Can't deny it:

[ProSense]

Kerry's ideas are at the forefront in the Democratic Party, no matter what they say.

Improving benefits for troops and their families. With the recognition that the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq have placed a tremendous strain on service members and their families, Democrats have worked to ensure that the government provides adequate support to them in this difficult time. Senator Kerry introduced one amendment to extend housing allowances for families of service members killed during their service, and another amendment to increase the death gratuity for families of all troops killed in active duty from $12,000 to $100,000. Both amendments passed in the Senate.

They also attempted to table Senator Kerry's amendment to increase the death gratuity for all personnel killed in active duty, claiming that providing an increased death gratuity to families of fallen soldiers "does not give us the opportunity to recognize those who put their lives on the line. We oppose this amendment because of that fact." Senator Stevens, speaking on behalf of the Republicans, signaled that the Bush Administration also opposed the Durbin and Kerry amendments. Finally, Republicans opposed Senator Bayh's amendment to address longstanding shortages of up-Armored Humvees in Iraq.

Seventeen Republicans repeatedly voted against measures to support our troops. Republican Senators opposed four key amendments that were intended to provide much needed support for the men and women in our nation's military: Senator Durbin's reservist pay protection amendment, Senator Kerry's death gratuity increase, Senator Bayh's effort to procure additional up-armored Humvees, and Senator Murray's amendment to support veterans returning from Iraq. In each case, no fewer than 25 Republicans voted against the amendment. However, there were seventeen "worst offenders" in the Republican Caucus that voted against every single one of these amendments. These worst offenders, which include the top two leaders of the Republican Caucus, are: Majority Leader Frist, Majority Whip McConnell, and Senators Allard, Bennett, Bond, Bunning, Burr, Cochran, Cornyn, DeMint, Grassley, Hatch, Inhofe, Sessions, Shelby, Stevens, and Voinovich.

Republicans flip flop on key provisions to provide support for our troops. While Senate Republicans put aside their opposition to some key Democratic initiatives in the Senate version of the bill, they joined with House Republicans in conference to remove these provisions from the conference report. Republicans removed Senator Reid's amendment addressing concurrent receipt for disabled veterans, Senator Kerry's amendment providing an increase in death gratuity for survivors of all deceased service members, and Senator Durbin's amendment to provide income security for reservists. Republicans also reduced funding for Army Reserve tuition assistance provided by Senator Landrieu's amendment from $17.6 million to $5 million, and reduced funding for up-armored Humvees provided by Senator Bayh's amendment from $213 million to $150 million.


http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-109-1-31

Democrats have a strategy to secure Iraq and bring our troops home.

While the Bush Administration has vacillated, misjudged, and floundered in Iraq, Senate Democrats have consistently called for a stronger, more coherent set of policies to turn the situation in Iraq around. If proposals from Senate Democrats were adopted, the United States mission to Iraq would:

Accelerate reconstruction efforts. At a recent hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Biden joined with Republican Senators Lugar and Hagel to urge Bush Administration officials to correct the errors the Administration has made in its reconstruction efforts. Senator Biden stated that accelerating progress in reconstructing Iraq's infrastructure "is our single highest foreign policy priority right now in the next weeks." Senator Kerry has noted that correcting past mistakes means that "we have to rethink our policies and set standards of accountability, and...use more Iraqi contractorsand workers instead of big corporations like Halliburton." (Remarks at New York University, 9/20/04)

Expand and improve training of security forces. As Senator Kerry has suggested, the President should "urgently expand the security forces' training program inside and outside of Iraq. He should strengthen the vetting of recruits, double the classroom training time, require the follow-on field training. He should recruit thousands of qualified trainers from our allies, especially those who have no troops in Iraq. He should press our NATO allies to open training centers in their countries." (Remarks at New York University, 9/20/04)

http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-new.cfm?doc_name=fs-108-2-269

"We are joined by governors from across the country in urging Congress and the White House to wake up and help families cope with record-high heating prices this winter. We refuse to abandon families, especially seniors, who won't be able to afford to keep the heat on. The administration's own Energy Information Administration knows this problem is real. Governors across the country see this. So why are the White House and the Republican leadership in Congress going out of their way to do nothing? What's it going to take for the White House to act? If Katrina showed us anything, it's that we can't afford to wait until the crisis is here and it's too late. It's time Washington stop playing games, get with the program, and start figuring out how we're going to keep the heat on for American families this winter," said John Kerry.

http://democrats.senate.gov/energy/news/101905.html

At another June 15 Social Security event, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) released a report stating that Bush's proposed changes in Social Security would create increased administrative requirements and costs for small businesses.

"This is bad for small business. It is a burden for small business. It is not implementable efficiently," Kerry said at a news conference. The report, titled President Bush's Social Security Privatization Plan: Benefit Cuts, Red Tape, and Increased Costs for Small Businesses, said that Bush has underestimated the cost of individual accounts for small businesses. It was drafted by the Democratic Policy Committee.

http://sbc.senate.gov/democrat/record.cfm?id=239131

Report here:

http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/docs/small_business_report.pdf