy Policy. In the last four years, President Obama and the Democratic Party have taken concrete steps to make us more energy independent.
We’ve supported nearly 225,000 clean energy jobs
and Americans are importing less oil, breathing cleaner air, and saving money on energy costs.
Historic investments in clean energy technologies have helped double the electricity we get from wind and solar.
New emissions and fuel efficiency standards for American cars are reducing our oil use,
saving consumers at the pump,
and putting Americans back to work.
Our dependence on foreign oil is now at a 16-year low, and a new era of cheap, abundant natural gas is helping to bring jobs and industry back to the United States.
We can move towards a sustainable energy-independent future if we harness all of America’s great natural resources.
That means an all-of-the-above approach to developing America’s many energy resources, including wind, solar, biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, nuclear, oil, clean coal, and natural gas.
President Obama has encouraged innovation to reach his goal of generating 80 percent of our electricity from clean energy sources by 2035.
Democrats support making America the world’s leader in building a clean energy economy by extending clean energy incentives that support American businesses and American jobs in communities across the country.
It’s not enough to invent clean energy technologies here; we want to make them here and sell them around the world.
We can further cut our reliance on oil with increased energy efficiency in buildings, industry, and homes,
and through the promotion of advanced vehicles, fuel economy standards, and the greater use of natural gas in transportation.
Harnessing our natural gas resources needs to be done in a safe and responsible manner,
which is why the Obama administration has proposed a number of safeguards to protect against water contamination and air pollution.
We will continue to advocate for the use of this clean fossil fuel,
while ensuring that public and environmental health and workers’ safety are protected.
We support more infrastructure investment to speed the transition to cleaner fuels in the transportation sector.
And we are expediting the approval process to build out critical oil and gas lines essential to transporting our energy for consumers.
Building a clean energy future means that new exploration and production needs to be approached safely and responsibly.
Democrats are committed to balancing environmental protection with development,
and that means preserving sensitive public lands from exploration, like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Pacific West Coast, Gulf of Maine, and other irreplaceable national landscapes.
We are saving consumers money on their energy bills – both at home and at the pump –
but Republican energy policy is full of empty rhetoric and bad ideas that would make their Big Oil donors even richer at the expense of the middle class.
Republicans would keep giving billions of taxpayer dollars a year to profitable oil companies and increase costs on consumers.
Democrats will fight to cut tax subsidies for Big Oil while promoting job growth in the clean energy sector,
so we can cut the deficit and increase jobs and growth in America.
Out-Building and Out-Innovating the Rest of the World. The American people will make a clear choice.
They can vote for Republicans who opposed saving the auto industry,
who favor a tax code that would actually encourage outsourcing, and.
whose plans would gut investments in federally financed labs and universities that build new American industries
Or they can elect Democrats who bet on the American worker
, will reward those who create private-sector jobs here in America,
and make the investments that strengthen the middle class.
Betting on American Manufacturing and the American Automobile Industry. Thanks to President Obama’s recovery program, American manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s, including more than 500,000 jobs since the beginning of 2010.
Instead of cutting jobs or shipping them abroad, many American companies are now “insourcing,” or bringing overseas jobs back home.
President Obama and the Democrats boldly rescued America’s auto industry,
saving more than one million jobs,
preventing the collapse of the industry’s supply chain,
and shoring up countless communities, while revitalizing the backbone of America’s manufacturing sector.
Mitt Romney thought the government’s action would destroy the auto industry;
he and Republican leaders opposed the support President Obama extended to rescue an iconic industry.
All three of America’s biggest auto manufacturers – Chrysler, GM, and Ford – are stronger today because of President Obama’s decisive leadership.
GM and Chrysler have repaid their outstanding loans years ahead of schedule,
new American cars are inspiring pride,
and the auto industry added more than 200,000 jobs in the last three years.
At the same time, President Obama forged an agreement with American carmakers to nearly double fuel efficiency standards in the coming years, changes that will save a typical car owner more than $8,000 in fuel costs over the life of their vehicle and reduce American consumers’ fuel costs by almost $2 trillion.
Today American carmakers and auto workers are helping to drive a stronger recovery.
The Democratic Party supports a broad-based strategy to further strengthen an American renaissance in manufacturing,
with tax relief for clean energy manufacturing,
incentives to create advanced vehicles in the United States,
more research, and a network of manufacturing innovation hubs.
Insourcing. The Democratic Party believes in insourcing so that America can out-build the rest of the world again.
We want to cut tax breaks for companies that are shipping jobs overseas and for special interests,
and instead offer tax breaks to companies that are investing right here in the United States of America,
betting on American workers who are making American products we sell to the world that are stamped with three proud words: Made in America.
Our strategy is paying off.
After decades of watching American companies take jobs to other countries, we’re beginning to see entrepreneurs and manufactures make the decision to keep factories and production facilities here in the United States
— and even bring jobs back from overseas.
But the Republican Party has nominated a man whose firm invested in companies that were pioneers of outsourcing
– and whose plans would actually encourage outsourcing by eliminating all taxes on the foreign profits of U.S. companies.
There is more to do.
We Democrats support lowering the corporate tax rate while closing unnecessary loopholes,
and lowering rates even further for manufacturers who create good jobs at home.
We will give our businesses access to newer roads and airports, and faster railroads and Internet access.
We will fight for immediate investments for highways, transit, rail, and aviation and for the creation of a national infrastructure bank to help modernize our infrastructure,
put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job,
and help businesses grow.
Out-Building the Rest of the World. We support long-term investments in our infrastructure.
Roads, bridges, rail and public transit systems, airports, ports, and sewers are all critical to economic growth, as they enable businesses to grow.
That’s why President Obama and Democrats in Congress have enacted infrastructure investments that will
sustain our Highway Trust Fund
and provide states, U.S. territories, and communities with two years of funding to build needed infrastructure.
These investments are critical for putting Americans back to work
and strengthening America’s transportation system to grow our economy.
The President has proposed to go substantially further, including a significant up-front investment in our infrastructure
followed by sustained increases in investment
paid for with part of the savings from winding down our overseas wars,
together with reforms that will better leverage government dollars and target significant projects.
We will continue to partner with local communities to support their sustainable development.
Out-Innovating the Rest of the World. Democrats support a world-class commitment to science and research so that the next generation of innovators and high-technology manufacturing companies thrive in America.
President Obama signed into law changes to help entrepreneurs raise capital and create jobs.
Democrats are committed to preparing math and science teachers
and training workers with skills for the future
, and doubling funding for key basic research agencies.
We support expanding and making permanent the Research and Experimentation Tax Credit.
President Obama has charted a new mission for NASA to lead us to a future that builds on America’s legacy of innovation and exploration.
Democrats reformed the patent system to speed approval of investors’ patents and provide alternatives to wasteful litigation.
Democrats know that the United States must preserve our leadership in the Internet economy.
We will ensure that America has a 21st century digital infrastructure – robust wired and wireless broadband capability, a smarter electrical grid, and upgraded information technology infrastructure in key sectors such as health care and education.
President Obama has committed to ensuring that 98 percent of the country has access to high-speed wireless broadband Internet access.
We are finding innovative ways to free up wireless spectrum
and are building a state-of-the-art nationwide, interoperable, public safety network.
President Obama is strongly committed to protecting an open Internet that fosters investment, innovation, creativity, consumer choice, and free speech, unfettered by censorship or undue violations of privacy.
The administration is vigorously protecting U.S. intellectual property – our technology and creativity – at home and abroad through better enforcement and innovative approaches such as voluntary efforts by all parties to minimize infringement
while supporting the free flow of information.
Customs seizures of counterfeit drugs are up 600 percent and seizures of fake consumer safety and critical technology have increased nearly 200 percent;
the Department of Justice has aggressively prosecuted the illegal overseas transfer of trade secrets.
As technology advances, we will continue to work with all stakeholders to protect the security of the nation and its knowledge assets, U.S. intellectual property, the functioning of fair and competitive markets, and the privacy, free expression, and due process rights of Americans.
Standing Up for Workers. When the President took office, the American middle class was under assault.
From 2001 to 2007, we had the slowest private-sector job growth in an economic expansion since World War II.
The typical family saw its income stall and inequality climb, even as the economy grew.
And we had an administration that thought the answer was limiting unions.
Upon taking office, President Obama began the work of restoring an economy built to last that creates good jobs that pay well.
Because the President and the Democratic Party believe in the right to organize and in supporting America’s workers with strong labor laws, the President rolled back harmful labor policies designed to undermine collective bargaining rights.
The President appointed members of the National Labor Relations Board and National Mediation Board who understand the importance of standing up for the rights of workers.
He placed his bet on the American worker when he rescued the auto industry.
His administration will continue its fight against the exploitative practice of employers fraudulently misclassifying workers as independent contractors or white-collar workers to evade taxes or deny them protections and overtime benefits.
As new employment relationships evolve away from the traditional employee-employer model, we need to make sure our labor laws are modernized and keep pace with changes in our economy.
The Republican Party would return us to the failed policies of the last administration, vilifying the American worker, undermining unions, and arguing that everyone should fend for themselves.
We oppose the attacks on collective bargaining that Republican governors and state legislatures are mounting in states around the country.
Democrats believe that the right to organize and collectively bargain is a fundamental American value;
every American should have a voice on the job and
a chance to negotiate for a fair day’s pay after a hard day’s work.
We will continue to fight for the right of all workers to organize and join a union.
Unions helped build the greatest middle class the world has ever known.
Their work resulted in the 40-hour workweek and weekends, paid leave and pensions, the minimum wage and health insurance, and Social Security and Medicare – the cornerstones of middle class security.
We will fight for labor laws that provide a fair process for workers to choose union representation, that facilitate the collective bargaining process,
and that strengthen remedies for violations of the law.
We will fight for collective bargaining rights for police officers, nurses, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, teachers, and other public sector workers – jobs that are a proven path to the middle class for millions of Americans.
We will continue to vigorously oppose “Right to Work” and “paycheck protection” efforts, and so-called “Save our Secret Ballot” measures whenever they are proposed.
We will raise the minimum wage, and index it to inflation.
We believe in an America where people looking for work can find good jobs,
where hard work pays,
and where responsibility is rewarded.
Our Occupational Safety and Health Administration will continue to adopt and enforce comprehensive safety standards.
The first bill the President signed was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, we are committed to passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, and we will continue to battle Republican opposition to efforts to stop wage discrimination.
Helping Small Business. Small businesses employ half of all working Americans, and, over the last two decades, have created two out of three net new jobs.
Democrats believe that small businesses are the engine of job growth in America.
President Obama signed 18 small-business tax cuts to encourage businesses to hire more workers
and make job-creating investments in machinery and equipment and proposed significant additional small business tax relief.
He encouraged investment and supported start-ups by allowing businesses to write off the full cost of new equipment and machinery they bought in 2011.
Altogether, the President’s Small Business Jobs Act accelerated $55 billion in tax relief through 2011.
Democrats made it easier for small businesses to access the loans they needed to grow and hire.
The President signed into law changes to help entrepreneurs raise capital while maintaining key investor protections.
Small businesses are now once again creating jobs.
Democrats have helped small businesses provide health insurance to their workers with a tax credit to help pay for the cost of coverage.
In 2014, the tax credit will grow and small businesses will be able to pool their purchasing power together to get affordable coverage.
We recognize the importance of small business to women, people of color, tribes, and rural America
and will work to help nurture entrepreneurship.
President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to continue cutting red tape for small businesses,
helping them sell their goods around the world
and access the capital they need to grow.
This includes tax cuts for small businesses that make new investments, hire more workers, or increase wages.
Opened Markets All Over the World for American Products. President Obama and the Democratic Party know that America has the best workers and businesses in the world.
If the playing field is level, Americans will be able to compete against every other country on Earth.
Over the last four years, we have made historic progress toward the goal of doubling our exports by 2015.
We have taken steps to open new markets to American products,
while ensuring that other countries play by the same rules.
President Obama signed into law new trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama that will support tens of thousands of private-sector jobs,
but not before he strengthened these agreements on behalf of American workers and businesses.
We remain committed to finding more markets for American-made goods
– including using the Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and eight countries in the Asia-Pacific, one of the most dynamic regions in the world –
while ensuring that workers’ rights and environmental standards are upheld,
and fighting against unfair trade practices.
We expanded and reformed assistance for trade-affected workers,
and we demanded renewal of that help alongside new trade agreements.
Both publicly and privately, the President has made clear to the Chinese government that it needs to take steps to appreciate its currency so that America is competing on a level playing field.
This administration has doubled the rate of trade cases brought against China by the last administration,
and created a new government-wide Interagency Trade Enforcement Center.
The President is committed to continuing to fight unfair trade practices that disadvantage American producers and workers, including illegal subsidies, non-tariff barriers, and abuse of worker rights or environmental standards.
America Works When Everyone Plays by the Same Rules
For too long, we’ve had a financial system that stacked the deck against ordinary Americans.
Banks on Wall Street played by different rules than businesses on Main Street and community banks.
Without strong enough regulations, families were enticed, and sometimes tricked, into buying homes they couldn’t afford.
Banks and investors were allowed to package and sell risky mortgages.
Huge reckless bets were made with other people’s money on the line.
That behavior not only nearly destroyed the financial system,
it cost our economy millions of jobs,
hurt middle class and poor families,
and left taxpayers holding the bill.
For the past three and a half years, President Obama and Democrats around the country have been fighting to bring the country back from this historic economic crisis.
We put in place Wall Street reform with smarter, tougher, commonsense rules that will prevent a crisis like that from ever happening again.
We know that the free market only works when there are rules of the road to ensure that competition is fair, open, and honest.
Mitt Romney and the Republicans would roll back financial reform
and let Wall Street write its own rules again.
The President put in place government reform that has led to the most open, efficient, and accountable government in history.
We know that transparent and effective government makes economic sense.
Republicans would continue to allow lobbyists too much sway over lawmakers,
leading to gridlock in Washington,
an outdated regulatory system,
and a tax code riddled with loopholes.
The President put in place unprecedented ethics reforms
and we’re fighting for campaign finance reform.
We know that millions of Americans are struggling to get by, and their voices shouldn’t be drowned out by millions of dollars in secret special-interest lobbying and advertising.
Mitt Romney’s opposition to commonsense campaign finance is nothing less than support for corporate and special-interest takeovers in our elections.
We believe America prospers when everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street, does their fair share and plays by the same rules.
We will not back down from making sure an oil company can’t take the same reckless actions that led to the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago.
We will not back down from protecting our kids from toxic mercury pollution,
or making sure that our food is safe and our water is clean.
We will not back down from ensuring that everyone has a seat at the American table and the opportunity to grab the first rung on the ladder to the middle class.
Wall Street Reform
A strong middle class can only exist in an economy where everyone plays by the same rules, from Wall Street to Main Street.
That’s why President Obama and Democrats in Congress overcame fierce opposition from the financial industry to pass the most far-reaching Wall Street reform in generations.
The failed policies of the past decade and hands-off approach toward the excesses of the financial industry helped create the deepest economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.
In the fall of 2008, when the financial system and economy were on the verge of catastrophic collapse, the last administration put in place the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The Obama administration has ensured that big banks repay these loans with interest,
and its rigorous stewardship has brought transparency and accountability to the program.
We enacted Wall Street reform to end all future taxpayer-funded bank bailouts.
Today Democrats are holding Wall Street accountable,
bringing new transparency to financial markets,
and ending taxpayer-funded bank bailouts and the era of “too big to fail.”
President Obama put in place new rules of the road that refocus the financial sector on getting capital to entrepreneurs
and small and mid-sized businesses who create jobs and financing to millions of families who want to buy a home or send their kids to college.
We’ve created a single consumer watchdog agency whose sole job is looking out for working families by protecting them from deceptive and unfair lending practices of mortgage brokers, payday lenders, debt collectors, and other financial institutions.
Democrats are not only fighting to protect consumers from practices that can hurt their pocketbooks and add to their debt, but also working to put an end to practices that helped cause the mortgage crisis.
Mitt Romney and his allies in Congress believe that the best way to grow the economy is from the top down –
the same approach that benefited a few, but crashed the economy, hurt the middle class, and contributed to soaring income inequality.
They would roll back financial reform and let Wall Street write its own rules again.
21st Century Government: Transparent and Accountable
President Obama and the Democrats are committed to rethinking, reforming, and remaking our government so that it can meet the challenges of our time.
We reject the idea that we need to ask people to choose between their jobs and their safety.
We reject the argument that says for the economy to grow, we have to roll back protections that ban hidden fees by credit card companies,
or rules that keep our kids from being exposed to mercury,
or laws that prevent the health insurance industry from shortchanging patients.
Rules should be simpler and more flexible,
and regulations should be based on sound science and secure Americans’ freedom of choice.
In our platform hearing we heard about the importance of a safety net that works, public schools that educate, and government that invests in a strong economy.
A 21st century regulatory system must promote economic growth, innovation, and job creation
while also protecting public health and welfare.
President Obama proposed a simpler, smarter, and more cost-effective approach to regulation, rather than one riddled with special rules written by lobbyists.
Efficient and effective regulations enforce common sense safeguards to protect the American people.
That’s what we’ve done in this country for more than a century.
It’s why our food is safe to eat, our water is safe to drink, and our air is safe to breathe.
It’s why we put in place consumer protections against hidden fees and penalties by credit card companies
and new rules to prevent another financial crisis.
That’s why the administration launched the Internet Privacy Bill of Rights
and encouraged innovative solutions such as a Do Not Track option for consumers.
But there’s no question that some regulations are outdated, unnecessary, or too costly.
That’s why President Obama asked all federal agencies to review and streamline outdated regulations,
an effort that will save at least $10 billion over five years,
and will eliminate tens of millions of hours in annual paperwork burdens
. That’s why he has approved fewer regulations in the first three years of his presidency than his Republican predecessor did in his.
At the same time, those regulations have more than 25 times the net benefits of the previous administration’s regulations.
Looking to make our government leaner, smarter, and more consumer-friendly, President Obama has asked Congress to reinstate the authority that past presidents had to reorganize and consolidate government agencies.
President Obama has also called for an ambitious, transparent, and unprecedented government-wide review of existing federal regulations to eliminate unnecessary rules.
In response, more than two dozen agencies have released plans to streamline existing requirements.
Just a small fraction of these initiatives will save billions of dollars in the near future without sacrificing consumer protections, the environment, workplace safety, or health.
For too long, overlapping responsibilities among agencies have made it harder, rather than easier, for our small businesses to interact with their government.
Where appropriate, we are also committed to working with states and U.S. territories to support innovation in exchange for accountability and results.
We are committed to the most open, efficient, and accountable government in history,
and we believe that government is more accountable when it is transparent.
This administration was the first to make public the list of visitors to the White House
and create a centralized ethics and lobbying database available to the public online.
Democrats led the fight to enact the STOCK Act to ban congressional insider trading.
President Obama launched the Open Government Initiative to empower the public – through greater openness and new technologies – to influence the decisions that affect their lives.
We are committed to using government as a platform to spur innovation and collaboration
. Forums such as Data.gov release more information to the public so that the private sector can pioneer innovative new services.
Lobbying Reform and Campaign Finance Reform
Our political system is under assault by those who believe that special interests should be able to buy whatever they want in our society, including our government.
Our opponents have applauded the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United and welcomed the new flow of special interest money with open arms.
In stark contrast, we believe we must take immediate action to curb the influence of lobbyists and special interests on our political institutions.
President Obama signed an executive order to establish unprecedented ethics rules so that those who leave the executive branch may not lobby this administration and officials may not accept gifts from lobbyists.
We support campaign finance reform, by constitutional amendment if necessary.
We support legislation to close loopholes and require greater disclosure of campaign spending.
President Obama and the national Democratic Party do not accept contributions from federal lobbyists this cycle.
We support requiring groups trying to influence elections to reveal their donors so the public will know who’s funding the political ads it sees.
President Obama and the Democrats are fighting to reduce the influence of money in politics, and holding Congress to higher conflict-of-interest standards.
Greater Together
As Americans, we are bound together by more than nationality or geography.
We are bound by a shared set of ideals and values rooted in the notion that we are greater together;
that our collective efforts produce something better than the sum of our individual actions;
and that together, rather than divided, we can overcome the greatest challenges that come our way.
The path to restoring middle class security is through the basic values that made our country great.
We are a nation that says anyone can make it if you try – no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you look like.
We know that America is strongest when everybody has a seat at the table
and when the same rules apply to everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street.
Republicans like Mitt Romney want to turn back the clock on the progress we’ve made,
telling people whom they can marry,
restricting women’s access to birth control coverage,
and going back to the same economic policies that benefited the wealthy but crashed our economy.
Their narrow vision is of an America where everyone is left to fend for themselves
and the powerful can write their own rules.
Ours is a vision of a big, compassionate America where everyone who works hard has the chance to get ahead – not just those already at the very top.
It’s a vision that says everyone gets a fair shot,
everyone does their fair share,
and everyone engages in fair play.
It’s a vision that says we prosper when we realize that we are all in it together
and stand united as a nation without dividing or excluding people.
Strengthening the American Community
Immigration. Democrats are strongly committed to enacting comprehensive immigration reform that supports our economic goals and reflects our values as both a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.
The story of the United States would not be possible without the generations of immigrants who have strengthened our country and contributed to our economy.
Our prosperity depends on an immigration system that reflects our values and meets America’s needs.
But Americans know that today, our immigration system is badly broken – separating families,
undermining honest employers and workers,
burdening law enforcement,
and leaving millions of people working and living in the shadows.
Democrats know there is broad consensus to repair that system and strengthen our economy,
and that the country urgently needs comprehensive immigration reform that brings undocumented immigrants out of the shadows
and requires them to get right with the law, learn English, and pay taxes in order to get on a path to earn citizenship.
We need an immigration reform that creates a system for allocating visas that meets our economic needs,
keeps families together,
and enforces the law.
But instead of promoting the national interest, Republicans have blocked immigration reform in Congress and used the issue as a political wedge.
Despite the obstacles, President Obama has made important progress in implementing immigration policies that reward hard work and demand personal responsibility.
Today, the Southwest border is more secure than at any time in the past 20 years.
Unlawful crossings are at a 40-year low,
and the Border Patrol is better staffed than at any time in its history.
We are continuing to work to hold employers accountable for whom they hire.
The Department of Homeland Security is prioritizing the deportation of criminals who endanger our communities over the deportation of immigrants who do not pose a threat, such as children who came here through no fault of their own and are pursuing an education.
President Obama’s administration has streamlined the process of legal immigration for immediate relatives of U.S. citizens,
supporting family reunification as a priority,
and has enhanced opportunities for English-language learning and immigrant integration.
When states sought to interfere with federal immigration law by passing local measures targeting immigrants, this administration challenged them in court.
President Obama and the Democrats fought for the DREAM Act, legislation ensuring that young people who want to contribute fully to our society and serve our country are able to become legal residents and ultimately citizens.
Although this bill has a long history of bipartisan support, Republicans decided to play politics with it rather than do the right thing.
So the Obama administration provided temporary relief for youth who came to the United States as children, through no fault of their own, grew up as Americans and are poised to make a real contribution to our country.
These are not permanent fixes.
Only Congress can provide a permanent, comprehensive solution.
But these are steps in the right direction.
President Obama and the Democratic Party stand for comprehensive immigration reform that intelligently prioritizes our country’s security and economic needs,
while Mitt Romney and the Republicans have opposed commonsense reforms and pandered to the far right.
Families. It’s time we stop just talking about family values and start pursuing policies that truly value families.
The President and Democrats have cut taxes for every working American family,
and expanded the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.
We believe that all parents and caregivers – regardless of gender – need more flexibility and support in the workplace.
We support passing the Healthy Families Act,
broadening the Family and Medical Leave Act,
and partnering with states to move toward paid leave.
We have invested in expanding and reforming Head Start and grants to states to raise standards and improve instruction in their early learning programs,
and we support expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit.
We must protect our most vulnerable children by supporting our foster care system,
adoption programs for all caring parents, grandparents, and caregivers,
and protecting children from violence and neglect.
We recognize that caring for family members and managing a household is real and valuable work.
President Obama’s administration has offered men who want to be good fathers extra support.
We have bolstered community and faith-based groups focused on fatherhood,
partnered with businesses to offer opportunities for fathers to spend time with their kids at the bowling alley or ballpark,
and worked to help deployed dads connect with their children.
We all have a stake in forging stronger bonds between fathers and their children.
We support parents and their children as they work to lead healthier lives.
With prevention and treatment initiatives on obesity and public health, Democrats are leading the way on supporting healthier, more physically active families and healthy children.
Supporting Troops, Military Families, and Veterans. President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to keeping the sacred trust we have with our troops, military families, and veterans.
These brave men and women and their families have borne the burden of war and have always made our military the best in the world.
We will not only continue to support them in the field,
but we will also continue to prioritize support for wounded warriors, mental health, and the well-being of our military families and veterans.
We will keep working to give our veterans the health care, benefits, education, and job opportunities that they have earned.
That’s why the President and the Democratic Party supported the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to provide opportunities for military personnel, veterans, and their families to get a better education.
That’s why the President is working to ensure returning veterans are able to get good jobs and put their skills to good use at home.
That’s why the President has launched partnerships with the private sector to help veterans transfer their experience into skilled manufacturing jobs,
and why the President has proposed a new Veterans Jobs Corps to put veterans to work as first responders.
That’s why the President signed an executive order making it harder for for-profit colleges to prey on veterans.
That’s why we enacted the Returning Heroes Tax Credit and the Wounded Warrior Tax Credit to give companies incentives to hire vets.
That’s why we have committed to ending veterans’ homelessness by 2015,
and have launched new partnerships with the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and with veterans’ organizations to do just that.
That’s why, because the traumas of war don’t always end when our loved ones return home, this administration is continuing to work to meet the mental health needs of our veterans.
That's why we will continue to partner with the nation's Veterans Service Organizations and veterans advocacy groups to ensure that every veteran of every generation receives the care and benefits they've earned.
That’s why we have made it easier for veterans in rural communities to get the care they need.
And it is why we have substantially increased funding for the VA,
and directed it to eliminate its backlog of claims,
hire additional claims processors,
and deploy new systems to improve claims processing times.
Americans with Disabilities. No one should face discrimination based on disability status.
President Obama and the Democratic Party will continue to lead efforts to facilitate the access of Americans with disabilities to the middle class, employment opportunities, and the ability to lead full, productive, and satisfying lives.
The administration and the Democratic Party are committed to assisting the approximately 50 million people in this country living with disabilities, assuring their full integration into society.
This administration has committed to hiring 100,000 Americans with disabilities within the federal government by 2015,
and has proposed new rules to create employment opportunities with federal contractors.
We are committed to expanding access to employment for people with disabilities and removing barriers to work.
The Affordable Care Act is opening access to health insurance to Americans with disabilities who were previously excluded because of pre-existing conditions,
expanding access to Medicaid,
and helping Medicaid to support home- and community-based services to keep people in their communities.
Further, the President issued an executive order repealing the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research
and signed into law the Christopher and Dana Reeves Paralysis Act, the first piece of comprehensive legislation aimed at improving the lives of Americans living with paralysis.
Democrats are committed to ensuring that Americans with disabilities can exercise their right to vote and have access to the polls.
We will continue to oppose all efforts to weaken the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act,
and we will vigorously enforce laws that prevent discrimination.
And the President and the Democratic Party will fiercely oppose the harsh cuts in Medicaid that would inevitably lead to no or significantly less health care for millions of Americans with disabilities,
workers with disabilities,
and families raising children with autism, Down Syndrome, and other serious disabilities.
Faith. Faith has always been a central part of the American story, and it has been a driving force of progress and justice throughout our history.
We know that our nation, our communities, and our lives are made vastly stronger and richer by faith and the countless acts of justice and mercy it inspires.
Faith-based organizations will always be critical allies in meeting the challenges that face our nation and our world – from domestic and global poverty, to climate change and human trafficking.
People of faith and religious organizations do amazing work in communities across this country and the world, and we believe in lifting up and valuing that good work, and finding ways to support it where possible.
We believe in constitutionally sound, evidence-based partnerships with faith-based and other non-profit organizations to serve those in need and advance our shared interests.
There is no conflict between supporting faith-based institutions and respecting our Constitution,
and a full commitment to both principles is essential for the continued flourishing of both faith and country.
Rural Communities and Agriculture. We are committed to creating a rural economy built to last –
one focused on reclaiming the security of the rural middle class by growing the food, fiber, and fuel that the rest of the world buys
and restoring the basic values of hard work and fair play that made our country great.
By investing in job creation, clean energy, agriculture, and education, Democrats have built a stronger rural economy where future generations can enjoy the rural way of life.
President Obama and Democrats in Congress have worked to extend credit to a record number of small business owners, boosting economic growth in rural America.
We support a clean energy economy that is creating jobs and helping lower energy costs in rural America.
U.S. biofuel production is at its highest level in history.
We have made historic investments in renewable fuels and expanded markets for them.
We support strengthening rural water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure to make rural businesses more competitive.
We have expanded broadband access to nearly seven million rural Americans, including rural businesses, creating new jobs.
We have invested in water and wastewater community infrastructure projects, safeguarding the health of 18 million rural residents and creating even more jobs.
Democrats will strengthen the American farm safety net by renewing crop disaster relief,
maintaining strong crop insurance programs,
and creating a permanent disaster relief program.
We will improve access to education and health care, especially for rural veterans,
and conserve millions of acres of public lands
while supporting rural recreation and tourism.
Our vision for rural America stands in stark contrast to our opponents’.
Republicans in Congress have introduced a budget that would gut rural economic programs that invest in education, clean energy, infrastructure, and health care, undermining job growth and economic development in rural America.
They would severely weaken the farm safety net for family farmers in times of natural disaster and economic hardship.
Agriculture. An agricultural economy built to last is integral to the affordability of our food, the independence of our energy supply, and the security of America’s middle class.
Democrats support agriculture from the small farms that feed the community to the large farms that feed the world.
Under President Obama, American farmers are seeing record farm income,
record agricultural exports,
and millions of acres enrolled in conservation programs.
President Obama has expanded markets for American goods that help support more than a million agriculture jobs here at home.
And in the past few years, agriculture has been one of the fastest-growing parts of our economy, creating one out of every 12 American jobs.
Democrats appreciate agriculture’s role in securing America’s food security
and making our country an ambassador of food aid to countries across the world.
That’s why Democrats support a strong farm safety net,
with increased availability of crop insurance and emergency disaster assistance to help farmers and ranchers keep their farms in business after natural disasters and crop loss.
Democrats are also planning for a strong agricultural future,
and President Obama has proposed increasing funding for research and development to improve agricultural productivity and continue to pursue global food security.
Tribal Sovereignty. American Indian and Alaska Native tribes are sovereign self-governing communities, with a unique government-to-government relationship with the United States.
President Obama and Democrats in Congress, working with tribes, have taken unprecedented steps to resolve long-standing conflicts, finally coming to a resolution on litigation – some dating back nearly 100 years – related to management of Indian trust resources, administration of loan programs, and water rights.
The President worked with Democrats to pass the HEARTH Act to promote greater tribal self-determination
and create jobs in Indian Country.
The Affordable Care Act permanently reauthorized the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to improve care for Native Americans.
Democrats enacted the Tribal Law and Order Act,
support expansion of the Violence Against Women Act to include greater protection for women on tribal lands, and oppose versions of the Violence Against Women Act that do not include these critical provisions.
We will continue to honor our treaty and trust obligations and respect cultural rights,
including greater support for American Indian and Alaska Native languages.
Democrats support maximizing tribal self-governance, including efforts for self-determination and sovereignty of Native Hawaiians.
Puerto Ricans have been proud American citizens for almost 100 years.
During that time, the people of Puerto Rico have developed strong political, economic, social, and cultural ties to the United States.
The political status of Puerto Rico remains an issue of overwhelming importance,
but lack of resolution about status has held the island back.
It is time for Puerto Rico to take the next step in the history of its status and its relationship to the rest of the United States.
The White House Task Force Report on Puerto Rico has taken important and historic steps regarding status.
We commit to moving resolution of the status issue forward with the goal of resolving it expeditiously.
If local efforts in Puerto Rico to resolve the status issue do not provide a clear result in the short term, the President should support, and Congress should enact, self-executing legislation that specifies in advance for the people of Puerto Rico a set of clear status options, such as those recommended in the White House Task Force Report on Puerto Rico, which the United States is politically committed to fulfilling.
The economic success of Puerto Rico is intimately linked to a swift resolution of the status question,
as well as consistent, focused efforts on improving the lives of the people of Puerto Rico.
We have made great progress for Puerto Rico over the past four years, including a sharp, historic increase in Medicaid funding for the people of Puerto Rico and fair and equitable inclusion in the Recovery Act and the Affordable Care Act.
Going forward, we will continue working toward fair and equitable participation for Puerto Rico in federal programs.
We support increased efforts by the federal government to improve public safety in Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands,
with a particular emphasis on efforts to combat drug trafficking and crime throughout our Caribbean border.
In addition, consistent with the task force report, we will continue to work on improving Puerto Rico’s economic status by promoting job creation, education, health care, clean energy, and economic development on the Island.
Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. We also recognize and honor the contributions and the sacrifices made in service of our country by the Americans living in the territories of Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
We support full self-government and self-determination for the people of the territories,
and their right to decide their future status.
We will work as partners to the people of Guam on military matters,
and take seriously the unique health care challenges that Pacific Island communities face.
For all those who live under our flag, we support strong economic development
and will work towards fair and equitable treatment under federal programs.
Arts and Culture. Democrats are proud of our support for arts funding and education.
We are committed to continuing the policies and programs that have already done so much for our creative arts industry and economy.
Investment in the arts strengthens our communities and contributes to our nation’s rich cultural heritage.
We will continue to support public funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, for the National Endowment for the Humanities,
and for programs providing art and music education in primary and secondary schools.
The entire nation prospers when we protect and promote the unique and original artistic and cultural contributions of the women and men who create and preserve our nation’s heritage.
Protecting Rights and Freedoms
Civil Rights. We believe in an America where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody plays by the same set of rules.
At the core of the Democratic Party is the principle that no one should face discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status.
Democrats support our civil rights statutes
and we have stepped up enforcement of laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace and other settings.
We are committed to protecting all communities from violence.
We are committed to ending racial, ethnic, and religious profiling and requiring federal, state, and local enforcement agencies to take steps to eliminate the practice,
and we continue to support enforcement of Title VI.
We are committed to equal opportunity for all Americans
and to making sure that every American is treated equally under the law.
We are committed to ensuring full equality for women:
we reaffirm our support for the Equal Rights Amendment, recommit to enforcing Title IX, support the Paycheck Fairness Act, and will urge ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
We know that putting America back to work is Job One,
and we are committed to ensuring that Americans do not face employment discrimination.
We support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because people should not be fired based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to ensuring all Americans are treated fairly.
This administration hosted the first-ever White House Conference on Bullying Prevention
and we must continue our work to prevent vicious bullying of young people and support LGBT youth.
The President’s record, from ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in full cooperation with our military leadership, to passing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act,
to ensuring same-sex couples can visit each other in the hospital,
reflects Democrats’ belief that all Americans deserve the same chance to pursue happiness, earn a living,
be safe in their communities,
serve their country,
and take care of the ones they love.
The Administration has said that the word ‘family’ in immigration includes LGBT relationships in order to protect bi-national families threatened with deportation.
Women. President Obama – the son of a single mother and the father of two daughters – understands that women aren’t a special interest group.
They are more than half of this country,
and issues that affect women also affect families.
That is why the first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps women fight back when they are paid less than men,
and why we continue to fight to overcome Republican opposition and pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to help stop gender discrimination in pay before it starts.
And that is why the Justice Department and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, led by President Obama’s appointees, have investigated and prosecuted numerous violations of the nation’s civil rights laws,
and obtained more than $140 million in relief for victims of gender discrimination.
We Democrats will continue to support efforts to ensure that workers can combat gender discrimination in the workplace
and to protect women against pregnancy discrimination.
And that’s why we support passing the Healthy Families Act, broadening the Family and Medical Leave Act,
and partnering with states to move toward paid leave.
We understand that economic issues are women’s issues,
and the challenges of supporting and raising a family are often primarily a woman’s responsibility.
That’s why putting Americans back to work is Job One.
That’s why the Affordable Care Act especially helps women by guaranteeing they and their families won’t become uninsured when they lose their jobs.
That’s why this administration strengthened Medicare and Medicaid for millions of women and families.
And that’s why the Affordable Care Act is ending health insurance discrimination against women,
and provides women with free access to preventive care, including prenatal screenings, mammograms, cervical cancer screening, breast-feeding supports, and contraception.
We understand that women’s rights are civil rights.
That’s why we reaffirm our support for the ERA, recommit to enforcing Title IX, and will urge ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
That’s why we are committed to ending violence against women, why Vice President Joe Biden originally wrote and championed the Violence Against Women Act during his time in the Senate, and why we support reauthorizing and strengthening it now.
The President and the Democratic Party believe that women have a right to control their reproductive choices.
Democrats support access to affordable family planning services, and President Obama and Democrats will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers.
The Affordable Care Act ensures that women have access to contraception in their health insurance plans,
and the President has respected the principle of religious liberty.
Democrats support evidence-based and age-appropriate sex education.
Protecting A Woman’s Right to Choose. The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade
and a woman’s right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy,
including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay.
We oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.
Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor, and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way.
We also recognize that health care and education help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions.
We strongly and unequivocally support a woman’s decision to have a child by providing affordable health care
and ensuring the availability of and access to programs that help women during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including caring adoption programs.
Voting Rights. We believe the right to vote and to have your vote counted is an essential American freedom,
and we oppose laws that place unnecessary restrictions on those seeking to exercise that freedom.
Democrats have a proud history of standing up for the right to vote.
During the Obama administration, the Justice Department has initiated careful, thorough, and independent reviews of proposed voting changes,
and it has prevented states from implementing voter identification laws that would be harmful to minority voters.
Democrats know that voter identification laws can disproportionately burden young voters, people of color, low-income families, people with disabilities, and the elderly, and we refuse to allow the use of political pretexts to disenfranchise American citizens.
District of Columbia. Every citizen of the United States is entitled to equal citizenship rights,
including the 638,000 residents of the nation’s capital who pay federal taxes without representation.
The American citizens who live in Washington, D.C., like the citizens of the 50 states, should have full and equal congressional rights
and the right to have the laws and budget of their local government respected without congressional interference.
Freedom to Marry. We support the right of all families to have equal respect, responsibilities, and protections under the law.
We support marriage equality and support the movement to secure equal treatment under law for same-sex couples.
We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference.
We oppose discriminatory federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection of the laws to committed same-sex couples who seek the same respect and responsibilities as other married couples.
We support the full repeal of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act
and the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act.
Firearms. We recognize that the individual right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition,
and we will preserve Americans’ Second Amendment right to own and use firearms.
We believe that the right to own firearms is subject to reasonable regulation.
We understand the terrible consequences of gun violence; it serves as a reminder that life is fragile, and our time here is limited and precious.
We believe in an honest, open national conversation about firearms.
We can focus on effective enforcement of existing laws,
especially strengthening our background check system,
and we can work together to enact commonsense improvements – like reinstating the assault weapons ban and closing the gun show loophole – so that guns do not fall into the hands of those irresponsible, law-breaking few.
Ensuring Safety and Quality of Life Cities and Metro Areas.
Cities and metro areas are a vital part of the American community and are incubators of innovation and job creation.
Cities and metro areas represent over 80 percent of this country’s gross domestic product and 80 percent of this country’s population.
. We are committed to supporting and revitalizing these communities around the country
When President Obama first took office, four in five cities had already cut services at a time when American people needed them most,
while 48 states faced the prospect of budget deficits in the next fiscal year.
We took swift and aggressive action in the first months of this administration to pull cities back from the brink,
preventing our local communities from sinking into deeper holes and being forced to lay off tens of thousands of police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and teachers.
This administration is implementing the Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative to combat poverty in American cities and the Sustainable Communities Initiative, supports the proposed Growth Zone Initiatives, and has invested in green jobs training programs, community development, public and affordable housing, and homelessness prevention to cut red tape and help revitalize American cities.
The administration knows one size does not fit all,
which is why it has listened to city leaders about what they need most and is fostering ground-up, instead of top-down, solutions by assigning federal workers to work side-by-side with local leaders in struggling cities.
President Obama and Democrats in Congress have enacted infrastructure investments that will sustain our Highway Trust Fund
and provide states, U.S. territories, and communities with two years of funding to build needed roads, bridges, and transit systems.
We will continue to partner with local communities to support their sustainable developments such as passenger rail, bicycle and pedestrian paths, and other projects to support livable cities.
Poverty. Too many Americans live without hope for a better future or access to good, family-supporting jobs.
Fifteen percent of our fellow citizens live in poverty,
and one in five families struggles with food insecurity.
Many of these families work but are unable to pay the bills.
The economic crisis has hit low-income American families particularly hard, but merely restoring our country to where it was before the economic crisis is not enough.
We must make ending poverty a national priority.
When the President took office, we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month.
President Obama and Democrats took immediate action to get the economy moving again.
By expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, and supporting unemployment insurance benefits and food stamps, the Recovery Act kept seven million people out of poverty and reduced poverty for 32 million more in 2010.
The Obama administration invested in Promise Neighborhoods in communities across the country
– a comprehensive approach to fighting poverty from early learning to college and career.
The administration provided grants to financial institutions in urban and rural communities for the purpose of increasing lending for low-income Americans.
But there is still more work to do.
Democrats believe that we must raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation.
We will continue to fight for equal pay for equal work,
a strong labor movement,
and access to a world-class education for every child.
We will help lift people with disabilities out of poverty.
We understand that poverty disproportionately affects communities of color
and we are committed to working with those most affected by poverty.
We will continue the improvements in refundable tax credits for low-income families to encourage work and education while lifting families out of poverty.
To enhance access and equity in employment, education, and business opportunities, we encourage initiatives to remove barriers to equal opportunity that still exist in America.
We will expand the Promise Neighborhoods Program to prepare more students for college.
We face an opposition that has proven its priorities are elsewhere.
Mitt Romney would raise taxes on low- and middle-income Americans to fund his tax breaks weighted toward the wealthiest.
We reject the Republican budget plan that would force us to destroy the safety net in order to help the wealthiest avoid doing their fair share.
Public Safety, Justice, and Crime Prevention. In the last four years, rates of serious crimes, like murder, rape, and robbery, have reached 50-year lows, but there is more work to do.
President Obama and Democrats are fighting for new funding that will help keep cops on the street
and support our police, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians.
Republicans and Mitt Romney have opposed and even ridiculed these proposals, but we believe we should support our first responders.
We support efforts to ensure our courageous police officers and first responders are equipped with the best technology, equipment, and innovative strategies to prevent and fight crimes.
We will end the dangerous cycle of violence, especially youth violence, by continuing to invest in proven community-based law enforcement programs such as the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
We will reduce recidivism in our neighborhoods.
We created the Federal Interagency Reentry Council in 2011, but there’s more to be done.
We support local prison-to-work programs and other initiatives to reduce recidivism, making citizens safer
and saving the taxpayers money.
We understand the disproportionate effects of crime, violence, and incarceration on communities of color
and are committed to working with those communities to find solutions.
We will continue to fight inequalities in our criminal justice system.
We believe that the death penalty must not be arbitrary.
DNA testing should be used in all appropriate circumstances,
defendants should have effective assistance of counsel,
and the administration of justice should be fair and impartial.
That’s why we enacted the Fair Sentencing Act, reducing racial disparities in sentencing for drug crimes.
That’s why President Obama appointed two distinguished jurists to the Supreme Court: Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
Moving forward, we will continue to nominate and confirm judges who are men and women of unquestionable talent and character and will always demonstrate their faithfulness to our law and our Constitution
and bring with them a sense of how American society works and how the American people live.
We must help state, local, territorial, and tribal law enforcement work together to combat and prevent drug crime and drug and alcohol abuse, which are blights on our communities.
We have increased funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program over the last four years,
and we will continue to expand the use of drug courts.
We support the rights of victims to be respected, heard, and compensated.
We are committed to ending violence against women.
We support reauthorizing the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act
and oppose the proposals by Republicans in the House of Representatives that would undermine this law and deprive law enforcement of the tools it needs to combat violence against women.
Service, Volunteerism, and Social Innovation. President Obama has called on all Americans to participate in our nation’s renewal by serving in our communities.
The Democratic Party believes, as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did, that everybody can be great because everybody can serve.
The challenges America faces are unprecedented and the new foundation for economic growth we need in America will not be built by Washington alone – it’s going to take all of us, working together.
To this end, Democrats enacted the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, increasing the size of AmeriCorps and creating more opportunities for Americans of all ages to serve their communities.
President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have also sought to increase the budget for the Peace Corps,
and today VISTA is larger, stronger, and more vital than it has ever been.
We believe solutions to America’s challenges are being developed every day at the grassroots level, and government should be supporting those efforts.
We’ve created a Social Innovation Fund that is leveraging millions in private sector dollars to invest in programs with a proven track record of success.
Our nation is experiencing some of the greatest challenges in a generation, but it is also a time of great opportunity if we come together as a community.
Environment. Democrats are committed to protecting our natural resources while creating jobs, preserving habitats, and ensuring that future generations can enjoy our nation’s outdoor heritage.
From investing in clean energy to protecting our air, land, and water, Democrats have made protecting the environment a top priority.
Today we are responsibly developing our natural resources to create clean energy jobs here at home
while encouraging conservation, reducing energy waste, and protecting the environment.
President Obama has taken the most significant strides in decades to cut pollution and advance public health –
protecting our children and communities from harmful pollution by restoring and advancing safeguards for clean air and water and by working to reduce carbon pollution.
Pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and mercury are a threat to human health,
and Democrats will continue to stand up to polluters in the interest of environmental and public health.
We know that global climate change is one of the biggest threats of this generation – an economic, environmental, and national security catastrophe in the making.
We affirm the science of climate change,
commit to significantly reducing the pollution that causes climate change,
and know we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits.
President Obama has been a leader on this issue.
We have developed historic fuel efficiency standards that will limit greenhouse gas emissions from our vehicles for the first time in history,
made unprecedented investments in clean energy,
and proposed the first-ever carbon pollution limits for new fossil-fuel-fired power plants.
As we move towards lower carbon emissions, we will continue to support smart, energy efficient manufacturing.
Democrats pledge to continue showing international leadership on climate change,
working toward an agreement to set emission limits in unison with other emerging powers.
Democrats will continue pursuing efforts to combat climate change at home as well, because reducing our emissions domestically – through regulation and market solutions – is necessary to continue being an international leader on this issue.
We understand that global climate change may disproportionately affect the poor,
and we are committed to environmental justice.
We are restoring treasured landscapes like the Great Lakes, the Florida Everglades, and local wilderness areas.
We are working with Gulf Coast states to restore the Gulf and hold BP and other responsible parties accountable.
Democrats will continue to work with local communities to conserve our publicly-owned lands
and dramatically expand investments in conserving and restoring forests, grasslands, and wetlands across America for generations to come.
We will ensure that our National Parks are protected while expanding opportunities for Americans to visit and experience these national treasures.
Democrats will continue working to ensure the integrity of the waters Americans rely on every day for drinking, swimming, and fishing, by supporting initiatives that restore our rivers, oceans, coasts, and watersheds.
We will preserve landscapes and ecosystems
and open more lands and waters for hunting, fishing, and recreation.
This will bolster local economies and is good for communities today and for generations to come.
Our opponents have moved so far to the right as to doubt the science of climate change,
advocate the selling of our federal lands,
and threaten to roll back environmental protections that safeguard public health.
Their leaders deny the benefits of the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts – benefits like job creation, health, and the prevention of tens of thousands of premature deaths each year.
They ignore the jobs that are created by promoting outdoor recreation, cleaning up our air, and promoting a healthy environment.
Stronger in the World, Safer and More Secure At Home
When President Obama took office in January 2009, our armed forces were engaged in two wars.
Al-Qaeda, which had attacked us on 9/11, remained entrenched in its safe havens.
Many of our alliances were strained,
and our standing in the world had diminished.
Around the world and here at home, there were those who questioned whether the United States was headed toward inevitable decline.
Under the leadership of President Obama and the Democratic Party, the tide of war is now receding,
and America is looking ahead to a new future.
We have responsibly ended the war in Iraq.
We have struck major blows against al-Qaeda, bringing Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda leaders to justice,
and putting the terrorist organization on the path to defeat.
And we have reversed the momentum of the Taliban
and established the conditions to draw down our forces in Afghanistan.
These actions have enabled a broader strategic rebalancing of American foreign policy.
After more than a decade at war, we can focus on nation-building here at home
and concentrate our resources and attention abroad on the areas that are the greatest priority moving forward.
This means directing more energy toward crucial problems, including longstanding threats like nuclear proliferation
and emerging dangers such as cyber attacks,
biological weapons,
climate change,
and transnational crime.
And it means a long-overdue focus on the world’s most dynamic regions and rising centers of influence.
As we rebalance our foreign policy, we have rebuilt our relationships around the world.
From Europe and Asia to the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas, we have strengthened the alliances and partnerships that are so central to global security,
and we have taken steps to reinvigorate international institutions.
All the while, we have built the foundation for sustained American leadership by growing our economy,
preserving our unrivaled military strength,
and advancing our values.
President Obama and the Democratic Party know that there is no greater responsibility than protecting the American people.
We also understand the indispensable role that the United States must continue to play in promoting international peace and prosperity.
And because of the steps we have taken, the United States is leading once again,
and America is safer, stronger, and more secure than it was four years ago.
Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq
Charting a responsible path out of the war in Iraq has been a crucial element of President Obama’s foreign policy and has enabled important shifts in our broader strategy.
Then-Senator Obama pledged during the 2008 campaign to responsibly end the war in Iraq, saying it was imperative to “be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in” – and that is precisely what he has done.
For over half a decade, our focus on Iraq meant we had taken our eye off of al-Qaeda,
and it had cost us thousands of lives, a trillion dollars, and severely strained our key alliances.
When President Obama took office, there were over 140,000American troops in harm’s way in Iraq.
Today, all of those forces are out of Iraq, and there are no American bases there either.
The Iraqi people, in continued partnership with the United States, now have the opportunity to build a better future.
After taking office, President Obama removed our combat brigades and ended our combat mission on a 19-month timetable.
And after an interim period in which we continued to advise Iraqis and conduct counterterrorism operations, we completed the drawdown of all U.S. troops last December.
This decision was reached after extensive discussions and with the full agreement of the Iraqi government,
and it was determined to be in the best interest of both nations.
Many Republicans, including Mitt Romney, would have preferred to leave tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq in an open-ended commitment,
against the will of the Iraqi government and people.
Moving forward, President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to building a robust, long-term strategic partnership with a sovereign, united, and democratic Iraq in all fields – diplomatic, economic, and security – based on mutual interests and mutual respect.
Disrupting, Dismantling, and Defeating Al-Qaeda
President Obama and the Democratic Party understood that the war in Iraq distracted us from confronting many of the most fundamental national security challenges facing the United States,
including the danger posed by international terrorist organizations that threaten the American homeland.
As the Bush administration shifted its focus to Iraq, Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda established safe havens across the border from Afghanistan, in Pakistan.
President Obama’s decision to end the Iraq war freed up military and intelligence resources to refocus on this fight
and enabled us to shift to a much more effective approach to counterterrorism.
Importantly, President Obama also shifted away from the Bush administration’s sweeping and internationally-divisive rhetoric of a “global war on terrorism”
to a more focused effort against an identifiable network of people: al-Qaeda and its affiliates.
That has allowed us to target force with greater precision against those who want to harm Americans and attack the United States
and move away from the type of large-scale military deployments characteristic of the previous administration and favored by many Republicans today.
As a candidate, then-Senator Obama committed to bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, even if that meant crossing the border into Pakistan.
As a consequence of the President’s decisions and the brave work of our military and intelligence professionals, bin Laden can no longer threaten the United States and al-Qaeda’s senior leadership has been devastated, rendering the group far less capable than it was four years ago.
The al-Qaeda core in Afghanistan and Pakistan has never been weaker.
We have also struck blows against al-Qaeda’s leadership in Yemen and Somalia – with the full support and close cooperation of those governments.
At the same time, the President and the Democratic Party understand that we must stay vigilant.
The al-Qaeda core may be on the path to defeat, but the organization and its affiliates remain active in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere.
For that reason, we are committed to an unrelenting pursuit of those who would kill Americans or threaten our homeland, our allies, our partners, and our interests around the world.
Responsibly Ending the War in Afghanistan
The United States went into Afghanistan after 9/11 to bring justice to those who had attacked us and to take away al-Qaeda’s safe haven.
But by the time President Obama took office, we had lost sight of those goals.
So the President refocused our efforts there in 2009, setting the clear goal of defeating al-Qaeda and denying it an ability to reestablish a safe haven in Afghanistan.
Because of the deteriorating security situation, he sent additional resources to reverse the Taliban’s momentum and to give the Afghans the time and space to build the capacity of their security forces.
We have accomplished that, and now we have begun the process of bringing our troops home from Afghanistan, including removing 33,000 by September 2012.
And, with the support of our allies, the President has outlined a plan to end the war in Afghanistan in 2014.
Already, the United States and our North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies have begun to transition responsibility to Afghan security forces.
At the same time, we are keeping up the pressure on the Taliban,
pursuing the possibility of a political resolution to parts of the conflict,
and continuing our capacity-building efforts.
Beyond 2014, we will continue to provide counterterrorism and training assistance and to build an enduring relationship with Afghanistan, as outlined by the U.S.-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement concluded in May.
But we will not build permanent bases in Afghanistan.
More broadly, we will also continue to support peace and stability in South Asia.
Pakistan can be a partner in that process.
The United States will make clear that we respect Pakistan’s sovereignty and democratic institutions,
and that our interest is in putting an end to al-Qaeda’s safe havens and respecting Afghan sovereignty.
Mitt Romney has been both for and against our timeline to end the war in Afghanistan,
but he has failed to outline any policy ideas for how he would bring our troops home and, at times, has suggested he would leave them there indefinitely.
Preventing the Spread and Use of Nuclear Weapons
In our continuing efforts to keep America safe, President Obama and the Democratic Party believe we must address the threat that nuclear weapons pose to our security and to peace in the world.
Despite the two decades that have passed since the end of the Cold War, large stockpiles of nuclear weapons persist, and more nations are interested in acquiring them.
Nuclear testing and black-market trade in sensitive nuclear materials continue.
And terrorists remain determined to buy, build, or steal the ultimate weapon.
President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to preventing the further spread of nuclear weapons
and to eventually ridding the planet of these catastrophic weapons.
This goal will not be achieved overnight.
It will require patience, perseverance, and the steady accumulation of concrete actions.
But real progress has already been made.
Reducing Nuclear Weapons Stockpiles. The Obama administration has moved away from Cold War thinking by reducing the prominence of nuclear weapons in America’s national security strategy, and it has urged others to do the same.
As long as these weapons exist, the United States will maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal to deter any adversary and guarantee the defense of our allies.
But President Obama has taken important steps to decrease America’s nuclear arsenal and is committed to further responsible reductions.
To reduce our warheads and stockpile, lower the threat of a nuclear exchange, and lay the foundation for future progress, President Obama negotiated and signed the landmark New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia,
producing cuts in each side’s deployed nuclear stockpiles and launchers and allowing us to monitor and verify Russia’s arsenal.
Yet despite bipartisan consensus among former National Security Advisors, Secretaries of Defense, and Secretaries of State that New START makes America safer, Mitt Romney strongly objected to the treaty.
Moving forward, the President will work with Russia to achieve additional reductions in stockpiles and nuclear delivery vehicles, including tactical and non-deployed nuclear weapons.
We will also work to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
and seek a new Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty that prohibits the production of fissile materials intended for use in nuclear weapons.
Preventing Nuclear Proliferation. President Obama and the Democratic Party are also committed to strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the bedrock of international efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to additional countries.
As we work to uphold our obligations under the treaty by reducing stockpiles and recognizing the rights of all rule-abiding states to peaceful nuclear energy,
we will insist that countries without nuclear weapons comply with their obligations not to develop them,
and we will ensure that violators face real consequences.
Iran. President Obama, working closely with our international partners and Congress, has put in place unprecedented sanctions against Iran.
Iran has yet to build a nuclear weapon, but has continually failed to meet its obligations under the NPT and several United Nations Security Council resolutions,
and it cannot demonstrate with any credibility that its program is peaceful.
The President is committed to using all instruments of national power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
When President Obama took office, Iran was ascendant in the region, and the international community was divided over how to address Iran’s nuclear violations.
The President’s early offer of engagement with Iran – quickly rebuffed by the regime – allowed the United States to expose Iranian intransigence and rally the international community as never before.
Working with our European allies and with Russia and China, the administration gained unprecedented agreement for the toughest ever UN sanctions against Iran,
laying the foundation for additional national financial and energy sanctions imposed by the United States and other nations.
As a result, Iran is now increasingly isolated and the regime faces crippling economic pressure – pressure that will only build over time.
President Obama believes that a diplomatic outcome remains the best and most enduring solution.
At the same time, he has also made clear that the window for diplomacy will not remain open indefinitely and that all options – including military force – remain on the table.
But we have an obligation to use the time and space that exists now to put increasing pressure on the Iranian regime to live up to its obligations and rejoin the community of nations, or face the consequences.
North Korea. President Obama will also continue to confront North Korea, another regime that ignores its international obligations by developing nuclear weapons and missile technology, with a stark choice: take verifiable steps toward denuclearization
or face increasing isolation and costs from the United States and the international community.
That is why the administration worked with international partners to impose the harshest multilateral sanctions on North Korea in history.
And it is why the President has made clear that the transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and our allies, and we would hold North Korea accountable for the consequences of such action.
Securing Loose Nuclear Materials. The President has led a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world,
hosting a nuclear security summit in Washington,
and making concrete progress in locking these materials down.
This is an important goal because the prospect that al-Qaeda or another terrorist organization might acquire a nuclear device represents an immediate and extreme threat to global security.
At the same time, the United States will continue to work with international partners to break up black markets,
detect and intercept nuclear materials in transit,
and use financial tools to disrupt this dangerous trade.
Russia. Crucial to achieving all of these objectives has been, and will remain, expanded cooperation with Russia.
The Cold War mentality represented by Mitt Romney’s identification of Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe” ignores the very real common interest we share with Russia in reducing nuclear stockpiles,
stopping additional proliferation by countries such as Iran and North Korea,
and preventing nuclear materials from falling into the hands of terrorists.
The President’s “reset” policy toward Russia has produced significant cooperation in these areas, as well as in Russian support for the Northern Distribution Network that supplies our troops in Afghanistan.
We support establishing permanent, normal trade relations with Russia because it would be good for the U.S. economy, for U.S. businesses, and for U.S. workers if we do.
And securing Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization is an important step toward encouraging Russia to follow a rules-based system
, and to protecting the rights of American workers, farmers, ranchers, and firms.
At the same time, we are candid with the Russians when we disagree.
The administration will not put aside our differences but will raise them directly with the Russian government.
And we will continue to strongly criticize Russian actions that we oppose, such as their support for the Assad regime in Syria.
Countering Emerging Threats
As we have taken decisive steps to address today’s dangers from terrorism and to prevent future nuclear proliferation,
we have also sought to bolster homeland security and head off emerging challenges, ranging from cyber and biological threats to climate change and transnational crime.
Cybersecurity. Cybersecurity threats represent one of the most serious potential national security, public safety, and economic challenges we face.
The very technologies that empower us to lead and create also empower individual criminal hackers, organized criminal groups, terrorist networks, and other advanced nations to disrupt the critical infrastructure that is vital to our economy, commerce, public safety, and military.
Defending against cyber threats requires networks that are secure, trustworthy, and resilient.
The President and the administration have taken unprecedented steps to defend America from cyber attacks,
including creating the first military command dedicated to cybersecurity
and conducting a full review of the federal government’s efforts to protect our information and our infrastructure.
We will continue to take steps to deter, prevent, detect, and defend against cyber intrusions by investing in cutting-edge research and development,
promoting cybersecurity awareness and digital literacy,
and strengthening private sector and international partnerships.
President Obama has supported comprehensive cybersecurity legislation that would help business and government protect against risks of cyber attacks while also safeguarding the privacy rights of our citizens.
And, going forward, the President will continue to take executive action to strengthen and update our cyber defenses.
Biological Weapons. Other dangers pose direct and deadly risks to our health and well-being.
The use of a lethal biological agent within a population center would threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
That’s why President Obama outlined a National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats in 2009 to address the challenges from proliferation of biological weapons or their use by terrorists.
We will continue to work at home with first responders and health officials to reduce the risks associated with unintentional or deliberate outbreaks of infectious disease.
We will also continue our efforts with domestic and international partners to promote global health security and reinforce norms of safe and responsible conduct; obtain timely and accurate insight on current and emerging risks; take steps to reduce the potential for exploitation; expand our capability to prevent, attribute, and apprehend perpetrators of attacks;  and communicate with all stakeholders.
And we will build on existing public and private-sector efforts to prevent intentional contamination of the food supply.
Climate Change. The national security threat from climate change is real, urgent, and severe.
The change wrought by a warming planet will lead to new conflicts over refugees and resources; new suffering from drought and famine;  catastrophic natural disasters;  and the degradation of vital ecosystems across the globe.
That is why, in addition to undertaking measures to enhance energy independence and promote efficiency, clean energy, and renewable sources of power here at home,
the President and the Democratic Party have steadily worked to build an international framework to combat climate change.
We will seek to implement agreements and build on the progress made during climate talks in Copenhagen, Cancun, and Durban, working to ensure a response to climate change policy that draws upon decisive action by all nations.
Our goal is an effective, international effort in which all major economies commit to reduce their emissions,
nations meet their commitments in a transparent manner,
and the necessary financing is mobilized so that developing countries can mitigate the effects of climate change and invest in clean energy technologies.
That is why the Obama administration has taken a leadership role in ongoing climate negotiations, working to ensure that other major economies like China and India commit to taking meaningful action.
It is also why we have worked regionally to build clean energy partnerships in Asia, the Americas, and Africa.
Transnational Crime. Transnational criminal networks also pose significant national security challenges.
These networks continue to expand dramatically in size and scope, harming people worldwide, posing threats to stability,
and subverting government institutions through corruption.
Transnational criminal organizations have accumulated unprecedented wealth and power through the drug trade, arms smuggling, human trafficking, and other illicit activities, penetrating legitimate financial systems and destabilizing commercial markets.
They extend their reach by forming alliances with terrorist organizations, government officials, and some state security services.
That’s why, in 2011, the Obama administration released a comprehensive Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime.
We are committed to a multidimensional approach that safeguards citizens,
breaks the financial strength of criminal and terrorist networks,
disrupts illicit trafficking networks,
fights government corruption,
strengthens the rule of law,
bolsters judicial systems,
and improves transparency.
We have responded to this threat through aggressive targeting of the illicit financial infrastructure supporting cross-border criminal activity.
And we will continue to coordinate with other nations and build their capacity to combat these threats.
Strengthening Alliances, Expanding Partnerships, and Reinvigorating International Institutions
The greatest dangers we face – terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber and biological attacks, climate change, and transnational crime – cannot be solved by any one nation alone.
Addressing these challenges requires broad and effective global cooperation.
And President Obama and the  Democratic Party understand that this depends on close collaboration with our traditional allies,
cultivating partnerships with new centers of influence,
and strong U.S. leadership within international institutions.
Europe. The cornerstone of our engagement with the world is our alliances, which had been badly damaged under the Bush administration.
The President and the Democratic Party believe the foundation of global security remains our relationships with traditional allies in Europe and Asia, and our enduring commitments to their defense.
That is why President Obama has worked to methodically strengthen our alliances there,
while pressing our allies to bear a greater share of the burden for tackling regional and global challenges.
The President and the Democratic Party recognize America’s enduring interest in supporting peace and prosperity in Europe,
as well as bolstering the strength and vitality of NATO, which is critical to the security of the continent and beyond.
A decade of military operations in Afghanistan has strengthened NATO’s fighting skills and enhanced its ability to cooperate at the political level.
This proved critical to the alliance’s timely, unified, and effective response in Libya.
Going forward, we need to further improve the ability of NATO countries to operate collectively.
Modernizing the alliance will be challenging given fiscal constraints on both sides of the Atlantic.
But as large-scale military involvement in Afghanistan winds down, NATO has an opportunity to focus on further developing the capabilities required to address 21st century challenges.
Therefore, we will continue to urge our NATO allies to pool, share, and specialize their capabilities,
and to improve their capacity for effective coalition operations.
Meanwhile, even as the presence of U.S. forces in Europe necessarily evolves, the United States will maintain its Article 5 collective security commitments to NATO
and will continue to leverage America’s comparative advantage in high-end military capabilities to ensure the defense of our allies.
For example, the President is moving forward with a “phased adaptive approach” to European ballistic-missile defense that will protect both Europe and the United States from missile threats emanating from Iran and elsewhere.
We believe that the United States and Russia can cooperate on missile defense,
but we have also made clear that we will move forward with our system, beginning with the steps we have taken to deploy it in Poland, Turkey, and Romania.
Asia-Pacific. As we have sought to rebalance our foreign policy, we have also turned greater attention to strengthening our alliances and expanding our partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region.
In part, this is in recognition that the United States has been, and always will be, a Pacific power.
And, in part, it is a recognition that America’s future security and prosperity will be fundamentally interconnected with Asia given its status as the fastest growing economic region, with most of the world’s nuclear powers and about half of the world’s population.
The President has therefore made a deliberate and strategic decision that the United States will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future.
President Obama has made modernizing America’s defense posture across the Asia-Pacific a top priority.
We remain committed to defending and deepening our partnerships with our allies in the region: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand.
We will maintain a strong presence in Japan and on the Korean Peninsula to deter and defend against provocations by states like North Korea,
while enhancing our presence in Southeast Asia and in Australia.
We will also expand our networks of security cooperation with other emerging partners throughout the region to combat terrorism, counter proliferation, provide disaster relief, fight piracy, and ensure maritime security, including cooperation in the South China Sea.
And we will continue to invest in a long-term strategic partnership with India to support its ability to serve as a regional economic anchor and provider of security in the broader Indian Ocean region.
Meanwhile, the President is committed to continuing efforts to build a cooperative relationship with China, while being clear and candid when we have differences.
The world has a profound interest in the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China,
but China must also understand that it must abide by clear international standards and rules of the road.
China can be a partner in reducing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, countering proliferation in Iran, confronting climate change, increasing trade, and resolving other global challenges.
President Obama will continue to seek additional opportunities for cooperation with China, including greater communication between our militaries.
We will do this even as we continue to be clear about the importance of the Chinese government upholding international economic rules regarding currency, export financing, intellectual property, indigenous innovation, and workers’ rights.
We will consistently speak out for the importance of respecting the universal human rights of the Chinese people,
including the right of the Tibetan people to preserve their cultural and religious identity.
And we remain committed to a one China policy, the Taiwan Relations Act, and the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues that is consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people of Taiwan.
The Middle East. President Obama and the Democratic Party maintain an unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.
A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States not simply because we share strategic interests, but also because we share common values.
For this reason, despite budgetary constraints, the President has worked with Congress to increase security assistance to Israel every single year since taking office, providing nearly $10 billion in the past three years.
The administration has also worked to ensure Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region.
And we have deepened defense cooperation – including funding the Iron Dome system – to help Israel address its most pressing threats, including the growing danger posed by rockets and missiles emanating from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.
The President’s consistent support for Israel’s right to defend itself and his steadfast opposition to any attempt to delegitimize Israel on the world stage are further evidence of our enduring commitment to Israel’s security.
It is precisely because of this commitment that President Obama and the Democratic Party seek peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
A just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord, producing two states for two peoples, would contribute to regional stability and help sustain Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state.
At the same time, the President has made clear that there will be no lasting peace unless Israel’s security concerns are met.
President Obama will continue to press Arab states to reach out to Israel.
We will continue to support Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, which have been pillars of peace and stability in the region for many years.
And even as the President and the Democratic Party continue to encourage all parties to be resolute in the pursuit of peace,
we will insist that any Palestinian partner must recognize Israel’s right to exist, reject violence, and adhere to existing agreements.
Elsewhere in the region, President Obama is committed to maintaining robust security cooperation with Gulf Cooperation Council states and our other partners aimed at deterring aggression,
checking Iran’s destabilizing activities,
ensuring the free flow of commerce essential to the global economy
, and building a regional security architecture to counter terrorism, proliferation, ballistic missiles, piracy, and other common threats.
Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.
The parties have agreed that Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations.
It should remain an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.
The Americas. In the Americas, we have deepened our economic and security ties with countries throughout the hemisphere, from Canada and Mexico to Brazil and Chile and El Salvador.
We have strengthened cooperation with Mexico, Colombia, and throughout Central America to combat narco-traffickers and criminal gangs that threaten their citizens and ours.
We will also work to disrupt organized crime networks seeking to use the Caribbean to smuggle drugs into our country.
As we collectively confront these challenges, we will continue to support the region’s security forces, border security, and police with the equipment, training, and technologies they need to keep their communities safe.
We will improve coordination and share more information so that those who traffic in drugs and in human beings have fewer places to hide.
And we will continue to put unprecedented pressure on cartel finances, including in the United States.
Africa. We will continue to partner with African nations to combat al-Qaeda affiliates in places like Somalia and to bring to justice those who commit mass atrocities, like Joseph Kony.
We have made great efforts to reduce the violence in Darfur and built international support for a successful referendum on South Sudan’s future.
And in his first visit as President to the United Nations, President Obama advanced initiatives to strengthen UN peacekeeping capabilities in Africa.
This includes providing equipment, training, and logistical support for UN and African Union missions in Darfur and Somalia.
The President has also worked to help African nations grow their economies, and we have opened trade and investment opportunities across the continent.
The United Nations. International institutions – most prominently the United Nations – have been a centerpiece of international order since the mid-20th century.
And just as American leadership was essential to forging the architecture for international cooperation after World War II, the President and the Democratic Party are committed to modernizing its infrastructure for the 21st century
– working to reform international bodies
and strengthen national and multilateral capabilities to advance peace, security, and opportunity.
We have restored America’s leadership at the UN by cooperating with our partners there when we can and respectfully disagreeing with them when we must, reversing the previous administration’s disdain for the UN.
The President’s leadership at the UN has enabled us to make real progress on a number of top national security priorities, including getting Russia and China on board to implement the toughest UN sanctions ever on Iran and North Korea.
Promoting Global Prosperity and Development
As the United States works with allies and partners to establish an international order that advances peace and prosperity, President Obama and the Democratic Party will continue to build three key pillars of American global leadership: a prosperous and inclusive economy,
our unsurpassed military strength,
and an enduring commitment to advancing universal values.
To allow each American to pursue the opportunity upon which our prosperity depends, we are investing in the sources of our long-term economic strength:
access to a complete and competitive education for every American;
affordable health care so our people, businesses, and government are not constrained by rising costs;
training to allow our workers to adapt and win in a rapidly changing global economy;
transformations in the way we produce and use energy to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and create new jobs and industry;
infrastructure that fuels commerce;
cutting edge developments in science and innovation that support our economy, defense, and technological leadership;
and making the hard decisions to cut our deficit and put our fiscal house in order.
And, because a growing and open global economy serves as a source of opportunity for the American people and a source of strength for the United States, the President and the Democratic Party have coordinated our economic actions with other countries to address financial crises
and head off renewed cycles of boom and bust.
We have reformed international institutions to give emerging economies a greater role and more responsibility.
We have promoted trade that is free and fair.
And we have supported global economic development.
Abroad, just as we have at home, we have sought to build a new model for 21st century economic growth that is fair and in which every nation plays by the rules
– a model where workers’ rights are respected,
businesses compete on a level playing field,
and intellectual property and new technologies are protected.
Currencies must be market-driven so no nation has an unfair advantage.
Reforms must protect consumers from abuse and reflect a global commitment to end corruption.
And we will continue to champion sustainable growth that includes the clean energy that creates green jobs and combats climate change.
Addressing the Global Financial Crisis. Alongside our global partners, we took decisive actions to address the global financial crisis and have worked together to make the global economy and financial system more stable and secure.
While Europe remains a significant risk to the global economy and while the problems there will not be solved overnight, Europe’s leaders have made clear they will do what is necessary to preserve financial stability in the Eurozone and have the collective ability to address their economic challenges.
We have been and will continue to be in frequent contact with our European allies to discuss best practices and share valuable lessons from our own experience reversing our economic downturn, helping them chart the best way forward.
As we continue to work with traditional centers of influence, we have also reached out to emerging economies to give them a greater voice and a greater stake in the global economy.
We have made the G-20 the premier forum for international economic coordination in recognition of the fact that 21st century economic discussions must include countries like China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil.
And, together, the nations of the G-20 brought the world economy back from the brink of another depression.
Free and Fair Trade. We have also sought to promote free and fair trade.
Because of the economic dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region, which is already home to more than half the global economy, expanding trade with that region is critical to creating jobs and opportunities for the American people.
Building on the free trade agreement with South Korea that President Obama signed, we are working with our partners in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum to create a seamless regional economy,
promote green growth,
and coordinate regulatory reform.
Alongside Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, we are on track to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a historic high-standard agreement that will address new and emerging trade issues,
lower barriers to the free flow of trade and investment,
increase exports,
and create more American jobs.
Exploring opportunities to shape the multilateral trading system to reflect the role and responsibility of major emerging markets in the global economy is a critical part of the President’s trade agenda.
We will work to expand free and fair trade in the Americas as well.
We already export more than three times as much to Latin America as we do to China, and we will pursue additional opportunities to expand commerce and promote shared prosperity.
Last year the President signed free trade agreements with Panama and Colombia – agreements that will significantly boost U.S. exports and support thousands of jobs here at home – while protecting labor rights, the environment, and intellectual property.
Because the Caribbean is an important region to our country, we will continue to support robust trade and economic relationships with our partners there.
And, across the region, we are moving ahead with “open skies” agreements to expand opportunities for commercial aviation and to bring our people and businesses closer together.
We have also worked to ensure that American businesses and workers are competing on an even footing with our international competitors, and we have not hesitated to take action.
That’s why the Obama administration has brought trade cases against China at twice the rate of the previous administration
and recently set up a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center, which substantially expands our ability to investigate and take action against unfair trade practices around the world.
Advancing Global Development. President Obama recognizes that promoting global development is a strategic, economic, and moral imperative for the United States.
Development expands markets for American products and creates American jobs.
Strong and prosperous regional partners are critical to addressing global challenges,
ending regional conflicts,
and countering the spread of global criminal networks.
And good governance and stability cannot take root, and basic human dignity cannot be protected, where poverty reigns and people lack access to the food, basic education, clean water, and medicine they need to survive.
For these reasons, the President this year announced a new strategy toward sub-Saharan Africa that commits to promoting economic growth, including through increased trade and investment.
They are also why we are providing robust trade and investment support to Africa and building a trade and investment partnership with the countries of East Africa – because we believe that the private sector will be the engine of prosperity in the developing world.
The administration continues to work to promote opportunity and development in sub-Saharan Africa by improving the region’s trade competitiveness, encouraging economic diversification, and ensuring that the benefits from growth are broad-based.
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Combating HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease. Recognizing that health is a prerequisite for development, the President has made unprecedented progress in the global fight against HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases.
Building on the strong foundation created during the previous administration, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has expanded its prevention, care, and treatment programming.
As a result, PEPFAR now has made significant investments in more than 30 countries, and we set a goal to roughly double the number of lifesaving anti-retroviral treatments we provide by the end of 2013.
With his latest budget, the President is fulfilling his historic commitment to request $4 billion over three years for the Global Fund,
and the President remains committed to robust funding for PEPFAR and the Global Fund in the future.
And President Obama lifted the 25-year ban that prevented non-citizens living with HIV from entering the United States, allowing the world’s largest group of HIV/AIDS researchers, policymakers, medical professionals, and advocates to convene in Washington to continue their efforts to improve prevention and treatment.
Our efforts to combat HIV/AIDS are part of a broader commitment to address the challenges posed by infectious disease.
Over the past four years, the administration has leveraged billions of dollars in commitments from donors to meet the demand for new vaccines, making it possible to immunize millions of children and prevent premature deaths.
Ensuring Food Security. The President and the Democratic Party believe that true development requires much more than delivering aid – it requires building the capacity of governments and peoples so that assistance is no longer needed.
That is why the administration through its Feed the Future initiative has, with the G-8 and other countries, mobilized more than $22 billion for a global food security effort aimed at building the capacity of nations to feed themselves.
This year, the President launched the next phase of this global effort – a major new food security partnership to reduce hunger and lift tens of millions of people from poverty across Africa.
These efforts partner with African countries to improve nutrition for children,
mitigate risks from volatile food prices,
increase private capital investments,
expand access to technologies and information required to boost food production,
and provide greater assistance to countries that implement agricultural reforms.
Responding to Humanitarian Crises. Together with the American people and the international community, we will continue to respond to humanitarian crises around the globe.
We will come to the aid of countries during their times of need, just as we did following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
And as we did in the aftermath of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake in January 2010, we will provide critical aid to countries facing devastating circumstances to meet their acute short-term needs and foster long-term recovery.
The President led an unprecedented international effort in response to Haiti’s natural disaster, committing over $3.1 billion to relief, reconstruction, and recovery, and launching a multifaceted effort to improve health, promote food security, and strengthen economic security.
While major challenges remain, President Obama has supported a sustained commitment to Haiti’s reconstruction, and the administration has continued to assist in Haiti’s development.
Maintaining the Strongest Military in the World
America’s unrivaled military capabilities represent a second core pillar of our global leadership.
After more than a decade of war, we have an opportunity to retool our armed forces and our defense strategy to ensure we both maintain the world’s most capable military and adapt to the challenges of the 21st century.
The President and the Democratic Party understand that we have a special obligation to every soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, and Coast Guardsman who puts their life on the line for our nation.
We must send them into harm’s way only when it’s absolutely necessary.
When we do, we must ensure they have the equipment and the support that they need to get the job done.
And we have to take care of our troops, their families, and our veterans when they come home.
Eleven years of continuous military operations and repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched our forces and strained their families.
Going forward, our troops will face fewer deployments, allowing them more time to train and ensuring that they are ready for the full range of missions they may have to face.
In our current fiscal environment, we must also make tough budgetary decisions across the board – and that includes within the defense budget.
The Budget Control Act enacted by Congress last year, with the support of Republicans and Democrats alike, mandates reductions in federal spending, including defense spending.
The administration has worked with Congress to make these decisions, which has been a strategy-driven process.
As we look beyond the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – and the conclusion of long-term nation-building with large military footprints – we will be able to ensure our security with a more agile and more flexible force.
At the same time, we will continue to emphasize forward engagement in critical regions,
while enhancing robust security partnerships to share the burden.
And we will continue to get rid of outdated Cold War-era systems so that we can invest in cutting-edge technologies and maintain a versatile set of capabilities required to execute a wide range of military missions.
Advancing Universal Values
America’s leadership extends beyond our economic prosperity and military might – it is also rooted in our enduring commitment to advancing a core set of universal values.
These include an individual’s freedom to speak their mind, assemble without fear, have access to information, worship as they please, and choose their own leaders.
They also include dignity, tolerance, and equality among all people, and the fair and equitable administration of justice.
The United States was founded upon a belief in these values, and people of every race, region, and religion around the globe have claimed these principles as their own.
The President and the Democratic Party believe that nations that embrace these values for their citizens are ultimately more prosperous, peaceful, and friendly to the United States than those that do not.
Staying True to Our Values at Home. We must always seek to uphold these values at home, not just when it is easy, but, more importantly, when it is hard.
Advancing our interests may involve new actions and policies to confront threats like terrorism, but the President and the Democratic Party believe these practices must always be in line with our Constitution,
preserve our people’s privacy and civil liberties,
and withstand the checks and balances that have served us so well.
That is why the President banned torture without exception in his first week in office.
That is why we are reforming military commissions to bring them in line with the rule of law.
That is why we are substantially reducing the population at Guantánamo Bay without adding to it.
And we remain committed to working with all branches of government to close the prison altogether because it is inconsistent with our national security interests and our values.
Standing With Those Demanding Greater Freedom. As we continue to perfect our union here at home, setting an example for others to follow, we will also continue to champion universal rights abroad.
We recognize that different cultures and traditions give life to these values in distinct ways,
and each country will inevitably chart its own course.
America will not impose any system of government on another country.
But we also know that the sovereignty of nations cannot strangle the liberty of individuals.
So as people around the world yearn for greater freedom, we will continue to support progress toward more accountable, democratic governance
and the exercise of universal rights.
We will do so through a variety of means: by speaking out for universal rights,
bolstering fragile democracies and civil society,
and supporting the dignity that comes with development.
Across the Middle East and North Africa, we have stood with the people demanding political change and seeking their rights during the Arab Spring.
Since the beginning of the protests in Tunisia, the United States has consistently opposed violence against innocent civilians,
supported a set of universal rights for the people of the region,
and supported processes of political and economic reform.
When the Egyptian people flooded Tahrir Square in Cairo demanding democracy, the administration actively engaged the Egyptian government, military, and people in support of a transition away from decades of dictatorship and towards democracy.
In Libya, we built an international coalition and intervened alongside NATO and other partner nations to protect the Libyan people and support them as they ended Muammar Qadhafi’s brutal reign.
In Iran, President Obama spoke out in support of the prodemocracy protestors and imposed human rights sanctions on the Iranian government.
In Yemen, we worked with Gulf Cooperation Council states to facilitate a peaceful transition of power.
And in Syria, we have led the international community to politically and economically isolate the regime, to increase pressure on President Assad to step down,
and to provide assistance to unify the Syrian opposition in order to enable a stable transition.
Moving forward, we will work to hasten the end of the Assad regime and support a political transition to a stable and democratic Syria.
We will continue to support the consolidation of democratic transitions in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen.
And we will engage governments and civil society across the region on behalf of genuine efforts to promote political and economic reforms that are responsive to the people of the region.
The Arab Spring represents the world’s most sweeping recent movement toward democracy, but it is not an isolated case.
Across the globe, people are demanding more from their governments – and, when they do, they will continue to find support and partnership in the United States.
For example, in Burma, we successfully employed a combination of sanctions and engagement to encourage the government to open up political space and release political prisoners.
Our historic opening to Burma will continue to incentivize a democratic transition, a deeper engagement with the United States, and national reconciliation among Burma’s many different ethnic groups.
And because human rights violations persist, we will continue to speak clearly about the additional steps that must be taken for the government of Burma to have a better relationship with the United States.
In Africa, the administration engaged to ensure a legitimate transfer of power in Cote d’Ivoire, supported the independence of South Sudan, and remains actively involved in resolving the issues between Sudan and South Sudan.
In the Americas, we see vibrant democracies in countries from Mexico to Brazil and Costa Rica to Chile.
We have also seen historic peaceful transfers of power in places like El Salvador and Uruguay.
Yet despite the region’s democratic progress, stark inequalities in political and economic power endure.
We will continue to press for more transparent and accountable governance.
And we will promote greater freedom in Cuba and Venezuela until all their citizens enjoy the universal rights they deserve.
Under President Obama, we have undertaken the most significant efforts in decades to engage the Cuban people.
We have focused on the importance of the family ties between Cuban Americans and their relatives still living under oppression.
Because of steps the President has taken, it is now possible for Cuban Americans to visit and support their families in Cuba, and to send remittances that reduce the Cuban people’s dependence on the Cuban state.
We have taken additional steps to bolster Cuban civil society, expanding purposeful exchanges that bolster independent religious groups on the island and enhancing the free flow of information to, from, and among the Cuban people.
Going forward we will continue to support the Cuban people’s desire to freely determine their own future.
Promoting Transparent, Accountable Governance and the Rule of Law. To promote transparent and accountable government worldwide, we joined with Brazil to launch and co-chair the international Open Government Partnership.
Fifty-five countries now belong to the partnership – representing a quarter of the world’s people – each of which has outlined concrete, credible steps to open the work of government so citizens are empowered, problems are solved, and democracy is strengthened.
The President and Democrats know that a commitment to the rule of law and effective judicial institutions are essential to sustainable economic development and must remain a core American value in the years to come.
That is why the Obama administration has successfully pressed for international action against government corruption through the G-20
and promoted new initiatives to help countries develop stronger judicial institutions.
Because the public’s rights, freedoms, and access to economic opportunity depend on the rule of law, we will continue to work in partnership with our allies to promote this important value around the world.
Standing up for Women’s Rights Around the Globe. As we work to advance universal values and human dignity, the President and the Democratic Party understand the critical importance of expanding protections and opportunities for women and girls around the world.
Ensuring full equality and providing women and girls the opportunity to learn, earn a livable wage, and participate in public decision-making are essential to reduce violence, improve economies, and strengthen democracy.
To continue to make progress at home and advance women’s rights and opportunities abroad, we will urge ratification of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the State Department are committed to advancing the rights of women and girls as a central focus of U.S. diplomatic, development, and defense interests.
We will continue to promote the full engagement of women in the political and economic spheres.
We will work to address underlying socio-economic problems, including women’s access to health, education, and food security.
And we will ensure that women are equal participants in reconciliation and development in areas affected by conflict.
President Obama and the Democratic Party are committed to supporting family planning around the globe to help women care for their families, support their communities, and lead their countries to be healthier and more productive.
That’s why, in his first month in office, President Obama overturned the “global gag rule,” a ban on federal funds to foreign family planning organizations that provided information about, counseling on, or offered abortions.
And that is why the administration has supported lifesaving family planning health information and services.
Combating Human Trafficking. Some 27 million women, men, and children around the world are victims of human trafficking.
The President and the Democratic Party believe that trafficking in persons is both an affront to our fundamental values and,
as a source of funds for transnational criminals and terrorist organization, a threat to national and international security.
The Obama administration has used bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, targeted foreign assistance, training programs, public outreach, and law enforcement to combat trafficking in persons across the globe.
The administration has continued to provide annual assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of foreign governments’ efforts to address the issue, encouraging all countries to do more and calling out countries that have failed to do enough.
And the administration has provided technical assistance to improve law enforcement and grants to support grassroots prevention efforts around the world targeting sex and labor trafficking, child sex tourism, forced child labor, and other abuses.
The administration is also committed to taking action at home to fight trafficking, including the sex trafficking of young girls.
Gay Rights as Human Rights. Recognizing that gay rights are human rights, the President and his administration have vowed to actively combat efforts by other nations that criminalize homosexual conduct or ignore abuse.
Under the Obama administration, American diplomats must raise the issue wherever harassment or abuse arises, and they are required to record it in the State Department’s annual report on human rights.
And the State Department is funding a program that finances gay rights organizations to combat discrimination, violence, and other abuses.
Internet Freedom. The Obama administration has led the world to recognize and defend Internet freedom – the freedom of expression, assembly, and association online for people everywhere – through coalitions of countries and by empowering individuals with innovative technologies.
The administration has built partnerships to support an Internet that is secure and reliable and that is respectful of U.S. intellectual property, free flow of information, and privacy.
To preserve the Internet as a platform for commerce, debate, learning, and innovation in the 21st century, we successfully negotiated international Internet policymaking principles,
support the current multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance,
and oppose the extension of intergovernmental controls over the Internet.
Through all these actions, America is leading again.
By responsibly ending the wars,
rebalancing our foreign policy,
taking concrete steps to address the greatest threats to our country,
cooperating with allies and partners to tackle common challenges,
reinvigorating international institutions,
and sustaining and building the core pillars of U.S. leadership,
President Obama and the Democratic Party have worked to ensure that the 21st century remains an American one.
That is why we are stronger abroad, and safer and more secure at home, than we were four years ago.
The United States continues to move forward towards a future of strong and sustained growth.
Thanks to the leadership of President Obama and Democrats around the country, we’re fighting back from the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression by making investments to create jobs,
grow the middle class,
and lay the foundations for an economy that out-educates, out-builds, and out-innovates the rest of the world.
Today, America is both stronger and safer than it was four years ago.
Now, we must continue the work we’ve started so that the United States of America never fails to meet the tests of our time.
We Believe in America
This platform is dedicated with appreciation and reverence for:
Preamble
The 2012 Republican Platform is a statement of who we are and what we believe as a Party
and our vision for a stronger and freer America.
The pursuit of opportunity has defined America from our very beginning.
This is a land of opportunity.
The American Dream is a dream of equal opportunity for all.
And the Republican Party is the party of opportunity.
Today, that American Dream is at risk.
Our nation faces unprecedented uncertainty with great fiscal and economic challenges,
and under the current Administration has suffered through the longest and most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Many Americans have experienced the burden of lost jobs, lost homes, and lost hopes.
Our middle class has felt that burden most acutely.
Meanwhile, the federal government has expanded its size and scope, its borrowing and spending, its debt and deficit.
Federalism is threatened
and liberty retreats.
For the world, this has been four years of lost American leadership,
leadership that depends upon economic vitality
and peace through strength.
Put simply: The times call for trustworthy leadership and honest talk about the challenges we face.
Our nation and our people cannot afford the status quo.
We must begin anew, with profound changes in the way government operates;
the way it budgets, taxes, and regulates.
Jefferson’s vision of a “wise and frugal government” must be restored.
Providence has put us at the fork in the road, and we must answer the question: If not us, who?
If not now, when?
That is the choice facing the American people this November.
Every voter will be asked to choose between the chronic high unemployment and the unsustainable debt produced by a big government entitlement society,
or a positive, optimistic view of an opportunity society, where any American who works hard, dreams big and follows the rules can achieve anything he or she wants.
The American people possess vast reserves of courage and determination and the capacity to hear the truth and chart a strong course.
They are eager for the opportunity to take on life’s challenges and, through faith and hard work, transform the future for the better.
They are the most generous people on earth, giving sacrificially of their time, talent, and treasure.
This platform affirms that America has always been a place of grand dreams and even grander realities;
and so it will be again, if we return government to its proper role, making it smaller and smarter.
If we restructure government’s most important domestic programs to avoid their fiscal collapse.
If we keep taxation, litigation, and regulation to a minimum.
If we celebrate success, entrepreneurship, and innovation.
If we lift up the middle class.
If we hand over to the next generation a legacy of growth and prosperity,
rather than entitlements and indebtedness.
That same commitment must be present both here at home and abroad.
We are a party that knows the difference between international acclaim and world leadership.
We will lift the torch of freedom and democracy to inspire all those who would be free.
As President Reagan issued the clarion call to “tear down this Wall,” so must we always stand against tyranny and oppression.
We will always support and cherish our men and women in uniform who defend our liberties with their lives.
As we embark upon this critical mission, we are not without guidance.
We possess an owner’s manual: the Constitution of the United States, the greatest political document ever written.
That sacred document shows us the path forward.
Trust the people.
Limit government.
Respect federalism.
Guarantee opportunity, not outcomes.
Adhere to the rule of law.
Reaffirm that our rights come from God,
are protected by government,
and that the only just government is one that truly governs with the consent of the governed.
The principles written in the Constitution are secured by the character of the American people.
President George Washington said in his first inaugural address: “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”
Values matter.
Character counts.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan understand these great truths.
They share a positive vision for America – a vision of America renewed and strong.
They know America’s best days lay ahead.
It will take honest results oriented, conservative leadership to enact good policies for our people.
They will provide it.
We respectfully submit this platform to the American people.
It is both a vision of where we are headed and an invitation to join us in that journey.
It is about the great dreams and opportunities that have always been America
and must remain the essence of America for generations to come.
May God continue to shed his grace on the United States of America.
Table  of  Contents 1   Restoring  the  American  Dream:  Rebuilding  the  Economy  and  Creating  Jobs 9   We  The  People:  A  Restoration  of  Constitutional  Government 15   America’s  Natural  Resources: Energy,  Agriculture  and  the  Environment 21 Reforming  Government  to  Serve  the  People 31 Renewing  American  Values  to  Build  Healthy  Families,  Great  Schools  and  Safe  Neighborhoods 39   American  Exceptionalism
Restoring the American Dream: Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs
We are the party of maximum economic freedom and the prosperity freedom makes possible.
Prosperity is the product of selfdiscipline, work, savings, and investment by individual Americans,
but it is not an end in itself.
Prosperity provides the means by which individuals and families can maintain their independence from government,
raise their children by their own values,
practice their faith,
and build communities of selfreliant neighbors.
It is also the means by which the United States is able to assert global leadership.
The vigor of our economy makes possible our military strength
and is critical to our national security.
This year’s election is a chance to restore the proven values of the American free enterprise system.
We offer our Republican vision of a free people using their Godgiven talents, combined with hard work, selfreliance, ethical conduct, and the pursuit of opportunity, to achieve great things for themselves and the greater community.
Our vision of an opportunity society stands in stark contrast to the current Administration’s policies that expand entitlements and guarantees,
create new public programs,
and provide expensive government bailouts.
That road has created a culture of dependency,
bloated government,
and massive debt.
Republicans believe in the Great American Dream, with its economics of inclusion, enabling everyone to have a chance to own, invest, build, and prosper.
It is the opposite of the policies which, for the last three and a half years, have stifled growth, destroyed jobs, halted investment, created unprecedented uncertainty, and prolonged the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Those policies have placed the federal government in the driver’s seat,
rather than relying on energetic and entrepreneurial Americans to rebuild the economy from the ground up.
Excessive taxation and regulation impede economic development.
Lowering taxes promotes substantial economic growth
and reducing regulation encourages business formation and job creation.
Knowing that, a Republican President and Congress will jumpstart an economic renewal that creates opportunity,
rewards work and saving,
and unleashes the productive genius of the American people.
Because the GOP is the Great Opportunity Party, this is our pledge to workers without jobs,
families without savings,
and neighborhoods without hope:
together we can get our country back on track,
expanding its bounty,
renewing its faith,
and fulfilling its promise of a better life.
Job Creation: Getting Americans Back to Work
The best jobs program is economic growth.
We do not offer yet another madeinWashington package of subsidies and spending to create temporary or artificial jobs.
We want much more than that.
We want a roaring job market to match a roaring economy.
Instead, what this Administration has given us is 42 consecutive months of unemployment above 8 percent, the longest period of high unemployment since the Great Depression.
Republicans will pursue free market policies that are the surest way to boost employment
and create job growth and economic prosperity for all.
In all the sections that follow, as well as elsewhere in this platform, we explain what must be done to achieve that goal.
The tax system must be simplified.
Government spending and regulation must be reined in.
American companies must be more competitive in the world market,
and we must be aggressive in promoting U.S. products abroad and securing open markets for them.
A federalStateprivate partnership must invest in the nation’s infrastructure: roads, bridges, airports, ports, and water systems, among others.
Federal training programs have to be overhauled and made relevant for the workplace of the twentyfirst century.
Potential employers need certainty and predictability for their hiring decisions,
and the team of a Republican President and Congress will create the confidence that will get Americans back to work.
Small Business and Entrepreneurship
America’s small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, employing tens of millions of workers.
Small businesses create the vast majority of jobs, patents, and U.S. exporters.
Under the current Administration, we have the lowest rate of business startups in thirty years.
Small businesses are the leaders in the world’s advances in technology and innovation,
and we pledge to strengthen that role and foster small business entrepreneurship.
While small businesses have significantly contributed to the nation’s economic growth, our government has failed to meet its small business goals year after year
and failed to overcome burdensome regulatory, contracting, and capital barriers.
This impedes their growth.
We will reform the tax code to allow businesses to generate enough capital to grow and create jobs for our families, friends and neighbors all across America.
We will encourage investments in small businesses.
We will create an environment where adequate financing and credit are available to spur manufacturing and expansion.
We will serve as aggressive advocates for small businesses.
Tax Relief to Grow the Economy and Create Jobs
Taxes, by their very nature, reduce a citizen’s freedom.
Their proper role in a free society should be to fund services that are essential and authorized by the Constitution, such as national security,
and the care of those who cannot care for themselves.
We reject the use of taxation to redistribute income,
fund unnecessary or ineffective programs,
or foster the crony capitalism that corrupts both politicians and corporations.
Our goal is a tax system that is simple, transparent, flatter, and fair.
In contrast, the current IRS code is like a patchwork quilt, stitched together over time from mismatched pieces, and is beyond the comprehension of the average citizen.
A reformed code should promote simplicity and coherence,
savings and innovation,
increase American competitiveness,
and recognize the burdens on families with children.
To that end, we propose to:Extend  the  2001  and  2003  tax  relief packages—commonly  known  as  the  Bush  tax cuts—pending   reform  of  the  tax  code;
,  to  keep tax  rates  from  rising  on  income,  interest,  dividends,  and  capital  gains
Reform  the  tax  code  by  reducing  marginal tax  rates  by  20  percent  acrosstheboard  in  a revenueneutral  manner;
Eliminate  the  taxes  on  interest,  dividends, and  capital  gains  altogether  for  lower  and middleincome  taxpayers;
End  the  Death  Tax;  
and Repeal  the  Alternative  Minimum  Tax.
American Competitiveness in a Global Economy
American businesses now face the world’s highest corporate tax rate.
It reduces their worldwide competitiveness,
encourages corporations to move overseas,
lessens investment,
cripples job creation,
lowers U.S. wages,
and fosters the avoidance of tax liability—without actually increasing tax revenues.
To level the international playing field, and to spur job creation here at home, we call for a reduction of the corporate rate to keep U.S. corporations competitive internationally,
with a permanent research and development tax credit,
and a repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax.
We also support the recommendation of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, as well as the current President’s Export Council, to switch to a territorial system of corporate taxation,  so that profits earned and taxed abroad may be repatriated for jobcreating investment here at home without additional penalty.
Fundamental Tax Principles
We oppose retroactive taxation;
and we condemn attempts by activist judges, at any level of government, to seize the power of the purse by ordering higher taxes.
We oppose tax policies that divide Americans or promote class warfare.
Because of the vital role of religious organizations, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies in fostering benevolence and patriotism, they should not be subject to taxation, and donations to them should continue to be tax deductible.
In any restructuring of federal taxation, to guard against hypertaxation of the American people, any value added tax or national sales tax must be tied to the simultaneous repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, which established the federal income tax.
Reining in OutofControl Spending, Balancing the Budget, and Ensuring Sound Monetary Policy
The  massive  federal  government  is  structurally and  financially  broken.
 For  decades  it  has  been pushed  beyond  its  core  functions,  increasing  spending  to  unsustainable  levels.
 Elected  officials  have overpromised  and  overspent,  and  now  the  bills  are due.
 Unless  we  take  dramatic  action  now,  young Americans  and  their  children  will  inherit  an  unprecedented  legacy  of  enormous  and  unsustainable  debt, with  the  interest  alone  consuming  an  everincreasing portion  of  the  country’s  wealth.
The  specter  of  national  bankruptcy  that  now  hangs  over  much of  Europe  is  a  warning  to  us  as well.
 Over  the  last  three  and  a half  years,  while  cutting  the  deflfense  budget,  the  current  Admincoistration  has  added  an  additional $5.3  trillion  to  the  national debt—now  approximately  $16 trillion,  the  largest  amount  in U.S.  history.
 In  fiscal  year  2011, spending  reached  $3.6  trillion, nearly  a  quarter  of  our  gross  domestic  product.
 Adjusted  for  inflation,  that’s  more  than  three times  its  peak  level  in  World  War  II
,  and  almost  half of  every  dollar  spent  was  borrowed  money.  
Three programs—Medicare,  Medicaid,  and  Social  Security—  account  for  over  40  percent  of  total  spending.
While  these  levels  of  spending  and  debt  are  already harming  job  creation  and  growth,  projections  of  future  spending  growth  are  nothing  short  of  catastrophic,  both  economically  and  socially.  
And  those dire  projections  do  not  include  the  fiscal  nightmare of  Obamacare,  with  over  $1  trillion  in  new  taxes,  multiple  mandates,  and  a  crushing  price  tag.
We can preempt the debt explosion.
Backed by a Republican Senate and House, our next President will propose immediate reductions in federal spending,
as a down payment on the much larger task of longrange fiscal control.
We suggest a tripartite test for every federal activity.
First, is it within the constitutional scope of the federal government?
Second, is it effective and absolutely necessary?
And third, is it sufficiently important to justify borrowing, especially foreign borrowing, to fund it?
Against those standards we will measure programs from international population control to California’s federally subsidized highspeed train to nowhere, and terminate programs that don’t measure up.
Balancing the Budget
Cutting spending is not enough;
it must be accompanied by major structural reforms,
increased productivity,
use of technology,
and longterm government downsizing
that both reduce debt and deficits
and ignite economic growth.
We must restructure the twentieth  century  entitlement state
 so  the  missions  of  important  programs  can  succeed  in  the twentyfirst  century.
 Medicare, in  particular,  is  the  largest  driver of  future  debt.  
Our  reform  of healthcare  will  empower  millions  of  seniors  to  control  their personal  healthcare  decisions,
unlike  Obamacare  that  empowered  a  handful  of  bureaucrats  to cut  Medicare  in  ways  that  will deny  care  for  the  elderly.
We  must  also  change  the budget  process  itself.
  From  its  beginning,  its  design has  enabled,  rather  than  restrained,  reckless  spending  by  giving  procedural  cover  to  Members  of  Congress.
 The  budget  process  gave  us  the  insidious  term “tax  expenditure,”  which  means  that  any  earnings  the government  allows  a  taxpayer  to  keep  through  a  deduction,  exemption,  or  credit  are  equivalent  to spending  the  same  amount  on  some  program. 
It  also lumped  a  broad  range  of  diverse  programs  under  the heading  of  “entitlement,”  as  if  veterans’  benefits   and welfare  checks  belong  in  the  same  category.
 Far worse,  the  process  assumes  every  spending  program will  be  permanent  and  every  tax  cut  will  be  temporary.
 It  refuses  to  recognize  the  beneficial  budgetary impact  of  lower  tax  rates,
 and  it  calls  a  spending  increase a cut if it is less than the rate of inflation.
Republican  Members  of  Congress  have  repeatedly  tried  to  reform  the  budget  process  to  make  it more  transparent  and  accountable,  in  particular  by voting  for  a  Balanced  Budget  Amendment  to  the  Constitution,
 following  the  lead  of  33  States  which  have put  that  restraint  into  their  own  constitutions.
 We call  for  a  Constitutional  amendment  requiring  a supermajority  for  any  tax  increase,  with  exceptions for  only  war  and  national  emergencies,  
and  imposing a  cap  limiting  spending  to  the  historical  average percentage  of  GDP  so  that  future  Congresses  cannot balance  the  budget  by  raising  taxes.
 
Inflation and the Federal Reserve
A sound monetary policy is critical for maintaining a strong economy.
Inflation diminishes the purchasing power of the dollar at home and abroad and is a hidden tax on the American people.
Moreover, the inflation tax is regressive
, punishes those who save,
transfers wealth from Main Street to Wall Street,
and has grave implications for seniors living on fixed incomes.
Because the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy actions affect both inflation and economic activity, those actions should be transparent.
Moreover, the Fed’s important role as a lender of last resort should also be carried out in a more transparent manner.
A free society demands that the sun shine on all elements of government.
Therefore, the Republican Party will work to advance substantive legislation that brings transparency and accountability to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Open Market Committee, and the Fed’s dealings with foreign central banks.
The first step to increasing transparency and accountability is through an annual audit of the Federal Reserve’s activities.
Such an audit would need to be carefully implemented so that the Federal Reserve remains insulated from political pressures
and so its decisions are based on sound economic principles and sound money rather than on political pressures for easy money and loose credit.
Determined to crush the doubledigit inflation that was part of the Carter Administration’s economic legacy, President Reagan, shortly after his inauguration, established a commission to consider the feasibility of a metallic basis for U.S. currency.
The commission advised against such a move.
Now, three decades later, as we face the task of cleaning up the wreckage of the current Administration’s policies, we propose a similar commission to investigate possible ways to set a fixed value for the dollar.
Ending the Housing Crisis and Expanding Opportunities for Homeownership
Homeownership expands personal liberty, builds communities, and helps Americans create wealth.
“The American Dream” is not a stale slogan.
It is the lived reality that expresses the aspirations of all our people.
It means a decent place to live,
a safe place to raise kids,
a welcoming place to retire.
It bespeaks the quiet pride of those who work hard to shelter their family and, in the process, create caring neighborhoods.
Homeownership is best fostered by a growing economy with low interest rates,
as well as prudent regulation, financial education, and targeted assistance to responsible borrowers.
The collapse of the housing market over the last four years has been not only a severe blow to the entire economy, but also a personal tragedy to millions of Americans whose homes have lost value and to so many others who have lost their homes.
Combined with high unemployment, that decline has left countless homeowners saddled with mortgages exceeding the value of their homes.
The response of the current Administration has done little to improve, and much to worsen, the situation.
By discouraging private sector investment, it has stalled the housing recovery.
Its massive intervention in the housing market, with the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backing nearly all new mortgages, has hit the taxpayers with a bill for almost $200 billion to bail out the latter two institutions.
It has spent billions more on poorly designed and ineffective housing assistance programs.
Making matters worse, the Congress, under Democrat control, enacted the DoddFrank Act, a massive labyrinth of costly new regulations that deter lenders from lending to creditworthy homebuyers
and that disproportionately harms small and community banks.
As a result, home sales remain weak, investment in housing remains depressed, construction industry jobs remain down, and mortgage lending has yet to recover to precrisis levels.
Rebuilding Homeownership
We must establish a mortgage finance system based on competition and free enterprise that is transparent,
encourages the private sector to return to housing,
and promotes personal responsibility on the part of borrowers.
Policies that promote reliance on private capital, like private mortgage insurance, will be critical to scaling back the federal role in the housing market
and avoiding future taxpayer bailouts.
Reforms should provide clear and prudent underwriting standards and guidelines on acceptable lending practices.
Compliance with regulatory standards should provide a legal safe harbor to guard against opportunistic litigation.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were a primary cause of the housing crisis because their implicit government guarantee allowed them to avoid market discipline and make risky investments.
Their favored political status enriched their politicallyconnected executives and their shareholders at the expense of the nation.
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be wound down in size and scope, and their officials should be held to account.
The FHA, tripled in size to more than $1 trillion under the current Administration, has crowded out the private sector and is at risk of requiring a taxpayer bailout.
It must be downsized
and limited to helping firsttime homebuyers and lowand moderateincome borrowers.
Taxpayer dollars should not be used to bail out borrowers and lenders by funding principal writedowns.
While the federal government must prosecute mortgage fraud and other financial crimes, any settlements received thereby should be directed to individuals harmed by the misconduct, not diverted to pay for unrelated programs.
FDIC insurance for bank depositors must be preserved.
However, to correct for the moral hazard created by deposit insurance, banks should be well capitalized, which is the best insurance against future taxpayer bailouts.
The federal government has a role in housing by enforcing nondiscrimination laws and assisting lowincome families and the elderly with safe and adequate shelter, especially through the use of housing vouchers.
Homeownership is an important goal, but public policy must be balanced to reflect the needs of Americans who choose to rent.
A comprehensive housing policy should address the demand for apartments and multifamily housing.
Any assistance should be subject to stringent oversight to ensure that funds are spent wisely.
Infrastructure: Building the Future
America’s infrastructure networks are critical for economic growth,
international competitiveness,
and national security.
Infrastructure programs have traditionally been nonpartisan; everyone recognized that we all need clean water and safe roads, rail, bridges, ports, and airports.
The current Administration has changed that, replacing civil engineering with social engineering as it pursues an exclusively urban vision of dense housing and government transit.
In the vaunted stimulus package, less than six percent of the funds went to transportation,
with most of that to cosmetic “shovelready” projects rather than fundamental structural improvements.
All the while, the Democrats’ DavisBacon law continues to drive up infrastructure construction and maintenance costs for the benefit of that party’s union stalwarts.
What most Americans take for granted—the safety and availability of our water supply—is in perilous condition.
Engineering surveys report crumbling drinking water systems, aging dams, and overwhelmed wastewater infrastructure.
Investment in these areas, as well as with levees and inland waterways, can renew communities, attract businesses, and create jobs.
Most importantly, it can assure the health and safety of the American people.
The nation’s ports have become a bottleneck in international trade.
America’s exporters sometimes use Canadian ports in order to reach the world market in a timely manner.
With the widening of the Panama Canal, our East Coast and Gulf ports have an extraordinary opportunity to boost container traffic
but require major improvement to remain competitive receivers of large vessels.
Interstate infrastructure has long been a federal responsibility shared with the States,
and a renewed federalState partnership and new publicprivate partnerships are urgently needed to maintain and modernize our country’s travel lifelines
to facilitate economic growth and job creation.
In the last two years, Congressional Republicans have taken the lead with initiatives like the FAA Modernization and Reform Act; the Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act; and the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act.
The recent highway bill reforming the federal highway program included some key reforms. It will shorten the project approval process,
eliminate unnecessary programs,
and give States more flexibility to address their particular needs.
It is a return to the principles of federalism, and it contains not a single earmark.
It should be followed by reform of the 42year old National Environmental Policy Act to create regulatory certainty for infrastructure projects, expedite their timetables, and limit litigation against them.
Securing sufficient funding for the Highway Trust Fund remains a challenge given the debt and deficits and the need to reduce spending.
Republicans will make hard choices and set priorities, and infrastructure will be among them.
In some States with elected officials dominated by the Democratic Party, a proportion of highway funds is diverted to other purposes.
This must stop.
We oppose any funding mechanism that would involve governmental monitoring of every car and truck in the nation.
Amtrak continues to be, for the taxpayers, an extremely expensive railroad.
The public has to subsidize every ticket nearly $50.
It is long past time for the federal government to get out of way and allow private ventures to provide passenger service to the northeast corridor.
The same holds true with regard to highspeed and intercity rail across the country.
International Trade: More American Jobs, Higher Wages, and A Better Standard of Living
International trade is crucial for our economy.
It means more American jobs,
higher wages,
and a better standard of living.
Every $1 billion in additional U.S. exports means another 5,000 jobs here at home.
The Free Trade Agreements negotiated with friendly democracies since President Reagan’s trailblazing pact with Israel in 1985 facilitated the creation of nearly ten million jobs supported by our exports.
That record makes all the more deplorable the current Administration’s slowness in completing agreements begun by its predecessor
and its failure to pursue any new trade agreements with friendly nations.
This worldwide explosion of trade has had a downside, however, as some governments have used a variety of unfair means to limit American access to their markets
while stealing our designs, patents, brands, knowhow, and technology—the “intellectual property” that drives innovation.
The chief offender is China, which has built up its economy in part by piggybacking onto Western technological advances,
manipulates its currency to the disadvantage of American exporters,
excludes American products from government purchases, subsidizes Chinese companies to give them a commercial advantage,
and invents regulations and standards designed to keep out foreign competition.
The current Administration’s way of dealing with all these violations of world trade standards has been a virtual surrender.
Republicans understand that you can succeed in a negotiation only if you are willing to walk away from it.
Thus, a Republican President will insist on full parity in trade with China
and stand ready to impose countervailing duties if China fails to amend its currency policies.
Commercial discrimination will be met in kind.
Counterfeit goods will be aggressively kept out of the country.
Victimized private firms will be encouraged to raise claims in both U.S. courts and at the World Trade Organization.
Punitive measures will be imposed on foreign firms that misappropriate American technology and intellectual property.
Until China abides by the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement, the United States government will end procurement of Chinese goods and services.
Because American workers have shown that, on a truly level playing field, they can surpass the competition in international trade, we call for the restoration of presidential Trade Promotion Authority.
It will ensure up or down votes in Congress on any new trade agreements,
without meddling by special interests.
A Republican President will complete negotiations for a TransPacific Partnership to open rapidly developing Asian markets to U.S. products.
Beyond that, we envision a worldwide multilateral agreement among nations committed to the principles of open markets, what has been called a “Reagan Economic Zone,”
in which free trade will truly be fair trade for all concerned.
A TwentyFirst Century Workforce
The greatest asset of the American economy is the hardworking American.
The high rates of unemployment over the last three and a half years— disastrously high among youth, minorities, and veterans—have thus been a tragic waste of energy and ideas,
compounded by the waste of billions in “stimulus” funds with no payoff in jobs.
The chief cause has been an unprecedented uncertainty in the American free enterprise system due to the overreaching policies of the current  Administration. 
Nothing matters  more  than  getting  the American  people  back  to  work. 
In addition  to  cutting  spending,
keeping  taxes  low, 
and  curtailing bureaucratic  red  tape, 
we  must  replace  outdated  policies  and  ineffectual  training  programs  with  a plan  to  develop  a  twentyfirst  century  workforce  to  make  the  most of  our  country’s  human  capital.
It  is  critical  that  the  United States  has  a  highly  trained  and skilled  workforce.
  Nine  federal  agencies  currently run  47  retraining  programs  at  a  total  cost  of  $18  billion  annually  with  dismal  results.
 Both  the  trainees in  those  programs  and  the  taxpayers  who  fund  them deserve  better.
 We  propose  consolidation  of  those programs  into  State  block  grants
 so  that  training  can be  coordinated  with  local  schools  and  employers.
That  will  be  critically  important  if  States  establish Personal  Reemployment  Accounts,   letting  trainees direct  resources  in  ways  that  will  steer  them  toward longterm  employment,  
especially  through  onthejob  training  with  participating  employers.
We  can  accelerate  the  process  of  restoring  our domestic  economy—and  reclaiming  this  country’s traditional  position  of  dominance  in  international trade—by  a  policy  of  strategic  immigration,
  granting more  work  visas  to  holders  of  advanced  degrees  in science,  technology,  engineering,  and  math  from other  nations. 
 Highly  educated  immigrants  can  assist  in  creating  new  services  and  products.
  In  the same  way,  foreign  students  who  graduate  from  an American  university  with  an  advanced  degree  in  science,  technology,  engineering  or  math  should  be  encouraged  to  remain  here  and  contribute  to  economic prosperity  and  job  creation.  
 Highly  skilled,  Englishspeaking,  and  integrated  into  their  communities,  they are  too  valuable  a  resource  to  lose.
  As  in  past  generations,  we  should  encourage  the  world’s  innovators and  inventors  to  create  our  common  future  and  their permanent  homes  here  in  the  United  States.
Republicans  believe  that  the  employer employee relationship  of  the  future  will  be  built  upon  employee empowerment  and  workplace  flexibility, 
which  is  why Republicans  support  employee  ownership.
  We  believe employee stock ownership plans create capitalists and expand the ownership of private property
and are therefore the essence of a highperforming free enterprise economy,
which creates opportunity for those who work and honors those values that have made our nation so strong.
Today’s workforce is independent,
wants flexibility in working conditions,
needs familyfriendly options,
and is most productive when allowed to innovate and rethink the status quo.
The federal government should set an example in making those adaptations, especially in promoting portability in pension plans and health insurance.
Freedom in the Workplace
The current Administration has chosen a different path with regard to labor, clinging to antiquated notions of confrontation and concentrating power in the Washington offices of union elites.
It has strongly supported the antibusiness card check legislation to deny workers a secret ballot in union organizing campaigns
and, through the use of Project Labor Agreements, barred 80 percent of the construction workforce from competing for jobs in many stimulus projects.
The current Administration has turned the National Labor Relations Board into a partisan advocate for Big Labor,
using threats and coercion outside the law to attack businesses
and, through “snap elections” and “micro unions,” limit the rights of workers and employers alike.
We will restore the rule of law to labor law by blocking “card check,”
enacting the Secret Ballot Protection Act,
enforcing the Hobbs Act against labor violence,
and passing the Raise Act to allow all workers to receive wellearned raises without the approval of their union representative.
We demand an end to the Project Labor Agreements;
and we call for repeal of the DavisBacon Act, which costs the taxpayers billions of dollars annually in artificially high wages on government projects.
We support the right of States to enact RighttoWork laws
and encourage them to do so to promote greater economic liberty.
Ultimately, we support the enactment of a National RighttoWork law to promote worker freedom
and to promote greater economic liberty.
We will aggressively enforce the recent decision by the Supreme Court barring the use of union dues for political purposes without the consent of the worker.
We salute the Republican Governors and State legislators who have saved their States from fiscal disaster by reforming their laws governing public employee unions.
We urge elected officials across the country to follow their lead in order to avoid State and local defaults on their obligations and the collapse of services to the public.
To safeguard the free choice of public employees, no government at any level should act as the dues collector for unions.
A Republican President will protect the rights of conscience of public employees by proposing legislation to bar mandatory dues for political purposes.
We The People: A Restoration of Constitutional Government
We are the party of the Constitution,
the solemn compact which confirms our Godgiven individual rights
and assures that all Americans stand equal before the law.
Perhaps the greatest political document ever written, it defines the purposes and limits of government
and is the blueprint for ordered liberty that makes the U.S. the world’s freest, most stable, and most prosperous nation.
Its Constitutional ideals have been emulated around the world,
and with them has come unprecedented prosperity for billions of people.
In the spirit of the Constitution, we consider discrimination based on sex, race, age, religion, creed, disability, or national origin unacceptable and immoral.
We will strongly enforce antidiscrimination statutes
and ask all to join us in rejecting the forces of hatred and bigotry and in denouncing all who practice or promote racism, antiSemitism, ethnic prejudice, or religious intolerance.
We support efforts to help lowincome individuals get a fair chance based  on  their  potential  and  individual  merit;
 but  we reject  preferences,  quotas,  and  setasides  as  the  best or  sole  methods  through  which  fairness  can  be achieved,  whether  in  government,  education,  or  corporate  boardrooms.
  In  a  free  society,  the  primary role  of  government  is  to  protect  the  Godgiven,  inalienable,  inherent  rights  of  its  citizens,  including  the rights  to  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.
Merit,  ability,  aptitude,  and  results  should  be  the  factors  that  determine  advancement  in  our  society.
The Republican Party includes Americans from every faith and tradition,
and our policies and positions respect the right of every American to follow his or her beliefs
and underscore our reverence for the religious freedom envisioned by the Founding Fathers of our nation and of our party.
As  a  matter  of  principle,  we  oppose  the  creation  of  any new  racebased  governments  within  the  United  States.
A Restoration of Constitutional Order: Congress and the Executive
We salute Republican Members of the House of Representatives for enshrining in the Rules of the House the requirement that every bill must cite the provision of the Constitution which permits its introduction.
Their adherence to the Constitution stands in stark contrast to the antipathy toward the Constitution demonstrated by the current Administration and  its  Senate  allies  by  appointing   “czars”  to  evade  the  confirmation  process, 
making  unlawful “recess”  appointments  when  the Senate  is  not  in  recess,  
using  executive  orders  to  bypass  the  separation  of  powers  and  its  checks and  balances, 
encouraging  illegal actions  by  regulatory  agencies from  the  NLRB  to  the  EPA,
openly  and  notoriously  displaying  contempt  for  Congress,  the Judiciary,  
and  the  Constitutional  prerogatives  of  the individual  States,
 refusing  to  defend  the  nation’s  laws in  federal  courts  or  enforce  them  on  the  streets,
 ignoring  the  legal  requirement  for  legislative  enactment  of  an  annual  budget,
 gutting  welfare  reform  by unilaterally  removing  its  statutory  work  requirement,
buying  senatorial  votes  with  special  favors,  
and  evading  the  legal  requirement  for  congressional  consultation  regarding  troop  commitments  overseas.  
 A Republican  President  and  Republican  Senate  will  join House  Republicans  in  living  by  the  rule  of  law,  the foundation  of  the  American  Republic.
Protecting America is the first and most important duty of our federal government.
The Constitution wisely distributes important roles in the area of national security to both the President and Congress.
It empowers the President to serve as Commander in Chief, making him the lead instrument of the American people in matters of national security and foreign affairs.
It also bestows authority on Congress, including the powers to declare war, regulate commerce, and authorize the funds needed to keep and protect our Nation.
The United States of America is strongest when the President and Congress work closely together—in war and in peace—to advance our common interests and ideals.
By uniting our government and our citizens, our foreign policy will secure freedom,
keep America safe,
and ensure that we remain the “last best hope on Earth.”
Defending Marriage Against An Activist Judiciary
A serious threat to our country’s constitutional order, perhaps even more dangerous than presidential malfeasance, is an activist judiciary, in which some judges usurp the powers reserved to other branches of government.
A blatant example has been the courtordered redefinition of marriage in several States.
This is more than a matter of warring legal concepts and ideals.
It is an assault on the foundations of our society, challenging the institution which, for thousands of years in virtually every civilization, has been entrusted with the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values.
A Sacred Contract: Defense of Marriage
That is why Congressional Republicans took the lead in enacting the Defense of Marriage Act,
affirming the right of States and the federal government not to recognize samesex relationships licensed in other jurisdictions.
The current Administration’s open defiance of this constitutional principle—in its handling of immigration cases, in federal personnel benefits, in allowing a samesex marriage at a military base, and in refusing to defend DOMA in the courts— makes a mockery of the President’s inaugural oath.
We commend the United States House of Representatives and State Attorneys General who have defended these laws when they have been attacked in the courts.
We reaffirm our support for a Constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
We applaud the citizens of the majority of States which have enshrined in their constitutions the traditional concept of marriage,
and we support the campaigns underway in several other States to do so.
Living Within Our Means: A Constitutional Budget
Republican Members of Congress have repeatedly tried to reform the budget process to make it more transparent and accountable,
in particular by voting for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution,
following the lead of 33 States which have put that restraint into their own constitutions.
We call for a Constitutional amendment requiring a supermajority for any tax increase with exceptions for only war and national emergencies,
and imposing a cap limiting spending to the historical average percentage of GDP so that future Congresses cannot balance the budget by raising taxes.
Federalism and The Tenth Amendment
We support the review and examination of all federal agencies to eliminate wasteful spending, operational inefficiencies, or abuse of power to determine whether they are performing functions that are better performed by the States.
These functions, as appropriate, should be returned to the States in accordance with the Tenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.
We affirm that all legislation, rules, and regulations must conform and public servants must adhere to the U.S. Constitution, as originally intended by the Framers.
Whether such legislation is a State or federal matter must be determined in accordance with the Tenth Amendment, in conjunction with Article I, Section 8.
When the Constitution is evaded, transgressed, or ignored, so are the freedoms it guarantees.
In that context, the elections of 2012 will be much more than a contest between parties.
They are a referendum on the future of liberty in America.
The Republican Party, born in opposition to the denial of liberty
, stands for the rights of individuals, families, faith communities, institutions –
and of the States which are their instruments of selfgovernment.
In establishing a federal system of government, the Framers viewed the States as laboratories of democracy and centers of innovation, as do we.
To maintain the integrity of their system, they bequeathed to successive generations an instrument by which we might correct any misalignment of power between our States and the federal government, the Tenth Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
In fidelity to that principle, we condemn the current Administration’s continued assaults on State governments in matters ranging from voter ID laws to immigration, from healthcare programs to land use decisions.
Our States are the laboratories of democracy from which the people propel our nation forward,
solving local and State problems through local and State innovations.
We pledge to restore the proper balance between the federal government and the governments closest to, and most reflective of, the American people.
Scores of entrenched federal programs violate the constitutional mandates of federalism by taking money from the States, laundering it through various federal agencies, only to return to the States shrunken grants with mandates attached.
We propose wherever feasible to leave resources where they originate: in the homes and neighborhoods of the taxpayers.
We call on the federal government to do a systematic analysis of laws and regulations to eliminate costly bureaucratic mandates on the States and the people.
With every right comes a responsibility.
A few States and their political subdivisions are currently in dire fiscal situations, largely because of their spending, debt, and failure to rein in public employee unions.
In the event those conditions worsen, the federal government must not assume the State governments’ or their political subdivisions’ financial responsibility
or require the nation’s taxpayers to pay for the misrule of a few State governments.
Nor shall the States assume the federal government’s financial responsibility.
The Continuing Importance of Protecting the Electoral College
We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact or any other scheme to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral College.
We recognize that an unconstitutional effort to impose “national popular vote” would be a mortal threat to our federal system
and a guarantee of corruption as every ballot box in every state would become a chance to steal the presidency.
Voter Integrity to Ensure Honest Elections
Honest elections are the foundation of representative government.
We support State efforts to ensure ballot access for the elderly, the handicapped, military personnel, and all authorized voters.
For the same reason, we applaud legislation to require photo identification for voting and to prevent election fraud,  particularly with regard to registration and absentee ballots.
We support State laws that require proof of citizenship at the time of voter registration to protect our electoral system against a significant and growing form of voter fraud.
Every time that a fraudulent vote is cast, it effectively cancels out a vote of a legitimate voter.
Voter fraud is political poison.
It strikes at the heart of representative government.
We call on every citizen, elected official, and member of the judiciary to preserve the integrity of the vote.
We call for vigorous prosecution of voter fraud at the State and federal level.
To do less disenfranchises present and future generations.
We recognize that having a physical verification of the vote is the best way to ensure a fair election.
“Let ambition counter ambition,” as James Madison said.
When all parties have representatives observing the counting of ballots in a transparent process, integrity is assured.
We strongly support the policy that all electronic voting systems have a voter verified paper audit trail.
States or political subdivisions that use allmail elections cannot ensure the integrity of the ballot.
When ballots are mailed to every registered voter, ballots can be stolen or fraudulently voted by unauthorized individuals because the system does not have a way to verify the identity of the voter.
We call for States and political subdivisions to adopt voting systems that can verify the identity of the voter.
Military men and women must not be disenfranchised from the very freedom they defend.
We affirm that our troops, wherever stationed, be allowed to vote
and those votes be counted in the November election and in all elections.
To that end, the entire chain of command, from President and the Secretary of Defense, to base and unit commanders—must ensure the timely receipt and return of all ballots and the utilization of electronic delivery of ballots where allowed by State law.
We support changing the way that the decennial census is conducted,
so that citizens are distinguished from lawfully present aliens and illegal aliens.
In order to preserve the principle of oneperson, onevote, the apportionment of representatives among the States should be according to the number of citizens.
The First Amendment: The Foresight of Our Founders to Protect Religious Freedom
The first provision of the First Amendment concerns freedom of religion.
That guarantee reflected Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which declared that no one should “suffer on account of his religious opinion or belief, but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion….”
That assurance has never been more needed than it is today, as liberal elites try to drive religious beliefs— and religious believers—out of the public square.
The most offensive instance of this war on religion has been the current Administration’s attempt to compel faithrelated institutions, as well as believing individuals, to contravene their deeply held religious, moral, or ethical beliefs regarding health services, traditional marriage, or abortion.
This forcible secularization of religious and religiously affiliated organizations, including faithbased hospitals and colleges, has been in tandem with the current Administration’s audacity in declaring which faithrelated activities are, or are not, protected by the First Amendment—an unprecedented aggression repudiated by a unanimous Supreme Court in its HosannaTabor v. EEOC decision.
We pledge to respect the religious beliefs and rights of conscience of all Americans
and to safeguard the independence of their institutions from government.
We support the public display of the Ten Commandments as a reflection of our history and of our country’s JudeoChristian heritage,
and we affirm the right of students to engage in prayer at public school events in public schools
and to have equal access to public schools and other public facilities to accommodate religious freedom in the public square.
We assert every citizen’s right to apply religious values to public policy and the right of faithbased organizations to participate fully in public programs without renouncing their beliefs, removing religious symbols, or submitting to governmentimposed hiring practices.
We oppose government discrimination against businesses due to religious views.
We support the First Amendment right of freedom of association of the Boy Scouts of America and other service organizations whose values are under assault
and condemn the State blacklisting of religious groups which decline to arrange adoptions by samesex couples.
We condemn the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and vandalism by proponents of samesex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage
and call for a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights.
The First Amendment: Speech that is Protected
The rights of citizenship do not stop at the ballot box.
They include the free speech right to devote one’s resources to whatever cause or candidate one supports.
We oppose any restrictions or conditions that would discourage Americans from exercising their constitutional right to enter the political fray
or limit their commitment to their ideals.
As a result, we support repeal of the remaining sections of McCainFeingold,
support either raising or repealing contribution limits
, and oppose passage of the DISCLOSE Act or any similar legislation designed to vitiate the Supreme Court’s recent decisions protecting political speech in Wisconsin Right to Life v. Federal Election Commission and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
We insist that there should be no regulation of political speech on the Internet.
By the same token, we oppose governmental censorship of speech through the socalled Fairness Doctrine or by government enforcement of speech codes, free speech zones, or other forms of “political correctness” on campus.
The Second Amendment: Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms
We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms,
a right which antedated the Constitution and was solemnly confirmed by the Second Amendment.
We acknowledge, support, and defend the lawabiding citizen’s Godgiven right of selfdefense.
We call for the protection of such fundamental individual rights recognized in the Supreme Court’s decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago affirming that right,
and we recognize the individual responsibility to safely use and store firearms.
This also includes the right to obtain and store ammunition without registration.
We support the fundamental right to selfdefense wherever a lawabiding citizen has a legal right to be,
and we support federal legislation that would expand the exercise of that right by allowing those with stateissued carry permits to carry firearms in any state that issues such permits to its own residents.
Gun ownership is responsible citizenship, enabling Americans to defend their homes and communities.
We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and oppose federal licensing or registration of lawabiding gun owners.
We oppose legislation that is intended to restrict our Second Amendment rights by limiting the capacity of clips or magazines or otherwise restoring the illconsidered Clinton gun ban.
We condemn the reckless actions associated with the operation known as “Fast and Furious,” conducted by the Department of Justice, which resulted in the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent and others on both sides of the border.
We applaud the Members of the U.S. House of Representatives in holding the current Administration’s Attorney General in contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with their investigation into that debacle.
We oppose the improper collection of firearms sales information in the four southern border states, which was imposed without congressional authority.
The Fourth Amendment: Liberty and Privacy
Affirming “the right of the people to be secure in their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,”
we support pending legislation to prevent unwarranted or unreasonable governmental intrusion through the use of aerial surveillance or flyovers on U.S. soil, with the exception of patrolling our national borders.
All security measures and police actions should be viewed through the lens of the Fourth Amendment;
for if we trade liberty for security, we shall have neither.
The Fifth Amendment: Protecting Private Property
The  Takings  Clause  of  the  Fifth  Amendment– “nor  shall  private  property  be  taken  for  public  use without  just  compensation”–is  a  bulwark  against tyranny;
 for  without  property  rights,  individual  rights are  diminished.   
That  is  why  we  deplore  the  Supreme Court’s  Kelo  v.  New  London decision,  allowing  local governments  to  seize  a  person’s  home  or  land,  not  for vital  public  use,  but  for  transfer  to  private  developers.
We  call  on  State  legislatures  to  moot  the  impact  of  the Kelo decision  in  their  States  by  appropriate  legislation  or  constitutional  amendments.
 Equally  important,  we  pledge  to  enforce  the  Takings  Clause  in  the actions  of  federal  agencies  to  ensure  just  compensation  whenever  private  property  is  needed  to  achieve a  compelling  public  use.   
This  includes  the  taking  of property  in  the  form  of  water  rights  in  the  West  and elsewhere
 and  the  taking  of  property  by  environmental  regulations  that  destroy  its  value.  
The Ninth Amendment: Affirming the People’s Rights
This speaks most eloquently for itself: “The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
This provision codifies the concept that our government derives its power from the people
and all powers not delegated to the government are retained by the people.
This is an essential feature of our governmental system,
and we therefore celebrate the grassroots rediscovery of this and other constitutional guarantees over the last four years
and welcome to our ranks all our fellow citizens who are determined to reclaim the rights of the people that have been ignored or violated by government.
The Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life
Faithful to the “selfevident” truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life
and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.
We support a human life amendment to the Constitution
and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.
We oppose using public revenues to promote or perform abortion or fund organizations which perform or advocate it
and will not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage.
We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.
We oppose the nonconsensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from people with disabilities, including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm,
just as we oppose active and passive euthanasia and assisted suicide.
Republican leadership has led the effort to prohibit the barbaric practice of partialbirth abortion
and permitted States to extend health care coverage to children before birth.
We urge Congress to strengthen the Born Alive Infant Protection Act by enacting appropriate civil and criminal penalties on healthcare providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery where the death of the infant is intended.
We call for legislation to ban sexselective abortions
– gender discrimination in its most lethal form—
and to protect from abortion unborn children who are capable of feeling pain;
and we applaud U.S. House Republicans for leading the effort to protect the lives of paincapable unborn children in the District of Columbia.
We call for a ban on the use of body parts from aborted fetuses for research.
We support and applaud adult stem cell research to develop lifesaving therapies,
and we oppose the killing of embryos for their stem cells.
We oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
We also salute the many States that have passed laws for informed consent,
mandatory waiting periods prior to an abortion,
and healthprotective clinic regulation.
We seek to protect young girls from exploitation through a parental consent requirement;
and we affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women challenged by an unplanned pregnancy.
We salute those who provide them with counseling and adoption alternatives and empower them to choose life,
and we take comfort in the tremendous increase in adoptions that has followed Republican legislative initiatives.
Respect for Our Flag: Symbol of the Constitution
The symbol of our constitutional unity, to which we all pledge allegiance, is the flag of the United States of America.
By whatever legislative method is most feasible, Old Glory should be given legal protection against desecration.
We condemn decisions by activist judges to deny children the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety, including “Under God,” in public schools and encourage States to promote the pledge.
We condemn the actions of those who deny our children the means by which to show respect for our great country and the constitutional principles represented by our flag.
American Sovereignty in U.S. Courts
Subjecting American citizens to foreign laws is inimical to the spirit of the Constitution.
It is one reason we oppose U.S. participation in the International Criminal Court.
There must be no use of foreign law by U.S. courts in interpreting our Constitution and laws.
Nor should foreign sources of law be used in State courts’ adjudication of criminal or civil matters.
The Lacey Act of 1900, designed to protect endangered wildlife in interstate commerce, is now applied worldwide, making it a crime to use, in our domestic industries, any product illegally obtained in the country of origin, whether or not the user had anything to do with its harvesting.
This unreasonable extension of the Act not only hurts American businesses and American jobs,
but also subordinates our own rule of law to the legal codes of 195 other governments.
It must be changed.
Just as George Washington wisely warned America to avoid foreign entanglements and enter into only temporary alliances, we oppose the adoption or ratification of international treaties that weaken or encroach upon American sovereignty.
America’s Natural Resources: Energy, Agriculture and the Environment
We are the party of sustainable jobs and economic growth – through American energy, agriculture, and environmental policy.
We are also the party of America’s growers and producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners,
and all those who bring from the earth the minerals and energy that are the lifeblood of our nation’s historically strong economy.
We are as well the party of traditional conservation: the wise development of resources that keeps in mind both the sacrifices of past generations to secure that bounty
and our responsibility to preserve it for future generations.
Domestic Energy Independence: An “All of the Above” Energy Policy
The Republican Party is committed to domestic energy independence.
The United States and its neighbors to the North and South have been blessed with abundant energy resources, tapped and untapped, traditional and alternative, that are among the largest and most valuable on earth.
Advancing technology has given us a more accurate understanding of the nation’s enormous reserves that are ours for the development.
The role of public officials must be to encourage responsible development across the board.
Unlike the current Administration, we will not pick winners and losers in the energy marketplace.
Instead, we will let the free market and the public’s preferences determine the industry outcomes.
In assessing the various sources of potential energy, Republicans advocate an alloftheabove diversified approach, taking advantage of all our American Godgiven resources.
That is the best way to advance North American energy independence.
Our policies aim at energy security to ensure an affordable, stable, and reliable energy supply for all parts of the country and all sectors of the economy.
Energy security is intimately linked to national security both in terms of our current dependence upon foreign supplies
and because some of the hundreds of billions of dollars we pay for foreign oil ends up in the hands of terrorist groups that wish to harm us.
A growing, prosperous economy and our standard of living and quality of life, moreover, depend on affordable and abundant domestic energy supplies.
A strong and stable energy sector is a job generator
and a catalyst of economic growth,
not only in the laborintensive energy industry but also in its secondary markets.
The Republican Party will encourage and ensure diversified domestic sources of energy, from research and development, exploration, production, transportation, transmission, and consumption in a way that is economically viable and jobproducing,
as well as environmentally sound.
When our energy industry is revitalized, millions more Americans will find work in manufacturing, food production, metals, minerals, packaging, transportation and other fields – because of the jobs that will be created in, and as a result of, the energy sector. We are determined to create jobs,
spur economic growth,
lower energy prices,
and strengthen our energy industry.
Our Nation’s Energy Abundance
Coal is a lowcost and abundant energy source with hundreds of years of supply.
We look toward the private sector’s development of new, stateoftheart coalfired plants that will be lowcost, environmentally responsible, and efficient.
We also encourage research and development of advanced technologies in this sector, including coaltoliquid, coal gasification, and related technologies for enhanced oil recovery.
The current Administration—with a President who publicly threatened to bankrupt anyone who builds a coalpowered plant—seems determined to shut down coal production in the United States,
even though there is no costeffective substitute for it or for the hundreds of thousands of jobs that go with it as the nation’s largest source of electricity generation.
We will end the EPA’s war on coal
and encourage the increased safe development in all regions of the nation’s coal resources,
the jobs it produces,
and the affordable, reliable energy that it provides for America.
Further, we oppose any and all cap and trade legislation.
All estimates of America’s oil and natural gas reserves indicate an incredible bounty for the use of many generations to come.
At a time when unemployment has been above 8 percent for 42 consecutive months, the longest stretch since the Great Depression, and some 23 million Americans are either unemployed, underemployed, or have given up on finding work, we should be pursuing our oil and gas resources  both  on  and  offshore.  
 It is  nonsensical  to  spurn  real  job creation  by  putting  almost  all of  our  coastal  waters  off  limits to  energy  exploration,  while urging  other  nations  to  explore their  coasts.  
We  call  for  a  reasoned  approach  to  all  offshore energy  development  on  the  East Coast  and  other  appropriate  waters,
 and  support  the  right  of States  to  a  reasonable  share  of  the  resulting  revenue and  royalties.  
 We  support  opening  the  Outer  Continental  Shelf  (OCS)  for  energy  exploration  and development  and  ending  the  current  Administration’s  moratorium  on  permitting;  
opening  the  coastal plain  of  the  Arctic  National  Wildlife  Refuge  (ANWR) for  exploration  and  production  of  oil  and  natural gas;
 and  allowing  for  more  oil  and  natural  gas exploration  on  federally  owned  and  controlled  land.
We  support  this  development  in  accordance  with applicable  environmental,  health  and  safety  laws,  and regulations.
The  current  President  personally  blocked  one  of the  most  important  energy  and  jobs  projects  in  years.
The  Keystone  XL  Pipeline—which  would  have brought  much  needed  Canadian  and  American  oil  to U.S.  refineries—would  create  thousands  of  jobs.
The  current  President’s  jobkilling  combination  of extremism  and  ineptitude  threatens  to  create  a  permanent  energy  shortage.  
We  are  committed  to  approving  the  Keystone  XL  Pipeline  and  to  streamlining permitting  for  the  development  of  other  oil  and  natural  gas  pipelines.
Nuclear energy, now generating about 20 percent of our electricity through 104 power plants, must be expanded.
No new nuclear generating plants have been licensed and constructed for thirty years.
We call for timely processing of new reactor applications currently pending at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The federal government’s failure to address the storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel has left huge bills for States and taxpayers.
Our country needs a more proactive approach to managing spent nuclear fuel, including through developing advanced reprocessing  technologies.
We  encourage  the  costeffective  development  of  renewable  energy, 
but  the  taxpayers should  not  serve  as  venture  capitalists  for  risky  endeavors.
 It  is important  to  create  a  pathway  toward  a  marketbased  approach for   renewable  energy  sources
and  to  aggressively  develop  alternative  sources  for  electricity  generation  such  as  wind,  hydro,  solar,  biomass, geothermal,  and  tidal  energy.
  Partnerships  between traditional  energy  industries  and  emerging  renewable  industries  can  be  a  central  component  in  meeting  the  nation’s  longterm  needs.
  Alternative  forms of  energy  are  part  of  our  action  agenda  to  power  the homes  and  workplaces  of  the  nation.  
Pulling the Plug on American Energy Independence: The Failure of the Current Administration
The current Administration has used taxpayer dollars to pick winners and losers in the energy sector while publicly threatening to bankrupt anyone who builds a new coalfired plant and has stopped the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The current President has done nothing to disavow the scare campaign against hydraulic fracturing.
Furthermore, he has wasted billions of taxpayers’ dollars by subsidizing favored companies like Solyndra, which generated bankruptcies rather than kilowatts.
Since the current President took office in 2009, consumers pay approximately twice as much for gas at the pump.
Our common theme is to promote development of all forms of energy,
enable consumer choice to keep energy costs low,
and ensure that America remains competitive in the global marketplace.
We will respect the States’ proven ability to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing,
continue development of oil and gas resources in places like the Bakken formation and Marcellus Shale,
and review the environmental laws that often thwart new energy exploration and production.
We salute the Republican Members of the House of Representatives for passing the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act, a vital piece of progrowth legislation now introduced by Republicans in the Senate.
Agriculture
Abundant Harvests: Protecting Our Farmers
Agricultural production and agricultural exports are a fundamental part of the U.S. economy,
and the vigor of U.S. agriculture is central to our agenda for jobs, growth, and prosperity.
Our farmers and ranchers are responsible for millions of jobs
and for generating a trade surplus of more than $137 billion annually.
Our producers provide America with abundant food, export food to hungry people around the world, and create a positive trade balance.
Because of their care for the land, the United States does not depend on foreign imports for sustenance the way we depend on others for much of our energy.
However, Americans are concerned about the increasing cost of their food under the current Administration policies that restrict energy production
and raise costs for producers due to increased regulation.
Our dependence on foreign imports of fertilizer could threaten our food supply,
and we support the development of domestic production of fertilizer.
The success of our system of risk management policies will enable farmers and ranchers to continue to feed and fuel the nation and much of the world.
Restoring Economic Stability for Our Farmers
Uncertainty is threatening the survival of our nation’s farmers.
America’s growers and farmers are aging and much of America’s farmland will be passed to the next generation of farmers with families.
Uncertainties in estate and capital gains tax laws threaten the survival of multigenerational family farms.
The proposals for tax reforms contained elsewhere in this document will make certain that family farms will not be lost.
The Proper Federal Role in Agriculture
Agricultural producers and the jobs they generate throughout the entire food chain must confront volatility in both the weather and the markets.
We support farm programs that enable them to manage the extraordinary risk they meet in the fields every year.
These programs should be as costeffective as they are functional,
offering risk management tools that improve producers’ ability to operate when times are tough.
Just as all other federal programs must contribute to the deficit reduction necessary to put our country back on a sound fiscal footing, so must farm programs contribute to balancing the budget.
Programs like the Direct Payment program should end in favor of those, like crop insurance, that help manage risk and are countercyclical in nature.
We support the historic role of the USDA in agricultural research that has transformed farming here and around the world.
Because food safety is a major concern of the American people, we urge Congress to ensure adequate resources for the Department’s responsibilities in that regard.
The U. S. Forest Service controls about 193 million acres of land and employs 30,000 workers.
The Forest Service should be charged to use these resources to the best economic potential for the nation.
We must limit injunctions by activist judges regarding environmental management.
In order to secure one of the country’s most important natural resources, we will review the way the Forest Service handles wildfires.
This summer’s lack of rainfall over much of agricultural America highlights the importance of access to water for farmers and ranchers alike.
We stand with growers and producers in defense of their water rights against attempts by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers to expand jurisdiction over water, including water that is clearly not navigable.
The productivity of America’s farmers makes possible the generosity of U.S. food aid efforts around the world.
These programs are fragmented between the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
They should be streamlined into one agency with a concentration on reducing overhead to maximize delivery of the actual goods.
The food stamp program now accounts for nearly 80 percent of the entire USDA budget.
In finding ways to fight fraud and abuse, the Congress should consider blockgranting that program to the States, along with the other domestic nutrition programs.
Protecting Our Environment
The environment is getting cleaner and healthier.
The nation’s air and waterways, as a whole, are much  healthier  than  they  were just  a  few  decades  ago.
 Efforts  to reduce  pollution,  encourage  recycling,  educate  the  public,  and avoid  ecological  degradation have  been  a  success.  
To  ensure their  continued  support  by  the American  people,  however,  we need  a  dramatic  change  in  the attitude  of  officials  in  Washington,
 a  shift  from  a  jobkilling punitive  mentality
 to  a  spirit  of cooperation  with  producers, landowners,  and  the  public.
  An important  factor  is  full  transparency  in  development  of  the data  and  modeling  that  drive regulations.  
Legislation  to  restore  the  authority  of States  in  environmental  protection  is  essential.   
We encourage  the  use  of  agricultural  best  management practices  among  the  States  to  reduce  pollution.
Our  Republican  Party’s  Commitment  to  Conservation
Conservation is a conservative value.
As the pioneer of conservation over a century ago, the Republican Party believes in the moral obligation of the people to be good stewards of the Godgiven natural beauty and resources of our country
and bases environmental policy on several commonsense principles.
For example, we believe people are the most valuable  resource,  and  human  health  and  safety  are the  most  important  measurements  of  success.
  A  policy  protecting  these  objectives,  however,  must  balance  economic  development  and  private  property rights  in  the  short  run  with  conservation  goals  over the  long  run.
  Also,  public  access  to  public  lands  for recreational  activities  such  as  hunting,  fishing,  and recreational  shooting  should  be  permitted  on  all  appropriate  federal  lands.   
Moreover,  the  advance  of  science  and  technology advances  environmentalism  as  well.
 Science  allows us  to  weigh  the  costs  and  benefits  of  a  policy  so  that we  can  prudently  deal  with  our  resources.
  This  is  especially  important  when  the  causes  and  longrange effects  of  a  phenomenon  are  uncertain.  
 We  must  restore  scientific  integrity  to  our public  research  institutions
 and remove  political  incentives  from publicly  funded  research.
Private  Stewardship  of  the Environment
Experience  has  shown  that, in  caring  for  the  land  and  water, private  ownership  has  been  our best  guarantee  of  conscientious stewardship,
 while  the  worst  instances  of  environmental  degradation  have  occurred  under government  control.
  By  the  same token,  the  most  economically advanced  countries–those  that respect  and  protect  private  property  rights—also  have the  strongest  environmental  protections,
 because their  economic  progress  makes  possible  the  conservation  of  natural  resources.
 In  this  context,  Congress should  reconsider  whether  parts  of  the  federal  government’s  enormous  landholdings  and  control  of water  in  the  West  could  be  better  used  for  ranching, mining,  or  forestry  through  private  ownership.
 Timber  is  a  renewable  natural  resource,
 which  provides jobs  to  thousands  of  Americans.
  All  efforts  should  be made  to  make  federal  lands  managed  by  the  U.S.  Forest  Service  available  for  harvesting.
  The  enduring truth  is  that  people  best  protect  what  they  own.
It  makes  sense  that  those  closest  to  a  situation are  best  able  to  determine  its  remedy. 
That  is  why  a site and  situationspecific  approach  to  an  environmental  problem  is  more  likely  to  solve  it,  instead  of  a national  rule  based  on  the  ideological  concerns  of politicized  central  planning.
We  therefore  endorse legislation  to  require  congressional  approval  before any  rule  projected  to  cost  in  excess  of  $100  million  to American  consumers  can  go  into  effect.
The Republican Party supports appointing public officials to federal agencies who will properly and correctly apply environmental laws and regulations, always in support of economic development, job creation, and American prosperity and leadership.
Federal agencies charged with enforcing environmental laws must stop regulating beyond their authority.
There is no place in regulatory agencies for activist regulators.
Reining in the EPA
Since 2009, the EPA has moved forward with expansive regulations that will impose tens of billions of dollars in new costs on American businesses and consumers.
Many of these new rules are creating regulatory uncertainty, preventing new projects from going forward, discouraging new investment, and stifling job creation.
We demand an end to the EPA’s participation in “sue and settle” lawsuits, sweetheart litigation brought by environmental groups to expand the Agency’s regulatory activities against the wishes of Congress and the public.
We will require full transparency in litigation under the nation’s environmental laws,
including advance notice to all State and local governments, tribes, businesses, landowners, and the public who could be adversely affected.
We likewise support pending legislation to ensure cumulative analysis of EPA regulations,
and to require full transparency in all EPA decisions,
so that the public will know in advance their full impact on jobs and the economy.
We oppose the EPA’s unwarranted revocation of existing permits.
We also call on Congress to take quick action to prohibit the EPA from moving forward with new greenhouse gas regulations that will harm the nation’s economy
and threaten millions of jobs over the next quarter century.
The most powerful environmental policy is liberty, the central organizing principle of the American Republic and its people.
Liberty alone fosters scientific inquiry, technological innovation, entrepreneurship, and information exchange.
Liberty must remain the core energy behind America’s environmental improvement.
Reforming Government to Serve the People
We  are  the  party  of  government  reform. 
At  a  time when  the  federal  government  has  become  bloated,  antiquated  and  unresponsive  to  taxpayers,  it  is  our  intention  not  only  to  improve  management  and  provide better  services,  
but  also  to  rethink  and  restructure government  to  bring  it  into  the  twentyfirst  century.
Government  reform  requires  constant  vigilance  and effort because  government  by  its  nature  tends  to  expand  in  both  size  and  scope.
 
 Our  goal  is  not  just  less spending  in  Washington
 but  something  far  more  important  for  the  future  of  our  nation:  protecting  the constitutional  rights  of  citizens,  
sustainable  prosperity,
 and  strengthening  the  American  family.
 It  isn’t  enough  to  merely  downsize  government, having  a  smaller  version  of  the  same  failed  systems.
We  must  do  things  in  a  dramatically  different  way  by reversing  the  undermining  of federalism  and  the  centralizing of  power  in  Washington.  
 We look  to  the  example  set  by  Republican  Governors  and  legislators  all  across  the  nation. 
Their leadership  in  reforming  and reengineering  government  closest  to  the  people  vindicates  the role  of  the  States  as  the  laboratories  of  democracy. 
 Our  approach,  like  theirs,  is twofold.  
 We  look  to  government—local,  State,  and  federal— for  the  things  government  must do, but  we  believe  those  duties can  be  carried  out  more  efficiently  and  at  less  cost.
 
For  all  other  activities,  we  look  to  the  private  sector; for  the  American  people’s  resourcefulness,  productivity,  innovation,  fiscal  responsibility,  and  citizenleadership  have  always  been  the  true  foundation  of our  national  greatness. 
For  much  of  the  last  century,  an  opposing  view has  dominated  public  policy  where  we  have  witnessed the  expansion,  centralization,  and  bureaucracy  in  an entitlement  society.  
Government  has  lumbered  on, stifling  innovation,  with  no  incentive  for  fundamental change,  through  antiquated  programs  begun  generations  ago  and  now  illsuited  to  present  needs  and  future  requirements. 
As  a  result,  today’s  taxpayers—and future  generations—face  massive  indebtedness,
  while Congressional  Democrats  and  the  current  Administration  block  every  attempt  to  turn  things  around.
This  manmade  logjam—the  socalled  stalemate  in Washington—particularly  affects  the  government’s three  largest  programs,  which  have  become  central  to the  lives  of  untold  millions  of  Americans:  Medicare, Medicaid,  and  Social  Security.
Saving Medicare for Future Generations
The  Republican  Party  is  committed  to  saving Medicare  and  Medicaid.
 Unless  the  programs’  fiscal ship  is  righted,  the  individuals hurt  the  first  and  the  worst  will  be those  who  depend  on  them  the most.  
 We  will  save  Medicare  by modernizing  it,
 by  empowering its  participants, 
and  by  putting  it on  a  secure  financial  footing. 
This will  be  an  enormous  undertaking, and  it  should  be  a  nonpartisan one.
 We  welcome  to  the  effort all  who  sincerely  want  to  ensure the  future  for  our  seniors  
and the  poor.
 Republicans  are  determined  to  achieve  that  goal  with  a candid  and  honest  presentation of  the  problem  and  its  solutions to  the  American  people.
Despite  the  enormous  differences  between Medicare  and  Medicaid,  the  two  programs  share  the same  fiscal  outlook:  their  current  courses  cannot  be sustained.   
Medicare  has  grown  from  more  than  20 million  enrolled  in  1970  to  more  than  47  million  enrolled  today,  with  a  projected  total  of  80  million  in 2030.  
Medicaid  counted  almost  30  million  enrollees in  1990,  has  about  54  million  now,  and  under  Obamacare  would  include  an  additional  11  million.
Medicare  spent  more  than  $520  billion  in  2010  andhas  close  to  $37  trillion  in  unfunded  obligations
,while  total  Medicaid  spending  will  more  than  doubleby  2019.  
In  many  States,  Medicaid’s  mandates  andinflexible  bureaucracy  have  become  a  budgetaryblack  hole,  growing  faster  than  most  other  budgetlines  and  devouring  funding  for  many  other  essentialgovernmental  functions.  
The  problem  goes  beyond  finances.
 Poor  quality healthcare  is  the  most  expensive  type  of  care  because it  prolongs  affliction  and  leads  to  ever  more  complications.  
Even  expensive  prevention  is  preferable  to more  costly  treatment  later  on.
  When  approximately 80  percent  of  healthcare  costs  are  related  to  lifestyle –smoking,  obesity,  substance  abuse–far  greater  emphasis  has  to  be  put  upon  personal  responsibility  for health  maintenance.
  Our  goal  for  both  Medicare  and Medicaid  must  be  to  assure  that  every  participant  receives  the  amount  of  care  they  need  at  the  time  they need  it,
 whether  for  an  expectant  mother  and  her  baby or  for  someone  in  the  last  moments  of  life.
  Absent  reforms,  these  two  programs  are  headed  for  bankruptcy that  will  endanger  care  for  seniors  and  the  poor.   
The  first  step  is  to  move  the  two  programs  away from  their  current  unsustainable  defined benefit entitlement  model  to  a  fiscally  sound  defined contribution  model.
 This  is  the  only  way  to  limit  costs and  restore  consumer  choice  for  patients  and  introduce  competition;
 for  in  healthcare,  as  in  any  other sector  of  the  economy,  genuine  competition  is  the best  guarantee  of  better  care  at  lower  cost.
  It  is  also the  best  guard  against  the  fraud  and  abuse  that  have plagued  Medicare  in  its  isolation  from  free  market forces, which  in  turn  costs  the  taxpayers  billions  of dollars  every  year.
 We  can  do  this  without  making any  changes  for  those  55  and  older.
 While  retaining the  option  of  traditional  Medicare  in  competition with  private  plans,  we  call  for  a  transition  to  a  premiumsupport  model  for  Medicare,  with  an  incomeadjusted  contribution  toward  a  health  plan  of  the enrollee’s  choice.
 This  model  will  include  private health  insurance  plans  that  provide  catastrophic  protection,  to  ensure  the  continuation  of  doctorpatient relationships.
 Without  disadvantaging  retirees  or those  nearing  retirement,  the  age  eligibility  for Medicare  must  be  made  more  realistic  in  terms  of today’s  longer  life  span.   
Strengthening Medicaid in the States
Medicaid, as the dominant payer in the health market in regards to longterm care, births, and individuals with mental illness, is the next frontier of welfare reform.
It is simply too big and too flawed to be managed in its current condition from Washington.
Republican Governors have taken the lead in proposing a host of regulatory changes that could make the program more flexible, innovative, and accountable.
There should be alternatives to hospitalization for chronic health problems.
Patients could be rewarded for participating in disease prevention activities.
Excessive mandates on coverage should be eliminated.
Patients with longterm care needs might fare better in a separately designed program.
As those and other specific proposals show, Republican Governors and State legislatures are ready to do the hard work of modernizing Medicaid for the twentyfirst century.
We propose to let them do all that and more by blockgranting the program to the States, providing the States with the flexibility to design programs that meet the needs of their low income citizens.
Such reforms could be achieved through premium supports or a refundable tax credit,
allowing nondisabled adults and children to be moved into private health insurance of their choice, where their needs can be met on the same basis as those of more affluent Americans.
For the aged and disabled under Medicaid, for whom monthly costs can be extremely high, States would have flexibility to improve the quality of care
and to avoid the inappropriate institutional placing of patients who prefer to be cared for at home.
Security  For  Those  Who  Need  It:  Ensuring  Retirement  Security
While no changes should adversely affect any current or nearretiree, comprehensive reform should address our society’s remarkable medical advances in longevity
and allow younger workers the option of creating their own personal investment accounts as supplements to the system.
Younger Americans have lost all faith in the Social Security system, which is understandable when they read the nonpartisan actuary’s reports about its future funding status.
Born in an old industrial era beyond the memory of most Americans, it is long overdue for major change, not just another legislative stopgap that postpones a day of reckoning.
To restore public trust in the system, Republicans are committed to setting it on a sound fiscal basis that will give workers control over, and a sound return on, their investments.
The sooner we act, the sooner those close to retirement can be reassured of their benefits
and younger workers can take responsibility for planning their own retirement decades from now.
Unlike Social Security, the problems facing private pension plans are both demographic and ethical.
While pension law may be complicated, the current bottom line is that many plans are increasingly underfunded by overestimating their rates of return on investments.
This in turn endangers the integrity of the Pension Guaranty Benefit Corporation, which is itself seriously underfunded.
In both cases, the taxpayers will be expected to pay for a bailout.
As the first step toward possible corrective action, we call for a presidential panel to review the private pension system in this country of only those private pensions that are backed by the Pension Guaranty Benefit Corporation and to make public its findings.
The situation of public pension systems demands immediate remedial action.
The irresponsible promises of politicians at every level of government have come back to haunt today’s taxpayers with enormous unfunded pension liabilities.
Many cities face bankruptcy because of excessive outlays for early retirement, extravagant health plans, and overly generous pension benefits.
We salute the Republican Governors and State legislators who have, in the face of abuse and threats of violence, reformed their State pension systems for the benefit of both taxpayers and retirees alike.
Regulatory Reform: The Key to Economic Growth
The proper purpose of regulation is to set forth clear rules of the road for the citizens, so that business owners and workers can understand in advance what they need to do, or not do, to augment the possibilities for success within the confines of the law.
Regulations must be drafted and implemented to balance legitimate public safety or consumer protection goals and job creation.
Constructive regulation should be a helpful guide, not a punitive threat.
Worst of all, overregulation is a stealth tax on everyone as the costs of compliance with the whims of federal agencies are passed along to the consumers at the cost of $1.75 trillion a year.
Many regulations are necessary, like those which ensure the safety of food and medicine, especially from overseas.
But no peril justifies the regulatory impact of Obamacare on the practice of medicine,
the DoddFrank Act on financial services,
or the EPA’s and OSHA’s overreaching regulation agenda.
A Republican Congress and President will repeal the first and second, and rein in the third.
We support a sunset requirement to force reconsideration of outofdate regulations,
and we endorse pending legislation to require congressional approval for all new major and costly regulations.
The bottom line on regulations is jobs.
In listening to America, one constant we have heard is the jobcrippling effect of even wellintentioned regulation.
That makes it all the more important for federal agencies to be judicious about the impositions they create on businesses, especially small businesses.
We call for a moratorium on the development of any new major and costly regulations until a Republican Administration reviews existing rules to ensure that they have a sound basis in science and will be costeffective.
Protecting Internet Freedom
The Internet has unleashed innovation, enabled growth, and inspired freedom more rapidly and extensively than any other technological advance in human history.
Its independence is its power.
The Internet offers a communications system uniquely free from government intervention. ()
We will remove regulatory barriers that protect outdated technologies and business plans from innovation and competition, ()
while preventing legacy regulation from interfering with new and disruptive technologies such as mobile delivery of voice video data as they become crucial components of the Internet ecosystem.
We will resist any effort to shift control away from the successful multistakeholder approach of Internet governance and toward governance by international or other intergovernmental organizations.
We will ensure that personal data receives full constitutional protection from government overreach
and that individuals retain the right to control the use of their data by third parties;
the only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector.
A Vision for the TwentyFirst Century: Technology, Telecommunications and the Internet
The most vibrant sector of the American economy, indeed, onesixth of it, is regulated by the federal government on precedents from the nineteenth century.
Today’s technology and telecommunications industries are overseen by the Federal Communications Commission, established in 1934 and given the jurisdiction over telecommunications formerly assigned to the Interstate Commerce Commission, which had been created in 1887 to regulate the railroads.
This is not a good fit.
Indeed, the development of telecommunications advances so rapidly that even the Telecom Act of 1996 is woefully out of date.
An industry that  invested  $66  billion  in  2011 alone  needs,  and  deserves,  a more  modern  relationship  with the  federal  government  for  the benefit  of  consumers  here  and worldwide. 
The  current  Administration has  been  frozen  in  the  past.
  It has  conducted  no  auction  of spectrum, 
has  offered  no  incentives  for  investment,
 and, through  the  FCC’s  net  neutrality  rule,  is  trying  to  micromanage  telecom  as  if  it  were  a  railroad  network.   
It inherited  from  the  previous  Republican  Administration  95  percent  coverage  of  the  nation  with  broadband.  
It  will  leave  office  with  no  progress  toward  the goal  of  universal  coverage  –  after  spending  $7.2  billion  more.
  That  hurts  rural  America,  where  farmers, ranchers,  and  small  business  manufacturers  need connectivity  to  expand  their  customer  base  and  operate  in  real  time  with  the  world’s  producers.
 We  encourage  publicprivate  partnerships  to  provide predictable  support  for  connecting  rural  areas  so  that every  American  can  fully  participate  in  the  global economy.  
We call for an inventory of federal agency spectrum to determine the surplus that could be auctioned for the taxpayers’ benefit.
With special recognition of the role university technology centers are playing in attracting private investment to the field, we will replace the administration’s Luddite approach to technological progress with a regulatory partnership that will keep this country the world leader in technology and telecommunications.
Protecting the Taxpayers: No More “Too Big to Fail”
For more than a century, the U.S. was the world leader in financial services.
The visionary management of capital was the lifeblood of the entire economy.
By giving responsible access to credit, it helped small businesses grow,
created jobs,
and made Americans the besthoused people in history.
By funding innovation, financial services underwrote our future.
Then came the financial collapse of 2008 and a critical reassessment of the role and condition of financial institutions—most  of  which,  it  must  be said,  were  responsible  and healthy,  especially  those  closest  to their  investors  and  borrowers.
 In  cases  of  malfeasance  or other  criminal  behavior,  the  full force  of  the  law  should  be  used.
But  in  all  cases,  this  rule  must apply:  No  financial  institution  is too  big  to  fail.
 The  taxpayers  must never again be on the hook for the losses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The public must never again be left holding the bag for Wall Street giants,
which is why we decry the current Administration’s record of overregulation and selective intervention,
which has already frozen investment and job creation.
and threatens to make financial institutions the coddled wards of government.
A  far  better  approach—protecting  consumers  and taxpayers  alike—is  institutional  transparency. 
Banks need  to  know  that  they  could  be  at  risk,  and  investors need  clear  rules  that  are  not  subject  to  political  meddling. 
The  same  holds  true  for  the  equity  market regulated  by  the  Securities  and  Exchange  Commission.
We  propose  reasonable  federal  oversight  of  financial institutions, 
practical  safeguards  for  consumers,
and  –  what  is  crucial  for  this  country’s  economic  rebound  –  sound  spending,  tax,  and  regulatory  policies that  will  allow  those  institutions  to  once  again  become the  builders  of  the  next  American  century.
  We strongly  support  tax  reform;
 in  the  event  we  do  not achieve  this,  we  must  preserve  the  mortgage  interest deduction.
Judicial Activism: A Threat to the U.S. Constitution
Despite improvements as a result of Republican nominations to the judiciary, some judges in the federal courts remain far afield from their constitutional limitations.
The U.S. Constitution is the law of the land.
Judicial activism which includes reliance on foreign law or unratified treaties undermines American law.
The sole solution, apart from impeachment, is the appointment of constitutionalist jurists, who will interpret the law as it was originally intended rather than make it.
That is both a presidential responsibility, in selecting judicial candidates, and a senatorial responsibility, in confirming them.
We urge Republican Senators to do all in their power to prevent the elevation of additional leftist ideologues to the courts, particularly in the waning days of the current Administration.
In addition to appointing activist judges, the current Administration has included an activist and highly partisan Department of Justice.
With a Republican Administration, the Department will stop suing States for exercising those powers reserved to the States,
will stop abusing its preclearance authority to block photoID voting laws,
and will fulfill its responsibility to defend all federal laws in court, including the Defense of Marriage Act.
Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service for the TwentyFirst Century
The dire financial circumstances of the Postal Service require dramatic restructuring.
In a world of rapidly advancing telecommunications, mail delivery from the era of the Pony Express cannot long survive.
We call on Congress to restructure the Service to ensure the continuance of its essential function of delivering mail
while preparing for the downsizing made inevitable by the advance of internet communication.
In light of the Postal Service’s seriously underfunded pension system, Congress should explore a greater role for private enterprise in appropriate aspects of the mailprocessing system.
Protecting Travelers and their Rights: Reforming the TSA for Security and Privacy
While the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks brought about a greater need for homeland security, the American people have already delivered their verdict on the Transportation Security Administration: its procedures – and much of its personnel – need to be changed.
It is now a massive bureaucracy of 65,000 employees who seem to be accountable to no one for the way they treat travelers.
We call for the private sector to take over airport screening wherever feasible
and look toward the development of security systems that can replace the personal violation of frisking.
The Rule of Law: Legal Immigration
The greatest asset of the American economy is the American worker.
Just as immigrant labor helped build our country in the past, today’s legal immigrants are making vital contributions in every aspect of our national life.
Their industry and commitment to American values strengthens our economy,
enriches our culture,
and enables us to better understand and more effectively compete with the rest of the world.
Illegal immigration undermines those benefits and affects U.S. workers.
In an age of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and criminal gangs, the presence of millions of unidentified persons in this country poses grave risks to the safety and the sovereignty of the United States.
Our highest priority, therefore, is to secure the rule of law both at our borders and at ports of entry.
We recognize that for most of those seeking entry into this country, the lack of respect for the rule of law in their homelands has meant economic exploitation and political oppression by corrupt elites.
In this country, the rule of law guarantees equal treatment to every individual, including more than one million immigrants to whom we grant permanent residence every year.
That is why we oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by intentionally violating the law, disadvantage those who have obeyed it.
Granting amnesty only rewards and encourages more law breaking.
We support the mandatory use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (S.A.V.E.) program—an internetbased system that verifies the lawful presence of applicants—prior to the granting of any State or federal government entitlements or IRS refunds.
We insist upon enforcement at the workplace through verification systems so that jobs can be available to all legal workers.
Use of the Everify program—an internetbased system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees—must be made mandatory nationwide.
State enforcement efforts in  the  workplace  must  be  welcomed,  not  attacked.  
When Americans  need  jobs,  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  we  protect them  from  illegal  labor  in  the workplace.
  In  addition,  it  is  why we  demand  tough  penalties  for those  who  practice  identity  theft, deal  in  fraudulent  documents, and  traffic  in  human  beings. 
It  is why  we  support  Republican  legislation  to  give  the  Department  of Homeland  Security  longterm detention  authority  to  keep  dangerous  but  undeportable  aliens  off  our  streets,
 expedite  expulsion  of criminal  aliens,
 and  make  gang  membership  a  deportable  offense.
  
The current Administration’s approach to immigration has undermined the rule of law at every turn.
It has lessened worksite enforcement—and even allows the illegal aliens it does uncover to walk down the street to the next employer
—and challenged legitimate State efforts to keep communities safe, suing them for trying to enforce the law when the federal government refuses to do so.
It has created a backdoor amnesty program unrecognized in law, granting worker authorization to illegal aliens,
and shown little regard for the lifeanddeath situations facing the men and women of the border patrol.
Perhaps worst of all, the current Administration has failed to enforce the legal means for workers or employers who want to operate within the law.
In contrast, a Republican Administration and Congress will partner with local governments through cooperative enforcement agreements in Section 287g of the Immigration and Nationality Act to make communities safer for all
and will consider, in light of both current needs and historic practice, the utility of a legal and reliable source of foreign labor where needed through a new guest worker program.
We will create humane procedures to encourage illegal aliens to return home voluntarily,
while enforcing the law against those who overstay their visas.
State  efforts  to  reduce  illegal  immigration  must be  encouraged,  not  attacked.  
  The  pending  Department  of  Justice  lawsuits  against  Arizona,  Alabama, South  Carolina,  and  Utah  must be  dismissed  immediately.  
The doublelayered  fencing  on  the  border  that  was  enacted  by  Congress in  2006,  but  never  completed, must  finally  be  built.  
 In  order  to restore  the  rule  of  law,  federal funding  should  be  denied  to  sanctuary  cities  that  violate  federal  law and  endanger  their  own  citizens,
and  federal  funding  should  be  denied  to  universities  that  provide  instate  tuition  rates  to  illegal  aliens, in  open  defiance  of  federal  law. 
We  are  grateful  to  the  thousands  of  new  immigrants,  many  of  them  not  yet  citizens,  who  are  serving in  the  Armed  Forces. 
Their  patriotism  should  encourage  us  all  to  embrace  the  newcomers  legally  among us,
 assist  their  journey  to  full  citizenship,
 and  help their  communities  avoid  isolation  from  the  mainstream  of  society.
  To  that  end,  while  we  encourage the  retention  and  transmission  of  heritage  tongues, we  support  English  as  the  nation’s  official  language,
a  unifying  force  essential  for  the  educational  and  economic  advancement  of—not  only  immigrant  communities—but   also  our  nation  as  a  whole.   
Honoring Our Relationship with American Indians
Based on both treaty and other law, the federal government has a unique governmenttogovernment relationship with and trust responsibility for Indian Tribal Governments and American Indians and Alaska Natives.
These obligations have not been sufficiently honored.
The social and economic problems that plague Indian country have grown worse over the last several decades; we must reverse that trend.
Ineffective federal programs deprive American Indians of the services they need,
and longterm failures threaten to undermine tribal sovereignty itself.
American Indians have established elected tribal governments to carry out the public policies of the tribe,
administer services to its tribal member constituents,
and manage relations with federal, State, and local governments.
We respect the tribal governments as the voice of their communities and encourage federal, State, and local governments to heed those voices in developing programs and partnerships to improve the quality of life for American Indians and their neighbors in their communities.
Republicans believe that economic selfsufficiency is the ultimate answer to the challenges confronting Indian country.
We believe that tribal governments and their communities, not Washington bureaucracies, are best situated to craft solutions that will end systemic problems that create poverty and disenfranchisement.
Just as the federal government should not burden States with regulations,
it should not stifle the development of resources within the reservations,
which need federal assistance to advance their commerce nationally through roads and technology.
Federal and State regulations that thwart job creation must be withdrawn or redrawn so that tribal governments acting on behalf of American Indians are not disadvantaged.
It is especially egregious that the Democratic Party has persistently undermined tribal sovereignty in order to provide advantage to union bosses in the tribal workplace.
Republicans recognize that each tribe has the right of consultation before any new regulatory policy is implemented on tribal land.
To the extent possible, such consultation should take place in Indian country with the tribal government and its members.
Before promulgating and imposing any new laws or regulations affecting trust land or members, the federal government should encourage Indian tribes to develop their own policies to achieve program objectives,
and should defer to tribes to develop their own standards, or standards in conjunction with State governments.
Republicans reject a onesizefitsall approach to federaltribalState partnerships
and will work to expand local autonomy where tribal governments seek it.
Better partnerships will help us to expand economic opportunity,
deliver topflight education to future generations,
modernize and improve the Indian Health Service to make it more responsive to local needs,
and build essential infrastructure in Indian country in cooperation with tribal neighbors.
Our approach is to empower American Indians, through tribal selfdetermination and selfgovernance policies
, to develop their greatest assets, human resources and the rich natural resources on their lands,
without undue federal interference.
Like all Americans, American Indians want safe communities for their families;
but inadequate resources and neglect have, over time, allowed criminal activities to plague Indian country.
To protect everyone—and especially the most vulnerable: children, women, and elders—the legal system in tribal communities must provide stability and protect property rights.
Everyone’s due process and civil rights must be safeguarded.
We support efforts to ensure equitable participation in federal programs by American Indians, including Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians and
to preserve their culture and languages that we consider to be national treasures.
Lastly, we recognize that American Indians have responded to the call for military service in percentage numbers far greater than have other groups of Americans.
We honor that commitment, loyalty, and sacrifice of all American Indians serving in the military today and in years past
and will ensure that all veterans and their families receive the care and respect they have earned through their loyal service to America.
Preserving the District of Columbia
The nation’s capital city, a special responsibility of the federal government, belongs both to its residents and to all Americans, millions of whom visit it every year.
Congressional Republicans have taken the lead in efforts to foster homeownership
and open access to higher education for Washington residents.
Against the opposition of the current President and leaders of the Democratic Party, they have fought to establish, and now to expand, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program,
through which thousands of lowincome children have been able to attend a school of their choice and receive a quality education.
D.C.’s Republicans have been in the forefront of exposing and combating the chronic corruption among the city’s top Democratic officials.
We join their call for a nonpartisan elected Attorney General to clean up the city’s political culture
and for congressional action to enforce the spirit of the Home Rule Act assuring minority representation on the City Council.
After decades of inept oneparty rule, the city’s structural deficit demands congressional attention.
As the center of our government, the District contains many potential targets for terrorist attacks.
Federal security agencies should work closely with local officials and regional administrations like the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority.
A top priority must be ensuring that all public transportation, especially Metro rails, is functioning in the event of an emergency evacuation.
Also, to ensure protection of the fundamental right to keep and bear arms, we call on the governing authority to pass laws consistent with the Supreme Court’s decisions in the District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago cases, which upheld the fundamental right to keep and bear arms for selfdefense.
We oppose statehood for the District of Columbia.
Modernizing the Federal Civil Service
The federal workforce bears great responsibilities and sometimes wields tremendous power, especially when Congress delegates to it the execution of complicated and farreaching legislation.
We recognize the dedication of federal workers and the difficulty of their thankless task of implementing poorly drafted or openended legislation.
Under the current Administration, the civil service has grown by at least 140,000 workers, while the number making at least $150,000 has doubled.
At a time when the national debt has increased to over $15.9 trillion under the current Administration, this is grossly irresponsible.
The American people work too hard and too long to support a bloated government.
We call for a reduction, through attrition, in the federal payroll of at least 10 percent and the adjustment of pay scales and benefits to reflect those of the private sector.
We must bring the 130year old Civil Service System into the twentyfirst century.
The federal pay system should be sufficiently flexible to acknowledge and reward those who dare to innovate, reduce overhead, optimize processes, and expedite paperwork.
Delinquency in paying taxes and repaying student loans has been too common in some segments of the civil service.
A Republican Administration will make enforcement among its own employees a priority
and, unlike the current Administration, will name to public office no one who has failed to meet their financial obligations to the government and fellow taxpayers.
America’s Future in Space: Continuing this Quest
The exploration of space has been a key part of U.S. global leadership
and has supported innovation and ownership of technology.
Over the last halfcentury, in partnership with our aerospace industry, the work of NASA has helped define and strengthen our nation’s technological prowess.
From building the world’s most powerful rockets to landing men on the Moon, sending robotic spacecraft throughout our solar system and beyond, building the International Space Station, and launching spacebased telescopes that allow scientists to better understand our universe, NASA science and engineering have produced spectacular results.
The technologies that emerged from those programs propelled our aerospace industrial base and directly benefit our national security, safety, economy, and quality of life.
Through its achievements, NASA has inspired generations of Americans to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, leading to careers that drive our country’s technological and economic engines.
Today, America’s leadership in space is challenged by countries eager to emulate—and surpass— NASA’s accomplishments.
To preserve our national security interests
and foster innovation and competitiveness,
we must sustain our preeminence in space,
launching more science
, guaranteeing unfettered access,
missionsand maintaining a source of highvalue American jobs.
Honoring and Supporting Americans in the Territories
We honor the extraordinary sacrifices of the men and women of the territories who protect our freedom through their service in the U.S. Armed Forces.
We welcome their greater participation in all aspects of the political process
and affirm their right to seek the full extension of the Constitution, with all the rights and responsibilities it entails.
U.S. territories face serious economic challenges as they struggle to retain existing industries and develop new ones.
Development of local energy options is crucial to reduce their dependence on imported fuel
and promote economic stability.
The Pacific territories should have flexibility to determine the minimum wage, which has seriously restricted progress in the private sector.
A stronger private sector can raise wages,
reduce dependence on public sector employment,
and lead toward local selfsufficiency.
All unreasonable economic impediments must be removed, including unreasonable U.S. customs practices.
We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state if they freely so determine.
We recognize that Congress has the final authority to define the constitutionally valid options for Puerto Rico to achieve a permanent nonterritorial status with government by consent and full enfranchisement.
As long as Puerto Rico is not a State, however, the will of its people regarding their political status should be ascertained by means of a general right of referendum or specific referenda sponsored by the U.S. government.
Renewing American Values to Build Healthy Families, Great Schools and Safe Neighborhoods
We are the party of independent individuals and the institutions they create—families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods—to advance their ideals and make real their dreams.
Foremost among those institutions is the American family.
It is the foundation of our society and the first level of selfgovernment.
Its daily lessons–cooperation, patience, mutual respect, responsibility, selfreliance – are fundamental to the order and progress of our Republic.
Government can never replace the family.
That is why we insist that public policy, from taxation to education, from healthcare to welfare, be formulated with attention to the needs and strengths of the family.
Preserving and Protecting Traditional Marriage
The institution of marriage is the foundation of civil society.
Its success as an institution will determine our success as a nation.
It has been proven by both experience and endless social science studies that traditional marriage is best for children.
Children raised in intact married families are more likely to attend college, are physically and emotionally healthier, are less likely to use drugs or alcohol, engage in crime, or get pregnant outside of marriage.
The success of marriage directly impacts the economic wellbeing of individuals.
Furthermore, the future of marriage affects freedom.
The lack of family formation not only leads to more government costs,
but also to more government control over the lives of its citizens in all aspects.
We recognize and honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the many burdens of parenting alone, even as we believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage.
We embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity.
Creating a Culture of Hope: Raising Families Beyond Poverty
The Republicanled welfare reforms enacted in 1996 marked a revolution in government’s approach to poverty.
They changed the standard for policy success from the amount of income transferred to the poor to the number of poor who moved from welfare to economic independence.
We took the belief of most Americans—that welfare should be a hand up, not a hand out—and made it law.
Work requirements, though modest, were at the heart of this success.
That is why so many are now outraged by the current Administration’s recent decision to permit waivers for work requirements for welfare benefits,
in other words, to administratively repeal the most successful antipoverty policy in memory.
Instead of undermining the expectation that lowincome parents and individuals should strive to support themselves, benefit programs like food stamps must ensure that those benefits are better targeted to those who need help the most.
For the sake of lowincome families as well as the taxpayers, the federal government’s entire system of public assistance should be reformed to ensure that it promotes work.
Each year, this system dispenses nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer funds across a maze of approximately 80 programs that are neither coordinated nor effective in solving poverty and lifting up families.
For many individuals collecting benefits from multiple categorical programs, efforts to work or earn more actually result in less money in their pocket through the resulting loss of benefits.
This poverty trap would ensnare even more Americans if Obamacare were implemented.
Taking a part time job, working an extra shift, or even just marrying someone who works, would result in a loss of benefits, thereby discouraging the very acts necessary to achieve the American Dream.
Adoption and Foster Care
Families formed or enlarged by adoption strengthen our communities and ennoble our nation.
We applaud the Republican legislative initiatives that led to a significant increase in adoptions in recent years,
and we call upon the private sector to consider the needs of adoptive families on a par with others.
Any restructuring of the federal tax code should recognize the financial impact of the adoption process and the commitment made by adoptive families.
The nation’s foster care system remains a necessary fallback for youngsters from troubled families.
Because of reforms initiated by many States, the number of foster children has declined to just over 400,000.
A major problem of the system is its lack of support, financial and otherwise, for teens who age out of foster care and into a world in which many are not prepared to go it alone.
We urge States to work with the faithbased and other community groups which reach out to these young people in need.
Making the Internet FamilyFriendly
Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families.
We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet and call for reversal of the Justice Department’s decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet betting.
The Internet must be made safe for children.
We call on service providers to exercise due care to ensure that the Internet cannot become a safe haven for predators
while respecting First Amendment rights.
We congratulate the social networking sites that bar known sex offenders from participation.
We urge active prosecution against child pornography, which is closely linked to the horrors of human trafficking.
Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced.
Advancing Americans with Disabilities
We renew our commitment to the inclusion of Americans with disabilities in all aspects of our national life.
In keeping with that commitment, we oppose the nonconsensual withholding of care or treatment from people with disabilities,  including newborns, as well as the elderly and infirm,
just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide,
which endanger especially those on the margins of society.
Because government should set a positive standard in hiring and contracting for the services of persons with disabilities, we need to update the statutory authority for the Ability One program, a major avenue by which those productive members of our society can offer high quality services.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has opened up unprecedented opportunities for many students,
and we reaffirm our support for its goal of minimizing the separation of children with disabilities from their peers.
We urge preventive efforts in early childhood,
especially assistance in gaining prereading skills, to help many students move beyond the need for IDEA’s protections.
We endorse the program of Employment First, developed by major disability rights groups, to replace dependency with jobs in the mainstream of the American workforce.
Repealing Obamacare
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—Obamacare—was never really about healthcare, though its impact upon the nation’s health is disastrous.
From its start, it was about power, the expansion of government control over one sixth of our economy,
and resulted in an attack on our Constitution, by requiring that U.S. citizens purchase health insurance.
We agree with the four dissenting justices of the Supreme Court: “In our view the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety.”
It was the highwater mark of an outdated liberalism
, the latest attempt to impose upon Americans a eurostyle bureaucracy to manage all aspects of their lives.
Obamacare has been struck down in the court of public opinion and is falling by the weight of its own confusing, unworkable, budgetbusting, and conflicting provisions.
It would tremendously expand Medicaid without significant reform,
leaving the States to assume unsustainable financial burdens.
If fully implemented, it could not function;
and Republican victories in the November elections will guarantee that it is never implemented.
Congressional Republicans are committed to its repeal;
and a Republican President, on the first day in office, will use his legitimate waiver authority under that law to halt its progress and then will sign its repeal.
Then the American people, through the free market, can advance affordable and responsible healthcare reform that meets the needs and concerns of patients and providers.
Through Obamacare, the current Administration has promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare.
We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life.
Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and wellbeing of women, and we stand firmly against it.
Our Prescription for American Healthcare: Improve Quality and Lower Costs
We believe that taking care of one’s health is an individual responsibility.
Chronic diseases, many of them related to lifestyle, drive healthcare costs, accounting for more than 75 percent of the nation’s medical spending.
To reduce demand, and thereby lower costs, we must foster personal responsibility while increasing preventive services to promote healthy lifestyles.
We believe that all Americans should have improved access to affordable, coordinated, quality healthcare,
including individuals struggling with mental illness.
Our goal is to encourage the development of a healthcare system that provides higher quality care at a lower cost to all Americans
while protecting the patientphysician relationship based on mutual trust, informed consent, and privileged patient confidentiality.
 We  seek  to  increase  healthcare  choice  and  options,
 contain  costs  and  reduce  mandates,
 simplify the  system  for  patients  and  providers,  
restore  cuts made  to  Medicare,
 and  equalize  the  tax  treatment  of group  and  individual  health  insurance  plans.  
 For most  Americans,  those  who  are  insured  now  or  who seek  insurance  in  the  future,  our  practical,  nonintrusive  reforms  will  promote  flexibility  in  State  leadership  in  healthcare  reform,
 promote  a  freemarket based  system,
 and  empower  consumer  choice.
 All  of which  will  return  direction  of  the  nation’s  healthcare to  the  people  and  away  from  the  federal  government.
To return the States to their proper role of regulating  local  insurance  markets  and  caring  for  the needy,  we  propose  to  block  grant  Medicaid  and  other payments  to  the  States;
 limit  federal  requirements  on both  private  insurance  and  Medicaid;
 assist  all  patients,  including  those  with  preexisting  conditions, through  reinsurance  and  risk  adjustment;
 and  promote  nonlitigation  alternatives  for  dispute  resolution.
 We  call  on  State  officials  to  carefully  consider the  increased  costs  of  medical  mandates,  imposed under  their  laws,  which  may  price  many  lowincome families  out  of  the  insurance  market.  
 We  call  on  the government  to  permanently  ban  all  federal  funding and  subsidies  for  abortion  and  healthcare  plans  that include  abortion  coverage.
To  achieve  a  free  market  in  healthcare  and  ensure competition,  we  will  promote  price  transparency  so that  consumers  will  know  the  actual  cost  of  treatments  before  they  undergo  them.  
When  patients  are aware  of  costs,  they  are  less  likely  to  overutilize  services.
We support legislation to cap noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits,
thereby relieving conscientious providers of burdens that are not rightly theirs and addressing a serious cause of escalating medical bills.
We will empower individuals and small businesses to form purchasing pools in order to expand coverage to the uninsured.
Individuals with preexisting conditions who maintain continuous insurance coverage should be protected from discrimination.
  We  support  technology  enhancements  for  medical  health  records  and  data  systems
while  affirming  patient  privacy  and  ownership  of health  information.  
Ensuring Consumer Choice in Healthcare
Consumer choice is the most powerful factor in healthcare reform.
Today’s highly mobile work force requires portability of insurance coverage that can go with them from job to job.
The need to maintain coverage should not dictate where families have to live and work.
Putting the patient at the center of policy decisions will increase choice and reduce costs while ensuring that services provide what Americans actually want.
We must end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance and allow consumers to purchase insurance across State lines.
While promoting “coinsurance” products and alternatives to “fee for service,” government must promote Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Accounts to be used for insurance premiums
and should encourage the private sector to rate competing insurance plans.
We will ensure that America’s aging population has access to safe and affordable care.
Because seniors overwhelmingly desire to age at home, we will make home care a priority in public policy.
We will champion the right of individual choice in senior care.
We will aggressively implement programs to protect against elder abuse,
and we will work to ensure that quality care is provided across the care continuum from home to nursing home to hospice.
Supporting Federal Healthcare Research and Development
We support federal investment in healthcare delivery systems and solutions creating innovative means to provide greater, more costeffective access to high quality healthcare.
We also support federal investment in basic and applied biomedical research, especially the neuroscience research that may hold great potential for dealing with diseases and disorders such as Autism, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s.
If we are to make significant headway against breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, and other killers, research must consider the special needs of formerly neglected groups.
We call for expanded support for the stemcell research that now offers the greatest hope for many afflictions–
with adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells–without the destruction of embryonic human life.
We urge a ban on human cloning and on the creation of or experimentation on human embryos.
We support restoring the Drug Enforcement Administration ban on the use of controlled substances for physicianassisted suicide.
We oppose the FDA approval of Mifeprex, formerly known as RU486, and similar drugs that terminate innocent human life after conception.
Protecting Individual Conscience in Healthcare
No healthcare professional or organization should ever be required to perform, provide for, withhold, or refer for a medical service against their conscience.
This is especially true of the religious organizations which deliver a major portion of America’s healthcare, a service rooted in the charity of faith communities.
We do not believe, however, that healthcare providers should be allowed to withhold services because the healthcare provider believes the patient’s life is not worth living.
We support the ability of all organizations to provide, purchase, or enroll in healthcare coverage consistent with their religious, moral or ethical convictions without discrimination or penalty.
We likewise support the right of parents to consent to medical treatment for their children, including mental health treatment, drug treatment, and treatment involving pregnancy, contraceptives and abortion.
We urge enactment of pending legislation that would require parental consent to transport girls across state lines for abortions.
Reforming the FDA
America’s leadership in life sciences R&D and medical innovation is being threatened.
As a country, we must work together now or lose our leadership position in medical innovation, U.S. job creation, and access to lifesaving treatments for U.S. patients.
The United States has led the global medical device and pharmaceutical industries for decades.
This leadership has made the U.S. the medical innovation capital of the world,
bringing millions of highpaying jobs to our country
and lifesaving devices and drugs to our nation’s patients.
But that leadership position is at risk;
patients, innovators, and job creators point to the lack of predictability, consistency, transparency and efficiency at the Food and Drug Administration that is driving innovation overseas, benefiting foreign, not U.S., patients.
We pledge to reform the FDA so we can ensure that the U.S. remains the world leader in medical innovation,
that device and drug jobs stay in the U.S.
that U.S. patients benefit first from new devices and drugs,
and that the FDA no longer wastes U.S. taxpayer and innovators’ resources because of bureaucratic red tape and legal uncertainty.
Reducing Costs through Tort Reform
Frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits have ballooned the cost of healthcare for the average American.
Physicians are increasingly practicing defensive medicine because of the looming threat of malpractice liability.
Moreover, some medical practitioners are avoiding patients with complex and highrisk medical problems because of the high costs of medical malpractice lawsuits.
Rural America is hurt especially hard as obstetricians, surgeons, and other healthcare providers are moving to urban settings or retiring,
causing a significant healthcare workforce shortage
and subsequently decreasing access to care for all patients.
We are committed to aggressively pursuing tort reform legislation to help avoid the practice of defensive medicine,
to keep healthcare costs low,
and improve healthcare quality.
Education: A Chance for Every Child
Parents are responsible for the education of their children.
We do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education
and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the State and local level.
Maintaining American preeminence requires a worldclass system of education, with high standards, in which all students can reach their potential.
Today’s education reform movement calls for accountability at every stage of schooling.
It affirms higher expectations for all students and rejects the crippling bigotry of low expectations.
It recognizes the wisdom of State and local control of our schools
, and it wisely sees consumer rights in education—choice— as the most important driving force for renewing our schools.
Education is much more than schooling.
It is the whole range of activities by which families and communities transmit to a younger generation
, not just knowledge and skills, but ethical and behavioral norms and traditions.
It is the handing over of a personal and cultural identity.
That is why education choice has expanded so vigorously.
It is also why American education has, for the last several decades, been the focus of constant controversy,
as centralizing forces outside the family and community have sought to remake education in order to remake America.
They have not succeeded, but they have done immense damage.
Attaining Academic Excellence for All
Since 1965 the federal government has spent $2 trillion on elementary and secondary education with no substantial improvement in academic achievement or high school graduation rates (which currently are 59 percent for AfricanAmerican students and 63 percent for Hispanics).
The U.S. spends an average of more than $10,000 per pupil per year in public schools, for a total of more than $550 billion.
That represents more than 4 percent of GDP devoted to K12 education in 2010.
Of that amount, federal spending was more than $47 billion.
Clearly, if money were the solution, our schools would be problemfree.
More money alone does not necessarily equal better performance.
After years of trial and error, we know what does work, what has actually made a difference in student advancement, and what is powering education reform at the local level all across America: accountability on the part of administrators, parents and teachers;
higher academic standards;
programs that support the development of character and financial literacy;
periodic rigorous assessments on the fundamentals, especially math, science, reading, history, and geography;
renewed focus on the Constitution and the writings of the Founding Fathers,
and an accurate account of American history that celebrates the birth of this great nation;
transparency, so parents and the public can discover which schools best serve their pupils;
flexibility and freedom to innovate, so schools can adapt to the special needs of their students and hold teachers and administrators responsible for student performance.
We support the innovations in education reform occurring at the State level based upon proven results.
Republican Governors have led in the effort to reform our country’s underperforming education system, and we applaud these advancements.
We advocate the policies and methods that have proven effective: building on the basics, especially STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) and phonics;
ending social promotions;
merit pay for good teachers;
classroom discipline;
parental involvement;
and strong leadership by principals, superintendents, and locally elected school boards.
Because technology has become an essential tool of learning, proper implementation of technology is a key factor in providing every child equal access and opportunity.
Consumer Choice in Education
The Republican Party is the party of fresh and innovative ideas in education.
We support options for learning, including home schooling and local innovations like singlesex classes, fullday school hours, and yearround schools.
School choice—whether through charter schools, open enrollment requests, college lab schools, virtual schools, career and technical education programs, vouchers, or tax credits—is important for all children,
especially for families with children trapped in failing schools.
Getting those youngsters into decent learning environments
and helping them to realize their full potential is the greatest civil rights challenge of our time.
We support the promotion of local career and technical educational programs and entrepreneurial programs that have been supported by leaders in industry and will retrain and retool the American workforce, which is the best in the world.
A young person’s ability to achieve in school must be based on his or her Godgiven talent and motivation, not an address, zip code, or economic status.
In sum, on the one hand enormous amounts of money are being spent for K12 public education with overall results that do not justify that spending.
On the other hand, the common experience of families, teachers, and administrators forms the basis of what does work in education.
We believe the gap between those two realities can be successfully bridged,
and Congressional Republicans are pointing a new way forward with major reform legislation.
We support its concept of block grants and the repeal of numerous federal regulations which interfere with State and local control of public schools.
The bulk of the federal money through Title I for lowincome children and through IDEA for disabled youngsters should follow the students to whatever school they choose so that eligible pupils, through open enrollment, can bring their share of the funding with them.
The Republicanfounded D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program should be expanded as a model for the rest of the country.
We deplore the efforts by Congressional Democrats and the current President to kill this successful program for disadvantaged students in order to placate the leaders of the teachers’ unions.
We support putting the needs of students before the special interests of unions when approaching elementary and secondary education reform.
Because parents are a child’s first teachers, we support family literacy programs, which improve the reading, language, and life skills of both parents and children from lowincome families.
To ensure that all students have access to the mainstream of American life, we support the English First approach
and oppose divisive programs that limit students’ ability to advance in American society.
We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with abstinence education which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior.
Abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against outofwedlock pregnancies and sexuallytransmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS when transmitted sexually.
It is effective, sciencebased, and empowers teens to achieve optimal health outcomes and avoid risks of sexual activity.
We oppose schoolbased clinics that provide referrals, counseling, and related services for abortion and contraception.
We support keeping federal funds from being used in mandatory or universal mental health, psychiatric, or socioemotional screening programs.
We applaud America’s great teachers, who should be protected against frivolous litigation and should be able to take reasonable actions to maintain discipline and order in the classroom.
We support legislation that will correct the current law provision which defines a “Highly Qualified Teacher” merely by his or her credentials, not results in the classroom.
We urge school districts to make use of teaching talent in business, STEM fields, and in the military, especially among our returning veterans.
Rigid tenure systems based on the “last in, first out” policy should be replaced with a meritbased approach that can attract fresh talent and dedication to the classroom.
All personnel who interact with school children should pass background checks and be held to the highest standards of personal conduct.
Improving Our Nation’s Classrooms
Higher education faces its own challenges, many of which stem from the poor preparation of students before they reach college.
One consequence has been the multiplying number of remedial courses for freshmen.
Even so, our universities, large and small, public or private, form the world’s greatest assemblage of learning.
They drive much of the research that keeps America competitive and, by admitting large numbers of foreign students, convey our values and culture to the world.
Ideological bias is deeply entrenched within the current university system.
Whatever the solution in private institutions may be, in State institutions the trustees have a responsibility to the public to ensure that their enormous investment is not abused for political indoctrination.
We call on State officials to ensure that our public colleges and universities be places of learning and the exchange of ideas, not zones of intellectual intolerance favoring the Left.
Addressing Rising College Costs
College costs, however, are on an unsustainable trajectory, rising year by year far ahead of overall inflation.
Nationwide, student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt, roughly $23,300 for each of the 35,000,000 debtors, taking years to pay off.
Over 50 percent of recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed, working at jobs for which their expensive educations gave them no training.
It is time to get back to basics and to higher education programs directly related to job opportunities.
The first step is to acknowledge the need for change when the status quo is not working.
New systems of learning are needed to compete with traditional fouryear colleges: expanded community colleges and technical institutions, private training schools, online universities, lifelong learning, and workbased learning in the private sector.
New models for acquiring advanced skills will be ever more important in the rapidly changing economy of the twentyfirst century, especially in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Public policy should advance the affordability, innovation, and transparency needed to address all these challenges and to make accessible to everyone the emerging alternatives, with their lower cost degrees, to traditional college attendance.
Federal student aid is on an unsustainable path,
and efforts should be taken to provide families with greater transparency and the information they need to make prudent choices about a student’s future: completion rates, repayment rates, future earnings, and other factors that may affect their decisions.
The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans;
however, it should serve as an insurance guarantor for the private sector as they offer loans to students.
Private sector participation in student financing should be welcomed.
Any regulation that drives tuition costs higher must be reevaluated to balance its worth against its negative impact on students and their parents.
Justice for All: Safe Neighborhoods and Prison Reform
The most effective forces in reducing crime and other social ills are strong families and caring communities supported by excellent law enforcement.
Both reinforce constructive conduct and ethical standards by setting examples and providing safe havens from dangerous and destructive behaviors.
But even under the best social circumstances, strong, welltrained law enforcement is necessary to protect us all, and especially the weak and vulnerable, from predators.
Our national experience over the last several decades has shown that citizen vigilance, tough but fair prosecutors, meaningful sentences, protection of victims’ rights, and limits on judicial discretion can preserve public safety by keeping criminals off the streets.
Liberals do not understand this simple axiom: criminals behind bars cannot harm the general public.
To that end, we support mandatory prison sentencing for gang crimes, violent or sexual offenses against children, repeat drug dealers, rape, robbery and murder.
We support a national registry for convicted child murderers.
We oppose parole for dangerous or repeat felons.
Courts should have the option of imposing the death penalty in capital murder cases.
In solidarity with those who protect us, we call for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving serious injury to law enforcement officers.
Criminals injured in the course of their crimes should not be able to seek monetary damages from their intended victims or from the public.
While getting criminals off the street is essential, more attention must be paid to the process of restoring those individuals to the community.
Prisons should do more than punish; they should attempt to rehabilitate and institute proven prisoner reentry systems to reduce recidivism and future victimization.
We endorse State and local initiatives that are trying new approaches, often called accountability courts.
Government at all levels should work with faithbased institutions that have proven track records in diverting young and first time, nonviolent offenders from criminal careers, for which we salute them.
Their emphasis on restorative justice, to make the victim whole and put the offender on the right path, can give law enforcement the flexibility it needs in dealing with different levels of criminal behavior.
We endorse State and local initiatives that are trying new approaches to curbing drug abuse and diverting firsttime offenders to rehabilitation.
Public authorities must regain control of their correctional institutions, for we cannot allow prisons to become ethnic or racial battlegrounds.
Persons jailed for whatever cause should be protected against cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates.
In some cases, the institution of familyfriendly policies may curtail prison violence and reduce the rate of recidivism,
thus reducing the enormous fiscal and social costs of incarceration.
Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children of those who are prisoners.
Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, these youngsters should be a special concern of our schools, social services, and religious institutions.
Thirty years ago, President Reagan’s Task Force on Victims of Crime, calling the neglect of crime victims a “national disgrace,” proposed a Constitutional amendment to secure their formal rights.
While some progress has been made to rectify that situation, the need for national action still persists in the unacceptable treatment of innocent victims.
We call on the States to make it a bipartisan priority to protect the rights of crime victims, who should also be assured of access to social and legal services;
and we call on the Congress to make the federal courts a model in this regard for the rest of the country.
The resources of the federal government’s law enforcement and judicial systems have been strained by two unfortunate expansions: the overcriminalization of behavior and the overfederalization of offenses.
The number of criminal offenses in the U.S. Code increased from 3,000 in the early 1980s to over 4,450 by 2008.
Federal criminal law should focus on acts by federal employees or acts committed on federal property – and leave the rest to the States.
Then Congress should withdraw from federal departments and agencies the power to criminalize behavior,  a practice which, according to the Congressional Research Service, has created “tens of thousands” of criminal offenses.
No one other than an elected representative should have the authority to define a criminal act and set criminal penalties.
In the same way, Congress should reconsider the extent to which it has federalized offenses traditionally handled on the State or local level.
American Exceptionalism
We are the party of peace through strength.
Professing American exceptionalism—the conviction that our country holds a unique place and role in human history—we proudly associate ourselves with those Americans of all political stripes who, more than three decades ago in a world as dangerous as today’s, came together to advance the cause of freedom.
Repudiating the folly of an amateur foreign policy and defying a worldwide Marxist advance, they announced their strategy in the timeless slogan we repeat today: peace through strength—an enduring peace based on freedom and the will to defend it,
and American democratic values and the will to promote them.
While the twentieth century was undeniably an American century—with strong leadership, adherence to the principles of freedom and democracy our Founders’ enshrined in our nation’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution, and a continued reliance on Divine Providence—the twentyfirst century will be one of American greatness as well.
Today’s adversaries are different, as are their weapons and their ideology, but this remains the same: the unity of Americans, beyond party, in gratitude to those who have defended our country, pursued its attackers to the ends of the earth, and today stand vigilant guard in our cities, on our coasts, and in alien lands.
We pledge to our servicemen and women the authority and resources they need to protect the nation and defend America’s freedom.
Continued vigilance, especially in travel and commerce, is necessary to prevent bioterrorism, cyber terrorism, and other asymmetric or nontraditional warfare attacks and to ensure that the horror of September 11, 2001 is never repeated on our soil.
Our country and its way of life have enemies both abroad and within our shores.
We affirm the need for our military to protect the nation by finding and capturing our enemies and the necessity for the President to have the tools to deal with these threats.
As history has sadly shown, even our fellow citizens may rarely become enemies of their country.
Nevertheless, our government must continue to ensure the protections under our Constitution to all citizens,
particularly the rights of habeas corpus and due process of law.
History proves that the best way to promote peace and prevent costly wars is to ensure that we constantly renew America’s economic strength.
A healthy American economy is what underwrites and sustains American power.
The current Administration is weakening America at home through anemic growth, high unemployment, and recordsetting debt.
We must therefore rebuild our economy
and solve our fiscal crisis.
In an American century, America will have the strongest economy and the strongest military in the world.
The Current Administration’s Failure: Leading From Behind
The Republican Party is the advocate for a strong national defense as the pathway to peace, economic prosperity, and the protection of those yearning to be free.
Since the end of World War II, American military superiority has been the cornerstone of a strategy that seeks to deter aggression or defeat those who threaten our national security interests.
In 1981, President Reagan came to office with an agenda of strong American leadership, beginning with a restoration of our country’s military strength.
The rest is history, written in the rubble of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain.
We face a similar challenge today.
The current Administration has responded with weakness to some of the gravest threats to our national security this country has faced,  including the proliferation of transnational terrorism, continued belligerence by a nucleararmed North Korea, an Iran in pursuit of nuclear weapons,  rising Chinese hegemony in the Asia Pacific region,  Russian activism,  and threats from cyber espionage and terrorism.
In response to these growing threats, President Obama has reduced the defense budget by over $487 billion over the next decade
and fought Republican efforts to avoid another $500 billion in automatic budget cuts through a sequestration in early 2013 that will take a meat ax to all major defense programs.
The Dangers of A Hollow Force: The Looming Sequestration
Sequestration—which is severe, automatic, acrosstheboard cuts in defense spending over the next decade—of the nation’s military budget would be a disaster for national security,
imperiling the safety of our servicemen and women,
accelerating the decline of our nation’s defense industrial base,
and resulting in the layoff of more than 1 million skilled workers.
Opposition to sequester is bipartisan;
even the current Secretary of Defense has said the cuts will be “devastating” to America’s military.
Yet the current President supported sequestration, signed it into law, and has threatened to veto Republican efforts to prevent it.
If he allows an additional half trillion dollars to be cut from the defense budget, America will be left with the smallest ground force since 1940, the smallest number of ships since 1915, and the smallest Air Force in its history
—at a time when our Nation faces a growing range of threats to our national security
and a struggling economy that can ill afford to lose 1.5 million defenserelated jobs.
Leaks for Political Purposes
The current Administration’s leaks of classified information have imperiled intelligence assets which are vital to American security.
This conduct is contemptible.
It betrays our national interest.
It compromises our men and women in the field.
And it demands a full and prompt investigation by a special counsel.
Equally threatening to the longterm strength and safety of our Armed Forces are the current Administration’s efforts to sacrifice our national security for political gain and a partisan agenda.
We give the current President credit for maintaining his predecessor’s quiet determination and planning to bring to justice the man behind the 9/11 attack on America,
but he has tolerated publicizing the details of the operation to kill the leader of Al Qaeda;
those leaks exposed the tactics and techniques of our Special Operations forces and denied our nation an unprecedented intelligence opportunity.
Subsequent leaks by senior Administration officials regarding cyber warfare, the use of drones against Al Qaeda and its operatives, and the targeting of our enemies—unprecedented leaks that compromised key sources and methods and damaged our national security—served the single purpose of propping up the image of a weak President.
A Failed National Security Strategy
The current Administration’s most recent National Security Strategy reflects the extreme elements in its liberal domestic coalition.
It is a budgetconstrained blueprint that, if fully implemented, will diminish the capabilities of our Armed Forces.
The strategy significantly increases the risk of future conflict by declaring to our adversaries that we will no longer maintain the forces necessary to fight and win more than one conflict at a time.
It relies on the good intentions and capabilities of international organizations to justify constraining American military readiness.
Finally, the strategy subordinates our national security interests to environmental, energy, and international health issues, and elevates “climate change” to the level of a “severe threat” equivalent to foreign aggression.
The word “climate,” in fact, appears in the current President’s strategy more often than Al Qaeda, nuclear proliferation, radical Islam, or weapons of mass destruction.
The phrase “global war on terror” does not appear at all, and has been purposely avoided and changed by his Administration to “overseas contingency operations.”
Conventional Forces in Decline
More than a century ago, Republican President Theodore Roosevelt predicted that America’s future was in the Pacific.
That future is here today, but it can develop peacefully only under the shield of American Naval and Air power.
Yet the current Administration plans to significantly curtail production of our most advanced combat aircraft, decommission 6 of 60 Air Force tactical squadrons, and eliminate critical air mobility assets, including 27 giant C5As and 65 C130s, while divesting the nation of the brand new C27.
The President plans to reduce our naval forces by retiring seven cruisers and slowing work on amphibious ships and attack submarines, further reducing the Navy that already has the smallest fleet since the early years of the twentieth century.
And he will reduce ground forces by separating 100,000 soldiers and Marines—many of whom will be discharged after recently returning from combat—and another 100,000 under the sequester.
These plans limit our strategic flexibility in an increasingly dangerous world.
The current President is repeating the disastrous cuts of the postVietnam war era,
putting our nation in danger of returning to the “hollow force” of the Carter Administration, when the U.S. military was not respected in the world.
Nuclear Forces and Missile Defense Imperiled
We recognize that the gravest terror threat we face—a nuclear attack made possible by nuclear proliferation—requires a comprehensive strategy for reducing the world’s nuclear stockpiles
and preventing the spread of those armaments.
But the U.S. can lead that effort only if it maintains an effective strategic arsenal at a level sufficient to fulfill its deterrent purposes, a notable failure of the current Administration.
The United States is the only nuclear power not modernizing its nuclear stockpile.
It took the current Administration just one year to renege on the President’s commitment to modernize the neglected infrastructure of the nuclear weapons complex—a commitment made in exchange for approval of the New START treaty.
In tandem with this, the current Administration has systematically undermined America’s missile defense, abandoning the missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, reducing the number of planned interceptors in Alaska, and cutting the budget for missile defense.
In an embarrassing open microphone discussion with former Russian President Medvedev, the current President made clear that, if he wins a second term, he intends to exercise “more flexibility” to appease Russia, which means further undermining our missile defense capabilities.
A Republican President will be honest and forthright with the American people about his policies and plans and not whisper promises to authoritarian leaders.
A strong and effective strategic arsenal is still necessary as a deterrent against competitors like Russia or China.
But the danger in this age of asymmetric or nontraditional warfare comes from other quarters as well.
With unstable regimes in Iran and North Korea determined to develop nucleartipped missiles capable of reaching the United States, with the possibility that a terrorist group could gain control of a nuclear weapon, it is folly to abandon a missile shield for the country.
A TwentyFirst Century Threat: The Cybersecurity Danger
The frequency, sophistication, and intensity of cyberrelated incidents within the United States have increased steadily over the past decade
and will continue to do so until it is made clear that a cyber attack against the United States will not be tolerated.
The current Administration’s cyber security policies have failed to curb malicious actions by our adversaries, and no wonder, for there is no active deterrence protocol.
The current deterrence framework is overly reliant on the development of defensive capabilities and has been unsuccessful in dissuading cyberrelated aggression.
The U.S. cannot afford to risk the cyberequivalent of Pearl Harbor.
The government and private sector must work together to address the cyberthreats posed to the United States,
help the free flow of information between network managers,
and encourage innovation and investment in cybersecurity.
The government must do a better job of protecting its own systems, which contain some of the most sensitive data and control some of our most important facilities.
As such, we encourage an immediate update of the law that was drafted a decade ago to improve the security of government information systems.
Additionally, we must invest in continuing research to develop cuttingedge cybersecurity technologies to protect the U.S.
However, we acknowledge that the most effective way of combating potential cybersecurity threats is sharing cyberthreat information between the government and industry,
as well as protecting the free flow of information within the private sector.
The current Administration’s laws and policies undermine what should be a collaborative relationship and put both the government and private entities at a severe disadvantage in proactively identifying potential cyberthreats.
The costly and heavyhanded regulatory approach by the current Administration will increase the size and cost of the federal bureaucracy and harm innovation in cybersecurity.
The government collects valuable information about potential threats that can and should be shared with private entities without compromising national security.
We believe that companies should be free from legal and regulatory barriers that prevent or deter them from voluntarily sharing cyberthreat information with their government partners.
An America That Leads: The Republican National Security Strategy for the Future
We will honor President Reagan’s legacy of peace through strength by advancing the most costeffective programs and policies crucial to our national security, including our economic security and fiscal solvency.
To do that, we must honestly assess the threats facing this country
, and we must be able to articulate candidly to the American people our priorities for the use of taxpayer dollars to address those threats.
We must deter any adversary who would attack us or use terror as a tool of government.
Every potential enemy must have no doubt that our capabilities, our commitment, and our will to defeat them are clear, unwavering, and unequivocal.
We must immediately employ a new blueprint for a National Military Strategy that is based on an informed and validated assessment of the potential threats we face,
one that restores as a principal objective the deterrence using the full spectrum of our military capabilities.
As Ronald Reagan proved by the victorious conclusion of the Cold War, only our capability to wield overwhelming military power can truly deter the enemies of the United States from threatening our people and our national interests.
In order to deter aggression from nationstates, we must maintain military and technical superiority through innovation
while upgrading legacy systems including aircraft and armored vehicles.
We must deter the threat posed by rogue aggressors with the assurance that justice will be served through stateoftheart surveillance, enhanced special operations capabilities, and unmanned aerial systems.
We will employ the full range of military and intelligence options to defeat Al Qaeda and its affiliates who threaten not just the West but the community of nations.
We will have a comprehensive and just detainee policy that treats those who would attack our nation as enemy combatants.
We will accept no arms control agreement that limits our right to selfdefense;
and we will fully deploy a missile defense shield for the people of the United States and for our allies.
We will pursue an effective cybersecurity strategy, supported by the necessary resources, that recognizes the importance of offensive capabilities.
Whether it is a nationstate actively probing our national security networks, a terror organization seeking to obtain destructive cyber capabilities, or a criminal network’s theft of intellectual property, more must be done to deter, defeat, and respond to cyberthreats.
We will restore the morale and advance the capabilities of our intelligence community to ensure that the President and our military leaders are fully informed in an uncertain and increasingly dangerous world.
We will restore accountability to ensure that our nation’s most sensitive information and activities are protected appropriately.
The Department of Defense, like all government agencies, needs to be careful to spend taxpayers’ dollars wisely.
We will implement sound management policies to ensure the timely, costeffective delivery of the tools our troops need to fight.
We reject Congressional earmarks that put personal and parochial interests ahead of military effectiveness and the best interests of the nation.
We recognize the need for, and value of, competition within a robust industrial base to most effectively maximize quality and drive down costs in everything the Department buys.
Supporting our Troops, Standing By Our Heroes
The foundation of our military lies in the men and women who wear our country’s uniform,
whether on active duty or in the Reserves and National Guard, and the families who support them.
Under no circumstances will we reveal any secret or detail of a military operation that could put our people into additional harm’s way.
The members of our military should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity.
We reject the use of the military as a platform for social experimentation
and will not accept attempts to undermine military priorities and mission readiness.
Consistent with this commitment, we believe compensation and conditions for our Armed Forces in place at the time military service is initiated should be sufficient to attract and retain quality men and women as we honor our promises and commitments to veterans, retirees, and their families.
These shall continue and not be reduced or otherwise diminished while in service, or upon separation, or retirement.
The combat readiness of our Armed Forces is the foundation of strength and deterrence.
Readiness requires a consistent and sustained investment in the training and reequipping of our military personnel.
We will never assume the risk of reduced readiness, and we can never return to the “hollow” forces of the 1970s.
Combat readiness also requires that we reserve troops for truly necessary operations by not overextending them around the world.
We recognize that drastic cuts to our military’s end strength pose severe national security challenges.
To avoid the overextension of our forces, we support a larger active force and oppose cuts to the National Guard and Reserves.
The allvolunteer force, begun on the watch of Republican Presidents, has carried America to victory from the Caribbean and Central America to the Balkans and Southwest Asia.
We oppose the reinstatement of the draft whether directly or through compulsory national service.
We support the advancement of women in the military, which has not only opened doors of opportunity for individuals but has also made possible the devoted, and often heroic, services of additional members of every branch of the Armed Forces.
We support military women’s exemption from direct ground combat units and infantry battalions.
We affirm the cultural values that encourage selfless service and superiority in battle, and we oppose anything which might divide or weaken team cohesion, including intramilitary special interest demonstrations.
We will support an objective and openminded review of the current Administration’s management of military personnel policies
and will correct problems with appropriate administrative, legal, or legislative action.
The National Guard and Reserves are a fully operational and battletested component of our Armed Forces.
Many of them have heroically served for multiple deployments resulting in inadequate time between deployments, also known as dwell time.
We pledge to maintain their manpower and equipment strength and to ensure their members receive the pay, benefits, and adequate training to continue their service and maintain mission readiness through Presidential leadership and Congressional budget support.
Their historic and continuing role as citizensoldiers is a proud tradition linking every community across America to the cause of freedom.
We affirm service members’ legal right to return to their civilian jobs, whether in government or the private sector,
and we urge greater transition assistance to and from employers as they return to the civilian world.
Especially in light of the high unemployment rates faced by younger Reserve and Guard members, we salute those employers who have wisely decided that it is a smart and patriotic business decision to hire those who have served above and beyond the call of duty.
The spiritual welfare of our troops and retired service members should be a priority of our national leadership.
With military suicides running at the rate of one a day, with postservice medical conditions, including addiction and mental illness, and with the financial stress and homelessness that is often related to these factors, there is an urgent need for the kind of counseling that faithbased institutions can best provide.
We support rights of conscience and religious freedom for military chaplains and people of faith.
A Republican Commander in Chief will protect religious independence of military chaplains
and will not tolerate attempts to ban Bibles or religious symbols from military facilities.
We will enforce and defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the Armed Forces as well as in the civilian world.
We call upon the entire chain of command— from the President and the Secretary of Defense, to base and unit commanders—to ensure that our troops and retired service members, wherever stationed, have the opportunity to vote in the November elections,
and that their ballots will be returned in time to be properly counted.
Those who fight for and defend freedom around the world must not be disenfranchised.
Recognizing and Supporting Military Families
The families of our military personnel currently serving, retired service members, and veterans must also be assured of the pay, health care, housing, education, and overall support they have earned.
We will ensure that the federal government keeps its commitments to those who signed on the dotted line of enlistment with the assurance that those promises would be kept.
We must also do more to retain the services of those service members who have borne the fight since 2001.
We  must  acknowledge  that as  our  troops  have  experienced repeated  deployments,  so  have their  families.   
We  are  committed  to  providing  programs  that offer  readjustment  information and  counseling  to  our  military families,
 and  urge  States  to  offer support  for  job  programs,  license reciprocity,  onestop  service  centers,  and  education  programs  to support  these  families.  
 The  nation  must  also  recognize  the  ultimate  sacrifice  of  survivors  and  protect their  benefits.  
 We  will  work  to  protect  service  members  and  their  families  by  not  overextending  their  deployments.
Honoring and Supporting Our Veterans: A Sacred Obligation
America has a sacred trust with our veterans, and we are committed to providing them and their families with care and dignity.
This is particularly true because our nation’s warriors are volunteers, who served from a sense of duty.
The work of the Department of Veterans Affairs—with a staff of 300,000—is essential to meet our obligations to them: providing health, education, disability, survivor, and home loan benefit services and arranging memorial services upon death.
All its branches in those various fields must be made more responsive,
moving from an adversarial to an advocacy relationship with veterans.
To that end we will consider a fundamental change in structure to make the regional  directors  of  the  Department  presidential  appointees  rather  than  careerists. 
Our wounded warriors, whether still in service or discharged, deserve the best medical care our country can provide.
The nature of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan has resulted in an unprecedented incidence of traumatic brain injury, loss of limbs, and posttraumatic stress disorder which calls for a new commitment of resources and personnel for its treatment and care to promote recovery.
We must make military and veterans’ medicine the gold standard for mental health care, advances in prosthetics, and treatment of trauma  and  eye  injuries. 
We  must heed  Abraham  Lincoln’s  command  “to  care  for  him  who  bore the  battle.”  
 To  care,  as  well,  for the  families  of  those  who  have made  the  ultimate  sacrifice,  who must  be  assured  of  meaningful financial  assistance,  remains  our solemn  duty.
Because  the  conditions  of warfare  have  changed  dramatically  since  the  war  on  terror began,  today’s  veterans  face  new  challenges.  
Asymmetrical  or  nontraditional  warfare  results  in  a  high incidence  of  severe  conditions  that  must  receive  high priority  
and  call  for  continued  research  into  prevention  and  treatment.  
We are committed to ending homelessness for our veterans.
One key is to assist their reentry into the job market as soon as possible after military service ends.
A job for a veteran is more than a source of income.
It is a new mission, with a new status, and the transition can be difficult.
It is a national scandal that veterans are one of the groups with the highest unemployment rates.
We urge the private sector to make hiring vets a company policy and commend the many organizations that have specific programs to accomplish this.
But the federal government must take the lead by simplifying the paper work required for a tax break for hiring a veteran
and by giving vets their assured place at the head of the training and employment line.
Every State has an office dealing with veterans.
The federal Department needs to consider these as partners in assisting vets, recognizing that those closest to the individual can best diagnose a problem and apply a remedy.
This is especially important with regard to the determination of veterans’ disability claims.
If private insurance companies can deal with car wrecks and hurricanes within weeks or months, it is inexplicable that the federal government takes, on average, a year to process a veteran’s claim.
We urge immediate action to review the automatic denial of gun ownership to returning members of our Armed Forces who have had representatives appointed to manage their financial affairs.
Sovereign American Leadership in International Organizations
Since the end of World War II, the United States, through the founding of the United Nations and NATO, has participated in a wide range of international organizations which can, but sometimes do not, serve the cause of peace and prosperity.
While acting through them, our country must always reserve the right to go its own way.
There can be no substitute for principled American leadership.
The United Nations remains in dire need of reform
, starting with full transparency in the financial operations of its overpaid bureaucrats.
As long as its scandalridden management continues, as long as some of the world’s worst tyrants hold seats on its Human Rights Council, and as long as Israel is treated as a pariah state, the U.N. cannot expect the full support of the American people.
The United Nations Population Fund has a shameful record of collaboration with China’s program of compulsory abortion.
We affirm the Republican Party’s longheld position known as the Mexico City Policy, first announced by President Reagan in 1984, which prohibits the granting of federal monies to nongovernmental organization that provide or promote abortion.
Under our Constitution, treaties become the law of the land.
So it is all the more important that the Congress—the Senate through its ratifying power and the House through its appropriating power—shall reject agreements whose longrange impact on the American family is ominous or unclear.
These include the U.N. Convention on Women’s Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty as well as the various declarations from the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development.
Because of our concern for American sovereignty, domestic management of our fisheries, and our country’s longterm energy needs, we have deep reservations about the regulatory, legal, and tax regimes inherent in the Law of the Sea Treaty
and congratulate Senate Republicans for blocking its ratification.
We strongly reject the U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of American sovereignty,
and we oppose any form of U.N. Global Tax.
We oppose any diplomatic efforts that could result in giving the United Nations unprecedented control over the Internet.
International regulatory control over the open and free Internet would have disastrous consequences for the United States and the world.
To shield members of our Armed Forces and others in service to America from ideological prosecutions overseas, the Republican Party does not accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
We support statutory protection for U.S. personnel and officials as they act abroad to meet our global security requirements.
Protecting Human Rights
To those who stand in the darkness of tyranny, America has always been a beacon of hope, and so it must remain.
That is why we strongly support the work of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, established by Congressional Republicans to advance the rights of persecuted peoples everywhere.
It has been shunted aside by the current Administration at a time when its voice more than ever needs to be heard.
Religious minorities across the Middle East are being driven from their ancient homelands, fanaticism leaves its bloody mark on both West and East Africa, and even among America’s Western friends and allies, pastors and families are penalized for their religious convictions.
A Republican Administration will return the advocacy of religious liberty to a central place in our diplomacy.
America’s Generosity: International Assistance that Makes a Difference
Americans are the most generous people in the world.
Apart from the taxpayer dollars our government donates abroad, our foundations, educational institutions, faithbased groups, and committed men and women of charity devote billions of dollars and volunteer hours every year to help the poor and needy around the world.
This effort, along with commercial investment from the private sector, dwarfs the results from official development assistance
, most of which is based on an outdated, statist, governmenttogovernment model, the proven breeding ground for corruption and mismanagement by foreign kleptocrats.
Limiting foreign aid spending  helps  keep  taxes lower,  which  frees  more  resources  in  the  private  and  charitable  sectors,  whose  giving tends  to  be  more  effective  and efficient.  
Foreign  aid  should  serve our  national  interest, 
an  essential  part  of  which  is  the  peaceful development  of  less  advanced and  vulnerable  societies  in  critical  parts  of  the  world.
  Assistance  should  be  seen  as  an alternative  means  of  keeping  the  peace,  far  less  costly in  both  dollars  and  human  lives  than  military  engagement.
  The  economic  success  and  political  progress  of former  aid  recipients,  from  Latin  America  to  East Asia,  has  justified  our  investment  in  their  future. 
U.S. aid  should  be  based  on  the  model  of  the  Millennium Challenge  Corporation,  for  which  foreign  governments  must,  in  effect,  compete  for  the  dollars  by showing  respect  for  the  rule  of  law,  free  enterprise, and  measurable  results.
 In  short,  aid  money  should follow  positive  outcomes,  not  pleas  for  more  cash  in the  same  corrupt  official  pockets.
The effectiveness of our foreign aid has been limited by the cultural agenda of the current Administration,
attempting to impose on foreign countries, especially the peoples of Africa, legalized abortion and the homosexual rights agenda.
At the same time, faithbased groups—the sector that has had the best track record in promoting lasting development—have been excluded from grants because they will not conform to the administration’s social agenda.
We will reverse this tragic course, encourage more involvement by the most effective aid organizations, and trust developing peoples to build their future from the ground up.
Combating Human Trafficking
As we approach the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by the first Republican President Abraham Lincoln, we are reminded to be vigilant against human bondage in whatever form it appears.
We will use the full force of the law against those who engage in modernday forms  of  slavery,  including  the commercial  sexual  exploitation  of children  and  the  forced  labor  of men,  women,  and  children. 
Building  on  the  accomplishments  of  the last  Republican  Administration  in implementing  the  Trafficking  Victims  Protection  Act  of  2000,  we call  for  increased  diplomatic  efforts  with  foreign  governments  to root  out  complicit  public  officials who  facilitate  or  perpetrate  this evil.  
We  highlight  the  need  for greater  scrutiny  of  overseas  labor contractors  to  prevent  the  imposition  of  usurious terms  on  temporary  foreign  workers  brought  to  the United  States.  
Our  government  must  address  the  increasing  role  of  vicious  drug  cartels  and  other  gangs in  controlling  human  smuggling  across  our  southern border.
 The  principle  underlying  our  Megan’s  Law— publicizing  the  identities  of  known  offenders—should be  extended  to  international  travel  in  order  to  protect innocent  children  everywhere.
We affirm our country’s historic tradition of welcoming refugees from troubled lands.
In some cases, they are people who stood with us during dangerous times, and they have first call on our hospitality.
Promoting a Free Marketplace of Ideas: Public Diplomacy
International broadcasting of free and impartial information during the Cold War kept truth and hope alive in the Captive Nations.
Today, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio/TV Marti do the same in other lands where freedom is unknown or endangered.
We support these essential extensions of American values and culture
and urge their expansion in the Middle East.
Recognizing the vital role of social media in recent efforts to promote democracy, we support unrestricted access to the Internet throughout the world to advance the free marketplace of ideas.
Strengthening Ties in the Americas
We will resist foreign influence in our hemisphere.
We thereby seek not only to provide for our own security, but also to create a climate for democracy and selfdetermination throughout the Americas.
The current Administration has turned its back on Latin America, with predictable results.
Rather than supporting our democratic allies in the region, the President has prioritized engagement with our enemies in the region.
Venezuela represents an increasing threat to U.S. security,
a threat which has grown much worse on the current President’s watch.
In the last three years, Venezuela has become a narcoterrorist state, turning it into an Iranian outpost in the Western hemisphere.
The current regime issues Venezuelan passports or visas to thousands of Middle Eastern terrorists offering safe haven to Hezbollah trainers, operatives, recruiters and fundraisers.
Alternatively, we will stand with the true democracies of the region against both Marxist subversion and the drug lords,
helping them to become prosperous alternatives to the collapsing model of Venezuela and Cuba.
We affirm our friendship with the People of Cuba and look toward their reunion with the rest of our hemispheric family.
The anachronistic regime in Havana which rules them is a mummified relic of the age of totalitarianism, a statesponsor of terrorism.
We reject any dynastic succession of power within the Castro family
and affirm the principles codified in U.S. law as conditions for the lifting of trade, travel, and financial sanctions: the legalization of political parties, an independent media, and free and fair internationallysupervised elections.
We renew our commitment to Cuba’s courageous prodemocracy movement as the protagonists of Cuba’s inevitable liberation and democratic future.
We call for a dedicated platform for the transmission of Radio and TV Marti and for the promotion of Internet access and circumvention technology as tools to strengthen the prodemocracy movement.
We support the work of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
and affirm the principles of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the rights of Cubans fleeing Communism.
The war on drugs and the war on terror have become a single enterprise.
We salute our allies in this fight, especially the people of Mexico and Colombia.
We propose a unified effort on crime and terrorism to coordinate intelligence and enforcement among our regional allies,
as well as militarytomilitary training and intelligence sharing with Mexico, whose people are bearing the brunt of the drug cartels’ savage assault.
Our Canadian neighbors can count on our close cooperation and respect.
As soon as possible, we will reverse the current Administration’s blocking of the Keystone XL Pipeline so that both our countries can profit from this vital venture
and there will no need for hemispheric oil to be shipped to China.
Advancing Hope and Prosperity in Africa
PEPFAR, President George W. Bush’s Plan for AIDS Relief, is one of the most successful global health programs in history.
It has saved literally millions of lives.
Along with the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, another initiative of President Bush, it represents America’s humanitarian commitment to the peoples of Africa, though these are only one aspect of our assistance to the nations of that continent.
From Peace Corps volunteers teaching in oneroom schools to U.S. Seabees building village projects, we will continue to strengthen the personal and commercial ties between our country and African nations.
We stand in solidarity with those African countries now under assault by the forces of radical Islam and urge other governments throughout the continent to recognize this threat to them as well.
We support closer cooperation in both military and economic matters with those who are under attack by forces which seek our destruction.
U.S.  Leadership  in  the  AsianPacific  Community
We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic rim, from Australia, the Philippines, and our Freely Associated States in the Pacific Islands to Japan and the Republic of Korea.
With them, we look toward the restoration of human rights to the suffering people of North Korea
and the fulfillment of their wish to be one in peace and freedom.
The U.S.  will  continue  to  demand  the  complete,  verifiable, and  irreversible  dismantlement  of  North  Korea’s nuclear  weapons  programs  with  a  full  accounting  of its  proliferation  activities.
We celebrate the political and economic development of most of the nations of Southeast Asia.
Their example of material progress through hard work and free enterprise, in tandem with greater democracy should encourage their less fortunate neighbors to set aside crippling ideologies and embrace a more humane future.
While our relations with Vietnam have improved, and U.S. investment is welcomed, we need unceasing efforts to obtain an accounting for, and repatriation of the remains of, Americans who gave their lives in the cause of Vietnamese freedom.
We cannot overlook the continued repression of human rights and religious freedom, as well as retribution against ethnic minorities and others who assisted U.S. forces during the conflict there.
South Asia
We welcome a stronger relationship with the world’s largest democracy, India, both economic and cultural, as well as in terms of national security.
We hereby affirm and declare that India is our geopolitical ally and a strategic trading partner.
We encourage India to permit greater foreign investment and trade.
We urge protection for adherents of all India’s religions.
Both as Republicans and as Americans, we note with pride the contributions to this country that are being made by our fellow citizens of Indian ancestry.
The aftermath of the last decade’s conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan has put enormous pressure on the political and military infrastructure of Pakistan, which faces both internal terrorism and external dangers.
The working relationship between our two countries is a necessary, though sometimes difficult, benefit to both,
and we look toward the renewal of historic ties that have frayed under the weight of international conflict.
The imminent withdrawal from Afghanistan of the 30,000 “surge” troops sent there two years ago comes weeks before this year’s presidential election and against the advice of the current President’s top military commanders.
Future decisions by a Republican President will never subordinate military necessity to domestic politics or an artificial timetable.
Afghans, Pakistanis, and Americans have a common interest in ridding the region of the Taliban and other insurgent groups,
but we cannot expect others to remain resolute unless we show the same determination ourselves.
We will expect the Afghan government to crackdown on corruption,
respect free elections,
and assist our fight against the narcotic trade that fuels the insurgency.
We must likewise expect the Pakistan government to sever any connection between its security and intelligence forces and the insurgents.
No Pakistani citizen should be punished for helping the United States against the terrorists.
Taiwan
We salute the people of Taiwan, a sound democracy and economic model for mainland China.
Our relations must continue to be based upon the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act.
America and Taiwan are united in our shared belief in fair elections, personal liberty, and free enterprise.
We oppose any unilateral steps by either side to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Straits on the principle that all issues regarding the island’s future must be resolved peacefully, through dialogue,
and be agreeable to the people of Taiwan.
If China were to violate those principles, the U.S., in accord with the Taiwan Relations Act, will help Taiwan defend itself.
We praise steps taken by both sides of the Taiwan Strait to reduce tension and strengthen economic ties.
As a loyal friend of America, Taiwan has merited our strong support,
including free trade agreements status,
as well as the timely sale of defensive arms
and full participation in the World Health Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization, and other multilateral institutions.
China
We will welcome the emergence of a peaceful and prosperous China,
and we will welcome even more the development of a democratic China.
Its rulers have discovered that economic freedom leads to national wealth.
The next lesson is that political and religious freedom leads to national greatness.
The exposure of the Chinese people to our way of life can be the greatest force for change in their country.
We should make it easier for the people of China to experience our vibrant democracy
and to see for themselves how freedom works.
We welcome the increase in trade and education alliances with the U.S.
and the opening of Chinese markets to American companies.
The Chinese government has engaged in a number of activities that we condemn: China’s pursuit of advanced military capabilities without any apparent need;
suppression of human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang, and other areas;
religious persecution;
a barbaric onechild policy involving forced abortion;
the erosion of democracy in Hong Kong;
and its destabilizing claims in the South China Sea.
Our serious trade disputes, especially China’s failure to enforce international standards for the protection of intellectual property and copyrights, as well as its manipulation of its currency, call for a firm response from a new Republican Administration.
Europe
The West has been the bulwark of democracy and freedom, providing hope and faith to the oppressed around the globe.
Our historic ties to the peoples of Europe have been based on shared culture and values, common interests and goals.
Their endurance cannot be taken for granted, especially in light of the continent’s economic upheaval and demographic changes.
Ensuring the continued vitality of our political alliance with Europe through NATO will require effort and understanding on both sides of the Atlantic.
We honor our special relationship with the United Kingdom and appreciate its staunch support for our fight against terrorism worldwide.
We thank the several other nations of Europe which have contributed to a united effort in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.
Their sacrifice will not soon be forgotten.
We are heartened by the ongoing reconciliation in Northern Ireland
and hopeful that its success might be replicated in Cyprus.
Russia
The heroism—and the suffering—of the people of Russia over the last century demand the world’s respect.
As our allies in their Great Patriotic War, they lost 28 million fighting Nazism.
As our allies in spirit, they ended the Soviet terror that had consumed so many millions more.
They deserve our admiration and support as they now seek to reestablish their rich national identity.
We do have common imperatives: ending terrorism, combating nuclear proliferation, promoting trade, and more.
To advance those causes, we urge the leaders of their government to reconsider the path they have been following: suppression of opposition parties, the press, and institutions of civil society;
unprovoked invasion of the Republic of Georgia
, alignment with tyrants in the Middle East;
and bullying their neighbors while protecting the last Stalinist regime in Belarus.
The Russian people deserve better, as we look to their full participation in the ranks of modern democracies.
Russia should be granted Permanent Normal Trade Relations,
but not without sanctions on Russian officials who have used the government to violate human rights.
We support enactment of the Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act as a condition of expanded trade relations with Russia.
Our Unequivocal Support of Israel
Israel and the United States are part of the great fellowship of democracies who speak the same language of freedom and justice,
and the right of every person to live in peace.
The security of Israel is in the vital national security interest of the United States;
our alliance is based not only on shared interests, but also shared values.
We affirm our unequivocal commitment to Israel’s security
and will ensure that it maintains a qualitative edge in military technology over any potential adversaries.
We support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state with secure, defensible borders;
and we envision two democratic states— Israel with Jerusalem as its capital and Palestine— living in peace and security.
For that to happen, the Palestinian people must support leaders who reject terror,  embrace the institutions and ethos of democracy, and respect the rule of law.
We call on Arab governments throughout the region to help advance that goal.
Israel should not be expected to negotiate with entities pledged to her destruction.
We call on the new government in Egypt to fully uphold its peace treaty with Israel.
The U.S. seeks a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, negotiated between the parties themselves with the assistance of the U.S., without the imposition of an artificial timetable.
Essential to that process will be a just, fair, and realistic framework for dealing with the issues that can be settled on the basis of mutually agreed changes reflecting today’s realities as well as tomorrow’s hopes.
The Challenges of a Changing Middle East
We recognize the historic nature of the events of the past two years—the Arab Spring—that have unleashed democratic movements leading to the overthrow of dictators who have been menaces to global security for decades.
In a season of upheaval, it is necessary to be prepared for anything.
That is true on the ground in the Middle East, and it will be equally true in the next Administration, particularly with a new President unbound by the failures of the past.
We welcome the aspirations of the Arab peoples and others for greater freedom, and we hope that greater liberty—and with it, a greater chance for peace—will result from the recent turmoil.
Many governments in the region have given substantial assistance to the U.S. over the last decade because they understood that our struggle against terror is not an ethnic or religious fight, and that violent extremists are abusers of their faith, not its champions.
On the other hand, radical elements like Hamas and Hezbollah must be isolated because they do not meet the standards of peace and diplomacy of the international community.
We call for the restoration of Lebanon’s independence, which those groups have virtually destroyed.
We support the transition to a postAssad Syrian government that is representative of its people,
protects the rights of all minorities and religions,
respects the territorial integrity of its neighbors,
and contributes to peace and stability in the region.
We offer a continuing partnership with the people of Iraq, who have endured extremist terror to now have a chance to build their own security and democracy.
We urge special efforts to preserve and protect the ethnic and religious diversity of their nation.
Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability threatens America, Israel, and the world.
That threat has only become worse during the current Administration.
A continuation of its failed engagement policy with Iran will lead to nuclear cascade.
In solidarity with the international community, America must lead the effort to prevent Iran from building and possessing nuclear weapons capability.
We express our respect for the people of Iran, who seek peace
and aspire to freedom.
Their current regime is unworthy of them.
It exports terror and provided weapons that killed our troops in Iraq.
We affirm the unanimous resolution of the U.S. Senate calling for “elections that are free, fair, and meet international standards” and “a representative and responsive democratic government that respects human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law.”
We urge the next Republican President to unequivocally assert his support for the Iranian people as they protest their despotic regime.
We must retain all options in dealing with a situation that gravely threatens our security, our interests, and the safety of our friends.
Preamble
In 2016, Democrats meet in Philadelphia with the same basic belief that animated the Continental Congress when they gathered here 240 years ago: Out of many, we are one.
Under President Obama’s leadership,
and thanks to the hard work and determination of the American people, we have come a long way from the Great Recession and the Republican policies that triggered it.
American businesses have now added 14.8 million jobs since private-sector job growth turned positive in early 2010.
Twenty million people have gained health insurance coverage.
The American auto industry just had its best year ever.
And we are getting more of our energy from the sun and wind, and importing less oil from overseas.
But too many Americans have been left out and left behind.
They are working longer hours with less security.
Wages have barely budged
and the racial wealth gap remains wide,
while the cost of everything from childcare to a college education has continued to rise.
And for too many families, the dream of homeownership is out of reach.
As working people struggle, the top one percent accrues more wealth and more power.
Republicans in Congress have chosen gridlock and dysfunction over trying to find solutions to the real challenges we face.
It’s no wonder that so many feel like the system is rigged against them.
Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict,
unity is better than division,
empowerment is better than resentment,
and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: we are stronger together.
Democrats believe we are stronger when we have an economy that works for everyone
—an economy that grows incomes for working people,
creates good-paying jobs,
and puts a middle-class life within reach for more Americans.
Democrats believe we can spur more sustainable economic growth,
which will create good-paying jobs and raise wages.
And we can have more economic fairness,
so the rewards are shared broadly, not just with those at the top.
We need an economy that prioritizes long-term investment over short-term profit-seeking,
rewards the common interest over self-interest,
and promotes innovation and entrepreneurship.
We believe that today’s extreme level of income and wealth inequality—where the majority of the economic gains go to the top one percent and the richest 20 people in our country own more wealth than the bottom 150 million—makes our economy weaker,
our communities poorer,
and our politics poisonous.
And we know that our nation’s long struggle with race is far from over.
More than half a century after Rosa Parks sat and Dr. King marched and John Lewis bled, more than half a century after César Chávez, Dolores Huerta, and Larry Itliong organized, race still plays a significant role in determining who gets ahead in America and who gets left behind.
We must face that reality and we must fix it.
We believe a good education is a basic right of all Americans, no matter what zip code they live in.
We will end the school-to-prison pipeline and build a cradle-to-college pipeline instead, where every child can live up to his or her God-given potential.
We believe in helping Americans balance work and family without fear of punishment or penalty.
We believe in at last guaranteeing equal pay for women.
And as the party that created Social Security, we believe in protecting every American’s right to retire with dignity.
We firmly believe that the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street must be brought to an end.
Wall Street must never again be allowed to threaten families and businesses on Main Street.
Democrats believe we are stronger when we protect citizens’ right to vote, while stopping corporations’ outsized influence in elections.
We will fight to end the broken campaign finance system,
overturn the disastrous Citizens United decision,
restore the full power of the Voting Rights Act,
and return control of our elections to the American people.
Democrats believe that climate change poses a real and urgent threat to our economy, our national security, and our children’s health and futures,
and that Americans deserve the jobs and security that come from becoming the clean energy superpower of the 21st century.
Democrats believe we are stronger and safer when America brings the world together and leads with principle and purpose.
We believe we should strengthen our alliances, not weaken them.
We believe in the power of development and diplomacy.
We believe our military should be the best-trained, best-equipped fighting force in the world,
and that we must do everything we can to honor and support our veterans.
And we know that only the United States can mobilize common action on a truly global scale, to take on the challenges that transcend borders, from international terrorism to climate change to health pandemics.
Above all, Democrats are the party of inclusion.
We know that diversity is not our problem—it is our promise.
As Democrats, we respect differences of perspective and belief, and pledge to work together to move this country forward, even when we disagree.
With this platform, we do not merely seek common ground—we strive to reach higher ground.
We are proud of our heritage as a nation of immigrants.
We know that today’s immigrants are tomorrow’s teachers, doctors, lawyers, government leaders, soldiers, entrepreneurs, activists, PTA members, and pillars of our communities.
We believe in protecting civil liberties and guaranteeing civil rights and voting rights, women’s rights and workers’ rights, LGBT rights, and rights for people with disabilities.
We believe America is still, as Robert Kennedy said, “a great country, an unselfish country, and a compassionate country.”
These principles stand in sharp contrast to the Republicans,
who have nominated as the standard-bearer for their party and their candidate for President a man who seeks to appeal to Americans’ basest differences, rather than our better natures.
The stakes have been high in previous elections.
But in 2016, the stakes can be measured in human lives—in the number of immigrants who would be torn from their homes;
in the number of faithful and peaceful Muslims who would be barred from even visiting our shores;
in the number of allies alienated and dictators courted;
in the number of Americans who would lose access to health care and see their rights ripped away.
This election is about more than Democrats and Republicans.
It is about who we are as a nation, and who we will be in the future.
Two hundred and forty years ago, in Philadelphia, we started a revolution of ideas and of action that continues to this day.
Since then, our union has been tested many times, through bondage and civil war, segregation and depression, two world wars and the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Generations of Americans fought and marched and organized to widen the circle of opportunity and dignity—and we are fighting still.
Despite what some say, America is and has always been great—but not because it has been perfect.
What makes America great is our unerring belief that we can make it better.
We can and we will build a more just economy,
a more equal society,
and a more perfect union—because we are stronger together.
Raise Incomes and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class
Democrats believe we must break down all the barriers holding Americans back
and restore the basic bargain that built America’s mighty middle class:
If you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead and stay ahead.
The system is not working when we have a rigged economy in which ordinary Americans work longer hours for lower wages,
while most new income and wealth goes to the top one percent.
Republican governors, legislatures, and their corporate allies have launched attack after attack on workers’ fundamental rights to organize and bargain collectively.
Too many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck,
and hallmarks of a middle class life—owning a home,
having access to affordable and quality childcare,
retiring with dignity
—feel out of reach.
It is no wonder so many Americans feel like the deck is stacked against them.
The Democratic Party believes that supporting workers through higher wages,
workplace protections,
policies to balance work and family,
and other investments will help rebuild the middle class for the 21st century.
Raising Workers’ Wages
Democrats believe that the current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be increased to a living wage.
No one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty.
We believe that Americans should earn at least $15 an hour
and have the right to form or join a union
and will work in every way we can—in Congress and the federal government, in states and with the private sector—to reach this goal.
We should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over time and index it,
give all Americans the ability to join a union regardless of where they work,
and create new ways for workers to have power in the economy so every worker can earn at least $15 an hour.
We applaud the approaches taken by states like New York and California.
We also support creating one fair wage for all workers by ending the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and people with disabilities.
Democrats support a model employer executive order or some other vehicle to leverage federal dollars to support employers who provide their workers with a living wage,
good benefits,
and the opportunity to form a union without reprisal.
The one trillion dollars spent annually by the government on contracts, loans, and grants should be used to support good jobs that rebuild the middle class.
Protecting Workers’ Fundamental Rights
The Democratic Party believes that when workers are strong, America is strong.
Democrats will make it easier for workers, public and private, to exercise their right to organize and join unions.
We will fight to pass laws that direct the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if a simple majority of eligible workers sign valid authorization cards,
as well as laws that bring companies to the negotiating table.
We support binding arbitration to help workers who have voted to join a union reach a first contract.
A major factor in the 40-year decline in the middle class is that the rights of workers to bargain collectively for better wages and benefits have been under attack at all levels.
Donald Trump would make matters worse by creating a race to the bottom where the middle class is fighting over fewer and fewer good-paying jobs.
In fact, Trump rejected some attempts by his own employees to unionize
and has personally hired union-busting firms to undermine workers’ rights.
Democrats believe so-called “right to work” laws are wrong for workers—such as teachers and other public employees who serve our communities every day—and wrong for America.
We will continue to vigorously oppose those laws and other efforts that would eliminate dues check-off procedures,
roll-back prevailing wage standards,
abolish fair share requirements,
restrict the use of voluntary membership payments for political purposes,
attack seniority, restrict due process protections,
and require annual recertification efforts.
We oppose legislation and lawsuits that would strike down laws protecting the rights of teachers and other public employees.
We will defend President Obama's overtime rule, which protects of millions of workers by paying them fairly for their hard work.
The Democratic Party believes consumers, workers, students, retirees, and investors who have been mistreated should never be denied their right to fight for fair treatment under the law.
That is why we will support efforts to limit the use of forced arbitration clauses in employment and service contracts, which unfairly strip consumers, workers, students, retirees, and investors of their right to their day in court.
Supporting Working Families
We will fight to secure equal pay for women, which will benefit all women and their families,
particularly women of color who are disproportionately impacted by discriminatory pay practices, and against other factors that contribute to the wage gap.
And we will combat the discrimination they face on and off the job.
While Donald Trump thinks it is “dangerous” for women to leave the home and paid family leave hurts our economy,
Democrats will make sure that the United States finally enacts national paid family and medical leave by passing a family and medical leave act that would provide all workers at least 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a new child or address a personal or family member’s serious health issue.
We will fight to allow workers the right to earn at least seven days of paid sick leave.
We will also encourage employers to provide paid vacation.
Our work and family policies must also help family caregivers.
We will ensure that family caregivers have the support, respite care, and training they need to support their loved ones.
We will create a strong stable paid caregiving workforce to help meet families' needs, by raising wages, improving access to training, and giving workers the opportunity to come together to make their voices heard in support of a stronger system.
We will address the conditions that make it hard for workers with unpredictable or inflexible schedules to meet caregiving responsibilities.
We will take steps to expand and strengthen the home care workforce.
We will increase investments  to make quality childcare more affordable,
boost wages for childcare workers,
and support the millions of people paying for, coordinating, or providing care for aging relatives or those with disabilities.
Helping More Workers Share in Near-Record Corporate Profits
Corporate profits are at near-record highs,
but workers have not shared through rising wages.
Profit-sharing is linked to higher pay and productivity.
That is why, working with business, labor, and other stakeholders,
we will incentivize companies to share profits with their employees on top of wages and pay increases,
while targeting the workers and businesses that need profit-sharing the most.
Expanding Access to Affordable Housing and Homeownership
Whereas the Republican Presidential nominee rooted for the housing crisis,
Democrats will continue to fight for those families who suffered the loss of their homes.
We will help those who are working toward a path of financial stability and will put sustainable home ownership into the reach of more families.
Democrats will also combat the affordable housing crisis and skyrocketing rents in many parts of the country,
which is leading too many families and workers to be pushed out of communities where they work.
We will preserve and increase the supply of affordable rental housing by expanding incentives to ease local barriers to building new affordable rental housing developments in areas of economic opportunity.
We will substantially increase funding for the National Housing Trust Fund to construct, preserve, and rehabilitate millions of affordable housing rental units.
Not only will this help address the affordable housing crisis, it will also create millions of good-paying jobs in the process.
Democrats believe that we should provide more federal resources to the people struggling most with unaffordable housing: low-income families, people with disabilities, veterans, and the elderly.
We will expand efforts to address the lingering effects of the foreclosure crisis through programs like the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
We will also expand programs to prevent displacement of existing residents,
especially in communities of color;
create affordable and workforce housing;
and preserve neighborhood-serving nonprofit organizations and small businesses.
We will reinvigorate housing production programs, repair public housing, and increase funding for the housing choice voucher program and other rental assistance programs.
And we will fight for robust funding to end homelessness in our cities and counties once and for all, through targeted investments to provide the necessary outreach, social services, and housing options for all populations experiencing homelessness.
We will engage in a stronger, more coordinated, and better funded partnership among federal, state, and local governments to end chronic homelessness for millions of Americans.
We will build on and expand President Obama's promising initiatives to end veteran and family homelessness in our country.
We must make sure that everyone has a fair shot at homeownership.
We will keep the housing market robust and inclusive by supporting more first-time homebuyers and putting more Americans into the financial position to become sustainable homeowners;
preserving the 30-year fixed rate mortgage; modernizing credit scoring; clarifying lending rules; expanding access to housing counseling; defending and strengthening the Fair Housing Act;
and ensuring that regulators have the clear direction, resources, and authority to enforce those rules effectively.
We will prevent predatory lending by defending the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
These steps are especially important because over the next decade most new households will be formed by families in communities of color, which typically have less generational wealth and fewer resources to put towards a down payment.
Protecting and Expanding Social Security
Democrats are proud to be the party that created Social Security, one of the nation’s most successful and effective programs.
Without Social Security, nearly half of America’s seniors would be living in poverty.
Social Security is more than just a retirement program.
It also provides important life insurance to young survivors of deceased workers and provides disability insurance protection.
We will fight every effort to cut, privatize, or weaken Social Security, including attempts to raise the retirement age, diminish benefits by cutting cost-of-living adjustments, or reducing earned benefits.
Democrats will expand Social Security so that every American can retire with dignity and respect,
including women who are widowed or took time out of the workforce to care for their children, aging parents, or ailing family members.
The Democratic Party recognizes that the way Social Security cost-of- living adjustments are calculated may not always reflect the spending patterns of seniors, particularly the disproportionate amount they spend on health care expenses.
We are committed to exploring alternatives that could better and more equitably serve seniors.
We will make sure Social Security’s guaranteed benefits continue for generations to come by asking those at the top to pay more,
and will achieve this goal by taxing some of the income of people above $250,000.
The Democratic Party is also committed to providing all necessary financial support for the Social Security Administration so that it can provide timely benefits and high-quality service for those it serves.
Our plan contrasts starkly with Donald Trump.
He has referred to Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” and has called for privatizing it as well as increasing the retirement age.
Ensuring a Secure and Dignified Retirement
Democrats believe it should be easier for Americans to save for retirement and prepare for unforeseen risks and expenses.
We will defend the right of workers to collect their defined benefit pensions and make sure workers get priority and protection when pension plans are in distress.
Democrats will also fight to enact legislation to make sure that the earned pension benefits of Americans will not be cut,
and will pay for it by closing tax loopholes that benefit millionaires and billionaires.
We will fight against any attempt by Republicans in Congress or on Wall Street to roll back the Conflict of Interest Rule, which requires that retirement advisors put the best interests of their clients above their own financial gain.
Seniors should not have to choose between putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their heads, or buying the medication that they need to stay healthy.
We strongly support the Older Americans Act, which funds critical programs to help seniors remain independent in their own homes and communities.
We are also committed to fighting the immense problem of elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Revitalizing Our Nation’s Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is a national treasure.
That is why Democrats embrace a vibrant, public Postal Service that offers universal service, and reject any effort to privatize or marginalize it.
We are committed to eliminating the unsustainable mandate to “pre-fund” retiree health costs.
And we will work to restore service to appropriate levels, including overnight delivery of first-class mail and periodicals within the same metropolitan area, maintaining six-day and door-to-door delivery, and appointing members to the Board of Governors and the Postal Regulatory Commission who champion a strong public Postal Service.
Democrats also advocate for expanding postal services.
This includes offering basic financial services such as paycheck cashing and removing statutory restraints on services the USPS may offer.
It also includes promoting vote-by-mail to increase voter participation and to help address the scourge of voter suppression.
Create Good-Paying Jobs
Democrats know that nothing is more important than creating good-paying jobs that can support a middle-class life
—from nurses, firefighters, and teachers to construction workers, factory workers, and small business owners.
That is why we are committed to doing everything we can to build a full-employment economy, where everyone has a job that pays enough to raise a family and live in dignity with a sense of purpose.
Democrats will build strong, sustained, shared economic growth.
We know that when Americans come together, we can do amazing things.
In the last century, our leaders came together across the aisle to electrify the nation, build the Interstate Highway System, support groundbreaking research in medicine, science, and communications, and send a man to the moon.
When we are bold and ambitious, we can do big things and make our economy stronger for decades to come.
Building 21st Century Infrastructure
If we are serious about reversing the decline of the middle class, we need major federal investments to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure
and put millions of Americans back to work in decent paying jobs in both the public and private sectors.
The climate emergency
and the need to expand the middle class
demand that we make the most ambitious investment in American infrastructure since President Eisenhower created the interstate highway system.
We will put Americans to work updating and expanding our roads, bridges, public transit, airports, and passenger and freight rail lines.
We will build 21st century energy and water systems, modernize our schools, and continue to support the expansion of high-speed broadband networks.
We will protect communities from the impact of climate change and help them to mitigate its effects by investing in green and resilient infrastructure.
We will address the backlog of deferred maintenance in our four key public land management agencies.
And we will protect public health and safety by modernizing drinking and wastewater systems.
These investments will create secure, good-paying middle-class jobs today and will substantially increase demand for American-made steel and other products manufactured in the United States.
And by boosting economic growth in a fair and equitable way, and strengthening our long-term competitiveness, these investments will create many more jobs in the years to come.
Democrats will also create an independent, national infrastructure bank that will support critical infrastructure improvements.
This bank will provide loans and other financial assistance for investments in energy, water, broadband, transportation, and multi-modal infrastructure projects.
Democrats will continue to support the interest tax exemption on municipal bonds and will work to establish a permanent version of Build America Bonds as an additional tool to encourage infrastructure investment by state and local governments.
Furthermore, Democrats will fight to ensure resources and programs are adequately targeted to provide economic development, job training, and critical infrastructure investment in areas of the greatest need.
Fostering a Manufacturing Renaissance
Democrats believe one of the best ways to innovate, prosper, and create good-paying jobs is to make more in America, which is why we firmly support American manufacturing with a “Make it in America” plan.
We must revitalize hard-hit manufacturing communities;
create thriving hubs of manufacturing and innovation throughout the country;
and claw back tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas, using the proceeds to reinvest in communities and workers at home instead.
Democrats are proud of rescuing the auto industry from collapse, which saved more than a million jobs, and led the auto industry, which is at the heart of American manufacturing, to record sales.
Democrats will defend the Export-Import Bank, which supports good-paying jobs across the country and allows American workers and manufacturers to compete on a level playing field.
Donald Trump may talk tough, but he has consistently outsourced his own products.
American workers deserve better.
Creating Good-Paying Clean Energy Jobs
We must help American workers and businesses compete for jobs and investments in global clean energy, high-tech products, internet technology products, and advanced manufacturing and vehicles.
We must make American manufacturing more internationally competitive by making it the greenest and most efficient in the world, including by investing in industrial energy efficiency.
Pursuing Our Innovation Agenda: Science, Research, Education, and Technology
Democrats support ambitious public and private investments in science, technology, and research.
We are focused on creating good jobs in communities across America.
Entrepreneurship and innovation are fundamental to our future economic growth—in the information technology (IT) industry as well as energy, manufacturing, transportation, health, retail, services, and countless other sectors.
We will nurture the next generation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs,
especially women and people of color,
to make sure America continues to out-compete and out-innovate the rest of the world with our bold innovation agenda.
New technologies are already transforming our economy, and they have the power to generate trillions in economic output.
We must harness these forces so that they create higher-paying jobs across the country,
bring more people into the workforce,
and reduce inequality.
To do this, we need to educate our people
and train our workforce;
support entrepreneurship
and promote inclusion in the digital economy;
attract and retain talented people from all over the world;
and invest in research and development, innovation hubs, as well as in getting ideas to market.
We also need to ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn computer science by the time they graduate from high school.
Democrats believe we must harness the promise of technological innovation to promote community participation
and enhance opportunities to achieve greater economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities.
We will encourage technology transfer, entrepreneurship, and small business creation throughout the country and in all types of innovation sectors.
High-speed internet connectivity is not a luxury; it is a necessity for 21st century economic success, social mobility, education, health care, and public safety.
Despite considerable progress and private investment in the last eight years to close the digital divide, there is more work to do.
Democrats will finish the job of connecting every household in America to high-speed broadband, increase internet adoption, and help hook up anchor institutions so they can offer free WiFi to the public.
We will take action to help America widely deploy 5G technology—the next generation wireless service that will not only bring faster internet connections to underserved areas, but will enable the Internet of Things and a host of transformative technologies.
Democrats support a free and open internet at home and abroad, and will oppose any effort by Republicans to roll back the historic net neutrality rules that the Federal Communications Commission enacted last year.
Democrats value American innovation and believe it is one of our country’s great strengths.
We will protect the intellectual property rights of artists, creators, and inventors at home and abroad.
The entire nation prospers when we promote the unique and original artistic and cultural contributions of the women and men who create and preserve our nation’s heritage.
Democrats will fight against unfair theft of intellectual property and trade secrets.
We will increase access to global markets for American intellectual property and other digital trade by opposing quotas, discriminatory measures, and data localization requirements.
Pushing beyond the boundaries of what we know is core to who we are as Americans.
Democrats are immensely proud of all that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has done—through its achievements in science, technology and exploration—to better understand our place in the universe
and inspire and educate generations of young people in this country to pursue careers in science.
Space exploration is a reminder that our capacity for curiosity is limitless, and may be matched only by our ability to achieve great things if we work together.
Democrats believe in continuing the spirit of discovery that has animated NASA’s exploration of space over the last half century.
We will strengthen support for NASA and work in partnership with the international scientific community to launch new missions to space.
Supporting America’s Small Businesses
The Democratic Party will make it easier to start and grow a small business in America,
unlike Donald Trump, who has often stiffed small businesses—nearly bankrupting some—with his deceptive and reckless corporate practices.
By supporting small business and entrepreneurship, we can grow jobs faster in America.
We will cut the red tape that holds back small businesses and entrepreneurs.
We will open up access to credit because we know that small businesses are some of the best job creators in our country.
We will provide tax relief and tax simplification.
And we will expand access to new markets because every American small business should be able to tap new markets — whether across their city, across their state, or around the world.
Democrats will provide targeted funding and support for entrepreneurship and small business growth in underserved communities.
Democrats also realize the critical importance of small businesses as engines of opportunity for women, people of color, tribes, and people in rural America, and will work to nurture entrepreneurship.
Creating Jobs for America’s Young People
Democrats will make investments to spur the creation of millions of jobs for our young people.
Roughly one in ten Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 is unemployed, more than twice the national average.
The unemployment rates for African American, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and American Indian teenager sand youth with disabilities are far too high.
That is why Democrats will provide direct federal funding for a range of local programs that will put young people to work and create new career opportunities.
Fight for Economic Fairness and Against Inequality
Democrats believe that today’s extreme levels of income and wealth inequality are bad for our people, bad for our businesses, and bad for our economy.
Our country depends on a thriving middle class to drive economic growth, but the middle class is shrinking.
Meanwhile, the top one-tenth of one percent of Americans now own almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent combined.
These trends create problems beyond insulting our sense of basic fairness.
Social mobility is far lower than most believe it to be.
Children who are born to families in the lowest fifth of earnings are more than 10 times more likely to remain there as adults than they are to earn as much as those in the top fifth.
Unless we invest in building a level playing field, we all lose.
Reining in Wall Street and Fixing our Financial System
To restore economic fairness, Democrats will fight against the greed and recklessness of Wall Street.
Wall Street cannot be an island unto itself, gambling trillions in risky financial instruments and making huge profits, all the while thinking that taxpayers will be there to bail them out again.
We must tackle dangerous risks in big banks and elsewhere in the financial system.
We must make Wall Street work for the job-creating, productive economy—including by making loans more affordable for small- and medium-sized businesses.
We need to prohibit Wall Street from picking and choosing which credit agency will rate its products as well as from imposing excessive fees on consumers.
And we must hold both individuals and corporations accountable when they break the law.
Democrats believe that no bank can be too big to fail and no executive too powerful to jail.
Democrats will support stronger criminal laws and civil penalties for Wall Street criminals who prey on the public trust.
We also support extending the statute of limitations for prosecuting major financial fraud, and providing the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more resources to prosecute wrongdoing.
“Equal Justice Under Law” will not just be words engraved on the entrance of the Supreme Court.
It will be the standard that applies to Wall Street and all Americans.
We will also vigorously implement, enforce, and build on President Obama’s landmark Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and we will stop dead in its tracks every Republican effort to weaken it.
We will stop Republican efforts to hamstring our regulators through budget cuts,
and we will ensure they have the resources and independence to fully enforce the law and hold both individuals and corporations accountable when they break the rules.
We will also continue to protect consumers and defend the CFPB from Republican attacks.
We oppose any efforts to change the CFPB’s structure from a single director to a partisan, gridlocked Commission and likewise oppose any efforts to remove the Bureau’s independent funding and subject it to the appropriations process.
Democrats will also continue to support the CFPB in enforcing foundational civil rights laws protecting against discrimination in consumer lending.
Democrats condemn predatory payday lending, and will protect consumers by defending the CFPB and implementing strong new regulations.
Our goal must be to create a financial system and an economy that works for all Americans, not just a handful of billionaires.
We support a financial transactions tax on Wall Street to curb excessive speculation and high-frequency trading, which has threatened financial markets.
We acknowledge that there is room within our party for a diversity of views on a broader financial transactions tax.
Democrats will not hesitate to use and expand existing authorities as well as empower regulators to downsize or break apart financial institutions when necessary to protect the public and safeguard financial stability, including new authorities to go after risky shadow-banking activities.
Banks should not be able to gamble with taxpayers’ deposits or pose an undue risk to Main Street.
Democrats support a variety of ways to stop this from happening, including an updated and modernized version of Glass-Steagall as well as breaking up too-big-to-fail financial institutions that pose a systemic risk to the stability of our economy.
We believe that personnel is policy.
We will nominate and appoint regulators and officials who are not beholden to the industries they regulate—people with a track record of standing up to power and safeguarding the public trust.
We will crack down on the revolving door between the private sector—particularly Wall Street—and the federal government.
We will ban golden parachutes for those taking government jobs.
We will limit conflicts of interest by requiring bank and corporate regulators to recuse themselves from official work on particular matters that would directly benefit their former employers.
And we will bar financial service regulators from lobbying their former colleagues for at least two years.
We will protect and defend the Federal Reserve’s independence to carry out the dual mandate assigned to it by Congress—for both full employment and low inflation—against threats from new legislation.
We will also reform the Federal Reserve to make it more representative of America as a whole,
and we will fight to enhance its independence by ensuring that executives of financial institutions are not allowed to serve on the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks or to select members of those boards.
At a time when many of the largest banks have shunned communities across America, Democrats believe that we need to give Americans affordable banking options, including by empowering the United States Postal Service to facilitate the delivery of basic banking services.
Promoting Competition by Stopping Corporate Concentration
Large corporations have concentrated their control over markets to a greater degree than Americans have seen in decades
—further evidence that the deck is stacked for those at the top.
Democrats will take steps to stop corporate concentration in any industry where it is unfairly limiting competition.
We will make competition policy and antitrust stronger and more responsive to our economy today,
enhance the antitrust enforcement arms of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC),
and encourage other agencies to police anti-competitive practices in their areas of jurisdiction.
We support the historic purpose of the antitrust laws to protect competition and prevent excessively consolidated economic and political power,
which can be corrosive to a healthy democracy.
We support reinvigorating DOJ and FTC enforcement of antitrust laws to prevent abusive behavior by dominant companies,
and protecting the public interest against abusive, discriminatory, and unfair methods of commerce.
We support President Obama’s recent Executive Order, directing all agencies to identify specific actions they can take in their areas of jurisdiction to detect anticompetitive practices—such as tying arrangements, price fixing, and exclusionary conduct
—and to refer practices that appear to violate federal antitrust law to the DOJ and FTC.
Making the Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes
At a time of massive income and wealth inequality,
we believe the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations must pay their fair share of taxes.
Democrats will claw back tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas,
eliminate tax breaks for big oil and gas companies,
and crack down on inversions and other methods companies use to dodge their tax responsibilities.
We will make sure that our tax code rewards businesses that make investments and provide good-paying jobs here in the United States, not businesses that walk out on America.
We will end deferrals so that American corporations pay United States taxes immediately on foreign profits and can no longer escape paying their fair share of U.S. taxes by stashing profits abroad.
We will then use the revenue raised from fixing the corporate tax code to reinvest in rebuilding America
and ensuring economic growth
that will lead to millions of good-paying jobs.
We will ensure those at the top contribute to our country’s future by establishing a multimillionaire surtax to ensure millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share.
In addition, we will shut down the “private tax system” for those at the top,
immediately close egregious loopholes like those enjoyed by hedge fund managers, restore fair taxation on multimillion dollar estates,
and ensure millionaires can no longer pay a lower rate than their secretaries.
At a time of near-record corporate profits, slow wage growth, and rising costs,
we need to offer tax relief to middle-class families
—not those at the top.
Democrats believe that no one should be able avoid paying their fair share by hiding money abroad,
and that corrupt leaders and terrorists should not be able to use the system of international finance to their advantage.
We will work to crack down on tax evasion
and promote transparency to fight corruption and terrorism.
And we will make sure that law-abiding Americans living abroad are not unfairly penalized by finding the right solutions for them to the requirements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
We will offer tax relief to hard working, middle-class families for the cost squeeze they have faced for years from rising health care, childcare, education, and other expenses.
Donald Trump and the Republican Party would do the opposite and provide trillions in tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations
at the expense of working families, seniors, and the health of our economy.
Promoting Trade That is Fair and Benefits American Workers
Democrats acknowledge that for millions of Americans, global trade has failed to live up to its promise
—with too many countries breaking the rules
and too many corporations outsourcing jobs at the expense of American workers and communities.
Over the past three decades, America has signed too many trade deals that have not lived up to the hype.
Trade deals often boosted the profits of large corporations,
while at the same time failing to protect workers’ rights, labor standards,
the environment,
and public health.
We need to end the race to the bottom and develop trade policies that support jobs in America.
That is why Democrats believe we should review agreements negotiated years ago to update them to reflect these principles.
Any future trade agreements must make sure our trading partners cannot undercut American workers by taking shortcuts on labor policy
or the environment.
They must not undermine democratic decision-making through special privileges and private courts for corporations,
and trade negotiations must be transparent and inclusive.
Democrats’ priority is to significantly strengthen enforcement of existing trade rules and the tools we have, including by holding countries accountable on currency manipulation and significantly expanding enforcement resources.
China and other countries are using unfair trade practices to tilt the playing field against American workers and businesses.
When they dump cheap products into our markets, subsidize state-owned enterprises, devalue currencies, and discriminate against American companies, our middle class pays the price.
That has to stop.
Democrats will use all our trade enforcement tools to hold China and other trading partners accountable—because no country should be able to manipulate their currencies to gain a competitive advantage.
While we believe that openness to the world economy is an important source of American leadership and dynamism,
we will oppose trade agreements that do not support good American jobs, raise wages,
and improve our national security.
We believe any new trade agreements must include strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards in their core text with streamlined and effective enforcement mechanisms.
Trade agreements should crack down on the unfair and illegal subsidies other countries grant their businesses at the expense of ours.
It should promote innovation of and access to lifesaving medicines.
And it should protect a free and open internet.
We should never enter into a trade agreement that prevents our government, or other governments, from putting in place rules that protect the environment, food safety, or the health of American citizens or others around the world.
These are the standards Democrats believe must be applied to all trade agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Bring Americans Together and Remove Barriers to Opportunities
Democrats believe that everyone deserves the chance to live up to his or her God-given potential.
We know that there are barriers standing in the way of that goal,
from the enduring scourge of systemic racism
to our deeply broken immigration system
to discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
—and we are committed to facing those problems and fixing them.
Being stronger together means reaching communities that have been left out and left behind for too long, from coal country to Indian Country to neighborhoods held back by multigenerational poverty.
In America, we do not tear each other down—we lift each other up.
Ending Systemic Racism
Democrats will fight to end institutional and systemic racism in our society.
We will challenge and dismantle the structures that define lasting racial, economic, political, and social inequity.
Democrats will promote racial justice through fair, just, and equitable governing of all public-serving institutions and in the formation of public policy.
Democrats support removing the Confederate battle flag from public properties, recognizing that it is a symbol of our nation's racist past that has no place in our present or our future.
We will push for a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and that there is no place for racism in our country.
Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
America’s economic inequality problem is even more pronounced when it comes to racial and ethnic disparities in wealth and income.
It is unacceptable that the median wealth for African Americans and Latino Americans is roughly one-tenth that of white Americans.
These disparities are also stark for American Indians and certain Asian American subgroups, and may become even more significant when considering other characteristics such as age, disability status, sexual
The racial wealth and income gaps are the result of policies that discriminate against people of color
and constrain their ability to earn income and build assets to the same extent as other Americans.
It has accumulated over time and is made worse by ongoing policies and practices.
For example, African Americans and Latinos lost more than half of their net worth as a result of the housing crisis and the Great Recession, because they lost jobs at a much faster rate than white workers and because they were disproportionately targeted for subprime, predatory, and fraudulent mortgages during the run-up to the housing crisis.
Democrats believe it is long past time to close this racial wealth gap.
Disparities in wealth cannot be solved by the free market alone,
but instead, the federal government must play a role in eliminating systemic barriers to wealth accumulation for different racial groups
and improving opportunities for people from all racial and ethnic backgrounds to build wealth.
Federal policies must remove barriers to achieving sustainable homeownership,
provide for greater diversity in federal and state contracting practices,
incentivize and expand access to retirement investment programs,
increase opportunities for quality jobs and education,
and challenge the deeply rooted structures that perpetuate and exacerbate current disparities and ultimately stagnate the nation’s economic growth and security.
Reforming our Criminal Justice System
Democrats are committed to reforming our criminal justice system and ending mass incarceration.
Something is profoundly wrong when almost a quarter of the world’s prison population is in the United States, even though our country has less than five percent of the world’s population.
We will reform mandatory minimum sentences and close private prisons and detention centers.
Research and evidence, rather than slogans and sound bites, must guide criminal justice policies.
We will rebuild the bonds of trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
Across the country, there are police officers inspiring trust and confidence, honorably doing their duty, deploying creative and effective strategies, and demonstrating that it is possible to prevent crime without relying on unnecessary force.
They deserve our respect and support, and we should learn from those examples and build on what works.
We will work with police chiefs to invest in training for officers on issues such as de-escalation and the creation of national guidelines for the appropriate use of force.
We will encourage better police-community relations, require the use of body cameras, and stop the use of weapons of war that have no place in our communities.
We will end racial profiling that targets individuals solely on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin, which is un-American and counterproductive.
We should report national data on policing strategies and provide greater transparency and accountability.
We will require the Department of Justice to investigate all questionable or suspicious police-involved shootings,
and we will support states and localities who help make those investigations and prosecutions more transparent, including through reforming the grand jury process.
We will assist states in providing a system of public defense that is adequately resourced and which meets American Bar Association standards.
And we will reform the civil asset forfeiture system to protect people and remove perverse incentives for law enforcement to “police for a profit.”
Instead of investing in more jails and incarceration, we need to invest more in jobs and education, and end the school-to-prison pipeline.
We will remove barriers to help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully re-enter society by “banning the box,” expanding reentry programs, and restoring voting rights.
We think the next President should take executive action to ban the box for federal employers and contractors, so applicants have an opportunity to demonstrate their qualifications before being asked about their criminal records.
The "war on drugs" has led to the imprisonment of millions of Americans, disproportionately people of color, without reducing drug use.
Whenever possible, Democrats will prioritize prevention and treatment over incarceration when tackling addiction and substance use disorder.
We will build on effective models of drug courts, veterans’ courts, and other diversionary programs that seek to give nonviolent offenders opportunities for rehabilitation as opposed to incarceration.
Because of conflicting federal and state laws concerning marijuana, we encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from the list of “Schedule 1" federal controlled substances and to appropriately regulate it, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization.
We believe that the states should be laboratories of democracy on the issue of marijuana, and those states that want to decriminalize it or provide access to medical marijuana should be able to do so.
We support policies that will allow more research on marijuana, as well as reforming our laws to allow legal marijuana businesses to exist without uncertainty.
And we recognize our current marijuana laws have had an unacceptable disparate impact in terms of arrest rates for African Americans that far outstrip arrest rates for whites, despite similar usage rates.
We will abolish the death penalty, which has proven to be a cruel and unusual form of punishment.
It has no place in the United States of America.
The application of the death penalty is arbitrary and unjust.
The cost to taxpayers far exceeds those of life imprisonment.
It does not deter crime.
And, exonerations show a dangerous lack of reliability for what is an irreversible punishment.
We have been inspired by the movements for criminal justice that directly address the discriminatory treatment of African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and American Indians to rebuild trust in the criminal justice system.
Fixing our Broken Immigration System
The United States was founded as, and continues to be, a country of immigrants from throughout the world.
It is no coincidence that the Statue of Liberty is one of our most profound national symbols.
And that is why Democrats believe immigration is not just a problem to be solved, it is a defining aspect of the American character and our shared history.
The Democratic Party supports legal immigration, within reasonable limits, that meets the needs of families, communities, and the economy
as well as maintains the United States’ role as a beacon of hope for people seeking safety, freedom, and security.
People should come to the United States with visas and not through smugglers.
Yet, we recognize that the current immigration system is broken.
More than 11 million people are living in the shadows, without proper documentation.
The immigration bureaucracy is full of backlogs that result in U.S. citizens waiting for decades to be reunited with family members, and green card holders waiting for years to be reunited with their spouses and minor children.
The current quota system discriminates against certain immigrants, including immigrants of color, and needs to be reformed to the realities of the 21st century.
And there are real questions about our detention and deportation policies that must be addressed.
Democrats believe we need to urgently fix our broken immigration system—which tears families apart and keeps workers in the shadows—
and create a path to citizenship for law-abiding families who are here, making a better life for their families and contributing to their communities and our country.
We should repeal the 3-year, 10-year and permanent bars, which often force persons in mixed status families into the heartbreaking dilemma of either pursuing a green card by leaving the country and their loved ones behind, or remaining in the shadows.
We will work with Congress to end the forced and prolonged expulsion from the country that these immigrants endure when trying to adjust their status.
We must fix family backlogs and defend against those who would exclude or eliminate legal immigration avenues and denigrate immigrants.
Those immigrants already living in the United States, who are assets to their communities and contribute so much to our country, should be incorporated completely into our society through legal processes that give meaning to our national motto: E Pluribus Unum.
And while we continue to fight for comprehensive immigration reform, we will defend and implement President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans executive actions to help DREAMers, parents of citizens, and lawful permanent residents avoid deportation.
We will build on these actions to provide relief for others, such as parents of DREAMers.
We will support efforts by states to make DREAMers eligible for driver's licenses and in-state college tuition.
We will invest in culturally-appropriate immigrant integration services, expand access to English language education, and promote naturalization to help the millions of people who are eligible for citizenship take that last step.
We believe immigration enforcement must be humane and consistent with our values.
We should prioritize those who pose a threat to the safety of our communities, not hardworking families who are contributing to their communities.
We will end raids and roundups of children and families, which unnecessarily sow fear in immigrant communities.
We disfavor deportations of immigrants who served in our armed forces, and we want to create a faster path for such veterans to citizenship.
We should ensure due process for those fleeing violence in Central America and work with our regional partners to address the root causes of violence.
We must take particular care with children, which is why we should guarantee government-funded counsel for unaccompanied children in immigration courts.
We should consider all available means of protecting these individuals from the threats to their lives and safety—including strengthening in-country and third-country processing, expanding the use of humanitarian parole, and granting Temporary Protected Status.
We will promote best practices among local law enforcement, in terms of how they collaborate with federal authorities, to ensure that they maintain and build trust between local law enforcement and the communities they serve.
We will also vigorously oversee any programs put in place, to make sure that there are no abuses and no arbitrary deportation programs.
We will establish an affirmative process for workers to report labor violations and to request deferred action.
We will work to ensure that all Americans—regardless of immigration status—have access to quality health care.
That means expanding community health centers, allowing all families to buy into the Affordable Care Act exchanges, supporting states that open up their public health insurance programs to all persons, and finally enacting comprehensive immigration reform.
And we will expand opportunities for DREAMers to serve in the military and to then receive expedited pathways to citizenship.
We will fight to end federal, state, and municipal contracts with for-profit private prisons and private detention centers.
In order to end family detention, we will ensure humane alternatives for those who pose no public threat.
We recognize that there are vulnerable communities within our immigration system who are often seeking refuge from persecution abroad, such as LGBT families, for whom detention can be unacceptably dangerous.
We reject attempts to impose a religious test to bar immigrants or refugees from entering the United States.
It is un-American and runs counter to the founding principles of this country.
Finally, Democrats will not stand for the divisive and derogatory language of Donald Trump.
His offensive comments about immigrants and other communities have no place in our society.
This kind of rhetoric must be rejected.
Guaranteeing Civil Rights
Democrats will always fight to end discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
We need to promote civility and speak out against bigotry and other forms of intolerance that have entered our political discourse.
It is unacceptable to target, defame, or exclude anyone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, language, religion, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
While freedom of expression is a fundamental constitutional principle, we must condemn hate speech that creates a fertile climate for violence.
We condemn Donald Trump’s demonization of prisoners of war, women, Muslims, Mexicans, and people with disabilities;
his playing coy with white supremacists;
and the climate of bigotry he is creating.
We also condemn the recent uptick in other forms of hate speech, like anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
Guaranteeing Women’s Rights
We are committed to ensuring full equality for women.
Democrats will fight to end gender discrimination in the areas of education, employment, health care, or any other sphere.
We will combat biases across economic, political, and social life that hold women back and limit their opportunities and also tackle specific challenges facing women of color.
After 240 years, we will finally enshrine the rights of women in the Constitution by passing the Equal Rights Amendment.
And we will urge U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Guaranteeing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights
Democrats applaud last year’s decision by the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT people—like other Americans—have the right to marry the person they love.
But there is still much work to be done.
LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school, restaurants can refuse to serve transgender people, and same-sex couples are at risk of being evicted from their homes. That is unacceptable and must change.
Democrats will fight for the continued development of sex discrimination law to cover LGBT people.
We will also fight for comprehensive federal non-discrimination protections for all LGBT Americans, to guarantee equal rights in areas such as housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, jury service, education, and federal funding.
We will oppose all state efforts to discriminate against LGBT individuals, including legislation that restricts the right to access public spaces.
We support a progressive vision of religious freedom that respects pluralism and rejects the misuse of religion to discriminate.
We will combat LGBT youth homelessness and improve school climates.
We will support LGBT elders, ensure access to necessary health care, and protect LGBT people from violence—including ending the crisis of violence against transgender Americans.
We will also promote LGBT human rights
and ensure America’s foreign policy is inclusive of LGBT people around the world.
Guaranteeing Rights for People with Disabilities
No one should face discrimination based on disability status.
Democrats are committed to realizing the full promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
We will protect and expand the right of Americans with disabilities to get the accommodations and support they need to live in integrated community settings.
We will improve access to meaningful and gainful employment for people with disabilities.
We will provide tax relief to help the millions of families caring for aging relatives or family members with chronic illnesses or disabilities.
And we will continue to fight for ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Respecting Faith and Service
Democrats know that our nation, our communities, and our lives are made vastly stronger and richer by faith in many forms and the countless acts of justice, mercy, and tolerance it inspires.
We believe in lifting up and valuing the good work of people of faith and religious organizations and finding ways to support that work where possible.
We believe in the power of national service to solve problems and break down barriers by bringing people of all backgrounds together in common purpose.
National service expands opportunity for people across America, strengthening our communities and our country.
And those who serve earn education awards that they can use for college while building valuable work skills.
We will support and strengthen AmeriCorps with the goal that every American who wants to participate in full-time national service will have the opportunity to do so.
Investing in Rural America
We will work to build a stronger rural and agricultural economy.
Democrats will increase funding to support the next generation of farmers and ranchers,
with particular attention given to promoting environmentally sustainable agricultural practices.
We will encourage programs to protect and enhance family farms, a cherished way of life for millions of Americans.
We will expand local food markets and regional food systems and provide a focused safety net to assist family operations that need support during challenging times.
And we will promote clean energy leadership and collaborative stewardship of our natural resources,
while expanding opportunities in rural communities across America.
While the EPA’s new Agricultural Worker Protection Standard goes a long way to protect farmworkers from harmful pesticides and herbicides, we recognize there is a lot more we can do.
The Democratic Party supports stronger agricultural worker protections including regulation of work hours, elimination of child labor, ensuring adequate housing for migrant workers, and sanitary facilities in the field.
Democrats will spur investment to power the rural economy.
We support strengthening rural water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure to make rural businesses more competitive.
We will expand access to equity capital for businesses and expand the New Markets Tax Credit to better serve rural small businesses.
We will promote collaborative stewardship of our natural resources,
while developing clean fuels that will grow our economy, lower our energy bills, combat climate change, and make America the clean energy superpower of the 21st century.
We will provide assistance to producers who conserve and improve natural resources on their farms and double loan guarantees that support the bio-based economy’s dynamic growth.
Ending Poverty and Investing in Communities Left Behind
We reaffirm our commitment to eliminate poverty.
Democrats will develop a national strategy, coordinated across all levels of government, to combat poverty.
We will direct more federal resources to lifting up communities that have been left out and left behind, such as the 10-20-30 model, which directs 10 percent of program funds to communities where at least 20 percent of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years or more.
We will also focus on communities that suffer from persistent poverty, including empowerment zones and areas that targeted government data indicate are in persistent poverty.
In the richest country in the world, no one, especially our children,
should go hungry.
This is why Democrats will protect proven programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—our nation's most important anti-hunger program—that help struggling families put food on the table.
We will also help people grow their skills through jobs and skills training opportunities.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program should be expanded for low-wage workers not raising children, including extending the credit to young workers starting at age 21.
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) should be expanded, for example, by making more of it refundable, or indexed to inflation to stem the erosion of the credit.
Democrats will also do more to invest in our most distressed communities—from our cities to coal country to the Rust Belt.
We will create good-paying jobs and enhance opportunities by investing in small business, youth employment, and reentry programs for formerly incarcerated people.
We will expand and make permanent the New Markets Tax Credit.
We will improve safety by repairing crumbling infrastructure in communities that need it most
as well as on tribal lands.
And we will make investments in affordable housing near good jobs and good schools.
Building Strong Cities and Metro Areas
Democrats have a comprehensive agenda to invest in America’s cities, grounded on the premise that local leaders are best equipped to create a better future for their residents —but need the resources and flexibility to get the job done.
We also recognize there is no easy way to build strong neighborhoods and strong cities, but rather we must address the challenge across many interconnected fronts—from housing, to schools, to jobs, to transportation, to health.
We will dramatically increase federal infrastructure funding for our cities—making significant new investments in roads and bridges, public transit, drinking and wastewater systems, broadband, schools, and more.
Democrats also will revitalize communities being dragged down by physical decay by building on programs like the Neighborhood Stabilization Program and the Hardest Hit Fund, which have helped cities across the country begin to address these challenges.
We will provide resources to help overcome blight, expand Community Development Block Grant funds, provide more housing support to high-poverty communities, and build more affordable rental housing units.
We will support entrepreneurship and small business growth in cities by providing mentoring and training to entrepreneurs and small business owners in underserved communities
as well as expanding federal funding for the New Markets Tax Credit, community development financial institutions, and the State Small Business Credit Initiative.
Promoting Arts and Culture
Democrats are proud of our support for arts funding and education.
We are committed to continuing the policies and programs that have already done so much for our creative arts industry and economy.
Investment in the arts strengthens our communities
and contributes to our nation’s rich cultural heritage.
We will continue to support public funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and for programs providing art and music education in primary and secondary schools.
The entire nation prospers when we protect and promote the unique artistic and cultural contributions of the women and men who create and preserve our nation’s heritage.
Honoring Indigenous Tribal Nations
We have a profound moral and legal responsibility to the Indian tribes—throughout our history we have failed to live up to that trust.
That is why the Democratic Party will fulfill, honor, and strengthen to the highest extent possible the United States’ fundamental trust responsibility,
grounded in the Constitution, treaties, and case law to American Indian and Alaska Native tribes.
We recognize the inherent sovereignty of Indian nations and will work to enact laws and policies that strengthen, not reduce, the powers of Indian nations over people who interact with them in Indian Country.
We will work on a government-to-government basis to continue to empower Indian nations,
and to provide sufficient and meaningful resources to Indian tribes to bolster economic development and self-determination.
As Democrats, we will constantly seek to ensure that American Indian communities are safe, healthy, educated, innovative, and prosperous.
We will restore tribal lands by continuing to streamline the land-into-trust process and recognize the right of all tribes to protect their lands, air, and waters.
We will continue to work on a government-to-government basis to address chronic underfunding,
and provide meaningful resources and financial investments that will empower American Indian tribes through increased economic development and infrastructure improvements on tribal lands.
We will strengthen the operation of tribal housing programs, and reauthorize the Indian Housing Block Grant Program.
We will increase affordable and safe housing and fight to significantly reduce homelessness on and off Indian reservations,
especially among Native youth and veterans.
We will invest in Indian education from early childhood through higher education.
We will fully fund the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE),
strengthen self-determination to enable culturally-tailored learning unique to each tribal nation,
and help to recruit and retain qualified teachers for Native learners.
Democrats will continue to support President Obama's Generation Indigenous initiative that has made important strides in promoting new investments and increased engagement with American Indian youth
, including by continuing efforts to reform the BIE to provide students attending BIE-funded schools with a world-class culturally-based education.
We also support the elimination of school and sports mascots that reflect derogatory stereotypes and that perpetuate racism.
We will strengthen tribal sovereignty and tribal jurisdiction by enacting laws and policies that enhance the ability of Indian nations to govern their territories,
keep their communities safe,
and prosecute crimes committed on tribal lands.
We will build on the important provisions in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, which reaffirmed the right of Indian tribes to prosecute perpetrators regardless of race who commit domestic violence on tribal lands.
Democrats will continue to work to address criminal justice gaps that undermine the safety of tribal communities.
And we will back these efforts through robust investments in effective tribal law enforcement and tribal courts.
We believe that health care is a core federal trust responsibility,
and we support a robust expansion of the health care provided by the Indian Health Service.
We will work to fully fund the Indian Health Service, Tribal, and Urban Indian health care system and
to ensure that all American Indians have adequate, safe, and affordable access to primary care providers, including oral health, mental health practitioners, and substance abuse treatment options.
We acknowledge the past injustices and the misguided, harmful federal and state policies and actions based on outdated and discredited values and beliefs that resulted in the destruction of the Indian nations’ economies,
social, and religious systems,
the taking of their lands,
and the creation of intergenerational trauma that exists to this day.
We believe that we have a moral and profound duty to honor, respect, and uphold our sacred obligation to the Indian nations and Indian peoples.
We will manage for tribal sacred places,
and empower tribes to maintain and pass on traditional religious beliefs, languages, and social practices
without fear of discrimination or suppression.
We also believe that Native children are the future of tribal nations and that the Indian Child Welfare Act is critical to the survival of Indian culture, government, and communities and must be enforced with the statutory intent of the law.
We will strengthen Indian voting rights, including improved access to polling locations.
We will build on federal programs to reduce the disproportionate incarceration of American Indian and Alaska Native men and women,
reduce disparities in prison sentencing,
protect the religious rights of Native prisoners,
reduce barriers to prisoner reentry,
and offer access to housing and employment upon reentry.
We are committed to principles of environmental justice in Indian Country
and we recognize that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain, and regenerate its vital cycles.
We call for a climate change policy that protects tribal resources,
protects tribal health,
and provides accountability through accessible, culturally appropriate participation and strong enforcement.
Our climate change policy will cut carbon emission, address poverty, invest in disadvantaged communities, and improve both air quality and public health.
We support the tribal nations efforts to develop wind, solar, and other clean energy jobs.
We will engage in meaningful and productive consultation with Tribal Leaders, and will host a White House Tribal Nations Conference annually bringing together cabinet and senior level federal officials to gather input from Tribal Nations when formulating federal policy impacting tribes.
Democrats believe that American Indian/Alaska Natives shall be represented in the federal government to properly reflect their needs
and will work to appoint American Indian/Alaska Natives to key positions, including retaining a senior level policy position in the White House Domestic Policy Council.
We will strengthen the White House Council on Native American Affairs.
Democrats will increase engagement with American Indians/Alaska Natives living outside of tribal communities.
Democrats also support efforts for self-governance and self-determination of Native Hawaiians.
Native Hawaiians are the indigenous, aboriginal people of Hawai'i whose values and culture are the foundation of the Hawaiian Islands.
We support proactive actions by the federal government to enhance Native Hawaiian culture, health, language, and education.
We recognize and honor the contributions and sacrifices made in service to our country by Native Hawaiians.
Fighting for the People of Puerto Rico
And we are committed to addressing the extraordinary challenges faced by our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico.
Many stem from the fundamental question of Puerto Rico’s political status.
Democrats believe that the people of Puerto Rico should determine their ultimate political status from permanent options that do not conflict with the Constitution, laws, and policies of the United States.
Democrats are committed to promoting economic opportunity
and good-paying jobs for the hardworking people of Puerto Rico.
We also believe that Puerto Ricans must be treated equally by Medicare, Medicaid, and other programs that benefit families.
Puerto Ricans should be able to vote for the people who make their laws,
just as they should be treated equally.
All American citizens, no matter where they reside, should have the right to vote for the President of the United States.
Finally, we believe that federal officials must respect Puerto Rico’s local self-government as laws are implemented and Puerto Rico’s budget and debt are restructured so that it can get on a path towards stability and prosperity.
Honoring the People of the Territories
We also recognize and honor the contributions and the sacrifices made in service of our country by the Americans living in the territories of Guam, American Samoa, the U. S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
We support self-government and self-determination for the people of the territories,
and their right to decide their future status.
All Americans should be able to vote for the people who make their laws,
just as they should be treated equally.
And all American citizens, no matter where they reside, should have the right to vote for the President of the United States.
We will work as partners to the people of Guam on military matters,
believe veterans from Guam and the Virgin Islands should have access to timely and quality Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) care,
and take seriously the unique health care challenges that Pacific Island communities face.
And we support reviewing the feasibility of extending the ACA to all the territories and increasing the Medicaid cap.
For all those who live under our flag, we support strong economic development
and will work towards fair and equitable treatment under federal programs.
Protect Voting Rights, Fix Our Campaign Finance System, and Restore Our Democracy
Democrats know that Americans’ right to vote is sacred and fundamental.
We believe that we must protect Americans’ right to vote,
while stopping corporations’ outsized influence in elections.
We must rectify the Supreme Court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, which is a profound injustice.
We will stop efforts by Republican governors and legislatures to disenfranchise people of color, low-income people, and young people,
and prevent these voters from exercising their right to vote through onerous restrictions.
We will ensure that election officials comply with voting protections, including provisions mandating bilingual materials and voter assistance.
And we will fight to reform our broken campaign finance system,
which gives outsized influence to billionaires and big corporations.
It’s time we give back control of our elections to those to whom it belongs—the American people.
Protecting Voting Rights
The Democratic Party was founded on the promise of an expanded democracy.
The right to vote is at the heart of our national vision.
It is a core principle of the Democratic Party to maximize voter participation for all Americans.
Our democracy suffers when nearly two thirds of our citizens do not or cannot participate, as in the last midterm elections.
Democrats believe we must make it easier to vote, not harder.
We must restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.
We will bring our democracy into the 21st century by expanding early voting and vote-by-mail,
implementing universal automatic voter registration and same day voter registration,
ending partisan and racial gerrymandering, and making Election Day a national holiday.
We will restore voting rights for those who have served their sentences.
And we will continue to fight against discriminatory voter identification laws,
which disproportionately burden young voters, diverse communities, people of color, low-income families, people with disabilities, the elderly, and women.
We support fully funding the Help America Vote Act and will work to fulfill the promise of election reform,
including fighting to end long lines at voting booths
and ensuring that all registration materials, voting materials, polling places, and voting machines are truly accessible to seniors, Americans with disabilities, and citizens with limited English proficiency.
We will support local, county, and state governments in their efforts to upgrade old voting equipment and machines with modern systems, including voter-verified paper ballots,
to ensure that all voters are able to exercise this sacred right in the quickest, most convenient, secure and accurate manner possible.
Republicans have enacted various voter suppression tactics from Ohio to Florida,
and even though some federal courts have already found that these measures go too far,
Democrats will continue to fight these laws to preserve the fundamental right to vote.
We support efforts to defeat ill-motivated voter suppression tactics.
We also support Ohio’s proposed Voters Bill of Rights amendment, North Carolina’s Moral Monday movement, and similar initiatives to permanently safeguard this inalienable right.
Fixing Our Broken Campaign Finance System
Democrats believe we must fight to preserve the essence of the longest standing democracy in the world:
a government that represents the American people, not just a handful of powerful and wealthy special interests.
We will fight for real campaign finance reform now.
Big money is drowning out the voices of everyday Americans,
and we must have the necessary tools to fight back and safeguard our electoral and political integrity.
Democrats support a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United and Buckley v. Valeo.
We need to end secret, unaccountable money in politics by requiring, through executive order or legislation, significantly more disclosure and transparency—by outside groups, federal contractors, and public corporations to their shareholders.
We need to amplify the voices of the American people through a small donor matching public financing system.
We need to overhaul and strengthen the Federal Election Commission so that there is real enforcement of campaign finance laws.
And we need to fight to eliminate super PACs and outside spending abuses.
Our vision for American democracy is a nation in which all people, regardless of their income,
can participate in the political process and can run for office
without needing to depend on large contributions from the wealthy and the powerful.
Appointing Judges
We will appoint judges who defend the constitutional principles of liberty and equality for all,
and will protect a woman’s right to safe and legal abortion,
curb billionaires’ influence over elections because they understand that Citizens United has fundamentally damaged our democracy,
and believe the Constitution protects not only the powerful, but also the disadvantaged and powerless.
Securing Statehood for Washington, D.C.
Restoring our democracy also means finally passing statehood for the District of Columbia,
so that the American citizens who reside in the nation’s capital have full and equal congressional rights
as well as the right to have the laws and budget of their local government respected without Congressional interference.
Strengthening Management of Federal Government
Democrats understand responsible fiscal stewardship is key to American democracy
and to the country’s long-term economic prosperity.
We believe that by making those at the top and the largest corporations pay their fair share
we can pay for ambitious progressive investments that create good-paying jobs
and offer security to working families
without adding to the debt.
This stands in contrast to Donald Trump, whose plans could add more than $30 trillion to the debt and who casually suggests defaulting on America’s debt,
ending more than 200 years in which the full faith and credit of the United States has been sacrosanct.
We will also ensure that new spending and tax cuts are offset so that they do not add to the nation’s debt over time.
We will tackle waste, fraud, and abuse
to make sure government dollars are spent wisely and efficiently.
Democrats believe that we should not be contracting, outsourcing, or privatizing work that is inherently governmental in nature, including postal services, school services, and state and local government services.
We are committed to a strong, effective, accountable civil service,
delivering the quality public services Americans have every right to expect.
Democrats believe that, in general, the most effective way to identify problems facing our country and develop good solutions is by enacting evidence-based public policy.
We recognize the value of data in allowing us to count and carefully consider the needs of different communities.
That is why we will preserve and enhance the integrity and accuracy of the census and the American Community Survey (ACS).
We will equip the Census Bureau with the resources needed to prepare for and conduct a cost effective, complete and accurate census,
as well as improve counting segments of the population that are historically and persistently undercounted, specifically communities of color, immigrants, LGBT people, young children, those with disabilities, and rural and low-income populations.
We will also maintain the legal requirement for the public to participate and be counted.
Democrats also believe that government services should be culturally and linguistically appropriate and that data should be disaggregated for those communities, like Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, where it is necessary to fully understand and address their needs.
Finally, Democrats will make government simpler and more user-friendly.
The federal government too often operates with websites designed from another era that are too complicated, too hard to use, and rarely designed for mobile phones or tablets.
We will build on the creation of the United States Digital Service (USDS) and give it the resources it needs to transform and digitize the top 25 federal government programs that directly serve citizens.
We will eliminate internal barriers to government modernization.
And we will use technology to improve outcomes and government accountability by embracing prioritized goal setting and performance tracking for the federal government.
Combat Climate Change, Build a Clean Energy Economy, and Secure Environmental Justice
Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time.
Fifteen of the 16 hottest years on record have occurred this century.
While Donald Trump has called climate change a “hoax,”
2016 is on track to break global temperature records once more.
Cities from Miami to Baltimore are already threatened by rising seas.
California and the West have suffered years of brutal drought.
Alaska has been scorched by wildfire.
New York has been battered by superstorms, and Texas swamped by flash floods.
The best science tells us that without ambitious, immediate action across our economy to cut carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases, all of these impacts will be far worse in the future.
We cannot leave our children a planet that has been profoundly damaged.
Democrats share a deep commitment to tackling the climate challenge;
creating millions of good-paying middle class jobs;
reducing greenhouse gas emissions more than 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050;
and meeting the pledge President Obama put forward in the landmark Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global temperature increases to “well below” two degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
We believe America must be running entirely on clean energy by mid-century.
We will take bold steps to slash carbon pollution and protect clean air at home,
lead the fight against climate change around the world,
ensure no Americans are left out or left behind as we accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy,
and be responsible stewards of our natural resources and our public lands and waters.
Democrats reject the notion that we have to choose between protecting our planet and creating good-paying jobs.
We can and we will do both.
Building a Clean Energy Economy
We are committed to getting 50 percent of our electricity from clean energy sources within a decade, with half a billion solar panels installed within four years and enough renewable energy to power every home in the country.
We will cut energy waste in American homes, schools, hospitals, and offices through energy efficient improvements;
modernize our electric grid;
and make American manufacturing the cleanest and most efficient in the world.
These efforts will create millions of new jobs
and save families and businesses money on their monthly energy bills.
We will transform American transportation by reducing oil consumption through cleaner fuels, vehicle electrification increasing the fuel efficiency of cars, boilers, ships, and trucks.
We will make new investments in public transportation and build bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure across our urban and suburban areas.
Democrats believe the tax code must reflect our commitment to a clean energy future by eliminating special tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuel companies
as well as defending and extending tax incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy.
Democrats believe that carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases should be priced to reflect their negative externalities,
and to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy and help meet our climate goals.
Democrats believe that climate change is too important to wait for climate deniers and defeatists in Congress to start listening to science, and support using every tool available to reduce emissions now.
Democrats are committed to defending, implementing, and extending smart pollution and efficiency standards, including the Clean Power Plan,
fuel economy standards for automobiles and heavy-duty vehicles, building codes and appliance standards.
We are also committed to expanding clean energy research and development.
Democrats recognize the importance of climate leadership at the local level and know that achieving our national clean energy goals requires an active partnership with states, cities, and rural communities where so much of our country’s energy policy is made.
We will ensure that those taking the lead on clean energy and energy efficiency have the tools and resources they need to succeed.
The federal government should lead by example, which is why we support taking steps to power the government with 100 percent clean electricity.
Democrats are committed to closing the Halliburton loophole that stripped the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of its ability to regulate hydraulic fracturing,
and ensuring tough safeguards are in place, including Safe Drinking Water Act provisions, to protect local water supplies.
We believe hydraulic fracturing should not take place where states and local communities oppose it.
We will reduce methane emissions from all oil and gas production and transportation by at least 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2025 through common-sense standards for both new and existing sources and by repairing and replacing thousands of miles of leaky pipes.
This will both protect our climate and create thousands of good-paying jobs.
We will work to expand access to cost-saving renewable energy by low-income households,
create good-paying jobs in communities that have struggled with energy poverty,
and oppose efforts by utilities to limit consumer choice or slow clean energy deployment.
We will streamline federal permitting to accelerate the construction of new transmission lines to get low-cost renewable energy to market,
and incentivize wind, solar, and other renewable energy over the development of new natural gas power plants.
We support President Obama's decision to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
As we continue working to reduce carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gas emissions, we must ensure federal actions do not “significantly exacerbate” global warming.
We support a comprehensive approach that ensures all federal decisions going forward contribute to solving, not significantly exacerbating, climate change.
Democrats believe that our commitment to meeting the climate challenge must also be reflected in the infrastructure investments we make.
We need to make our existing infrastructure safer and cleaner and build the new infrastructure necessary to power our clean energy future.
To create good-paying middle class jobs that cannot be outsourced,
Democrats support high labor standards in clean energy infrastructure and the right to form or join a union,
whether in renewable power or advanced vehicle manufacturing.
During the clean energy transition, we will ensure landowners, communities of color, and tribal nations are at the table.
Securing Environmental and Climate Justice
Democrats believe clean air and clean water are basic rights of all Americans.
Yet as we saw in Flint, Michigan, low-income communities and communities of color are disproportionately home to environmental justice “hot spots,” where air pollution, water pollution, and toxic hazards like lead increase health and economic hardship.
The impacts of climate change will also disproportionately affect low-income and minority communities, tribal nations, and Alaska Native villages—
all of which suffer the worst losses during extreme weather and have the fewest resources to prepare.
Simply put, this is environmental racism.
Democrats believe we must make it a national priority to eradicate lead poisoning, which disproportionately impacts low-income children and children of color and can lead to lifelong health and educational challenges.
We will prioritize hiring and training workers from affected communities to clean up toxic brownfields and expand clean energy, energy efficiency, and resilient infrastructure.
The fight against climate change must not leave any community out or behind
—including the coal communities who kept America’s lights on for generations.
Democrats will fight to make sure these workers and their families get the benefits they have earned and the respect they deserve,
and we will make new investments in energy-producing communities to help create jobs and build a brighter and more resilient economic future.
We will also oppose threats to the public health of these communities from harmful and dangerous extraction practices, like mountaintop removal mining operations.
All corporations owe it to their shareholders to fully analyze and disclose the risks they face, including climate risk.
Those who fail to do so should be held accountable.
Democrats also respectfully request the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies accused of misleading shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change.
Protecting Our Public Lands and Waters
Democrats believe in the conservation and collaborative stewardship of our shared natural heritage: the public lands and waterways, the oceans, Everglades, Great Lakes, the Arctic, and all that makes America’s great outdoors priceless.
As a nation, we need policies and investments that will keep America’s public lands public,
strengthen protections for our natural and cultural resources,
increase access to parks and public lands for all Americans,
protect native species and wildlife,
and harness the immense economic and social potential of our public lands and waters.
Democrats will work to establish an American Parks Trust Fund to help expand local, state, and national recreational opportunities, rehabilitate existing parks, and enhance America's great outdoors—from our forests and coasts to neighborhood parks—
so “America’s Best Idea” is held in trust for future generations,
and all Americans can access and enjoy natural spaces.
Democrats are committed to doubling the size of the outdoor economy, creating nearly hundreds of billions of dollars in new economic activity and millions of new jobs.
Democrats will approach conservation of our public lands and waters in a way that reflects the diversity of our country, by actively engaging all Americans in the great outdoors and protecting natural landscapes and cultural sites that tell the story of America's complex history.
To help meet these goals, we will work to build a diverse workforce in agencies that manage America's public lands, waters, and cultural sites.
We oppose drilling in the Arctic and off the Atlantic coast,
and believe we need to reform fossil fuel leasing on public lands.
We will phase down extraction of fossil fuels from our public lands, starting with the most polluting sources,
while making our public lands and waters engines of the clean energy economy and creating jobs across the country.
Democrats will work to expand the amount of renewable energy production on federal lands and waters, from wind in Wyoming to solar in Nevada.
Democrats oppose efforts to undermine the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act to protect threatened and endangered species.
Because the Bristol Bay drainages of Alaska produce the world’s largest salmon fisheries, we support efforts by the EPA under the Clean Water Act to establish proactively science-based restrictions on discharges of dredged or fill material associated with a potential Pebble mine and urge that such restrictions must apply to potential mines at other metallic sulfide deposits in those drainages.
Agricultural lands account for nearly half of the total land area in America and our agricultural practices have a significant impact on our water, land, oceans, and the climate.
Therefore, we believe that in order to be effective in keeping our air and water clean and combating climate change,
we must enlist farmers as partners in promoting conservation and stewardship.
Provide Quality and Affordable Education
Democrats know that every child, no matter who they are, how much their families earn, or where they live, should have access to a high-quality education, from preschool through high school and beyond.
But the United States still lags behind other advanced economies in providing high-quality, universal preschool programs to help all of our kids get a strong start to their educations.
Our schools are more segregated today than they were when Brown v.  Board of Education was decided,
and we see wide disparities in educational outcomes across racial and socioeconomic lines.
A college degree or another form of post-secondary education is increasingly required for jobs that pay a middle-class wage,
but graduation rates have stagnated for low-income students.
And the high cost of college has required too many Americans to take out staggering student loans or put a degree out of reach entirely.
We are selling our children and our young people short.
Democrats are committed to making good public schools available to every child, no matter what zip code they live in, and at last making debt-free college a reality for all Americans.
Making Debt-Free College a Reality
Democrats believe that in America, if you want a higher education, you should always be able to get one: money should never stand in the way.
Cost should not be a barrier to getting a degree or credential, and debt should not hold you back after you graduate.
Bold new investments by the federal government,
coupled with states reinvesting in higher education and colleges holding the line on costs,
will ensure that Americans of all backgrounds will be prepared for the jobs and economy of the future.
Democrats are unified in their strong belief that every student should be able to go to college debt-free,
and working families should not have to pay any tuition to go to public colleges and universities.
We will also make community college free,
while ensuring the strength of our Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions.
The federal government will push more colleges and universities to take quantifiable, affirmative steps in increasing the percentages of racial and ethnic minority, low-income, and first-generation students they enroll and graduate.
Achieving these goals depends on state and federal investment in both students and their teachers.
Whether full-time or adjunct, faculty must be supported to make transformative educational experiences possible.
Providing Relief from Crushing Student Debt
As we make college affordable for future students,
we will not forget about the millions of borrowers with unsustainable levels of student debt, who need help right now.
Democrats will allow those who currently have student debt to refinance their loans at the lowest rates possible.
We will simplify and expand access to income-based repayment so that no student loan borrowers ever have to pay more than they can afford.
And we will significantly cut interest rates for future undergraduates because we believe that making college more affordable is more important than the federal government making billions of dollars in profit off those loans.
Democrats will also fight for a student borrower bill of rights to ensure borrowers get adequate information about options to avoid or get out of delinquency or default.
We will hold lenders and loan servicers to high standards to help borrowers in default rehabilitate and repay their debts.
We will continue the important Public Service Loan Forgiveness and loan discharge programs begun by the Obama Administration.
Finally, Democrats will restore the prior standard in bankruptcy law to allow borrowers with student loans to be able to discharge their debts in bankruptcy as a measure of last resort.
To make progress toward these goals, the government should offer a moratorium on student loan payments to all federal loan borrowers so they have the time and get the resources they need to consolidate their loans, enroll in income-based repayment programs, and take advantage of opportunities to reduce monthly payments and fees.
Supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions
We will strengthen our nation’s public and private Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Predominantly Black Institutions, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions, Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions, and minority-serving institutions.
Many of these schools educate disproportionate percentages of growing populations of Americans: students who are racial and ethnic minorities, low-income students, and first-generation students.
As the nation is grappling with how to expand educational access and increase success, especially for communities of color and low-income students and families, there is evidence that the nation’s HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions have honed promising models for educating these students to prepare them for high- and critical-need positions while containing costs.
We will create a robust and historic dedicated fund to keep costs down, provide quality education, and ensure dedicated support to improve student outcomes and completion rates.
We will provide further assistance to students at these schools, as well as other students across the country,
by restoring year-round Pell funding so that low- and middle-income students from all backgrounds can get the support they need to make progress toward a college degree throughout the year.
Cracking Down on Predatory For-Profit Schools
We will continue to crack down on for-profit schools that take millions in federal financial aid—often as their principal source of revenue—and then exploit students and burden them with debt rather than educating them.
That is why we will strengthen the gainful employment rule to ensure that for-profit schools enable students to complete their degrees and prepare them for work.
We will go after for-profits that engage in deceptive marketing, fraud, and other illegal practices.
We will also exercise our responsibility in oversight over the Department of Education to carry out their obligation to close down those for-profit schools that consistently engage in fraudulent and illegal conduct.
It is unacceptable that for-profit schools with low graduation rates keep encouraging their students to take out federal loans they will have trouble paying back.
Therefore, to the maximum extent possible, we will also encourage widespread relief and the forgiveness of debt to those students harmed by the practices of fraudulent institutions.
Guaranteeing Universal Preschool and Good Schools for Every Child
Democrats believe we must have the best-educated population and workforce in the world.
That means making early childhood education and universal preschool a priority, especially in light of new research showing how much early learning can impact life-long success.
Democrats will invest in early childhood programs like Early Head Start and provide every family in America with access to high-quality childcare and high-quality preschool programs.
We support efforts to raise wages for childcare workers,
and to ensure that early childhood educators are experienced and high-quality.
We will ensure there are great schools for every child
no matter where they live.
Democrats know the federal government must play a critical role in making sure every child has access to a world-class education.
We believe that a strong public education system is an anchor of our democracy,
a propeller of the economy,
and the vehicle through which we help all children achieve their dreams.
Public education must engage students to be critical thinkers and civic participants
while addressing the wellbeing of the whole child.
We also support increased investments in afterschool and summer learning programs,
which help working families,
keep kids safe,
and inspire learning at a time when many students are left unsupervised.
We must find ways to encourage mentoring programs that support students in reaching their full potential.
Mentoring is a strategy to ensure that children living in poverty have the encouragement and support to aim high and enter the middle class.
We will focus on group mentoring, which is a low-cost, high-yield investment that offers the benefit of building a supportive network of peers who push one another towards success.
Democrats believe all students should be taught to high academic standards.
Schools should have adequate resources to provide programs and support to help meet the needs of every child.
We will hold schools, districts, communities, and states accountable for raising achievement levels for all students—
particularly low-income students, students of color, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities.
We must fulfill our national commitment to provide a meaningful education to students with disabilities, and work towards full funding of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so that students with disabilities can receive the extra resources and services they need.
With an appropriate educational foundation, children with disabilities can thrive and become adults with greater opportunities and more meaningful life experiences.
We are also deeply committed to ensuring that we strike a better balance on testing so that it informs, but does not drive, instruction.
To that end, we encourage states to develop a multiple measures approach to assessment, and we believe that standardized tests must be reliable and valid.
We oppose high-stakes standardized tests that falsely and unfairly label students of color, students with disabilities and English Language Learners as failing;
the use of standardized test scores as basis for refusing to fund schools or to close schools;
and the use of student test scores in teacher and principal evaluations, a practice which has been repeatedly rejected by researchers.
We support enabling parents to opt their children out of standardized tests without penalty for either the student or their school.
Democrats recognize and honor all the professionals who work in public schools to support students' education—teachers, education support professionals, and specialized staff.
We know that good teachers are essential to improving student learning and helping all students to meet high academic standards.
Democrats will launch a national campaign to recruit and retain high-quality teachers.
We will ensure that teachers receive the tools and ongoing professional development they need to succeed in the classroom and provide our children with a world-class education.
We also must lift up and trust our educators, continually build their capacity, and ensure that our schools are safe, welcoming, collaborative, and well-resourced places for our students, educators, and communities.
We will invest in high-quality STEAM classes, community schools, computer science education, arts education, and expand link learning models and career pathways.
We will end the school-to-prison pipeline by opposing discipline policies which disproportionately affect African Americans and Latinos, Native Americans and Alaska Natives, students with disabilities, and youth who identify as LGBT.
We will support the use of restorative justice practices that help students and staff resolve conflicts peacefully and respectfully while helping to improve the teaching and learning environment.
And we will work to improve school culture and combat bullying of all kinds.
The Democratic Party is committed to eliminating opportunity gaps—particularly those that lead to students from low-income communities arriving on day one of kindergarten several years behind their peers.
This means advocating for labor and public assistance laws that ensure poor parents can spend time with their children.
This means raising household incomes in poor communities.
It means ensuring children have health care, stable housing free of contaminants, and a community free of violence in order to minimize the likelihood of cognitive delays.
It means enriching early childhood programming to prepare children in areas such as literacy, numeracy, civic engagement, and emotional intelligence.
It means supporting equitable and adequate state funding for public education,
and expanding Title I funding for schools that serve a large number or high concentration of children in poverty.
It means ending curriculum gaps that maintain and exacerbate achievement gaps.
We support policies that motivate rather than demoralize our educators.
We are committed to ensuring that schools that educate children in poverty are not treated unfairly, which is why we will end the test-and-punish version of accountability that does no more than reveal the many opportunity gaps facing students from low-income communities.
Democrats are committed to providing parents with high-quality public school options and expanding these options for low-income youth.
We support democratically governed, great neighborhood public schools
and high-quality public charter schools,
and we will help them disseminate best practices to other school leaders and educators.
Democrats oppose for-profit charter schools focused on making a profit off of public resources.
We believe that high-quality public charter schools should provide options for parents,
but should not replace or destabilize traditional public schools.
Charter schools must reflect their communities, and thus must accept and retain proportionate numbers of students of color, students with disabilities and English Language Learners in relation to their neighborhood public schools.
We support increased transparency and accountability for all charter schools.
Ensure the Health and Safety of All Americans
Democrats have been fighting to secure universal health care for the American people for generations, and we are proud to be the party that passed Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Being stronger together means finally achieving that goal.
We are going to fight to make sure every American has access to quality, affordable health care.
We will tackle the problems that remain in our health care system, including cracking down on runaway prescription drug prices and addressing mental health with the same seriousness that we treat physical health.
We will fight Republican efforts to roll back the clock on women’s health and reproductive rights, and stand up for Planned Parenthood.
And we will tackle the epidemics of substance abuse and gun violence, which each claim tens of thousands of lives every year.
Securing Universal Health Care
Democrats believe that health care is a right, not a privilege, and our health care system should put people before profits.
Thanks to the hard work of President Obama and Democrats in Congress, we took a critically important step toward the goal of universal health care by passing the Affordable Care Act, which has covered 20 million more Americans and ensured millions more will never be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
Democrats will never falter in our generations-long fight to guarantee health care as a fundamental right for every American.
As part of that guarantee, Americans should be able to access public coverage through a public option,
and those over 55 should be able to opt in to Medicare.
Democrats will empower the states, which are the true laboratories of democracy,
to use innovation waivers under the ACA to develop unique locally tailored approaches to health coverage.
This will include removing barriers to states which seek to experiment with plans to ensure universal health care to every person in their state.
By contrast, Donald Trump wants to repeal the ACA, leaving tens of millions of Americans without coverage.
For too many of us, health care costs are still too high, even for those with insurance.
And medical debt is a problem for far too many working families, with one-quarter of Americans reporting that they or someone in their household had problems or an inability to pay medical bills in the past year.
Democrats will also work to end surprise billing and other practices that lead to out-of-control medical debt that place an unconscionable economic strain on American households.
We will repeal the excise tax on high-cost health insurance and find revenue to offset it because we need to contain the long-term growth of health care costs,
but should not risk passing on too much of the burden to workers.
Democrats will keep costs down by making premiums more affordable, reducing out-of-pocket expenses, and capping prescription drug costs.
And we will fight against insurers trying to impose excessive premium increases.
Democrats will fight any attempts by Republicans in Congress to privatize, voucherize, or “phase out” Medicare as we know it.
And we will oppose Republican plans to slash funding and block grant Medicaid and SNAP, which would harm millions of Americans.
We will keep fighting until the ACA’s Medicaid expansion has been adopted in every state.
Nineteen states have not yet expanded Medicaid.
This means that millions of low-income Americans still lack health insurance and are not getting the care they need.
Additionally, health care providers, clinics, hospitals, and taxpayers are footing a higher bill when people without insurance visit expensive emergency rooms.
Democrats believe your zip code or census tract should not be a predictor of your health,
which is why we will make health equity a central part of our commitment to revitalizing communities left behind.
Democrats believe that all health care services should be culturally and linguistically appropriate,
and that neither fear nor immigration status should be barriers that impede health care access.
Supporting Community Health Centers
We must renew and expand our commitment to Community Health Centers, as well as community mental health centers
and family planning centers.
These health centers provide critically important, community-based prevention and treatment in underserved communities,
prevent unnecessary and expensive trips to emergency rooms,
and are essential to the successful implementation of the ACA.
We will fight for a comprehensive system of primary health care, including dental, mental health care, and low-cost prescription drugs by doubling of funding for federally qualified community health centers over the next decade, which currently serve 25 million people.
Democrats also know that one of the key ingredients to the success of these health centers is a well-supported and qualified workforce in community-based settings.
We will fight to train and support this workforce, encourage providers to work with underserved populations through the National Health Service Corps,
and create a comprehensive strategy to increase the pool of primary health care professionals.
Reducing Prescription Drug Costs
It is unacceptable that the United States pays, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and that too many Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 cannot afford to fill their prescriptions.
A lifesaving drug is no good if it is unaffordable to the very people who need it most.
And many drug companies are spending more on advertising than on research.
The largest pharmaceutical companies are making billions of dollars per year in profits at higher margins compared to other industries while many stash their profits in offshore tax havens.
Meanwhile, they charge Americans thousands of dollars for new drugs—often at much higher costs than in other developed nations.
Democrats are committed to investing in the research, development, and innovation that creates lifesaving drugs and lowers overall health costs,
but the profiteering of pharmaceutical companies is simply unacceptable.
We will crack down on price gouging by drug companies and cap the amount Americans have to pay out-of-pocket every month on prescription drugs.
We will prohibit anti-competitive “pay for delay” deals that keep generic drugs off the market,
and we will allow individuals, pharmacists, and wholesalers to import prescription drugs from licensed pharmacies in Canada and other countries with appropriate safety protections.
Democrats will also fight to make sure that Medicare will negotiate lower prices with drug manufacturers.
Enabling Cutting-Edge Medical Research
Democrats believe we must accelerate the pace of medical progress, ensuring that we invest more in our scientists and give them the resources they need to invigorate our fundamental studies in the life sciences in a growing, stable, and predictable way.
We must make progress against the full range of diseases, including Alzheimer’s, HIV and AIDS, cancer, and other diseases, especially chronic ones.
We recognize the critical importance of a fully-funded National Institutes of Health to accelerate the pace of medical progress.
Combating Drug and Alcohol Addiction
We must confront the epidemic of drug and alcohol addiction, specifically the opioid crisis and other drugs plaguing our communities, by vastly expanding access to prevention and treatment,
supporting recovery,
helping community organizations,
and promoting better practices by prescribers.
The Democratic Party is committed to assisting the estimated 20 million people struggling with addiction in this country to find and sustain healthy lives by encouraging full recovery and integration into society
and working to remove common barriers to gainful employment, housing, and education.
We will continue to fight to expand access to care for addiction services,
and ensure that insurance coverage is equal to that for any other health conditions.
We think it is time for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Labor, and state regulatory agencies to fully implement the protections of the Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act of 2008—which means that American medical insurers, including the federal government, will need to disclose how they make their medical management decisions.
We should also do more to educate our youth, as well as their families, teachers, coaches, mentors, and friends, to intervene early to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and addiction.
We should help state and local leaders establish evidence-based, age-appropriate, and locally-tailored prevention programs.
These programs include school-based drug education programs that have been shown to have meaningful effects on risky behavior; community-based peer mentorship and leadership programs; and after-school activities that deter drug use and encourage life skills.
Treating Mental Health
We must treat mental health issues with the same care and seriousness that we treat issues of physical health,
support a robust mental health workforce,
and promote better integration of the behavioral and general health care systems.
Recognizing that maintaining good mental health is critical to all people, including young people’s health and development,
we will work with health professionals to ensure that all children have access to mental health care.
We must also expand community-based treatment for substance abuse disorders and mental health conditions and fully enforce our parity law.
And we should create a national initiative around suicide prevention across the lifespan—to move toward the HHS-promoted Zero Suicide commitment.
Supporting Those Living with Autism and their Families
Democrats believe that our country must make supporting the millions of individuals with autism and those diagnosed in the future and their families a priority.
We will conduct a nationwide early screening outreach campaign to ensure that all children, and in particular children from underserved backgrounds,
can get screened for autism.
We will expand services and support for adults and individuals transitioning into adulthood, including employment and housing assistance.
And we will push states to require health insurance coverage for autism services in private insurance plans as well as state marketplaces so that people with autism are not denied care.
Securing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice
Democrats are committed to protecting and advancing reproductive health, rights, and justice.
We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion
—regardless of where she lives, how much money she makes, or how she is insured.
We believe that reproductive health is core to women’s, men’s, and young people’s health and wellbeing.
We will continue to stand up to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood health centers, which provide critical health services to millions of people.
We will continue to oppose—and seek to overturn—federal and state laws and policies that impede a woman’s access to abortion, including by repealing the Hyde Amendment.
We condemn and will combat any acts of violence, harassment, and intimidation of reproductive health providers, patients, and staff.
We will defend the ACA, which extends affordable preventive health care to women, including no-cost contraception,
and prohibits discrimination in health care based on gender.
We will address the discrimination and barriers that inhibit meaningful access to reproductive health care services, including those based on gender, sexuality, race, income, disability, and other factors.
We recognize that quality, affordable comprehensive health care, evidence-based sex education and a full range of family planning services help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and thereby also reduce the need for abortions.
And we strongly and unequivocally support a woman’s decision to have a child, including by ensuring a safe and healthy pregnancy and childbirth,
and by providing services during pregnancy and after the birth of a child, including adoption and social support services, as well as protections for women against pregnancy discrimination.
We are committed to creating a society where children are safe and can thrive physically, emotionally, educationally, and spiritually.
We recognize and support the importance of civil structures that are essential to creating this for every child.
Ensuring Long-Term Care, Services, and Supports
Our country faces a long-term care crisis that prevents too many seniors and people with disabilities from being able to live with dignity at home or in their communities.
The vast majority of people who are aging or living with a disability want to do so at home, but face challenges finding and affording the support they need to do so.
Programs that emphasize independence rather than institutionalization must be better structured to support them.
Democrats will take steps to strengthen and expand the home care workforce,
give seniors and people with disabilities access to quality, affordable long-term care, services, and supports,
and ensure that all of these resources are readily available at home or in the community.
Protecting and Promoting Public Health
Investment in our nation’s crumbling public health infrastructure is critical to ensuring preparedness for emerging threats;
for preventing disease, illness, and injury in communities;
and for promoting good health and wellbeing.
Inadequate access to public health services has a disparate impact on poor, rural, and minority communities where public health services are a significant source of health care.
Democrats will fight for increased investments in public health to better address emerging threats and the needs across our country.
To further that end, the Democratic Party will continue to oppose Republican attempts to cut public health services and funding.
We will ensure adequate funding of public health education at the undergraduate, graduate, and medical school levels as well as adequate funding of residency training programs in public health, preventive medicine, and its subspecialties.
We must take a number of proactive steps so that all Americans—regardless of location, income or history—have the opportunity to live full, healthy lives.
Democrats will fight for increased investments and coordination in public health to better address emerging threats as well as persistent needs across our country.
Health equity among Americans remains elusive
—higher income is strongly associated with longer life expectancy and the gap in life expectancy between the richest and poorest Americans is increasing.
We continue to see unacceptable differences in health outcomes by race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
A growing body of research demonstrates the link between social factors—such as poverty, unemployment, experience of discrimination, and housing instability—and poor health.
Democrats will continue to pursue policies addressing these social factors and empowering communities to respond to their most pressing health needs.
Ending Violence Against Women
Democrats are committed to ending the scourge of violence against women wherever it occurs —whether in our homes, streets, schools, military, or elsewhere.
We will continue to support the Violence Against Women Act to provide law enforcement with the tools it needs to combat this problem.
We will support comprehensive services for survivors of violence and increase prevention efforts in our communities and on our campuses.
Democrats will fight to bring an end to sexual assault—wherever it occurs, including on campuses—
because everyone deserves a safe environment where they can learn and thrive, not live in fear.
We will provide comprehensive support to survivors,
and ensure a fair process for all on-campus disciplinary proceedings and in the criminal justice system.
We will increase sexual violence prevention education programs that cover issues like consent and bystander intervention, not only in college, but also in secondary school.
Preventing Gun Violence
With 33,000 Americans dying every year, Democrats believe that we must finally take sensible action to address gun violence.
While responsible gun ownership is part of the fabric of many communities,
too many families in America have suffered from gun violence.
We can respect the rights of responsible gun owners
while keeping our communities safe.
To build on the success of the lifesaving Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, we will expand and strengthen background checks and close dangerous loopholes in our current laws;
repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to revoke the dangerous legal immunity protections gun makers and sellers now enjoy;
and keep weapons of war—such as assault weapons and large capacity ammunition magazines (LCAM's)—off our streets.
We will fight back against attempts to make it harder for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to revoke federal licenses from law breaking gun dealers,
and ensure guns do not fall into the hands of terrorists, intimate partner abusers, other violent criminals,
and those with severe mental health issues.
There is insufficient research on effective gun prevention policies, which is why the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must have the resources it needs to study gun violence as a public health issue.
Principled Leadership
Democrats believe that America must lead in the world to grow our economy,
protect our interests and values,
and make our country safer
and more prosperous.
We cannot walk away from our position of global leadership and allow other countries to make decisions about our lives, jobs, and safety.
Democrats further believe that when America leads, it must be as a principled force for peace and prosperity in the world.
We believe all people deserve to live in dignity and have their rights respected.
We believe protecting rights and opportunities for women and girls is essential for security
and economic growth.
We believe providing access to education and employment for young people and safeguarding the rights of minorities is important to ensuring stability.
We believe the smart use of diplomacy, development, and economic statecraft can prevent crises, foster stability, and make us safer.
And we believe that we are stronger when we work with our partners and allies, rather than try to go it alone.
Our global network of alliances is not a burden—it is a source of tremendous strategic advantage.
We believe that while our military must be the strongest in the world,
it should only be sent into combat when the terms of engagement are clearly presented to the American people and our troops have what they need to fulfill their mission.
We believe that war must always be the last resort, never the first choice.
These principles have underpinned important progress in the last eight years.
When President Obama and Vice President Biden assumed office, the world economy was in the worst crisis since the Great Depression,
our alliances were strained,
Osama bin Laden remained at large,
Iran was racing toward a nuclear weapon,
and we were mired in two costly wars.
We brought bin Laden to justice, crippled al Qaeda’s core leadership,
saved America from a second Great Depression,
repaired our alliances, reestablished relations with Cuba while pressing for reforms,
and—without firing a shot, dropping a bomb, or putting a single American soldier in harm’s way
—blocked Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear weapon.
America is stronger abroad and safer at home because of this principled leadership.
But there is much more to do to keep our country prosperous and safe.
From defeating terrorism
and combating climate change
to managing China’s rise
and strengthening our nation’s cybersecurity,
the next Democratic administration will confront the complex challenges that lie ahead by staying true to our principles and core values.
Donald Trump has a different approach.
There has never been a major party candidate less qualified or less fit for the office of President of the United States or to be Commander-in-Chief than Donald Trump.
He wants more countries to have nuclear weapons.
He thinks our military should engage in war crimes.
He wants to build walls and keep people—including Americans—from entering the country based on their race, religion, ethnicity, and national origin.
He has no strategy for dealing with key threats facing our country, including climate change
and ISIS.
He wants to abandon our allies and empower our adversaries.
His dangerous, incoherent policies would undo the progress we have made.
Donald Trump believes America is weak and an embarrassment.
We believe America is unlike any other nation on earth.
Our ingenuity is unparalleled,
our military unrivaled,
our economy the largest, most dynamic, and innovative,
and our values an enduring source of strength and inspiration the world over.
We are not a country that cowers behind walls.
We lead with purpose.
With American leadership, guided by our principles
and in concert with our allies and partners,
the coming years can be the most stable, secure, and prosperous time we and the world have ever known.
Support Our Troops and Keep Faith with Our Veterans
Democrats believe America must continue to have the strongest military in the world.
Donald Trump has called our military “a disaster.
” We reject that view of our brave men and women in serving in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
They perform admirably while sacrificing immeasurably.
Defense Spending
We support a smart, predictable defense budget that meets the strategic challenges we face,
not the arbitrary cuts that the Republican Congress enacted as part of sequestration.
We must prioritize military readiness by making sure our Active, Reserve, and National Guard components remain the best trained and equipped in the world.
We will seek a more agile and flexible force and rid the military of outdated Cold War-era systems.
We must end waste in the defense budget.
We will audit the Pentagon, launch a high-level commission to review the role of defense contractors,
and take greater action against those who have been involved in fraud.
And we will ensure that the Department of Defense invests its budget wisely.
Veterans and Service Members
Our country has a sacred, moral responsibility to keep faith with all our veterans and wounded warriors.
We must take care of those who have put their lives on the line to defend us.
That is why we will push for more educational benefits and job training,
end chronic homelessness and combat suicide,
and protect and preserve the post-9/11 GI Bill for future generations.
We will also ensure that reservists and Guard members are treated fairly when it comes to employment, health, education benefits, deployment, and reintegration.
We are outraged by the systemic problems plaguing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
We will fight for every veteran to have timely access to high-quality health care and timely processing of claims and appeals.
We must also look for more ways to make certain the VA provides veteran-centric care,
such as providing women with full and equal treatment,
including reproductive health services;
expanding mental health programs;
continuing efforts to identify and treat invisible, latent, and toxic wounds of war;
treating post-traumatic stress;
and expanding the post-9/11 veteran’s caregiver program to include all veterans.
We reject attempts by Republicans to sell out the needs of veterans by privatizing the VA.
We believe that the VA must be fully resourced so that every veteran gets the care that he or she has earned and deserves, including those suffering from sexual assault, mental illness and other injuries or ailments.
Military Families
Democrats honor the sacrifice of military families who serve alongside our service members.
We recognize the unique concerns and challenges they face, especially after 15 years of continuous deployments.
We will support military families with jobs, education, childcare, and health care.
We will promote family-friendly policies
and champion efforts to care for our military family members,
especially for the spouses and children who have to rebuild their lives after the loss of a loved one or life-altering injury or disability.
A Strong Military
Democrats welcome and honor all Americans who want to serve and will continue to fight for their equal rights and recognition.
We are proud of the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and we commit ourselves to insuring fair treatment for LGBT veterans, including by proactively reviewing and upgrading discharge records for veterans who were discharged because of their sexual orientation.
We are also proud of the opening of combat positions to women.
Our military is strongest when people of all races, religions, sexual orientations, and gender identities are honored for their service to our country.
Democrats are committed to addressing the scourge of military sexual assault.
We must increase efforts to prevent sexual assault and rape,
and aggressively investigate and prosecute allegations.
And we must make sure victims receive timely, appropriate and comprehensive treatment for physical, emotional, and psychological trauma resulting from sexual assault.
Confront Global Threats
Democrats will protect our country.
We will strengthen our homeland security,
deal wisely and firmly with those who seek to imperil America or our partners,
deter aggression, and promote peace.
We will use all the tools of American power, especially diplomacy and development, to confront global threats and ensure war is the last resort.
Terrorism
We must defeat ISIS, al Qaeda, and their affiliates, and prevent other groups from emerging in their place.
Democrats will continue to lead a broad coalition of allies and partners to destroy ISIS’ stronghold in Iraq and Syria.
We will press those in the region, especially the Gulf countries and local forces on the ground, to carry their weight in prosecuting this fight.
We will dismantle the global network of terror, which supplies terrorists with money, arms, and fighters,
and stop them from recruiting and inspiring potential radicals.
We will improve our intelligence capabilities,
with appropriate safeguards here at home,
and ensure that the intelligence community and law enforcement is prepared to deal effectively with the threats we face.
We will harden our defenses as well as those of our partners against external and homegrown threats.
We will secure the homeland, investing more resources to improve mass transit, aviation, infrastructure, and port security.
And we will remain a resilient nation, always coming together to stand up to terror.
Democrats will seek an updated Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that is more precise about our efforts to defeat ISIS and that does not involve large-scale combat deployment of American troops.
As we prosecute the fight against terrorism, Democrats will repudiate vile tactics that would do us harm.
We reject Donald Trump’s vilification of Muslims.
It violates the religious freedom that is the bedrock of our country and feeds into ISIS’ nefarious narrative.
It also alienates people and countries who are crucial to defeating terrorism;
the vast majority of Muslims believe in a future of peace and tolerance.
We reject Donald Trump’s suggestion that our military should engage in war crimes, like torturing prisoners or murdering civilian family members of suspected terrorists.
These tactics run counter to American principles, undermine our moral standing,
cost innocent lives,
and endanger Americans.
We also firmly reject Donald Trump’s willingness to mire tens of thousands of our combat troops in another misguided ground war in the Middle East, which would only further embolden ISIS.
There is nothing smart or strong about such an approach.
Syria
The Syrian crisis is heartbreaking and dangerous, and its impact is threatening the region, Europe, and beyond.
Donald Trump would inflame the conflict by alienating our allies,
inexplicably allowing ISIS to expand in Syria,
and potentially starting a wider war.
This is a reckless approach.
Democrats will instead root out ISIS and other terrorist groups
and bring together the moderate Syrian opposition, international community, and our regional allies to reach a negotiated political transition that ends Assad’s rule.
Given the immense scale of human suffering in Syria, it is also imperative that we lead the international community
in providing greater humanitarian assistance to the civilian victims of war in Syria and Iraq, especially displaced refugees.
Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, we will work with the NATO-led coalition of partners to bolster the democratically-elected government as it assumes a primary role in tackling terrorism,
forges a more secure future for the country,
and safeguards advances, like securing women’s rights.
Democrats will continue to push for an Afghan-led peace process and press both Afghanistan and Pakistan to deny terrorists sanctuary on either side of the border.
We support President Obama’s decision to maintain a limited troop presence in Afghanistan into 2017
and ensure that Afghanistan never again serves as a haven for terrorists to plan and launch attacks on our homeland.
Iran
We support the nuclear agreement with Iran because, as it is vigorously enforced and implemented, it verifiably cuts off all of Iran’s pathways to a bomb without resorting to war.
We reject Donald Trump’s view that we should have walked away from a deal that peacefully dismantles Iran’s nuclear program.
We will continue the work of this administration to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon
and will not hesitate to take military action if Iran races towards one.
Democrats will also address the detrimental role Iran plays in the region and will robustly enforce and, if necessary, strengthen non-nuclear sanctions.
Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism.
It violates the human rights of its population, denies the Holocaust, vows to eliminate Israel, and has its fingerprints on almost every conflict in the Middle East.
Democrats will push back against Iran’s destabilizing activities including its support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah,
counter Iran’s ballistic missile program,
bolster the capabilities of our Gulf partners,
and ensure that Israel always has the ability to defend itself.
Finally, Democrats recognize that the Iranian people seek a brighter future for their country and greater engagement with the international community.
We will embrace opportunities for cultural, academic and other exchanges with the Iranian people.
North Korea
North Korea is perhaps the most repressive regime on the planet, run by a sadistic dictator.
It has conducted several nuclear tests and is attempting to develop the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile that could directly threaten the United States.
The regime is also responsible for grave human rights abuses against the North Korean people.
Yet Donald Trump praises North Korea’s dictator;
threatens to abandon our treaty allies, Japan and South Korea;
and encourages the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the region.
This approach is incoherent and rather than solving a global crisis, would create a new one.
Democrats will protect America and our allies,
press China to restrain North Korea,
and sharpen the choices for Pyongyang to compel it to abandon its illegal nuclear and missile programs.
Russia
Russia is engaging in destabilizing actions along its borders, violating Ukraine’s sovereignty and attempting to recreate spheres of influence that undermine American interests.
It is also propping up the Assad regime in Syria, which is brutally attacking its own citizens.
Donald Trump would overturn more than 50 years of American foreign policy by abandoning NATO partners—countries who help us fight terrorism every day—and embracing Russian President Vladimir Putin instead.
We believe in strong alliances and will deter Russian aggression,
build European resilience,
and protect our NATO allies.
We will make it clear to Putin that we are prepared to cooperate with him when it is in our interest—as we did on reducing nuclear stockpiles, ensuring Iran could not obtain a nuclear weapon, sanctioning North Korea, and resupplying our troops in Afghanistan—
but we will not hesitate to stand up to Russian aggression.
We will also continue to stand by the Russian people and push the government to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.
Cybersecurity and Online Privacy
Democrats will protect our industry, infrastructure, and government from cyberattacks.
We will strengthen our cybersecurity,
seek to establish global norms in cyberspace,
and impose consequences on those who violate the rules.
We will do this while protecting the privacy and civil liberties of the American people.
We will also ensure a coherent strategy across federal agencies by building on the Obama Administration’s Cybersecurity National Action Plan, especially the empowerment of a federal Chief Information Security Officer, the modernization of federal information technology, and upgrades to government-wide cybersecurity.
Democrats reject the false choice between privacy interests and keeping Americans safe.
We need liberty
and security,
and each makes the other possible.
We will protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people—standing firm against the type of warrantless surveillance of American citizens that flourished during the Bush Administration.
We support recent reforms to government bulk data collection programs so the government is not collecting and holding millions of files on innocent Americans.
We will support a national commission on digital security and encryption to bring together technology and public safety communities to address the needs of law enforcement,
protect the privacy of Americans,
assess how innovation might point to new policy approaches,
and advance our larger national security and global competitiveness interests.
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Weapons
Democrats are committed to preventing the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and to eventually ridding the planet of these catastrophic weapons.
We believe America will be safer in a world with fewer weapons of mass destruction.
Donald Trump encourages the spread of nuclear weapons across Asia and the Middle East, which would weaken the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT),
and he is unwilling to rule out using a nuclear weapon against ISIS.
Democrats want to reduce the number of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons around the world, as well as their means of delivery,
while retaining a strong deterrent as long as others maintain nuclear strike capabilities.
We will strengthen the NPT, push for the ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, and stop the spread of loose nuclear material.
Democrats will be informed by a new Nuclear Posture Review in determining continued ways to appropriately shape our nuclear deterrent,
with the aim of reducing our reliance on nuclear weapons while meeting our national security obligations.
Democrats will also seek new opportunities for further arms control
and avoid taking steps that create incentives for the expansion of existing nuclear weapons programs.
To this end, we will work to reduce excessive spending on nuclear weapons-related programs that are projected to cost $1 trillion over the next 30 years.
Global Climate Leadership
Climate change poses an urgent and severe threat to our national security,
and Democrats believe it would be a grave mistake for the United States to wait for another nation to take the lead in combating the global climate emergency.
According to the military, climate change is a threat multiplier that is already contributing to new conflicts over resources, catastrophic natural disasters, and the degradation of vital ecosystems across the globe.
While Donald Trump says that climate change is a “hoax” created by and for the Chinese,
Democrats recognize the catastrophic consequences facing our country, our planet, and civilization.
We believe the United States must lead in forging a robust global solution to the climate crisis.
We are committed to a national mobilization,
and to leading a global effort to mobilize nations to address this threat on a scale not seen since World War II.
In the first 100 days of the next administration, the President will convene a summit of the world’s best engineers, climate scientists, policy experts, activists, and indigenous communities to chart a course to solve the climate crisis.
Our generation must lead the fight against climate change and we applaud President Obama's leadership in forging the historic Paris climate change agreement.
We will not only meet the goals we set in Paris, we will seek to exceed them
and push other countries to do the same by slashing carbon pollution and rapidly driving down emissions of potent greenhouse gases like hydrofluorocarbons.
We will support developing countries in their efforts to mitigate carbon pollution and other greenhouse gases,
deploy more clean energy,
and invest in climate resilience and adaptation.
As a proud Arctic nation, we are against putting the region at risk through drilling in the Arctic Ocean or the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Instead, while protecting our strategic interests, we will seek collaborative, science-based approaches to be good stewards of the rapidly changing Arctic region.
Protect Our Values
Our values of inclusion and tolerance inspire hope around the world and make us safer at home.
The world will be more secure, stable, and peaceful when all people are able to reach their God-given potential and live in freedom and dignity.
We strive to ensure that the values upon which our country was built,
including our belief that all people are created equal, are reflected in everything our nation does.
That is why we will promote peacebuilding, protect democracy, and champion human rights defenders.
And we will seek to safeguard vulnerable minorities, including LGBT people and people with disabilities.
Women and Girls
We believe the United States must continue to be a strong advocate for the rights and opportunities of women and girls around the world.
Elevating their status is not just the right thing to do—
it is also a strategic imperative that advances American interests in prosperity and stability.
When women and girls are healthy, educated, and able to participate economically, their families and communities prosper,
poverty decreases,
and economies grow.
And when women participate in conflict resolution and post-conflict processes, it improves the likelihood of securing sustainable peace.
Democrats are committed to advancing the rights and opportunities of women and girls as a central focus of American diplomacy, development,
and defense efforts and will continue to support the United States National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security.
We will work to end the epidemic of gender-based violence around the world.
We will urge ratification of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
We will support sexual and reproductive health and rights around the globe.
In addition to expanding the availability of affordable family planning information and contraceptive supplies,
we believe that safe abortion must be part of comprehensive maternal and women’s health care and included as part of America’s global health programming.
Therefore, we support the repeal of harmful restrictions that obstruct women’s access to health care information and services, including the “global gag rule” and the Helms Amendment that bars American assistance to provide safe, legal abortion throughout the developing world.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People
Democrats believe that LGBT rights are human rights and that American foreign policy should advance the ability of all persons to live with dignity, security, and respect, regardless of who they are or who they love.
We applaud President Obama’s historic Presidential Memorandum on International Initiatives to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons, which combats criminalization, protects refugees, and provides foreign assistance.
We will continue to stand with LGBT people around the world, including fighting efforts by any nation to infringe on LGBT rights or ignore abuse.
Trafficking and Modern Slavery
We will stop the scourge of human trafficking and modern slavery of men, women, boys, and girls.
We will use the full force of the law against those who engage in modern-day forms of slavery, including the commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor of men, women, and children.
Building on the accomplishments of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, we call for increased diplomatic efforts with foreign governments to root out complicit public officials who facilitate or perpetrate this evil.
We will also work to increase the provision of services and protections for trafficking survivors.
Young People
The majority of the developing world is under the age of 30.
These countries will be more prosperous and stable if young people have access to education and employment opportunities.
Democrats will promote the rights of young people and nurture young leaders.
We will work with people around the world who seek greater opportunities,
including by promoting job creation,
expanding education and health care,
and fostering partnerships between peoples.
Religious Minorities
We are horrified by ISIS’ genocide and sexual enslavement of Christians and Yezidis and crimes against humanity against Muslims and others in the Middle East.
We will do everything we can to protect religious minorities and the fundamental right of freedom of religion.
Refugees
The world is experiencing a major refugee crisis with more than 60 million people displaced as a result of conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe.
We support President Obama’s call for an international summit to address this crisis so that every country assumes its responsibility to meet this humanitarian challenge.
While Donald Trump proposes banning Muslim refugees,
we will look for ways to help innocent people who are fleeing persecution while ensuring rigorous screening and vetting.
Civil Society
Democrats support progress toward more accountable governance and universal rights.
As autocrats and strongmen around the world crack down on civil society and imprison those who speak out to demand greater freedom,
we will continue to bolster groups and individuals who fight for fundamental human rights,
democracy,
and rule of law.
We will support strong legislatures,
independent judiciaries,
free press,
vibrant civil society, honest police forces,
religious freedom,
and equality for women and minorities.
We will bolster the development of civil society and representative institutions that can protect fundamental human rights
and improve the quality of life for all citizens,
including independent and democratic unions.
In non-democratic countries, we will work with international partners to assist the efforts of those struggling to promote peaceful political reforms.
Democrats will protect Americans citizens abroad.
We condemn the practice of unlawful detentions or imprisonment,
especially of journalists
and civil rights activists.
Anti-Corruption
Democrats believe that we need to end corruption worldwide and increase transparency.
We will fight corruption,
promote good governance,
and support the rule of law.
We will also seek to close offshore tax havens, which corrupt rulers, individuals, and corporations exploit to shelter ill-gotten gains or avoid paying taxes at home.
Torture
We will always seek to uphold our values at home and abroad, not just when it is easy, but when it is hard.
That is why President Obama banned torture without exception in his first week in office
and why Democrats condemn Donald Trump’s statements that he would engage in torture and other war crimes.
We agree with military and national security experts who acknowledge that torture is not an effective interrogation technique.
Closing Guantánamo Bay
The Democratic Party remains committed to closing the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay and ending indefinite detention without trial or conviction.
Keeping the facility open is a blemish on our record,
serves as a recruiting tool for extremists,
and undermines our standing in the world.
Development Assistance
We believe that development assistance is an essential instrument of American power.
It can prevent threats, enhance stability, and reduce the need for military force.
With less than one percent of the federal budget, our development assistance has helped cut extreme poverty in half,
drastically decreased maternal and child mortality,
reduced global hunger, provided food security,
countered deadly pandemics,
promoted education,
and put an AIDS-free generation within reach.
This investment reflects the best of America
and makes us safer.
We need to continue this work and make more progress on important global goals like ending extreme poverty and hunger.
We will support local development efforts,
recognizing the self-determination of the peoples and countries we assist to direct their own futures.
We will also learn from recent conflicts to improve civilian capacity for conflict prevention and stabilization.
Global Health
America has made critical investments in global health, including in the areas of maternal and child health, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
It is vital that we continue this work— which has saved millions of lives around the world
and is essential to our nation’s health security.
While the Republican Party refuses to fund important measures that could contain and address the Zika pandemic,
Democrats are ready to limit the reach of Zika—just as we did with Ebola—and support funding for diagnostic tests for the virus, vaccine, and treatment.
We will also prepare for potential pandemics, like avian influenza and H1N1, by working with first responders and health officials to reduce the risks associated with unintentional or deliberate outbreaks of infectious diseases.
HIV and AIDS
Democrats believe an AIDS-free generation is within our grasp.
But today far too many Americans living with HIV are without access to quality care and too many new infections occur each year.
That is why we will implement the National HIV and AIDS Strategy; increase research funding for the National Institutes of Health;
cap pharmaceutical expenses for people living with HIV and AIDS;
reform HIV criminalization laws;
and expand access for harm reduction programs and HIV prevention medications, particularly for the populations most at risk of infection.
Abroad, we will continue our commitment to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and increase global funding for HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment.
Democrats will always protect those living with HIV and AIDS from stigma and discrimination.
International Labor
Democrats believe that a key element of American leadership is growing our economy
and protecting American jobs.
We also believe that the world will be safer when there is greater prosperity.
That is why we will prioritize and strongly enforce provisions on decent work and worker’s rights in all American diplomatic, trade, and programmatic efforts.
We think it is wrong for workers in the United States to have to compete against poverty-wage, child, or slave labor.
Democrats will fight to end child labor.
We will promote broad-based economic growth across the world,
pursuing a global economic agenda that promotes rising wages
and invests in quality public services,
workers’ rights,
and environmental protections.
We believe that we need to coordinate our economic actions with other countries to address economic insecurity,
specifically youth un- and underemployment,
gender inequality,
the digital transformation,
and the transition towards green jobs.
A Leader in the World
American leadership is essential to keeping us safe and our economy growing in the years ahead.
It would be a dangerous mistake for America to abandon our responsibilities.
We cannot, as Donald Trump suggests, cede the mantle of leadership for global peace and security to others who will not have our best interests in mind.
Asia-Pacific
From the Asia Pacific to the Indian Ocean, we will deepen our relationships in the region with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand.
We will honor our historic commitment to Japan.
We will continue to invest in a long-term strategic partnership with India—the world’s largest democracy, a nation of great diversity, and an important Pacific power.
We will build on the historic opening with Burma and advocate for greater human rights protections and national reconciliation among Burma’s many different ethnic groups.
We will help Pakistan stabilize its polity and build an effective relationship with the predominantly young population of this strategically located, nuclear-armed country.
We will also work with our allies and partners to fortify regional institutions and norms as well as protect freedom of the seas in the South China Sea.
Democrats will push back against North Korean aggression
and press China to play by the rules.
We will stand up to Beijing on unfair trade practices, currency manipulation, censorship of the internet, piracy, and cyberattacks.
And we will look for areas of cooperation, including on combatting climate change and nuclear proliferation.
We will promote greater respect for human rights, including the rights of Tibetans.
We are committed to a “One China” policy and the Taiwan Relations Act and will continue to support a peaceful resolution of Cross-Strait issues that is consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people of Taiwan.
Middle East
In the Middle East, Democrats will push for more inclusive governance in Iraq and Syria that respects the equal rights of all citizens;
provide support and security for Lebanon and Jordan, two countries that are hosting a disproportionate number of refugees;
maintain our robust security cooperation with Gulf countries;
and stand by the people of the region as they seek greater economic opportunity and freedom.
A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States because we share overarching strategic interests and the common values of democracy, equality, tolerance, and pluralism.
That is why we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself, including by retaining its qualitative military edge,
and oppose any effort to delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.
We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders
and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity.
While Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.
Israelis deserve security, recognition, and a normal life free from terror and incitement.
Palestinians should be free to govern themselves in their own viable state,
in peace and dignity.
Europe
Europe remains America’s indispensable partner and a cornerstone of global security.
Democrats will stand with our European allies and partners to deter Russian aggression,
address security challenges to Europe’s south,
and deal with unprecedented economic and social challenges.
We will maintain our steadfast commitment to the special relationship with United Kingdom
and the transatlantic partnership with the European Union.
We will seek to strengthen our strategic partnership with Turkey while pushing for reforms,
end the division of Cyprus,
and continue to support a close relationship with states that seek to strengthen their ties to NATO and Europe, such as Georgia and Ukraine.
We reject Donald Trump’s threats to abandon our European and NATO allies,
all while he praises Putin.
When the United States was attacked on September 11, 2001, our NATO allies invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, stating that an attack against one is an attack against all—for the first and only time in its history.
Our NATO allies fought alongside us in Afghanistan and are still there today.
We will maintain our Article 5 collective security commitments to NATO because we are stronger when we have our allies at our side.
And we will continue to push NATO members to contribute their fair share.
Americas
The Americas are a region of singular strategic, economic, and cultural importance and opportunity for the United States.
Democrats reject Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall on our southern border
and alienate Mexico, a valuable partner.
We will instead embrace our neighbors and pursue strong, fruitful partnerships across the region, from Canada to Latin America and the Caribbean.
We will bolster democratic institutions,
promote economic opportunity and prosperity,
and tackle the rise of drugs, transnational crime, and corruption.
We will strengthen the U.S.-Caribbean regional relationship through economic development
and comprehensive immigration reform.
And we will build on our long-term commitment to Colombia and work with Central American countries to stabilize the Northern Triangle.
In Cuba, we will build on President Obama’s historic opening and end the travel ban and embargo.
We will also stand by the Cuban people and support their ability to decide their own future
and to enjoy the same human rights and freedoms that people everywhere deserve.
In Venezuela, we will push the government to respect human rights
and respond to the will of its people.
And in Haiti, we will support local and international efforts to bolster the country’s democratic institutions
and economic development.
We will also help more Haitians take advantage of Temporary Protected Status.
Finally, we will close the School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, because we believe that military and police forces should support democracy, not subvert it.
Africa
Africa is home to many of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Democrats will strengthen our partnership and collaboration with the African Union,
emphasizing trade while increasing development assistance to bolster the continent’s domestic economies.
We will engage our African partners on the full range of global challenges and opportunities,
and we will continue to strengthen democratic institutions and human rights,
fair trade and investment, development,
and global health.
We will help our African partners improve their capacity to respond to crises and protect citizens,
especially women and girls.
And we will work to end the reign of terror promulgated by Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, AQIM, and ISIS.
Democrats applaud President Obama’s National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking, and his commitment to preserving the earth’s natural beauty for future generations.
Democrats support science-based management of iconic wildlife in Africa, including stronger regulations banning the importation into the United States of hunting trophies that are not supported by current science-based evidence and are related to or funded by non-scientific special interests.
Global Economy and Institutions
Democrats will protect and grow the global economy.
While Donald Trump wants to default on our debt, which would lead to a disastrous global economic crisis,
we believe we must be responsible stewards and work with our partners to prevent another worldwide financial crisis.
Democrats believe that global institutions—most prominently the United Nations—and multilateral organizations have a powerful role to play and are an important amplifier of American strength and influence.
Many of these organizations need reform and updating,
but it would be reckless to follow Donald Trump and turn our back on the international system that our country built.
It has provided decades of stability and economic growth for the world and for America.
Preamble
With this platform, we the Republican Party reaffirm the principles that unite us in a common purpose.
We believe in American exceptionalism.
We believe the United States of America is unlike any other nation on earth.
We believe America is exceptional because of our historic role
— first as refuge,
then as defender,
and now as exemplar of liberty for the world to see.
We affirm — as did the Declaration of Independence: that all are created equal, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We believe in the Constitution as our founding document.
We believe the Constitution was written not as a flexible document, but as our enduring covenant.
We believe our constitutional system — limited government, separation of powers, federalism, and the rights of the people — must be preserved uncompromised for future generations.
We believe political freedom and economic freedom are indivisible.
When political freedom and economic freedom are separated — both are in peril; when united, they are invincible.
We believe that people are the ultimate resource
— and that the people, not the government, are the best stewards of our country's God-given natural resources.
As Americans and as Republicans we wish for peace
— so we insist on strength.
We will make America safe.
We seek friendship with all peoples and all nations,
but we recognize and are prepared to deal with evil in the world.
Based on these principles, this platform is an invitation and a roadmap.
It invites every American to join us and shows the path to a stronger, safer, and more prosperous America.
This platform is optimistic because the American people are optimistic.
This platform lays out — in clear language — the path to making America great and united again.
For the past 8 years America has been led in the wrong direction.
Our economy has become unnecessarily weak with stagnant wages.
People living paycheck to paycheck are struggling, sacrificing, and suffering.
Americans have earned and deserve a strong and healthy economy.
Our standing in world affairs has declined significantly — our enemies no longer fear us and our friends no long trust us.
People want and expect an America that is the most powerful and respected country on the face of the earth.
The men and women of our military remain the world's best.
The have been shortchanged in numbers, equipment, and benefits by a Commander in Chief who treats the Armed Forces and our veterans as a necessary inconvenience.
The President and the Democratic party have dismantled Americans' system of healthcare.
They have replaced it with a costly and complicated scheme that limits choices and takes away our freedom.
The President and the Democratic party have abandoned their promise of being accountable to the American people.
They have nearly doubled the size of the national debt.
They refuse to control our borders
but try to control our schools, farms, businesses, and even our religious institutions.
They have directly attacked the production of American energy
and the industry-related jobs that have sustained families and communities.
The President has been regulating to death a free market economy that he does not like and does not understand.
He defies the laws of the United States by refusing to enforce those with which he does not agree.
And he appoints judges who legislate from the bench rather than apply the law.
We, as Republicans and Americans, cannot allow this to continue.
That is why the many sections of this platform affirm our trust in the people, our faith in their judgment, and our determination to help them take back their country.
This means removing the power from unelected, unaccountable government.
This means relieving the burden and expense of punishing government regulations.
And this means returning to the people and the states the control that belongs to them.
It is the control and the power to make their own decisions about what’s best for themselves and their families and communities.
This platform is many things: A handbook for returning decision-making to the people.
A guide to the constitutional rights of every American.
And a manual for the kind of sustained growth that will bring opportunity to all those on the sidelines of our society.
Every time we sing, "God Bless America,” we are asking for help.
We ask for divine help that our country can fulfill its promise.
We earn that help by recommitting ourselves to the ideas and ideals that are the true greatness of America
Restoring the American Dream
Rebuilding the Economy and Creating Jobs
We are the party of a growing economy that gives everyone a chance in life, an opportunity to learn, work, and realize the prosperity freedom makes possible.
Government cannot create prosperity, though government can limit or destroy it.
Prosperity is the product of self-discipline, enterprise, saving and investment by individuals, but it is not an end in itself.
Prosperity provides the means by which citizens and their families can maintain their independence from government,
raise their children by their own values,
practice their faith,
and build communities of cooperation and mutual respect.
It is also the foundation for our nation's global leadership,
for it is the vigor of our economy which makes possible our military strength and our national security.
Pundits and Democrats tell us that we should accept the new normal of a slow-growing economy.
The consequences are too dire to ever accept that:
President Obama and his party will set a record of being the first modern president ever to leave office without a single calendar year of three percent economic growth.
As a result, the number of Americans living in poverty has increased by 7 million,
our nation's economy has lost nearly $8 trillion of cumulative output compared with an average recovery,
and the economic growth shortfall has left a cumulative real after-tax per person personal income shortfall of nearly $17,000 compared with an average recovery.
Under President Obama and the Democrats, new private-sector jobs are three million below where they should have been with just average modern post-recession growth.
Our labor force participation rate has plunged to at or below 63 percent for far too long, lows last seen two generations ago before President Reagan was elected in 1980.
Business closures have exceeded business startups throughout the Obama Presidency.
Strong growth, more jobs, increasing incomes, and expanding opportunity are all in short supply under President Obama and the Democrats.
We repudiate the absurd idea this is the best America can do.
The American people rejected that nonsense the last time it was offered, in the historic election of 1980,
and we ask them to join us now to again repudiate the false gospel of America's di- minishment and retreat.
We offer instead our vision of an opportunity society based on the economics of inclusion.
Fair and Simple Taxes for Growth
Republicans consider the establishment of a pro-growth tax code a moral imperative.
More than any other public policy, the way government raises revenue — how much, at what rates, under what circumstances, from whom, and for whom — has the greatest impact on our economy's performance.
It powerfully influences the level of economic growth and job creation,
which translates into the level of opportunity for those who would otherwise be left behind.
Getting our tax system right will be the most important factor in driving the entire economy back to prosperity.
The current tax code is rightly the object of both anger and mockery.
Its length is exceeded only by its complexity.
We must start anew.
That will be an enormous undertaking and, if it is to succeed, it must command the attention and approval of the American people.
It cannot be engineered from the top down,
but must have a common sense approach, and be simplified.
Our proposal is straightforward.
Wherever tax rates penalize thrift or discourage investment, they must be lowered.
Wherever current provisions of the code are disincentives for economic growth, they must be changed.
We will not divide the American people into winners and losers.
We will eliminate as many special interest provisions and loopholes as possible and curb corporate welfare,
especially where their erosion of the tax base has created pressure for higher rates.
We will be mindful of the burdens on families with children
and the impact on an aging population.
We will seek simplicity and clarity so that every taxpayer can understand how much of their income is consumed by the federal government.
We will welcome all to this enterprise — to discuss, debate, challenge, and amend —
so that together we can restore economic growth for the American people
and, even more important, renew their faith in the future.
Our Tax Principles
To ensure that past abuses will not be repeated, we assert these fundamental principles.
We oppose retroactive taxation.
We condemn attempts by activist judges at any level of government to seize the power of the purse from the people's elected representatives by ordering higher taxes.
We oppose tax policies that deliberately divide Americans or promote class warfare.
Because of the vital role of religious organizations, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies in fostering generosity and patriotism,
they should not be subject to taxation and donations to them should remain deductible.
To guard against hypertaxation of the American people in any restructuring of the federal tax system,
any value added tax or national sales tax must be tied to the simultaneous repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, which established the federal income tax.
A Competitive America
Competitiveness equals jobs.
That equation governs our policies regarding U.S. corporations in the global economy.
Private investment is a key driver of economic growth and job creation.
After falling dramatically during the recession, private investment has recovered at a disappointing pace
due in part to high corporate tax rates
and increasing regulatory burdens and uncertainty.
American businesses now face the world's highest corporate tax rates.
That's like putting lead shoes on your cross-country team.
It reduces companies' ability to compete overseas, encourages them to move abroad, lessens their investment,
cripples job creation here at home, lowers American wages,
and fosters the avoidance of tax liability
— without actually increasing tax revenues.
A more damaging policy is hard to imagine.
We propose to level the international playing field by lowering the corporate tax rate to be on a par with, or below, the rates of other industrial nations.
We endorse the recommendation of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, as well as the current Administration's Export Council, to switch to a territorial system of taxation  so that profits earned and taxed abroad may be repatriated for job-creating investment here at home.
We believe American companies should be headquartered in America.
We should reduce barriers to accomplishing that goal.
A Winning Trade Policy
International trade is crucial for all sectors of America's economy.
Massive trade deficits are not.
We envision a worldwide multilateral agreement among nations committed to the principles of open markets, what has been called a “Reagan Economic Zone,” in which free trade will truly be fair trade for all concerned.
We need better negotiated trade agreements that put America first.
When trade agreements have been carefully negotiated with friendly democracies, they have resulted in millions of new jobs here at home supported by our exports.
When those agreements do not adequately protect U.S. interests, U.S. sovereignty, or when they are violated with impunity, they must be rejected.
We cannot allow foreign governments to limit American access to their markets while stealing our designs, patents, brands, know-how, and technology.
We cannot allow China to continue its currency manipulation, exclusion of U.S. products from government purchases, and subsidization of Chinese companies to thwart American imports.
The current Administration's way of dealing with these violations of world trade standards has been a virtual surrender.
Republicans understand that you can succeed in a negotiation only if you are willing to walk away from it.
A Republican president will insist on parity in trade
and stand ready to implement countervailing duties if other countries refuse to cooperate.
At the same time, we look to broaden our trade agreements with countries which share our values and commitment to fairness,
along with transparency in our commercial and business practices.
In pursuing that objective, the American people demand transparency, full disclosure,
protection of our national sovereignty, and tough negotiation on the part of those who are supposed to advance the interests of U.S. workers.
Significant trade agreements should not be rushed or undertaken in a Lame Duck Congress.
Freeing Financial Markets
The Republican vision for American banking calls for establishing transparent, efficient markets where consumers can obtain loans they need at reasonable rates based on market conditions.
Unfortunately, in response to the financial institutions crisis of 2008-2009, the Democratic-controlled Congress enacted the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, otherwise known as Dodd-Frank.
They did not let the crisis go to waste but used it as an excuse to establish unprecedented government control over the nation's financial markets.
The consequences have been bad for everyone except federal regulators.
Rather than address the cause of the crisis — the government's own housing policies
— the new law extended government control over the economy by creating new unaccountable bureaucracies.
Predictably, central planning of our financial sector has not created jobs, it has killed them.
It has not limited risks, it has created more.
It has not encouraged economic growth, it has shackled it.
Since the enactment of Dodd-Frank, the number of community banks has significantly declined,
and the cost and complexity of complying with the law has created impediments to the remaining banks' ability to support the customers they serve.
From 13,000 community banks in 1985, only 1,900 remain.
Still, the majority of agricultural loans and small business loans are made by community banks.
From start-ups foregone to home loans not made, Dodd-Frank’s excessive regulation and burdensome requirements have helped contribute to the slow economy we all endure today  under President Obama and the Democrats.
Community banks are essential to ensuring small businesses have easy and affordable access to the capital they need to grow and prosper.
Community banks should be relieved of excessive regulations.
We support removing roadblocks and regulations that prevent access to capital.
The worst of Dodd-Frank is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, deliberately designed to be a rogue agency.
It answers to neither Congress nor the executive,
has its own guaranteed funding outside the appropriations process,
and uses its slush fund to steer settlements to politically favored groups.
Its Director has dictatorial powers unique in the American Republic.
Its regulatory harassment of local and regional banks, the source of most home mortgages and small business loans, advantages big banks
and makes it harder for Americans to buy a home.
Its one-size-fits-all approach to every issue threatens the diversity of the country’s financial system
and would leave us with just a few enormous institutions, as in many European countries.
If the Bureau is not abolished, it should be subjected to congressional appropriation.
In that way, consumer protection in the financial markets can be advanced through measures that are both effective and constitutional.
Any settlements arising from statutory violations by financial institutions must be used to make whole the harmed consumers,
with any remaining proceeds given to the general Treasury.
Diversion of settlement funds to politically- connected parties should be a criminal offense.
Republicans believe that no financial institution is too big to fail.
We support legislation to ensure that the problems of any financial institution can be resolved through the Bankruptcy Code.
We endorse prudent regulation of the banking system to ensure that FDIC-regulated banks are properly capitalized
and taxpayers are protected against bailouts.
We will end the government’s use of disparate impact theory in enforcing anti-discrimination laws with regard to lending.
Responsible Homeownership and Rental Opportunities
Homeownership expands personal liberty,
builds communities,
and helps Americans create wealth.
“The American Dream” is not a stale slogan.
It is the lived reality that expresses the aspirations of all our people.
It means a decent place to live,
a safe place to raise kids,
a welcoming place to retire.
It bespeaks the quiet pride of those who work hard to shelter their family
and, in the process, create caring neighborhoods.
The Great Recession devastated the housing market.
U.S. taxpayers paid billions to rescue Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,
the latter managed and controlled by senior officials from the Carter and Clinton Administrations,
and to cover the losses of the poorly-managed Federal Housing Administration.
Millions lost their homes, millions more lost value in their homes.
More than six million households had to move from homeownership to renting.
Rental costs escalated so that today nearly 12 million families spend more than 50 percent of their incomes just on rent.
The national homeownership rate has sharply fallen
and the rate for minority households and young adults has plummeted.
So many remain unemployed or underemployed,
and for the lucky ones with jobs, rising rents make it harder to save for a mortgage.
There is a growing sense that our national standard of living will never be as high as it was in the past.
We understand that pessimism but do not share it,
for we believe that sound public policies can restore growth to our economy, vigor to the housing market, and hope to those who are now on the margins of prosperity.
Our goal is to advance responsible home- ownership while guarding against the abuses that led to the housing collapse.
We must scale back the federal role in the housing market,
promote responsibility on the part of borrowers and lenders,
and avoid future taxpayer bailouts.
Reforms should provide clear and prudent underwriting standards and guidelines on predatory lending and acceptable lending practices.
Compliance with regulatory standards should constitute a legal safe harbor to guard against opportunistic litigation by trial lawyers.
We call for a comprehensive review of federal regulations,
especially those dealing with the environment,
that make it harder and more costly for Americans to rent, buy, or sell homes.
For nine years, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been in conservatorship and the current Administration and Democrats have prevented any effort to reform them.
Their corrupt business model lets shareholders and executives reap huge profits while the taxpayers cover all loses.
The utility of both agencies should be reconsidered as a Republican administration clears away the jumble of subsidies and controls that complicate and distort home-buying.
The Federal Housing Administration, which provides taxpayer-backed guarantees in the mortgage market, should no longer support high- income individuals,
and the public should not be financially exposed by risks taken by FHA officials.
We will end the government mandates that required Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and federally- insured banks to satisfy lending quotas to specific groups.
Discrimination should have no place in the mortgage industry.
Zoning decisions have always been, and must remain, under local control.
The current Administration is trying to seize control of the zoning process through its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation.
It threatens to undermine zoning laws in order to socially engineer every community in the country.
While the federal government has a legitimate role in enforcing non-discrimination laws,
this regulation has nothing to do with proven or alleged discrimination and everything to do with hostility to the self-government of citizens.
America on the Move
Our country's investments in transportation and other public construction have traditionally been non-partisan.
Everyone agrees on the need for clean water
and safe roads, rail, bridges, ports, and airports.
President Eisenhower established a tradition of Republican leadership in this regard by championing the creation of the interstate highway system.
In recent years, bipartisan cooperation led to major legislation improving the nation's ports and waterways.
Our Republican majority ended the practice of earmarks, which often diverted transportation spending to politically favored projects.
In the current Congress, Republicans have secured the longest reauthorization of the Highway Trust Fund in a decade
and are advancing a comprehensive reform of the Federal Aviation Administration to make flying easier and more secure.
The current Administration has a different approach.
It subordinates civil engineering to social engineering as it pursues an exclusively urban vision of dense housing and government transit.
Its ill-named Livability Initiative is meant to “coerce people out of their cars.”
This is the same mentality that once led Congress to impose by fiat a single maximum speed limit for the entire nation, from Manhattan to Montana.
Our 1980 Republican Platform pledged to repeal that edict.
After the election of Ronald Reagan, we did.
Now we make the same pledge regarding the current problems in transportation policy.
We propose to remove from the Highway Trust Fund programs that should not be the business of the federal government.
More than a quarter of the Fund's spending is diverted from its original purpose.
One fifth of its funds are spent on mass transit,
an inherently local affair that serves only a small portion of the population,
concentrated in six big cities.
Additional funds are used for bike-share programs, sidewalks, recreational trails, landscaping, and historical renovations.
Other beneficiaries of highway money are ferry boats, the federal lands access program, scenic byways, and education initiatives.
These worthwhile enterprises should be funded through other sources.
We propose to phase out the federal transit program
and reform provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act which can delay and drive up costs for transportation projects.
We renew our call for repeal of the Davis-Bacon law,
which limits employment
and drives up construction and maintenance costs
for the benefit of unions.
Recognizing that, over time, additional revenue will be needed to expand the carrying capacity of roads and bridges,
we will remove legal roadblocks to public-private partnership agreements that can save the taxpayers' money and bring outside investment to meet a community's needs.
With most of the states increasing their own funding for transportation,
we oppose a further increase in the federal gas tax.
Although unionization has never been permitted in any government agency concerned with national security, the current Administration has reversed that policy for the Transportation Security Administration.
We will correct that mistake.
Americans understand that, with the threat of terrorism, their travel may encounter delays,
but un- acceptably long lines at security checks can have the same impact as a collapsed bridge or washed out highway.
TSA employees should always be seen as guardians of the public's safety,
not as just another part of the federal workforce.
Amtrak is an extremely expensive railroad for the American taxpayers, who must subsidize every ticket.
The federal government should allow private ventures to provide passenger service in the northeast corridor.
The same holds true with regard to high-speed and intercity rail across the country.
We reaffirm our intention to end federal support for boondoggles like California's high-speed train to nowhere.
Building the Future: Technology
The digital revolution has transformed how we work, learn, sell, shop, socialize — in short, how we live.
Technological change drives our positions with regard to STEM education,
business and corporate involvement with educational certifications,
workforce issues,
privacy,
cyber and national security,
energy development,
regulation,
and other elements of our campaign for growth and jobs.
It is why we propose to simplify the tax code,
reduce corporate rates,
transition to a territorial system,
and create incentives for investment and innovation.
We envision government at all levels as a partner with individuals and industries in technological progress,
not a meddlesome monitor.
We want to create a business climate that rewards risk and promotes innovation,
a learning system that gives Americans the skills needed to seize the opportunities of the 21st century,
and an international order that maintains a fair and open global market for America's goods and services.
We intend to advance policies that protect data privacy
while fostering innovation and growth and ensuring the free flow of data across borders.
Together, broadband and good ideas have become the 21st century engines of American ingenuity.
Innovation, by its nature, is disruptive.
In challenging legacy forms of business, innovation creates new jobs, gives access to new markets, opens opportunity to underserved populations, and expands consumer choice.
Government must give America's innovators the freedom to create and, on their merits, succeed or fail.
Our agenda includes balanced protections for intellectual property, explained elsewhere in this document.
We intend to facilitate access to spectrum by paving the way for high-speed, next- generation broadband deployment
and competition on the internet and for internet services.
We want government to encourage the sharing economy and on-demand platforms to compete in an open market,
and we believe public policies should encourage the innovation and competition that are essential for an Internet of Things to thrive.
Government must keep pace with the technology deployed in the private sector.
There is an urgent need to modernize the federal government's legacy systems
and to recruit the skilled technical personnel who can advance the adoption of innovation in the public sector.
At the cost of billions, the current Administration has done little to advance our goal of universal broadband coverage.
That hurts rural America, where farmers, ranchers, and small business people need connectivity to operate in real time with the world's producers.
Almost ten million Americans have given up wired broadband connections in just the last two years alone, and millions more have never been connected in the first place.
We encourage public-private partnerships to provide predictable support for connecting rural areas
so that every American can fully participate in the global economy.
The public-private partnerships between NASA, the Department of Defense, and commercial companies have given us technological progress that has reduced the cost of accessing space
and extended America's space leadership in the commercial, civil, and national security spheres.
The entrepreneurship and innovation culture of the free market is revitalizing the nation's space capabilities,
saving taxpayer money,
and advancing technology critical to maintain America's edge in space and in other fields.
To protect our national security interests
and foster innovation and competitiveness,
we must sustain our preeminence in space by launching more scientific missions,
guaranteeing unfettered access, and ensuring that our space-related industries remain a source of scientific leadership and education.
Building the Future: America’s Electric Grid
Our nation's interstate electric transmission system has long been a catalyst for developing and delivering low cost energy
while spurring economic growth throughout the United States
The grid is aging,
vulnerable to cyber and terrorist threats,
and unprepared to serve our energy needs of tomorrow.
It should not take seven to ten years to plan and construct a transmission line.
We support expedited siting processes and the thoughtful expansion of the grid so that consumers and businesses continue to have access to affordable and reliable electricity.
Start-up Century: Small Business and Entrepreneurship
A central reason why the 20th century came to be called the American Century was the ability of individuals to invent and create in a land of free markets.
Back then they were called risk-takers, dreamers, and small business owners.
Today they are the entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and small business men and women of our new economy.
Their innovation drives improvement and forces long-established institutions to adapt or fade away.
Many of them are so young they remember little if anything of the last century because dynamic progress does not look back.
As in the past, they still create most new jobs and form the commercial network that holds communities together.
Their enterprise is the lifeblood of our economy,
but it is weakening.
More businesses are closing in our country than are starting.
Older firms are an increasing proportion of companies.
Productivity growth has slowed.
This is not the way to jumpstart a new era of growth.
We need to consider the effect of capital gains rates on the availability of venture capital,
as well as the positive impact of expensing on start-up firms.
We should reduce the occupational licensing laws that shut untold millions of potential workers out of entrepreneurial careers.
We must overturn the regulatory nightmare, created by the Dodd- Frank law, for the community banks and savings and loans that provide nearly half of all small- business loans
and over three-quarters of all agricultural loans.
Indeed, the world of the app economy cries out for the comprehensive regulatory reform proposed elsewhere in this platform.
We must challenge established interests and traditional business patterns to facilitate market entry of new business models, i
Including inventive means of transport, delivery, and communication.
As incubators of unconventional thinking, our country's existing research infrastructure — the National Labs, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, and elements of the Defense Department —
have the potential to form partnerships with small businesses to create an American Start-Up Century.
The Federal Reserve
Because the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions affect job creation, upward mobility for workers, and equitable prosperity, they should be transparent.
Similarly, the Federal Reserve's important role as a lender of last resort should also be carried out in a more transparent manner.
The Republican Party will advance legislation that brings transparency and accountability to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Open Market Committee, and the Federal Reserve's dealing with foreign banks.
The first step is through an annual audit of the Federal Reserve's activities.
Such an audit would need to be carefully implemented so that the Federal Reserve remains insulated from political pressures
and its decisions are based on sound economic principles and sound money rather than political pressures for easy money and loose credit.
Determined to crush the double-digit inflation that was part of the Carter Administration's economic legacy, President Reagan, shortly after his inauguration, established a commission to consider the feasibility of a metallic basis for U.S. currency.
In 2012, facing the task of cleaning up the wreckage of the current Administration's policies,
we proposed a similar commission to investigate ways to set a fixed value for the dollar.
With Republican leadership, the House of Representatives has passed legislation to set up just such a commission.
We recommend its enactment by the full Congress and the commission's careful consideration of ways to secure the integrity of our currency.
Workplace Freedom for a 21st Century Workforce
The greatest asset of the American economy is the hard-working American.
That is why our first priority is getting people back to work by fostering the kind of growth that creates jobs.
That overarching goal unites all the sections of this platform.
It runs through our commitments on education and workforce development.
It underlies our approach to welfare reform, regulatory reform, and our determination to advance the kind of trade agreements that multiply opportunities for workers here at home.
It also impels us to challenge the anachronistic labor laws that limit workers' freedom and lock them into the workplace rules of their greatgrandfathers.
Instead of facilitating change, the current Administration and its agents at the National Labor Relations Board are determined to reverse it.
They are attacking the franchise model of business development, which is essential to the flexibility and creativity of the new economy.
They are wielding provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act from the 1930s, designed to fit a manufacturing workplace, to deny flexibility to both employers and employees.
They have repealed union transparency rules that allowed members to discover what was being done with their dues.
They have outlawed alternatives to unions
even when they were favored by the workers.
Their Project Labor Agreements discriminate against the overwhelming majority of workers by barring them from jobs on taxpayer-funded projects.
Their patronizing and controlling approach leaves workers in a form of peonage to the NLRB.
We intend to restore fairness and common sense to that agency.
Technology has already created jobs that did not exist fifteen years ago,
and today's workers need flexibility and family-friendly options to make the most of them,
especially portability in pension plans and health insurance.
We intend to encourage those trends by bringing labor law into the 21st century.
It should encourage cooperation between management and workers, not conflict.
All workers, including union members, must be free to accept raises and rewards without veto power from union officials.
All unionized workers should be able to find out what is going on in their union trust funds and in their executive compensation.
We support the right of states to enact Right-to-Work laws and call for a national law to protect the economic liberty of the modern workforce.
All Americans deserve the opportunity to pursue their American dream free from discrimination.
Clear nondiscrimination policies ensure all employees have the chance to succeed based solely on their merits.
These policies are vital to creating an inclusive, innovative, and competitive workforce.
Republicans believe that the employer- employee relationship of the future will be built upon employee empowerment
and workplace flexibility.
We therefore endorse employee stock ownership plans that enable workers to become capitalists,
expand the realm of private property,
and energize a free enterprise economy.
Minimum wage is an issue that should be handled at the state and local level.
A Federal Workforce Serving the People
The federal workforce is larger and more highly paid than ever.
The taxpayers spend an average of $35,000 a year per employee on non-cash benefits, triple the average non-cash compensation of the average worker in the private sector.
Federal employees receive extraordinary pension benefits and vacation time wildly out of line with those of the private sector.
We urge Congress to bring federal compensation and benefits in line with the standards of most American employees.
A Republican administration should streamline personnel procedures to expedite the firing of bad workers, tax cheats, and scammers.
The unionization of the federal workforce, first permitted by Democrat presidents in the 1960s, should be reviewed by the appropriate congressional committees to examine its effects on the cost, quality, and performance of the civil service.
Union representatives in the federal workforce should not be paid to conduct union business on the public's time.
Reducing the Federal Debt
Our national debt is a burden on our economy and families.
The huge increase in the national debt demanded by and incurred during the current Administration has placed a significant burden on future generations.
We must impose firm caps on future debt,
accelerate the repayment of the trillions we now owe in order to reaffirm our principles of responsible and limited government,
and remove the burdens we are placing on future generations.
A strong economy is one key to debt reduction,
but spending restraint is a necessary component that must be vigorously pursued.
A Rebirth of Constitutional Government
We the People
We are the party of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
The Declaration sets forth the fundamental precepts of American government:
That God bestows certain inalienable rights on every individual,
thus producing human equality;
that government exists first and foremost to protect those inalienable rights;
that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights;
and that if God-given, natural, inalienable rights come in conflict with government, court, or human-granted rights, God-given, natural, inalienable rights always prevail;
that there is a moral law recognized as “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God”;
and that American government is to operate with the consent of the governed.
We are also the party of the Constitution, the greatest political document ever written.
It is the solemn compact built upon principles of the Declaration that enshrines our God-given individual rights
and ensures that all Americans stand equal before the law,
defines the purposes and limits of government,
and is the blueprint for ordered liberty that makes the United States the world's freest and most prosperous nation.
We reaffirm the Constitution's fundamental principles: limited government, separation of powers, individual liberty, and the rule of law.
We denounce bigotry, racism, anti-Semitism, ethnic prejudice, and religious intolerance.
Therefore, we oppose discrimination based on race, sex, religion, creed, disability, or national origin and support statutes to end such discrimination.
As the Party of Abraham Lincoln, we must continue to foster solutions to America's difficult challenges when it comes to race relations today.
We continue to encourage equality for all citizens and access to the American Dream.
Merit and hard work should determine advancement in our society,
so we reject unfair preferences, quotas, and set-asides as forms of discrimination.
Our ranks include Americans from every faith and tradition,
and we respect the right of each American to follow his or her deeply held beliefs.
Our Constitution is in crisis.
More than 90 percent of federal requirements are now imposed by regulatory agencies, without any vote of the House or Senate or signature of the President.
The current Administration has exceeded its constitutional authority,
brazenly and flagrantly violated the separation of powers,
sought to divide America into groups and turn citizen against citizen.
The President has refused to defend or enforce laws he does not like,
used executive orders to enact national policies in areas constitutionally reserved solely to Congress,
made unconstitutional “recess” appointments to Senate-confirmed positions,
directed regulatory agencies to overstep their statutory authority,
and failed to consult Congress regarding military action overseas.
He has changed what John Adams called “a government of laws and not of men” into just the opposite.
Democrats in Congress have enabled, supported, and defended each of these breaches.
They have applauded the President's efforts to do an end-run around Congress and stymied Republican efforts to restrain executive lawlessness.
Democrats in Congress have also endorsed an anticonstitutional agenda of their own.
Forty-eight Democratic senators, for instance, voted to amend the Bill of Rights to give government officials control over political speech.
Democrats in Congress have likewise proposed bills that would limit religious liberty,
undermine property rights,
and eviscerate the Second Amendment.
In a free society, the primary role of government is to protect the God-given, inalienable rights of its citizens.
These constitutional rights are not negotiable for any American.
We affirm that all legislation, regulation, and official actions must conform to the Constitution's original meaning as understood at the time the language was adopted.
Our most urgent task as a Party is to restore the American people's faith in their government by electing a president who will enforce duly enacted laws,
honor constitutional limits on executive authority,
and return credibility to the Oval Office.
We need a Republican president who will end abuses of power by departments and agencies, like the IRS and the EPA,
and by the White House itself.
Safeguarding our liberties requires a president who will respect the Constitution's separation of powers,
including the authority of Congress to write legislation and define agency authority.
Americans also deserve a president who will speak for our nation's history and values,
not apologize for them to our enemies.
The Judiciary
The rule of law is the foundation of our Republic.
A critical threat to our country's constitutional order is an activist judiciary that usurps powers properly reserved to the people through other branches of government.
Only a Republican president will appoint judges who respect the rule of law expressed within the Constitution and Declaration of Independence,
including the inalienable right to life
and the laws of nature and nature's God, as did the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
We are facing a national crisis in our judiciary.
We understand that only by electing a Republican president in 2016 will America have the opportunity for up to five new constitutionally-minded Supreme Court justices appointed to fill vacancies on the Court.
Only such appointments will enable courts to begin to reverse the long line of activist decisions
— including Roe, Obergefell, and the Obamacare cases — that have usurped Congress's and states' lawmaking authority,
undermined constitutional protections,
expanded the power of the judiciary at the expense of the people and their elected representatives,
and stripped the people of their power to govern themselves.
We believe in the constitutional checks and balances and that the Founders intended the judiciary to be the weakest branch.
We encourage Congress to use the check of impeachment for judges who unconstitutionally usurp Article I powers.
In tandem with a Republican Senate, a new Republican president will restore to the Court a strong conservative majority that will follow the text and original meaning of the Constitution and our laws.
The legitimate powers of government are rooted in the consent of the American people.
Judicial activism that includes reliance on foreign law or unratified treaties undermines American sovereignty.
Foreign laws and precedents should not be used to interpret our Constitution or laws,
nor should foreign sources of law be used in state courts’ adjudication of criminal or civil matters.
We also affirm the wisdom of President George Washington’s warning to avoid foreign entanglements and unnecessary alliances.
We therefore oppose the adoption or ratification of treaties that would weaken or encroach upon American sovereignty or that could be construed by courts to do so.
We will not recognize as binding upon the United States any international agreement forged without the constitutionally required assent of two-thirds of the United States Senate.
Administrative Law
Article I of the Constitution directs that "All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States....”
For more than a century, however, Congress has delegated increasing amounts of legislative authority to executive departments, agencies, and commissions, laying the foundation for today’s vast administrative state.
Unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch now write countless rules with the force of law and arbitrarily punish individuals who disobey those rules.
The Constitution makes clear that these powers were granted to Congress by the people and must therefore remain solely with the people’s elected representatives.
We call on Congress to begin reclaiming its constitutional powers from the bureaucratic state by requiring that major new federal regulations be approved by Congress before they can take effect, such as through the Regulation Freedom Amendment.
We further affirm that courts should interpret laws as written by Congress rather than allowing executive agencies to rewrite those laws to suit administration priorities.
Defending Marriage Against an Activist Judiciary
Traditional marriage and family, based on marriage between one man and one woman, is the foundation for a free society and has for millennia been entrusted with rearing children and instilling cultural values.
We condemn the Supreme Court's ruling in United States v. Windsor, which wrongly removed the ability of Congress to define marriage policy in federal law.
We also condemn the Supreme Court's lawless ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which in the words of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was a “judicial Putsch” — full of “silly extravagances” — that reduced “the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Storey to the mystical aphorisms of a fortune cookie.”
In Obergefell, five unelected lawyers robbed 320 million Americans of their legitimate constitutional authority to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
The Court twisted the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment beyond recognition.
To echo Scalia, we dissent.
We, therefore, support the appointment of justices and judges who respect the constitutional limits on their power
and respect the authority of the states to decide such fundamental social questions.
The First Amendment: Religious Liberty
The Bill of Rights lists religious liberty, with its rights of conscience, as the first freedom to be protected.
Religious freedom in the Bill of Rights protects the right of the people to practice their faith in their everyday lives.
As George Washington taught, “religion and morality are indispensable supports” to a free society.
Similarly, Thomas Jefferson declared that “No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.”
Ongoing attempts to compel individuals, businesses, and institutions of faith to transgress their beliefs are part of a misguided effort to undermine religion and drive it from the public square.
As a result, many charitable religious institutions that have demonstrated great success in helping the needy have been barred from receiving government grants and contracts.
Government officials threaten religious colleges and universities with massive fines and seek to control their personnel decisions.
Places of worship for the first time in our history have reason to fear the loss of tax-exempt status
merely for espousing and practicing traditional religious beliefs that have been held across the world for thousands of years, and for almost four centuries in America.
We value the right of America’s religious leaders to preach, and Americans to speak freely, according to their faith.
Republicans believe the federal government, specifically the IRS, is constitutionally prohibited from policing or censoring speech based on religious convictions or beliefs,
and therefore we urge the repeal of the Johnson Amendment.
We pledge to defend the religious beliefs and rights of conscience of all Americans
and to safeguard religious institutions against government control.
We endorse the First Amendment Defense Act, Republican legislation in the House and Senate which will bar government discrimination against individuals and businesses for acting on the belief that marriage is the union of one man and one woman.
This Act would protect the non-profit tax status of faith-based adoption agencies,
the accreditation of religious educational institutions,
the grants and contracts of faith-based charities and small businesses,
and the licensing of religious professions —
all of which are under assault by elements of the Democratic Party.
We encourage every state to pass similar legislation.
We likewise endorse the efforts of Republican state legislators and governors who have defied intimidation from corporations and the media in defending religious liberty.
We support laws to confirm the longstanding American tradition that religious individuals and institutions can educate young people, receive government benefits, and participate in public debates without having to check their religious beliefs at the door.
Our First Amendment rights are not given to us by the government but are rights we inherently possess.
The government cannot use subsequent amendments to limit First Amendment rights.
The Free Exercise Clause is both an individual and a collective liberty protecting a right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience.
Therefore, we strongly support the freedom of Americans to act in accordance with their religious beliefs,
not only in their houses of worship, but also in their everyday lives.
We support the right of the people to conduct their businesses in accordance with their religious beliefs
and condemn public officials who have proposed boycotts against businesses that support traditional marriage.
We pledge to protect those business owners who have been subjected to hate campaigns, threats of violence, and other attempts to deny their civil rights.
We support the public display of the Ten Commandments as a reflection of our history and our country's Judeo-Christian heritage
and further affirm the rights of religious students to engage in voluntary prayer at public school events and to have equal access to school facilities.
We assert the First Amendment right of freedom of association for religious, private, service, and youth organizations to set their own membership standards.
The First Amendment: Constitutionally Protected Speech
The rights of citizenship do not stop at the ballot box.
Freedom of speech includes the right to devote resources to whatever cause or candidate one supports.
We oppose any restrictions or conditions that would discourage citizens from participating in the public square or limit their ability to promote their ideas,
such as requiring private organizations to publicly disclose their donors to the government.
Limits on political speech serve only to protect the powerful and insulate incumbent officeholders.
We support repeal of federal restrictions on political parties in McCain-Feingold,
raising or repealing contribution limits,
protecting the political speech of advocacy groups, corporations, and labor unions,
and protecting political speech on the internet.
We likewise call for an end to the so-called Fairness Doctrine,
and support free-market approaches to free speech unregulated by government.
We believe the forced funding of political candidates through union dues and other mandatory contributions violates the First Amendment.
Just as Americans have a First Amendment right to devote resources to favored candidates or views, they have a First Amendment right not to be forced to individually support individuals or ideologies that they oppose.
We agree with Thomas Jefferson that “To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
The Second Amendment: Our Right to Keep and Bear Arms
We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that predates the Constitution and is secured by the Second Amendment.
Lawful gun ownership enables Americans to exercise their God-given right of selfdefense for the safety of their homes, their loved ones, and their communities.
We salute the Republican Congress for defending the right to keep and bear arms by preventing the President from installing a new liberal majority on the Supreme Court.
The confirmation to the Court of additional anti-gun justices would eviscerate the Second Amendment's fundamental protections.
Already, local officials in the nation's capital and elsewhere are defying the Court's decisions upholding an individual right to bear arms as affirmed by the Supreme Court in Heller and McDonald.
We support firearm reciprocity legislation to recognize the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms to protect themselves and their families in all 50 states.
We support constitutional carry statutes and salute the states that have passed them.
We oppose ill-conceived laws that would restrict magazine capacity or ban the sale of the most popular and common modern rifle.
We also oppose any effort to deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms without due process of law.
We condemn frivolous lawsuits against gun manufacturers and the current Administration's illegal harassment of firearm dealers.
We oppose federal licensing or registration of law-abiding gun owners, registration of ammunition, and restoration of the ill-fated Clinton gun ban.
We call for a thorough investigation — by a new Republican administration — of the deadly “Fast and Furious” operation perpetrated by Department of Justice officials who approved and allowed illegal sales of guns to known violent criminals.
The Fourth Amendment: Liberty and Privacy
Affirming the Fourth Amendment “right of the people to be secure in their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,”
we call for strict limitations on the use of aerial surveillance on U.S. soil,
with the exception of patrolling our national borders for illegal entry and activity.
We oppose any attempts by government to require surveillance devices in our daily lives, including tracking devices in motor vehicles.
In recent years, technology companies have responded to market demand for products and services that protect the privacy of customers through increasingly sophisticated encryption technology.
These increased privacy protections have become crucial to the digital economy.
At the same time, however, such innovations have brought new dangers, especially from criminals and terrorists who seek to use encryption technology to harm us.
No matter the medium, citizens must retain the right to communicate with one another free from unlawful government intrusion.
It will not be easy to balance privacy rights with the government's legitimate need to access encrypted information.
This issue is too important to be left to the courts.
A Republican president and a Republican Congress must listen to the American people and forge a consensus solution.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Foreign Bank and Asset Reporting Requirements result in government's warrantless seizure of personal financial information without reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
Americans overseas should enjoy the same rights as Americans residing in the United States, whose private financial information is not subject to disclosure to the government except as to interest earned.
The requirement for all banks around the world to provide detailed information to the IRS about American account holders outside the United States has resulted in banks refusing service to them.
Thus, FATCA not only allows “unreasonable search and seizures” but also threatens the ability of overseas Americans to lead normal lives.
We call for its repeal and for a change to residency-based taxation for U.S. citizens overseas.
The Fifth Amendment: Protecting Human Life
The Constitution's guarantee that no one can “be deprived of life, liberty or property” deliberately echoes the Declaration of Independence's proclamation that “all” are “endowed by their Creator” with the inalienable right to life.
Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed.
We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment's protections apply to children before birth.
We oppose the use of public funds to perform or promote abortion or to fund organizations, like Planned Parenthood,
so long as they provide or refer for elective abortions or sell fetal body parts rather than provide healthcare.
We urge all states and Congress to make it a crime to acquire, transfer, or sell fetal tissues from elective abortions for research,
and we call on Congress to enact a ban on any sale of fetal body parts.
In the meantime, we call on Congress to ban the practice of misleading women on so-called fetal harvesting consent forms, a fact revealed by a 2015 investigation.
We will not fund or subsidize healthcare that includes abortion coverage.
We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.
We oppose the non-consensual withholding or withdrawal of care or treatment, including food and water, from individuals with disabilities, newborns, the elderly, or the infirm, just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide.
We affirm our moral obligation to assist, rather than penalize, women who face an unplanned pregnancy.
In order to encourage women who face an unplanned pregnancy to choose life,
we support legislation that requires financial responsibility for the child be equally borne by both the mother and father upon conception until the child reaches adulthood.
Failure to require a father to be equally responsible for a child places an inequitable burden on the mother,
creating a financial and social hardship on both mother and child.
We celebrate the millions of Americans who open their hearts, homes, and churches to mothers in need and women fleeing abuse.
We thank and encourage providers of counseling, medical services, and adoption assistance for empowering women experiencing an unintended pregnancy to choose life.
We support funding for ultrasounds and adoption assistance.
We salute the many states that now protect women and girls through laws requiring informed consent, parental consent, waiting periods, and clinic regulation.
We condemn the Supreme Court's activist decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt striking down commonsense Texas laws providing for basic health and safety standards in abortion clinics.
We applaud the U.S. House of Representatives for leading the effort to add enforcement to the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act by passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,
which imposes appropriate civil and criminal penalties on healthcare providers who fail to provide treatment and care to an infant who survives an abortion, including early induction delivery whether the death of the infant is intended.
We strongly oppose infanticide.
Over a dozen states have passed Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Acts prohibiting abortion after twenty weeks, the point at which current medical research shows that unborn babies can feel excruciating pain during abortions, and we call on Congress to enact the federal version.
Not only is it good legislation, but it enjoys the support of a majority of the American people.
We support state and federal efforts against the cruelest forms of abortion, especially dismemberment abortion procedures, in which unborn babies are literally torn apart limb from limb.
We call on Congress to ban sex-selection abortions and abortions based on disabilities — discrimination in its most lethal form.
We oppose embryonic stem cell research.
We oppose federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
We support adult stem cell research and urge the restoration of the national placental stem cell bank created by President George H.W. Bush
but abolished by his Democrat successor, President Bill Clinton.
We oppose federal funding for harvesting embryos and call for a ban on human cloning.
The Democratic Party is extreme on abortion.
Democrats' almost limitless support for abortion, and their strident opposition to even the most basic restrictions on abortion,
put them dramatically out of step with the American people.
Because of their opposition to simple abortion clinic safety procedures, support for taxpayer-funded abortion, and rejection of pregnancy resource centers that provide abortion alternatives,
the old Clinton mantra of “safe, legal, and rare” has been reduced to just “legal.”
We are proud to be the party that protects human life and offers real solutions for women.
The Fifth Amendment: Protecting Private Property
The Framers of our government knew, from history and experience,
that when private property is not secure, freedom is at risk.
That is why the Fifth Amendment declares that private property may not be “taken for public use without just compensation.”
The Supreme Court's Kelo decision undermined this safeguard by allowing local governments to seize a person's home or land not only for vital public use, but also for “public purpose,”
which thus allowed the government to seize it for transfer to private developers or other private entities.
We call on any state legislatures that have not already done so to nullify the impact of Kelo within their jurisdiction by legislation or state constitutional amendments declaring that private property may be taken only for true public use,
and we join House Republicans in supporting the Private Property Rights Protection Act.
The government at every level must always pay just compensation whenever it takes private property to achieve a compelling public use,
with the money coming from the budget of the agency performing the taking.
This includes the taking of water rights and the taking of property by environmental regulations that destroy or diminish the property's value.
Civil asset forfeiture was originally intended as a way to cripple organized crime through the seizure of property used in a criminal enterprise.
Regrettably, it has become a tool for unscrupulous law enforcement officials,
acting without due process,
to profit by destroying the livelihood of innocent individuals,
many of whom never recover the lawful assets taken from them.
When the rights of the innocent can be so easily violated, no one's rights are safe.
We call on Congress and state legislatures to enact reforms to protect law-abiding citizens against abusive asset forfeiture tactics.
The Fifth Amendment: Intellectual Property Rights
Private property includes not only physical property such as lands and homes, but also intellectual property like books and patents.
Article 1, section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to safeguard intellectual property rights for “Authors and Inventors.”
By protecting the proprietary rights of creators and innovators, the Constitution promotes the general welfare by providing incentives for investment in all sorts of technology
and artistic works.
Intellectual property is a driving force in today's global economy of constant innovation.
It is the wellspring of American economic growth and job creation.
With the rise of the digital economy, it has become even more critical that we protect intellectual property rights
and preserve freedom of contract rather than create regulatory barriers to creativity, growth, and innovation.
Protecting intellectual property is also a national security issue.
We must guard against counterfeit parts that can compromise the reliability of our weapons systems
and the safety of military personnel.
Today, the worst offenses against intellectual property rights come from abroad, especially in China.
We call for strong action by Congress and a new Republican president to enforce intellectual property laws against all infringers, whether foreign or domestic.
The Ninth Amendment: The People’s Retained Rights
The Ninth Amendment to the Constitution declares that “[t]he enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
This provision codifies the principle that our national government derives its power from the governed and that all powers not delegated to the government are retained by the people.
We call upon legislators to give full force to this fundamental principle.
We welcome to our ranks all citizens who are determined to reclaim the rights of the people that have been ignored or usurped by the federal and intrusive state governments.
The Tenth Amendment: Federalism as the Foundation of Personal Liberty
Federalism is a cornerstone of our constitutional system.
Every violation of state sovereignty by federal officials is not merely a transgression of one unit of government against another;
it is an assault on the liberties of individual Americans.
Hence the promise of the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
The Constitution gives the federal government very few powers, and they are specifically enumerated;
the states and the people retain authority over all unenumerated powers.
In obedience to that principle, we condemn the current Administration’s unconstitutional expansion into areas beyond those specifically enumerated,
including bullying of state and local governments in matters ranging from voter identification (ID) laws, to immigration, from healthcare programs to land use decisions,
and from forced education curricula to school restroom policies.
We pledge to restore the proper balance and vertical separation of powers between the federal government and state governments
- the governments closest to, and most reflective of, the American people.
We encourage states to reinvigorate their traditional role as the laboratories of democracy,
propelling the nation forward through local and state innovation.
Big government undermines federalism through more than 1,100 grants-in-aid programs that consume more than one-sixth of the federal budget
for matters that should be the exclusive responsibility of the states.
Through these programs, money originating from state taxpayers is returned to the states,
usually greatly reduced, with myriad strings attached.
These grants turn state and local elected officials into agents of the federal government.
The web of conditions and regulations —
especially the requirement of matching funds that comes with federal grants -
transforms recipients into appendages of the Washington bureaucracy.
We call upon Congress to help a Republican president to reduce and ultimately eliminate this system of conditioned grants
so that state and local taxpayers can decide for themselves what is best for their own communities.
Honest Elections and the Electoral College
We oppose the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and any other scheme to abolish or distort the procedures of the Electoral College.
An unconstitutional effort to impose National Popular Vote would be a grave threat to our federal system
and a guarantee of corruption, as every ballot box in every state would offer a chance to steal the presidency.
We urge state legislatures that have voted for this proposal to rescind their approval.
Honest Elections and the Right to Vote
Honest elections are the foundation of representative government.
We pledge to protect the voting rights of every citizen,
as well as their rights of conscience when they are harassed or denied a job because of their contributions to a candidate or a cause.
We support state efforts to ensure ballot access for the elderly, the handicapped, military personnel, and all legitimate voters.
We urge state and local officials to take all appropriate steps to allow voters to cast their ballots in a timely manner.
We are concerned, however, that some voting procedures may be open to abuse.
For this reason, we support legislation to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote and secure photo ID when voting.
We strongly oppose litigation against states exercising their sovereign authority to enact such laws.
In addition, to guarantee that everyone’s vote is counted,
we urge that electronic voting systems have a voter-verified paper audit trail.
We urge every state to join the Interstate Voter Registration Cross Check Program to keep voter rolls accurate
and to prevent people from voting in more than one state in the same election.
To guard against foreign involvement in our elections, we call for vigilance regarding online credit card contributions to candidates and campaigns.
The members of our Armed Forces must not be denied the basic rights that they are defending for others.
Our troops, wherever stationed, must be allowed to vote in a timely manner.
We call upon the entire military chain of command to ensure the voting rights of our citizen soldiers.
The Constitution gives Congress authority to conduct the decennial census "in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”
In order to preserve the principle of one person, one vote, we urge our elected representatives to ensure that citizenship,
rather than mere residency, be made the basis for the apportionment of representatives among the states.
America’s Natural Resources: Agriculture, Energy, and the Environment
We are the party of America's growers, producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, commercial fishermen,
and all those who bring from the earth the crops, minerals, energy, and the bounties of our seas that are the lifeblood of our economy.
Their labor and ingenuity, their determination in bad times and love of the land at all times,
powers our economy,
creates millions of jobs,
and feeds billions of people around the world.
Only a few years ago, a bipartisan consensus in government valued the role of extractive industries
and rewarded their enterprise by minimizing its interference with their work.
That has radically changed.
We look in vain within the Democratic Party for leaders who will speak for the people of agriculture, energy, and mineral production
Abundant Harvests
Agricultural production and exports are central to the Republican agenda for jobs, growth, expanded trade, and prosperity.
Because our farmers and ranchers care for the land,
the United States does not depend on foreign imports for sustenance.
Americans spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than any other nation.
On average, one American farm produces enough food to feed 155 people.
No other nation has been as generous with food aid to the needy.
We have good reason to celebrate our domestic security in food.
We are the largest agricultural exporter in the world,
and our exports are vital for other sectors of our economy.
Those exports drive additional economic growth as each dollar of agricultural exports generates another $1.27 in business activity.
That is why we remain committed to expanding trade opportunities and opening new markets for agriculture.
Under a Republican president, America's trade negotiators will insist that our global trading partners adhere to science-based standards with regard to food and health regulations.
We will not tolerate the use of bogus science and scare tactics to bar our products from foreign markets,
nor will we allow insufficient health and safety standards for products imported for our consumption.
We must also ensure that domestic policies do not compromise our global competitiveness through overregulation and undue interference in the marketplace.
There is growing recognition that federal dairy policies, crafted during the Great Depression, are increasingly an impediment to the ability of our dairy producers to meet the expected doubling in global demand coming by 2030.
We oppose the policies pushed by special interest groups seeking to stop or make more expensive our current system of safe, efficient, and humane production of meat.
Congress has repeatedly had to block the current Administration's draconian rules concerning the marketing of poultry and livestock.
This regulatory impulse must be curbed,
not on a case-by-case basis, but through a fundamental restructuring of the regulatory process.
In the meantime, the intrusive and expensive federal mandates on food options and menu labeling should be ended as soon as possible by a Republican Congress.
We oppose the mandatory labeling of genetically modified food,
which has proven to be safe, healthy, and a literal life-saver for millions in the developing world.
The Democratic Administration's sustained support for additional regulation of agriculture has directly resulted in higher costs of production for those who produce the food we eat.
This federal regulatory overreach has resulted and will continue to result in higher food prices for Americans.
These higher food costs are particularly challenging for those Americans struggling to make ends meet.
Like the rest of the economy, agriculture has suffered through eight years of the Democrats' regulatory juggernaut, particularly from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
States, not Washington bureaucrats, are best equipped to engage farmers and ranchers to develop sound farm oversight policies.
The EPA's Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, issued jointly with the Army Corps of Engineers, is a travesty.
It extends the government's jurisdiction over navigable waters into the micro-management of puddles and ditches on farms, ranches, and other privately-held property.
Ditches, dry creek beds, stock ponds, prairie potholes, and other non- navigable wet areas are already regulated by the states.
WOTUS is now subject to judicial review and must be invalidated,
but that will not be sufficient.
Unelected bureaucrats must be stopped from furthering the Democratic Party's political agenda through regulatory demands forced upon citizens and businesses beyond that which is required by law.
We must never allow federal agencies to seize control of state waters, watersheds, or groundwater.
State waters, watersheds, and groundwater must be the purview of the sovereign states.
Farmers and ranchers are among this country's leading conservationists.
Modern farm practices and technologies,
supported by programs from the Department of Agriculture,
have led to reduced erosion, improved water and air quality, increased wildlife habitat,
all the while maintaining improved agricultural yields.
This stewardship of the land benefits everyone,
and we remain committed to conservation policies based on the preservation, not the restriction, of working lands.
For this reason, ranching on public lands must be fostered, developed, and encouraged.
This includes providing for an abundant water supply for America's farmers, ranchers, and their communities.
Farming and ranching remain high-risk endeavors, and they cannot be isolated from market forces.
No segment of agriculture can expect treatment so favorable that it seriously disadvantages workers in other trades.
Federal programs to assist farmers in managing risk must be as cost-effective as they are functional,
offering tools that can improve producers' ability to operate when times are tough
while remaining affordable to the taxpayers.
Even so, the expansion of agricultural exports through the vigorous opening of new markets around the world is the surest path to farm security.
While uncertainty about natural weather and markets is a risk farmers and ranchers always face,
government should not add to their uncertainty by inaction and delay.
Thanks in large part to a lack of leadership from the current Administration and congressional Democrats,
the last Farm Bill took far too long to enact,
creating instability about farm policy for nearly two years.
Republicans are dedicated to leading this country forward,
which includes getting things done on time, including the next Farm Bill.
The Democrats play politics with farm security.
Much of the Democrats’ delay had nothing to do with the vital role of American agriculture.
It concerned their efforts to expand welfare through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
which now comprises more than 70 percent of all farm bill spending.
During the last eight years of a Democratic Administration, nearly all the work requirements for able-bodied adults, instituted by our landmark welfare reform of 1996, have been removed.
We will restore those provisions
and, to correct a mistake made when the Food Stamp program was first created in 1964, separate the administration of SNAP from the Department of Agriculture.
Like all other sectors of our society, agriculture is directly impacted by the constant advance in technology.
Agriculture now faces a revolution in the generation of "Big Data”
— information produced not only through public oversight of regulations and programs,
but also from private business records of farming and ranching operations.
In the interest of protecting the safety of our farmers and ranchers, we will advance policies to protect the security, privacy, and most of all, the private ownership of individual farmers’ and ranchers’ data.
The U. S. Forest Service, within the Department of Agriculture, controls around 200 million acres of land with enormous natural resources,
especially timber, a renewable resource providing jobs for thousands of workers
that should be used to the best economic potential for the nation.
Many of our national forests are in worsening health with the threat of invasive species, insect mortality, and the severe risk of wildfire.
The increase in catastrophic wildfires has been needlessly killing millions of animals and destroying homes and watersheds for decades in the western states.
The expense to suppress wildfires related to failed federal forest policies continues to increase.
When timber is managed properly, the renewable crops will result in fewer wildfires
and, at the same time, produce jobs in the timber industry for countless families.
We believe in promoting active, sustainable management of our forests
and that states can best manage our forests to improve forest health and keep communities safe.
A New Era in Energy
Our country has greater energy resources than any other place on earth.
Our engineers and miners, the men and women whose labor taps the forces of nature, are the best in the world.
Together, the people of America’s energy sector provide us with power that is clean, affordable, secure, and abundant.
Their work can guarantee the nation’s energy security for centuries to come
if, instead of erecting roadblocks,
government facilitates the creation of an all-of-the-above energy strategy.
We applaud congressional Republicans for doing just that through far-sighted legislation.
Both Houses have passed bills that will modernize pipelines and the electric grid,
protect the grid from disruption,
expedite energy exports,
and lower energy costs.
A Republican administration will build on those policies to find new ways to store electricity, a breakthrough of extraordinary import.
Planning for our energy future requires us to first determine what resources we have in reserve.
Thirty years ago, the world’s estimated reserves of oil were 645 billion barrels.
Today, that figure is 1.65 trillion barrels.
The more we know what we will have in the future, the better we can decide how to use it.
That is why we support the opening of public lands and the outer continental shelf to exploration and responsible production,
even if these resources will not be immediately developed.
Because we believe states can best promote economic growth while protecting the environment,
Congress should give authority to state regulators to manage energy resources on federally controlled public lands within their respective borders.
The Democratic Party’s energy policy can be summed up in a slogan currently popular among its activists: "keep it in the ground.”
Keeping energy in the earth will keep jobs out of reach of those who need them most.
For low-income Americans, expensive energy means colder homes in the winter and hotter homes in the summer,
less mobility in employment,
and higher food prices.
The current Administration, and particularly its EPA, seems not to care.
Its Clean Power Plan — the centerpiece of the President’s war on coal — has been stayed by the Supreme Court.
We will do away with it altogether.
The Democratic Party does not understand that coal is an abundant, clean, affordable, reliable domestic energy resource.
Those who mine it and their families should be protected
from the Democratic Party’s radical anticoal agenda.
The Democratic Party’s campaign to smother the U.S. energy industry takes many forms,
but the permitting process may be its most damaging weapon.
It takes an average of 30 days for states to permit an oil or gas well.
It takes the federal government longer than seven months.
Three decades ago, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leased 12.2 million acres.
In 2014, it leased only one-tenth of that number.
Our nuclear industry, cleanly generating almost 20 percent of our electricity from its 99 plants, has a remarkable safety record,
but only a handful of plants have been permitted in over three decades.
Permitting for a safe, non-polluting hydroelectric facility,
even one that is being relicensed, can take many years because of the current President’s hostility to dams.
The Keystone Pipeline has become a symbol of everything wrong with the current Administration’s ideological approach.
After years of delay, the President killed it to satisfy environmental extremists.
We intend to finish that pipeline and others as part of our commitment to North American energy security.
Government should not play favorites among energy producers.
The taxpayers will not soon forget the current Administration’s subsidies to companies that went bankrupt without producing a kilowatt of energy.
The same Administration now requires the Department of Defense, operating with slashed budgets during a time of expanding conflict, to use its scarce resources to generate 25 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2025.
Climate change is far from this nation’s most pressing national security issue.
This is the triumph of extremism over common sense, and Congress must stop it.
We support the development of all forms of energy that are marketable in a free economy without subsidies, including coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear power, and hydropower.
A federal judge has struck down the BLM’s rule on hydraulic fracturing and we support upholding this decision.
We respect the states’ proven ability to regulate the use of hydraulic fracturing, methane emissions, and horizontal drilling,
and we will end the Administration’s disregard of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act with respect to the long-term storage of nuclear waste.
We encourage the cost-effective development of renewable energy sources — wind, solar, biomass, biofuel, geothermal, and tidal energy —
by private capital.
The United States is overwhelmingly dependent on China and other nations for rare earth and other hardrock minerals.
These minerals are critical to advanced technology,
renewable energy,
and defense manufacturing.
We support expediting the permitting process for mineral production on public lands.
We support lifting restrictions to allow responsible development of nuclear energy,
including research into alternative processes like thorium nuclear energy.
We oppose any carbon tax.
It would increase energy prices across the board,
hitting hardest at the families who are already struggling to pay their bills in the Democrats’ no-growth economy.
We urge the private sector to focus its resources on the development of carbon capture and sequestration technology still in its early stages here and overseas.
American energy producers should be free to export their product to foreign markets.
This is particularly important because of international demand for liquefied natural gas, and we must expedite the energy export terminals currently blocked by the Administration.
Energy exports will create high paying jobs throughout the United States,
reduce our nation’s trade deficit,
grow our economy,
and boost the energy security of our allies and trading partners.
We remain committed to aggressively expanding trade opportunities and opening new markets for American energy through multilateral and bilateral agreements,
whether current, pending, or negotiated in the future.
Energy is both an economic and national security issue.
We support the enactment of policies to increase domestic energy production,
including production on public lands,
to counter market manipulation by OPEC and other nationally- owned oil companies.
This will reduce America’s vulnerability to energy price volatility.
Environmental Progress
Conservation is inherent in conservatism.
As the pioneer of environmentalism a century ago, the Republican Party reaffirms the moral obligation to be good stewards of the God-given natural beauty and resources of our country.
We believe that people are the most valuable resources
and that human health and safety are the proper measurements of a policy’s success.
We assert that private ownership has been the best guarantee of conscientious stewardship,
while some of the worst instances of degradation have occurred under government control.
Poverty, not wealth, is the gravest threat to the environment,
while steady economic growth brings the technological advances which make environmental progress possible.
The environment is too important to be left to radical environmentalists.
They are using yesterday's tools to control a future they do not comprehend.
The environmental establishment has become a self-serving elite,
stuck in the mindset of the 1970s,
subordinating the public's consensus to the goals of the Democratic Party.
Their approach is based on shoddy science, scare tactics, and centralized command-and-control regulation.
Over the last eight years, the Administration has triggered an avalanche of regulation that wreaks havoc across our economy
and yields minimal environmental benefits.
The central fact of any sensible environmental policy is that, year by year, the environment is improving.
Our air and waterways are much healthier than they were a few decades ago.
As a nation, we have drastically reduced pollution,
mainstreamed recycling,
educated the public,
and avoided ecological degradation.
Even if no additional controls are added, air pollution will continue to decline for the next several decades due to technological turnover of aging equipment.
These successes become a challenge for Democratic Party environmental extremists, who must reach farther and demand more to sustain the illusion of an environmental crisis.
That is why they routinely ignore costs, exaggerate benefits,
and advocate the breaching of constitutional boundaries by federal agencies to impose environmental regulation.
At the same time, the environmental establishment looks the other way when environmental degradation is caused by the EPA and other federal agencies as was the case during the Animas River spill.
Our agenda is high on job creation,
expanding opportunity
and providing a better chance at life for everyone willing to work for it.
Our modern approach to environmentalism is directed to that end,
and it starts with dramatic change in official Washington.
We propose to shift responsibility for environmental regulation from the federal bureaucracy to the states
and to transform the EPA into an independent bipartisan commission, similar to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, with structural safeguards against politicized science.
We will strictly limit congressional delegation of rule-making authority,
and require that citizens be compensated for regulatory takings.
We will put an end to the legal practice known as “sue and settle,” in which environmental groups sue federal agencies whose officials are complicit in the litigation so that, with the taxpayers excluded, both parties can reach agreement behind closed doors.
That deceit betrays the public's trust; it will no longer be tolerated.
We will also reform the Equal Access to Justice Act to cap and disclose payments made to environmental activists
and return the Act to its original intent.
We will enforce the original intent of the Clean Water Act, not it's distortion by EPA regulations.
We will likewise forbid the EPA to regulate carbon dioxide, something never envisioned when Congress passed the Clean Air Act.
We will restore to Congress the authority to set the National Ambient Air Quality Standards
and modernize the permitting process under the National Environmental Policy Act so it can no longer invite frivolous lawsuits, thwart sorely needed projects,
kill jobs, and strangle growth.
The federal government owns or controls over 640 million acres of land in the United States, most of which is in the West.
These are public lands, and the public should have access to them for appropriate activities like hunting, fishing, and recreational shooting.
Federal ownership or management of land also places an economic burden on counties and local communities in terms of lost revenue to pay for things such as schools, police, and emergency services.
It is absurd to think that all that acreage must remain under the absentee ownership or management of official Washington.
Congress shall immediately pass universal legislation providing for a timely and orderly mechanism requiring the federal government to convey certain federally controlled public lands to states.
We call upon all national and state leaders and representatives to exert their utmost power and influence to urge the transfer of those lands, identified in the review process, to all willing states for the benefit of the states and the nation as a whole.
The residents of state and local communities know best how to protect the land where they work and live.
They practice boots-on- the-ground conservation in their states every day.
We support amending the Antiquities Act of 1906 to establish Congress’ right to approve the designation of national monuments
and to further require the approval of the state where a national monument is designated or a national park is proposed.
There is certainly a need to protect certain species threatened worldwide with extinction.
However, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) should not include species such as gray wolves and other species if these species exist elsewhere in healthy numbers in another state or country.
To upset the economic viability of an area with an unneeded designation costs jobs and hurts local communities.
We must ensure that this protection is done effectively, reasonably, and without unnecessarily impeding the development of lands and natural resources.
The ESA should ensure that the listing of endangered species and the designation of critical habitats are based upon sound science
and balance the protection of endangered species with the costs of compliance
and the rights of property owners.
Instead, over the last few decades, the ESA has stunted economic development,
halted the construction of projects,
burdened landowners,
and has been used to pursue policy goals inconsistent with the ESA
— all with little to no success in the actual recovery of species.
For example, we oppose the listing of the lesser prairie chicken and the potential listing of the sage grouse.
Neither species has been shown to be in actual danger and the listings threaten to devastate farmers, ranchers,
and oil and gas production.
While species threatened with extinction must be protected under the ESA, any such protection must be done in a reasonable and transparent manner
with stakeholder input and in consideration of the impact on the development of lands and natural resources.
Information concerning a changing climate, especially projections into the long-range future, must be based on dispassionate analysis of hard data.
We will enforce that standard throughout the executive branch, among civil servants and presidential appointees alike.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a political mechanism, not an unbiased scientific institution.
Its unreliability is reflected in its intolerance toward scientists and others who dissent from its orthodoxy.
We will evaluate its recommendations accordingly.
We reject the agendas of both the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, which represent only the personal commitments of their signatories;
no such agreement can be binding upon the United States until it is submitted to and ratified by the Senate.
We demand an immediate halt to U.S. funding for the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in accordance with the 1994 Foreign Relations Authorization Act.
That law prohibits Washington from giving any money to "any affiliated organization of the United Nations” which grants Palestinians membership as a state.
There is no ambiguity in that language.
It would be illegal for the President to follow through on his intention to provide millions in funding for the UNFCCC and hundreds of millions for its Green Climate Fund.
We firmly believe environmental problems are best solved by giving incentives for human ingenuity and the development of new technologies,
not through top-down, command-and-control regulations that stifle economic growth and cost thousands of jobs.
Government Reform
Making Government Work for the People
Founding Father and Constitution Framer James Wilson declared that in America, “the people are the masters of government,” but that in other countries, “the government is master of the people.”
We pledge to make government work for the people, rather than the other way around.
Much of what the federal government does can be improved,
much should be replaced,
and much needs to be done away with or returned to the states.
It is long past time for just tinkering around the edges of a bloated and unresponsive bureaucratic state.
Its poorly managed programs, some begun generations ago, are ill-suited to meet present needs and future requirements.
Its credit card budgets impose massive indebtedness on every American today
and on children yet unborn.
The more it intrudes into every aspect of American life the more it alienates the citizens who work, pay taxes, and wonder what has happened to the country they love.
We agree with Thomas Jefferson that “[t]he multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife.”
Balancing the Budget
The federal fiscal burden threatens the security,
liberty,
and independence of our nation.
The current Administration's refusal to work with Republicans took our national debt from $10 trillion to nearly $19 trillion today.
Left unchecked, it will hit $30 trillion by 2026.
At the same time, the Administration's policies systematically crippled economic growth and job creation,
driving up government costs and driving down revenues.
When Congressional Republicans tried to reverse course, the Administration manufactured fiscal crises — phony government shutdowns
— to demand excessive spending.
The Administration's demands have focused on significantly expanding government spending and benefits for its preferred groups,
paid for through loans that our children and grandchildren will have to pay.
This is the path to bankrupting the next generation.
The Republican path to fiscal sanity and economic expansion begins with a constitutional requirement for a federal balanced budget.
We will fight for Congress to adopt, and for the states to ratify, a Balanced Budget Amendment
which imposes a cap limiting spending to the appropriate historical average percentage of our nation's gross domestic product
while requiring a super-majority for any tax increase,
with exceptions only for war or legitimate emergencies.
Only a constitutional safeguard such as this can prevent deficits from mounting to government default.
Republican budgets will prioritize thrift over extravagance
and put taxpayers first.
We support the following test: Is a particular expenditure within the constitutional scope of the federal government?
If not, stop it.
Has it been effective in the past and is it still absolutely necessary?
If not, end it.
Is it so important as to justify borrowing, especially foreign borrowing, to fund it?
If not, kill it.
Preserving Medicare and Medicaid
More than 100 million Americans depend on Medicare or Medicaid for their healthcare;
with our population aging, that number will increase.
To preserve Medicare and Medicaid, the financing of these important programs must be brought under control
before they consume most of the federal budget,
including national defense.
The good news is that it can be done,
and it can be done without endangering the elderly and the needy who depend on those programs.
We intend to save Medicare by modernizing it,
empowering its participants,
and putting it on a secure financial footing.
We will preserve the promise of Medicaid as well by making that program, designed for 1965 medicine, a vehicle for good health in an entirely new era.
Medicare’s long-term debt is in the trillions,
and it is funded by a workforce that is shrinking relative to the size of future beneficiaries.
Obamacare worsened the situation
— and imperiled seniors —
by imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare providers to pay for its new spending.
When a vital program is so clearly headed for a train wreck, it’s time to put it on a more secure track.
That is why we propose these reforms: Impose no changes for persons 55 or older.
Give others the option of traditional Medicare or transition to a premium-support model designed to strengthen patient choice,
promote cost-saving competition among providers,
and better guard against the fraud and abuse that now diverts billions of dollars every year away from patient care.
Guarantee to every enrollee an income-adjusted contribution toward a plan of their choice, with catastrophic protection.
Without disadvantaging present retirees or those nearing retirement,
a more realistic age for eligibility in light of today’s longer life span.
This is an agenda to improve healthcare,
not just to manage its costs.
We reject the Democrats’ approach of rationing inherent in Obamacare.
We will not accept that or any other approach which denies care — or lowers its quality — for America’s elderly.
Medicaid presents related, but somewhat different challenges.
As the dominant force in the health market with regard to long-term care, births, and persons with mental illness, it is the next frontier of welfare reform.
It is simply too big and too flawed to be administered from Washington.
Most of the vaunted expansion of health insurance coverage under Obamacare actually has been an unprecedented expansion of the Medicaid rolls in many states.
We applaud the Republican governors and state legislators who have undertaken the hard work of modernizing Medicaid.
We will give them a free hand to do so by block-granting the program without strings.
Their initiatives — whether premium supports for purchasing insurance,
refundable tax credits,
alternatives to hospitalization for chronic patients,
disease prevention activities,
and other innovations —
are the best strategy for preserving Medicaid for those who need it the most.
Block granting Medicaid is particularly needed to address mental health care.
Mental illness affects people from all walks of life,
but there has been little success in developing effective system-wide medical models for addressing mental health.
For a variety of unique reasons, government is often the first frontier for people experiencing mental health problems
— from first responders who deal with crises
to publicly funded mental health facilities
and prisons where large numbers of inmates suffer from mental illnesses.
Using block grants would allow states to experiment with different systems to address mental health
and develop successful models to be replicated in states across the nation.
The current federally dictated mental health care regime is wasteful and ineffective,
and moving to a block grant approach would allow for state and local governments to create solutions for individuals and families in desperate need of help in addressing mental illness.
We respect the states’ authority and flexibility to exclude abortion providers from federal programs such as Medicaid and other healthcare and family planning programs so long as they continue to perform or refer for elective abortions or sell the body parts of aborted children.
Saving Social Security
We reject the old maxim that Social Security is the "Third Rail” of American politics, deadly for anyone who would change it.
The Democratic Party still treats it that way, even though everyone knows that its current course will lead to a financial and social disaster.
Younger Americans have lost all faith in the program and expect little return for what they are paying into it.
As the party of America’s future, we accept the responsibility to preserve and modernize a system of retirement security forged in an old industrial era beyond the memory of most Americans.
Current retirees and those close to retirement can be assured of their benefits.
Of the many reforms being proposed, all options should be considered to preserve Social Security.
As Republicans, we oppose tax increases
and believe in the power of markets to create wealth and to help secure the future of our Social Security system.
Saving Social Security is more than a challenge.
It is our moral obligation to those who trusted in the government's word.
Protecting Internet Freedom
The survival of the internet as we know it is at risk.
Its gravest peril originates in the White House, the current occupant of which has launched a campaign, both at home and internationally, to subjugate it to agents of government.
The President ordered the chair of the supposedly independent Federal Communications Commission to impose upon the internet rules devised in the 1930s for the telephone monopoly.
He has unilaterally announced America's abandonment of the international internet
by surrendering U.S. control of the root zone of web names and addresses.
He threw the internet to the wolves,
and they - Russia, China, Iran, and others - are ready to devour it.
We salute the Congressional Republicans who have legislatively impeded his plans to turn over the Information Freedom Highway to regulators and tyrants.
That fight must continue, for its outcome is in doubt.
We will consistently support internet policies that allow people and private enterprise to thrive,
without providing new and expanded government powers to tax and regulate
so that the internet does not become the vehicle for a dramatic expansion of government power.
The internet's independence is its power.
It has unleashed innovation, enabled growth,
and inspired freedom more rapidly and extensively than any other technological advance in human history.
We will therefore resist any effort to shift control toward governance by international or other intergovernmental organizations.
We will ensure that personal data receives full constitutional protection from government overreach.
The only way to safeguard or improve these systems is through the private sector.
The internet's free market needs to be free and open to all ideas and competition without the government or service providers picking winners and losers.
Immigration and the Rule of Law
Our party is the natural home for those who come in search of freedom and justice.
We welcome all to the Great Opportunity Party.
The greatest asset of the American economy is the American worker.
Our immigration system must protect American working families and their wages,
for citizens and legal immigrants alike,
in a way that will improve the economy.
Just as immigrant labor helped build our country in the past,
today's legal immigrants are making vital contributions in every aspect of national life.
Their industry and commitment to American values strengthens our economy,
enriches our culture,
and enables us to better understand and more effectively compete with the rest of the world.
We are particularly grateful to the thousands of new legal immigrants, many of them not yet citizens, who are serving in the Armed Forces and among first responders.
Their patriotism should encourage all to embrace the newcomers legally among us,
assist their journey to full citizenship,
and help their communities avoid isolation from the mainstream of society.
We are also thankful for the many legal immigrants who continue to contribute to American society.
To that end, we both encourage the preservation of heritage tongues
and support English as the nation's official language,
a unifying force essential for the advancement of immigrant communities and our nation as a whole.
America's immigration policy must serve the national interest of the United States,
and the interests of American workers must be protected over the claims of foreign nationals seeking the same jobs.
With all our fellow citizens, we have watched, in anger and disgust, the mocking of our immigration laws by a president who made himself superior to the will of the nation.
We stand with the victims of his policies,
especially the families of murdered innocents.
Illegal immigration endangers everyone,
exploits the taxpayers,
and insults all who aspire to enter America legally.
We oppose any form of amnesty for those who, by breaking the law, have disadvantaged those who have obeyed it.
The executive amnesties of 2012 and 2014 are a direct violation of federal law and usurp the powers of Congress as outlined in Article I of the Constitution.
These unlawful amnesties must be immediately rescinded by a Republican president.
In a time of terrorism, drug cartels, human trafficking, and criminal gangs,
the presence of millions of unidentified individuals in this country poses grave risks to the safety and sovereignty of the United States.
Our highest priority, therefore, must be to secure our borders and all ports of entry
and to enforce our immigration laws.
That is why we support building a wall along our southern border and protecting all ports of entry.
The border wall must cover the entirety of the southern border
and must be sufficient to stop both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
We insist upon workplace enforcement of verification systems
so that more jobs can be available to all legal workers.
Use of the E-verify program — an internet-based system that verifies the employment authorization and identity of employees — must be made mandatory nationwide.
We reaffirm our endorsement of the SAVE program — Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements — to ensure that public funds are not given to persons not legally present in this country.
We demand tough penalties against those who engage in identity theft, deal in fraudulent documents, and traffic in human beings.
The Department of Homeland Security must use its authority to keep dangerous aliens off our streets
and to expedite expulsion of criminal aliens.
Gang membership should be a deportable offense.
Any previously deported illegal alien who continues to show a lack of respect for our borders and rule of law must be penalized.
This is why we support stiffer penalties, such as a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, for any illegal alien who illegally re-enters our nation after already having been deported.
Because “sanctuary cities” violate federal law and endanger their own citizens, they should not be eligible for federal funding.
Using state licenses to reward people in the country illegally is an affront to the rule of law and must be halted.
In light of both current needs and historic practice, we urge the reform of our guest worker programs to eliminate fraud,
improve efficiency
and ensure they serve the national interest.
In light of the alarming levels of unemployment and underemployment in this country,
it is indefensible to continue offering lawful permanent residence to more than one million foreign nationals every year.
The Supreme Court has correctly recognized that states have the constitutional authority to take steps to reduce illegal immigration.
We condemn the Obama Administration’s lawsuits against states that are seeking to reinforce federal law.
We support the right of the states to enact laws deterring illegal aliens from residing within their states.
From its beginning, our country has been a haven of refuge and asylum.
That should continue
— but with major changes.
Asylum should be limited to cases of political, ethnic or religious persecution.
As the Director of the FBI has noted, it is not possible to vet fully all potential refugees.
To ensure our national security, refugees who cannot be carefully vetted cannot be admitted to the country,
especially those whose homelands have been the breeding grounds for terrorism.
Reforming the Treaty System
We intend to restore the treaty system specified by the Constitution: The president negotiates agreements, submits them to the Senate, with ratification requiring two-thirds of the senators present and voting.
This was good enough for George Washington but is too restrictive for the current chief executive,
who presumes to bind this country to bilateral and multilateral agreements of his devising.
His media admirers portray his personal commitments — whether on climate change, Iranian weapons, or other matters — as done deals.
They are not, and a new Republican executive will work with the Congress to reestablish constitutional order in America’s foreign relations.
All international executive agreements and political arrangements entered into by the current Administration must be deemed null and void as mere expressions of the current president’s preferences.
Those which are in the national interest but would traditionally have been made by treaty must be abrogated, renegotiated as treaties, and transmitted to the Senate for its advice and consent as required by the Constitution.
The United States will withdraw from all agreements and arrangements failing those standards.
Internal Revenue Service
Many good civil servants work at the IRS, but the agency itself is toxic.
Its leadership employs known tax delinquents,
rehires workers previously fired for misconduct,
spends user fees without congressional oversight,
and awards bonuses for customer service that would put any private company out of business.
Worst of all, the IRS has become an ideological attack dog for the worst elements of today's Democratic Party.
It systematically targets conservative, pro-life, and libertarian organizations,
harassing them with repeated audits and denying their tax exempt status.
Its commissioner has lied to Congress, hidden evidence, and stonewalled investigations.
He should be impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate.
We value the right of America's churches, pastors, and religious leaders to preach and speak freely according to their faith.
Republicans believe the federal government, specifically the IRS, is constitutionally prohibited from policing or censoring the speech of America's churches, pastors, and religious leaders.
We support repeal of the Johnson Amendment, which restricts First Amendment freedoms of all nonprofit organizations by prohibiting political speech.
We also support making the federal tax code so simple and easy to understand that the IRS becomes obsolete and can be abolished.
Audit the Pentagon
No major part of the Department of Defense has ever passed an audit.
Republican leaders in Congress have called for a full financial audit of the Pentagon to ensure that every dollar spent is truly benefitting our national security.
Every taxpayer must be prepared to pass an audit, and we urge Congress to demand the same level of accountability from the Pentagon and the Department of Defense.
Improving the Federal Workforce
We recognize the dedication of most employees of the federal government and thank them for their service,
with special praise for the whistleblowers who risk their careers to expose waste, fraud, and misuse of power.
None of them should ever be compelled to join a union or pay dues to it.
In fairness to their fellow workers, union representatives should not be allowed to engage in union-related activities while on the public's time.
The inability of federal managers to discipline and, if necessary, dismiss problem staff members is an affront to every conscientious worker,
as is the misuse of funds for lavish conferences and routine bonuses.
The appointees of a Republican president will work with career managers to end those abuses and enforce high standards for all federal employees.
We reaffirm the existing protections that provide all employees of the federal government the opportunity to pursue their desire to serve their country free from discrimination.
We call for renewed efforts to reduce, rather than expand, government responsibilities,
and we urge particular attention to the bloated public relations budgets of the departments and agencies.
The federal government spends too much of the people's money telling the people what they should do.
Advancing Term Limits
Our national platform has repeatedly endorsed term limits for Members of Congress.
In response, the GOP Leadership in 1996 brought to a vote, in both the House and Senate, a constitutional amendment.
It failed to secure the necessary two-thirds vote in the House, where 80 percent of Republicans voted for it
and 80 percent of Democrats voted against it.
Every Senate Republican voted to allow a vote on term limits,
but the Democrats killed it by a filibuster.
Blocked by that opposition, Republicans sought other ways to modernize the national legislature.
They set term limits for their own committee chairs and leadership positions,
and by law they required Congress to live by the same rules it imposes on others.
To make further progress, to advance a constitutional amendment for consideration by the states, we must expand the current Republican majorities in both chambers.
Regulation: The Quiet Tyranny
Over-regulation is the quiet tyranny of the "Nanny State.”
It hamstrings American businesses and hobbles economic growth.
The Great Recession may be over, but in the experience of most Americans, the economy is still sick.
The federal regulatory burden has been a major contributor to that stagnation.
The ability of the American people to govern themselves has been undermined by a vast array of agencies with sweeping power to regulate every aspect of American life.
They legislate as if they were Congress.
They decide guilt and issue penalties as if they were courts.
They collectively impose many billions of dollars in costs to the economy.
The current President and his allies on Capitol Hill have used those agencies as a superlegislature,
disregarding the separation of powers, to declare as law what they could not push through the Congress.
The Environmental Protection Agency has rewritten laws to advance the Democrats’ climate change agenda.
The Department of Health and Human Services has ignored the enacted text of the Affordable Care Act to do whatever it wants in healthcare.
Both the Department of Labor and National Labor Relations Board have scrapped decades of labor law to implement the agenda of big labor.
The Dodd-Frank law, the Democrats’ legislative Godzilla, is crushing small and community banks and other lenders.
The Federal Communications Commission is imperiling the freedom of the internet.
We support reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment.
Sensible regulations can be compatible with a vibrant economy.
They can prevent the strong from exploiting the weak.
Right now, the regulators are exploiting everyone.
We are determined to make regulations minimally intrusive,
confined to their legal mandate,
and respectful toward the creation of new and small businesses.
We will revisit existing laws that delegate too much authority to regulatory agencies and review all current regulations for possible reform or repeal.
We endorse Republican legislation, already passed by the House, to require approval by both houses of Congress for any rule or regulation that would impose significant costs on the American people.
Further, Congress should work towards legislation that requires removal of a regulation of equal or greater economic burden when a new regulation is enacted.
Because regulations are just another tax on the consumers, Congress should consider a regulatory budget that would cap the costs federal agencies could impose on the economy in any given year.
Crony Capitalism and Corporate Welfare
Cronyism is inherent in the progressive vision of the administrative state.
When government uses taxpayer funding and resources to give special advantages to private companies, it distorts the free market and erodes public trust in our political system.
By enlarging the scope of government and placing enormous power in the hands of bureaucrats,
it multiplies opportunities for corruption and favoritism.
It is the enemy of reform in education,
the workplace,
and healthcare.
It gives us financial regulation that protects the large at the cost of the small.
It is inherent in every part of the current healthcare law, which is packed with corporate welfare.
Crony capitalism gives us special interest tax breaks, custom-designed regulations, and special exemptions for favored parties.
The Solyndra debacle is a perfect example.
It creates both subsidies and restrictions to tilt the market one way or the other.
By putting the weight of government behind the status quo, it leads to economic stagnation.
We applaud the Republican Members of Congress who have taken the lead in fighting crony capitalism and urge others to rally to their cause.
Honoring Our Relationship with American Indians
Based on both treaty and other law, the federal government has a unique government-to- government relationship with and trust responsibility for Indian Tribal Governments, American Indians, and Alaska Natives.
These obligations have not been sufficiently honored.
The social and economic problems that plague Indian country have grown worse over the last several decades; we must reverse that trend.
Ineffective federal programs deprive American Indians of the services they need,
and long-term failures threaten to undermine tribal sovereignty itself.
American Indians have established elected tribal governments to carry out the public policies of the tribe, administer services to its tribal member constituents, and manage relations with federal, state, and local governments.
We respect the tribal governments as the voice of their communities and encourage federal, state, and local governments to heed those voices in developing programs and partnerships to improve the quality of life for American Indians and their neighbors in their communities.
Republicans believe that economic self-sufficiency is the ultimate answer to the challenges confronting Indian country.
We believe that tribal governments and their communities, not Washington bureaucracies, are best situated to craft solutions that will end systemic problems that create poverty and disenfranchisement.
Just as the federal government should not burden states with regulations, it should not stifle the development of resources within the reservations,
which need federal assistance to advance their commerce nationally through roads and technology.
Federal and state regulations that thwart job creation must be withdrawn or redrawn so that tribal governments acting on behalf of American Indians are not disadvantaged.
It is especially egregious that the Democratic Party has persistently undermined tribal sovereignty in order to provide advantage to union bosses in the tribal workplace.
Native communities should have the same authority as state governments in labor matters, so that union bosses and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) cannot undermine the authority of tribal governments.
Republicans recognize that each tribe has the right of consultation before any new regulatory policy is implemented on tribal land.
To the extent possible, such consultation should take place in Indian country with the tribal government and its members.
Before promulgating and imposing any new laws or regulations affecting trust land or members,
the federal government should encourage Indian tribes to develop their own policies to achieve program objectives,
and should defer to tribes to develop their own standards, or standards in conjunction with state governments.
Republicans reject a one-size-fits-all approach to federal-tribal-state partnerships and will work to expand local autonomy where tribal governments seek it.
Better partnerships will help us to expand economic opportunity,
deliver top-flight education to future generations,
modernize and improve the Indian Health Service to make it more responsive to local needs,
and build essential infrastructure in Indian country in cooperation with tribal neighbors.
Our approach is to empower American Indians, through tribal self-determination and selfgovernance policies, to develop their greatest assets, human resources and the rich natural resources on their lands,
without undue federal interference.
Like all Americans, American Indians want safe communities for their families;
but inadequate resources and neglect have, over time, allowed criminal activities to plague Indian country.
To protect everyone —
and especially the most vulnerable: children, women, and elders
— the legal system in tribal communities must provide stability and protect property rights.
Everyone's due process and civil rights must be safeguarded.
We support efforts to ensure equitable participation in federal programs by American Indians, including Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians,
and to preserve their culture and languages that we consider to be national treasures.
Lastly, we recognize that American Indians have responded to the call for military service in percentage numbers far greater than have other groups of Americans.
We honor that commitment, loyalty, and sacrifice of all American Indians serving in the military today and in years past
and will ensure that all veterans and their families receive the care and respect they have earned through their loyal service to America.
Americans in the Territories
Throughout the history of our nation, the patriotism exhibited by our brothers and sisters in the territories of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico has often gone unacknowledged.
Year after year, the citizens quietly, without fanfare, send their sons and daughters into the U.S. Armed Services.
We honor the extraordinary sacrifices of the men and women of the territories who protect our freedom through their service in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Geographically, the territories and commonwealths, especially those in the Pacific, are of vital importance to our national security as the outermost line of defense and gateway to America against potential encroachment by foreign powers.
We welcome their greater participation in all aspects of the political process
and affirm their right to seek the full extension of the Constitution with all the rights and responsibilities that entails.
We recognize the challenges facing all the U.S. territories in an era of dramatic global economic change.
They need venture capital to retain existing industries and develop new ones.
A stronger private sector can reduce dependence on public employment and lead toward self-sufficiency.
Their development of local energy options will be crucial to reduce dependence on costly imported fuel.
The territories’ economic stability and potential for growth must be considered in any trade agreements between the United States and other Pacific nations.
They should be given flexibility or exemption from laws that increase costs for their populations,
such as the minimum wage
and the Jones Act concerning shipping.
All unreasonable impediments to their prosperity should be removed, including unreasonable U.S. customs practices.
Territories such as American Samoa should be able to properly develop their resources, including fishing, when jobs and the economy depend on it.
We call for the appointment of a commonwealth and territories advisory committee consisting of representatives from all five U.S. territories.
The committee will be integrated into the president’s transition team and be tasked with performing a holistic review of all federal regulations affecting the territories and commonwealths.
We further call for the appointment of a Special Assistant to the President responsible for day-to-day interaction with the territories and commonwealths.
This position will be the direct connection for the Office of Insular Affairs, the citizens of the territories and commonwealths, and the White House.
The Territory of Puerto Rico
We support the right of the United States citizens of Puerto Rico to be admitted to the Union as a fully sovereign state.
We further recognize the historic significance of the 2012 local referendum in which a 54 percent majority voted to end Puerto Rico’s current status as a U.S. territory, and 61 percent chose statehood over options for sovereign nationhood.
We support the federally sponsored political status referendum authorized and funded by an Act of Congress in 2014 to ascertain the aspirations of the people of Puerto Rico.
Once the 2012 local vote for statehood is ratified, Congress should approve an enabling act with terms for Puerto Rico’s future admission as the 51st state of the Union.
Preserving the District of Columbia
The nation’s capital city is a special responsibility of the federal government because it belongs both to its residents and to all Americans, millions of whom visit it every year.
Congressional Republicans have fostered homeownership
and open access to higher education for Washington residents.
Against the opposition of the current President and leaders of the Democratic Party, they have established and expanded the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, through which thousands of low-income children have been able to attend a school of their choice and receive a quality education.
Republicans have been in the forefront of combating chronic corruption among the city’s top Democratic officials.
We call for congressional action to enforce the spirit of the Home Rule Act, assuring minority representation on the City Council.
That council, backed by the current mayor, is attempting to seize from the Congress its appropriating power over all funding for the District.
The illegality of their action mirrors the unacceptable spike in violent crime and murders currently afflicting the city.
We expect Congress to assert, by whatever means necessary, its constitutional prerogatives regarding the District.
Since the Supreme Court’s decisions affirming the Second Amendment rights of its citizens, city officials have engaged in a campaign of massive resistance by denying virtually all applications for gun ownership.
The Republican Congress should be prepared, upon the inauguration of a Republican president, to enact legislation allowing law-abiding Washingtonians to own and carry firearms.
Statehood for the District can be advanced only by a constitutional amendment.
Any other approach would be invalid.
A statehood amendment was soundly rejected by the states when last proposed in 1976 and should not be revived.
Great American Families, Education, Healthcare, and Criminal Justice
American Values
We are the party of independent individuals and the institutions they create together — families, schools, congregations, neighborhoods — to advance their ideals and make real their dreams.
Those institutions, standing between the citizen and the power of government, are the pillars of a free society.
They create spaces where the power of government should not intrude.
They allow Americans to work together to solve most of the problems facing their communities.
They thus reduce the need for intervention by government in the form of more and bigger programs or a larger public workforce.
They minimize decision-making by those who hold or are appointed to office.
That is precisely why today’s progressives distrust and seek to control them — because this is more than a conflict of ideas.
It is a struggle for power.
Our society is at a crossroads.
For several generations, an expansive federal regime has marginalized and supplanted the institutions holding our society together.
No wonder, then, that so much seems to be coming apart now.
The question is whether we are going to reinvigorate the private- sector institutions under citizen control or allow their continued erosion by the forces of centralized social planning.
In that divide, the Republican Party stands with the people.
Marriage, Family, and Society
Foremost among those institutions is the American family.
It is the foundation of civil society,
and the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage, the union of one man and one woman.
Its daily lessons — cooperation, patience, mutual respect, responsibility, self-reliance — are fundamental to the order and progress of our Republic.
Strong families, depending upon God and one another,
advance the cause of liberty by lessening the need for government in their daily lives.
Conversely, as we have learned over the last five decades, the loss of faith and family life leads to greater dependence upon government.
That is why Republicans formulate public policy, from taxation to education, from healthcare to welfare, with attention to the needs and strengths of the family.
It is also why everyone should be concerned about the state of the American family today,
not because of ideology or doctrine, but because of the overwhelming evidence of experience, social science, and common sense.
All of which give us these truths about traditional marriage: Children raised in a two-parent household tend to be physically and emotionally healthier,
more likely to do well in school,
less likely to use drugs and alcohol,
engage in crime or become pregnant outside of marriage.
We oppose policies and laws that create a financial incentive for or encourage cohabitation.
Moreover, marriage remains the greatest antidote to child poverty.
The 40 percent of children who now are born outside of marriage are five times more likely to live in poverty than youngsters born and raised by a mother and father in the home.
Nearly three-quarters of the $450 billion government annually spends on welfare goes to single-parent households.
This is what it takes for a governmental village to raise a child, and the village is doing a tragically poor job of it.
The data and the facts lead to an inescapable conclusion: Every child deserves a married mom and dad.
The reality remains that millions of American families do not have the advantages that come with that structure.
We honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the burdens of parenting alone
and embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with dignity and respect.
But respect is not enough.
Our laws and our government's regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman
and actively promote married family life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society.
For that reason, as explained elsewhere in this platform, we do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal,
whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states.
We oppose government discrimination against businesses or entities which decline to sell items or services to individuals for activities that go against their religious views about such activities.
Families formed or enlarged by adoption strengthen our communities and ennoble our nation.
Private entities which facilitate adoptions enrich our communities.
We support measures such as the First Amendment Defense Act to ensure these entities do not face government discrimination because of their views on marriage and family.
We applaud the Republican initiatives which have led to an increase in adoptions, an achievement which should be recognized in any restructuring of the federal tax code.
While the number of children in foster care has stabilized, teens who age out of that setting often are abruptly left to face the world on their own.
We urge states and community groups to help these young adults become independent.
Thirty years ago, President Reagan commissioned a Special Working Group on the Family to study how government at all levels could be more supportive of family life.
We urge marriage penalties to be removed from the tax code and public assistance programs.
We invite all who care about children to join us in this proposal to ensure that all federal programs, in the words of President Kennedy, “stress the integrity and preservation of the family unit.”
A Culture of Hope
We have been fighting the War on Poverty for 50 years and poverty is winning.
Our social safety net — about 80 separate means-tested programs costing over $1 trillion every year — is designed to help people born into or falling into poverty.
It rarely lifts them out.
Its apologists judge success by the amount of money spent to keep people in the system.
That is a cruel measurement.
Republicans propose to evaluate a poverty program by whether it actually reduces poverty and increases the personal independence of its participants.
The results are damning: intergenerational poverty has persisted and worsened since 1966.
This year marks another important anniversary; it has been 20 years since the landmark Republican welfare reform of 1996 broke away from the discredited Great Society model.
By making welfare a benefit instead of an entitlement, it put millions of recipients on a transition from dependence to independence.
Welfare rolls declined by half as recipients and prospective recipients discovered a better way to reach their goals.
Best of all, about 3 million children moved out of poverty.
Today that progress has been lost.
Defying the law as it was plainly written, the current Administration has nullified any meaningful work requirement and made TANF a mockery of the name we gave it: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.
This decision ensures that those families will remain needy and cut off from the economic mainstream of American society.
This is the progressive pathology: Keeping people dependent so that government can redistribute income.
The result is 45.8 million people on food stamps and 77 million on Medicaid, plus another 5.7 million in the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
This is the false compassion of the status quo.
We propose instead the dynamic compassion of work requirements in a growing economy,
where opportunity takes the place of a hand-out,
where true self-esteem can grow from the satisfaction of a job well done.
We call for removal of structural impediments which progressives throw in the path of poor people:
Over-regulation of start-up enterprises,
excessive licensing requirements,
needless restrictions on formation of schools and day-care centers serving neighborhood families,
and restrictions on providing public services in fields like transport and sanitation that close the opportunity door to all but a favored few.
We will continue our fight for school choice until all parents can find good, safe schools for their children.
To protect religious liberty we will ensure that faith-based institutions, especially those that are vital parts of underserved neighborhoods, do not face discrimination by government.
We propose new partnerships between those who manage federal programs and those who are on the front lines of fighting poverty on the ground.
We must encourage their efforts to reclaim their communities from the culture of poverty.
To advance this process, we urge greater state and local responsibility for, and control over, public assistance programs.
Education: A Chance for Every Child
Education is much more than schooling.
It is the whole range of activities by which families and communities transmit to a younger generation, not just knowledge and skills, but ethical and behavioral norms and traditions.
It is the handing over of a cultural identity.
That is why American education has, for the last several decades, been the focus of constant controversy, as centralizing forces from outside the family and community have sought to remake education in order to remake America.
They have done immense damage.
The federal government should not be a partner in that effort, as the Constitution gives it no role in education.
At the heart of the American Experiment lies the greatest political expression of human dignity:
The self- evident truth that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
That truth rejects the dark view of the individual as human capital — a possession for the creation of another's wealth.
Parents are a child's first and foremost educators, and have primary responsibility for the education of their children.
Parents have a right to direct their children's education, care, and upbringing.
We support a constitutional amendment to protect that right from interference by states, the federal government, or international bodies such as the United Nations.
We reject a one- size-fits-all approach to education
and support a broad range of choices for parents and children at the state and local level.
We likewise repeat our longstanding opposition to the imposition of national standards and assessments,
encourage the parents and educators who are implementing alternatives to Common Core,
and congratulate the states which have successfully repealed it.
Their education reform movement calls for choice-based, parent-driven accountability at every stage of schooling.
It affirms higher expectations for all students and rejects the crippling bigotry of low expectations.
It recognizes the wisdom of local control of our schools
and it wisely sees consumer rights in education — choice — as the most important driving force for renewing education.
It rejects excessive testing and "teaching to the test”
and supports the need for strong assessments to serve as a tool so teachers can tailor teaching to meet student needs.
We applaud America’s great teachers, who should be protected against frivolous lawsuits
and should be able to take reasonable actions to maintain discipline and order in the classroom.
Administrators need flexibility to innovate and to hold accountable all those responsible for student performance.
A good understanding of the Bible being indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry, we encourage state legislatures to offer the Bible in a literature curriculum as an elective in America’s high schools.
We urge school districts to make use of teaching talent in the business community, STEM fields, and the military,
especially among our returning veterans.
Rigid tenure systems should be replaced with a merit-based approach in order to attract the best talent to the classroom.
All personnel who interact with school children should pass background checks and be held to the highest standards of personal conduct.
Academic Excellence for All
Maintaining American preeminence requires a world-class system of education in which all students can reach their potential.
Republicans are leading the effort to create it.
Since 1965, the federal government, through more than 100 programs in the Department of Education, has spent $2 trillion on elementary and secondary education with little substantial improvement in academic achievement or high school graduation rates.
The United States spends an average of more than $12,000 per pupil per year in public schools, for a total of more than $620 billion.
That represents more than 4 percent of GDP devoted to K-12 education in 2011-2012.
Of that amount, federal spending amounted to more than $57 billion.
Clearly, if money were the solution, our schools would be problem-free.
More money alone does not necessarily equal better performance.
After years of trial and error, we know the policies and methods that have actually made a difference in student advancement: Choice in education;
building on the basics;
STEM subjects and phonics;
career and technical education;
ending social promotions;
merit pay for good teachers;
classroom discipline;
parental involvement;
and strong leadership by principals, superintendents, and locally elected school boards.
Because technology has become an essential tool of learning, it must be a key element in our efforts to provide every child equal access and opportunity.
We strongly encourage instruction in American history and civics by using the original documents of our founding fathers.
Choice in Education
We support options for learning, including home-schooling,
career and technical education,
private or parochial schools, magnet schools, charter schools, online learning,
and early-college high schools.
We especially support the innovative financing mechanisms that make options available to all children: education savings accounts (ESAs), vouchers, and tuition tax credits.
Empowering families to access the learning environments that will best help their children to realize their full potential is one of the greatest civil rights challenges of our time.
A young person’s ability to succeed in school must be based on his or her God-given talent and motivation, not an address, ZIP code, or economic status.
We propose that the bulk of federal money through Title I for low-income children and through IDEA for children with special needs should follow the child to whatever school the family thinks will work best for them.
In sum, on the one hand enormous amounts of money are being spent for K-12 public education with overall results that do not justify that spending level.
On the other hand, the common experience of families, teachers, and administrators forms the basis of what does work in education.
In Congress and in the states, Republicans are bridging the gap between those two realities.
Congressional Republicans are leading the way forward with major reform legislation advancing the concept of block grants
and repealing numerous federal regulations which have interfered with state and local control of public schools.
Their Workplace Innovation and Opportunity Act — modernizing workforce programs, repealing mandates, and advancing employment for persons with disabilities — is now law.
Their legislation to require transparency in unfunded mandates imposed upon our schools is advancing.
Their D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program should be expanded as a model for the rest of the country.
We deplore the efforts of Congressional Democrats and the current President to eliminate this successful program for disadvantaged students in order to placate the leaders of the teachers’ unions.
To ensure that all students have access to the mainstream of American life, we support the English First approach and oppose divisive programs that limit students’ ability to advance in American society.
We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with sexual risk avoidance education that sets abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior.
That approach — the only one always effective against premarital pregnancy and sexually-transmitted disease — empowers teens to achieve optimal health outcomes.
We oppose school-based clinics that provide referral or counseling for abortion and contraception
and believe that federal funds should not be used in mandatory or universal mental health, psychiatric, or socio-emotional screening programs.
The federal government has pushed states to collect and share vast amounts of personal student and family data, including the collection of social and emotional data.
Much of this data is collected without parental consent or notice.
This is wholly incompatible with the American Experiment and our inalienable rights.
Title IX
We emphatically support the original, authentic meaning of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
It affirmed that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
That language opened up for girls and women a world of opportunities that had too often been denied to them.
That same provision of law is now being used by bureaucrats
— and by the current President of the United States
— to impose a social and cultural revolution upon the American people by wrongly redefining sex discrimination to include sexual orientation or other categories.
Their agenda has nothing to do with individual rights; it has everything to do with power.
They are determined to reshape our schools — and our entire society — to fit the mold of an ideology alien to America's history and traditions.
Their edict to the states concerning restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities is at once illegal, dangerous, and ignores privacy issues.
We salute the several states which have filed suit against it.
Sexual assault is a terrible crime.
We commend the good-faith efforts by law enforcement, educational institutions, and their partners to address that crime responsibly.
Whenever reported, it must be promptly investigated by civil authorities and prosecuted in a courtroom, not a faculty lounge.
Questions of guilt or innocence must be decided by a judge and jury, with guilt determined beyond a reasonable doubt.
Those convicted of sexual assault should be punished to the full extent of the law.
The Administration's distortion of Title IX to micromanage the way colleges and universities deal with allegations of abuse contravenes our country's legal traditions and must be halted before it further muddles this complex issue and prevents the proper authorities from investigating and prosecuting sexual assault effectively with due process.
Improving Higher Education
Our colleges, universities, and trade schools, large and small, public and private, form the world's greatest assemblage of learning.
They drive much of the research that keeps America competitive
and, by admitting large numbers of foreign students, convey our values and culture to the world.
Their excellence is undermined by an ideological bias deeply entrenched within the current university system.
Whatever the solution may be in private institutions, in state schools the trustees have a responsibility to the taxpayers
to ensure that their enormous investment is not abused for political indoctrination.
We call on state officials to preserve our public colleges, universities, and trade schools as places of learning and the exchange of ideas,
not zones of intellectual intolerance or “safe zones,” as if college students need protection from the free exchange of ideas.
A student's First Amendment rights do not end at the schoolhouse gates.
Colleges, universities, and trade schools must not infringe on their freedom of speech and association in the name of political correctness.
We condemn the campus-based BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) campaign against Israel.
It is antiSemitism and should be denounced by advocates of academic freedom.
College Costs
The cost of a college education has long been on an unsustainable trajectory, rising year by year far ahead of inflation.
Nationwide, student debt now exceeds credit card debt with average debt levels per student totaling roughly $27,000.
Delinquency rates on student loans are now as high as they were on subprime mortgages during the housing crisis.
Over half of recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed, working at jobs for which their expensive educations gave them no preparation.
We need new systems of learning to compete with traditional four-year schools: Technical institutions, online universities, life-long learning, and work- based learning in the private sector.
Public policy should advance their affordability, innovation, and transparency
and should recognize that a four-year degree from a brick-and-mortar institution is not the only path toward a prosperous and fulfilling career.
The federal government should not be in the business of originating student loans.
In order to bring down college costs and give students access to a multitude of financing options, private sector participation in student financing should be restored.
Any regulation that increases college costs must be challenged to balance its worth against its negative economic impact on students and their families.
In order to encourage new modes of higher education delivery to enter the market, accreditation should be decoupled from federal financing,
and states should be empowered to allow a wide array of accrediting and credentialing bodies to operate.
This model would foster innovation,
bring private industry into the credentialing market,
and give students the ability to customize their college experience.
Restoring Patient Control and Preserving Quality in Healthcare
Any honest agenda for improving healthcare must start with repeal of the dishonestly named Affordable Care Act of 2010: Obamacare.
It weighs like the dead hand of the past upon American medicine.
It imposed a Euro-style bureaucracy to manage its unworkable, budget-busting, conflicting provisions.
It has driven up prices for all consumers.
Their insurance premiums have dramatically increased while their deductibles have risen about eight times faster than wages in the last ten years.
It drove up drug prices by levying a $27 billion tax on manufacturers and importers
and, through mandated price cuts for drugs under Medicare and Medicaid, forced pharmaceutical companies to raise prices for everyone else.
Its "silver plans,” the most common option on the government insurance exchanges, limit people’s access to their own doctor through narrow networks
and restrict drug coverage, forcing many patients to pay for extremely costly medicines for their chronic diseases.
We agree with the four dissenting judges of the Supreme Court: “In our view, the entire Act before us is invalid in its entirety.”
It must be removed and replaced with an approach based on genuine competition, patient choice, excellent care, wellness, and timely access to treatment.
To that end, a Republican president, on the first day in office, will use legitimate waiver authority under the law to halt its advance and then, with the unanimous support of Congressional Republicans, will sign its repeal.
The Supreme Court upheld Obamacare based on Congress’ power to tax.
It is time to repeal Obamacare and give America a much-needed tax cut.
In its place we must combine what worked best in the past with changes needed for the future.
We must recover the traditional patient-physician relationship based on mutual trust, informed consent, and confidentiality.
To simplify the system for both patients and providers, we will reduce mandates and enable insurers and providers of care to increase healthcare options and contain costs.
Our goal is to ensure that all Americans have improved access to affordable, high-quality healthcare, including those struggling with mental illness.
We will return to the states their historic role of regulating local insurance markets,
limit federal requirements on both private insurance and Medicaid,
and call on state officials to reconsider the costly medical mandates, imposed under their own laws, that price millions of low-income families out of the insurance market.
To guarantee first-rate care for the needy, we propose to block grant Medicaid and other payments and to assist all patients, including those with pre-existing conditions, to obtain coverage in a robust consumer market.
Through Obamacare, the current Administration has promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare.
We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life.
Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and wellbeing of women, and we stand firmly against it.
To ensure vigorous competition in healthcare, and because cost-awareness is the best guard against over-utilization,
we will promote price transparency so consumers can know the cost of treatments before they agree to them.
We will empower individuals and small businesses to form purchasing pools in order to expand coverage to the uninsured.
We believe that individuals with preexisting conditions who maintain continuous coverage should be protected from discrimination.
We applaud the advance of technology in electronic medical records
while affirming patient privacy and ownership of personal health information.
Consumer choice is the most powerful factor in healthcare reform.
Today’s highly mobile workforce needs portability of insurance coverage that can go with them from job to job.
The need to maintain coverage should not dictate where families have to live and work.
We propose to end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance and allow consumers to buy insurance across state lines.
In light of that, we propose repealing the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act which protects insurance companies from anti-trust litigation.
We look to the growth of Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement Accounts that empower patients and advance choice in healthcare.
Our aging population must have access to safe and affordable care.
Because most seniors desire to age at home, we will make homecare a priority in public policy and will implement programs to protect against elder abuse.
Protecting Individual Conscience in Healthcare
America's healthcare professionals should not be forced to choose between following their faith and practicing their profession.
We respect the rights of conscience of healthcare professionals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and organizations, especially the faith-based groups which provide a major portion of care for the nation and the needy.
We support the ability of all organizations to provide, purchase, or enroll in healthcare coverage consistent with their religious, moral, or ethical convictions without discrimination or penalty.
We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.
We support the right of parents to consent to medical treatment for their minor children and urge enactment of legislation that would require parental consent for their daughter to be transported across state lines for abortion.
Providers should not be permitted to unilaterally withhold services because a patient's life is deemed not worth living.
American taxpayers should not be forced to fund abortion.
As Democrats abandon this four decade-old bipartisan consensus, we call for codification of the Hyde Amendment and its application across the government, including Obamacare.
We call for a permanent ban on federal funding and subsidies for abortion and healthcare plans that include abortion coverage.
Better Care and Lower Costs: Tort Reform
Medical malpractice lawsuits have ballooned the cost of healthcare for everyone by forcing physicians to practice defensive medicine through tests and treatments which otherwise might be optional.
Rural America is especially affected as obstetricians, surgeons, and other providers move to urban settings or retire in the face of escalating insurance premiums.
Many Republican Governors have advanced the legal reforms necessary to reverse that trend.
We support state and federal legislation to cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, thereby relieving conscientious providers of burdens that are not rightly theirs and addressing a serious cause of higher medical bills.
Advancing Research and Development in Healthcare
American medicine is poised to enter a new era of technological advance.
Federal and private investment in basic and applied biomedical research holds enormous promise, especially with diseases and disorders like autism, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's.
Just as we today take for granted wonders that seemed impossible a few decades ago MRIs and CAT scans, robotic surgery, and in utero treatment
— patients a decade hence will have care and treatment that will make much of today's medicine look primitive.
Modern miracles involving genetics, the immune system, cures for deadly diseases, and more are in the research pipeline.
This is the consequence of marrying significant investment, both public and private,
with the world's best talent, a formula that has for a century given the American people the world's best healthcare.
We are determined that it should continue to do so, especially as we confront new dangers like Ebola, Zika, Chikungunya, and antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
To continue our headway against breast and prostate cancer, diabetes, and other killers, research must consider the needs of formerly neglected demographic groups.
We call for expanded support for the stem cell research that now offers the greatest hope for many afflictions through adult stem cells, umbilical cord blood, and cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells
— without the destruction of embryonic human life.
We urge a ban on human cloning for research or reproduction,
and a ban on the creation of, or experimentation on, human embryos for research.
We applaud Congress’ ban on the FDA approval of research involving three-parent embryos.
We believe the FDA’s approval of Mifeprex, a dangerous abortifacient formerly known as RU-486, threatens women’s health,
as does the agency’s endorsement of over-the-counter sales of powerful contraceptives without a physician’s recommendation.
We support cutting federal and state funding for entities that endanger women’s health by performing abortions in a manner inconsistent with federal or state law.
Putting Patients First: Reforming the FDA
The United States has led life sciences and medical innovation for decades, bringing millions of high-paying jobs to our country and helping Americans and people around the world live longer, healthier lives.
Unfortunately, the continuously increasing burden of governmental regulation and red tape is taking its toll on our innovative companies, and their pipeline of new life-saving devices and drugs to our nation’s patients is slowing and diminishing.
The FDA has slowly but relentlessly changed into an agency that more and more puts the public health at risk by delaying, chilling, and killing the development of new devices, drugs and biologics that can promote our lives and our health.
The FDA needs leadership that can reform the agency for our century and fix the lack of predictability, consistency, transparency
and efficiency at the agency.
The FDA needs to return to its traditional emphasis on hard science and approving new breakthrough medicines,
rather than divert its attention and consume its resources trying to overregulate electronic health records or vaping.
We pledge to restore the FDA to its position as the premier scientific health agency, focused on both promoting and protecting the public health in equal measure,
so we can ensure that Americans live longer, healthier lives,
that the United States remains the world leader in life sciences and medical innovation,
that millions of high-paying, cutting-edge device and drug jobs stay in the United States,
that U.S. patients benefit first and most from new devices and drugs,
and that the FDA no longer wastes U.S. taxpayer and innovators’ resources through bureaucratic red tape and legal uncertainty.
We commend those states that have passed Right to Try legislation, allowing terminally ill patients the right to try investigational medicines not yet approved by the FDA.
We urge Congress to pass federal legislation to give all Americans with terminal illnesses the right to try.
Advancing Americans with Disabilities
Under the last two Republican presidents, landmark civil rights legislation affirmed the inherent rights of persons with disabilities.
Republicans want to support those rights by guaranteeing access to education and the tools necessary to compete in the mainstream of society.
This is not just a moral obligation to our fellow Americans with disabilities.
It is our duty to our country’s future to tap this vast pool of talented individuals who want to work and contribute to the common good.
For that reason, Republican leadership led to enactment of the ABLE Act (Achieving a Better Life Experience) and the Steve Gleason Act.
The former, for the first time, lets people with disabilities maintain access to services while saving to develop assets.
The latter, bearing the name of the former NFL player with ALS, provides access to speech-generating devices.
In addition, our Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act will make it easier for students with disabilities to pursue competitive employment.
Persons with disabilities are nearly twice as likely to be self-employed as the general population.
To encourage their entrepreneurship, it makes sense to include them in the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) certification program, which opens up federal contracting for emerging businesses.
Any restructuring of the tax code should consider ways in which companies can benefit from the talent and energy of their disabled employees.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) has opened up unprecedented opportunities for many students.
Congressional Republicans will lead in its reauthorization, as well as renewal of the Higher Education Act, which can offer students with disabilities increased access to the general curriculum.
Our TIME Act (Transition to Integrated and Meaningful Employment) will modernize the Fair Labor Standards Act to encourage competitive employment for persons with disabilities.
We affirm our support for its goal of minimizing the separation of children with disabilities from their peers.
We endorse efforts like Employment First that replace dependency with jobs in the mainstream of the American workforce.
We oppose the non-consensual withholding of care or treatment from people with disabilities,
including newborns, the elderly, and infirm,
just as we oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide, which endanger especially those on the margins of society.
We urge the Drug Enforcement Administration to restore its ban on the use of controlled substances for physician-assisted suicide.
Ensuring Safe Neighborhoods: Criminal Justice and Prison Reform
The men and women of law enforcement — whether patrolling our neighborhoods or our borders,
fighting organized crime or guarding against domestic terror
— deserve our gratitude and support.
Their jobs are never easy, especially in crisis situations,
and should not be made more difficult by politicized second-guessing from federal officials.
The current Administration’s lack of respect for them, from White House intervention in local arrests to the Attorney General’s present campaign of harassment against police forces around the country, has been unprecedented.
With all Americans, we mourn those whom we have lost to violence and hatred.
To honor their sacrifice, we recommit ourselves, as individuals and as a party, to the rule of law and the pursuit of justice.
The conduct of the Department of Justice has included refusal to enforce laws, stonewalling congressional committees, destroying evidence, reckless dealing with firearms that led to several deaths on both sides of our border, and defying a citation for contempt.
It has urged leniency for rioters while turning a blind eye to mob attacks on peaceful citizens exercising their political rights.
A new administration must ensure the immediate dismissal and, where appropriate, prosecution of any Department officials who have violated their oath of office.
The next president must restore the public’s trust in law enforcement and civil order by first adhering to the rule of law himself.
Additionally, the next president must not sow seeds of division and distrust between the police and the people they have sworn to serve and protect.
The Republican Party, a party of law and order, must make clear in words and action that every human life matters.
Two grave problems undermine the rule of law on the federal level: Over-criminalization
and over-federalization.
In the first case, Congress and federal agencies have increased the number of criminal offenses in the U.S. Code from 3,000 in the early 1980s to more than 4,500 today.
That does not include an estimated 300,000 regulations containing criminal penalties.
No one, including the Department of Justice, can come up with accurate numbers.
That recklessness is bad enough when committed by Congress,
but when it comes from the unelected bureaucrats of the federal agencies, it is intolerable.
The power of career civil servants and political appointees to criminalize behavior is one of the worst violations of constitutional order perpetrated by the administrative state.
To deal with this morass, we urge caution in the creation of new “crimes”
and a bipartisan presidential commission to purge the Code and the body of regulations of old “crimes.”
We call for mens rea elements in the definition of any new crimes to protect Americans who, in violating a law, act unknowingly or without criminal intent.
We urge Congress to codify the Common Law's Rule of Lenity, which requires courts to interpret unclear statutes in favor of a defendant.
The over-federalization of criminal justice is one of many ways in which the government in Washington has intruded beyond its proper jurisdiction.
The essential role of federal law enforcement personnel in protecting federal property and combating interstate crime should not be compromised by diversion to matters properly handled by state and local authorities.
We applaud the Republican Governors and legislators who have been implementing criminal justice reforms like those proposed by our 2012 platform.
Along with diversion of first-time, nonviolent offenders to community sentencing, accountability courts, drug courts, veterans treatment courts,
and guidance by faith- based institutions with proven track records of rehabilitation,
our platform emphasized restorative justice to make the victim whole and put the offender on the right path.
As variants of these reforms are undertaken in many states, we urge the Congress to learn from what works.
In the past, judicial discretion about sentences led to serious mistakes concerning dangerous criminals.
Mandatory minimum sentencing became an important tool for keeping them off the streets.
Modifications to it should be targeted toward particular categories, especially nonviolent offenders and persons with drug, alcohol, or mental health issues,
and should require disclosure by the courts of any judicial departure from the state’s sentencing requirements.
The constitutionality of the death penalty is firmly settled by its explicit mention in the Fifth Amendment.
With the murder rate soaring in our great cities, we condemn the Supreme Court’s erosion of the right of the people to enact capital punishment in their states.
In solidarity with those who protect us, we call for mandatory prison time for all assaults involving serious injury to law enforcement officers.
We call on the Congress to make the federal courts a model for the rest of the country in protecting the rights of victims and their families.
They should be told all relevant information about their case, allowed to be present for its trial, assured a voice in sentencing and parole hearings, given access to social and legal services, and benefit from the Crime Victims Fund established under President Reagan for that sole purpose.
Public officials must regain control of their correctional institutions, some of which have become ethnic and racial battlegrounds.
Persons jailed for whatever cause should be protected against cruel or degrading treatment by other inmates.
Courts should not tie the hands of prison officials in dealing with these problems.
We encourage states to offer opportunities for literacy and vocational education to prepare prisoners for release to the community.
Breaking the cycle of crime begins with the children of those who are prisoners.
Deprived of a parent through no fault of their own, youngsters from these families should be a special concern of our schools, social services, and religious institutions.
The internet must not become a safe haven for predators.
Pornography, with its harmful effects, especially on children, has become a public health crisis that is destroying the lives of millions.
We encourage states to continue to fight this public menace and pledge our commitment to children’s safety and well-being.
We applaud the social networking sites that bar sex offenders from participation.
We urge energetic prosecution of child pornography, which is closely linked to human trafficking.
Combatting Drug Abuse
The progress made over the last three decades against drug abuse is eroding,
whether for cultural reasons
or for lack of national leadership.
In many jurisdictions, marijuana is virtually legalized despite its illegality under federal law.
At the other end of the drug spectrum, heroin use nearly doubled from 2003 to 2013, while deaths from heroin have quadrupled.
All this highlights the continuing conflicts and contradictions in public attitudes and public policy toward illegal substances.
Congress and a new administration should consider the long- range implications of these trends for public health and safety and prepare to deal with the problematic consequences.
The misuse of prescription painkillers - opioids — is a related problem.
Heroin and opioid abuse touches our communities, our homes, and our families in ways that have grave effects on Americans in every community.
With a quadrupling of both their sales and their overdose deaths, the opioid crisis is ravaging communities all over the country,
often hitting rural areas harder than urban.
Because over-prescription of drugs is such a large part of the problem, Republican legislation now allows Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage plans to limit patients to a single pharmacy.
Congressional Republicans have also called upon the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to ensure that no physician will be penalized for limiting opioid prescriptions.
We look for expeditious agreement between the House and Senate on the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which addresses the opioid epidemic from both the demand and supply sides of the problem.
America Resurgent
A Dangerous World
Alexander Hamilton wrote in Federalist 23 that the first of the “principal” constitutional obligations of the federal government is to provide for the “common defense” of the United States, and President George Washington wisely reminded us that “To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.”
After nearly eight years of a Democratic Commander-in-Chief who has frequently placed strategic and ideological limitations and shackles on our military,
our enemies have been emboldened and our national security is at great risk.
Our country faces a national security crisis, and only by electing a Republican to the White House will we restore law and order to our land
and safety to our citizens.
We are the party of peace through strength.
We believe that American exceptionalism — the notion that our ideas and principles as a nation give us a unique place of moral leadership in the world
— requires the United States to retake its natural position as leader of the free world.
Tyranny and injustice thrive when America is weakened.
The oppressed have no greater ally than a confident and determined United States,
backed by the strongest military on the planet.
Quite simply, the Republican Party is committed to rebuilding the U.S. military into the strongest on earth, with vast superiority over any other nation or group of nations in the world.
We face a dangerous world, and we believe in a resurgent America.
In all of our country's history, there is no parallel to what President Obama and his former Secretary of State have done to weaken our nation.
Our aging naval capabilities are inadequate for their job.
The Air Force fields the smallest and oldest force of combat aircraft in its history.
The Marines have only two-thirds the number of battalions they have historically needed to meet day to day operational demands.
The Army is at its lowest troop levels since before World War II.
Our U.S. Ambassador and American personnel were left without adequate security or backup halfway across the world in Benghazi.
In summary, we have returned to the hollow force days of Jimmy Carter.
Also neglected are our strategic forces, especially the development and deployment of ballistic missile defenses.
The Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system has been delayed and underfunded.
To curry favor with Russia, defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic have been neutralized and the number of planned interceptors in Alaska has been reduced.
A New START agreement (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), so weak in verification and definitions that it is virtually impossible to prove a violation, has allowed Russia to build up its nuclear arsenal while reducing ours.
Meanwhile Moscow has repeatedly violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty (a treaty agreeing to the elimination of land-based mid-range nuclear missiles) with impunity, covertly testing missiles banned under that agreement.
In the international arena, a weak Administration has invited aggression.
The results of the Administration's unilateral approach to disarmament are already clear:
An emboldened China in the South China Sea,
a resurgent Russia occupying parts of Ukraine and threatening neighbors from the Baltic to the Caucasus,
and an aggressive Islamist terror network in the Middle East.
We support maintaining and, if warranted, increasing sanctions, together with our allies, against Russia unless and until Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully restored.
We also support providing appropriate assistance to the armed forces of Ukraine and greater coordination with NATO defense planning.
All our adversaries heard the message in the Administration’s cutbacks: America is weaker and retreating.
Concomitantly, we honor, support, and thank all law enforcement, first responders, and emergency personnel for their service.
Confronting the Dangers
In the face of these threats, the first order of business for a Republican president and Congress will be to restore our nation’s military might.
Republicans continue to support American military superiority which has been the cornerstone of a strategy that seeks to deter aggression
or defeat those who threaten our vital national security interests.
We must rebuild troop numbers and readiness
and confirm their mission: Protecting the nation,
not nation building.
The United States should meet the Reagan model of “peace through strength” by a force that is capable of meeting any and all threats to our vital national security.
We will no longer tolerate a President whose rules of engagement put our own troops in harm’s way
or commanders who tell their soldiers that their first duty is to fight climate change.
A Republican administration will begin at once to undo the damage of the last eight years.
We must move from a budget-based strategy to one that puts the security of our nation first.
This means that our Republican president’s strategic vision will include the development of a balanced force to meet the diverse threats facing our nation.
Special Operations Forces are simply not intended to deal with the full spectrum of threats.
We need a Reagan-era force that can fight and win two-and one-half wars ranging from counterterrorism to deterring major power aggressors.
We should abandon arms control treaties that benefit our adversaries without improving our national security.
We must fund, develop, and deploy a multi-layered missile defense system.
We must modernize nuclear weapons and their delivery platforms,
end the policy of Mutually Assured Destruction,
and rebuild relationships with our allies,
who understand that as long as the U.S. nuclear arsenal is their shield, they do not need to engage in nuclear proliferation.
While immigration is addressed in more detail elsewhere, we cannot ignore the reality that border security is a national security issue,
and that our nation’s immigration and refugee policies are placing Americans at risk.
To keep our people safe, we must secure our borders,
enforce our immigration laws,
and properly screen refugees and other immigrants entering from any country.
In particular we must apply special scrutiny to those foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States from terror-sponsoring countries or from regions associated with Islamic terrorism.
This was done successfully after September 11, 2001, under the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, which should be renewed now.
Supporting Our Troops: Resources to do Their Job
We owe it to the American people and to those who fight our wars that we remain the strongest military on earth
and be prepared to defeat any adversary under any circumstances on any battlefield, including land, air, sea, or cyber.
Successive years of cuts to our defense budget have put an undue strain on our men and women in uniform.
This is especially harmful at a time when we are asking our military to do more in an increasingly dangerous world.
The U.S. defense budget has suffered a 25 percent cut in real dollars in the five years since sequestration.
We support lifting the budget cap for defense and reject the efforts of Democrats to hold the military’s budget hostage for their domestic agenda.
Congress and the Administration should work together to approve military spending at the level necessary to defend our country.
We must not be encumbered by decades- old, legacy procurement processes.
America’s incredible talent and ingenuity must be unleashed by modernizing the military procurement system and embracing competition among traditional and non-traditional suppliers.
Competitive acquisition and maintenance of weapon systems, including the sustainment and support of such systems,
will benefit the U.S. economy,
U.S. taxpayers,
and most important, the American warfighter.
Increased competition will enable new Department of Defense suppliers,
particularly small businesses, to participate in the defense sector.
That will promote new demand for skilled-labor jobs,
while making the Department's procurement more cost-efficient.
The increased agility and effectiveness will ensure that our troops are equipped with the right resources more quickly than our current procurement systems allow.
Supporting Our Troops: Standing by Our Heroes
With Republican leadership, the Congress recently passed legislation that begins to reverse America's military decline.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2016 begins to correct the shortfalls in our military readiness by reversing troop cuts, increasing investments in training and maintenance, and rebuilding facilities.
It gives our troops the full pay raise to which they are entitled under the law
and gives the next administration the ability to review operations and funding, make adjustments, and ask for more money if necessary.
All this represents a sound start in supporting those who put their lives on the line in defense of our country,
while protecting our national security in a dangerous world.
Military families must be assured of the pay, healthcare, housing, education, and overall support they have earned.
In recent years, they have been carrying the burden of budgetary restraint more than any other Americans through cuts in their pay, health benefits, and retirement plans.
About 75 percent of enlistees come from military families.
We cannot expect that level of patriotic commitment to continue among young people who have experienced the way their families have been treated.
We must ensure that the nation keeps its commitments to those who signed on the dotted line of enlistment.
The repeated troop deployments during conflicts in the Middle East have been unusually hard on all members of their households, worsening unemployment and underemployment among spouses.
In many cases, they and their children have been at war for 14 years.
We must strengthen existing programs that offer families readjustment information and counseling, and we urge states to help by providing job programs, license reciprocity, one-stop service centers, and education.
The burden of our country's extended military involvement in the Middle East has taken a toll on our service personnel.
Suicides among our military — active duty troops, reservists, National Guardsmen, and veterans — are at shocking levels,
while postservice medical conditions, including addiction and mental illness, require more and more assistance.
More than ever, our government must work with the private sector to advance opportunities and provide assistance to those wounded in spirit as well as in body,
whether through experimental efforts like the PAWS (Puppies Assisting Wounded Servicemen) program for service dogs or through the faith-based institutions that have traditionally been providers of counseling and aid.
We support the rights of conscience of military chaplains of all faiths to practice their faith free from political interference.
We reject attempts by the Obama Administration to censure and silence them, particularly Christians and Christian chaplains.
We support an increase in the size of the Chaplain Corps.
A Republican commander-in- chief will protect the religious freedom of all military members, especially chaplains, and will not tolerate attempts to ban Bibles or religious symbols from military facilities.
A Republican commander-in- chief will also encourage education regarding the religious liberties of military personnel under both the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the current National Defense Authorization Act.
Our country's all-volunteer force has been a success.
We oppose the reinstatement of the draft, except in dire circumstances like world war, whether directly or through compulsory national service.
We support the all-volunteer force and oppose unnecessary policy changes, including compulsory national service and Selective Service registration of women for a possible future draft.
We reiterate our support for both the advancement of women in the military
and their exemption from direct ground combat units and infantry battalions.
We affirm the cultural values that encourage selfless service and superiority in battle,
and we oppose anything which might divide or weaken team cohesion, including intra-military special interest demonstrations.
In particular, we warn against modification or lessening of standards in order to satisfy a nonmilitary agenda imposed by the White House.
We call for an objective review of the impact on readiness of the current Administration’s ideology- based personnel policies, and will correct problems with appropriate administrative, legal, or legislative action.
We reject the use of the military as a platform for social experimentation
and will not accept or continue attempts to undermine military priorities and mission readiness.
We believe that our nation is most secure when the president and the administration prioritize readiness, recruitment, and retention
rather than using the military to advance a social or political agenda.
Military readiness should not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness.
We oppose legislative attempts to modify the system of military justice that would undermine its fairness and due process rights for all concerned, both the accuser and the accused.
Citizen Soldiers: National Guard and Reserves
Our Reserve and National Guard forces are national assets that must be nurtured in a manner commensurate with their role as America’s sentinels.
Their historic mission as citizen-soldiers is a proud tradition linking every town and city across America to liberty’s cause.
Since September 11, 2001, the National Guard has transformed from a strategic reserve to a fully integrated operational fighting force.
The Guard has bled on missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and the Sinai.
Today, more than fifty percent of our Guardsmen have combat experience.
The Guard has demonstrated its value to the nation not only in war but during emergencies here at home such as Hurricane Katrina and Super Storm Sandy.
To avoid the overextension of our military, we support a larger active force
and oppose the current Administration’s cuts to the National Guard and Reserves.
Those reductions are dangerous and counter-productive because the men and women of the Guard and Reserve tend to be older and more experienced than their active duty counterparts.
Guard and Reserve forces are currently deployed at historically high rates.
The Army Reserve alone has soldiers in 30 countries.
To its credit, the Republican Congress, by passing the National Defense Authorization Act, has moved to ensure these troops have what they need.
That provision has triggered another veto threat from the Commander- in-Chief, even though the bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.
He would have the members of the Reserve and Guard train on, and potentially be deployed with, equipment that is no longer used by their active duty comrades.
We cannot tolerate this endangerment of both our troops and our national security.
Therefore, we recommend a permanent line item for National Guard affairs, one that is not eliminated by the President and reinstated by Congress.
The guard is too essential to our national defense to be a secondary decision.
Honoring and Supporting Our Veterans: A Sacred Obligation
Our nation’s veterans have been our nation’s strength and remain a national resource.
Their service to their country — as community leaders, volunteers, mentors, educators, problem solvers, and public officials — continues long after they leave the military.
In the same way, our obligation to the one percent who defend the other ninety- nine percent does not end when they take off the uniform.
America has a sacred trust with our veterans,
and we are committed to ensuring them and their families' care and dignity.
The work of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is essential to meet our commitments to them: Providing health, education, disability, survivor, and home loan benefits, and arranging memorial services upon death.
We heed Abraham Lincoln's command “to care for him who bore the battle.”
To care, as well, for the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, who must be assured of meaningful financial assistance, remains our solemn duty.
As shown by recent controversies at the Department, senior leaders must be held accountable for ensuring that their subordinates are more responsive to veterans' needs.
The VA has failed those who have sacrificed the most for our freedom.
The VA must move from a sometimes adversarial stance to an advocacy relationship with vets.
To that end, we will empower the Secretary to hold all VA employees accountable
and will seek fundamental change in the VA's senior leadership structure by placing presidential appointees, rather than careerists, in additional positions of significant responsibility.
We cannot allow an unresponsive bureaucracy to blunt our national commitment.
The VA must strengthen and improve its efforts through partnerships with private enterprises,
veteran service organizations,
technology and innovation,
and competitive bidding to enable the VA to better provide both quality and timely care along with all earned benefits to our nation's veterans and their families.
This will allow the VA to reduce the backlog and save immense resources all at the same time.
Therefore, let us look to innovative solutions that allow higher quality VA care,
reduce backlogs,
and save immense resources all at the same time.
Our wounded warriors, whether still in service or discharged, deserve the best medical care the country can provide.
We must make military and veterans' medicine the gold standard for mental health, traumatic brain injury, multiple traumas, loss of limbs, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Those injuries require a new commitment of targeted resources and personnel for treatment and care to advance recovery.
That includes allowing veterans to choose to access care in the community and not just in VA facilities,
because the best care in the world is not effective if it is not accessible.
We will seek to consolidate the VA's existing community care authorities to make a single program that will be easily understood by both veterans and VA healthcare providers.
Like the rest of American medicine, the VA faces a critical shortage of primary care and mental health physicians.
That's why there are long waiting times to see a doctor and why doctors are often frustrated by the limited time they have with their patients.
This is especially the case with mental health care, which often amounts to prescribing drugs because there are not enough psychologists and psychiatrists to do anything else.
Inadequate treatment of PTSD drives other problems like suicide, homelessness, and unemployment.
This situation may not be quickly reversed, but a Republican administration will begin, on day one, to undertake the job.
As a nation, we honor the sacrifice of our fallen service members at the graves where we lay them to rest in national, state, and veterans' cemeteries around the world.
In doing so, we make it clear that their ultimate sacrifice and service to our country will never be forgotten.
As a party, we seek to honor their sacrifice and comfort their families by ensuring all veterans' cemeteries are adequately equipped and a standard of care established, using Arlington Cemetery as a guide, that is befitting their service.
The level of financial distress and homelessness among vets is a shame to the nation.
For a veteran, a job is more than a source of income.
It is a new mission, with a new status, and the transition can be difficult.
We urge the private sector to make hiring vets a company policy and commend the organizations that have proven programs to accomplish this.
We will retain the preference given to veterans when they seek federal employment.
We urge closer coordination with the state offices for veterans' affairs,
particularly with regard to expediting disability claims, since those closest to an individual can often best diagnose a problem and apply a remedy.
We will halt the current Administration's unconstitutional automatic denial of gun ownership to returning members of our Armed Forces who have had representatives appointed to manage their financial affairs.
We urge state education officials to promote the hiring of qualified veterans as teachers in our public schools.
Their proven abilities and life experiences will make them more successful instructors and role models for students than would any teaching certification.
Over-prescription of opioids has become a nationwide problem hindering the treatment of veterans suffering from mental health issues.
We therefore support the need to explore new and broader ranges of options,
including faith- based programs,
that will better serve the veteran and reduce the need to rely on drugs as the sole treatment.
America: The Indispensable Nation
For the last several generations, our country’s two major political parties were dedicated to the nation’s security and the advance of freedom around the world.
Both had learned from mistakes of the past and realized that a weak America invited aggression.
Both recognized the need to stand with friends and oppose those who wished us evil.
Whatever their disagreements, both the Republican and Democratic parties stood for peace through strength
— and strength meant American military superiority.
This bipartisan commitment has tragically changed.
The leadership of the Democratic Party, both those in office and those who seek it, no longer see America as a force for good in the world.
They do not stand by allies or stand strong against our foes.
They pander to world opinion and neglect the national interest.
They cannot be trusted to advance either the cause of liberty or our national security in the dangerous years in which we live.
We affirm our party’s tradition of world leadership established by President Eisenhower and followed by every Republican president since.
It stands for enormous power — and the prudence to use it sparingly, precisely, and only in grave necessity.
It stands for involvement, not intervention.
It requires consultation, not permission to act.
It leads from the front — and ensures all others do their parts as well.
It embraces American exceptionalism
and rejects the false prophets of decline and diminution.
It is, in sum, the way we will lead the world into a new century of greater peace and prosperity — another American Century.
Challenges of a Changing Middle East
The Middle East is more dangerous now than at any time since the Second World War.
Whatever their disagreements, presidents of both parties had always prioritized America’s national interests,
the trust of friendly governments,
and the security of Israel.
That sound consensus was replaced with impotent grandstanding on the part of the current President and his Secretaries of State.
The results have been ruinous for all parties except Islamic terrorists and their Iranian and other sponsors.
We consider the Administration’s deal with Iran, to lift international sanctions and make hundreds of billions of dollars available to the Mullahs, a personal agreement between the President and his negotiating partners and non-binding on the next president.
Without a two-thirds endorsement by the Senate, it does not have treaty status.
Because of it, the defiant and emboldened regime in Tehran continues to sponsor terrorism across the region, develop a nuclear weapon, test-fire ballistic missiles inscribed with “Death to Israel,” and abuse the basic human rights of its citizens.
A Republican president will not be bound by it.
We must retain all options in dealing with a situation that gravely threatens our security, our interests, and the survival of our friends.
Over the last four years we have seen the rise of a murderous fanaticism in the form of ISIS, the so called Islamic State.
Its reach now extends far beyond the Middle East to virtually every continent.
ISIS has brought ancient butchery into the 21st century.
Nations are imploding, erasing long- established borders.
The Obama Administration and its Secretary of State so mishandled the Arab Spring that it destabilized the entire region.
The hope some saw in the Arab Spring has transformed into disappointment.
The dictator of Syria, Bashar Assad, has murdered hundreds of thousands of his own people and created millions of refugees,
and an American president has been unable to rally the world against him.
Understandably, our allies fear for their future in a region far more dangerous than it was eight years ago.
A Republican administration will restore our nation’s credibility.
We must stand up for our friends,
challenge our foes,
and destroy ISIS.
Hezbollah, controlling over 100,000 missiles in Lebanon, must be isolated and Lebanon’s independence restored.
We will support the transition to a post-Assad Syrian government that is representative of its people,
protects the rights of all minorities and religions,
respects the territorial integrity of its neighbors,
and contributes to peace and stability in the region.
The Iraqi people have been on the front lines in the fight against terror.
Hundreds of thousands have been killed, and the attacks against them continue, even in Baghdad.
Our partnership with them should continue as long as ISIS and others like it survive in the region.
We are deeply concerned that, in the face of genocide against them, Christian communities in cities like Erbil are receiving no financial support from either the U.S. government or the UN to help with displaced persons and urban refugees.
Their survival is sustained only by private charities.
This must change immediately.
Defeating ISIS means more than pushing back its fighters while abandoning its victims.
It must mean aiding those who have suffered the most — and doing so before they starve.
It means supporting the long-term survival of indigenous religious and ethnic communities,
punishing the perpetrators of crimes against humanity,
and conditioning humanitarian and military assistance to governments on their observable commitment to human rights.
We continue to support the Kurdish people, whose bravery and cooperation with our forces merit our respect and their autonomy.
Many countries in the region have given, and continue to give, substantial assistance to the United States because they understand that our struggle against terrorism is not an ethnic or religious fight.
They consider violent extremists to be abusers of their faith, not its champions.
We applaud their courage and value their counsel.
The U.S. government, together with its global partners, should mobilize its political, economic, and military assets to support the creation of a safe haven in northern Iraq to protect those ethnic and religious minorities continuing to face genocide at the hands of ISIS.
Our Unequivocal Support for Israel
Like the United States of America, the modern state of Israel is a country born from the aspiration for freedom and stands out among the nations as a beacon of democracy and humanity.
Beyond our mutual strategic interests, Israel is likewise an exceptional country that shares our most essential values.
It is the only country in the Middle East where freedom of speech and freedom of religion are found.
Therefore, support for Israel is an expression of Americanism,
and it is the responsibility of our government to advance policies that reflect Americans' strong desire for a relationship with no daylight between America and Israel.
We recognize Jerusalem as the eternal and indivisible capital of the Jewish state and call for the American embassy to be moved there in fulfillment of U.S. law.
We reaffirm America's commitment to Israel's security
and will ensure that Israel maintains a qualitative military edge over any and all adversaries.
We support Israel's right and obligation to defend itself against terror attacks upon its people
and against alternative forms of warfare being waged upon it legally, economically, culturally, and otherwise.
We reject the false notion that Israel is an occupier and specifically recognize that the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS) is anti-Semitic in nature and seeks to destroy Israel.
Therefore, we call for effective legislation to thwart actions that are intended to limit commercial relations with Israel, or persons or entities doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories, in a discriminatory manner.
The United States seeks to assist in the establishment of comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East,
to be negotiated among those living in the region.
We oppose any measures intended to impose an agreement or to dictate borders or other terms, and we call for the immediate termination of all U.S. funding of any entity that attempts to do so.
Our party is proud to stand with Israel now and always.
U.S. Leadership in the Asian Pacific
We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic rim
and treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand.
With them, we look toward the establishment of human rights for the people of North Korea.
We urge the government of China to recognize the inevitability of change in the Kim family’s slave state
and, for everyone’s safety against nuclear disaster, to hasten positive change on the Korean peninsula.
The United States will continue to demand the complete, verifiable, and irreversible dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program with full accounting of its proliferation activities.
We also pledge to counter any threats from the North Korean regime.
We salute the people of Taiwan, with whom we share the values of democracy, human rights, a free market economy, and the rule of law.
Our relations will continue to be based upon the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act, and we affirm the Six Assurances given to Taiwan in 1982 by President Reagan.
We oppose any unilateral steps by either side to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Straits on the principle that all issues regarding the island’s future must be resolved peacefully, through dialogue,
and be agreeable to the people of Taiwan.
If China were to violate those principles, the United States, in accord with the Taiwan Relations Act, will help Taiwan defend itself.
We praise efforts by the new government in Taipei to continue constructive relations across the Taiwan Strait and call on China to reciprocate.
As a loyal friend of America, Taiwan has merited our strong support,
including free trade agreement status,
the timely sale of defensive arms including technology to build diesel submarines,
and full participation in the World Health Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization, and other multilateral institutions.
China’s behavior has negated the optimistic language of our last platform concerning our future relations with China.
The liberalizing policies of recent decades have been abruptly reversed,
dissent brutally crushed,
religious persecution heightened,
the internet crippled,
a barbaric population control two-child policy of forced abortions and forced sterilizations continued,
and the cult of Mao revived.
Critics of the regime have been kidnapped by its agents in foreign countries.
To distract the populace from its increasing economic problems and, more importantly, to expand its military might, the government asserts a preposterous claim to the entire South China Sea and continues to dredge ports and create landing fields in contested waters where none have existed before, ever nearer to U.S. territories and our allies,
while building a navy far out of proportion to defensive purposes.
The complacency of the Obama regime has emboldened the Chinese government and military to issue threats of intimidation throughout the South China Sea,
not to mention parading their new missile, "the Guam Killer,” down the main streets of Beijing,
a direct shot at Guam as America’s first line of defense.
Meanwhile, cultural genocide continues in Tibet and Xinjiang,
the promised autonomy of Hong Kong is eroded,
the currency is manipulated,
our technology is stolen,
and intellectual property and copyrights are mocked in an economy based on piracy.
In business terms, this is not competition; it is a hostile takeover.
For any American company to abet those offenses,
especially governmental censorship and tracking of dissenters, is a disgrace.
The return to Maoism by China’s current rulers is not reason to disengage with the Chinese people or their institutions.
We welcome students, tourists, and investors, who can see for themselves our vibrant American democracy and how real democracy works.
We caution, however, against academic or cultural operations under the control of the Chinese government
and call upon American colleges to dissociate themselves from this increasing threat to academic freedom and honest research.
Most of the nations of Southeast Asia have set aside crippling ideologies and sought material progress in free enterprise and democracy.
We congratulate the people of Burma on their emergence from authoritarian rule
and urge their respect for the rights of their country’s minority populations.
Our improved relations with Vietnam — including arms sales — must advance efforts to obtain an accounting for, and repatriation of the remains of, Americans who gave their lives in the cause of Vietnamese freedom.
We cannot overlook the continued repression of fundamental rights and religious freedom,
as well as retribution against ethnic minorities and others who assisted U.S. forces during the conflict there.
India is our geopolitical ally and a strategic trading partner.
The dynamism of its people
and the endurance of their democratic institutions
are earning their country a position of leadership not only in Asia but throughout the world.
We encourage the Indian government to permit expanded foreign investment and trade,
the key to rising living standards for those left out of their country's energetic economy.
For all of India's religious communities, we urge protection against violence and discrimination.
Republicans note with pride the contributions to our country that are made by our fellow citizens of Indian ancestry.
Conflicts in the Middle East have created special political and military challenges for the people of Pakistan.
Our working relationship is a necessary, though sometimes difficult, benefit to both, and we look toward the strengthening of historic ties that have frayed under the weight of international conflict.
This process cannot progress as long as any citizen of Pakistan can be punished for helping the War on Terror.
Pakistanis, Afghans, and Americans have a common interest in ridding the region of the Taliban and securing Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
That goal has been undermined by the current Administration's feckless treatment of troop commitments
and blatant disregard of advice from commanders on the ground, particularly with regard to Afghanistan.
A Republican president will work with all regional leaders to restore mutual trust
while insisting upon progress against corruption and the narcotic trade that fuels insurgency.
Renewing the European Alliance
With bipartisan support, President Truman forged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as an alliance of the western democracies.
Its continued effectiveness is vital, especially in light of recent military challenges in Eastern Europe.
With the American people spending on defense, per capita, four times the amount spent by Europeans, we demand, as we have in the past, that our fellow members of NATO fulfill their commitments and meet their need for greater investment in their armed forces.
Our historic ties to the peoples of Europe have been based on shared culture and values,
common interests and goals.
Their endurance cannot be taken for granted, especially in light of the continent's economic problems and demographic changes.
We recognize with regret the increasing trend among many of our allies to move away from rights and liberties that Americans hold dear, especially freedom of speech.
It would be a tragic irony if the nations of Europe which withstood Soviet repression were to now impose a form of it upon themselves.
We honor our special relationship with the people of the United Kingdom
and are grateful for their staunch support in the fight against terrorism.
We respect their decision concerning their nation's relationship to the European Union and pledge that, however much other international relationships may change, those who were first to our side in our hour of loss will always rank first in our policies and our esteem.
We thank the several nations of Europe that have contributed to a united effort in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.
Their support and sacrifice in the fight against Islamic terrorism will not be forgotten.
We applaud the ongoing reconciliation in Northern Ireland
and hope that its success might be replicated in Cyprus.
We urge greater coordination in economic and security affairs between the United States and the republics of Eastern Europe.
We urge that Poland be granted visa waiver status and we support placement of NATO troops in Poland.
For the people of Russia, we affirm our respect and our determination to maintain a friendship beyond the reach of those who wish to divide us.
We have common imperatives: Ending terrorism,
combating nuclear proliferation,
promoting trade, and more.
We also have a common problem: The continuing erosion of personal liberty and fundamental rights under the current officials in the Kremlin.
Repressive at home and reckless abroad,
their policies imperil the nations which regained their self-determination upon the collapse of the Soviet Union.
We will meet the return of Russian belligerence with the same resolve that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
We will not accept any territorial change in Eastern Europe imposed by force, in Ukraine, Georgia, or elsewhere,
and will use all appropriate constitutional measures to bring to justice the practitioners of aggression and assassination.
We urge greater attention in U.S. diplomacy, trade, and strategic planning, to the nations of Eurasia, formerly parts of the Soviet Empire.
Caught between their two authoritarian neighbors, their path toward democratic institutions has been uncertain.
We urge our government and our allies to work toward the integration of the Central Asian republics into the global economy
through foreign investment,
which can bring with it market and political reforms
and a firmer establishment of the rule of law.
Those developments will not only improve the living conditions throughout that vast area
but are likely to reduce the lure of the radical ideologies that already threaten the region.
Family of the Americas
Our future is intimately tied to the future of the Americas.
Family, language, culture, environment, and trade link us closely with both Canada
and Mexico.
Our relations with both of these friends will be based upon continuing cooperation and our mutually shared interests.
Our attention to trade and environmental issues will contribute to strong economic growth and prosperity throughout the Americas.
We thank our neighbors in Mexico and Canada who have been our partners in the fight against terrorism and the war on drugs.
The Mexican people deserve our assistance as they bravely resist the drug cartels that traffic in death on both sides of our border.
Their rich cultural and religious heritage, shared by many millions of our fellow citizens,
should foster greater understanding and cooperation between our countries.
Our Canadian neighbors can count on our cooperation and respect.
To advance North America's energy independence, we intend to reverse the current Administration's blocking of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Apart from its economic value, that project has become a symbol in the contest between the public's desire for economic development
and the government's hostility to growth.
We stand with the people.
We express our solidarity with all the peoples of the Western Hemisphere.
Their aspirations for economic betterment and political liberty have deserved better from our government than its policies of the last eight years.
The current Administration has abandoned America's friends and rewarded its enemies.
A Republican president will never embrace a Marxist dictator, in Venezuela or anywhere else.
The current chief executive has allowed that country to become a narcoterrorist state, an Iranian outpost threatening Central America, and a safe haven for the agents of Hezbollah.
Now, with their country ruined by socialism and on the verge of chaos, the Venezuelan people are fighting to restore their democracy and regain their rights.
When they triumph, as they surely will, the United States will stand ready to help them restore their country to the family of the Americas.
We affirm our friendship and admiration for the people of Colombia
and call on the Republican Congress to express its solidarity with their decades-long fight against the terrorist FARC.
Their sacrifice and suffering must not be betrayed by the accession to power of murderers and drug lords.
We want to welcome the people of Cuba back into our hemispheric family
— after their corrupt rulers are forced from power and brought to account for their crimes against humanity.
We stand with the Women in White and all the victims of the loathsome regime that clings to power in Havana.
We do not say this lightly: They have been betrayed by those who are currently in control of U.S. foreign policy.
The current Administration's “opening to Cuba” was a shameful accommodation to the demands of its tyrants.
It will only strengthen their military dictatorship.
We call on the Congress to uphold current U.S. law which sets conditions for the lifting of sanctions on the island: Legalization of political parties,
an independent media,
and free and fair internationally-supervised elections.
We call for a dedicated platform for the transmission of Radio and TV Marti and for the promotion of internet access and circumvention technology as tools to strength Cuba's pro-democracy movement.
We support the work of the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba
and affirm the principles of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, recognizing the rights of Cubans fleeing Communism.
Africa: The Promise and the Challenge
We recognize Africa’s extraordinary potential.
Both the United States and our many African allies will become stronger through investment, trade,
and promotion of the democratic and free market principles that have brought prosperity around the world.
We pledge to be the best partner of all African nations in their pursuit of economic freedom
and human rights.
The Republican Congress has extended to 2025 the African Growth and Opportunity Act,
and President George W. Bush’s health initiatives — AIDS relief under PEPFAR and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria — continue to save millions of lives.
Peace Corps volunteers and U.S. Seabees teach and build in villages that know firsthand our country’s idealism.
We stand in solidarity with those African countries now under assault by the forces of radical Islam: Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and others like them.
Their terror falls on both Muslims and Christians, on anyone who will not submit to their savage ideology.
We urge governments throughout the continent to recognize this threat to their own people.
We support closer cooperation in both military and economic matters with those on the front lines of civilization’s battle against the forces of evil.
Sovereign American Leadership in International Organizations
There is no substitute for principled American leadership.
Since the end of World War II, the United States, through the founding of the United Nations and NATO, has participated in a number of international organizations which can,
but sometimes do not,
serve the cause of peace and prosperity.
While acting through them our country must always reserve the right to go its own way.
We must not be silent about our country’s cause.
That is why we have long supported our country’s international broadcasting to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Our continued participation in the United Nations should be contingent upon the enactment of long-overdue changes in the way that institution functions.
American taxpayers, the chief funders of the U.N., deserve full transparency in the financial operations of its overpaid bureaucrats.
We should no longer tolerate its managerial scandals,
its Human Rights Council composed of some of the world’s worst tyrants,
and its treatment of Israel as a pariah state.
The U.N.’s Population Fund has, from its origin, been rooted in no-growth policies that limit economic development in the countries needing it most.
Its complicity in China’s barbaric program of forced abortion led President Reagan to set a wall of separation — his Mexico City Policy, which prohibits the granting of federal monies to non-governmental organizations that provide or promote abortion.
We affirm his position and, in light of plummeting birth rates around the world,
suggest a reevaluation of the U.N.’s record on economic progress.
Precisely because we take our country’s treaty obligations seriously, we oppose ratification of international agreements whose long-range implications are ominous or unclear.
We do not support the U.N. Convention on Women’s Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, as well as various declarations from the U.N. Conference on Environment and Development.
Because of our concern for American sovereignty,
domestic management of our fisheries,
and our country’s long-term energy needs,
we have deep reservations about the regulatory, legal, and tax regimes inherent in the Law of the Sea Treaty.
We emphatically reject U.N. Agenda 21 as erosive of U.S. sovereignty, and we oppose any form of Global Tax.
To shield members of our Armed Forces and others in service to America from ideological prosecutions overseas, the Republican Party does not accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
We support statutory protection for U.S. personnel and officials as they act abroad to meet our global security requirements,
and we deplore the current inaction of the Administration in that regard.
Our service members must be subject only to American law.
Defending International Religious Freedom
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an initiative of Congressional Republicans, has been neglected by the current Administration at a time when its voice more than ever needs to be heard.
Religious minorities across the Middle East have been driven from their ancient homelands,
and thousands, there and in Africa, have been slaughtered for their faith in what the State Department has, belatedly, labeled genocide.
The United States must stand with leaders, like President Sisi of Egypt who has bravely protected the rights of Coptic Christians in Egypt,
and call on other leaders across the region to ensure that all religious minorities, whether Yazidi, Bahai, Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant Christians, are free to practice their religion without fear of persecution.
At a time when China has renewed its destruction of churches,
Christian home-schooling parents are jailed in parts of Europe,
and even Canada threatens pastors for their preaching,
a Republican administration will return the advocacy of religious liberty to a central place in its diplomacy,
will quickly designate the systematic killing of religious and ethnic minorities a genocide,
and will work with the leaders of other nations to condemn and combat genocidal acts.
America’s Generosity: International Assistance that Makes a Difference
Foreign aid must serve America’s interests first.
In today’s world of complex challenges, international assistance is a critical tool for advancing America’s security and economic interests by preventing conflict,
building stability,
opening markets for private investment,
and responding to suffering and need with the compassion that is at the heart of our country’s values.
A strong commitment to international development and diplomacy,
alongside defense, was a key component of President Reagan’s "peace through strength” strategy.
It can sometimes serve as an alternative means of keeping the peace, far less costly both in dollars and in human lives than military engagement.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation, spearheaded by the last Republican Administration, has established a new model of foreign assistance that helps ensure taxpayer dollars are spent on projects that are effective, results-driven, transparent, and accountable.
We must embrace this model throughout our foreign assistance programs and efforts as a catalyst for private sector investment to combat corruption,
strengthen the rule of law,
and open new markets for American goods and services in a competitive global economy.
Foreign assistance programs must not only project the best of American values,
but must work to create self-sustainability and leverage the resources and capacity of the private sector.
Even more important is the overseas assistance — billions of dollars and volunteer hours — provided by America’s foundations,
educational institutions,
faith-based groups,
and charitable individuals.
Their essential role in international development should be weighed in any revision of the tax code.
The advance of political freedom and entrepreneurial capitalism drives economic growth,
catalyzes private sector development,
and is the only sustainable solution to poverty.
Over the last 50 years, the level of private investment overseas from the United States has eclipsed aid many times over.
Our development strategy must build on recent Republican efforts to use foreign assistance to catalyze private sector investment and expertise in addressing global challenges that can build a more stable world
and advance America’s national security
and economic interests.
The integrity of our country’s foreign assistance program has been compromised by the current Administration’s attempt to impose on foreign recipients, especially the peoples of Africa, its own radical social agenda
while excluding faith-based groups — the sector with the best track record in promoting development — because they will not conform to that agenda.
We pledge to reverse this course, encouraging more involvement by the most effective aid organizations
and trusting developing peoples to build their futures through their own values.
Advancing Human Rights
To those who stand in the darkness of tyranny, America has always been a beacon of hope, and so it must remain.
Radical Islamic terrorism poses an existential threat to personal freedom and peace around the world.
We oppose its brutal assault on all human beings, all of whom have inherent dignity.
The Republican Party stands united with all victims of terrorism
and will fight at home and abroad to destroy terrorist organizations
and protect the lives and fundamental liberties of all people.
Republicans have led the way in promoting initiatives that have protected and rescued millions of the world’s most vulnerable and persecuted.
Standing up for repressed religious groups,
prisoners of conscience,
women trafficked into sexual slavery,
and those suffering from disease or starvation is not just consistent with American values.
It advances important security and economic interests as well.
A Republican administration will never say, as Hillary Clinton did as Secretary of State in 2009, that raising human rights concerns “can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis.”
The United States needs a radical rethinking of our human rights diplomacy.
A Republican administration will adopt a “whole of government” approach to protect fundamental freedoms globally,
one where pressing human rights and rule of law issues are integrated at every appropriate level of our bilateral relationships and strategic decisionmaking.
Republican policy will reflect the fact that the health of the U.S. economy
and environment,
the safety of our food and drug supplies,
the security of our investments and personal information in cyberspace,
and the stability and security of the oceans
will increasingly depend on allowing the free flow of news and information
and developing an independent judiciary and civil society in countries with repressive governments such as China, Russia, and many nations in the Middle East and Africa.
Liberty to Captives: Combatting Human Trafficking
As an estimated 21 million people worldwide are trapped in modern day slavery, we are reminded to be vigilant against human trafficking in whatever form it appears.
We will use the full force of the law against those who engage in commercial sexual exploitation and forced or bonded labor of men, women, or children; involuntary domestic servitude;
trafficking in persons for the purpose of organ removal;
and the illegal recruitment and use of child soldiers.
Building on the accomplishments of the last Republican administration in implementing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, we call for increased diplomatic efforts and accountability for foreign governments to prosecute traffickers,
including penalties for any public officials who may be complicit in this devastating crime.
We will highlight the need to stop slave labor, taking steps to prevent overseas labor contractors who exploit foreign workers from supporting military bases abroad or exporting goods to the United States.
A Republican administration will strategize with partners around the world to prevent the demand for trafficking victims that makes exploitation lucrative
and will prosecute sex tourists and domestic buyers to the fullest extent of the law.
We will work at home and abroad to ensure that trafficking victims are identified among migrants, refugees, and our own citizens
so they receive the rehabilitative care needed to heal and thrive.
America's continuing participation in the international campaign against human trafficking merits our support.
The goal of our domestic antitrafficking programs should be the rescue and safe return of victims to their homes,
not creating a longterm dependency upon public support.
We call for greater scrutiny of overseas labor contractors to prevent abuses against temporary foreign workers brought to the United States.
The horrific deaths of smuggled workers on our southwestern border at the hands of drug cartels and other gangs highlight the need for total security in that region.
Facing 21st Century Threats:
Cybersecurity in an Insecure World
Cyber attacks against our businesses, institutions, and the government itself have become almost routine.
They will continue until the world understands that an attack will not be tolerated — that we are prepared to respond in kind and in greater magnitude.
Despite their promises to the contrary, Russia and China see cyber operations as a part of a warfare strategy during peacetime.
Our response should be to cause diplomatic, financial, and legal pain,
curtailing visas for guilty parties, freezing their assets, and pursuing criminal actions against them.
We should seek to weaken control over the internet by regimes that engage in cyber crimes.
We must stop playing defense and go on offense to avoid the cyber-equivalent of Pearl Harbor.
The Republican Congress has passed important legislation to advance information-sharing among entities endangered by cyber attacks.
We will explore the possibility of a free market for Cyber-Insurance and make clear that users have a selfdefense right to deal with hackers as they see fit.
It is critical that we protect the cyber supply chain to ensure against contamination of components made all over the world, sometimes in offending countries.
Our own cyber workforce should be expanded with the assistance of the military, business, and hacker communities to better protect our country.
Protection Against an Electromagnetic Pulse
A single nuclear weapon detonated at high altitude over this country would collapse our electrical grid and other critical infrastructures and endanger the lives of millions.
With North Korea in possession of nuclear missiles and Iran close to having them, an EMP is no longer a theoretical concern — it is a real threat.
Moreover, China and Russia include sabotage as part of their warfare planning.
Nonetheless, hundreds of electrical utilities in the United States have not acted to protect themselves from EMP,
and they cannot be expected to do so voluntarily since homeland security is a government responsibility.
The President, the Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the States, the utilities, and the private sector should work together on an urgent basis to enact Republican legislation, pending in both chambers, to protect the national grid
and encourage states to take the initiative to protect their own grids expeditiously.
Confronting Internet Tyranny
Internet firewall circumvention and anticensorship technology must become a national priority in light of the way authoritarian governments such as China, Cuba, and Iran restrict free press and isolate their people limiting political, cultural, and religious freedom.
Leaders of authoritarian governments argue that governments have the same legal right to control internet access as they do to control migrant access.
A focus on internet freedom is a cost-effective means of peacefully advancing fundamental freedoms in closed and authoritarian societies.
But it is also an important economic interest, as censorship constitutes a trade barrier for U.S. companies operating in societies like China with advanced firewall protection policies.
A Republican administration will champion an open and free internet based on principles of free expression and universal values
and will pursue policies to empower citizens and U.S. companies operating in authoritarian countries to circumvent internet firewalls and gain accurate news and information online.
2020 Democratic Party Platform
The platform was considered by the 2020 Platform Committee at its meeting on July 27, 2020, and was approved by the Democratic National Convention on August 18, 2020.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 4
PREAMBLE 5
PROTECTING AMERICANS AND RECOVERING FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 8
BUILDING A STRONGER, FAIRER ECONOMY 13
Protecting Workers and Families and Creating Millions of Jobs Across America 14
Raising Wages and Promoting Workers’ Rights 14
Enacting Robust Work-Family Policies 16
Investing in the Engines of Job Creation 16
Building A Fair System of International Trade for Our Workers 20
Putting Homeownership in Reach and Guaranteeing Safe Housing for Every American 20
Leveling the Economic Playing Field 22
Reforming the Tax Code to Benefit Working Families 22
Curbing Wall Street Abuses 23
Ending Poverty 23
Protecting Consumer Rights and Privacy 25
Tackling Runaway Corporate Concentration 25
Guaranteeing a Secure and Dignified Retirement 25
ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE 26
Securing Universal Health Care
Through a Public Option 28
Bringing Down Drug Prices and Taking on the Pharmaceutical Industry 29
Reducing Health Care Costs and Improving Health Care Quality 29
Expanding Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Treatment 30
Expanding Long-Term Care Services and Supports 30
Eliminate Racial, Gender, and Geographic Health Inequities 31
Protecting Native American Health 32
Securing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice 32
Protecting and Promoting Maternal Health 33
Protecting LGBTQ+ Health 33
Strengthening and Supporting the Health Care Workforce 33
Investing in Health Science and Research 34
PROTECTING COMMUNITIES AND BUILDING TRUST BY REFORMING OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE
SYSTEM 35
HEALING THE SOUL OF AMERICA 39
Protecting Americans’ Civil Rights 39
Achieving Racial Justice and Equity 39
Protecting Women’s Rights 42
Protecting LGBTQ+ Rights 42
Protecting Disability Rights 43
Honoring Indigenous Tribal Nations 44
Ending Violence Against Women 47
Ending the Epidemic of Gun Violence 47
Supporting Faith and Service 48
Supporting Press Freedom 48
Supporting the Arts and Culture 49
COMBATING THE CLIMATE CRISIS AND PURSUING ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE 49
RESTORING AND STRENGTHENING OUR DEMOCRACY 55
Protecting and Enforcing Voting Rights 55
Reforming the Broken Campaign Finance System 57
Building an Effective, Transparent Federal Government 57
Making Washington, D.C. the 51st State 58
Guaranteeing Self-Determination for Puerto Rico 59
Supporting the U.S. Territories 59
Strengthening the U.S. Postal Service 60
CREATING A 21ST CENTURY IMMIGRATION SYSTEM 61
PROVIDING A WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION IN EVERY ZIP CODE 64
Guaranteeing Universal Early Childhood Education 65
Supporting High-Quality K-12 Schools Across America 66
Making Higher Education Affordable and Accessible 69
Providing Borrowers Relief from Crushing Student Debt 70
RENEWING AMERICAN LEADERSHIP 72
Revitalizing American Diplomacy 73
Rebuilding America’s Tool of First Resort 73
Reinventing Alliances 74
International Institutions 74
Foreign Assistance and Development 75
Transforming Our Armed Forces for the 21st century 75
Ending Forever Wars 75
Securing our Competitive Edge 76
Defense Spending 77
Keeping Faith with Our Veterans and Military Families 77
Civil-Military Relations 78
Mobilizing the World to Address Transnational Challenges 78
Global Health and Pandemics 78
Climate Change 79
Technology 80
Nonproliferation 81
Terrorism 81
Democracy and Human Rights 82
Advancing American Interests 85
Global Economy and Trade 85
Africa 86
Americas 87
Asia-Pacific 87
Europe 89
Middle East 90
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Democratic National Committee wishes to acknowledge that we gather together to state our values on lands that have been stewarded through many centuries by the ancestors and descendants of Tribal Nations who have been here since time immemorial.
We honor the communities native to this continent, and recognize that our country was built on Indigenous homelands.
We pay our respects to the millions of Indigenous people throughout history who have protected our lands, waters, and animals.
We respectfully acknowledge that we present this Platform at our 2020 Democratic National Convention on the lands of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the Forest County Potawatomi Community, the Ho-Chunk Nation, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the Menominee Nation, the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin, the Sokaogon Chippewa Community, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Band of Mohican Indians.
PREAMBLE
America is an idea—one that has endured and evolved through war and depression, prevailed over fascism and communism, and radiated hope to far distant corners of the earth.
Americans believe that diversity is our greatest strength.
That protest is among the highest forms of patriotism.
That our fates and fortunes are bound to rise and fall together.
That even when we fall short of our highest ideals, we never stop trying to build a more perfect union.
When the American people go to the polls this fall, we will be choosing more than a candidate.
Character is on the ballot in this election.
The character of our President, yes, but more than that: the character of our democracy, our society, and our leadership in the world.
The challenges before us—the worst public health crisis in a century, the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the worst period of global upheaval in a generation, the urgent global crisis posed by climate change, the intolerable racial injustice that still stains the fabric of our nation—will test America’s character like never before.
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare deep-seated problems in our society— the fragility of our economy
and social safety net,
the risks posed by growing inequality,
the impacts of racial and economic disparities on health and well-being,
and the profound consequences of deepening polarization and political paralysis.
The bill has come due on the Trump Administration’s hollowing out of our public institutions:
the sidelining of experts,
the rejection of science,
the underinvestment in research,
and the gross corruption and abuses of power.
President Trump’s dereliction of duty has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, the loss of tens of millions of American jobs, and lasting harm to our children’s education and future.
And it has revealed, at tragic economic and human cost, the emptiness of the Republican Party’s “America First” foreign policy.
Under President Trump, America stands alone.
Friends and foes alike neither admire nor fear President Trump’s leadership—they dismiss and ridicule it.
The Republican Party under President Trump has made America small—
when we are a people called to do the greatest things.
Democrats will fight to repair the soul of this nation.
To unite and to heal our country.
To turn this crisis into a crucible, from which we will forge a stronger, brighter, and more equitable future.
We must right the wrongs in our democracy,
redress the systemic injustices that have long plagued our society,
throw open the doors of opportunity for all Americans,
and reinvent our institutions at home
and our leadership abroad.
We do not simply aspire to return our country to where we were four years ago.
We know we must be bolder and more ambitious.
We must once again stop another Republican recession from becoming a second Great Depression.
President Trump and the Republican Party have rigged the economy in favor of the wealthiest few and the biggest corporations, and left working families and small businesses out in the cold.
Democrats will forge a new social and economic contract with the American people—a contract that creates millions of new jobs
and promotes shared prosperity,
closes racial gaps in income and wealth,
guarantees the right to join or form a union,
raises wages
and ensures equal pay for women
and paid family leave for all,
and safeguards a secure and dignified retirement.
We must guarantee health care not as a privilege for some, but as a right for every single American.
For a century, Democrats have fought to secure universal health care.
In the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump and the Republican Party are trying to tear health care away from millions of people who depend on it for survival.
Democrats will not allow that to happen.
We will not rest until every American can access quality health care and affordable prescription drugs.
We must steel and strengthen our democracy, not distort and debase it.
Democrats believe there is nothing to fear from the voices and votes of the American people.
We will restore the full power of the Voting Rights Act and stamp out voter suppression in all its forms.
We will curb the corrupting influence of money in politics
and protect the integrity of our elections from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
We will never accept political gridlock as our fate.
We will never tire in our fight to deliver results and create opportunity for all Americans.
And we will end the war on government that has politicized our institutions, denigrated public service, and left the American people on their own instead of working to make them whole.
We must heal our nation’s deepest wounds, not fan the flames of hate.
Democrats will root out structural and systemic racism in our economy and our society,
and reform our criminal justice system from top to bottom, because we believe Black lives matter.
We will ensure that our nation continues to prize diversity and compassion,
and welcomes those who yearn to participate in our great democratic experiment by creating a humane, 21st century immigration system that benefits all Americans.
We will give hate no safe harbor.
We will never amplify or legitimize the voices of racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim bigotry, or white supremacy.
Democrats will protect and promote the equal rights of all our citizens—women, LGBTQ+ people, religious minorities, people with disabilities, Native Americans, and all who have been discriminated against in too many ways and for too many generations.
We commit ourselves to the vision articulated by Frederick Douglass of “a Government founded upon justice, and recognizing the equal rights of all.”
We must lead the world in taking on the climate crisis, not deny the science and accelerate the damage.
From Houston, Texas, to Mexico Beach, Florida; from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Davenport, Iowa, the last four years have seen record-breaking storms, devastating wildfires, and historic floods.
Democrats will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement
and go further, building a thriving, equitable, and globally competitive clean energy economy
that puts workers and communities first,
and leaves no one behind.
We must provide a world-class education in every ZIP code, to every child, because education is a critical public good.
Democrats believe in universal early childhood education,
and affordable, high-quality child care.
We will shut down the school-to-prison pipeline, and build a school-to-opportunity pipeline in its place.
We will make college affordable again,
and give Americans relief from crushing student debt.
We commit to a foreign policy that accelerates our domestic renewal, not undermines it.
We will focus on what matters most to Americans—more and better jobs,
greater security
, a cleaner environment,
and a more inclusive and resilient society.
Democrats will lead with diplomacy as our tool of first resort
and mobilize our allies and partners to meet the tests none of us can meet on our own.
We will stand up to the forces of authoritarianism, not aid and abet their rise,
and we will speak and act with clarity and purpose on behalf of human rights wherever they are under threat.
And we will honor our sacred covenant with our women and men in uniform, our veterans, and our military families
who have carried the burdens of wars that must—at long last—come to an end.
Above all, Democrats still believe in the American idea—its principles, its purpose, and its promise.
We know that four more years of the crass, craven, corrupt leadership we have seen from Donald Trump and the Republican Party will damage our character and our country beyond repair.
We pray, as Langston Hughes did, “O, let America be America again—the land that never has been yet—and yet must be—the land where every man is free.”
Democrats call on all Americans to come together and seize this last, best chance to restore the soul of our nation
—and vote this November to ensure our greatest days are still to come.
PROTECTING AMERICANS AND RECOVERING FROM THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
When we do not have competent, experienced, compassionate leaders in government, the American people suffer.
That is the case with the novel coronavirus.
President Trump and his Administration missed multiple opportunities to protect the American people from this deadly pathogen.
Instead of recognizing the danger and confronting it head-on, President Trump lied to the American people about the disease’s severity, its transmissibility, and the threat it posed to lives and livelihoods.
Make no mistake: President Trump’s abject failure to respond forcefully and capably to the COVID-19 pandemic—his failure to lead—makes him responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans.
COVID-19 has laid bare deep fault lines in our economy, our society, and our health care system.
Disparities in health care access, in access to paid sick leave, in environmental quality, in the employment market, and in housing have contributed to disproportionate rates of infection and death among Black Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, and certain Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
President Trump’s failure to pay attention to early intelligence reports about the pandemic wasted critical weeks in which we could have prepared for the outbreak.
Once the pandemic began spreading in the United States, the President’s failure to lay out clear, consistent guidelines for cities, states, businesses, and school districts to control the spread of COVID-19 created widespread confusion and chaos.
His reckless disregard for the advice of public health experts has made it harder for mayors and governors to protect the American people.
Rather than surge the production of personal protective equipment and other critical supplies where they were needed most, the Administration held life-saving resources hostage for political obeisance.
Instead of bringing Americans together, President Trump tried to divide us, using racist and xenophobic rhetoric that has contributed to an increase in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
And in the midst of the pandemic, the Trump Administration is arguing in court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act and rip health coverage away from tens of millions of people.
President Trump and his Administration have also failed to drive an economic response that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge before us,
preferring to act as though the recession caused by his incompetent mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic will correct itself.
He has hung small businesses out to dry while cutting blank checks to the largest corporations;
failed to enact adequate support for public school systems, colleges, universities,
and state and local governments to maintain public services and jobs;
endangered the health of essential workers by failing to enact workplace safety standards;
and neglected to protect working families from economic ruin.
Democrats will save lives by using every available tool to beat back this pandemic, which continues to sicken and kill hundreds of Americans per day,
and lead a global effort to prevent, detect, and respond to future pandemic threats.
We must start by making COVID-19 testing widely available, convenient, and free to everyone.
We must also expand funding so state and local public health departments can hire sufficient staff to conduct contact tracing for everyone who tests positive for the novel coronavirus.
Only through widespread, regular testing and tracing can we hope to understand the scope of the pandemic and contain it.
In a public health crisis, we all have to rely on each other.
That’s why Democrats support making COVID-19 testing, treatment, and any eventual vaccines free to everyone, regardless of their wealth, insurance coverage, or immigration status.
We are all only as safe from this disease as are the most vulnerable among us.
It has always been a crisis that tens of millions of Americans have no or inadequate health insurance—but in a pandemic, it’s catastrophic for public health.
The current crisis would be even worse without the Affordable Care Act in place.
But in the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans need even more help, which is why Democrats will take immediate action to preserve and expand health insurance coverage.
We will provide direct, increased support to states to enroll eligible adults in Medicaid,
have the federal government cover a higher percentage of the bill,
and add incentives for states which have not yet expanded Medicaid to do so.
For people who risk losing their insurance coverage if they lose their jobs in this pandemic and in President Trump’s recession, Democrats believe the federal government should pick up 100 percent of the tab for COBRA insurance, which keeps people on their employer-sponsored plans, without restrictions.
We will re-open the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, even outside of the normal open enrollment season, and expand subsidies to make it easier for people to buy health coverage.
Democrats will also make available on the marketplace a public option administered through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) which includes a platinum-level choice, with low fees and no deductibles.
Low-income Americans will be automatically enrolled in the public option at zero cost to them, though they may choose to opt out at any time.
We will keep these emergency measures in place until the pandemic ends and unemployment falls significantly.
And should the United States find itself in another pandemic or severe economic downturn in the future, these protections will be made automatically available, so Americans are never again left to fend for themselves in times of crisis.
Democrats are appalled that President Trump failed to act on the advice of Congress to maintain a strong stockpile of critical medical supplies, including personal protective equipment,
or adequately surge U.S. manufacturing of needed equipment through tools like the Defense Production Act.
The resulting equipment shortages endangered millions of lives, including those of our brave frontline health care workers and other essential workers.
Such shortages are unacceptable and must never happen again.
Democrats will direct the federal government to work with private-sector manufacturers to dramatically scale up the United States’ domestic manufacturing capacity for both personal protective equipment and essential medicines.
We will restore federal leadership to ensure medical supplies are distributed according to need, not political favoritism,
and never put states in the position of having to compete against each other for life-saving materials.
Democrats will aggressively enforce non-discrimination protections in the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws,
especially when designing emergency management systems and new facilities and services in response to the pandemic.
Democrats will prohibit unjustified segregation of patients with disabilities,
and additionally prohibit rationing of health care that refuses or diverts hospitalization, treatment, or supplies based on a patient’s disability.
We recognize people with disabilities living in group homes and other care facilities are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19,
and that people with disabilities may require additional resources to protect their health, well-being, and independence during the pandemic.
We will improve oversight and expand protections for residents and staff at nursing homes, which have seen some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks.
And we will expand support for telemedicine, so Americans do not have to go without essential health care during the pandemic.
America must never again be left vulnerable to a global pandemic.
Democrats believe we must follow the informed advice of scientists and public health experts,
and will take steps to protect federal scientists from political influence.
Democrats will act swiftly to stand up a comprehensive, national public health surveillance program for COVID-19 and future infectious diseases.
We will recruit at least 100,000 contact tracers with support from trusted local organizations in the communities most at risk to help state and local health departments use culturally competent approaches to identify people at risk of contracting or spreading the coronavirus.
Democrats believe we must reverse decades of underinvestment in America’s public health infrastructure.
We will substantially increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
and for state and local public health departments, many of which suffered deep budget cuts during the Great Recession and are at risk of further cuts as a result of President Trump’s recession.
State and local public health departments should be given sufficient resources to address pandemic diseases and other public health crises through coordinated efforts
that are inclusive of underrepresented groups who may be disproportionately impacted.
Democrats will support medical and public health research grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), which are particularly well suited to research health disparities in the context of COVID-19.
Solving the public health crisis posed by the pandemic is the surest way to get the economy back on track.
Countries that have taken aggressive measures to address the COVID-19 pandemic and stop chains of infection from spreading are poised to have stronger, faster recoveries than the United States.
But containing the pandemic won’t be enough to repair the damage President Trump has done to our economy and to the American people—or to build back better.
During acute economic downturns, Democrats believe that we must take care of our workforce and aim to keep workers whole.
We will reform the current unemployment insurance system to enable more workers to remain attached to their jobs,
including by promoting payroll support and work-sharing programs with generous rates of wage replacement and requirements that employers maintain workers’ benefits.
For those workers who do lose their jobs, we will expand the unemployment insurance system to cover more workers, including independent contractors and gig, part-time, and tipped workers;
make sure platform companies and companies that misclassify employees as contractors pay in to support the system like other employers do
; and raise wage replacement rates, which are far too low in many states.
We will expand, not cut, nutrition assistance and food security programs that millions of Americans are relying on in this crisis.
Democrats will also make long-overdue investments to upgrade and modernize states’ unemployment system technology
and ensure the Department of Labor conducts strong oversight of state unemployment systems to make sure that unemployed workers can quickly and efficiently access the benefits they are owed.
To prevent President Trump’s recession from becoming a depression, Democrats believe we must act immediately to make ambitious investments that will support and create jobs.
We urgently need to support state and local governments, which are suffering severe budget shortfalls due to declines in tax revenues while being asked to shoulder the burden of COVID-related services and rising unemployment.
State and local budget cuts translate quickly into lost jobs in education, health care, and social services—all fields where we need to be adding jobs to meet the needs of the American people.
Democrats will extend significant aid to state and local governments,
school districts
, and public and nonprofit colleges and universities, including HBCUs and MSIs,
to address these budget shortfalls
and secure jobs.
We will condition state and federal aid on maintaining and expanding public-sector employment, including provisions to protect workers’ rights.
In states and cities across the country, too many parents are being forced to choose between keeping their jobs and keeping their children safe.
Democrats believe that making child care affordable and widely available is essential to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
We will provide funding to stabilize the sector and ensure child care and educational settings are able to meet the highest possible public health and worker safety standards to protect the health of care workers, children, parents, and the broader community.
The United States is facing an unprecedented housing crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and President Trump's recession, with millions of families at risk of being evicted.
We support state and local measures to freeze rent increases, evictions, utility shutoffs, and late fees for rent, to prevent families from becoming homeless and making the pandemic even worse.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit small businesses especially hard.
Democrats support making significant, immediate grants and loans to help small businesses make payroll, pay rent and other expenses, and keep their doors open when possible.
Some estimates indicate as many as 40 percent of Black-owned small businesses may not survive President Trump’s recession, and small businesses owned by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and Latinos are also at risk.
Democrats will prioritize support for Black entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurs of color,
as well as women entrepreneurs
, including by expanding funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and other proven programs that invest in low-income communities and communities of color.
We will impose rigorous oversight on big corporations seeking financial assistance to weather the pandemic and President Trump’s recession,
to ensure that federal dollars support keeping workers on payroll, not enriching CEOs or shareholders.
Taxpayer money should not be used to pay out dividends, fund stock buybacks, or give raises to executives.
No one should have to choose between protecting their health and earning a living.
Paid sick leave is a necessity even under normal circumstances, but in a pandemic, it’s a matter of national security.
This is especially true for the Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Native American, and low-income workers who are less likely to be able to work from home.
We will immediately enact robust paid sick leave protections as part of the COVID-19 response for all workers in the economy, including contractors, gig workers, domestic workers, and the self-employed.
And Democrats will take immediate action to protect essential workers on the job where the Trump Administration has neglected them, from agriculture to meatpacking plants to manufacturing facilities to hospitals,
including by issuing and enforcing effective infectious disease workplace safety standards through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
As millions of Americans have stayed at home to prevent the spread of the pandemic, it is plain to see that in the 21st century, an accessible internet is not optional: it is a vital tool for receiving an education and for participating in the economy, and all Americans need access to high-speed, affordable broadband service.
Democrats will take action to prevent states from blocking municipalities and rural co-ops from building publicly-owned broadband networks,
and increase federal support for municipal broadband
while requiring that funding recipients adhere to policies that support good jobs and include strong protections for workers’ right to organize.
We will increase public investment in rural, urban, and Tribal broadband infrastructure,
offer low-income Americans subsidies for accessing high-speed internet
, and invest in digital literacy training programs,
so children and families and people with disabilities can fully participate in school, work, and life from their homes.
And Democrats will restore the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) clear authority to take strong enforcement action against broadband providers who violate net neutrality principles through blocking, throttling, paid prioritization, or other measures that create artificial scarcity and raise consumer prices for this vital service.
President Trump and his Administration have not only failed the American people, they have failed the world.
In past public health crises, including the Ebola epidemic, disciplined American diplomacy shaped and led a common global response, rallied public and private resources, accelerated research into treatments and vaccines, and directed global emergency aid.
In the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump not only failed to lead, he actively sabotaged global efforts to slow the pandemic.
He refused to work with our partners to identify and coordinate manufacture of potential vaccines;
allegedly tried to poach exclusive rights to a vaccine candidate from our ally Germany;
cut CDC and State Department programs for early identification of infectious pathogens;
withdrew funding and support for the World Health Organization (WHO);
and tried to distract from his dereliction of duty by drawing from the authoritarian playbook he so admires
—using racist rhetoric to blame “outsiders” and stoke divisions at home.
Democrats will take the opposite tack by restoring American leadership,
driving a coordinated global health and economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
and ensuring that we’re far better prepared for future global health emergencies.
BUILDING A STRONGER, FAIRER ECONOMY
The economy is not working for the American people.
In a matter of weeks, the abject failure of President Trump and his Administration to competently respond to the COVID-19 pandemic erased all the job gains made since the Obama-Biden Administration pulled the country out of the Great Recession,
and plunged the economy into recession once more.
President Trump inherited the longest economic expansion in American history from the Obama-Biden Administration, and he squandered it.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, President Trump was presiding over a recession in the manufacturing sector,
after years of growth in the Obama-Biden Administration.
He had the audacity to pay for a permanent tax cut for big business by raising taxes on working families.
He launched a reckless trade war with China that cost more than 300,000 American jobs
and sent farmers into bankruptcy, decimating the American heartland.
He has left our communities vulnerable and exposed to the impacts of climate change,
let other countries outpace us in the clean energy revolution America should be leading
, and completely failed to fulfill his campaign promise to the American people to invest in rebuilding and modernizing our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
But our economy was rigged against working families and the middle class even before the novel coronavirus sickened millions and killed more than 150,000 Americans and counting.
Working families’ incomes have been largely stagnant for decades,
while the cost of basic needs—from housing to health care, higher education to child care—keep rising at precipitous rates.
Meanwhile, the rich have been capturing a larger and larger share of the economic pie, with incomes for the top one percent growing five times faster than those of the bottom 90 percent.
America bills itself as the land of opportunity, but intergenerational mobility has plummeted;
children born in the United States are less likely to move up the income ladder than those in Canada, Denmark, or the United Kingdom.
Women still earn just 82 cents to every dollar men earn, with even greater disparities for women of color.
Median incomes are lower and poverty rates are higher for Black Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and certain Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, compared to median white households.
And there is a persistent, pernicious racial wealth gap that holds millions of Americans back, with the typical white household holding six times more wealth than the typical Latino family and 10 times more wealth than the typical Black family.
President Trump’s recession threatens to deepen existing inequities, as Black and Latino workers are less likely to work in jobs that can be done safely from home,
less likely to have savings to fall back on,
and less likely to be able to access unemployment insurance and other emergency programs electronically.
That’s bad for our economy,
bad for our democracy
, and bad for the soul of our nation.
That is why Democrats commit to forging a new social and economic contract with the American people—
a contract that invests in the people and promotes shared prosperity , not one that benefits only big corporations and the wealthiest few.
One that affirms housing is a right and not a privilege,
and which makes a commitment that no one will be homeless or go hungry in the richest country on earth.
A new economic contract that raises wages
and restores workers’ rights to organize, join a union, and collectively bargain.
One that at last supports working families and the middle class by securing equal pay for women
and paid family leave for all.
A new economic contract that provides access for all to reliable and affordable banking and financial services.
A new social and economic contract that at last grapples honestly with America’s long and ongoing history of racism and disenfranchisement, of segregation and discrimination,
and invests instead in building equity and mobility for the people of color who have been left out and left behind for generations.
Democrats stand ready to take immediate, decisive action to pull the economy out of President Trump’s recession
by investing in infrastructure
, care work,
clean energy,
and small businesses
to put Americans to work in good-paying jobs
; shoring up state and local budgets to save jobs
and protect public health in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic;
and enacting fundamental reforms to address structural and systemic racism and entrenched income and wealth inequality in our economy and our banking system.
Protecting Workers and Families and Creating Millions of Jobs Across America
Americans deserve an economy that works for everyone—not just for the wealthy and the well-connected.
But our system has been rigged against the American people.
Democrats believe that it is a moral and an economic imperative that we support working families by rebuilding the American middle class for the 21st century,
making sure this time that everyone can make it and thrive, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, national origin, age, or ZIP code.
Raising Wages and Promoting Workers’ Rights
Democrats will fight to raise wages for working people
and improve job quality and security,
including by raising the federal minimum wage so it reaches $15 an hour by 2026.
Raising the federal minimum wage, so fewer workers are forced to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet, will significantly decrease risks of infection from COVID-19 and in the future.
We know that strong American labor unions help increase wages and job standards for workers across the economy,
which is why Democrats will prioritize passing the PRO Act
and restoring workers’ rights, including the right to launch secondary boycotts.
We will repeal so-called “right to work” laws that undermine worker power and lead to lower wages and less protection for workers across the economy,
and ensure those who have been left without wage and hour protections for decades—including domestic workers and farmworkers—have the same rights as other workers.
Democrats will support legislation to strengthen whistleblower and anti-retaliation protections for workers who speak for themselves or their coworkers.
And we will take action to rein in anti-competitive corporate power by rewriting the rules that have undermined workers’ ability to advocate for themselves, including non-compete clauses, no-poaching agreements, and contracts that force workers into mandatory arbitration to resolve violations of employment laws.
Democrats will recognize unions with majority sign-up—via “card check” processes—
and ban captive audience meetings, which employers use to bully and browbeat workers.
We will hold executives personally accountable if they interfere in workers’ efforts to organize, including issuing criminal penalties for intentional obstruction.
We will take action to guarantee that when workers come to the table, they are able to bargain with the employers who actually hold the power, including franchisors,
and penalize companies that bargain in bad faith with their workers.
Democrats will vigorously protect all private-sector workers’ right to strike without fear of coercion, interference, and undue delay.
We will also establish the federal government's role in promoting and facilitating collective bargaining and helping the parties bring their negotiations to a rapid and successful conclusion,
committing to a high standard for intervening in strikes, including under the Railway Labor Act.
The right of workers to come together and form a union is under attack.
We must unrig the rules that block workers from having the union they want and update our labor laws to make it more possible.
We must change labor law so that it is easier for unions and employers to enter into multi-employer agreements establishing minimum workplace standards related to wages, benefits, and working conditions.
Democrats believe taxpayer dollars should never flow to employers who steal workers’ wages, violate labor laws, engage in union-busting, or exploit immigrant workers to depress working conditions for all workers.
We will increase funding and staffing at the Department of Labor to aggressively enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules across the economy.
Democrats believe employees who are being misclassified, including gig and platform workers, deserve wage and workplace protections including minimum wage and overtime pay,
and we support using the ABC test to determine employee status.
Democrats believe that all workers should be able to hold their employers accountable for unpaid or underpaid wages, regardless of corporate structure.
We support using grants and collaborative relationships with community organizations to ensure that workers know their rights and responsibilities under the law.
Democrats will strengthen labor rights for the more than 20 million public-sector employees in the United States by passing the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would provide a federal guarantee for public-sector employees to bargain for better pay and benefits and the working conditions they deserve.
We cannot hope to raise wages without taking on the profound racial biases at work in our employment system.
The wage gap between Black workers and white workers is higher today than it was 20 years ago.
It takes a typical Black woman 19 months to earn what a typical white man earns in 12 months—and for typical Latinas and Native American women, it takes almost two years.
Democrats believe we need to be much more proactive and aggressive in rooting out discrimination in our employment system.
We will increase funding to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
and increase its authority to initiate directed investigations into civil rights violations, violations of the rights of people with disabilities, and violations against LGBTQ+ people, especially transgender women of color.
Federal contractors should be required to develop and disclose plans to recruit and promote people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and veterans —and be held accountable for delivering.
Enacting Robust Work-Family Policies
The United States is alone among advanced economies in guaranteeing neither paid sick leave nor paid family leave for all workers.
This puts excessive burdens on working families, and especially working mothers, even in the best of times,
and is catastrophic for public health in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democrats will implement paid sick days
and a high-quality, comprehensive, and inclusive paid family and medical leave system that protects workers from the unfair choice between attending to urgent health or caretaking needs and earning a paycheck.
We will fight to ensure workers are guaranteed at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers and family units, to enable new parents to recover from childbirth and bond with their newborns, foster or adopted children, and allow all workers to take extended time off to care for themselves or ailing loved ones..
Finding and paying for high-quality child care is an emotional, logistical, and financial tightrope for too many parents, and that needs to change.
Working parents shouldn’t have to choose between keeping their kids safe and earning a paycheck.
Democrats will make major investments in quality, affordable child care,
including by significantly increasing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
and providing access to affordable, high-quality child care on a sliding scale
by boosting funding for grants to states to help low-income and middle-class families afford child care.
We will improve compensation and benefits for child care providers
and enact universal, high-quality pre-K programs for three- and four-year-olds.
We will also invest in expanding long-term services and supports and home and community-based care for seniors and people with disabilities.
Democrats will increase wages and benefits for paid caregivers in all settings, which will improve working conditions and quality of care while enabling family members to rejoin the workforce.
Investing in the Engines of Job Creation
Democrats believe the COVID-19 pandemic, and President Trump’s recession, demand unprecedented, transformational federal investments to create family-sustaining and union jobs.
We believe that the world’s richest nation should have the world’s best infrastructure system.
That’s why we will invest in resilient, sustainable, and inclusive infrastructure.
Democrats will launch a clean energy revolution through historic investments in clean energy, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and advanced manufacturing.
We will repair, modernize, and expand our highways, roads, bridges, and airports,
including by installing 500,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles
, ensuring our passenger transportation systems are resilient to the impacts of climate change,
and using safe, modern design approaches that allow drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and others to safely share the road.
We will launch our country’s second great railroad revolution by investing in high-speed rail and passenger and freight rail systems,
and commit to public transportation as a public good
, including ensuring transit jobs are good jobs.
This railroad revolution will reduce pollution,
connect workers to good union jobs ,
slash commute times,
and spur investment in rural communities that will now be better linked to major metropolitan areas.
Democrats will invest to ensure passenger transportation, including public transit, is affordable to all
and accessible to people with disabilities.
We will help transform Amtrak from a laggard to a leader in passenger rail accessibility
and ensure people with disabilities can receive compensation when disability equipment, like wheelchairs, are lost or damaged by transportation carriers.
Democrats will upgrade our nation’s ports, lock and dam systems, and freight infrastructure to accommodate 21st century cargo,
reduce air and water pollution
, and create and maintain high-quality, good-paying jobs.
We will increase demand for American-made ships by ensuring U.S. cargo is carried on ships flying our flag.
We will make sure that every community in America has access to clean, reliable drinking water and safe wastewater systems in their homes, including by replacing dangerous lead pipes.
We will increase investment in innovative water technologies, including water use efficiency, water conservation, and water reuse and recycling, that reduce water waste and consumer bills.
We will modernize and green our public schools,
and ensure they are accessible to students with disabilities.
And Democrats will close the digital divide that deprives more than 20 million Americans of high-speed internet access by investing in broadband and 5G technology, including rural and municipal broadband,
while ensuring those investments support good jobs
and include strong protections for workers’ rights to organize,
and restoring the FCC’s authority to take strong enforcement action against internet service providers who violate net neutrality principles.
Democrats support the creation of an infrastructure bank, a public bank that will leverage public and private resources to build infrastructure projects of national or regional significance,
including in rail and transit,
clean energy and water infrastructure,
broadband
, and affordable housing.
Projects that receive assistance from the bank will be required to follow Buy America
and Buy Clean provisions,
pay Davis-Bacon prevailing wages,
utilize project labor agreements,
and ensure employers remain neutral in workers’ organizing efforts.
All federally supported infrastructure projects, whether existing or newly developed, financed through grants, loans, tax incentives, or a national infrastructure bank, should create good, union jobs that expand the middle class.
That is why Democrats will ensure labor protections, Davis-Bacon wage standards, project labor agreements, collective bargaining neutrality, and domestic sourcing requirements are included in any infrastructure legislation,
and will block anti-worker provisions, including forced arbitration.
As we expand the clean energy technology
and infrastructure industry;
we will fight to enact legislation that will drive the creation of family sustaining jobs, with the high road labor standards with the provisions defined in the Good Jobs for the 21st Century Energy Act.
Democrats support transparent, accountable, and sound management of publicly owned infrastructure and assets,
and will ensure that local jurisdictions are adequately protected from partisan power grabs seeking to strip them of those assets.
We will ensure robust federal oversight of any proposed transfers of ownership or operations,
and will oppose any policy that promotes the privatization of public services or infrastructure.
Democrats believe more products in our homes, stores, workplaces, and communities should be stamped “Made in America”
and will expand support for American manufacturing.
We will end policies that incentivize offshoring,
and instead accelerate onshoring of critical supply chains , including in medical supplies and pharmaceuticals.
We will expand effective tax credits that support domestic manufacturing
and grow rural manufacturing jobs through investments in bio-based manufacturing.
We will invest in innovation hubs and government programs to provide small manufacturers with technical and business expertise so they can grow their revenues and their workforces.
Democrats support robust Buy America and Buy Clean standards for federally supported projects, which help increase demand for domestically produced and low-pollution raw materials.
To ensure all workers can access the good jobs that will be created and supported by these investments and build a diverse pipeline of talent across the economy, Democrats will invest in career and technical education
and high-quality job training programs with formal worker representation in program development, including pre-apprenticeship opportunities and registered apprenticeships .
We believe in the value of lifelong learning, and will increase investments to support adult literacy and other skills development programs.
Democrats know that small businesses are among the best job creators in our country.
We will significantly boost funding for state small business grant and lending initiatives that generate tens of billions of dollars of private-sector investment,
especially for small businesses owned by women and people of color.
We will increase access to credit for small businesses in low-income and rural areas, including for unbanked or underbanked businesses.
And we will increase funding for programs supporting businesses owned by women and people of color,
including ending the Trump Administration’s effort to starve the Minority Business Development Agency,
improving and expanding Small Business Administration (SBA) programs that most effectively support women- and minority-owned businesses,
and increasing opportunities for women- and minority-owned businesses to obtain or participate in federal contracts.
Democrats will invest in the American heartland and rural communities.
We will make it easier for new and beginning farmers, aquaculture farmers, ranchers, and foresters, including returning veterans, to start and grow their operations by expanding U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ownership and operating loan programs.
Recognizing the history of racial discrimination in USDA’s core farming programs, Democrats will continue the reform efforts started under the Obama-Biden Administration to ensure USDA takes a more proactive approach to supporting training and resources for farmers of color.
We will protect family farms and promote food security,
including by taking steps to limit foreign ownership of U.S. farmland
and reforming agricultural subsidies to better support small- and mid-sized farms.
Democrats believe farmers should have the right to repair their own farming equipment, rather than being forced to rely on large corporations for even the simplest fixes.
And we will expand domestic markets for family farmers and ranchers by developing and growing regional food systems to deliver fresh, American-grown produce to schools, hospitals, Department of Defense installations, and other major public institutions, so small, mid-size, and traditional farmers can stay competitive.
Democrats will partner with America’s farmers, ranchers, and foresters to make the U.S. agriculture sector the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions, which will spark a revolution in agriculture
and open up new revenue streams for farmers in energy and waste products
, and grow bio-based manufacturing jobs.
We will grow the nation’s biofuels manufacturing sector,
including by strengthening the Renewable Fuel Standard,
supporting E15 blends
, and supporting research, development, and deployment of advanced biofuels.
We will expand popular, voluntary programs for sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices
that help protect clean air and water and support wildlife habitats, including for threatened pollinators.
Democrats will invest in research and development to support climate-resilient, sustainable, low-carbon, and organic agricultural methods.
America’s farmworkers are essential to our economy, our communities, and our security.
We will enforce labor and environmental protections for farmworkers, including overtime and safety rules protecting workers from exposure to pesticides and extreme heat,
and ensure farmworkers are able to exercise their right to bargain collectively.
Democrats will empower small and mid-size family farms by tackling market concentration in agriculture,
including by strengthening enforcement of the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts
and the Packers and Stockyards Act.
We will also review federal guidelines to improve workers safety at facilities that raise and process meat for consumption,
and use the federal government’s procurement power to incentivize the humane treatment of farm animals in accordance with commercially-recognized animal welfare standards.
The United States has long been a world leader in science, technology, research, and innovation.
Democrats oppose the Trump Administration’s efforts to undermine federal scientific research institutions, apply political screens to research grants, and interfere with the work of career scientists—actions which have a chilling effect on scientific discovery
and are damaging to America’s economic competitiveness.
Democrats will support historic federal investments in research, development, demonstration, and deployment, which will break new frontiers of science
and create jobs across the country in aerospace, artificial intelligence, advanced materials, biotechnology,
and clean energy and clean vehicles.
Democrats support public investments in technology and innovation that help create a stronger economy for all Americans.
We will support women innovators and innovators of color,
encourage diversity in technology,
and promote business models that reinvest in low-income communities and communities of color.
Democrats continue to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and are committed to continuing space exploration and discovery.
We believe in continuing the spirit of discovery that has animated NASA’s human space exploration, in addition to its scientific and medical research, technological innovation, and educational mission that allows us to better understand our own planet and place in the universe.
We will strengthen support for the United States' role in space through our continued presence on the International Space Station,
working in partnership with the international community to continue scientific and medical innovation.
We support NASA's work to return Americans to the moon and go beyond to Mars, taking the next step in exploring our solar system.
Democrats additionally support strengthening NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth observation missions to better understand how climate change is impacting our home planet.
Building A Fair System of International Trade for Our Workers
For too long, the global trading system has failed to keep its promises to American workers.
Too many corporations have rushed to outsource jobs,
and too many countries have broken their promises to be honest and transparent partners.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown the risks of relying too heavily on global supply chains, as shutdowns and shortages have created chaos for workers and consumers
and made our public health response even more challenging.
The Trump Administration has failed time after time to deliver for American workers on this crucial issue,
siding with corporate interests over our workers
and launching a trade war with China that they have no plan for winning
—creating incredible hardship for American farmers, manufacturers, workers, and consumers in the process.
Democrats will pursue a trade policy that puts workers first.
We will negotiate strong and enforceable standards for labor,
human rights,
and the environment in the core text of our trade deals.
Future trade agreements should build on the pro-labor provisions added to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by Democratic members of Congress.
Democrats will take aggressive action against China or any other country that tries to undercut American manufacturing by manipulating their currencies and maintaining a misaligned exchange rate with the dollar,
dumping products like steel and aluminum in our markets
, or providing unfair subsidies.
Unlike President Trump, we will stand up to efforts from China and other state actors to steal America’s intellectual property
and will demand China and other countries cease and desist from conducting cyberespionage against our companies.
We will eliminate President Trump’s tax and trade policies that encourage big corporations to ship jobs overseas and evade paying their fair share of taxes.
If companies shut down their operations here and outsource jobs, we’ll claw back any public investments or benefits they received from taxpayers.
And we will take immediate action to repair the damage President Trump’s reckless policies have done to American farmers, by working with our allies to stand up to China and negotiate from the strongest possible position.
Putting Homeownership in Reach and Guaranteeing Safe Housing for Every American
Homeownership is at the center of the American Dream
—and yet it has never been in reach for all.
Decades of red-lining, rising income inequality, and predatory lending practices targeting low-income families and people of color have made homeownership all but impossible for millions of working families.
Homeownership has long been central to building generational wealth, and expanding access to homeownership to those who have been unfairly excluded and discriminated against is critical to closing the racial wealth gap.
We have a nationwide shortage of affordable housing units,
and tens of millions of Americans live in homes that pose risks to their health and safety.
Homelessness has reached crisis proportions in a growing number of states,
and housing costs that rise faster than wages have put the squeeze on renters in many of our biggest cities.
Housing in America should be stable, accessible, safe, healthy, energy efficient, and, above all, affordable.
No one should have to spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, so families have ample resources left to meet their other needs and save for retirement.
Democrats believe the government should take aggressive steps to increase the supply of housing, especially affordable housing,
and address long-standing economic and racial inequities in our housing markets.
We support innovative approaches to eliminating the racial wealth gap in America.
Rehabilitating housing and expansion of housing owned by land trusts will increase the amount of housing available for secure homeownership.
We will equalize access to affordable credit
and improve access to down payment assistance to help families of color, low-income families, and rural buyers purchase homes.
We will increase funding for assistance to first-time purchasers and homeowners to navigate the financing and servicing of their homes.
We will create a new tax credit of up to $15,000 to help first-time homebuyers,
and will make the tax credit refundable and advanceable, so buyers can get assistance at the time of purchase, instead of having to wait until they file their taxes.
Democrats will supercharge investment in the Housing Trust Fund to greatly expand the number of affordable, accessible housing units on the market.
We will expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to incentivize private-sector construction of affordable housing,
and make sure urban, suburban, and rural areas all benefit.
We will make energy efficiency upgrades for millions of low-income households, affordable housing units, and public housing units in metropolitan and rural areas to save families money on their energy bills
and provide safe and healthy homes.
And Democrats will leverage existing programs, including at USDA, to build more affordable, accessible housing
and retrofit existing housing in rural areas.
We will ensure all federally supported housing projects, from new builds to retrofits, include mandatory requirements for labor standards,
accessibility,
and civil rights protections.
Democrats are committed to ending homelessness in America.
Democrats commit to providing Section 8 housing support for every eligible family,
and will enact protections to keep landlords from discriminating against voucher recipients.
We will increase investments in public housing to expand availability for the first time since the 1990s,
and improve and upgrade existing public housing to ensure safe living conditions for residents
, protecting tenants’ rights to return if extensive renovations are needed.
Democrats support a housing-first approach to ending homelessness, because having a stable and safe place to live is essential to helping a person tackle any other challenges they may face, from mental illness to substance use disorders to post-traumatic stress disorder.
We will act swiftly to end homelessness among veterans
and will enact strong protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth, especially Black, Latino, and Native American LGBTQ+ youth, who too often find themselves on the streets.
Democrats will enact a new Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights to protect families from abusive lenders and landlords.
We will empower renters by working to establish a national tenant right to organize,
and support outreach and education to help tenants advocate to preserve and expand affordable housing.
And Democrats will provide legal support to fight wrongful evictions.
America’s history of using public policy and private lending restrictions to close neighborhoods off to Black families and other people of color and strip equity from their communities is long, painful, and unresolved to this day.
The Trump Administration has made matters worse by gutting fair lending and fair housing protections for homeowners.
Democrats will vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act , the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, and the disparate impact standard,
and hold lenders accountable for discriminatory practices.
We will also ensure that federal housing programs are better designed to affirmatively further fair housing.
We will use the federal government to enforce settlements against discriminatory lenders,
and require communities to proactively review housing patterns
and remedy local policies that have a discriminatory effect.
We will work to ensure that residential property and mortgage ownership records are publicly available and easily accessible, so that homeowners can always know who services their mortgage and who truly owns their debt.
Democrats will give local elected officials tools and resources to combat gentrification, penalize predatory lending practices, and maintain homeownership,
including exploring targeted rental relief when exorbitant rent increases force long-term residents from their communities
and tackling persistent racial bias in appraisals that contributes to the racial wealth gap.
Leveling the Economic Playing Field
The U.S. economy is rigged against the American people.
Time after time, President Trump and the Republicans have rewarded big corporations and their wealthy donors, and left working families behind.
Democrats will take decisive action to level the playing field for people of color, working families, women, small business owners, and others who have been left on the sidelines.
Reforming the Tax Code to Benefit Working Families
Our tax system has been rigged against the American people by big corporations and their lobbyists,
and by Republican politicians who dole out tax cuts to their biggest donors while leaving working families to struggle.
Democrats will take action to reverse the Trump Administration’s tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest Americans
and rewarding corporations for shipping American jobs overseas.
We will crack down on overseas tax havens
and close loopholes that are exploited by the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations.
We will make sure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.
We will make sure investors pay the same tax rates as workers
and bring an end to expensive and unproductive tax loopholes, including the carried interest loophole.
Corporate tax rates, which were cut sharply by the 2017 Republican tax cut, must be raised,
and “trickle-down” tax cuts must be rejected.
Estate taxes should also be raised back to the historical norm.
Democrats will reform the tax code to be more progressive and equitable,
and reduce barriers for working families to benefit from targeted tax breaks, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.
Our program of reform will provide immediate, marked relief for working families, including more generous, refundable tax credits to benefit low- and middle-income families,
and easier and more equitable access to tax provisions that help working families build wealth,
including by equalizing tax benefits for retirement contributions
and providing more accessible tax breaks for homeownership.
Curbing Wall Street Abuses
The scars of the financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession are still present in our economy and our society.
Financial institutions should never be “too big to fail.”
Democrats will work to reverse the over-financialization of the American economy and curb Wall Street speculation by maintaining and expanding safeguards that separate retail banking institutions from more risky investment operations,
and ensuring Wall Street investors pay their fair share in taxes.
We will strengthen and enforce the Obama-Biden Administration’s Dodd-Frank financial reform law, including the Volcker Rule, to protect American workers from the impacts of future financial crises,
and will support an updated and modernized version of Glass-Steagall.
And when justified by the law, we will back criminal penalties for reckless executives who illegally gamble with the savings and economic security of their clients and American communities.
Democrats will expand access to credit by creating a public credit reporting agency to provide a non-discriminatory credit reporting alternative to the private agencies,
and will require its use by all federal lending programs, including home lending and student loans.
And we will strengthen banking regulations, including the Community Reinvestment Act, to ensure equitable access to credit and banking products for all Americans,
and reinvigorate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to ensure that banks, financial institutions, and lenders cannot prey on consumers.
We commit to revisit and repeal sections of existing bankruptcy law that frequently lead to debtors losing their home as the result of medical debt, divorce, job loss, or just bad luck.
We will also give bankruptcy judges the authority to "cram down," or modify, mortgages for primary residences during bankruptcy proceedings, so working families can benefit from the same debt relief tools currently available to those who own assets like vacation homes and yachts.
Ending Poverty
Democrats remain committed to ending poverty
and enabling all Americans to live up to their God-given potential.
We recognize that the official poverty rate, as measured and communicated by the federal government, fails to capture critical needs like housing, education, health care, transportation, energy, and other necessities, and therefore understates the true share of Americans living in poverty.
We will support the 10-20-30 funding approach, to direct at least 10 percent of federal funding to communities where 20 percent or more of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years or longer.
Directing more federal investment to the communities most in need will help create jobs;
improve and expand housing;
modernize and expand transportation, clean water, wastewater, energy, and broadband infrastructure;
and promote shared prosperity.
We will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour
and guarantee equal pay for women,
two measures that in combination will pull millions of families out of poverty.
We will make it easier for working families to benefit from targeted tax breaks, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, which too often go unclaimed by the lowest-income tax filers.
We will significantly expand affordable housing
and build new public housing for the first time since the 1990s,
and guarantee Section 8 benefits to all who qualify
—all of which will help reduce housing costs and increase housing availability for low-income families.
Democrats believe health care is a human right.
We will incentivize states to expand Medicaid
and enroll low-income people who do not otherwise have health insurance in a new, high-quality public option without premiums.
We will double investments in community health centers and rural health centers, and expand mobile health units, to make it easier for low-income people to access health care.
In the wealthiest country on earth, it is a moral abomination that any child could ever go to bed hungry.
Democrats will increase funding for food assistance programs, including SNAP, WIC, and school meals.
We will also remove barriers that keep the formerly incarcerated from accessing food assistance.
Cuts to the Legal Services Corporation have imperiled access to justice in civil court for low-income defendants and litigants alike in matters concerning access to public benefits and housing, eviction proceedings, and custodial cases.
Democrats will significantly increase investment in the Legal Services Corporation to ensure those who cannot afford private representation can nevertheless equitably access the civil justice system and have their day in court.
Democrats will provide substantially higher levels of support for programs and institutions that boost economic development in America’s most impoverished communities,
including by doubling funding for CDFIs, expanding the Community Development Block Grant, increasing the number of Rural Business Investment Companies, and expanding and making permanent the New Markets Tax Credit.
One in four American households are either unbanked or underbanked, putting them at risk of losing money due to exorbitant fees or usurious interest rates.
Democrats will support and encourage efforts in Congress to guarantee affordable, transparent, and trustworthy banking services that are language-accessible for low- and middle-income families,
including bank accounts and real-time payment systems through the Federal Reserve
and easily accessible service locations, like postal banking.
Protecting Consumer Rights and Privacy
Consumers, workers, students, retirees, and investors who have been mistreated by businesses should never be denied their right to fight for fair treatment under the law.
Democrats will support efforts to eliminate the use of forced arbitration clauses in employment and service contracts, which unfairly strip consumers, workers, students, retirees, and investors of their right to their day in court.
In the 21st century—and especially in the COVID-19 pandemic—it is all but impossible for consumers, students, workers, and people with disabilities to opt out of using the internet to shop, socialize, learn, work, bank, and live.
Democrats are committed to policies that will protect individuals’ privacy and data rights
while continuing to support and enable innovation
and improve accessibility in the technology sector.
We will update the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights proposed by the Obama-Biden Administration,
including adding strong national standards to protect consumers, employees, patients, and students from data breaches,
and work with Congress to pass it into law.
Democrats will take additional steps to protect student data privacy, particularly in preschool and K-12 settings where most students are under 18,
and ensure that data collected in schools is used only for education, not for commercial purposes.
And we support updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which has not been significantly amended since the 1980s, to afford the same protections to digital content as physical content.
Tackling Runaway Corporate Concentration
Democrats are concerned that the increase in corporate concentration across a wide range of industries, from hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to agribusiness and retail chains, could be stifling competition and innovation and creating monopoly conditions that harm consumers.
We will direct federal regulators to review a subset of the mergers and acquisitions that have taken place since President Trump took office, prioritizing the pharmaceutical, health care, telecommunications, technology, and agricultural industries, to assess whether any have increased market concentration, raised consumer prices, demonstrably harmed workers, increased racial inequality, reduced competition, or constricted innovation, and assign appropriate remedies.
Democrats will direct regulators to consider potential effects of future mergers on the labor market,
on low-income and marginalized communities,
and on racial equity,
as well as on consumer prices and market competition.
And as a last resort, regulators should consider breaking up corporations if they find they are using their market power to engage in anti-competitive activities.
Guaranteeing a Secure and Dignified Retirement
Democrats are proud to be the party that advocates retirement security for all.
We are the party that created and strengthened Social Security,
and defended public and private retirement plans that provide a decent monthly income.
And we are fighting to make sure that all workers have the ability to save at work for emergencies and for retirement.
Social Security is the most enduring thread in our nation’s social safety net.
We will enact policies to make Social Security more progressive, including increasing benefits for all beneficiaries,
meaningfully increasing minimum benefit payments,
increasing benefits for long-duration beneficiaries,
and protecting surviving spouses from benefit cuts.
We will eliminate provisions that unfairly reduce public sector workers’ earned Social Security benefits.
In light of weakened retirement security for unpaid caregivers and caregivers for family members, who sacrifice not only wages but Social Security benefits when they swap paid labor for unpaid care work, Democrats support Social Security reform which better accounts for the challenges facing unpaid caregivers—
including incremental reforms to the benefit formula to mitigate the penalty for unpaid care.
Democrats will reject every effort to cut, privatize, or weaken Social Security, including attempts to raise the retirement age, diminish benefits by cutting cost-of-living adjustments, or reduce earned benefits.
We will ensure Social Security will be there forever.
Democrats will protect Americans’ retirement security, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic,
and take action to protect public and private pensions to ensure workers keep the benefits they have earned, including through multiemployer plans.
Democrats oppose changes to the multiemployer pension system that would endanger workers’ and retirees’ pensions, including composite pension plans.
We support amending federal bankruptcy laws to protect workers’ earned pensions from being taken away by employers going through bankruptcy.
We will also make it easier to save for retirement beyond Social Security.
We will support approaches to retirement saving that enable workers and retirees to prepare for and prosper in retirement,
including reforms that will allow states and municipalities to create public individual and pooled retirement account options that are easy for workers to access and understand.
We will advocate federal legislation to make it easy for all workers to save, not just those in states or municipalities that have established their own programs.
Democrats believe that when workers are saving for retirement, the financial advisors they consult should be legally obligated to put their client's best interests first.
We will take immediate action to reverse the Trump Administration's regulations allowing financial advisors to prioritize their self-interest over their clients' financial wellbeing.
And Democrats will equalize the network of retirement savings tax breaks so that working people can build their nest eggs faster,
while also providing more equitable access to these accounts through automatic enrollment and relaxed contribution restrictions for unpaid caregivers.
ACHIEVING UNIVERSAL, AFFORDABLE, QUALITY HEALTH CARE
Democrats have fought to achieve universal health care for a century.
We are proud to be the party of Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act.
Because of the Obama-Biden Administration and the Affordable Care Act, more than 100 million Americans with pre-existing conditions, from heart disease to asthma, are secure in the knowledge that insurance companies can no longer discriminate against them.
Women can no longer be charged more than men just because of their gender.
And more Americans are able to get health coverage than ever before.
Democrats will keep up the fight until all Americans can access secure, affordable, high-quality health insurance
—because as Democrats, we fundamentally believe health care is a right for all, not a privilege for the few.
Unfortunately, at every turn, Democrats’ efforts to guarantee health coverage have been met by obstruction and opposition from the Republican Party.
It has been Republicans who have embraced junk plans that undermine protections for pre-existing conditions.
It was Republican state attorneys general who sued to block Medicaid expansion and Republican governors who refused to extend Medicaid coverage to their citizens, leaving millions of low-income Americans, disproportionately people of color, unable to access health coverage.
And in the midst of the worst global pandemic in generations—one that has left more than 150,000 Americans dead and counting—the Trump Administration is fighting in court to invalidate the entirety of the Affordable Care Act and eliminate insurance for tens of millions of people.
Overturning the Affordable Care Act remains a central plank of the Republican Party platform.
The difference in values between the two parties on this life-or-death issue could not be more stark.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made this difference in values painfully, brutally clear.
President Trump has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, bullied governors for enacting life-saving public health measures, and left our frontline health care heroes without the equipment they need to protect themselves and the American people.
The burdens of this pandemic have not been borne equally, as communities of color have suffered higher rates of infection and death,
and struggled to access life-saving care when they need it most.
Our essential workers have been deemed expendable by the President and his Administration.
As Democrats, we say with one voice: no more.
We are going to at last build the health care system the American people have always deserved: one that finally provides universal health care coverage;
reduces prescription drug prices, premiums, and out-of-pocket costs
; reins in overall health care expenses;
and tackles the deep-seated inequities in our health care system.
We will build a health care system that is driven by the needs of patients and the people who care for them, instead of the profit motives of corporations.
We will tackle entrenched racial disparities in health care,
reduce prescription drug prices by standing up to big pharmaceutical companies
, and make it easier to access mental health and substance use disorder treatment and long-term services and supports in metropolitan and rural areas alike.
Democrats will always fight to save Americans’ lives by making it easier and more affordable to go to the doctor, get prescription medicines, and access preventive testing and treatments.
Generations of Democrats have been united in the fight for universal health care.
We are proud our party welcomes advocates who want to build on and strengthen the Affordable Care Act and those who support a Medicare for All approach;
all are critical to ensuring that health care is a human right.
Securing Universal Health Care
Through a Public Option
Democrats believe we need to protect, strengthen, and build upon our bedrock health care programs, including the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Veterans Affairs (VA) system.
Private insurers need real competition to ensure they have incentive to provide affordable, quality coverage to every American.
To achieve that objective, we will give all Americans the choice to select a high-quality, affordable public option through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
The public option will provide at least one plan choice without deductibles;
will be administered by CMS, not private companies;
and will cover all primary care without any co-payments and control costs for other treatments by negotiating prices with doctors and hospitals, just like Medicare does on behalf of older people.
Everyone will be eligible to choose the public option or another Affordable Care Act marketplace plan.
To help close the persistent racial gap in insurance rates, Democrats will expand funding for Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment programs, so every American knows their options for securing quality, affordable coverage.
The lowest-income Americans, including more than four million adults who should be eligible for Medicaid but who live in states where Republican governors have refused to expand the program, will be automatically enrolled in the public option without premiums;
they may opt out at any time.
And we will enable millions of older workers to choose between their employer-provided plans, the public option, or enrolling in Medicare when they turn 60, instead of having to wait until they are 65.
Democrats are categorically opposed to raising the Medicare retirement age.
Democrats will also empower the states, as laboratories of democracy, to use Affordable Care Act innovation waivers to develop locally tailored approaches to health coverage,
including by removing barriers to states that seek to experiment with statewide universal health care approaches.
We also know that finally covering every American through the public and private insurance system alone is not enough to guarantee universal access.
That is why Democrats support doubling investments in community health centers and rural health clinics in underserved urban and rural areas,
including increased support for dental care, mental health care, and substance use services like medication-assisted treatment,
and why we will increase support for mobile health clinics.
We will enact longer, multi-year funding cycles for these critical health services so they can operate with greater certainty,
as community health centers are the nation’s only providers that are required by law to be both located in medically underserved areas
and required to serve all who seek care, regardless of their ability to pay.
And we will leverage innovative payment options through Medicare and Medicaid to help community health centers and rural health clinics keep their doors open.
We will expand the National Health Service Corps and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Program to grow a diverse primary care workforce
and to address critical shortages of health care providers in medically underserved rural and urban areas,
including primary care nurses, dental professionals, and mental health and substance use counselors.
Democrats will also increase monitoring and enforcement to ensure that health care facilities are accessible to people with disabilities.
Bringing Down Drug Prices and Taking on the Pharmaceutical Industry
Too many Americans struggle to afford the prescription drugs they need to get or stay healthy.
No American should find themselves foregoing or rationing medications because they can’t afford to pay—
especially when taxpayer money underwrites research leading to the development of many prescription drugs in the first place.
Democrats will take aggressive action to ensure that Americans do not pay more for prescription drugs than people in other advanced economies,
and ensure that all necessary medications are covered.
We will empower Medicare to at last be able to negotiate prescription drug prices for all public and private purchasers—for families and businesses, as well as older Americans—no matter where they get their coverage.
We will also prevent the price of brand-name and outlier generic drugs from rising faster than the inflation rate.
We will cap out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors,
and ensure that effective treatments for chronic health conditions are available at little or no cost.
For too long, prescription drug companies have gamed the system to justify their price increases by any means available.
Democrats will crack down on anti-competitive efforts to manipulate the patent system or collude on prices.
And we will eliminate tax breaks for prescription drug advertisements.
Reducing Health Care Costs and Improving Health Care Quality
The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other advanced economy, and has less to show for it.
Health care costs have been increasing for decades, with average premiums for an employer-provided family plan topping $20,000 in 2019.