What's at Stake Nov. 7: For Working Families, Who Wins Does Matter

The future of Social Security and Medicare. A prescription drug plan for senior citizens. A cure for health care. Better schools. Lower, fairer taxes. They’re the issues that matter most to CWA members in the upcoming election — according to a detailed survey in late July — and they’re hot topics for both parties’ presidential candidates.

But Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George Bush have very different approaches to the issues, and very different track records.

Gore is a lifelong supporter of workers’ rights and a champion of families, children and the elderly. His record and his proposals to strengthen Social Security and Medicare, create a prescription plan, improve health care and schools, lower taxes and college costs for middle-class Americans and pay off the national debt have led CWA — and every major American labor union — to endorse the Gore-Lieberman ticket.

Bush has made proposals for reform, too, though in less detail and with fewer benefits for middle and low-income families. His record in Texas during his six years as governor is bleak from a worker’s standpoint: vehemently anti-labor, with little support for programs to assist the state’s poorest children and families.

“Every election is critical,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “But never before has the potential outcome of an election presented such a clear threat to the labor movement and to the needs of America’s families as it does this year. Who wins in November really does matter.”

What follows is a look at both candidates’ approach to key issues.

SOCIAL SECURITY
Worries about a secure retirement are an enormous source of stress for America’s workers. The Gore-Lieberman plan would strengthen Social Security while paying down the national debt — a plan the New York Daily News called “the soundest fiscal policy anyone could offer.”

The Bush plan to privatize part of the retirement fund is so risky that three prominent Social Security experts — including a former Social Security commissioner who served under both Republicans and Democrats — wrote him in September asking him to explain how he thinks his approach can work.

“The arithmetic is simple,” the experts said, warning that Bush’s proposal would drain $1 trillion from Social Security and threaten benefits for millions of people nearing retirement.

“We do not understand how you are going to keep your promise not to cut Social Security benefits for those at or near retirement while diverting substantial payroll tax revenues into private accounts,” they said. “You owe it to the American people to explain how you will pay for your proposal and how it will impact America.”

Bush’s plan may include a hike in the retirement age — to 70. But he has refused to say so on the record.
“Gov. Bush says he may not divulge the details of his privatization plan until after the election,” Bahr said. “In effect, he’s saying, ‘trust me.’”

Newspaper editorials across the country have hammered Bush’s proposal and taken him to task for refusing to spell out details. “George W. Bush has offered a plan that would kill the most important government program of this century. And the worst of it is, he seems blithely unaware of the danger,” the Daily News wrote.

In the same editorial, the paper said Gore “has a much better, and safer, approach” to reforming Social Security. In essence, he would use a large portion of the growing federal budget surplus to pay off the national debt by 2012, then use the savings in debt payments to shore up Social Security.

Here are key elements of Gore’s plan:

• Contributions to Social Security and Medicare aren’t diverted. They are paid into a “lock box” and protected from being used to pay for tax cuts or other government spending.
• Social Security would be solvent for at least another 50 years. Under Bush’s plan, analysts say the Social Security Trust Fund would be depleted by 2023.
• The plan rules out any effort to raise the retirement age.
• Increased benefits for surviving spouses to ensure that their monthly Social Security check reflects the real cost of living.
• Social Security benefits are accrued for up to five years for parents who stop working or work part time to be home with young children.
• Creation of Retirement Savings Plus Accounts. The plan calls for private accounts that would add to — not take away from — Social Security. The accounts would particularly help low-income Americans who don’t have traditional IRAs or 401(k) options.
• Pension improvements. Building upon work he did as a senator, Gore is calling for expanding pension portability, simplifying the pension process for small business and increased protection for employee pension funds.

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Gore has outlined a long list of proposals for children, including incentive grants to help states provide access to preschool for all 4-year-olds, new standards for daycare and tax credits to make it more affordable, and ways to expand and improve after-school care.

He and running mate Joe Lieberman have pledged, too, to see that every child in America has health coverage within five years. “There are families who worry themselves sick over how to pay the bills every time their children get sick, and that is just wrong,” Lieberman said at a rally in Texas, where Bush fought efforts to expand health care coverage to low-income youngsters.

Gore and Lieberman, who has a strong pro-working family voting record in Congress, also want to strengthen the Family and Medical Leave Act. If Bush is elected, and has backing in Congress, he is expected to overturn the law, which has given tens of thousands of people time to care for sick family members without fearing for their jobs.
“We don’t need a crystal ball to see what will happen to it,” Bahr said. “Bush Senior vetoed it twice and Bush Junior will surely sign a repeal of it into law.”

Bush's record regarding children and low-income families in Texas has been widely criticized. Texas ranks near the bottom of all states with regard to the number of families in poverty and the number of people without health insurance. Public health spending is also extremely low.
Under the Clinton-Gore administration, child poverty nationwide fell from 22.7 percent in 1993 to 18.9 percent in 1998, the largest five-year drop in the last 30 years.

Family issues are low priorities for Bush running mate Dick Cheney, based on his track record. During his 10 years in the House representing Wyoming, Cheney voted in favor of working family legislation only nine times out of 158 votes. He was one of just 21 U.S. House members to vote against funding safe drinking water, one of just 10 members to oppose reauthorizing Head Start and one of just eight members to oppose child immunization programs.

HEALTH CARE
Both candidates are pledging to reform the health care system, but analysts say Gore’s plans will reach more people who need assistance — including middle-class Americans overwhelmed by the cost of medical care and prescription drugs.

“We need to fix our health care system so that no one falls through the gaps,” Gore says.

Gore’s plans would expand eligibility for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and offer tax credits to help Americans 55 to 65 buy into Medicare, as well as tax credits to help small businesses provide insurance to their employees.

Under Medicare, he would offer seniors a prescription drug benefit that would cover half their drug costs, up to $1,000 the first year and rising to $2,500 in 10 years. An individual’s out-of-pocket expenses would be capped at $4,000 a year. The government would pay all costs beyond that.

Bush has been vague about certain details of his prescription drug plan, but analysts say it would help fewer people — perhaps only 1 percent of all Medicare recipients.

“He fails to specify what he will deliver and what it will cost, leaving a lot of discretion to the insurer,” Stanley Cohen, a retired consumer protection reporter wrote in the Washington Post. “Gore is more credible because his plan promises specific benefits within the Medicare structure and he should be able to deliver on what he pledges.”

Gore also supports a patient’s bill of rights and the right of patients to sue their health plans if they are denied care. Bush supports far more limited patients’ rights.

Of late, Gore has called on HMOs to cover preventive screenings, including mammograms, colorectal screenings and tests for cervical and prostate cancer. He also wants to guarantee a patient’s right to a second opinion.

“The American people should be able to get the best health care, not just the cheapest,” Gore said.

EDUCATION
Saying education must be America’s number-one national priority, Gore is proposing “bold steps to make our schools the best in the world.”
Gore’s plans include:

• A $115 billion Education Reform Trust Fund to build and repair schools, reduce class size to an average of 18 students, provide high-quality after-school programs and connect all classrooms and communities to the Internet.
• Expanded teacher recruitment, training and testing. Creation of e a “21st Century Teachers Corps” to attract quality teachers by raising salaries and forgiving college loans, and offering incentives to teachers who improve student performance.
• Up to $2,800 in annual tax relief for college tuition, as well as tax-free 401(k) accounts for families to contribute up to $2,500 a year for job training and higher education.
• Community grants to help business and labor groups develop training programs and giving businesses up to a $6,000 tax credit for employee training.
  Bush is also proposing education reforms, including some new federal funding, establishment of tax-free education accounts and more early education. But he opposes much of what Gore supports, including federal legislation to hire 100,000 new teachers.

Bush’s critics in Texas say his record on education makes them doubt the promises he’s making now. In 1998, Bush was widely quoted as saying, “Higher education is not my priority,” at a time when the state’s SAT scores were the 45th lowest in the country. During his tenure as governor, the state has dropped from 29th to 48th in rankings of the best place to raise a child, according to the Children’s Rights Council.

“Bush is constantly trying to divert resources from public schools and teachers’ salaries to other things, which makes life even harder for the children I teach,” said teacher Minnie Sanchez, a member of Teachers’ Local 1356.

ECONOMY
It’s probably the hottest topic of them all: Which candidate’s plan will do the most to lower taxes, pay down the national debt and keep the country’s generally robust economy in the best shape?

Both men propose tax cuts, but analysts say Bush’s proposals would benefit the wealthiest Americans far more than middle and lower-income families.

Gore’s plan would cut taxes by about $480 billion over 10 years, a third of the cut proposed by Bush. Citizens for Tax Justice notes, for instance, that taxpayers making between $24,400 and $39,300 would receive a 7.3 percent cut in their federal taxes under Bush’s plan. Taxpayers making between $130,000 and $319,000 would receive a smaller cut — 4.2 percent — but that would translate into four times more money than the lower-income families saved, the group said.
Gore’s cuts are targeted to working families. (See below, following Bush's Plan.) His plan would:

• End the marriage penalty, giving married couples twice the deduction of singles.
• Expand the childcare tax credit.
• Make college tuition tax deductible.
• Introduce tax credits for health insurance and long-term care.
• Raise the minimum wage by $1 to $6.15 per hour.
• Extend the Earned Income Tax Credit, an effort to ensure that all working people are free of poverty.
• Strengthen the freedom of workers to organize to help people improve their standard of living and increase their voice at work.

Key Goals of the Gore/Lieberman Economic Plan

1. Eliminate the national debt by 2012.
2. Strengthen and improve Social Security and Medicare.
3. Double the number of families with savings in excess of $50,000.
4. Raise family incomes by one-third.
5. Increase home ownership above 70 percent.
6. Raise college attendance and graduation to record levels.
7. Lower typical family tax burdens to the lowest level in 50 years.
8. Reduce the poverty rate to under 10 percent, a record low.
9. Reduce the wage gap between men and women by 50 percent.
10. Create 10 million high-tech, high-skill jobs.

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