Clinton, Sanders will likely air differences

Top Democratic candidates will debate Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — On the campaign trail, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders shy away from direct mentions of each other, focusing instead on the Republicans.

But when the two toppolling candidates for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination face off for the first time Tuesday in the first Democratic debate, it will be hard to escape the fact that they have had very different approaches to major issues from war to paychecks.

Here’s a preview of the areas where they differ:

Super PACs

Sanders pledges not to accept support from any of the political action committees that can raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals. He’s introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which allowed the committees to proliferate, and says one of his criteria for picking Supreme Court justices will be a willingness to overturn the decision.

Clinton has not ruled out super PAC money and is benefiting from at least two working primarily on her behalf, Priorities USA Action and American Bridge 21st Century.

Clinton has said she would appoint Supreme Court justices “who value the right to vote over the right of billionaires to buy elections” and would push for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

Guns

Sanders opposed the 1993 Brady bill, which es- tablished federal background checks and a waiting period for potential gun owners. He’s explained that he represents a largely rural state where guns “mean different things to people” than in urban states. As a result, he’s argued that he could play a role in bringing opposing sides together.

He notes that he later voted and supports a ban on semi-automatic weapons, closing the so-called gun show loophole and tightening background checks.

Clinton, in the wake of a community college shooting in Oregon, called for steps on gun control and said she’d act unilaterally if Congress failed to tighten gun show and Internet sales loopholes. She also backs legislation to prevent domestic abusers from buying and possessing firearms and would seek to repeal a 2005 law known as the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which prevents gun manufacturers and dealers in some cases from being sued. Sanders voted for the law in 2005; Clinton voted against it.

Health care

Sanders has championed single-payer, universal health care for all Americans.

Clinton has said she would expand coverage through the existing Affordable Care Act.

Iraq War

Clinton, then a New York senator, voted in October 2002 to authorize military force against Iraq. In her 2014 book, she said she voted “after weighing the evidence and seeking as many opinions as I could inside and outside our government, Democrats and Republicans alike.” She said she got it wrong.

Sanders, then a member of the House of Representatives, voted against the use of force in Iraq, saying in 2002 that he was worried about the “problems of so-called unintended consequences” and that “war must be the last recourse in international relations, not the

first.”

Patriot Act

Sanders voted against the surveillance law passed by Congress in 2001 in the wake of the 9/ 11 terrorist attacks and has voted against its reauthorization since. He wrote in Time last May that he “believed then and am even more convinced today that the law gave the government far too much power to spy on Americans and that it provided too little oversight or disclosure.”

Clinton voted for the Patriot Act in 2001 as a U.S. senator. She, however, voiced support in May for legislation that President Barack Obama endorsed to end the government’s bulk collection of phone records.

Syria

Clinton called for a nofly zone in Syria the day after Russia began a bombing campaign in the country to support President Bashar Assad.

Sanders said he opposes a “unilateral American no-fly zone in Syria which could get us more deeply involved in that horrible civil war and lead to a never-ending U.S. entanglement in that region.”

Keystone pipeline

Sanders opposes the pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada into the U.S.

Clinton announced her opposition on Sept. 22, saying the project is a “distraction from important work we have to do on climate change.”