No. 3: Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups
"Barack Obama understands that small businesses are the engines of our economy, and he will eliminate all capital gains taxes on investments in small and start-up firms."
No. 5: Expand the earned income tax credit
Expand the earned income tax credit for workers without children and taxpayers with more than three children. Equalize threshholds for married filers and head of household filers.
No. 15: Create a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners
Create a $10 billion fund to help homeowners refinance or sell their homes. "The Fund will not help speculators, people who bought vacation homes or people who falsely represented their incomes."
No. 25: Establish a small business initiative for rural America
"Will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by establishing a small business and micro-enterprise initiative for rural America. The program will provide training and technical assistance for rural small business, and provide a 20 percent tax credit on up to $50,000 of investment in small owner-operated businesses. This initiative will put the full support of the nation's economic policies behind rural entrepreneurship."
No. 32: Create a tax credit of $500 for workers
Enact a Making Work Pay tax credit that would equal 6.2 percent of up to $8,100 of earnings (yielding a maximum credit of approximately $500). Indexed for inflation.
No. 35: Create more public-private business incubators for poor communities
"Obama and Biden will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country."
No. 68: Strengthen antitrust laws to prevent overcharging for malpractice insurance
"Strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance."
No. 90: Invest $10 billion per year in early intervention educational and developmental programs
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will invest $10 billion per year in early intervention educational and developmental programs for children between zero and five. Their plan will help expand Early Head Start to serve more children with disabilities, and will spur states, through programs like Early Learning Challenge Grants, to expand programs for children with disabilities, such as IDEA Part C, and integrate these programs with other early childhood programs."
No. 111: Allow all veterans back into the Veterans Administration
As one of his "first acts" as president, Obama will sign an executive order "ending the unfair ban on healthcare enrollment of certain groups of veterans, including 'Priority 8' veterans who often earn modest incomes." Currently, veterans who have no service-connected disability and make above a certain amount of income are not allowed to enroll in the VA health program.
No. 145: Ensure the Guard and Reserves can meet their homeland security missions
"The poor readiness of America's Guard and Reserve forces threatens our ability to respond to natural disasters or terrorist attacks at home. We saw this, sadly, after both Hurricane Katrina and the tornadoes in Kansas. Because of the depletion of its resources in Iraq, the National Guard is less ready today than it was on 9/11. Nearly 90 percent of units have serious equipment shortages; many have less than 1/3 of the equipment they require. A particular focus of Obama's plan will be to reverse the trend of "cross-leveling," the cannibalizing of soldiers and machines from units back home for missions abroad."
No. 193: Convene a summit on preventing nuclear terrorism
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will convene a summit in 2009 (and regularly thereafter) of leaders of Permanent Members of the UN Security Council and other key countries to agree on implementing many of these measures on a global basis."
No. 202: Create a national cyber adviser to coordinate security of electronic infrastructure
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden will declare the cyber infrastructure a strategic asset, vital to national security and the global economy, and develop and deploy systems to protect it. ... Barack Obama and Joe Biden will establish the position of national cyber advisor who will report directly to the president and will be responsible for coordinating federal agency efforts and development of national cyber policy."
No. 214: Significantly increase funding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
"Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that we should channel most support for democratic activists living under the most repressive regimes through independent institutions, committed to supporting democrats but free from perceptions of questionable or ulterior motives. They will significantly increase funding for the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and other nongovernmental organizations to support these civic activists."
No. 235: Require more disclosure and a waiting period for earmarks
Through the "Transparency and Integrity in Earmarks Act, will shed light on all earmarks by disclosing the name of the legislator who asked for each earmark, along with a written justification, 72 hours before they can be approved by the full Senate."
No. 257: Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit to offset college costs
"Will make college affordable for all Americans by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit. This universal and fully refundable credit will ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university and make community college tuition completely free for most students. Recipients of the credit will be required to conduct 100 hours of community service."
No. 274: Spend $25 million a year on programs to raise awareness of college financial aid
Obama "will provide $25 million annually in matching funds for states to develop Early Assessment Programs. These funds will also promote state efforts to raise awareness about the availability of federal and state financial aid programs."
No. 281: Protect forest service lands from more roads
"Will fight to protect roadless areas on Forest Service lands from all new road construction."
No. 285: Provide more funds to educate young hunters and anglers
"Will provide state game and fish agencies with additional resources and encouragement to reach out to young men and women to educate them about hunting and fishing opportunities, hunter safety, and the basic principles of fish and wildlife management."
No. 287: Crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants
"Will remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants."
No. 320: Repeal law that limits the sharing of gun-tracing data
Will "repeal the Tiahrt Amendment and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade."
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