Obama
EDUCATION
- “Race to the Top”
- Wants to reward schools who
choose to raise standards and
innovate in education
- Thinks “No Child Left Behind” is
too restrictive
- Doesn’t want schools to have to
cut teachers
- Focused support on Community
Colleges to make sure we are
educating people for the
available jobs
- Reformed the way student loans
are paid back to give relief to
recent graduates
Romney
- “A Chance for Every Child”
- Wants to promote school choice
for students in failing schools
- Thinks schools will improve due
with increased competition for
students
- Thinks “No Child Left Behind” is
imperfect, but supports the idea
of measurable standards for
schools
- Wants to recruit and reward
good teachers
- Thinks that schools should be
held to high standards
Obama
HEALTHCARE
- Obamacare – Passed the
Affordable Care Act
- Provides a cheap alternative for
people who don’t have private
insurance
- Places restrictions on how
insurance companies can
increase rates and when they
can drop coverage
- Extended how long recent
college graduates can stay on
their parents’ insurance
- Places emphasis on preventative
care
Romney
- Views Obamacare as a $500 tax
increase
- Thinks States are better
positioned to provide healthcare
mandates for their citizens
- Thinks states can experiment
and learn from each other to
find what works best
- Promotes free markets and
competition as a way to improve
quality and cut healthcare prices
- Advocates patient centered
approach where patients get to
make the decisions concerning
their care
Obama
IMMIGRATION
- Pro DREAM Act – created a
Homeland Security directive to
match some of the failed
legislation
- Thinks illegal immigrants are
generally hard workers, but end
up depressing wages for others
- Pro Fence
- Con States taking the lead to
enforce federal law
- Thinks we should prioritize who
we deport first
- Wants to keep families together
Romney
- Con DREAM Act – Thinks
amnesty is a bad idea, but
agrees with part of the
legislation
- Thinks illegal immigrants steal
jobs from Americans
- Thinks we should work to attract
MORE highly skilled immigrants
to compete for jobs and bring
skills to the economy
- Wants to reform temporary Visa
system
- Pro Fence
- Pro States taking the lead to
enforce federal law
- Wants to keep families together
Obama
TAXES
- Wants to make sure the
wealthiest Americans are paying
higher taxes and not using
loopholes
- Advocates the “Buffet Rule”
- Thinks we need to cut spending,
but not as much as Romney
- Wants to increase the estate tax
for those transferring more than
$3.5 million
- Cut corporate tax rate from 35%
to 28%
- HIGHER TAXES ON WEALTHY
Romney
- Wants 20% cut in all marginal
income tax rates
- Keep tax rates steady for
interest, dividends, and capital
gains while eliminating these
taxes for anyone earning less
than $200,000 in these areas
- Remove the estate tax
- Cut corporate tax rate from 35%
to 25% to encourage job growth
- Strengthen tax cuts for research
and development
- LOWER TAXES/SMALLER
GOVERNMENT
Obama
ENERGY +
ENVIRONMENT
- Wants to increase domestic oil
and gas production, but not at
the expense of the environment
- Advocates clean energy,
promised to create jobs in green
energy
- Denied construction of the
Keystone XL Pipeline due to
concerns of a lack of information
- Thinks we need to be careful
with energy regulation
- Wants to lower oil prices by
reducing demand for oil
- Clean Energy and Safe
Regulation
Romney
- Wants to find and use America’s
existing energy resources (oil,
gas, coal)
- Thinks that Obama has wasted
money on failed green energy
companies and initiatives
- Would approve the Keystone XL
Pipeline immediately
- Thinks some regulation is
necessary, but that less is
needed
- Wants to lower oil prices by
increasing supply of oil
- More Energy and Less Regulation
Obama JOB CREATION Romney
- Focused on reviving U.S.
manufacturing
- Wants to eliminate tax breaks for
companies that outsource
overseas
- Will provide incentives for
companies who create jobs in
U.S.
- Prefers stricter regulations to
prevent future economic
meltdowns
- Invested in Community Colleges
to help train and retrain workers
- Wants to be tougher on China to
crack down on their advantages
- Reduce marginal tax rates and
corporate tax rate to get
businesses to hire more workers
- Reduce government spending to
accommodate tax cuts
- Reduce or eliminate regulations
that restrict business
- Wants to encourage free trade in
global markets
- Will reduce the power and
influence of unions
- Re-orginize retraining and
re-employment efforts with a
focus on state control
- Wants to be tougher on China to
crack down on their advantages
Obama
DEBT AND DEFICIT
- Wants greater emphasis on
making wealthy people pay their
fair share in taxes to reduce the
deficit
- Wants to eliminate Bush-era tax
cuts
- Does not approve increasing
military spending
- Will invest in education, research
and technology to promote longterm economic growth to boost
revenue
- Interested in cutting government
waste
- Not interested in cutting
entitlements such as Medicare
Romney
- Will cut programs that are
unworthy of borrowed money
from China
- Cap government spending at
20% of GDP
- Will cut non-security
discretionary spending most
heavily
- Will work to repeal Obamacare,
privatize Amtrak, cut spending
on Arts, Planned Parenthood,
and Foreign Aid
- Shift programs to state level to
improve efficiency
- Cut federal workforce and
federal employee pay