Mitt Romney on Jobs : Oct 9, 2007
I believe in domestic supports for our agriculture industry

A: I believe in domestic supports for our agriculture industry. I don't want to see our food supply be in the same kind of a jeopardy situation that our energy supply is in. And clearly there's a responsibility of government to make sure that our farmers are treated on the same basis as farmers in Europe & other markets that we compete with. The WTO talks [may] find a way to bring down subsidies around the world, & that'll be good news.

Dennis Kucinich on Free Trade : Sep 9, 2007
NAFTA accelerated immigration from Mexico, in search of jobs

A: Well, first of all, we have to understand why so many people came north of the border to seek work. I talked about the connection between NAFTA, trade and our immigration policies. When NAFTA was passed, there was an acceleration of immigration from Mexico because people were in search of jobs. They were told their wages were going to go up. Wages collapsed in Mexico. Now, there were many corporations north of the border who were ready to receive a supply of cheap labor. We understand that. So of course we need to provide people a path to legalization. But if we do not look at NAFTA while we're looking at immigration, we're going to keep having the same problems. A new trade agreement with Mexico that has those principles will help workers in Mexico, help workers in the US, create conditions where we finally gain control of our economic destiny again.

John Edwards on Immigration : Sep 9, 2007
Undocumented workers deserve same rights as American workers

A: We should be proud of the fact that we've had so many workers come into this country who deserve a path to earn citizenship & who are working to support their families. They have made America richer, culturally more diverse, & they are performing jobs that, in some cases, would be difficult to find others to perform. They're an important part of our economy. We need to not just recognize the economic benefits of these workers, but understand in many cases they are being abused, they are being taken advantage of, their rights are not being protected. And it is enormously important that we have comprehensive immigration reform so that those who in fact are working 10 hours a day in 105-degree heat have the same sort of worker rights that other Americans have. They are no less human, and no less value as human beings, and they deserve those same rights.

Bill Richardson on Social Security : Sep 6, 2007
Don't raise the cap; it's a 15% tax on middle class

A: No, you don't need to do that. That's a 15% tax on small businesses, on the middle class, on family farms. You don't need to do that. This is what you do. One, you take privatization off the table. You don't want Social Security in the stock market. Two, you stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund, as the Congress and the president constantly do.

Duncan Hunter on Immigration : Sep 5, 2007
Complete fence, despite difficulties, because it's the law

Here's what we tell them: It's the law. And you know, I built that border fence in San Diego. And it's really two fences. It's a double fence. It's not that scraggly little fence that they keep showing on CNN with people hopping over it. If you get over my fence, we sign you up for the Olympics immediately. Now, that fence is a double fence with a road in between, and it reduced the smuggling of people and drugs in San Diego by 90%. And that's the reason I wrote the law that extends it 854 miles across Arizona, New Mexico & Texas. They've only done 17.9 miles. As president, I will complete all 854 miles in six months. That's my commitment. It's the law.

Ron Paul on Environment : Sep 1, 2007
Property rights are the foundation of all rights

Property rights are the foundation of all rights in a free society. Without the right to own a printing press, for example, freedom of the press becomes meaningless

Mike Huckabee on Jobs : Sep 1, 2007
Supports farm subsidies & fully-funded crop insurance

• We need subsidies to help our farmers compete with heavily subsidized farmers in Europe & Asia and to insulate them from the effects of natural disasters.
• We need a counter cyclical revenue program that makes payments based on low yields or low prices; & we need a fully-funded crop insurance program.
• Our agricultural policies must encourage young people to enter & stay in farming.
• As President, I will watch out for our farmers because our national well-being depends on theirs.

Barack Obama on Free Trade : Aug 19, 2007
Congress subsidizes megafarms & hurts family farmers

A: Congress subsidizes these big megafarms and hurts family farmers oftentimes in the process. And we've got to cap those subsidies so that we don't have continued concentration of agriculture in the hands of a few large agribusiness interests. But, on the trade issue generally, we're not going to suddenly cordon off America from the world. Globalization is here, and I don't think Americans are afraid to compete. And we have the goods and the services and the skills and the innovation to compete anywhere in the world. But what we've got to make absolutely certain of is that, in that competition, we are hard bargainers. You know, I'm always struck by the Bush administration touting that this is the MBA president and they're such great businessmen, and they get taken to the cleaners in a lot of these trade agreements. And we've got to have somebody who's negotiating on behalf of workers and family farmers

Chris Dodd on Corporations : Aug 19, 2007
We need Justice Department to deal with antitrust issues

A: We've got to have a Justice Department that starts dealing with some of the antitrust issues in our country. It just doesn't cover agriculture, but also a variety of other things, including media concentration here. The ability today of just concentrating power is making it very difficult for independents and smaller interests to be able to grow and to have the kind of economic success they'd like to have.

Chris Dodd on Technology : Aug 19, 2007
Extend broadband access to our rural communities

Hillary Clinton on Free Trade : Aug 19, 2007
Export from big agribusiness, but also from small farmers

A: We do export a lot of agricultural goods, many of that through trade agreements. And I think we've got to do three things.

1. We have to have more focus on family farms. We've got to do more to make sure trade agreements are not only good for the exporting of agricultural products from great, big agribusiness, but also for small farmers.
2. We've got to do more to build up the agricultural and rural areas of our country.
3. And trade needs to become a win-win. People ask me, am I a free trader or a fair trader? I want to be a smart, pro-American trader. And that means we look for ways to maximize the impact of what we're trying to export and quit being taken advantage of by other countries. Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.   Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate on "This Week"

   Bill Richardson on Jobs : Aug 19, 2007
   Focus our farm policy on renewable fuels

   Q: Should we cap the subsidies to farms?

   A: I want to find a way to make sure that the big agribusiness interests don't hurt the small farmer, the family farmer. What we also need to do is to promote conservation. We need to promote, besides subsidy reform, renewable fuels and technology. Our farm policy, if we have renewable fuel, [we end up with] enormous exports, trade, jobs.

   Click for Bill Richardson on other issues.   Source: 2007 Democratic primary debate on "This Week"

   Hillary Clinton on Free Trade : Aug 7, 2007
   Smart, pro-American trade: NAFTA has hurt workers

   This past weekend, you expressed some disappointment that NAFTA, in your words, did not realize the benefits that it promised. How would you fix it?

   A: Well, I had said that for many years, that NAFTA and the way it's been implemented has hurt a lot of American workers. In fact, I did a study in New York looking at the impact of NAFTA on business people, workers and farmers who couldn't get their products into Canada despite NAFTA. So, clearly we have to have a broad reform in how we approach trade. NAFTA's a piece of it, but it's not the only piece of it. I believe in smart trade. Pro-American trade. Trade that has labor and environmental standards, that's not a race to the bottom but tries to lift up not only American workers but also workers around the world. It's important that we enforce the agreements we have. That's why I've called for a trade prosecutor, to make sure that we do enforce them. The Bush administration haven't been enforcing the trade agreements at all.

   Click for Hillary Clinton on other issues.   Source: 2007 AFL-CIO Democratic primary forum

   John Cox on Corporations : Jul 2, 2007
   Level playing field for family farms over corporate farms

   A strong domestic agricultural industry is essential to our survival as a nation. A level playing field and forcing open new foreign markets for farmers that are currently closed are better than subsidies, which should be phased out. Big corporate farms have edged out the family farmers, and get most of the subsidies, but the family farm should remain the backbone of our economy. Click for John Cox on other issues.   Source: Campaign website, cox2008.com

   Ron Paul on Drugs : Jan 22, 2007
   Legalize industrial hemp

   Paul believes in the legalization of industrial hemp. Paul supported HR 3037 to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. This bill would have given the states the power to regulate farming of hemp. The measure would be a first since the national prohibition of industrial hemp farming in the United States. He favors the legalization of marijuana. Click for Ron Paul on other issues.   Source: SourceWatch.org

   Mike Huckabee on Free Trade : Jan 4, 2007
   Farm subsidies ok because Europe & Asia do same

   It has been policy to pay farmers a stipend for their crops to ensure the farmers will receive a guaranteed minimum price. Some conservatives believe that all agricultural subsidies should be discontinued and allow the market to function. In an ideal world, this would be good practice, but American farmers are competing with subsidized farmers in Europe and Asia, and the fixed costs faced by farmers involving land, equipment, seed, and supplies means that even if they do not sell a single stalk of corn, they will have significant expenses.

   Keeping American farmers in business is also good for the consumer. The theory behind subsidies is that production is maintained at a higher level, driving food costs lower. This empowers consumers and generates stability in the farming economy so that America remains a producing rather than consuming nation.

   Subsidies also help insulate farmers from natural disasters and spikes in the cost of fuel, feed, and fertilizer.

   Click for Mike Huckabee on other issues.   Source: From Hope to Higher Ground, by Mike Huckabee, p.172-173

   Dennis Kucinich on Free Trade : Nov 7, 2006
   Withdraw from NAFTA and WTO

   The global trade regime of NAFTA and WTO has enriched multinational corporations. But for workers, family farmers, and the environment, it has meant a global race to the bottom. Companies leave the US in search of low wages, low commodity prices, anti-union climates, and lax environmental laws. NAFTA has been used to whipsaw workers at the negotiation table, forcing wages and benefit concessions under threat of moving jobs overseas. Trade treaties must be conditioned on workers' rights, human rights, and environmental principles. The U.S. must withdraw from NAFTA and the WTO--and replace these with bilateral fair trade agreements. Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: 2006 Congressional campaign website, www.kucinich.us

   Barack Obama on Energy & Oil : Oct 26, 2004
   Conserve, develop alternative fuels, increase efficiencies

   Q: How would you push greater fuel efficiency from auto makers?

   KEYES: We need to develop proper alternative fuels. We need to develop ethanol. We need to push on the research, where breakthroughs are occurring, to get hydrogen from ethanol. By pushing on that kind of research we'll be able to have a win for our farmers, in the agricultural sector, to improve the profitability of their product. We'll be able to have a win on the environment, because hydrogen, for instance, is more clean-burning.

   OBAMA: We could save as much, in terms of our fuel, if we increased our fuel efficiency standards, as much as we would from getting Alaska drilling going immediately. And that's been the Bush strategy increasing production for oil and gas companies, subsidizing them to the tune of 20 billion dollars, as opposed to thinking about how, not only, we can develop alternative fuels, but also how can we conserve energy and increase efficiencies available right now but have not been invested in.

   Click for Barack Obama on other issues.   Source: [Xref Keyes] IL Senate Debate

   John Edwards on Jobs : Sep 25, 2003
   Stand by our farmers-but end millionaire farmer subsidies

   Q: Would you be willing to repeal farm subsidies if it helped poor farmers overseas gain a greater standard of living?

   EDWARDS: My belief is we have to stand by our farmers. It's been a huge issue in my state of North Carolina. I have specifically proposed that we stop subsidies for millionaire farmers. I don't think we should do that, and I don't think we need to be doing that.

   Click for John Edwards on other issues.   Source: Debate at Pace University in Lower Manhattan

   Dennis Kucinich on Jobs : Aug 1, 2003
   Farm worker safety by fining employers

   The Kucinich Administration will strengthen and enforce air and water quality laws to safeguard rural communities from factory farm pollution. Kucinich will implement new safety standards in meatpacking and food processing. Worker health and safety protections will be expanded through increased inspections and fines, with criminal charges for employers who cause injury or death to agricultural industry workers. Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"

   Dennis Kucinich on Jobs : Aug 1, 2003
   Break apart monopolistic agribusiness companies

   The Kucinich Administration will create new markets by actively enforcing existing anti-trust laws and proposing new laws to force divestiture in concentrated markets, breaking apart monopolistic agribusiness companies and shifting farm economics towards higher commodity prices for farmers. Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"

   Dennis Kucinich on Jobs : Aug 1, 2003
   Address plight of small farmer by canceling NAFTA & WTO

   Something's wrong when profits of agribusiness corporations skyrocket, but farmers must find off-farm jobs or sell their farms to survive. The first act of a Kucinich Administration will be to cancel NAFTA and the WTO, replacing them with bilateral trade agreements designed to benefit family farmers and workers while protecting the health of communities and the environment. Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"

   Dennis Kucinich on Jobs : Aug 1, 2003
   Shift USDA funds from agribusiness to family farmers

   Kucinich will shift USDA funding and focus away from the promotion of concentrated intensive and industrial agribusiness.
   • New focus will benefit family farmers, rural communities, the environment, and consumers, with policies crafted to enable farmers to earn a fair price and to provide safe, nutritious food to all people.
   • Will increase funding for regional food processing facilities, marketing assistance, farm to school programs, on-farm renewable energy, and the Farmers Market Nutrition Program.
   • Agricultural research and development institutions will be given funding priority to help family farmers make a transition to profitable and sustainable agriculture.
   Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"

   Dennis Kucinich on Environment : Aug 1, 2003
   Clean, safe water is a human right

   Make clean, healthy water a right for all, strengthening air and water protections. Regulation and enforcement against polluters will be increased, while environmentally responsible farmers and businesses will be rewarded and will work to stop privatization of drinking water and sewer systems, will make a major investment in water system infrastructure, and will make a significant financial commitment to providing healthy drinking water to all the world's people. Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: Campaign website, www.Kucinich.us, "On The Issues"

   Dennis Kucinich on Government Reform : Jun 17, 2003
   Spend money on job creation, not corporate cronies

   Q: What do you think about the policies of the Bush administration?

   A: I will emphasize my battles against unfair, corporate-friendly trade deals that threaten workers, family farmers and the environment. I will compare the billions given to the President's wealthy and corporate cronies to what could be done instead for job creation, universal healthcare and education. I will win by stressing that this Administration's aggressive, unilateral foreign policy makes Americans less secure, not more.

   Click for Dennis Kucinich on other issues.   Source: MoveOn.org interview

   Mitt Romney on Government Reform : Mar 21, 2002
   Balanced budget amendment and line-item veto

   • Opposed tax increases and new payroll taxes
   • Supported balanced budget amendment and line-item veto
   • Suggested savings could be made through cutbacks in the federal work force, reforms in the Medicaid system, and cuts in farm subsidies.
   Click for Mitt Romney on other issues.   Source: Boston Globe review of 1994 canpaign issues

   Al Gore on Government Reform : Oct 30, 2000
   Promises weekly open meeting as President

   “Power to the people” was Gore’s cry today as he trundled across the fading emerald farmland of Wisconsin in his ongoing struggle to blunt the appeal of Ralph Nader and keep traditionally Democratic states in his column. He promised he would hold an average of one open meeting a week with ordinary people. He pledged not to add a single extra job to the federal government. And he returned repeatedly to his vow to make the overhaul of the campaign finance system his top legislative priority. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Katharine Q. Seelye, NY Times

   Al Gore on Jobs : Oct 17, 2000
   Safety net for farmers & focused rural development

   Q: Family farms are disappearing and having a hard time. Your plan?

   GORE: We’ve got a bumper crop this year. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the prices are low. The so-called Freedom to Farm Law has been mostly a failure. I want to change many of its provisions. Farmers have been having a hard time, and I want to fight for you. I want to restore a meaningful safety net. I’ll go beyond that and say I think we need much more focused rural economic development programs.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: St. Louis debate

   Al Gore on Jobs : Oct 17, 2000
   Farmers are the first environmentalists

   Farmers are the first environmentalists. And when they decide not to plow a field that is vulnerable to soil erosion, that may cost them a little money, but it helps the environment. We ought to have an expanded conservation reserve program. The environmental benefits that come from sound management of the land ought to represent a new way for farmers to get some income that will enable them to make sensible choices in crop rotation and when you leave the land fallow and the rest. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: St. Louis debate

   Al Gore on Jobs : Sep 20, 2000
   Kill Freedom to Farm Act: keep price supports

   Q: The Freedom to Farm Act cut price supports to farmers while giving them more freedom to plant what they want. Do you support this law?

   A: I believe we must maintain America’s food security and protect our vital agricultural lands. As president, I will work to maintain flexibility and freedom in what farmers choose to plant while providing our independent family farmers the support they need during hard times. The fact that prices and farm income have remained so low for so long, and that billions of dollars in emergency farm aid was needed over the past two years, shows that the ‘Freedom to Farm’ Act is misguided and wholly inadequate in a climate of declining crop prices and turmoil in overseas markets. I believe that we must restore the farm income safety net for family farmers with a system that increases support when crop prices or yields fall unexpectedly. That doesn’t mean going back to an outdated system where government tells farmers what crops to produce.

   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Associated Press

   Al Gore on Health Care : Mar 22, 2000
   Let FDA regulate cigarettes; fight teenage smoking

   Gore said Congress should give the FDA power to regulate nicotine as an addictive drug. Gore has become a passionate opponent of the tobacco industry, but once bragged of working in tobacco fields on his family’s farm and until 1990 accepted tobacco [PAC money]. In 1996, he moved many with an account of the death of his sister from lung cancer. Today Gore accused the cigarette companies of recruiting teenagers as “replacement smokers” for the 400,000 people who die each year of smoking-related illnesses. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: NyTimes.com

   John McCain on Jobs : Jan 16, 2000
   Family farms: Crop insurance; reduce inheritance tax

   Q: Since the family farmer is self-employed, would you cap government agriculture benefits to a modest one-family level?
   A: Obviously we need crop insurance. Why is it that the government takes almost everything that a family farmer earns all his life and can’t pass it on to their children. The inheritance tax [should] kick in only at a level of about $5 million. Also, I will lower barriers to product goods and products from other countries, if they will lower their barriers to ours. Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: GOP Debate in Johnston, Iowa

   Al Gore on Free Trade : Jan 9, 2000
   Open Europe & Japan to genetically-modified farm products

   Gore talked tough on farm policies, demanding that foreign markets be opened to genetically modified commodities. Europe and Japan resist those products. “We can’t let Europe and Japan determine our farm policy,” said Gore, who said “sound science” should govern. Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Associated Press in the Brockton (MA) Enterprise, p. A7

   Al Gore on Jobs : Jan 8, 2000
   Base farm policy, like hormones in livestock, on science

   Q: How would you ensure access to foreign markets for farm products?
   A: We can’t let Europe & Japan determine our farm policy. The decisions on hormones in livestock ought to be based on sound science. Not science controlled by people working for the companies that profit from these new technologies, but neutral, dispassionate experts who will give us the best & most accurate conclusions about their safety. If they’re safe, if they enhance productivity at no risk, then we ought to be able to use them Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Democrat Debate in Johnston Iowa

   John McCain on Free Trade : Jan 7, 2000
   Substitute trade treaties for protectionism

   Q: What will you do as president to help farmers get sufficient pay for their work? A: The American farmer is the most productive and efficient farmer in the world. He or she can compete anywhere in the world as long as we open the markets to those products. Isolationism and protectionism doesn’t work. We should not subsidize ethanol or sugar or any other crop, because then that hurts the American consumer. But I will lower the barriers to products coming into the US in return for any nation that will lower their barriers to US products, particularly our magnificent and wonderful agricultural products. Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: Republican debate in West Columbia, South Carolina

   Al Gore on Jobs : Nov 18, 1999
   Supports ethanol subsidies & “farm safety net”

   Vice President Al Gore maintains that “it’s well known that I’ve always supported ethanol. I have a consistent record of shoring up the farm safety net.” Gore, who as vice president cast a tie-breaking vote in 1994 against a proposal Senator Bill Bradley sponsored to cut tax incentives for ethanol fuel, adds that “I have not ducked when votes for ... agricultural interests were on the floor.” Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Sustainable Energy Coalition, media backgrounder #2

   Al Gore on Jobs : Nov 18, 1999
   Triple use of biomass, ethanol, plant-based textiles, etc.

   “Our administration’s goal is to triple the use of biomass technologies, ethanol, gasoline additives, plant-based textiles and other environmentally friendly products by 2010. This is just one of the exciting ways our efforts to protect the environment will begin to help America’s ailing farming economy.” Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: Sustainable Energy Coalition, media backgrounder #2

   John McCain on Foreign Policy : May 20, 1999
   Urge Japan to open economy to ensure Asian recovery

   Asia’s economic recovery will not be sustained over time, and its markets will not recover their former profitability for American goods and services, unless the greatest economy of Asia - Japan’s - is freed from the market distorting restraints that are inherent in its unique political economy. If it is to thrive once again, Japan must commit to systemic reforms that are politically difficult for powerful constituencies, among them, Japanese farmers and banks. Click for John McCain on other issues.   Source: Speech to National Press Club, 5/20/99

   Al Gore on Families & Children : May 14, 1999
   More restrictions on underage smoking

   Right now, tobacco hooks 3,000 American children every day -- and will lead 1,000 of them to an early death.
   That is why Al Gore has worked:
   • to make it harder for tobacco companies to advertise to kids
   • to make it illegal to sell tobacco to kids under eighteen
   • and to fight for legislation that will reduce teen smoking even further, while protecting America’s hard-working tobacco farmers.
   Click for Al Gore on other issues.   Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/health.html 5/14/99

   Additional quotations related to Farm Policy issues can be found under Jobs. Click here for definitions & background information on Jobs. Click here for policy papers on Jobs. Agree? Disagree? Click here to express your views in The Forum.
   Candidates on Jobs:
   Republican Possibilities: Chmn.John Cox Mayor Rudy Giuliani Gov.Mike Huckabee Rep.Duncan Hunter Amb.Alan Keyes Sen.John McCain Rep.Ron Paul Gov.Mitt Romney Sen.Fred Thompson	Democratic Possibilities: Sen.Joe Biden Sen.Hillary Clinton Sen.Chris Dodd Sen.John Edwards Sen.Mike Gravel Rep.Dennis Kucinich Sen.Barack Obama Gov.Bill Richardson	Green Party Possibilities: Rep.Cynthia McKinney
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