Obama's Priorities

Courtesy of the GOP, here are many of the good things a President Obama would do:

1. Alternative Energy Research & Development: Obama will invest $15 billion per year to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid.
2. Infrastructure Investment: Obama proposes a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $6 billion per year to rebuild deteriorating roads, bridges and waterways. Obama said the spending would generate 2 million new jobs, many of them in a construction industry that has been hard hit by the housing market downturn.
3. Lifetime Success Through Education: Obama proposes spending $18 billion a year to reform No Child Left Behind, invest in zero-to-five early education, and recruit, prepare, retain and reward good teachers.
4. Home Foreclosure Prevention Fund: Obama proposes a $10 billion home foreclosure prevention fund to help families who have been hoodwinked by deceptive practices and predatory loans so that they can work out the terms, stay in their home, keep paying their mortgage.
5. Universal Voluntary National Service: Obama will spend $3.5 billion per year to expand AmeriCorps to 250,000 slots and double the size of the Peace Corps, integrate service-learning into our schools and universities, provide new service opportunities for working Americans and retirees, expand service initiatives that engage disadvantaged young people and advance their education, and expand the capacity of nonprofits to innovate and expand successful programs across the country.
6. Make Health Care More Affordable and Reliable: Obama proposes to strengthen employer–based coverage, make insurance companies accountable and ensure patient choice of doctor and care without government interference.  Under the plan, if you like your current health insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much as $2,500 per year.  If you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options. The Obama health care reform plan will cost $60 billion per year.
7. Obama Would Expand Loan Programs For Small Businesses, As Specified In The Small Business Lending Reauthorization And Improvements Act He Co-Sponsored. Expand Loan Programs for Small Businesses: Access to capital is a top concern among small business owners. Barack Obama cosponsored the bipartisan Small Business Lending Reauthorization and Improvements Act. This bill expands the Small Business Administration's loan and micro-loan programs which provide startup and long-term financing that small firms cannot receive through normal channels. Obama will work to help more entrepreneurs get loans, expand the network of lenders, and simplify the loan approval process. This program will cost $680 million per year.
8. Obama Will Provide $1.5 Billion To Help States Adopt Paid-Leave Systems. As president, Obama will initiate a strategy to encourage all 50 states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers.
9. Obama Will Provide $1 Billion Over 5 Years For Transitional Jobs And Career Pathway Programs. Obama will invest $1 billion over five years in transitional jobs and career pathway programs that implement proven methods of helping low-income Americans succeed in the workforce.
10. Obama Would Close The "Doughnut Hole" In The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program. Obama will close the "doughnut hole" coverage gap within the defined standard benefit under the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, at a cost of $39 billion per year.
11. Obama Would Implement The Lugar-Obama Legislation To Crack Down On The Smuggling Of Weapons Of Mass Destruction. Obama also fully implement the Lugar-Obama legislation to help our allies detect and stop the smuggling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world, at a cost of $440 million per year.
12. Obama Supports Creating A National Catastrophe Fund. Obama believes we we need a $20 million per year national catastrophe fund that is run efficiently, adequately funded and contains smart incentives to assure that developers are mitigating risk when they're making decisions on where to locate homes or businesses.
13. Obama Has Proposed Creating "A National Network Of Public-Private Business Incubators". Barack Obama will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators. Business incubators facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start-up companies. Obama will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.
14. Obama Would Ensure Full Health Care Enrollment Of "Priority 8" Veterans. Obama is committed to ending the unfair ban on healthcare enrollment of certain groups of veterans, including 'Priority 8' veterans who often earn modest incomes. He has voted to end this unfair policy, which has resulted in the VA turning away nearly one million veterans since 2003. As president, one of Barack Obama's first acts will be signing an executive order reversing this ban. This change will cost $1.76 billion per year.
15. Restore Funding To The Community Development Block Grant Program. The important Community Development Block Grant program has been cut by an astonishing 31 percent since Bush took office. The Community Development Block Grant is an important program that helps strengthen cities and towns throughout the nation by providing housing and creating jobs primarily for low- and moderate-income people. The Bush Administration has consistently attempted to cut funding for the Community Development Block Grant, by $1.2 billion next year and $6.9 billion over the next five years. Barack Obama has fought against these cuts, and as president will restore funding for the CDBG program.
16. Obama Has Proposed A Credit Card Rating System, To Be Implemented By The FTC. Barack Obama will create a credit card rating system, modeled on five-star systems used for other consumer products, to provide consumers an easily identifiable ranking of credit cards. Under the Obama plan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will assess the degree to which credit cards meet consumer-friendly standards. The FTC will test for a set of credit card features that are deemed the most dangerous for consumers, including the underwriting standards used to issue the card, the card's interest rate spread between the introductory rate and the maximum rate allowed, and transaction fees. The FTC will assign ratings so that consumers can easily understand if a credit card agreement meets or exceeds standards of safety. The system will cost $10 million per year.
17. Obama Would Assist  High School Students With Obtaining Access To College-Level Courses. Students who participate in Advanced Placement (AP) programs, which give students the opportunity to take college-level courses in high school, are much more likely to enroll and succeed in college. While enrollment in AP courses has nearly tripled over the past decade, many students attend schools that do not offer AP classes. Barack Obama, with Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), introduced a bipartisan plan to allow students who do not have access to college-level courses at their high schools to apply for need-based grants and seek credit at local colleges or community colleges. This program will cost $50 million per year.
18. Obama Will Increase The Maximum Pell Grant To $5,400 And Ensure The Grant Keeps Pace With The Rising Cost Of College Inflation. Two decades ago, the maximum Pell Grant covered 55 percent of costs at a public four-year college, compared with only 32 percent today. The first bill Barack Obama introduced in the U.S. Senate would have helped make college more affordable for many Americans by increasing the maximum Pell Grant from the limit of $4,050 to a new maximum of $5,100. As president, Obama will continue to work to ensure that the maximum Pell Grant award is increased for low-income students. Specifically, he will ensure that the award keeps pace with the rising cost of college inflation, at a cost of $7 billion per year.
19. Obama Would Double Federal Funding For Basic Research. Barack Obama supports doubling federal funding for basic research to $56 billion per year, changing the posture of our federal government to one that embraces science and technology.
20. Obama Would Enact The Responsible Fatherhood And Healthy Families Act Which He Co-Sponsored. Obama has re-introduced the Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act to remove some of the government penalties on married families, crack down on men avoiding child support payments, and ensure that payments go to families instead of state bureaucracies. The legislation would also fund support services for fathers and their families, including domestic violence prevention efforts. As President, he will sign this bill into law and continue to implement innovative measures to strengthen families, at a total cost of $176 million per year.
21. Obama Would Add 65,000 Soldiers To The Army And 27,000 Marines. Obama  supports the expansion of our ground forces by adding 65,000 soldiers to the Army and 27,000 Marines, at a cost of $1.2 billion per year.
22. Increase Foreign Assistance Funding. Obama will embrace the Millennium Development Goal of cutting extreme poverty around the world in half by 2015, and he will double our foreign assistance to $50 billion to achieve that goal.
23. Obama Will Provide $2 Billion To Aid Iraqi Refugees. Obama will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find a safe-haven.

Of course, the Republican Party thinks that these are self-evidently bad things, which is why they made the list.

(Via aimai at IFRTHZ.)