John McCain has been unrelenting in his support for the new strategy in Iraq. He said early signs of progress are cause for very cautious optimism but do not guarantee success. He believes we have a long way to go, but for the first time in four years, we have in place a winning strategy that deals with the reality on the ground in Iraq.

John McCain has said that success in Iraq critical in our titanic struggle against Islamic extremists. On the other hand, he believes that if we were to leave Iraq, there will be chaos, there will be genocide, and the extremists will follow us home.

John McCain is willing to confront this unpopular issue at the risk of losing this election. He believes that presidents don't lose wars, political parties don't lose wars – nations lose wars and nations suffer the consequences.

John McCain has led a tough and often lonely fight in Congress against wasteful spending and pork barrel projects. As one of the most tireless budget hawks in the Senate, John McCain has a long record of protecting the interest of taxpayers. John McCain has routinely voted against irresponsible spending bills.

As President, John McCain will not hesitate to veto every wasteful spending bill that comes across his desk. John McCain will not just talk about spending discipline, he will exercise it. The practice of excessive spending and borrowing in Washington must stop. These practices rob the American people of their right to responsible government and sticks future generations of Americans with the bill for today's waste and lack of discipline.

John McCain will reform our nation's broken budget process. John McCain has long supported budget rules, including the line item veto, that ensure the federal government respects its bottom line, just as families do when balancing their checkbooks. John McCain will not leave office without balancing the federal budget.

John McCain will make the income and investment tax cuts permanent.

The economic freedom provided by low marginal tax rates supports innovation and entrepreneurship – the recipe for faster growth, greater investment, and more jobs. Low taxes on dividends and capital gains promote saving, innovation, investment and growth.

The only way to keep taxes low is to control spending. The greatest tax cut we can give is to our children – by fixing our spending problem. The federal government has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Taxes have grown over 10 percent per year in the past 2 years, and have now risen above their historic share of national income.

Coming from a border state, John McCain has seen firsthand the negative effects Of illegal immigration.

John McCain believes that among the federal government's most important obligations is to secure our borders and enforce sensible immigration laws that will keep our nation strong and safe. A comprehensive immigration control plan that works is long overdue.

John McCain has consistently opposed giving amnesty or public benefits to illegal immigrants. In order for illegal immigrants to become legal, they must come out of the shadows and - pay stiff fines and back taxes; undergo criminal and security checks; pass English and civics tests; remain employed for six years; and go to the back of the line.

John McCain believes strong immigration reform must vastly improve our border surveillance and enforcement capabilities; increase the manpower, infrastructure and capabilities necessary to block, apprehend, detain and return those who try to enter the country illegally; strengthen the laws and penalties against those who hire illegal aliens and violate immigration law; achieve and maintain the integrity of official documents to stop fraud, verify immigration status and employment, and enforce immigration law; and develop a sensible guest worker program that will serve our nation's best economic and security interests.

John McCain has proposed a worldwide League of Democracies to help organize countries – with which we share basic values – to face the opportunities and challenges of the modern world.

John McCain believes the League of Democracies can complement the UN but could also take action in cases where the UN has been unable to act effectively or, in some cases, act at all. It did not act effectively in Bosnia or Rwanda and did not act at all in Kosovo or Darfur.

As long as Russia and China perceive their interests to be very different from ours in these and other cases, John McCain believes we should increase cooperation with fellow democracies to shape solutions for global problems. The League must also take into account countries not represented on the U.N. Security Council, like Japan, Germany, India, and Brazil, that can play a constructive role in tackling global challenges.

John McCain wants to begin a debate over how to work more closely with democracies to meet common challenges resulting from the rise of new centers of power, new threats like terrorism and proliferation, and new opportunities arising from globalization.

Climate Change and Energy Independence

 

There is overwhelming scientific consensus widely accepted by policymakers, the business community, and the public, that global climate change is real, that man is contributing to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and that the environmental, economic, and national security consequences of this phenomenon pose a risk that cannot be responsibly ignored.

John McCain has offered common sense approaches to limit carbon emissions by harnessing market forces that will bring advanced technologies, such as nuclear energy, to the market faster and reduce our dependence on foreign supplies of energy.

John McCain prefers a market-based system of "cap and trade" that will set responsible, common sense greenhouse gas reduction goals, and provide economic incentives for entrepreneurs, innovators, and the business community at large to achieve them

The issue of climate change is closely aligned with national challenges such as increasing our energy independence, and keeping our lead in the innovation of new technologies to meet rapidly growing global demand for clean and abundant energy sources.