John McCain on the issues

Monday, Oct. 6, 2008 | 11:54 a.m.

Sam Morris

John McCain warms up the crowd of disabled veterans Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008, at Bally's. The veterans also heard from Sen. Barack Obama, by videotape.

The following are John McCain's positions on selected issues

Abortion

McCain believes Roe v. Wade was a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he would nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench. Constitutional balance would be restored by the reversal of Roe v. Wade, returning the abortion question to the individual states. The difficult issue of abortion should not be decided by judicial fiat ... more.

Environment and Energy

He is committed to clean air and clean water and to conserving open space. He says global warming can no longer be ignored. Reducing the U.S. dependence on oil is not only a greenhouse gas issue, it's a national security issue. Americans needs to limit carbon emission by harnessing market forces that will bring advanced technologies, such as nuclear energy, to the market faster. In addition to cleaning up the environment, that would reduce our dependence on foreign supplies of energy. He favors building the proposed national repository for nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, which is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas ... more.

Foreclosures

McCain was silent about the subprime mortgage crisis until the week of Dec. 17, 2007, when he opened up about economic issues. He especially addressed the mortgage crisis, citing increasing numbers of voters voicing concerns about home foreclosures. As reported in The New York Times on Dec. 19, 2007, McCain said he would think about stepping up government action if the current solution didn’t work out. And a News-Press article reported that at a December campaign stop in Fort Meyers, Fla. McCain made mention of the rising rate of foreclosures as well. Without revealing details about his plan, McCain said he would aid those that can’t make their payments and stop rewarding those “speculators.” ... more

Health Care

He believes that insurance reforms should increase the variety and affordability of insurance coverage available to American families through fostering competition and innovation. He wants to reform the tax code to end bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives to get insurance. His plan to improve the health care system includes: making health insurance purchasable across state lines, offering plans that are portable, and applying rigorous standards to the insurance and health care fields that protect the health care consumer ... more.

Immigration

He sponsored legislation, with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would first secure the borders, then set up a temporary worker program that could only be valid through a tamper-proof biometric document and finally begin to deal with the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the U.S. ... more.

Iraq

McCain said the war has been mismanaged but the surge is working. He favors sending more troops to Iraq to stabilize the country and keeping them there until the war is won. McCain says if we pull out the troops from Iraq, the terrorists will bring the fight to America. He says the U.S. must accelerate the training and equipping of Iraqi armed forces and police ... more.

Taxes

McCain believes that the tax system is one that is fair and at its current state, stimulates wealth and a vibrant economy. McCain has openly defended his record saying repeatedly that he has never voted for, nor has he supported, a tax increase. But some critics point to his run for the Republican presidential nominee in 2000 when he criticized Bush’s tax plan for giving too much money in tax relief to the wealthy as evidence that he is not as Republican on his tax policy as he leads people to believe. Also, he has not signed the no-tax-increase pledge that has been circulating the Republican field and has served for the litmus test on taxes for Republican candidates. Instead, McCain is more focused on cutting federal spending. He would make the Bush tax cuts permanent, but his focus on tax reform policy lies in cutting federal spending ... more.

Yucca Mountain

John McCain has been consistent in his support for storing nuclear waste within Yucca Mountain. He has said publicly that tough decisions regarding nuclear waste have to be made and that storing nuclear waste over many different states is a larger national threat than storing all the waste at Yucca Mountain. He supports going forward with building more nuclear power plants and believes storing waste inside Yucca Mountain will streamline that cause ... more

— Las Vegas Sun new media managing editor Dave Toplikar and new media intern April Corbin compiled this report.