KEAN: Unlike Bob Menendez, I support judicial nominees based on merit and ability, not based on litmus tests or whether they support my political views.
MENENDEZ: I strongly support a woman’s right to choose. Unlike my opponent, I believe we must have Supreme Court justices who will uphold Roe v. Wade.
KEAN: I fully support stem cell research, voted in favor of it and opposed President Bush’s veto. Sadly, Bob Menendez distorts my record on this issue.
MENENDEZ: I stood up to Bush and voted to expand funding for stem-cell research. Rubberstamp Republican Tom Kean Jr. voted against funding stem-cell research six times.
KEAN: I support merit-based initiatives that recognize the value of diversity and believe we need to ban pay-to-play, which discriminates against minority access to government programs.
MENENDEZ: The federal government has a responsibility to ensure that all businesses have an equal opportunity to compete for contracts - including small, minority and women-owned businesses.
KEAN: I believe our flag is a sacred symbol, a monument to freedom and I support a Constitutional Amendment banning the desecration of the American flag.
MENENDEZ: I voted for the flag burning amendment because I believe the flag, as a uniting symbol of our country, should be protected.
KEAN: I believe marriage is between one man and one woman but do not support a federal constitutional amendment.
MENENDEZ: I believe marriage is between a man and a woman, but oppose a federal constitutional amendment. The constitution shouldn’t be amended to take away rights.
KEAN: I oppose the legalization of marijuana and believe we must prosecute drug-related offenses to the fullest extent of the law.
MENENDEZ: For those suffering uncontrollable pain from cancer and other diseases - for which no prescription drug provides relief - I believe we should review current law.
KEAN: While our nation needs to address greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, I have reservations about the Kyoto Protocol, particularly because it allows India and China, two of the world’s fastest developing nations as well as the top emitters in greenhouse gasses, to pollute the environment without any penalty. However, I am pleased that our states and cities have begun phased implement of Kyoto targets, including the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
MENENDEZ: Global warming is more than a mere “inconvenient truth” and a threat to our environment, economy and lives. It is the issue that will define our generation’s success. It’s past due for America to finally ratify the Kyoto Protocol--a starting point for the international community to begin addressing this worldwide problem. Sadly, Kean fails to mention national standards to combat climate change--because Kean holds stock in Big Oil and takes their campaign contributions.
KEAN: I took on the Clean Car Act as one of my most pressing legislative priorities. I have proudly supported numerous environmental initiatives, including tax incentives for purchasing alternative or fuel efficient cars, financial assistance to gas stations who install hookups for these cars and mandatory retrofitting of diesel trucks. I was also a strong proponent of the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, considered to be one of the most significant environmental bills ever passed.
MENENDEZ: My opponent will be a loyal footsoldier for a Bush administration that has one of the worst environmental records in history. My parents taught me that if you make a mess, you clean it up. Polluters should be held accountable for the damage they cause. I’ve consistently fought to reinstate the “polluter pays” principle behind superfund laws. In 2004 alone, Kean voted twice against making polluters pay more for their toxic waste.
KEAN: No. Negotiation and compromise under the current rules are the best means to success and promotes bipartisan solutions to our nation’s challenges.
MENENDEZ: Under Bush, Washington has become too partisan and divided. Senate rules are meant to overcome that by encouraging debate and compromise. They should be preserved.
KEAN: I sponsored legislation to prohibit dual-office holding. It undermines the integrity and honesty of government. Regrettably, Bob Menendez was a dual-office holder.
MENENDEZ: Voters have the final say in who represents them in government. If the electorate votes you into office, that is the will of the electorate.
MENENDEZ: Yes. Violence on our streets is devastating too many New Jersey families. I introduced legislation to combat gangs, which includes increased penalties for gun crimes.
KEAN: We must uphold our current firearm laws and expand prosecution of those who commit crimes with a firearm, like the 10-20-30 legislation I currently sponsored.
KEAN: No. Unlike my opponent, I support Health Savings Accounts, Association Health Plans and medical malpractice reform to make healthcare affordable and accessible.
MENENDEZ: We must expand access to affordable healthcare for everyone. Unlike my opponent, I support limiting tax breaks for the wealthiest 1% to pay for it.
KEAN: Yes, I support the use of surveillance techniques to win the war on terror while protecting civil liberties and staying within the law.
MENENDEZ: We must do all we can to combat terrorism, but we must also enforce the current system of court oversight to protect individuals’ privacy rights.
KEAN: I supported the Senate compromise legislation. It was tailored to respect the Geneva Convention, while providing the flexibility to prosecute the war against terrorism.
MENENDEZ: We must protect innocent people from terrorists, punish those who attack Americans, and do both in a humane manner consistent with the Geneva Convention.
MENENDEZ: An enforcement-only approach-which Kean now supports-has not worked. But last spring, Kean called for a path towards legal status for illegal immigrants if they paid a fine-similar to the bi-partisan bill I voted for. However, just two weeks later, Kean said the legislation should include deporting all undocumented immigrants. Making a felon of anyone undocumented would bring about the most massive roundup and deportation in the history of the world.
KEAN: Menendez voted against hiring 10,000 new border agents; voted against a security fence across the US-Mexico border; and voted against enhancing sentences for illegal aliens convicted of a violent crime. That’s a dangerous voting record. My immigration stance can be summed up in two sentences:
KEAN: I oppose privatizing Social Security. Unlike my opponent, I also oppose raising Social Security taxes on seniors and giving Social Security benefits to illegal aliens.
MENENDEZ: No, I strongly oppose privatizing Social Security. Unlike Tom Kean Jr., I’ve consistently fought President Bush’s privatization scheme. We must protect benefits, not cut them.
MENENDEZ: I’m working to help researchers harness the potential of stem cell research to prevent and cure diseases like Parkinson’s & Alzheimer’s. Breakthroughs wouldn’t only improve quality of life, but would also keep people out of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. In turn, this would reduce costs for Medicaid and other programs. I support stem cell research 100%. Tom Kean Jr. might say he supports it, but he’s voted against funding stem cell research 3 times in the last year alone.
KEAN: Bob Menendez misrepresents my position on stem cell research. In the state senate, I supported stem cell research and opposed pork-barrel brick and mortar projects that Bob’s cronies in Trenton attempted to pass under the guise of good science. I opposed Pres. Bush’s veto of the federal stem cell legislation and, in the Senate, will work to bring the hope and promise that stem cell research offers to millions of Americans who suffer from devastating diseases.
KEAN: It is vital that we ensure that aid to low-income students is our principle goal and the first priority of the system must be direct aid to students. We must reduce fraud in the current system. Pell Grant fraud cost $600 million between 2001 to 2004. Through the use of technology, we can curb systemic fraudulent abuse of the system. We should look for ways to merge duplicative programs and streamline federal regulation to provide additional savings.
MENENDEZ: My opponent isn’t interested in more funding and research for New Jersey’s public colleges and universities. Calling to combine a few federal programs is not a solution. In the state senate, Tom Kean Jr. consistently voted against state budgets providing financial aid for higher education. And, now he is merely providing cookie-cutter rhetoric to legitimate questions as to how we can expand access to the halls of higher learning.
KEAN: While my opponent voted against the creation of Educational Savings Accounts, I believe they are an important component in providing educational opportunities for young people and parents. Parents and others can contribute collectively up to $2,000 each year to a Coverdell education savings account to be used for qualified educational expenses, like home computers, books, supplies, after-school programs, tuition, and tutoring programs. I think Congress should provide tax deductibility as an incentive to spur greater savings.
MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr. has no plan to help New Jersey’s families pay for college. And, he has no plan to increase financial aid. The only plan Tom Kean Jr. has-on this and nearly every issue-is to do whatever President Bush tells him to. Unlike my opponent, I believe that wealth and privilege ought not to be the only tickets to higher education.
KEAN: The US must be steadfast in our efforts to address nuclear proliferation, most importantly in Iran and North Korea. The concerns arising over nuclear proliferation in Iran are justified when we reflect on North Korea which withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has already declared itself a nuclear state.
MENENDEZ: I’ve also fought to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program through legislation aimed at stopping its development. For years, Iran has deceived the international community and supported terrorist organizations. It’s hardly a coincidence that Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers on the very same day Iran was to answer to the international community- touching off the conflict in Lebanon. As Iran continues its nuclear program-enriching uranium and refusing to dismantle-I support the UN Security Council resolution threatening Iran with international sanctions.
MENENDEZ: I’m working hard to move our nation from a disease-based health care system to a prevention-based system. Ultimately, we save both lives and money if we focus on prevention & early diagnosis, as opposed to spending more to treat diseases once they’ve progressed. Last year, I wrote the Patient Navigator, Outreach & Chronic Disease Prevention Act. This bipartisan legislation guides patients through the healthcare maze, thus reducing costs and improving efficiency.
KEAN: How is it that a tenured Congressman can speak so little about how he’s worked to build bipartisan coalitions? Bob Menendez has voted at least twice against providing a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, voted at least 3 times to cut $115 billion from the Medicare program and voted against creating tax-free Medical Savings Accounts for our seniors, families & working professionals. This is exactly why we need an independent reformer in Congress
KEAN: Given the tremendous fiscal burden that Medicaid places on the federal government, clear guidelines and fiscal rules, combined with state flexibility, could allow all parties to work toward the equal challenge of containing ever-increasing Medicaid expenses. New Jersey must pursue non-traditional avenues of cost containment, including employing today’s technological advancements to streamline paperwork, rooting out waste and fraud and utilizing disease management programs to improve outcomes.
MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr. and his friends in the Bush administration have chosen to create bigger and bigger federal deficits by granting tax breaks to giant corporations and the super-rich, rather than address the vital health care needs of America’s families. No one should ever have to choose between filling their prescriptions and their refrigerator. Everyone deserves quality health care & access to vital medicine at an affordable price.
MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr. cannot erase his record when it comes to privatizing Social Security. On three separate instances he took the Bush position in favor of privatization. In 2000, my opponent said that he backed Bush’s scheme to privatize social security. In the state legislature, Tom Kean Jr. voted to support Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. Twice. Pres. Bush is again rallying his troops--including Tom Kean Jr.--to create private accounts & dip into the Social Security Trust Fund.
KEAN: In 1999, when Bill Clinton proposed investing Social Security in risky privatization scheme, Bob Menendez said, “by investing today, we can be sure Social Security... will be there tomorrow.” Now he says he’s against it. Make no mistake, Bob Menendez is ready to privatize Social Security if it is what the political party bosses tell him to do.
KEAN: I believe NJ residents should not pay a single penny more in taxes until we have wholesale government reform. This means making the federal tax cuts permanent. I will fight to end the Marriage Penalty Tax for good, ensure that the Alternative Minimum Tax does not entrap the middle class and repeal the unfair Death Tax that penalizes hardworking people for the achievements of a lifetime.
MENENDEZ: Tom Kean Jr’s solution is to make permanent President Bush’s tax cuts to the wealthiest 1%-of which he is one. My opponent wants to eliminate the estate tax for the wealthiest one half of 1%-of which he is one, as well. I believe in fair and fiscally responsible tax cuts. I sponsored an amendment to protect middle-class families from the alternative minimum tax. I’ve supported tax cut packages that would have provided meaningful relief to families. If the cuts are made permanent, $2 trillion will be added to our debt over the next decade.
MENENDEZ: I’m proud to have voted against Bush’s war in Iraq right from the start--even when it was unpopular to do so. The Bush administration failed to make the case that Iraq was an imminent threat to our national security. Moreover, there was no conclusive evidence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. This was a war of choice, not a war of necessity. The Bush administration misled the American people with faulty premises and false promises. Tom Kean Jr. is wrong on Iraq. It’s time to end the open-ended commitment of US forces in Iraq.
KEAN: Bob Menendez is weak on national defense. He is a “dove,” who sides with the extreme-left wing of his party, unless it’s politically opportune to do otherwise. Hindsight is always 20/20 and the real debate is about how we move forward in Iraq. I want our troops to come home safely and as soon as possible, but “cut and run” is not a solution, it’s a declaration of defeat.
KEAN: The tragic attacks on Sept. 11 refocused our foreign policy objectives. The current wars in Afghanistan & Iraq are extensions of that new focus. We all want to bring our soldiers home as expeditiously as possible, but we must complete our military and diplomatic objectives. I agree with Sen. McCain’s assessment, that while “we have made serious mistakes” in Iraq, a mandated timetable could possibly incite “full-scale civil war.”
MENENDEZ: To say we’ve merely “made mistakes” in Iraq is to ignore the gravity of the current situation. The biggest mistake Pres. Bush made was sending our sons & daughters off to war in the first place. Amazingly, Tom Kean Jr. still says he would have voted for the war--even with all that we know today. America’s worldwide troop deployment must reflect our priorities in the fight against terrorism. The Bush administration never finished the job in Afghanistan--the launch pad for the 9/11 attacks.
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The above quotations are from New Jersey Senate Virtual Debate - moderated by the Hall Institute, August to September 2006.
Click here for other excerpts from New Jersey Senate Virtual Debate - moderated by the Hall Institute, August to September 2006. Click here for other excerpts by Robert Menendez. Click here for a profile of Robert Menendez.
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