Previous Administration - Where They Stand On The Issues - Obama And Romney - News

WASHINGTON (AP) A look at where Democratic President Barack Obama and Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney stand on a selection of issues:

OBAMA:

Abortion and birth control: Supports abortion rights. Health care law requires contraceptives to be available for free for women enrolled in workplace health plans, including access to morning-after pill, which does not terminate a pregnancy but which some religious conservatives consider tantamount to an abortion pill. Supported requiring girls 16 and under to get a prescription for the morning-after pill, available without a prescription for older women.

Debt: A fourth-straight year of trillion-dollar deficits is projected. Federal spending is estimated at 23.5 percent of gross domestic product this year, up from about 20 percent in the previous administration , and is forecast to decline to 21.8 percent by 2016. Won approval to raise debt limit to avoid default. Calls for tackling the debt with a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases. Central to Obama's plan is to let Bush-era tax cuts expire for couples making more than $250,000. That would generate more than $700 billion over 10 years. Also, would set a 30 percent tax rate on taxpayers making more than $1 million, increasing taxes for some but not all millionaires and billionaires. That would generate about $47 billion over 10 years. Reached agreement with congressional Republicans to cut $487 billion in military spending over a decade.

Economy: Term marked by high unemployment, a deep recession that began in previous administration and officially ended within six months, and gradual recovery with persistently high jobless rates. Unemployment rate jumped to 8.3 percent from 7.8 percent in February 2009, Obama's first full month in office, and has remained above 8 percent ever since. The stretch of unemployment above 8 percent is the longest on record dating to 1948. Businesses have added jobs for more than two years straight, pushing down the unemployment rate from 9.8 percent in March 2010 to 8.2 percent and holding. Unemployment hit a high water mark of 10 percent in October 2009. Of the 8.8 million jobs lost during the recession and its aftermath, 3.8 million have been regained. Obama responded to recession with a roughly $800 billion stimulus plan that nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated cut the unemployment rate by 0.7 to 1.8 percentage points. Continued implementation of Wall Street and auto industry bailouts begun under George W. Bush. Proposes tax breaks for U.S. manufacturers producing domestically or repatriating jobs from abroad, and tax penalties for U.S. companies outsourcing jobs. Won approval of South Korea, Panama and Colombia free-trade pacts begun under previous administration , completing the biggest round of trade liberalization since the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts of that era.