Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush was born in Midland, Texas on February 11, 1953. He graduated from the University of Texas and moved to Florida, where he worked as a real estate agent and broker. While in Florida, Jeb Bush held his first political position as the state's Secretary of Commerce. He quickly rose through the ranks and in 1998 became governor of Florida. [1]. As Governor, he is remembered for cutting taxes, increasing job growth, and expanding Florida's economy [2]. Jeb Bush now seeks the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential race.
Tax Reform
Bush's Tax Reform (section page)
"I'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country."(RD-4)
Tax Proposal
Jeb Bush released a plan that would reduce personal income tax brackets down to three brackets: 28%, 25%, 10% like the Reagan administration’s second tax reform. In the business world he says that his administration would "eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above -- below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs"(RD-4). Bush's campaign claims that "The plan nearly doubles the standard deduction now taken by roughly two-thirds of all filers. It eliminates the marriage penalty, expands the Earned Income Tax Credit, ends the death tax, retires the Alternative Minimum Tax and ends the employee’s share of the Social Security tax on earnings for workers older than 67"(JBW-J)
- 2% cap of filer’s gross income on total tax deductions(NPR)
- double size of standard deduction(NPR)
- double income tax credit for childless workers(NPR)
- eliminate carried interest loophole(NPR)
- estimate increasing number of Americans that don’t pay tax by 15 million, bringing the number of filers with zero taxes from 40% up to 50%(NPR)
- plan estimated to cost up to $3.4 trillion over the next decade without growth(NPR)
- businesses deduct new capital investments (NPR)
Jobs And Business Policy
Bush's Jobs and Business Policy (section page)
Cut Regulations
"regulations stifle small business formation, which means fewer jobs and declining incomes for hardworking Americans. There is no reason why regulators should be permitted to harm the labor market. As president, I will work to repeal onerous regulations that keep too many businesses from hiring and expanding."(JBW-J)
End the affordable healthcare act and other job destroying programs
- "Repeal Obamacare, address the root causes of health care costs and enable employers and workers to balance good benefits with fair wages."(JBW-J)
- "Eliminate welfare programs that discourage work and replace them with state-led programs that will require work for able-bodied adults."(JBW-J)
Dodd-Frank
- "We shouldn't have another financial crisis. What we ought to do is raise the capital requirements so banks aren't too big to fail. Dodd-Frank has actually done the opposite, totally the opposite, where banks now have a higher concentration of risk in assets and the capital requirements aren't high enough. If we were serious about it, we would raise the capital requirements and lessen the load on the community banks and other financial institutions." (RD4)
Health Policy
Bush's Health Policy (section page)
Repeal and Replace Obamacare
Jeb bush wants to repeal Obamacare and says that it was "a failure from the start"(JBS-A), and take away health control power from the federal government and give it to the states. He believes that states should have the freedom and responsibility to tailor their health care plans to their state and make insurance markets more competitive. He also does not agree with all the mandates that come along with the Affordable Care Act, and hopes to put people in a position "where their empowered to make more decisions for themselves"(JBS-A).
Encourage Inovation
Bush wants to modernize the Food and Drug Administration, as well as make "medical record keeping more efficient sharable and secure".(JBS-A) He claims that the current health care is over regulated, adding higher costs and complexity to the system.(JBW-HC)
Bush's Plan
- Provide a tax credit for those without employer coverage (JBS-A)
- Make it easier for small businesses to provide coverage for their employees with tax deductions. (JBS-A)
- Have transparent information for people to make decisions for themselves (JBS-A)
- Open up the insurance market place and "break down the insurance monopolies and let people by health insurance designed for what they actually want".(JBS-A)
On Abortion
" I'm the most pro-life governor on this stage. Life is a gift from God. And from beginning end we need to respect it and err on the side of life. And so I defunded Planned Parenthood. And I would bring that philosophy to Washington."(OTI-A)
Drug Policy
Bush's Drug Policy (section page)
On marijuana legalization
Jeb bush openly opposes the legalization of marijuana, voting in florida to ban medical marijuana, but ultimately believes that it is a state decision. He says in reference to marijuana " what goes on in Colorado as far as i'm concerned should be a state decision"(RD-2)
Strengthen Criminal Justice
Jeb Bush wants to enact stronger reprimands for violent drug traffickers, while giving non-violent offenders proper treatment and reducing mandatory sentences so they can get back to their community quicker.(JBW-DC)
Middle East
Bush's Middle East (section page)
Iraq
"We need to embed our forces -- our troops inside the Iraqi military. We need to arm directly the Kurds. And all of that has to be done in concert with the Arab nations." (RD-5)
"We must support the Iraqi forces, including directly arming the Kurdish Peshmerga and re-engaging with the Sunni tribes." (JBW-DI)
Syria
"We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership." (RD-4)
"A coordinated, international effort is essential to give Syria’s moderate forces the upper hand against both ISIS and Assad."(JBW-DI)
On being the worlds policemen
"We're not going to be the world's policeman, but we sure as heck better be the world's leader. That's a huge difference where, without us leading, voids are filled, and the idea that it's a good idea for Putin to be in Syria, let ISIS take out Assad, and then Putin will take out ISIS? I mean, that's like a board game, that's like playing Monopoly or something. That's not how the real world works." (OTI-FP)
Trade
Lift Restrictions on Exports of Oil and Natural Gas
"Lifting the ban on crude oil exports and liberalizing natural gas exports would create hundreds of thousands of additional jobs and significantly lower net energy costs within two years."(JBW-EP)
Cuba
"trade with Cuba when Cuba is free. The difference between China and Cuba is China has huge economic opportunities for us. Cuba is a country of 11 million people, impoverished, and it's a dictatorship. Any efforts taken by the Obama administration right now has not gotten anything in return."(IPR)
Immigration
Bush's Immigration (section page)
Jeb Bush plans to strengthen the enforcement of Immigration laws, both internally and at the border through six proposals. (RD4)
- A forward-leaning Border Patrol with the flexibility to deploy resources to meet threats. (RD4)
- implementing new surveillance technologies such as drones sensors and radars (RD4)
- improving the border infrastructure to allow easier access to border patrol agents (RD4)
- Reduce the incentive for illegal immigration by decreasing the likelihood that they will be employed through an improved E-Verify system (RD4)
- Identify and send home the people who are entering the United States and overstaying their visas or otherwise violating the terms of their admission. (RD4)
- Punish sanctuary cities which are impairing the federal government from enforcing immigration laws, by withholding federal law enforcement funds. (RD4)
For those already within the United States Jeb Bush intends too instate a rigorous path towards citizenship which would require a background check, paying fines, paying taxes, learning English, obtaining a provisional work permit and a job all while not receiving government assistance. (RD4)
"What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path" (RD4)
"Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn’t rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families." (WashingtonPost)
Environmental
Bush's Environmental (section page)
On the role that renewable energy sources should play
"I support an approach that uses diverse sources—such as wind, solar, other renewables, nuclear, natural gas and coal—for this country’s energy needs. Power generation should reflect, as much as possible, the diverse attributes and needs of states and their citizens. The federal government should not be dictating what types of power should be used where."(BB)
Reduce Environmental Regulation
"Energy resources must be developed in a way that protects human health and the environment. Rules play an important role in making sure this is the case. But the Obama Administration’s excessive rules too often usurp state and tribal authority and go beyond what is necessary"(JBW-EP)
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Bush's Entrepreneurship and Innovation (section page)
GOP Debate Quotes
- "Simplifying the code and lowering rates, both for corporations and -- and personal rates, is exactly what we need to do. You think about the regulatory cost and the tax cost -- that's why small businesses are closing, rather than being formed in our country right now." (RD3)
- "And make sure you enhance savings in the private market. The idea of 401(k)s. I have a small business that I set up. It took -- it took an arm and a leg to be able to set up a 401(k). Because of all the federal mandates and federal laws, it was too expensive." (RD3)
- "And if we're serious about being serious about high growth, then we have to recognize that small businesses right now, more of them are closing than -- than are -- than are being set up." (RD4)
Promote Innovation in Health Care
"Health care costs grow faster than any other sector of the economy and innovation lags. Why? Washington over-regulation in health care creates high barriers to entry, adds excessive costs, fosters excessive complexity and impedes innovation. Governor Bush will:
Modernize the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory morass and increase funding and accountability at the National Institutes of Health Promote private sector leadership of health information technology adoption and enable better access to patient de-identified Medicare and Medicaid claims data Establish a comprehensive review of regulatory barriers to health innovation" (JBWHP)
Entitlement Reform
Implement bipartisan Medicare premium support. Under current law, seniors in Medicare can choose the traditional option (called fee-for-service) or private health plan options (called Medicare Advantage). However, politicians, bureaucrats and lobbyists – not doctors, patients and innovators – decide how much government pays for those benefits. Under this proposal, private health care plans (like Humana and Kaiser), other innovators and traditional Medicare will compete on the best price to offer Medicare benefits to seniors. Seniors’ premium support will be based on the average of those prices – and be 6 percent lower on average. Competition will make spending more efficient, and seniors could pay less and have more options. (JBWER)
Innovation in Energy Sector
Reduce Overregulation
"Perhaps worse, such regulation saps America’s dynamism. We have, thus far, benefited from the Energy Revolution simply because Washington did not have time to quash it, but we will never know how many other innovations have been lost due to overregulation."(JBWE)
Sustaining Growth
"Once achieved, the nation must maintain higher growth with energy policies that continue to increase jobs and lower costs over the long-term. In the coming months, I will release additional proposals that will complement our status as an energy superpower by revitalizing our position as the superpower of energy innovation." (JBWE)
"For instance, we can further accelerate the discovery of game-changing technologies by boosting funding for high-priority basic research and increasing the effectiveness of our national labs. The private sector often underfunds energy research that could greatly benefit society. Government can correct that. My record and experience in Florida shows how world-class research contributes to jobs and technological advances that can improve everyone’s quality of life. "(JBWE)
Remove Barriers to Innovation in the Tech Industry
"As part of this national effort to improve cybersecurity, the government must not be an obstacle to innovation in the tech industry. The government’s power to incentivize and empower must take precedence over its predilection to regulate and constrain. Because cyberthreats are always evolving, effective cybersecurity requires continuous innovation, which a flourishing tech industry provides." (JBWCS)
"We need to transform immigration into an economically-driven system that retains and brings in highly-skilled immigrants. Such a system would help create startups and increase innovation. We must lower business taxes to encourage investment and hiring in the United States." (JBWCS)
"The Internet and innovation from the tech industry have enormous potential to help address public policy challenges. For example, digital connections between power plants, transformers, substations, and transmission lines allow for better management of the electric grid. With such networks, utilities are better able to anticipate, avoid, or respond to power outages." (JBWCS)
"The Internet is one of the greatest innovations in history and has led to unrivaled opportunity and a great leveling of the playing field for all. I will be a President who works to actually bring people together from both sides of the aisle, as well as the public and private domains, to better address the very real threats confronting this critical global resource." (JBWCS)
Education Reform
"Give states the flexibility & resources to create great public schools and allow states to expand choice for disadvantaged students and students with disabilities. And rather than tell states and schools what to do, Governor Bush will reward low-income and high needs schools who improve student outcomes with additional dollars. The federal government cannot run or fix schools from Washington, but it can make it easier for families, educators, entrepreneurs, districts and states to do so." (JBWER)
Religion
Bush's Religion (section page):
Separation of Church and State
At a commencement speech at Liberty University Jeb asserted that he would definitely be influenced by his faith in making presidential decisions.
Israel
Education
Persecution of Christians in other Countries
Quotes
Health Policy
- "[A]long with repealing Obamacare, we need to shift all of this power of healthcare, which is the most egregious form of federal power that is suppressing wages and incomes, and allow governors to have the Medicaid plans so that they can create 21st century Medicaid insurance for people that are stuck in poverty." RD8
Tax Reform
- "A four percent growth strategy means you fix a convoluted tax code. You get in and you change every aspect of regulations that are job killers." RD1
Drug Policy
- "The country’s massive heroin and illicit drug epidemic is compounded and fueled by sharp increases in the abuse of prescription painkillers. The problem is exacerbated by huge increases in the availability of cheap, highly potent heroin, primarily the result of Mexican drug cartels" JBS
