Education

As Mayor, Rudy Giuliani worked to reform the nation’s largest public school system, with over 1 million students. Rudy understands that we have to drastically change America’s education system, from one that focuses on bureaucrats to one that focuses on the children. Rudy believes that this is one of the great civil rights issues of our time, and that is why he is committed to bringing real school choice to parents across America.

Establish Federal School Voucher Programs: Rudy proposes establishing a competitive grant process to fund new voucher programs for disadvantaged students—similar to the programs in Cleveland, Milwaukee and Washington, DC—that provide options for students trapped in failing schools.

Provide Choice Within The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act: Rudy’s plan will allow states to use Federal IDEA funds to enable the families of special education students to seek out appropriate placement in both public and private schools.

Give Educational Options To Military Families: Rudy proposes establishing a pilot program to offer scholarships to children of all active-duty military personnel living on or off base to attend private schools or to pay for the costs of attending public schools to which they are not assigned. This is a critical concern for America’s military families because it affects reenlistment decisions.

Expand Charter School Options: Rudy commits to the expansion of charter schooling, equitable treatment for charter schools in funding and facilities, and efforts to ensure that local districts are not the sole chartering authorities.

Health Care

"America is at a crossroads when it comes to our health care. All Americans want to increase the quality, affordability and portability of health care. Most Republicans believe in free-market solutions to the challenges we face. I believe we can reduce costs and improve the quality of care by increasing competition. We can do it through tax cuts, not tax hikes. We can do it by empowering patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats. That’s the American way to reform health care."

Expand Choice Through Tax Code Reform: America’s tax system penalizes millions of citizens without access to employer health care, including 40 percent of employees at small firms. Americans without employer-based insurance should have tax benefits just as the 175 million Americans with employment-based coverage do. Rudy proposes an income exclusion of up to $15,000 for those without employer coverage to make insurance more affordable.

Help Low-Income Individuals and Families Secure Health Insurance: Rudy proposes a Health Insurance Credit to low-income Americans that can be coupled with other revenue sources such as Medicaid and employer contributions to make coverage more affordable to millions of the uninsured.

Drive Quality and Price Transparency: Rudy believes creating visibility of price, provider qualifications, and risk-adjusted procedure outcomes will expand competition and open up new motivation for improving quality and reducing cost.

IRAQ

Like all Americans, Rudy Giuliani prays for the success of our troops in Iraq and their safe return home. But he believes setting an artificial timetable for withdrawal from Iraq now would be a terrible mistake, because it would only embolden our enemies. Iraq is only one front in the larger war on terror, and failure there would lead to a broader and bloodier regional conflict in the near future. Building an accountable Iraq will assist in reducing the threat of terrorism.

Rudy Giuliani believes winning the Terrorists’ War on Us is the great responsibility of our generation. America cannot afford to go back to the days of playing defense, with inconsistent responses to terrorist attacks, because weakness only encourages aggression. Americans want peace. We’re at war not because we want to be, but because the terrorists declared war on us—well before the attacks of September 11th. Rudy understands that freedom is going to win this war of ideas. America will win the Terrorists’ War on Us.

IMMIGRATION

Border security and homeland security are inseparable. A core responsibility of the federal government is to control our borders. To do this, we need to build a physical fence and a high-tech fence. We need a larger, better-trained border patrol. We need a tamper-proof biometric ID card for all non-citizens and a single national database to keep track of foreigners entering and exiting our country. If a non-citizen commits a crime they should be deported. Finally, we need to reconnect immigration with Americanization, requiring immigrants to read, write, and speak English. Rudy Giuliani believes we need to end illegal immigration to protect and expand legal immigration.

CUTTING TAXES

Rudy Giuliani’s commitment to low taxes and pro-growth policies will keep America’s economy strong and create jobs. American families and business owners face an unprecedented tax hike if the next president does not fight on behalf of the American taxpayer. As President, Rudy Giuliani will fight to keep tax rates low while also simplifying the tax code and reducing the corporate tax rate. The results will be the same as he achieved in New York City: a lower tax burden for working families, a growing economy, and robust private sector job creation, all of which will foster economic growth for all Americans.