Rand Paul: Campaign Issues

Updated August 5, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

Where he stands

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Budget/Deficit/Taxes

• Proposes to balance the budget within five years by returning the discretionary budget to 2008 levels
• Wants to increase defense spending by eliminating the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy
• Wants to increase the age for Social Security eligibility
• Wants to replace Medicare with a plan he's introduced to Congress
• Would turn Medicaid, food stamps, and child nutrition programs into state block grants
• Wants to replace income tax, capital gains, dividends, the estate tax, and other savings taxes with a flat tax
• Would repeal the Affordable Care Act
• Has asked: Is the Federal government too big to be audited?

Immigration

• Believes in legal status, not citizenship for illegal immigrants
• Wants legal status for 11 million illegals after we secure border
• Must do some sort of immigration reform, status quo is untenable

Energy/Environment

• Believes hurricane recovery money is bankrupting the government
• Wants to balance environmental safety with business deregulation
• Voted no on protecting ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems
• Believes Environmental Protection Agency enforcement nullifies due process and judicial review

Foreign Policy

• Believes U.S. intervention in Libya strengthened Islamic State
• 50-year embargo with Cuba hasn't worked
• Normalizing relations with Cuba can lead to positive change
• No quarantine on returning Ebola doctors unless symptomatic
• Wanted temporary stop on elective travel to fight Ebola
• US aid enables a war on Christianity in the Middle East
• No need for talk tough against Putin and Russia
• Wants to eventually end all foreign aid

Domestic Issues

• Women won the "war on women," they're no longer downtrodden
• Supports Plan B morning-after contraception
• Believes marriage is for heterosexuals, but okay with contracts for same-sex couples

• More from Campaign 2016

—Jennie Wood