Decarbonization

We can not underestimate the urgency of decarbonizing our economy in line with what the best climate science is telling us. Human activity is warming the planet towards catastrophic ends. The good news is we can overcome this by unlocking our national creativity and capacity by investing in millions of good paying green jobs and new infrastructure that will improve our quality of life. As your Congressman we will relentlessly join progressives in making sure that we:

• Retrofit our public buildings and housing stock
• Bring high speed rail and better public transportation to the country 
• Expand research & development in renewal technology and carbon capture
• Strengthen and expand our clean energy infrastructure and supply-chains
• Cultivate regenerative and urban agriculture
  
  

A Just Transition

Transforming our economy requires that we not only think big but also stay true to the principles of social and environmental justice. This campaign believes in leaving no one behind. It is not enough to simply have more renewable energy sources, we have to make sure that our new economy does not operate like the one that we leave behind. Our vision for a just transition involves:

• A Federal Job Guarantee to create local economies of care and sustainability
• Cancelling student debt and passing tuition free public higher education
• Public works and ecological restoration
• A National Public Arts Initiative 
• Early retirement buyouts for fossil fuel workers

• Training, education, and support for workers
• Paid family leave

Economic Democracy

Our Constitution is premised on valuing democracy and civic engagement and yet our economy continues to favor the most powerful leading to a drop in most communities’ well-being and prosperity . A rigged economy has also compromised our political system, our cities, and our workplaces through the influence of private wealth. We can change this. As your Congressman we will democratize our economies to work for all of us by pushing for policies like: 

• Campaign finance reform

• Public and postal banking

• Stronger labor unions

• Federal support for worker-cooperatives and employee ownership

• • 21st century Antitrust to protect small businesses and consumers
  • Regulate Wall Street and prosecute corruption

• Billionaire’s Tax

Housing for All                   Read in-depth policy change here!

Our country is currently facing a homelessness and home affordability crisis. It is at the center of our deteriorating social fabric and quality of life. We simply cannot continue to ignore this issue and avoid Federal responsibility. It is time that the government understands that housing is a human right. As your Congressman my office will work to pass: 

• A Congressional Commission on Homelessness
• Homes Guarantee and American Social Housing Initiative
• Upgrades and green investments into our public housing stock
• National regulation on rent prices
• Address racial and gender inequality from a century of segregation and underinvestment
• Include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” under the Fair Housing Act

Living With Dignity

Our homes are interwoven into neighborhoods, cities and workplaces that together play a role in shaping what our lives are really like. Too many families face increasing burdens and stressors that do not allow us to thrive. I believe housing issues must extend into living with dignity. That’s why this campaign will fight to make the changes that will leave a lasting impact by:

• Lowering the age of retirement and increasing Social Security benefits
• Establishing a living wage
• Universal childcare
• Expanding rights and support for the disabled
• Forming a congressional framework to end mass incarceration

Public Health

Our health is sacred. And yet healthcare has become a luxury. Our systems offer the best services in the world to the most wealthy while the rest of us sacrifice ourselves every year at the hands of the for-profit corporatized model. We need changes that are holistic and systemic. Healthcare for the common good is something we can win by establishing: 

• Medicare for All
• Establishing a system of preventative primary care clinics and public hospitals
• Updated mental health and addiction care through a community care model
• Bring down prescription drug prices
• Declaring and investigating gun violence as a public health crisis

Social Health

A healthy society is an equitable society. Many of the problems we face come from a failure to address issues at their roots in such a way that secures rights, expands awareness, and creates space for redemption, learning, and growth. We believe policies that cultivate social health improve the ways we relate to one another, ourselves, and future generations. We will achieve this through: 

• Expanding restorative justice into the criminal legal system
• Protecting and strengthening reproductive health and justice
• Improving public school training on sexual education and violence prevention
• Decriminalizing and formalizing evidence based psychedelic therapy
• Supporting meditation and emotional intelligence as part of public school curriculums 

Environmental Health

Understanding the relationship between health and environment is a vital part of any comprehensive healthcare system. Our campaign is part of a broader movement to promote policies that foster safe and vibrant communities by reducing toxic exposures into our lives and creating resilient public infrastructures that can best respond to environmental shocks. It also means viewing human beings as embedded in ecosystems that must be cared for. My support for environmental health rests on: 

• Updated regulations and enforcement on the quality of air, water, soil, and materials
• National food justice and health initiative
• Federal framework for pandemic and global warming response system 
• Integration of environmental health into healthcare delivery
• Public transparency campaign on environmental health indicators in local communities