George Bush

George W. Bush Born in Connecticut on July 6, 1946 Was a businessman Family of politicians Governor of Texas George W. Bush was born in New Haven Connecticut to a big family, including 41st president, George H.W. Bush, and descendent of 14th president, Barabra Bush. Before Bush ran for president, he had a large oil business in Texas. In 1994, Bush decided that he wanted to enter politics like his father and his brother Jeb. He was the Governor of Texas for 5 years before he decided to run for president in 2000.

Bush’s Foreign Policies

Bush’s Foreign Policy War on Terror Iraq War 9/11 terrorist attacks Formed the Department of Homeland Security USA PATRIOT Act Iraq War US invasion of Iraq United Nations Security Council sent to Iraq The 9/11 attacks triggered a lot of Bush’s foreign policy. The War on Terror began after Bush decided that al-Qaeda needed to be stopped. He formed the Department of Homeland Security in order to protect United States from terrorist attack. In addition, the USA PATRIOT Act, which stands for Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism act, was passed in 2001 to expand the enforcement power against foreign and domestic terrorism. In 2002, President Bush expressed how United States needed to pay more attention to Iraq because of their ties with terrorism and their weapons of mass destruction. The Iraq war began in March of 2003 after Bush order an invasion of Iraq.

Bush’s Foreign Policy War in Afghanistan Worldwide Humanitarian U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief The Millennium Challenge Account UN Democracy Fund In 2001, Bush and other US allies entered the Afghan Civil War in order to take the Taliban out of power and to stop the terrorist attacks that came from there. Bush demanded that they hand over Osama Bin Laden and the control over the country but they didn’t so Bush and his allies forced the Taliban out of power. A majority of Bush’s foreign policy dealt with wars but he also was recognized as a worldwide humanitarian because of his efforts to treat and supply drugs to people in foreign countries in order to fight aids. He spent $44 billion on that project. Bush also created the Millennium Challenge Corporation that assisted foreign poor and rich countries and he also promoted the United Nations Democracy Fund because he believed that democracy should be spread throughout the world.

Bush’s Immigration Policies

Bush’s Immigration Policy "We're a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws, but we're also a nation of immigrants, and we must uphold that tradition, which has strengthened our country in so many ways." President Bush said this quote. It sum up what he feels about immigration.

Bush’s Immigration Policy Loved legal immigrants and hated illegal immigrants Guest worker programs $500 million to cut immigration application time George Bush loved legal immigrants because they contributed to the economy but he disliked illegal immigrants because they leeched off of United States. In order to stop illegal immigrants, he catered to legal immigrants. He created a guest worker program that provided temporary work for immigrants. Most of the jobs were jobs that Americans did not take. He also created a $500 million plan that cut the 5 year immigration application to 6 months. The plan also allowed for relatives of legal immigrants to visit US while their application is processing in order to encourage family reunification.

Bush’s Immigration Policy Increased border patrol Sympathetic towards Latinos  93% increase in border security and 90% increase in immigration enforcement To keep the illegal immigrants out, Bush increased border control along the southern border of US. He wanted the immigrants to enter US the right way, legally. In a speech in Washington D.C. Bush said “ Latinos enrich our country with faith in God, a strong ethic of work, community & responsibility. We can all learn from the strength, solidarity, & values of Latinos. ”. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was split into two agencies, one that deals with border patrol and one that deals with the naturalization of immigrants. Bush’s policy lead to a 93% increase in border security and a 90% increase in immigration enforcement.

Bush’s Immigration Policy This graph shows how immigration in the US increase as the US began to spend billions more on it.

Bush’s Healthcare Policies

Bush’s Healthcare Policy Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act/Medicare Part D Lower prescription drug prices Beneficiaries share costs with deductibles and co-pays Expand health plan options = competition in drug market Medicare Part D is noted as the greatest advance in health care coverage for America’s seniors since the founding of Medicare. Before this act, people had really hard times paying for their prescriptions. Medicare recipients enjoyed lower prescription drug price and low co-pays and deductible. This act also increased the pharmaceutical market to competition. This seems like a good thing but what the recipients did not see was a much much larger deficit due to this expensive program.

Bush’s Healthcare Policy Against national healthcare plans Health Savings Account Increase in sending to find cures Stem Cell Research During the presidential debate before the 2000 election, Bush stated that he hated the idea of a healthcare plan. He believed that consumers should make their own decisions. Bush believed in health saving accounts. They are not taxable medical accounts that families can put aside to save money for long term medical expenses. Bush also proposed a $67 billion plan over a decade to fund the search for age related diseases and disorders like Alzheimer’s. He doubled the National Institutes of Health budget to about $27 billion. Bush also put $250 million into Stem Cell Research in order to advance scientific research. This graph shows the US debt and how much of it is taken up by Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. They are projected to take up more than 2/3 of the debt by 2082.

Bush’s Education Policies

Bush’s Education Policy ”Now is the time to teach all our children to read and renew the promise of America’s public schools.“ No Child Left Behind Set state test standards Teachers must be certified Provided aid to low income school Institution of Education Sciences created Bush believed that education is necessary in order for America to advance. His reform on education began when he was still a governor of Texas. 33,000 third graders in Texas failed their reading exam and 29,000 of them were passed on to fourth grade. In an advertisement campaign before he became president he said “Now is the time to teach all our children to read and renew the promise of America’s public schools”. This country’s education is mostly controlled by local and state government but he wanted the federal government to help. In 2001, Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act. It set state test standards, required teachers to be certified, and provided aid to low income schools. In addition, the Institution of Education Sciences was created as a branch of the Department of Education in order to gather education research and statistics.

Bush’s Education Policy More high school help $412 million for reading help “Silver scholarships” Do not tolerate disruption and violence Bush also created Jobs for the 21st Century to provide  extra help to middle- and high-school students who fall behind in reading and math, expand Advanced Placement programs in low-income schools, invited math and science professionals to teach part-time in high schools, increased the Pell Grant, and increased funding for community colleges. He then created the Reading First program that gave $412 million to 20 states to help schools and districts improve children’s reading achievement using scientifically proven methods of instruction. The Silver scholarship program was also created by him. Senior citizens volunteered as tutors in after-school programs in exchange for $1,000 educational scholarships that they could pass on to their children, grandchildren or other children in need. Bush also pushed for zero tolerance policies in schools that stop classroom disruptions and made schools safer. If you look at the table, you can see that United states is really falling behind in education.

Bush’s Economic Policies

Bush’s Economic Policy The Great Recession TARP / Economic Stimulus Act Tax codes that favored the rich Large national debt The Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 was a huge financial crisis during Bush’s term. The real estate market failed as foreclosures increases due to under water mortgages. In 2008, Bush signed the Troubled Asset Relief Program into law to help the subprime mortgage crisis. It set aside $700 billion that was used to bail out failing corporations and businesses. The tax codes that Bush set helped the rich but hurt the already struggling middle class and lower class. Throughout his presidency, the national debt grew catastrophically. As you can see on the graph, during Clintons term, there was a surplus (the first surplus in a while) but Bush quickly changed that into a deficit.

Bush’s Economic Policy Hurricane Katrina $105 billion in repair Hurricane Katrina also put a large toll on the US economy. It took $105 billion to repair Louisiana.

George Bush

Barack Obama Born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961 Middle class up-bringing The “American Story” Law school Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. His father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas. With the help of his grandparents he was raised and eventually attended college with the help of scholarships and loans. He was given nothing easy in life and had to work for everything he has. This is reflected in many of his policies as he always tries to assist the middle class.

Obama’s Foreign Policies

Foreign Policy National Security Ending war in Iraq Focusing on Al-Qaeda Since 9/11, national security has been a central focus on all foreign policies. In 2009 , Obama announced his plan to end the war in Iraq and by 2011, the last U.S troop left. The Iraqi security force would then take full responsibility for protecting Iraq and planned to work together with the U.S to protect the security of both countries. This did not mean in any way however that Obama gave up on pursuing al-Queda he did quite the opposite. His strategy for tracking down Al-queda leaders was very successful; killing 20 out of 30 leaders including Osama bin laden. This strategy had three parts ; 1. Denying al-queda a safe haven 2. reversing the Taliban's momentum and 3. Increase Afghanistan‘s security so they can protect themselves in the future. The third part was important because in 2011 obama began pulling troops out of Afghanistan as well.

Foreign Policy Conflict in Libya Nuclear weapons Strengthening alliances Sudan Moammar Qadhafi and his regime in Libya posed a threat upon the libyan people as this dictator massacred hundreds of people. Obama quickly built an internationl coalition to protect these people. While no american troops actually were sent into libya, America and its allies did support the libyan people greatly and eventually they were able to overthrow Qadhafi’s regime. Obama also worked on and implemented plans to “create peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” He worked with countries already in possesion of nuclear weapons to reduce their supply while also trying to prevent more countries from getting nuclear weapons. Obama has also traveled to europe to attend several summits to confirm several agreements like the trans-Atlantic partnership. He has also made three trips to Asia in order to do the same things. Finally, Obama has ensured the emergence of a free southern Sudan by sending humanitarian aid to the people, facillitating negotions between sudan and southern sudan, and implementing the comprehensive peace agreement.

Immigration Obama has worked to reform immigration polices Obama has consistently promised in his 2008 campaign that he would work to reform immigration polices. Thousands of immigrants are flooding the boarders and stealing legal americnas jobs. His proposal to reform government policies towards immigration is known as his common sense proposal. IT consists of four parts.

1. Strengthening Border Security Patrolmen have doubled Working with cross-border partners Tougher trafficking penalties Aerial surveillance In the first part of his plan, he will greatly increase the number of officials currently patrolling the border. In addition his plan will call for our border officials working together with the officials from the other country (Mexico or Canada). Stricter penalties will be enforced upon people found guilty of traficking illegal immigrants and for the first time, Ariel surveillance is being kept of the whole entire southern border.

2. Streamlining Legal Immigration Making legal immigration more convenient The second part of his plan focuses on increases foreign interest in the United states. Graduate students who learned in the u.s get a green card stapled to their diplomas, Foreigners are also being given more incentives to travel to the u.s as tourists or to just travel, and attracting foreign entrepeneurs to start their bussinesses on american soil.

3. Earned Citizenship Stricter process to becoming a citizen Must pay taxes, fees, and penalties Background checks The third part of his plan creates strict guidelines and provisions for an illegal immigrant to become a permanent citizen of the u.s. including tax bills, background checks, and paying additional fees and penalties.

4. Cracking Down on Employers More audits on companies E-verify to check applicants Under Obama’s administration, more companies hiring illegal immigrants have been shut down in one year than the whole bush administration. He has also created a means by which employers can easily check the citizenship of applicants.

Obama’s Healthcare Policies

Healthcare Medicare Consumer rights Affordability Obama’s healtcare plan is called Medicare. Medicare protects people from insurance companies picking and choosing who they would like to cover with the patient’s bill of rights act. Private insurance companies could deny people insurance coverage if the company thought that the patient would be too needy (asthma,cancer, stuff like that). To solve this, obama has provided federal insurance he calls medicare. Medicare is also a lot cheaper than most other insurances. Small businesses benefit from medicare the most because they were forced to pay ridiculous amounts for health insurance before medicare. In fact, they are required to cover patients with pre-existing conditions.

Healthcare Young Adults Equal choices Some other things medicare has changed is how long a young adult can stay on their parent’s insurance. It has been changed to 26. Medicare is also going to make it so everybody choosing their type of health insurance will all have the same exact choices. Obama says by 2014 we will have the same choices as a congressmen.

Obama’s Education Policies

Education Making college affordable Supporting teachers Decreasing high school dropouts Obama was raised by two middle class parents himself and attended college with the assistance of scholarships and loans so it is especially important for him to assist the middle to lower class with the cost of college. As mentioned in his state of the union address he believes the states, universities, and federal government all have a role to play in making college affordable. Obama also addresses the importance of teachers. He has worked to launch his respect program which basically inreases the standards at which teachers are expected to teach. He has also increased the accountability of the teaching profession. Lastly, Obama has strong beliefs that we need to reclaim the title of most college completions by 2020. The most sure fire way to do this is by modernizing high schools, involving the parents, and involving the state governments.

Obama’s Economic Policies

Economy Create jobs Reduce government spending Support small businesses Obama believes that for our economy to prosper it must be based off of American manufacturing and American energy. An increase in american skills and american values is also a must. He thinks that small bussinesses are the backbone of the country and believes in creating security for these businesses to create more jobs and sustain the economy. In addition, he has passed bills which cut government spending by about 1 trillion dollars and changed the tax code to benefit the middle-class.