Congressman Jim McDermott on the Issues
· Iraq remains a war without a reason, a war without a plan. President Bush underestimated, over dramatized, and erred at every step. I endorsed Representative Lynn Woolsey's letter of Jan. 12, 2005 and co-sponsored the Woolsey resolution of Jan. 26, 2005 calling for U.S. troop withdrawal, reconstruction assistance, and self-government for Iraq with international guarantees of external security.
· We must support military veterans and families at home as faithfully as we support our troops in the field.
Health Care
· Affordable health care is an essential human right as well as a global competitive necessity.
· America 's employer-based system is failing. Universal single-payer coverage is the ideal solution. We need immediate action on Medicare prescription drug benefits, expanded SCHIP and Medicaid funding.
· Global disgust and worldwide mistrust leave us less secure. We can't out-maneuver al Qaeda by abandoning the high moral ground.
· Too little Homeland Security money reaches our most at-risk cities.
· Homeland Security personnel deserve the right to unionize, and the workplace security to confront failures in management.
· The numbers are Code Red-in America's federal deficit, balance of trade, foreign borrowing, exchange rates, global competitiveness, infrastructure investment, health care finance, higher education budgets, and troop replacement — but NOT in Social Security.
· There is no crisis. Social Security is secure for decades to come. Projected imbalances may never materialize, and we can correct them without radical changes.
· President Bush's privatization scheme undermines Social Security, explodes the deficit, and puts comfortable retirement farther out of reach for most Americans.
· We must defend Planet Earth as if it were the only home we have — because it is.
· Our fossil fuel habit drains the economy, distorts our foreign policy, fouls the air and aggravates global warming.
· Drilling ANWR solves nothing.
· Advance the leading edge, from HIV/AIDS and stem cell research to alternative energy development.
· Showcase our diverse communities and democratic values, as examples to visitors and global partners.
· Maintain Northwest economic lifelines and Pacific Rim gateways. I won't be satisfied until the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement project is a reality and the Port of Seattle is substantially more secure from terrorist attack.
· Treaties are made to be honored, here and abroad. Restore the Duwamish Tribe's lapsed federal recognition.
· Preserve public spaces and restore natural habitat. Get serious about salmon restoration, where we are almost out of time.
· Abu-Ghraib, Guantanamo , and "ghost detainees" betray everything America stands for and every principle our troops fight for.
· "Created equal" means equal. As our citizens grapple with notions of domestic partnerships, civil unions and same sex marriages, it's no time to impose a Constitutional straitjacket.
· I voted against the Bush Administration's Patriot Act, and co-sponsored the Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act.
· As a young doctor, I worked to save the lives of women butchered in back alley abortions. We cannot go back.
· Overtime pay is not a privilege. Six million Americans are now forced to accept overtime work without pay, because this Administration sold them out.
· For the health of consumers and the reputation of producers, we need strict agricultural inspection standards.
· Lower trade barriers can raise living standards — on a level playing field, with enforceable labor standards, environmental safeguards and human rights protections.
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Revision date: April 18, 2005
