The Issues, A to Z : BOB DOLE: WHERE HE STANDS

ABORTION

* Opposes abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or when mother’s life is in danger. Opposes federal funding for the procedure in all cases.

* Supports a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.

* Supports legislation, vetoed by President Clinton, to outlaw a type of late-term abortion sometimes called “partial-birth” abortion.

* Says he does not regard opposition to abortion as a litmus test in selecting his judicial appointees.

AIDS

* Voted for reauthorization of the Ryan White Act, which provides funding for care and support services for people with AIDS or who are infected with HIV.

CIVIL RIGHTS

* Was a leading sponsor of the Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination against the disabled.

* Is a longtime backer of civil rights legislation; played a pivotal role in the passage of the 1982 Voting Rights Act.

* Supported creation of the holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

* In 1995, introduced legislation to end all federal racial and gender preferences, although he has a history of supporting them. He now says he supports steps to remedy proven past discrimination against specific individuals and to recruit minorities and women, but opposes set-asides and other preferences for women and minorities as a group.

* Supports Proposition 209, which would do away with all state set-aside programs, although he has seemed to back away from the measure recently.

CRIME

* Supported landmark 1996 law limiting appeals by prisoners on death row.

* Has criticized Clinton’s judicial appointees for being too indulgent of criminals’ rights; promises to appoint conservative federal judges who will be tougher on criminals.

* Supports abolition of parole for violent offenders; believes that teenagers who commit violent crimes should be prosecuted as adults.

* Opposed a 1994 law banning certain assault weapons but has shifted position on how important it is to repeal it.

* Supports establishment of an “instant check” system to make sure people who buy guns don’t have criminal records.

DEFICIT

* Has historically given priority to reducing the federal budget deficit and claims his new economic proposal would balance the budget by 2002 even while cutting taxes by $548 billion over six years.

* Supports an amendment to the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.

EDUCATION

* Supports elimination of the Department of Education.

* Supports a constitutional amendment to allow voluntary prayer in public schools.

* Opposes Goals 2000, Clinton’s education-reform initiative that set up voluntary academic standards for the nation’s schools.

* Proposes $5-billion federal-state program of “opportunity scholarships” to help low- and middle-income families send their children to the school of their choice.

ENVIRONMENT

* Led unsuccessful fight for a regulatory reform bill that would have required Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies to perform detailed cost-benefit analyses of every new regulation.

* Supports legislation to require the government to compensate property owners if environmental regulation or other government action causes a major loss in property value.

FOREIGN POLICY

* Opposes American troops serving under U. N. command and has sponsored legislation limiting U.S. participation in U.N. peacekeeping forces.

* Supports expanding NATO to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

* Longtime supporter of unilaterally lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia-Herzegovina.

* Has criticized Clinton for being too deferential to Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin on such issues as the war in Chechnya.

* Has called for establishment of a national missile-defense system, which Clinton opposes.

GAY RIGHTS

* Opposes states sanctioning same-sex marriage and supports legislation allowing states to deny recognition of same-sex marriages.

* Opposes lifting the ban on gays in the military

GOVERNMENT REFORM

* Supports a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress, although Dole himself served in Congress for 35 years.

* Opposed campaign-finance reform legislation to ban political action committee contributions and give new incentives for candidates to accept voluntary spending limits.

HEALTH CARE

* Although in the past supported reforming health care system to ensure universal coverage, opposed Clinton’s broad health care reform proposal in 1994.

* Supports allowing people to finance their health care expenses with tax-deferred medical savings accounts.

* Supports overhauling Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for the poor, in order to give greater control to state governments.

IMMIGRATION

* Supports measures to crack down on illegal immigration, including increased border patrols and more aggressive enforcement of deportation of criminal immigrants.

* Supports “modest, temporary” reductions in legal immigration.

* Supports legislation allowing states to deny public education to children of illegal immigrants.

* Supports establishment of English as the official U.S. language.

LABOR POLICY

* Fought Democrats’ efforts to raise the minimum wage in 1996 but eventually said the wage should be increased.

* Supports a National Right to Work Act to prohibit unions from requiring all employees to pay dues once a workplace has been organized.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE

* Supported GOP plans in 1995 and 1996 to sharply curb the rate of growth of Medicare, saying significant changes are needed to shore up the ailing trust fund that finances part of the program.

* Voted against the creation of Medicare in 1964.

* Helped craft a 1983 law to shore up Social Security.

TAX POLICY

* Proposes a 15% across-the-board cut in income tax rates, cut in capital-gains tax rates from 28% to 14%, $500-per-child tax credit for families and other forms of tax relief totaling $548 billion over six years.

* Calls for reining in the power of Internal Revenue Service.

* Promises to scrap the current Tax Code and impose a “simpler, fairer, flatter” tax system in the long run.

* Supports a constitutional amendment requiring a 60% majority in Congress to raise income taxes.

* Has called for rolling back a 1993 increase in the gas tax.

TRADE

* Supported the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, but says their effects should be assessed before further agreements are reached.

* Opposes linking approval of trade agreements to demands that other countries meet labor and environmental standards.

* Rejects steep, across-the-board tariffs on imports from Japan, but says he would take a tougher line than Clinton in trade talks with Tokyo.

WELFARE REFORM

* Supported legislation to end entitlement status of cash welfare, replacing Aid for Families With Dependent Children with block grants that give states broad authority to run their programs as they see fit.

* Supported imposing a work requirement on welfare beneficiaries, a five-year limit on benefits and a ban on increased payments to women who have children while on welfare.