In response to our questions, the Bush campaign sent us position papers on children and families and on education. We got these points from those papers and from further research.

• Raised federal spending on education to historically high levels.

• Launched the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB):
  
  • Tests all kids every year to make sure every group of kids is making "adequate yearly progress."
  • If they're not, requires schools to pay for tutoring or transportation to another school.
  • Requires states to put a "highly qualified teacher" in every classroom.
    

• Proposes School Choice Incentive funding for school choice initiatives: parents could enroll their kids in public or private school.

• Proposes expanding after-school opportunities to 3.5 million children.
  

• Proposes increasing federal spending on education:
  
  • Adding $10 billion a year
  • Fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act
  • Offering teachers better training and pay in high-need areas
  • Increasing federal spending for special education.

• Proposed and signed tax cuts for families.
  

• Proposes doubling the Child Tax Credit and making it refundable for more families (if the credit is more than you owe, the government sends you a check).
  

• Created a special 10 percent tax rate for the lowest-income families (before, the lowest rate was 15 percent).
  

• Proposes raising the work requirements for welfare recipients from the current minimums of 20 hours a week (for parents with kids under six years old) and 30 hours (parents with older children) to 40 hours a week.
  

• Proposes making the tax code more favorable to married couples.
  

• Proposes a new $50 million program to encourage responsible fatherhood.
  

• Supports giving states financial incentives to send more past-due child support payments to mothers and children.

• Proposes raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.00 by 2007.

• Proposes cutting middle-class taxes

• Proposes expanding job training.

• Proposes promoting American jobs through:
  
  • tax credits for employers who create new jobs in America.
  • a 5 percent cut in the corporate tax rate
  • elimination of the federal tax break for businesses that export jobs.

• Supports federal development of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

• Launched Reading First and Early Reading First initiatives: $1.8 billion was spent on teacher training and instructional materials.
  

• Gave states, through NCLB, almost $200 million in funds for early childhood reading.

• Distributed A Guide to Early Literacy in Child Care: Learning to Read & Write Begins at Birth for parents and caregivers.

• Sponsored the Early Child Development Act, which would add $3.75 billion over five years for child care and preschool education.
  

• Supported increases in federal funding for child care and Head Start.
  

• Proposes a training and compensation program for the workforce, which would:
  
  • develop comprehensive, uniform standards
    
  • require and help pay for child development training
    
  • fund states to provide salary bonuses for training and staying on the job.
    

• Proposes to increase the Child Care Tax Credit, make it available to stay-at-home parents and lower-income parents, and make it partially refundable (if the credit is more than you owe, the government will send a check).

• Expanded eligibility and improved benefits for federally funded health programs (Medicaid and SCHIP).
  

• Created new Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which allow individuals to:
  
  • save up to $4,500 a year in a tax-sheltered account to pay for health care when they buy health insurance with a large deductible.
    
  • use money from the HSA to pay for care before the insurance kicks in.

• Proposes funding 1,200 new or expanded health centers.

• Supports allowing people with HSAs to deduct 100 percent of their health insurance premium from their taxable income.

• Proposes that the federal government pay the full cost for the nearly 20 million kids enrolled in Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California). In exchange, states will expand the Children's Health Insurance Program (Healthy Families in California) to cover children in families with incomes up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line (about $46,000 a year for a family of three) and also cover parents with incomes up to 200 percent of the poverty line (about $30,000 a year for a family of three)

• Proposes making enrollment in public health insurance easier with steps including:
  
  • automatically enrolling every eligible child when they go to school
  • removing the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants who are children or pregnant women.

• Proposes making it easier for employers to provide health insurance by:
  
  • cutting taxes for employers who provide insurance
    
  • providing federal subsidies for high-cost cases, to cut insurance premiums.

• Distributed millions of copies of the Parent's Guide to Child Safety, which provides tips to parents and children on preventing child abductions.
  

• Expanded the Amber Alert network across America.
  

• Signed the PROTECT Act giving law enforcement additional tools to prevent, investigate, and prosecute violent crimes against children.
  

• Held the first White House Conference on Missing, Exploited, and Runaway Children in October 2002.

• Sponsored a bill to set minimum standards for gun safety locks.

• Proposes restoring funding to the Federal Community-Oriented Policing program.
  

• Proposes putting 100,000 more officers on the street.
  

• Proposes positive alternatives for kids who have gotten on the wrong path.

Improve the economy:

• Passed major tax cuts to help the economy create more jobs.

• Worked to open foreign markets to more American-made goods and services.
  

• Reduced tax burdens on businesses and increased exports.

• Proposes going back to the rule that federal spending can't increase more than inflation, except for education and security.
  

• Would reduce federal energy use by 20 percent.
  

• Proposes raising money for new spending by closing corporate tax loopholes and "corporate welfare," and making polluters pay for clean-up.
  

• Proposes to roll back Bush's tax cuts for families making over $200,000.