Jeb Bush

Jeb Bush was born in Midland, Texas on February 11, 1953. He graduated from the University Of Texas and moved to Florida, where he worked as a real estate agent and broker. While in Florida, Jeb Bush held his first political position as the state's Secretary of Commerce. He quickly rose through the ranks and in 1998 became governor of Florida. [1]. As Governor, he is remembered for cutting taxes, increasing job growth, and expanding Florida's economy [2]. Jeb Bush now seeks the Republican nomination for the 2016 Presidency.

Official Campaign Website

Tax Reform

"I'm gonna fight as hard as I can to make sure that we shift power away from Washington, simplify the tax code, to spur economic activity in this country."(RD-4)

Tax Proposal

Jeb Bush released a plan that would reduce personal income tax brackets down to three brackets: 28%, 25%, 10% like the Reagan administration’s second tax reform. In the business world he says that his administration would "eliminate a lot of deductions and cut the rates down. A corporate rate of 20 percent, which puts us 5 percent above -- below that of China, and allows us full expensing of investing. It would create an explosion of investment back into this country, creating higher-wage jobs"(RD-4). Bush's campaign claims that "The plan nearly doubles the standard deduction now taken by roughly two-thirds of all filers. It eliminates the marriage penalty, expands the Earned Income Tax Credit, ends the death tax, retires the Alternative Minimum Tax and ends the employee’s share of the Social Security tax on earnings for workers older than 67"(JBW-J)

• • 2% cap of filer’s gross income on total tax deductions
  • double size of standard deduction
  • double income tax credit for childless workers
  • eliminate carried interest loophole
  • estimate increasing number of Americans that don’t pay tax by 15 million, bringing the number of filers with zero taxes from 40% up to 50%
  • plan estimated to cost up to $3.4 trillion over the next decade without growth
  • businesses deduct new capital investments (NPR)

Jobs And Business Policy

Cut Regulations

"regulations stifle small business formation, which means fewer jobs and declining incomes for hardworking Americans. There is no reason why regulators should be permitted to harm the labor market. As president, I will work to repeal onerous regulations that keep too many businesses from hiring and expanding."(JBW-J)

End the affordable healthcare act and other job destroying programs

• "Repeal Obamacare, address the root causes of health care costs and enable employers and workers to balance good benefits with fair wages."(JBW-J)
• "Eliminate welfare programs that discourage work and replace them with state-led programs that will require work for able-bodied adults."(JBW-J)

Health Policy

Repeal and Replace Obamacare

Jeb bush wants to repeal Obamacare and says that it was "a failure from the start"[3] and take away health control power from the federal government and give it to the states. He believes that states should have the freedom and responsibility to tailor their health care plans to their state and make insurance markets more competitive. He also does not agree with all the mandates that come along with the Affordable Care Act, and hopes to put people in a position "where their empowered to make more decisions for themselves"[4]

Encourage Inovation

Bush wants to modernize the Food and Drug Administration, as well as make "medical record keeping more efficient sharable and secure".[5] He claims that the current health care is over regulated, adding higher costs and complexity to the system.[6]

Bush's Plan

• Provide a tax credit for those without employer coverage
• Make it easier for small businesses to provide coverage for their employees with tax deductions.
• Have transparent information for people to make decisions for themselves
• Open up the insurance market place and "break down the insurance monopolies and let people by health insurance designed for what they actually want".[7]

Drug Policy

On marijuana legalization

Jeb bush openly opposes the legalization of marijuana, voting in florida to ban medical marijuana, but ultimately believes that it is a state decision. He says in reference to marijuana " what goes on in Colorado as far as i'm concerned should be a state decision"[8]

Strengthen Criminal Justice

Jeb Bush wants to enact stronger reprimands for violent drug traffickers, while giving non-violent offenders proper treatment and reducing mandatory sentences so they can get back to their community quicker.(JBW-DC)

Middle East

"We need to embed our forces -- our troops inside the Iraqi military. We need to arm directly the Kurds. And all of that has to be done in concert with the Arab nations." (RD-5)

Syria

"We should have a no fly zone in Syria. We should have a support for the remnants of the Syrian Free Army, and create safe zones. If you want to deal with the four million refugees that are leaving Syria because of the devastation there, then we 'ought to create safe zones for them to stay in the region rather than go to Europe. And, that requires American leadership." (RD-4)

Trade

Lift Restrictions on Exports of Oil and Natural Gas

"Lifting the ban on crude oil exports and liberalizing natural gas exports would create hundreds of thousands of additional jobs and significantly lower net energy costs within two years."(JBW-EP)

Immigration

Jeb Bush plans to strengthen the enforcement of Immigration laws, both internally and at the border through six proposals.

1. A forward-leaning Border Patrol with the flexibility to deploy resources to meet threats.
2. implementing new surveillance technologies such as drones sensors and radars
3. improving the border infrastructure to allow easier access to border patrol agents
4. Reduce the incentive for illegal immigration by decreasing the likelihood that they will be employed through an improved E-Verify system
5. Identify and send home the people who are entering the United States and overstaying their visas or otherwise violating the terms of their admission.
6. Punish sanctuary cities which are impairing the federal government from enforcing immigration laws, by withholding federal law enforcement funds.

For those already within the United States Jeb Bush intends too instate a rigorous path towards citizenship which would require a background check, paying fines, paying taxes, learning English, obtaining a provisional work permit and a job all while not receiving government assistance.

"What we need to do is allow people to earn legal status where they pay a fine, where they work, where they don't commit crimes, where they learn English, and over an extended period of time, they earn legal status. That's the path" (RD-4)

Environmental

On the role that renewable energy sources should play

"I support an approach that uses diverse sources—such as wind, solar, other renewables, nuclear, natural gas and coal—for this country’s energy needs. Power generation should reflect, as much as possible, the diverse attributes and needs of states and their citizens. The federal government should not be dictating what types of power should be used where."(BB)

Reduce Environmental Regulation

"Energy resources must be developed in a way that protects human health and the environment. Rules play an important role in making sure this is the case. But the Obama Administration’s excessive rules too often usurp state and tribal authority and go beyond what is necessary"(JBW-EP)

Sources Key

JBW-=[ JBW-=[ JBW-=[ RD-*= Republican Debate with number NPR- [9] BB= [10]