On the long and grueling campaign trail for the past year, the candidates for US Senate presented their dramatically different political profiles, platforms, and priorities. With Election Day on Tuesday, here’s a thumbnail look at the policies embraced by Republican Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, and his challenger, Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat.
DEFICIT
Scott Brown
REPEAL Obama’s health care law, freeze federal pay, and shrink federal workforce 10 percent. Reduce government contracting, agriculture subsidies, and defense spending. Reduce duplication, waste, fraud, and abuse in federal programs. Opposes new taxes and supports lowering tax rates and limiting deductions and loopholes. Supports a balanced budget amendment. Opposes changes to Medicare, including cuts to pay for health care.
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Elizabeth Warren
END Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000 and return estate tax rates to 2009 levels. End subsidies for oil and gas and eliminate agriculture subsidies. Supports the Buffett Rule to require those making $1 million a year to pay at least a 30 percent tax rate. Trim waste and sell extra government property. Cut the defense budget and close loopholes for hedge fund managers. Opposes any changes to Medicare, including privatization or vouchers.
ABORTION
Scott Brown
SUPPORTS abortion rights and opposed efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, but has been endorsed by a leading antiabortion group. Cosponsored Blunt Amendment that would let employers or insurers refuse to provide birth control or other preventive services they oppose on moral or religious grounds. Urged national Republican Party to cut antiabortion language from platform.
Elizabeth Warren
SUPPORTS abortion rights. Opposes the Blunt Amendment. Supports Massachusetts’ parental notification law, which requires girls under 18 to obtain parental consent before having an abortion, with an option for a judge to provide consent.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Scott Brown
SUPPORTS Obama’s timeline to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by 2014. Wants to arm some of the rebels battling Syria’s brutal dictator. Supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but is adamant Jerusalem be the undivided capital of Israel.foreign affairs.
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Elizabeth Warren
WANTS to accelerate Obama’s timeline and withdraw troops from Afghanistan “as quickly as possible, consistent with the safety of our troops.” Opposes sending US arms to Syrian rebels. Supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does not outline conditions of an agreement.
ENVIRONMENT
Scott Brown
BELIEVES humans play a role in climate change. Opposes a cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions. Opposed EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. Supports tax credits for renewable energy but not for specific companies. Opposes Cape Wind. Supports hydraulic fracturing to obtain natural gas. Backed regulation of pollutants such as mercury. Cosponsored a bill to reduce the risk of oil spills.
Elizabeth Warren
BELIEVES the data proving human influence on climate change is overwhelming; resists carbon cap-and-trade program as the only solution. Supports EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. Supports renewable energy tax credits. Supports Cape Wind. Opposes hydraulic fracturing until companies meet clean water regulations and disclose chemicals.
JOBS
Scott Brown
OPPOSES tax increases on businesses and individuals. Would repeal the taxes on medical devices in Obama’s health care law. Supports giving the unemployed the option of paid, on-the-job-training at private businesses. Would give small, female-owned businesses noncompetitive federal contracts in some circumstances and offer tax credits to firms that bring business back from overseas.
Elizabeth Warren
SUPPORTS creating jobs through public spending, including $50 billion to upgrade airports, air traffic control programs, roads, and transit; $30 billion to modernize 35,000 public schools; and $10 billion to expand high-speed wireless access to 98 percent of Americans. Supports $10 billion national infrastructure bank to leverage public and private money.
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