Key points of Edwards' speech
(CNN) -- In his speech Wednesday night to the Democratic National Convention, Sen. John Edwards offered a number of specifics of what he and Sen. John Kerry would do if elected. Here are the highlights.
Social issues and taxes
"We will sign into law a real patients' bill of rights so you can make your own health care decisions."Reform schools and raise standards, providing incentives "to put our best teachers in the subjects and the places where we need them the most."Promote job retention by ending tax breaks to companies that outsource jobs and by giving tax breaks "to American companies that are keeping jobs right here in America."Provide a tax break and health care reform to lower health insurance premiums up to $1,000.Provide a child-care tax credit of up to $1,000.Provide tax breaks of up to $4,000 for college tuition.Roll back the tax cuts for those in the top 2 percent of income brackets, close corporate loopholes, and "cut government contractors and wasteful spending."Raise the minimum wage."Finish the job" on welfare reform.Security and foreign affairs
Reform intelligence agencies.Build and lead strong alliances.Strengthen homeland security by protecting ports, safeguarding chemical plants and supporting first responders."Destroy" al Qaeda.Military policy
"We will always use our military might to keep the American people safe."Strengthen and modernize the military, doubling the Special Forces and investing in the new equipment and technologies.Veterans "will never be left behind."Iraq
"We will build a stable Iraq" by getting NATO to help secure the country and ensuring that Iraq's neighbors, like Syria and Iran, "don't stand in the way of a democratic Iraq."Bolster Iraq's economy "by getting other countries to forgive their enormous debt and participate in the reconstruction."Middle East
"A new president will bring the world to our side, and with it a stable Iraq, a real chance for peace and freedom in the Middle East, including a safe and secure Israel."Weapons of mass destruction
"We can work with other nations to secure stockpiles of the world's most dangerous weapons and safeguard this extraordinarily dangerous material.""We can finish the job and secure the loose nukes in Russia.""We can close the loophole in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that allows rogue nations access to the tools they need to develop these weapons."