Rand Paul: Campaign Issues

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff

Where he stands

Rand Paul

Rand Paul
Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore

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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
—Jennie Wood
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