(New York Post) Ahead of tonight’s first Republican primary debate, The Post has compiled this handy guide to the participants’ stances on five key issues: Taxation and spending, jobs and growth, the war in Ukraine, abortion, and policy toward China.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Taxation and Spending:
DeSantis unveiled his 10-point “Declaration of Economic Independence” in July, saying he would seek 3% economic growth through tax and regulatory reform, cut federal spending for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and mandate work requirements for welfare programs.
The Florida governor has also promised to appoint a new Federal Reserve chair to replace Jerome Powell, who DeSantis says has undermined decentralized digital currencies.
Jobs and Growth:
DeSantis’ economic plan would also seek to reverse US trade deficits, increase domestic energy production, abolish environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing in the private sector and support the growth of American industries through vocational initiatives.
Republican presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Tim Scott, Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum are set to participate in the first primary debate of the 2024 election cycle.AFP via Getty Images
Ukraine:
In a widely remarked-upon statement he gave before entering the 2024 GOP primary, DeSantis told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that granting security assistance to Ukraine without clearly “defined objectives or accountability” during its “territorial dispute” with Russia was not a vital US interest — risking “a hot war” with nuclear Moscow as it allies with China.
US intervention, he said, also “distracts from our country’s most pressing challenges”: namely, “securing our borders, addressing the crisis of readiness within our military, achieving energy security and independence, and checking the economic, cultural, and military power of the Chinese Communist Party.”
Abortion:
DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban into law in Florida before launching his presidential campaign and has since maintained the issue is best left up to the states, not the federal government.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a “Declaration of Economic Independence” plan for the economy if elected.REUTERS/Brian Snyder
“It’s really a bottom-up movement, and that’s where we’ve had most success — Iowa, South Carolina, Florida — and I think you’re going to continue to see a lot of good battles there,” DeSantis told conservative podcast host Megyn Kelly in July, adding that he would still “be a pro-life president.”
China:
DeSantis has called China a “top threat” to the US that is trying to “overtake” America economically and militarily.
If elected, the Republican candidate has pledged to ban imports produced from stolen intellectual property and pursue tax abatements and other incentives for companies to align with national interests rather than with Beijing.
DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida.AP Photo/John Raoux
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
Taxation and Spending:
Ramaswamy wants to abolish the IRS – which he calls a “toxic” government agency – and “rebuild from scratch when required,” according to his campaign website.
He also pledges to “reduce taxes and regulation, increase competition and promote investment.”
He has also proposed cutting “wasteful expenditures” by having his would-be White House submit all budget requests directly to Congress, rather than allowing each individual federal agency to do so.
Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign stop in Vail, Iowa on August 5, 2023.AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
Jobs and Growth:
Ramaswamy has set a goal to achieve more than 5% annual growth in GDP by “foster[ing] entrepreneurship, creat[ing] jobs and driv[ing] sustained economic growth for all Americans,” according to his campaign website.
It’s part of his plan to create “America 2.0” – “where the American economy is a global leader in innovation and enterprise, where small businesses and entrepreneurs can thrive, and where every individual has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.”
Ukraine:
Ramaswamy would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep the parts of Ukraine his military has occupied and block Ukraine from joining NATO – which would break the alliance’s “open door” policy – in exchange for Moscow cutting ties with China.
The move would effectively give Putin everything he wanted before the war began, despite the US having spent more than $40 billion in military aid to Ukraine alone.
“The Biden administration is so stubbornly attached to the idea of getting (Chinese President) Xi Jinping to drop Vladimir Putin,” Ramaswamy told CNN’s Jim Acosta last week. “What I think we need to be doing is get Vladimir Putin to drop Xi Jinping.”
Abortion:
While Ramaswamy’s campaign website makes no mention of the controversial issue, he has previously indicated his support for states that have passed six-week abortion bans.
However, he has also said he would not support a nationwide abortion ban because “the federal government should stay out of it.”
Ramaswamy has promised to abolish the IRS and “rebuild from scratch when required.”Arvin Temkar/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP
China:
Ramaswamy aims to hold China “accountable for COVID-19” using “all financial levers,” stop those affiliated with the Chinese government from buying US land; and ban American businesses from expanding in China “until the CCP stops cheating”.
In a radio interview earlier this month, Ramaswamy said he would support Taiwan against a potential Chinese invasion until the US achieves “semiconductor independence” near the end of his first term.
“Our commitments to Taiwan — our commitments to be willing to go to military conflict — will change after that, because that’s rationally in our self-interest. That is honest. That is true, and that is credible,” he said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Taxation and Spending:
Pence has called on Congress to make former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent (They are set to expire at the end of 2025) and favors eliminating the Democrat-backed tax credits for electric vehicle purchases.
The former VP has also endorsed cutting spending with measures including eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, clawing back funding for the IRS from the Inflation Reduction Act and recovering Amtrak funding from the bipartisan infrastructure law.
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaking at a Christians United For Israel summit in Arlington, Virginia on July 17, 2023.AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File
He also wants all non-defense discretionary spending paused for a year while government agencies undergo an audit.
Jobs and Growth:
Pence’s economic plan is focused on expanding America’s energy industry, with the former Indiana governor setting the goal of overtaking China as the world’s top energy producer.
Specifically, Pence has called for cutting red tape in order to open up production leases and permits on federal lands, remove restrictions on natural gas production and distribution through fracking and increase refining production.
Ukraine:
Weeks after launching his 2024 campaign, Pence made a surprise visit to Ukraine, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky, underscoring his unapologetic support for the war-torn nation.
Pence has fought back against skeptics within the GOP over increased aid to Ukraine and knocked President Biden for being “slow” in providing adequate weaponry.
At times, he has also described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal. “If Russia overwhelms Ukraine, I predict it would not be too long before the Russian army crosses the border, where our men and women in uniform would have to go and fight by crossing into a NATO ally,” Pence told ABC News in June.
Abortion:
A staunch evangelical Christian, Pence has backed a ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy as the “minimum nationwide standard”, with exceptions in cases of rape, incest and where the health of the mother is at risk.
He also wants to overturn FDA approval of mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen to induce abortion.
China:
Pence has said that China constitutes a greater threat to the US than the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Pence meeting a boy at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on August 11, 2023.REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
He has called for decoupling industries of vital national security interest from Beijing, bolstering the Navy’s readiness in the South China Sea, demanding China come clean about the origins of COVID-19, and more.
During the Trump administration, Pence defended tariffs imposed on Beijing by the former president, arguing they were warranted to counter China’s own trade barriers against American-made goods and services.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley
Taxation and Spending:
Haley has criticized the immense government spending and earmarks enacted under former President Donald Trump and President Biden through COVID stimulus packages and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Unlike Trump and DeSantis, Haley has also proposed cuts to federal benefits programs like Social Security and Medicare, promised to veto spending bills that are above pre-pandemic levels and claw back unspent or fraudulently obtained COVID stimulus funds.
Nikki Haley speaking at a campaign stop in Barrington, New Hampshire on July 25, 2023.REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
Jobs and Growth:
Haley touts her experience as governor of South Carolina, where she supported tax cuts, decreased regulation and the growth of small businesses.
The state had record employment numbers and its lowest unemployment rate since 2001 by the time she left office in 2017.
In a March op-ed for USA Today, Haley said the federal government “should be saving taxpayer money by moving people from welfare to work, not the other way around.”
She also disparaged the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law for giving handouts to corporations.
Ukraine:
As a former ambassador to the United Nations, Haley has said supporting Ukraine’s war effort against Russia through security assistance is “in the best interest of America” — and has criticized President Biden for not allowing Kyiv to join NATO.
Haley playing carnival games with her son and Sen. Joni Ernst at the Iowa State Fair on August 12, 2023.Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty ImagesUkraine defeating Russia would also deter China from potentially invading Taiwan and cause Iran and North Korea to think twice about pursuing aggressive nuclear and ballistic missile programs, she also has said.
Abortion:
Haley, who signed a 20-week ban into law as South Carolina governor, has discouraged federal abortion legislation but left open the possibility of approving a bill if it represented the “national consensus.”
China:
Haley wants to scuttle trade with China over its role in the global spread of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl, whose raw ingredients are exported to Mexican cartels for production.
Like DeSantis, she also would support laws that block Chinese entities from buying up US strategic assets such as farmland.
Additionally, Haley has said she would prevent federal funds from going to US universities that take money from China.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie
Taxation and Spending:
During his tenure as New Jersey governor, Christie lowered property taxes in the blue state.
However, he has been vague about many taxation issues in this election cycle.
He has said he supports keeping the cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT) that was instituted by former President Donald Trump as part of his 2017 tax cuts.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaking at “The Gathering” conservative political conference in Atlanta on August 19, 2023.REUTERS/Cheney Orr
He has also called for “discussion” of raising the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits, saying at a March town hall in New Hampshire that “the truth is, it’s gonna run out.”
Jobs and Growth:
Christie wants to increase vocational training to fill employment gaps, noting during a CNN town hall in June that there are “1.7 empty jobs for every one person who’s unemployed, but … those people are not skilled in the jobs that we need.”
However, he did not say from where he imagined the funding for such education would come.
Ukraine:
One of just two candidates who have visited Ukraine since the war began, Christie believes the US should continue its support for the Kyiv government through the war’s end.
Otherwise, he said during a June CNN town hall, “the alternative is for the Chinese to take over, the Russians, the Iranians and the North Koreans.” Still, he said “some kind of compromise” with Russia may ultimately be necessary to bring the conflict to a conclusion.
Abortion:
Though Christie personally describes himself as “pro-life” – with exceptions for cases of rape, incest or risk to the mother’s life – he would not support a federal abortion ban, saying in April that the issue “should be determined by the 50 states.”
Christie greeting diners at the Versailles Restaurant in Miami on August 18, 2023.Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
China:
Christie has voiced support for keeping current US sanctions on China, but believes in lifting them in exchange for concessions on key issues such as intellectual property rights.
Similarly, he has said he would allow TikTok to keep operating in the US if Beijing would let American social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to operate without restrictions in China.
Militarily, he has told the Washington Post that he would “do everything I could to avoid” war with China, but added that he would “do what needs to be done” if combat was “unavoidable.”
Sen. Tim Scott
Taxation and Spending:
Scott was one of the architects of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts — which he considers to be one of his most important accomplishments in public office.
He is a staunch advocate of lowering the corporate tax rate and creating opportunity zones, which provide tax relief to distressed communities in order to spur investment.
