REPUBLICAN CONVENTION ’92 : The Issues: A to Z : George Bush: Where He Stands : A commitment to traditional values and a limited role for government

At the core of his plan . . .

ECONOMIC POLICY: Bush says the key to economic prosperity is limiting the size and scope of government, although federal spending, government regulation and the deficit have all increased during his Administration. “America is the most prosperous nation in history because it is also the freest,” he says. “And that same commitment to limited government . . . must shape the reforms that we urgently need to undertake.”

SOCIAL POLICY: Bush has built his social policies around two pillars: supporting traditional “family values” and reforming government programs to increase choice for families in such areas as health, education and child care. “I trust parents, not the government, to make the decisions that matter in life,” he says.

FOREIGN POLICY: Bush argues that with the end of the Cold War, the greatest threat to world peace is regional instability that the U.S. must seek to minimize in what he has termed “the new world order.” He says: “The Cold War’s end didn’t deliver us into an era of perpetual peace. . . . The quest for the new world order is, in part, a challenge to keep the dangers of disorder at bay.”

ABORTION

* Supports a human life amendment to ban abortion except in cases of rape, incest or where the life of the mother is threatened;

* Seeks to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to abortion;

* Opposes public funding of abortion except in cases where the life of the mother is endangered;

* Says he has not imposed an anti-abortion litmus test on Supreme Court appointees; in a recent ruling, one of his two appointees, Clarence Thomas, voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the other, David H. Souter, voted to uphold it;

* Issued rules that severely limit the ability of medical personnel in federally funded family planning clinics to discuss abortion with patients;

* Supports a ban on medical research using tissue from aborted fetuses and has used his veto to block legislation overturning the ban;

* Supports state laws requiring minors to receive consent from their parents before receiving an abortion.

AIDS

* Increased federal funding on AIDS-related activities to $2.5 billion from about $1.1 billion;

* Has been criticized by members of the National Commission on AIDS for not moving more aggressively to implement wide-ranging recommendations it issued last September, such as launching a comprehensive AIDS prevention program.

CHILD CARE

* Signed legislation providing $18 billion in tax credits to help lower- and middle-income families pay for child care.

CIVIL RIGHTS

* After vetoing earlier version of the legislation, signed civil rights bill in 1991 that partially overturned several Supreme Court decisions restricting affirmative action;

* Backed aggressive enforcement of Voting Rights Act by Justice Department, which has led to a virtual doubling of the number of congressional districts in which blacks and Latinos are favored for election;

* Supported and signed landmark law prohibiting discrimination against Americans with physical or mental disabilities.

CRIME

* Repeatedly--and without success--proposed legislation applying the death penalty to additional federal crimes, limiting appeals by prisoners on Death Row and easing restrictions on the introduction of evidence gathered by law enforcement officials;

* Opposes Brady bill to require a waiting period for the purchase of handguns, but would increase penalties for crimes committed with a firearm;

* Banned imports of certain semiautomatic assault weapons in 1989, but opposes ban on producing such weapons domestically or on sales of such guns;

* Substantially increased funding for federal agencies involved in combatting crime, such as the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration;

* Expanded use of military in efforts to interdict drugs, and has nearly doubled spending on federal anti-drug efforts, such as treatment and education.

DEFICIT

* Has never submitted a balanced budget to Congress; has increased federal domestic spending by 7.3% annually, compared with 1% annually under President Ronald Reagan;

* In latest budget, proposes to reduce deficit from an estimated $330 billion in 1992 to $182 billion by 1997 through freezes on domestic discretionary spending and domestic federal employment, elimination of 246 assorted federal programs, a spending cap on all federal entitlements (except Social Security) and limiting their annual growth by a formula that takes into account inflation and the increase in eligible participants, reducing some federal subsidies to upper-income Americans, such as affluent farmers. Also calls for additional defense cuts of $50 billion over next five years, which would include cancellation of B-2 bomber after production of 20 planes and a 21% reduction in active military personnel. Critics say the defense cuts are too small, given the end of the Cold War, and that the overall cap on entitlement spending leaves open the question of how to actually constrain such rapidly growing programs as Medicare and Medicaid.

EDUCATION

* Supports both public-school choice and federal assistance (through vouchers) for lower- and middle-income parents who want to send their children to private schools;

* Has promoted the establishment of a private nonprofit corporation to encourage the development of innovative “model” schools in each congressional district around the nation, and has urged Congress to provide $535 million over three years to help communities develop such schools;

* Proposed allowing students to borrow up to $25,000 for their college education and then repay the debt as a share of their income over time;

* Would allow families to deduct the interest they pay on student loans;

* Proposed national standards for educational performance and a voluntary nationwide examination system to test student competence in seven subjects;

* Substantially increased funding for Head Start program, although Democrats complain funding remains insufficient to allow all eligible underprivileged children to participate.

ENVIRONMENT

* Signed extension of Clean Air Act, which Reagan had blocked, but critics say that under pressure from business interests, he has weakened or delayed regulations implementing the law;

* Offered national energy strategy in 1991 that stressed efforts to increase domestic production, including opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, streamlining licensing to increase construction of nuclear power plants and relaxing regulations on electric utilities;

* Barred drilling for oil off the coast of New England, southern Florida and most of California for 10 years;

* Opposes legislation to require domestic auto manufacturers to increase their average fuel efficiency from current 27.5 miles per gallon to 40 miles per gallon by 2001;

* Ordered an accelerated phaseout of U.S. production of the chemicals linked to the depletion of the Earth’s ozone layer;

* Opposed proposals at recent Earth Summit in Brazil to require industrialized nations to set binding targets for reductions in emission of carbon dioxide, the gas suspected of causing global warming; also refused to sign treaty aimed at protecting wildlife and its habitat, saying certain provisions threatened patents of U.S. biotechnology companies;

* Has permitted logging in some old-growth Oregon forests considered vital habitat for the endangered northern spotted owl and proposed rules to make it more difficult for environmentalists to challenge timber sales, mining and oil exploration on public lands.

FOREIGN POLICY

* Led worldwide coalition of nations that through military means ended the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait;

* Has been criticized for U.S. policies that aided Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein in the years leading up to the invasion and for ending the war before Hussein was deposed;

* Negotiated agreement with Russia to cut both nations’ nuclear arsenals by two-thirds over the next 11 years and eliminate all land-based missiles with multiple warheads; earlier signed agreement binding all members of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact to limit conventional forces and arms in Europe;

* Convened unprecedented Middle East peace talks between Israel and Arab neighbors; recently reached agreement to provide U.S. loan guarantees to Israel for resettling Russian emigres after new Israeli government agreed to curtail settlements in occupied territories;

* Has supported substantial aid to the independent countries that emerged following the breakup of the Soviet Union;

* Has rejected calls for broad U.S. military intervention in the war between Serbia and its neighbors in the former boundaries of Yugoslavia, but has supported American participation in U.N. efforts to deliver food and medical supplies by force if necessary;

* Has supported keeping most-favored-nation trade status for China and vetoed legislation to require China to undertake reforms in the wake of the Tian An Men Square massacre;

GAY RIGHTS

* Supports current ban on homosexuals serving in military.

* Signed legislation ordering a federal study of hate crimes, including attacks on homosexuals--the first time a federal law extended civil rights protections specifically on the basis of “sexual orientation.”

GOVERNMENT REFORM

* Proposed campaign finance reform legislation to ban political action committees, restrict congressional free-mailing privileges, bar members of Congress from rolling over money from one election to the next and require greater disclosure of unregulated “soft money” receipts collected by the national parties, but vetoed broader legislation establishing spending limits for congressional elections;

* Vetoed “motor voter” legislation to allow citizens to register to vote when obtaining driver’s licenses or at social service agencies;

* Supports the presidential line-item veto and the balanced budget amendment;

* Supports 12-year term limits for members of Congress;

* Signed ethics legislation that imposes new restrictions on lobbying by former government and congressional officials and limits honorariums for members of Congress;

* Has proposed far-reaching reforms in legal system, arguing that excessive litigation has diminished U.S. competitiveness; reforms include capping punitive damages imposed in lawsuits, shifting authority for setting such awards from juries to judges and encouraging alternative dispute resolution.

HEALTH CARE

* Seeking market-driven reforms in health system rather than greater government intervention. Along those lines, has proposed new tax benefits to help uninsured Americans buy health insurance, but has not yet produced legislation to implement the plan. Has proposed legislation to allow self-employed individuals to deduct all of their health care costs, to encourage states to limit damages patients could receive in malpractice suits and to reform the insurance market (such as preventing insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions). Has staunchly opposed congressional calls for national health insurance plan run by the government and the Democratic presidential ticket’s proposal to require all employers to either provide insurance or buy into a new federal insurance program, saying his alternative would offer greater choice and less bureaucracy.

INDUSTRIAL POLICY

* Generally opposes Democratic calls for government to increase partnerships with industry as misguided efforts to pick “winners and losers” in the private sector;

* Increased federal spending in some areas of civilian research and development, including such large-scale projects as the proposed space station.

INFRASTRUCTURE

* Signed measure in 1991 to spend $151 billion over next six years on highway and mass transit programs, after offering initial proposal to spend less and focus the dollars more heavily on highways than public transportation.

JOB TRAINING

* Proposed ending program that provides job training to workers displaced by foreign trade;

* Proposed centralizing job training programs to create “one-stop shopping” skill centers;

* Proposed legislation to encourage development of apprenticeship programs for non-college-bound youths.

LABOR POLICY

* Opposes legislation to prohibit companies from hiring permanent replacement workers during strikes;

* Signed an increase in the minimum wage from $3.35 to $4.25 in 1989 after vetoing proposed increase to $4.55;

* Vetoed legislation requiring many businesses to grant unpaid leaves to workers for the birth of a child or a family illness, saying such issues should be resolved by labor-management bargaining.

SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE

* Has exempted Social Security from his proposed cap on entitlement spending; proposes increasing fees for Medicare recipients earning more than $100,000 annually.

TAX POLICY

* Signed a five-year $146.3-billion tax increase as part of 1990 budget deal, abandoning his “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge of the 1988 campaign;

* Supports broad-based cut in capital gains taxes, with reduction from current 28% to 15.4% for assets held for three years or more;

* Would establish temporary credit for first-time home buyers, equal to 10% of purchase price or $5,000, whichever is less;

* Would restore partial tax-exempt status to individual retirement accounts and would allow withdrawals from those funds without penalty for first-time home buyers as well as for medical and educational expenses;

* Supports $500 increase in current $2,300 personal exemption for children under 19;

* Would make permanent the research and development tax credit and restore certain tax breaks for real estate developers eliminated in 1986 tax reform act;

* Vetoed tax bill this spring containing many of these provisions, as well as a $42.4-billion middle-class tax cut, because it increased taxes on upper-income families by $64 billion.

TRADE

* Has negotiated an agreement to link U.S., Canada and Mexico in a North American free trade zone, which would create the world’s largest common market;

* Has discussed follow-up efforts to create a free trade zone extending through all of South America;

* Has opposed congressional efforts to impose quotas on Japanese automobile imports, but has conducted broad negotiations on opening Japanese market to American products, such as paper, glass and computers, and reached trade agreements that require Japan to buy slightly more U.S. automobiles and auto parts.

URBAN DEVELOPMENT

* Would attract investment to inner cities by creating urban enterprise zones;

* Would attempt to increase home ownership through $1 billion in grants to help tenants in public housing units purchase their units and by allowing low-income families to use federal housing vouchers for mortgage payments as well as rent.

WELFARE REFORM

* Has encouraged states to experiment with reforms that attempt to change the behavior of welfare recipients, such as cutting off benefits for recipients whose children do not attend school regularly or denying additional benefits to women who have children while on relief;

* Has urged Congress to increase the assets a family could accumulate and still stay on welfare to $10,000. The goal is to encourage recipients to save for college or to start a small business;