Mike Gravel Last Update: 10/17/07 Biography

Democratic Party Mike Gravel 2008 Candidate for President of the United States of America Campaign Website | Candidate Forum

			Issues

(Select An Issue to Jump Directly) Abortion Death Penalty Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Energy Plan Free Trade Global Warming Guantanamo Bay Detainment Camp Gun Control Health Care Immigration Iran Iraq Plan Kyoto Protocol Line Item Veto Medical Marijuana Military Contractors Minimum Wage Increase Net Neutrality Nuclear Power Outsourcing Same-Sex Marriage Social Security Stem Cell Research Tax Reform The Military Commissions Act of 2006 The Patriot Act

	Mike Gravel on Abortion
	Stance: Pro-Choice Description: In response to the ruling regarding the legality of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 Gravel stated, "I am opposed to today's ruling that places restrictions on reproductive freedom. Today's decision authorizes federal intervention to prohibit a procedure that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has found at times to be medically necessary. Any decision on abortion should remain between a woman and her doctor. There is no room for interference from politicians and judges. Gravel is also an advocate of embryonic stem cell research Citations: 1. The Issues (7/25/07) Mike Gravel gives his stance on a variety of key election issues on his campaign website 2. On the Issues: Abortion (7/25/07) Candidates views on the topic of abortion

	Mike Gravel on Death Penalty
	Stance: Opposes death penalty Description: He has declared himself an opponent of the death penalty in his book Citizen Power, published in 1972. Citations:

	Mike Gravel on Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
	Stance: Opposes Description: "I think that we should end it, because I see that off Florida people don't want any drilling. What we need is to get off carbon, and so the way to do that, from my perspective, is to put a carbon tax on at the source, at the barrel of oil and at the ton of coal." - Mike Gravel Citations: 1. Interview with Senator Mike Gravel (8/14/07) "I think that we should end it, because I see that off Florida people don't want any drilling. What we need is to get off carbon, and so the way to do that, from my perspective, is to put a carbon tax on at the source, at the barrel of oil and at the ton of coal. And it filters up through the system in a fair fashion and that would contribute."

	Mike Gravel on Energy Plan
	Stance: Tax carbon energy to fund the development of energy alternatives Description: "Carbon energy should be taxed to provide the funding for a global effort led by the United States, with willing allies, to bring together the world's scientific and engineering communities to develop energy alternatives to significantly reduce the world's energy dependence on carbon." - Gravel Citations: 1. Energy and Environment (8/7/07) Gravel discusses support of the Kyoto protocol, and his proposed carbon tax. 2. How will your policies reduce energy consumption? (7/31/07) Change tax structure so that people are taxed on what they spend to change country from a consumer nation to a savings nation. This would improve energy usage. 3. New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate (11/9/07) Support a carbon tax, which would raise the price of gas, which he would also support because it would better reflect the costs associated with the war in Iraq. 4. Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act Roll Call (11/9/07) Voted yes on the "Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act" of 1973, which authorized construction of a 789-mile pipeline to transport oil from the North Slope of Alaska to the port of Valdez. Environment groups had fought the pipeline, fearing oil spills and damage to tundra and wildlife.

	Mike Gravel on Free Trade
	Stance: Opposes Description: Gravel has called North American Free Trade Agreement "a disaster for the working class of both the U.S. and Mexico" and has said that it should be either changed significantly or repealed altogether. Gravel has called for an increased focus on fair trade "if we are to rebuild the American middle class." Citations: 1. Democratic Candidates on Trade (7/26/07) How Gravel has voted on free trade bills.

	Mike Gravel on Global Warming
	Stance: Believes global warming is a problem and wants to stop it by capping emissions, stopping deforestation, and working with other nations on a collective effort. Description: Senator Gravel will reduce America's carbon footprint in the world by passing legislation that caps emissions, and lead the fight against global deforestation, which today is second only to the energy sector as a source of greenhouses gases. He wants to work together with other global polluters because fighting global warming can only be effective if it is a collective global effort. Citations: 1. Global Warming/Climate Change (8/7/07) What Gravel would do about global warming if he was elected president.

	Mike Gravel on Guantanamo Bay Detainment Camp
	Stance: Close Guantanamo Description: Gravel says he would "raze" Guantanamo if elected. "We must tell the world that the United States does not stand for torture. It is unacceptable human behavior," he says. Citations: 1. Gravel Wraps Up Pittsburgh, New York City Swing (8/29/07) Gravel talking about closing Guantanamo

	Mike Gravel on Gun Control
	Stance: Supports licensing and firearm training program Description: "Senator Gravel fully supports the 2nd Amendment, he believes that fundamental change must take place with regards to gun ownership. The senator advocates a licensing program where a potential gun owner must be licensed as well as properly trained with a firearm before they may own one." - Gravel's campaign website Citations: 1. The Issues: 2nd Amendment Rights (8/7/07) Mike Gravel's stance on 2nd Amendment rights from his official campaign website.

	Mike Gravel on Health Care
	Stance: Issue Vouchers To Everyone Based on Their Projected Needs Description: "Under the plan we would issue vouchers to every single American. And the vouchers, you don't pay for them, they're issued to you. You sign up every year for them. And the vouchers will have a very modest co-pay, a very modest deductible, but that's it. Everybody gets the same product universally in the United States of America. And then if you want more than the product you got, you pay for it. The vouchers are set up for risk on an individual basis, not on a collective this fits all, because if you're young, you probably don't have a cost of more than $3,000. When you're my age, it could be $150,000-$180,000 in one year... One of the facets of the plan would be to keep in place Medicare and Medicaid and phase them out over time. Because plans to put everybody on Medicare aren't going to fly financially and just can't be met." - Mike Gravel Citations: 1. Transcript: Sen. Mike Gravel (7/27/07) Transcript from Gravel speaking at the Presidential Forum on Health Care. 2. The Presidential Candidates on Healthcare (7/27/07) His quotes and summary on healthcare

	Mike Gravel on Immigration
	Stance: Make English the national language, opposes wholesale deportation of illegal aliens, supports procedures for illegal immigrants to obtain legal status Description: Senator Gravel has said that he disfavors wholesale or widespread deportation of illegal immigrants found residing in the United States. The campaign website declares that he favors a guest worker program and 'setting up naturalization procedures that would fairly bring existing illegal immigrants into legal status'. He has described the North American Free Trade Agreement as 'a disaster for the working class of both the U.S .and Mexico' which 'has led to a wave of immigrant workers looking for work in the US job market'. His position statement speaks in favor of 'major structural changes... to NAFTA... [and] reforming unfair trade policies'. Citations: 1. Presidential Candidates on Immigration (9/10/07) a collection of quotes about immigration

	Mike Gravel on Iran
	Stance: Oppose military confrontation Description: According to his campaign website, Gravel "firmly opposes a military confrontation with Iran." In a presidential debate in April 2007, he said: "When you have mainline candidates that turn around and say that there's nothing off the table with respect to Iran, that's code for using nukes, nuclear devices - [if] I'm president of the United States, there will be no preemptive wars with nuclear devices." Citations: 1. The Issues: Iran (8/13/07) War with Iran threatens global stability.

	Mike Gravel on Iraq Plan
	Stance: Immediate withdrawal of troops Description: Gravel favors an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. If elected, Gravel says he will "call for a U.S. corporate withdrawal from Iraq and hand over reconstruction contacts to Iraqi businesses which will empower Iraqi nationals to reconstruct their own country." Gravel opposed the war from its start in 2002. In an April 2007 Democratic debate, Gravel encouraged Congress to pass a law "making it a felony to stay" in Iraq. Citations: 1. The Candidates on Iraq (7/24/07) What Gravel has said about Iraq 2. Gravel Interview - Talking about Iraq (7/24/07) His interview with CNN 3. Mike Gravel Announces Plan to end the Iraq War (7/24/07) how he wants to end the war 4. Mike Gravel - Take Back America (10/25/07) Gravel wants to pass legislation to get the president and others charged with a felony for the Iraq war.

	Mike Gravel on Kyoto Protocol
	Stance: Supports Kyoto Protocol Description: "The U.S. should immediately sign the Kyoto protocol and seek its ratification by the Senate. This would be the beginning of our diplomatic efforts to work with China and India and all developing countries to address the pollution problems attendant to economic growth." - Mike Gravel Citations: 1. Energy and Environment (8/8/07) "The U.S. should immediately sign the Kyoto protocol and seek its ratification by the Senate. This would be the beginning of our diplomatic efforts to work with China and India and all developing countries to address the pollution problems attendant to economic growth."

	Mike Gravel on Line Item Veto
	Stance: Supports Description: Gravel feels that the line-item veto is the only way to get rid of earnmarks. Citations: 1. New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Transcript (10/15/07) BLITZER: Is it time to do away with these earmarks? GRAVEL: Totally, totally. It's abominable, and the only way you're going to get rid of it is to give the president the line-item veto. Of course, they're not going to give the president a line-item veto. What we need to do is change the entire tax structure.

	Mike Gravel on Medical Marijuana
	Stance: Legalize it Description: Gravel would legalize marijuana for general use as well as medical use. Citations: 1. Most candidates support medical marijuana (7/23/07) he wants to legalize it. 2. Most marijuana-friendly candidates: Ron Paul, Mike Gravel (7/23/07) He wants to legalize it along with ron paul 3. Mike Gravel Interview (7/23/07) An interview where he says "legalize it"

	Mike Gravel on Military Contractors
	Stance: Opposes use of military contractors Description: Mike Gravel has stated he wants to end the user of military contractors in Iraq. Citations: 1. Sen. Mike Gravel Supports Call to Ban Blackwater (10/17/07) Mike Gravel wants the troops and contractors out of Iraq as soon as possible.

	Mike Gravel on Minimum Wage Increase
	Stance: Increase but ultimately do away with Description: Asked whether he would work for the minimum wage, which goes from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 on Tuesday, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel responded: "Oh, yes, I would, but I would say that we don't need a minimum wage; we need a living wage. We don't have that in this country because of what they passed." Citations: 1. Questions, not answers, highlight YouTube debate (8/15/07) Asked whether he would work for the minimum wage, which goes from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 on Tuesday, former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel responded: "Oh, yes, I would, but I would say that we don't need a minimum wage; we need a living wage. We don't have that in this country because of what they passed."

	Mike Gravel on Net Neutrality
	Stance: Supports Description: Senator Gravel supports a free and open Internet with no restricted access to any site, for any reason. He has vowed to support legislation and regulation that promotes net neutrality. Citations: 1. Net Neutrality (8/13/07) Net Neutrality aims to keep the Internet free from large companies who are using their networks to limit the amount of websites their customers can view, and the speed at which they can view them. Examples range from, being forced to use the search engines your Internet Service Providers (ISP), only being able to view streaming videos that your ISP deems acceptable, and charging a website an extra fee to maintain the usual connection speed. Senator Gravel guarantees a free and open Internet with no restricted access to any site, for any reason. He will do this by supporting legislation and regulation that keeps you in control of your Internet usage.

	Mike Gravel on Nuclear Power
	Stance: Opposes nuclear power Description: Mike Gravel was the first in Congress to publicly oppose the national nuclear policy in 1970, and he used his office to organize citizen opposition, successfully persuading Ralph Nader's organization to join the fight. Senator Gravel's initial efforts, and later those of the environmental movement that had coalesced in opposition, contributed to making the production of commercial electricity through nuclear fission uneconomical. - Gravel's Campaign Website Citations: 1. The Peaceful Atom (8/14/07) Mike Gravel was the first in Congress to publicly oppose this national nuclear policy in 1970, and he used his office to organize citizen opposition, successfully persuading Ralph Nader's organization to join the fight. Senator Gravel's initial efforts, and later those of the environmental movement that had coalesced in opposition, contributed to making the production of commercial electricity through nuclear fission uneconomical.

	Mike Gravel on Outsourcing
	Stance: Outsourcing isn't the problem, it's bigger economic problem that makes us uncompetitive Description: "No, outsourcing is not the problem. What is the problem is our trade agreements that we have that benefit the management and, of course, the shareholders, and have neglected on either side of the issue, whether it's in Mexico or in other countries or the United States. That's the problem that must be addressed. So, no, it's not outsourcing. But I would add to it, it's the way all of these people want to finance health care, on the backs of businesses, that make them uncompetitive in the world. That's part of the problem. And our system of taxation is also part of the problem because it makes us uncompetitive in the world." - Mike Gravel Citations: 1. How does outsourcing affect the U.S. economy? (8/14/07) Quote from Gravel saying outsourcing doesn't affect the economy 2. Transcript of the Third Democratic Primary Presidential Debate (8/1/07) "No, outsourcing is not the problem. What is the problem is our trade agreements that we have that benefit the management and, of course, the shareholders, and have neglected on either side of the issue, whether it's in Mexico or in other countries or the United States. That's the problem that must be addressed. So, no, it's not outsourcing. But I would add to it, it's the way all of these people want to finance health care, on the backs of businesses, that make them uncompetitive in the world. That's part of the problem. And our system of taxation is also part of the problem because it makes us uncompetitive in the world."

	Mike Gravel on Same-Sex Marriage
	Stance: supports same - sex marriage Description: Senator Gravel opposes any state or national constitutional amendment that restricts the rights of the LGBT community. He supports same-sex marriage and opposes the Defense of Marriage Act and in the absence of full marriage rights, the senator supports domestic partner benefits for all Americans. Citations: 1. Mike Gravel: 'Love between a man and a man is beautiful' (8/1/07) Video of Mike Gravel responding to a question about his view on same-sex marriage. 2. The Issues (8/1/07) Gravel's stance on LGBT rights on his campaign website.

	Mike Gravel on Social Security
	Stance: Supports investing money from the Social Security Trust Fund to improve solvency, and allowing workers to leave surplus benefits to their heirs. Description: "Senator Mike Gravel wants to put real money, rather than borrowed money, in the Social Security Trust Fund, investing it properly and identifying the interests of individual beneficiaries so they can leave their surplus funds to their heirs. He also calls on Congress to stop raiding the Social Security Trust Fund. This is key to ensuring that Social Security will be around long after the Baby Boomers are gone for the next generation of Americans who have paid into it." When asked if part of his social security reform plan included tax increases or benefit cuts, Gravel responded, "no tax increases, we don't need them. All we've got to do is stop the Congress from raiding the $200 billion a year in the surplus and let it go in the fund where it should. Invest it at 8% rather than 2% and stop passing the burden onto our grandchildren." Regarding privatization, Gravel stated that we should first invest the trust fund surplus and "later on if some people want to do it personally they can, I have no problems with that. Let's let the people decide." Citations: 1. The Issues: Social Security (8/14/07) Summary of Mike Gravel's stance on social security from his campaign website. 2. Issues: Social Security (8/14/07) Summary of Gravel's stance on social security reform. 3. Mike Gravel (8/14/07) Summary of Mike Gravel's stance on social security reform. Includes video of Mike Gravel answering questions regarding tax increases and privatization.

	Mike Gravel on Stem Cell Research
	Stance: Supports Stem Cell Research and Has not Definitively Stated His View on Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Description: Senator Mike Gravel has voiced his support of stem cell research but has not definitively stated his view on embryonic stem cell research. He has hinted that he supports it. Citations: 1. Scones with the Senator (7/24/07) Senator Mike Gravel is not opposed to embryonic stem cell research.

	Mike Gravel on Tax Reform
	Stance: Implement the Description: "Our present income tax is corrupt, no one understands it, and lobbyists make sure their clients are taken care of by the expense of the individual. The Fair Tax has total transparency and fairness, and that's what we lack at our present system," said Gravel. "This will change the country from a consumer society to a savings society." Citations: 1. U.S. Senator Gravel discusses campaign as Democratic Presidential hopeful (9/24/07) "Our present income tax is corrupt, no one understands it, and lobbyists make sure their clients are taken care of by the expense of the individual. (The FairTax) has total transparency and fairness, and that's what we lack at our present system," said Gravel. "This will change the country from a consumer society to a savings society." 2. Transcript of the Third Democratic Primary Presidential Debate (8/1/07) "I want to say that none of you are going to live in your lifetime to see our system of taxation change, based upon what you've heard here. I was -- (laughter) -- I was eight years on the Finance Committee -- none of them have served on that committee -- and I'll tell you, the code stands that high and there's not a human being alive that understands it. And it's with Democrats, with Republicans, they take care of the people. Do you think it's accident that all of a sudden we wake up, that the wealthy aren't paying a fair share? The only way they're going to pay a fair share is wipe out the income tax -- it is corrupt, it's corrupting our society -- (applause) -- and begin to put in place a tax that everybody will know what everybody's paying, and that's a retail sales tax. And you can make it as progressive as you want. Keep in mind, a tax where everybody will know what everybody is paying."

	Mike Gravel on The Military Commissions Act of 2006
	Stance: Opposes Description: Senator Gravel has pledged that if elected President, he will immediately move to vanquish the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Citations: 1. Gravel Calls For Congress to end Torture (8/29/07) Senator Gravel reaffirmed his pledge that if elected President, he will immediately move to vanquish the Military Commissions Act of 2006, signed into law by George Bush, which has made it legal for the C.I.A. to continue operating torture facilities in undisclosed, foreign countries, and for the writ of habeas corpus to be suspended for individuals who are designated "enemy combatants."

	Mike Gravel on The Patriot Act
	Stance: Repeal the Patriot Act Description: "It is illegal and unconstitutional to eliminate or weaken government checks and balances. The federal government cannot just eradicate judicial process. Once again, the Democrats are guilty of complicity with the illegalities of the Bush administration." - Mike Gravel Citations: 1. 10 Questions With Democratic Presidential Candidate Sen. Mike Gravel (10/4/07) Gravel says the Patriot Act is illegal and unconstitutional.