By: Abril Castro, GALEO Student Intern from The George Washington University
As of Tuesday June 16, 2015 a total of 15 candidates have announced their candidacy for the 2016 election: four for the Democratic nomination and a whopping twelve for the Republican nomination. Although our next president will only be elected for four (possibly eight) years, with three Supreme Court seats set to open, our 45th President has the potential to change the course of United States history.[i] With conservative disdain towards both the Affordable Care Act and President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program (DACA) jeopardizing the livelihood of both programs, our next president will have a direct impact on the wellbeing of the Latino community. With candidates announcing it seems every week and still almost 7 months until the start of primary season here is a list of the major political candidates from both parties and their official stances on immigration reform, education, and healthcare.
DEMOCRATS
Hilary Clinton – D.
Hilary Clinton is currently leading the polls but Bernie Sanders is slowly but surely gaining momentum right behind her. On education she says that she thinks school vouchers, allowing the use of tax funded public dollars at a different public or private schools, are unconstitutional and that this country needs to wok on teaching “discipline, self-control, patience, and punctuality.” She also believes in Charter schools and that teachers should start being paid what they deserve. She thinks that Universal preschool is a must and that the public school system has been “second to the constitution, the most important institution in making America the great country that we have been over the last 200 years.” She calls for modernizing the public education system. [ii]
On healthcare, Clinton has said that she is “committed to building on what works for the Affordable Care Act. She also shared that she favors a free market system where health insurance can be shared across state lines and that she wants to fight for lower prescription drug prices. Although she has yet to make a final decision on what kind of changes to the health care system she would fight for, she has been an avid supporter of formalizing paid maternity and paternity leave.[iii]
Hilary Clinton has voiced support for President Obama’s DACA program and supports comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. She went above and beyond and argued that the United States should adopt more humane detention practices. She wants to make it easier for families to plead their case for leniency and wants to attack the private prison industry; whose profits come from inhumane detention center like the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Ga.
One thing that separates Hilary Clinton from the rest of the major candidates is that she is a she. She is the only major contender for the Democratic presidential nomination that is a female.
Bernie Sanders – D.
Bernie Sanders is a self-proclaimed democratic socialist but he is running as a Democrat for the presidential nomination. In regards to education, he has announced more policies that are geared to help higher education like federal spending to cut college tuition and lower interest rates from federal student loans. He believes that teachers should be paid at a higher rate and that our nation needs to provide better access to early-childhood education.[iv]
On healthcare, Sanders supports a Medicare-for-all single-payer health care system.[v] A single-payer health care system is one where the government pays for health-care provider services instead of private insurers.[vi]
Sanders says he supports President Obama’s 2014 executive action that would have expanded DACA benefits to parents of U.S citizens and lawful permanent residents [vii] but is against certain guest worker programs claiming that they fuel youth unemployment through low-wage immigrant labor.[viii]
REPUBLICANS
Jeb Bush– R.
Jeb Bush to some seems like the most ideal candidate for both Latinos and moderate conservatives. On healthcare, he refers to Obamacare as a “monstrosity” and calls for the government to focus on a catastrophic coverage plan that can help people who experience “costly medical crises.” [ix] He shares that in the future there is a possibility of repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with a model that is more consumer-directed.
Throughout his tenure as Florida governor, Bush was often referred to as the “education governor”.[x] He differs from most Conservatives in that he supports the Common Core, unified expectations for what all students Kindergarten through 12th grade are expected to know in order to be prepared for graduation and college.[xi] He is also an advocate for school voucher programs. Parents could only participate in this voucher program if their child attended a failing public school or if their child has a learning disability.
Jeb Bush might be the most supportive of immigration reform among the Republican candidates even though two other candidates are of Latino descent. At his campaign kickoff event on June 15, after noticing protestors whose shirts spelled out “legal status is not enough,” Bush went off script and promised, “The next president of the United States will pass meaningful immigration reform so that this will be solved—not by executive order.”[xii] Bush opposed Obama’s DACA program and has said that he would rather replace them with immigration reform legislation. He is also not a supporter of “self-deportation” like his Republican colleagues and instead calls for “a path to legalized status” that can eventually lead to citizenship.
Ben Carson– R.
Acclaimed neurosurgeon Ben Carson is currently the only African-American running for President. He has not shared much on what he plans to accomplish as president but in regards to immigration, he rejects President Obama’s DACA program and blames a recent Measles outbreak on undocumented immigrants, referring to them as “illegal immigrants.” [xiii][xiv]
On education, Carson believes that the Common Core must be overturned and that local parents, teachers and principals should have more of a lead on education.[xv]
In terms of healthcare, he claims that the Affordable Care Act is unnecessary and that he strongly supports Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which allow families to make their own decisions about their medical treatments.[xvi]
Ted Cruz– R.
Ted Cruz is famous for leading the filibuster that led to the partial government shutdown in 2013 in a Republican-led attempt to repeal Obamacare. With this being said, it comes to no surprise that he opened his campaign promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act and continued by promising health care reform that eliminates government from the healthcare equation. [xvii]
On Education, Cruz supports repealing the Common Core and advocates for “school choice.” He argues that parents should be free to choose between public, charter, private, Christian, or home schools for their children. [xviii]
On immigration, Cruz has said multiple times that he opposes immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and instead wants to focus on adjusting U.S law to facilitate more legal immigration.[xix] In regards to DACA, he has speculated in the past that he wants to end deportation relief (DACA) by “any means necessary.”[xx]
Rand Paul– R.
Rand Paul is a favorite amongst conservative voters. On education he proposes making education a local and state issue and has gone so far as to propose getting rid of the Department of Education. He also proposes allowing parents to decide what schools their children attend through charter schools, vouchers and competition. He proposes getting rid of the Common Core and recommends having exceptional teachers teach lessons across America through the Internet. He clarifies by saying that teachers should not be removed from classrooms but that innovative ways to transmit information should be adopted. [xxi]
Paul wishes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and fix the over-regulated healthcare system by applying free-market principles to drive costs down. In doing so, he hopes to make the healthcare system more “responsive to patients, families and doctors, rather than government bureaucracy.”[xxii]
Paul is in favor of immigration reform that would “secure the borders first, provide a robust guest-worker program and can, under certain conditions, lead to the legalization of those who entered the U.S without authorization or who overstayed their visas.”[xxiii]
Marco Rubio– R.
Senator Marco Rubio came to prominence as one of the members of the “gang of eight” who passed a bipartisan immigration bill in 2013 that passed in the Senate but failed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. Today he says that he supports immigration reform not in one massive piece of legislation but in a series of steps. First, he would try and expand E-verify, create a system that tracks foreigners here on a visa to prevent overstay and improve border security. After that is complete, he would try and modernize our immigration system to one that is less family-based and more merit-based. Finally, after all of this is completed, he would support legislation that creates a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already in the United States if they meet certain requirements including learning English and paying taxes. “It’s a long process. It’s a reasonable process. It’s a fair process. But it has to happen in that order,” Rubio says. “And it begins with serious enforcement measures.”[xxiv]
Rubio supports an increase in vocational programs because “not everybody should be forced to get a four-year degree in order to find a job.” He also thinks parents should have a larger say in what type of schools their children attend including charter schools. He emphasizes that this is especially important with special needs children. He recognizes that in regards to attending college, financial aid is important and was essential for him to go to school but that we need to strengthen and modernize our financial aid services. One way of doing that was to not limit student aid to traditional programs but to expand them to online courses and different types of degree programs. Lastly he proposes tax credits to qualifying, non-profit education scholarship organizations that provide scholarships to low-income families so that parents have the choice to send their children to private schools in elementary and secondary education.[xxv]
Rubio is in favor or repealing the Affordable Care Act and has pitched broad outlines of a “replacement” plan with conservative features such as buying insurance across state lines. He has also demonstrated support for a refundable tax credit that Americans can use to purchase health insurance.[xxvi]
Donald Trump– R.
Real Estate Mogul Donald Trump announced his candidacy June 16. On the Department of Education he argues, “you could cut that way, way, way down” and has also shared that he is completely against the Common Core. He is a firm believer that education should be decided on the local level.[xxvii]
On immigration, he argues that “[undocumented] immigrants are destroying the fabric of the country” and that granting legal status to them is a “suicide mission.” He proposes keeping our country safe by building “a real wall” to keep immigrants out.[xxviii]
On healthcare, Trump claims that the Affordable Care Act is a catastrophe that must be repealed and replaced. He says that the health insurance industry should be able to move across state lines.[xxix]
Although I’ve only selected three issues to describe each candidate, it is important to research what else each candidate supports besides these three. What type of taxes does each candidate support to fund their initiatives or defund current ones? What are their stances on Marriage equality and reproductive rights? What do they believe should be our next steps to address tension in the Middle East, specifically with ISIS? Who actually has a shot at winning? Educate yourself on everything the candidate stands for before going out to vote November 8, 2016. Remember, Your vote is your voice!
[i] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-hobratsch/the-impact-of-the-next-pr_b_4776477.html
[ii] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/04/12/hillary-clinton-on-education-8-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/2/
[iii] http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-health-care-policy-small-business-owners-iowa
[iv] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/04/30/bernie-sanders-on-education-5-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/2/
[v] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/politics/bernie-sanders-on-the-issues.html
[vi] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/single-payer
[vii] http://www.uscis.gov/immigrationaction
[viii] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/politics/bernie-sanders-on-the-issues.html
[ix] http://www.politico.com/story/2015/03/jeb-bush-talks-alternative-to-obamacare-monstrosity-115913.html
[x] http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/sites/default/files/PN2007-15.pdf
[xi] http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/05/27/307755798/the-common-core-faq#q1
[xii] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/15/jeb-bush-immigration_n_7589310.html
[xiii] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/02/26/ben-carson-tests-presidential-waters-at-cpac/
[xiv] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/05/measles-outbreak-immigrants_n_6623488.html
[xv] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/05/05/ben-carson-on-education-5-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/3/
[xvi] https://www.bencarson.com/issues/health-care/
[xvii] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/ted-cruz-believe-candidate-stands-10-issues/
[xviii] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/03/24/ted-cruz-on-education-6-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know-2/
[xix] http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ted-cruz-knocks-scott-walker-on-immigration/article/2563591
[xx] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/09/ted-cruz-shutdown-immigration_n_5792886.html
[xxi] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/04/07/rand-paul-on-education-5-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/4/
[xxii] https://www.randpaul.com/issue/health-care
[xxiii] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/11/exclusive-rand-paul-throws-weight-behind-immigrati/?page=all
[xxiv] http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/19/politics/marco-rubio-immigration-claire-mccaskill/
[xxv] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/04/13/marco-rubio-on-education-5-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/2/
[xxvi] http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/marco-rubio-florida-insurance-market-117055.html
[xxvii] http://www.forbes.com/sites/maureensullivan/2015/06/16/donald-trump-on-education-5-things-the-presidential-candidate-wants-you-to-know/3/
[xxviii] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/us/politics/donald-trump-on-the-issues.html
[xxix] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/donald-trump-believe-candidate-stands-10-issues/
“NOTE: The opinions express in this blog are the opinions of the author only. It is not to be assumed that the opinions are those of GALEO or the GALEO Latino Community Development Fund. For the official position on any issue for GALEO, please contact Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of GALEO at jerry@2014old.galeo.org.”