| FEDERAL
RIGHTS
1)
What will your administration do to ensure full protection for the rights
and welfare of our nation's seniors?
[ Bush ]
Response Pending
[ Braun ]
As a United States Senator, I worked to protect the civil rights of
all Americans, and as President, I will work to ensure the welfare and
defend the rights of older people. Towards this end, my judicial nominations
will reflect an understanding of the law and respect of judicial precedent.
My nominees will have established records for broad interpretations
of civil rights laws. My judicial appointments will share an understanding
of the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act and other anti-discrimination
laws and will not further narrow its scope.
[ Clark ]
Protecting the rights of seniors and being vigilant against discrimination
is one of the primary functions of government. I support vigorous enforcement
of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act. I will also appoint
judges who have a proven record of enforcing the law in a way that's
fair to seniors.
[ Dean ]
I support full protections for the rights of our seniors and will work
to ensure that the laws designed to protect these rights are fully enforced.
I am running to restore America’s sense of community and to ensure
that not one American is left behind or discriminated against—by
race, gender, region or age. I am deeply committed to upholding and
enforcing the rights of all citizens—and specifically those of
senior citizens—as they have been laid down in law to protect
the rights and welfare of our seniors. My Justice Department and all
agencies of our government will share a deep commitment to enforcing
these rights and these laws.
[ Edwards ]
I am committed to protecting the rights of our seniors, and I am deeply
troubled by the recent trend of court decisions governing civil rights.
I strongly support vigorous enforcement of the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act, and would seek legislation to reverse the Supreme Court's
recent ruling limiting application of the act to states. I opposed legislation
such as the ADA Notification Act, which would have weakened ADA protections
by giving employers an incentive to not comply until they were caught
violating the law. And I support measures to restore protections for
people with disabilities that the U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated
through narrow legal interpretations.
We must ensure that programs that provide important protections for
seniors remain consistent with Congress' broad remedial intent, and
as President I will support legislation with this goal.
[ Gephardt ]
I am very disturbed with the erosion of the civil rights of seniors.
The actions of the Bush Administration and the GOP-appointed members
of our nation's federal courts are failing this country. As president,
I will make changes on both fronts. The federal government simply cannot
make dramatic changes in legal and administrative precedents that retreat
from the progress our country has made in improving the lives of seniors.
First, we must put an end to the overly partisan judges that President
Bush and the GOP Congress are placing onto the federal bench. As president,
I will seek to nominate more balanced, experienced men and women to
serve on our federal courts. I will also look for nominees that have
a clear understanding of the need to protect civil rights for all Americans
- including our nation's seniors.
Second, we need more action from our cabinet offices and administrative
agencies to challenge lower court decisions that scale back programs.
As president, I will ensure that my administration fully implements
the sixty years of legislative advances on issues facing seniors. I
will instruct our federal agencies to appeal any court decision that
is adverse to these goals.
[ Kerry ]
As President, I will nominate judges who respect the safety net protections
that seniors rely on. I will nominate judges who respect and understand
that Medicaid is an entitlement. And my appointees will enforce and
uphold our civil rights laws, including the Americans with Disabilities
Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, to ensure the protections
promised under their enactment.
This election is so important because the Supreme Court hangs in the
balance. Since he has taken office, President Bush has pursued a strategy
of quietly but steadily packing the courts with judges whose thinking
is shared by the tiniest sliver of the far right - judges who have shown
their commitment to rolling back critical protections. He's made judicial
nominations red meat for the right wing, hoping the rest of us aren't
paying attention. If I am elected President, I will appoint Justices
with a broad understanding of American life today and with a commitment
to fairness and equality.
I will also support legislation to restore civil rights protections
to individuals with disabilities who have been harmed by Court decisions
that restrict the scope of the protected class and the scope of rights
under ADA. And I will end the era of John Ashcroft and nominate an Attorney
General and a Chair to the EEOC who will make enforcement of the ADA
a top priority and use their respective offices as bully pulpits for
tougher enforcement.
Recent government studies show that more than 20 percent of nursing
homes have been cited for harming residents and that the actual number
is probably much higher; that more than 90 percent do not have enough
nursing staff to provide adequate care.
[ Kucinich ]
Response not yet received
[ Lieberman ]
My administration will fully enforce the laws that protect seniors.
In addition, as President I will take on the industries that intentionally
exploit seniors and trick them into spending money on fraudulent consumer
items or causes, specifically the telemarketing and insurance industries
and home repair contractors.
[ Sharpton ]
Response Pending
2) What steps will your administration take to address staffing problems
in nursing homes and other long term care facilities?
[ Bush ]
Response Pending
[ Braun ]
Many of the concerns that have lead to the critical shortage of nurses
in America's hospitals and nursing homes are directly related to the
way we have, historically, financed health care. A majority of people
trained in the art and science of nursing who have left patient care
say they did so because of staffing levels and mandatory overtime. The
Department of Health and Human Services commissioned a report on the
staffing issue in nursing homes, which Secretary Thomson wrongly dismissed
as insufficient. A single-payer national health insurance plan would
prioritize patient care, and take advantage of available research to
help set staffing levels and conditions of work for providers.
[ Clark ]
As president I will work to ensure that all our nation's long-term care
facilities are safe and adequately staffed. In particular, I will make
sure states accurately report serious violations to the federal government
as required by law. A recent GAO report showed that many states fail
to report fully on such violations. The same report also showed that
many state inspection processes are inadequate and that nursing homes
are able to conceal violations by preparing for scheduled inspections.
The federal government must do a better job of overseeing state inspection
systems. Finally, we must increase efforts to recruit and train qualified
long term care providers.
[ Dean ]
Hard working, dedicated home care workers must make decent wages, have
health care coverage of their own and be adequately trained. In California
and New York, when America’s largest health care union, SEIU,
came together with providers, consumers and state governments, they
created systems to do just that. As a result, the lives of long term
care clients have improved. Registries of qualified workers are established
and standards are set which protect workers and their clients and encourage
more workers to take on these important jobs. The federal government
should encourage more states to follow this collaborative model.
If we could eliminate the need for nursing homes, we would. But we
cannot ignore that there will always be a percentage of folks who will
require institutional care. We must make sure that care is not second
class. Nursing home funding must ensure safe staffing and staffing standards.
Nursing home workers have one of the most dangerous jobs in America
with the highest injury rates, which cost patients good care and employers
excessive workers compensation. When George Bush rescinded ergonomics
rules, he hurt patients and workers. We need to reverse that. We need
to ensure that good workers have good working conditions and we need
to protect patients against those workers who have a history of abuse.
We need a national registry of long-term care workers.
[ Edwards ]
Nurses are the backbone of health care. The cost of adding more nurses
to the workforce is more than offset by improvements they bring in quality
of care and quality of life. Nurses help improve the quality of care
and quality of life of the patient's they care for. That's why, in July,
I became the first candidate to talk about the nursing workforce shortage.
Under my proposal, I promised to add 100,000 new nurses by 2010. I
will provide grants to hospitals and nursing homes to improve the working
conditions of all 2.2 million of America's nurses. This will retain
nurses who would otherwise leave the profession and help to bring nurses
back into the profession. In addition, I will fund nursing schools to
expand both facilities and faculty, as well as provide student scholarships,
so that 50,000 nurses will be added.
Due to the special problems faced in long-term care, I announced in
October that I would also do more to specifically recruit and retain
nursing home and home care workers. When we ask nurses' aides and home
health aides to deliver care with dignity, we need to treat those workers
with dignity, too. I will provide resources to improve wages, training,
and working conditions for this staff. I will also establish strong
workplace safety regulations like the ergonomics regulations discarded
by President Bush.
[ Gephardt ]
I would work to establish minimum staffing levels in nursing homes,
while providing funding to help nursing homes meet those staffing requirements.
I believe this is a sound approach to solving inadequate staffing levels
and as president I would continue to support this policy and consider
its implementation for all health care facilities.
[ Kerry ]
First, we need to recruit and train more people to become caregivers,
including home health aides, nurses, paraprofessionals and others. These
caregivers work around the clock to take care of our most vulnerable
Americans and they need to receive adequate training.
To recruit and keep quality caregivers, we must make sure that receive
better training, better working conditions and better pay. I have long
stood with health care workers for better working conditions such as
whistleblower protections so that health care workers can report errors
and problems without fear of retaliation. I have fought to strengthen
Medicare and Medicaid which are frequent payors for home health
We should also make sure that direct care workers provide quality care.
I support providing consumers information about the quality of care
and give more choices. People with long term care needs and their families
should be able to access information about the quality of a nursing
home or a home care service. I also support criminal background checks
for home care workers. And I support better enforcement. Harming or
neglecting residents is unacceptable and in a Kerry Administration it
will not be tolerated.
[ Kucinich ]
When it is necessary for an older person to move into a nursing home,
Congressman Kucinich supports mandatory staffing regulations which require
sufficient staff to prohibit warehousing conditions that dehumanize
our elderly.
[ Lieberman ]
The quality of the care seniors get is only as good as the nurses who
help them. Nurses are the backbone of the system. But right now, that
backbone is bending-and almost breaking. The nursing shortage has reached
critical levels. I sponsored legislation in the Senate to keep nurses
on the job and to help them get further training.
When I'm President, we'll make supporting nurses a top priority. Here's
what I'll do:
- Guard the rights and improve the benefits of nurses.
- End mandatory overtime, which currently leads to burnout among
nurses
- Increase the number of nurses in the workforce by improving recruitment
and retention
- Let nurses spend less time on paperwork - and more time doing the
work they are trained to and love to do.
Nurses are the backbone of our health care system. We need a President
who understands this, and who will ensure that supporting nurses is
a top priority.
[ Sharpton ]
Response Pending
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