League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
California State Government November 2, 2004 Election
	Barbara Boxer Answers Questions Candidate for United States Senator

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. What can be done to ensure that California gets its fair share of federal resources?

California has become a younger state since I was elected to the Senate. Because of that, we receive less funding for Social Security and Medicare payments. Another factor contributing to declining federal payments for California is the reduced poverty rate and the resulting reduced Medicaid reimbursements in the state since I entered the Senate. Poverty has gone down 28% since I've been in the Senate and household income has increased 39%.

I have been successful in funding in a number of areas -- especially in highway funding. The 2004 transportation bill includes a 40% increase in highway funding for California and a 50% increase in transit funding. If the Senate version of the bill becomes law, highway funding will have more than doubled since I came to the Senate.

I will continue working to bring more federal dollars to California.

2. What are your foreign policy priorities for the United States?

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I will continue to focus on the situation in Iraq. We need to build an international coalition to share the burden in Iraq because the United States is shouldering almost all the financial burden and the military burden alone. We need to get back to the days when America truly led the world.

3. What are your priorities for the federal budget?

Instead of spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer money overseas or on tax breaks for millionaires, it's time to focus on our problems here at home.

It is time for us to focus on making our schools the best they can be, providing affordable health care and good paying jobs for our families.

We need targeted tax cuts for the middle class and for businesses that create jobs. We need to fully fund education and help make a college education more affordable. We need additional resources to protect our environment and to ensure we have clean water and clean air. We need additional funding to protect the United States from terrorist attack. In particular, we need more resources to protect our ports, rail system, and our airlines.