Political Biography

• Born July 3, 1940.
• Married, Shelley.
• Speechwriter and aide to President Nixon, 1968-1974.
• Communications director for President Reagan, 1985-1987.
• Political columnist, cohost of CNN's Crossfire.

• Supports overturning Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
• Opposes government funding of pro-choice organizations (Planned Parenthood) and abortion-related activities (fetal tissue research).
• Calls for all Republicans to support a uniform pro-family stance.
• Supports congressional hearings to investigate whether life begins at conception.

• Opposes all preferential treatment, including quotas, set-asides, diversity programs and busing.
• Would end what he calls "hyphenated Americanism" by outlawing federal classification of U.S. citizens by race or ethnicity.

Bosnia Intervention

• Opposes participation of U.S. troops in peacekeeping force in Bosnia.

• Supports a 17% flat tax on incomes above $25,000 for a family of four. Would retain deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Would tax interest and investment income.
• Supports balanced budget constitutional amendment.
• Supports presidential line-item veto.
• Supports downsizing the Internal Revenue Service.
• Opposes unfunded mandates.
• Supports elimination of taxes on interest and dividends for individuals and on the first $5 million of an inheritance.

• Supports prohibiting corporation and Political Action Committee (PAC) contributions to national party committees and candidates for national office.
• Supports restricting gifts to $20 at one time with a yearly gift limit of $50 from one source.
• Opposes congressional mailing privileges for campaign mailings.
• Supports requiring House candidates to raise campaign funds from residents of their congressional districts.
• Supports requiring Senate candidates to raise campaign contributions from individuals residing within their states.
• Supports limiting individual contributions to $1,000 for the primary season and $1,000 for the general election.

• Supports states' rights to set term limits for their members of Congress.
• Supports judicial term limits and voter recall of federal judges.
• Supports reconfirmation of Supreme Court justices every eight years.

• Supports the death penalty.
• Opposed 1994 Omnibus Crime Control Act (Clinton crime bill) because its range of anticrime measures -- including federal grants to hire more police and to develop drug treatment programs -- was too soft on criminals.
• Supports states having greater control in criminal justice matters.

• Supports elimination of federal Department of Education.
• Supports giving states primary responsibility for funding education and establishing educational standards.
• Supports pro-Western, Judeo-Christian values being taught in the public schools.
• Supports voluntary prayer in public schools.

• Supports protecting workers whose jobs may be affected by federal environmental regulations.
• Supports having Congress vote on every addition to the list of endangered species.

• Supports Americans' rights to purchase, possess and use firearms.
• Opposed Brady bill, which required seven-day waiting period for handgun purchases.
• Opposed ban on semiautomatic weapons.

• Opposes presence of U.S. peacekeeping troops in Bosnia.
• Opposes financial assistance to Mexico and to many other countries to which the U.S. currently gives money.
• Opposes American military involvement in international peacekeeping missions such as Bosnia.
• Opposes allowing U.S. military personnel to serve under UN command.
• Supports building an antimissile defense system.

• Opposed Clinton Health Care Plan.

• Supports a five-year moratorium on legal immigration, except for spouses or children of people already in the U.S.
• Opposes automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.
• Supports a national version of California's Proposition 187 to curtail the flow of illegal immigrants.
• Supports use of National Guard to close borders, if necessary.

• Opposes NAFTA and GATT.
• Supports trade policy that ensures a rising standard of living for U.S. workers.
• Supports linking China's "most favored nation" trade status to its human rights performance.
• Supports imposition of across-the-board tariffs on Japanese and Chinese goods.

• Supports denying welfare to illegal immigrants.
• Supports giving the states responsibility for welfare through federal block grants, which would diminish to zero over time as states take over.

Information in this report was obtained from the "Pat Buchanan: On the Issues" section of the official Pat Buchanan for President home page.