John Kerry’s Presidency

Over the course of Kerry’s campaign he has generated various plans for his presidency. From healthcare reform to rebuilding alliances, Kerry has mapped out his agenda once in the White House. Many argue that Kerry’s plans are not possible given the power of the Republican-led House and Senate. Perhaps this is the greatest advantage Kerry maintains. He has made a profession making compromises with his peers. One of Clinton’s greatest successes was his ability to generate compromises. Kerry brings with him twenty years of debate and compromise in the Senate, working to find even ground with his associates. Kerry’s cabinet, though purely speculative, will also make a strong impact on our nation’s policy. He is committed to appoint those who "will protect individual rights, not roll them back."

John Kerry relates his own plan upon reaching the White House: “Today, we face four great challenges above all others - First, to win the global war against terror; Second, to stop the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons; Third, to promote democracy, freedom, and opportunity around the world, starting by winning the peace in Iraq; Fourth, [to] end our dependence on Mideast oil.” Kerry has also proposed incentives to create new jobs, strengthen the middle class, ensure educational opportunity, provide high-quality health care, improve education, and strengthen families.

Kerry’s plan to fight terrorism includes building alliances, modernizing the nation’s military, and using the resources available to our country. Alliances will provide a stronger foundation for information sharing. Creating an expansive coalition will allow America to be more responsive to terrorist activities and will create a global effort. His continual support of the creation and recommendations of the 9-11 commission will provide him with a solid framework for implementing change. Kerry is determined to undermine any future attacks by extremists and aggressively seek to destroy such groups. Kerry’s past dedication to supporting the United States troops will continue into his administration.

John Kerry continues to speak concerning using America’s arsenal to fight the war on terror. Our “arsenal” includes our diplomacy, our intelligence system, our economic power, and the appeal of our values and ideas. Kerry is determined to make America more secure and prevent a new generation of terrorists from emerging. His continual support of Homeland Security and his dedication to properly fund this department will deter terrorist activities in the States.

John Kerry’s plans concerning Iraq will involve greater alliances and greater sharing of the rebuilding burden. He plans to work with NATO to make the security of Iraq one of their global missions. NATO’s participation will open the door to greater international involvement, which in turn will heal US alliances. Kerry’s plan for rebuilding Iraq includes sharing contracts with those nations that provide military support. This will persuade nations to join the coalition, and begin to see the returning of American troops. Kerry will also encourage surrounding nations to forgive Iraq’s multi-billion dollar debts, in order to help Iraq start with a clean slate.

Kerry’s continual work involving incentives to motivate innovation will continue into his presidency. “To secure our full independence and freedom, we must free America from its dangerous dependence on Mideast oil. By tapping American ingenuity, we can achieve that goal while growing our economy and protecting our environment.” Kerry plans to create a new energy and conservation trust fund to accelerate the development of innovative technologies, such as more efficient cars and trucks, the development of bio-fuels, and creating clean, secure, hydrogen-based energy. Kerry will also focus on expanding the supply of natural gas. His plan will require 20% of all electricity coming from renewable sources by 2020, and make clean coal part of our energy solution.

Kerry has created a plan that will offer $800 in additional tax cuts for child care and focus on after school programs. His plan would increase the child care tax credit, make it partially refundable to help moderate-income families, and help stay-at-home parents with infants. The plan will also expand after school programs to serve 3.5 million children and to keep schools open until 6 pm each night, with good transportation options. Child care cost has risen almost $2000 in the past four years, twice the rate of inflation, creating a greater financial strain on middle to low income households. Kerry’s plan will increase the child care tax credit to cover $5,000 of expenses and make it available for moderate-income families and stay-at-home parents.

This year’s Democratic Nominee has taken a strong stance in regards to government’s responsibility in creating jobs. Kerry’s plan will end tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas and use the savings to reduce the corporate tax rate by five percent, cutting taxes for 99 percent of corporations. The plan also includes a New Jobs Tax Credit for new hiring in manufacturing, other businesses affected by outsourcing, and small businesses. Fully funding law enforcement, education, and homeland security will create government jobs across the United States. John Kerry’s administration will invest in research and technology and provide tax credits to unleash innovation in broadband, energy and small business.

Kerry’s dedication to middle class tax cuts throughout his 20 years in the Senate will continue into his administration. Health care costs have increased by nearly 20 percent, college tuition is up by 35 percent, and gas prices have skyrocketed over the past four years. A Kerry-Edwards administration will provide relief to middle class families by cutting taxes and investing in health care and education. He will propose a tax credit on up to $4,000 for each of four years of college tuition. Kerry will work for responsible immigration laws that honor America's promise and strengthen America's economy and security.

John Kerry’s health plan is one of the greatest differences from the incumbent president. The Kerry-Edwards plan will provide relief for employers who offer their employees quality health coverage by helping out with certain high cost health cases - saving families up to $1,000 per year. One of the problems with society is uninsured children, who suffer when parents cannot afford health care. Kerry’s plan will pick up the full cost of more than 20 million children enrolled in Medicaid. In exchange, states will expand eligibility for children's health coverage and low-income adults and enroll every child automatically.

Though Kerry and the current president share common ideas regarding healthcare, their differences are enormous. Both candidates support tax credits for individuals who buy their own insurance. Kerry and Bush also have plans that will allow smaller businesses to pool their resources enabling them to be eligible for the larger corporate discounts. Differences arise between the two candidates in scope and cost. Kerry’s plan will extend coverage to 25 million more individuals then President Bush’s plan (27 million vs. 2.5 million). Admittedly, the cost of Bush’s plan is a modest $90 billion compared to Kerry’s $653 billion. By 2008, with Bush spending about $3,800 for each new person covered, Kerry would spend less than $3,200 per person. Why is it that Bush’s plan will cover less individuals at a slightly higher per case cost? The people most likely to take advantage of President Bush’s proposals already have some form of health insurance. Kerry has also devised a program that will allow private insurers to handle most of the healthcare costs. He would have the federal government pick up 75 percent of the cost of catastrophic cases once a patient's care reached $50,000. In return, he would require those companies to offer affordable health care to all their workers. Though Kerry’s proposal is quite extensive, it would require the tax cuts for the wealthy to be rolled back to cover the costs.

Kerry has made a promise to the citizens of the United States that one of the first budgetary tasks will be to fully fund the No Child Left Behind Act. His plan will support more resources and more reform within our schools. He will focus on smaller classes and more textbooks. Kerry will invest in after-school programs so that 3.5 million children have a safe, quality place to go after school, benefiting working parents. The Kerry-Edwards plan will raise teacher pay, especially in the schools and subjects where great teachers are in the shortest supply, and will improve teachers' professional development and training opportunities. Kerry’s plan “will create rigorous new tests for new teachers, provide higher pay for teachers who have extra skills and excel in helping children learn, and ensure fast, fair procedures for improving or removing teachers who do not perform well on the job, while preserving protections from arbitrary dismissal.”

Funding John Kerry’s Proposals
At first glance readers question the wisdom of increasing governmental spending in times of poor fiscal policy. Kerry’s proposals will be fully paid for by closing corporate tax shelters (a tax shelter as any transaction that is conducted purely for tax reasons with no economic merit). In addition, Kerry will close Enron-related tax shelters. Kerry has also been extremely vocal about rolling back the tax cuts for those with incomes over $200,000. This will affect roughly 2% of the nation and will pay for almost all of Kerry’s proposals.

Restoring fiscal responsibility is one of Kerry’s core campaign promises. Kerry and Edwards have a record of fiscal discipline that is absent in this administration, Leading this nation to a balanced budget will avoid asking the next generation to pay for their programs. They will focus on only passing proposals that can be properly funded. Kerry also believes his budget will cut the deficit in half in four years, increasing economic confidence and keeping interest rates from rising.