His plan involves several tactics, including stronger families; better schools; and the issuance of government-funded housing vouchers.
Edwards argues in favor of creating one million housing vouchers over five years to place poor people in middle-class neighborhoods and in areas where jobs are available.
"[3][4] Edwards has stated that if people agree to work part-time during their first year at a public-college, the government should pay for their tuition, books and fees.
Edwards has called for an end to large federal subsidies for banks that make student loans, which would free up $6 billion.
He has denounced the Bush administration for not signing the Kyoto treaty and supports the McCain-Lieberman bill to establish a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
He would then use this estimated $10 billion to fund research for alternative energy sources, in an effort to end the United States reliance on imported foreign oil.
[12] Edwards issued a press statement saying he was "saddened" by the passage of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and described this law as "offensive to women."
I'm just not there yet..."[16] Edwards opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, preferring to leave that decision up to individual states.
[18] Edwards supports expanding legal immigration to the United States while working with Mexico to provide better border security and stop illegal trafficking.
[19] On February 7, 2007, Edwards said in a Cox News Service Q&A that "We want to change the immigration system, so people can get on the path to citizenship.
"[20] Edwards voted in favor of the 2001 version of the USA PATRIOT Act along with all but one senator, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.
Since Medicare has lower administrative costs – under 4%, versus 20% or more for many HMOs[26] — Edwards believes that individuals will be able to save on health care by using the public option.
Edwards said "The bottom line is we're asking everybody to share in the responsibility of making health care work in this country.
Employers, those who are in the medical insurance business, employees, the American people — everyone will have to contribute in order to make this work.
If a majority of individuals choose to purchase their insurance from the government plan, Edwards has stated that this could eventually lead to a single-payer health care system.
He apologized for his vote, saying that the intelligence reports which led to the decision were "deeply flawed and, in some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda."
[31] On January 14, 2007, Edwards spoke at New York City's Riverside Church as keynote speaker at a Martin Luther King Day commemoration.
[32] In a February 2007 appearance on Meet the Press, Edwards told Tim Russert, "over time, when I reflected on what I thought was going to be necessary going forward, to have some moral foundation to work on issues like poverty and genocide, things that I care deeply about, I could no longer defend this vote.
Instead of supporting such a notion, he said the government should spend more money on health care and education in order to prevent young people from leading a life of crime.