The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues. Pete Buttigieg, stepping up his progressive bona fides, offered his plan to rebalance the economy in favor of American families, while ensuring the largest corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share. This is from the Buttigieg campaign:
Los Angeles, CA – Today, Pete Buttigieg announced a series of proposals to rebalance
the economy in favor of American families while ensuring the largest
corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share.
Pete is announcing a series of proposals that
will provide tax relief to the 98% of American households that aren’t in the
richest 2%, including expanding the child tax credit to reduce child poverty by
2.5 million, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit by an average of $1,000 per
year for 35 million American families and rolling back the Trump
administration’s cap on the State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT), which
disproportionately hurts states like California in their efforts to enact more
progressive tax policies.
At the same time, Pete will hold Wall Street and
corporations accountable for paying their fair share. As president, Pete will
roll back the Trump and Reagan-era tax cuts on millionaires and billionaires,
impose a Financial Transaction Tax and make big banks pay for financial crisis
risk to ensure Wall Street no longer takes advantage of Main Street, and crack
down on multinational corporations shipping profits and jobs
overseas.
“This president has done everything in his
power to line the pockets of corporations and the wealthy, while too many
working and middle class families are having to choose between child care and
saving for college, and while homeownership remains out of reach for millions,”
said Pete Buttigieg. “As president, I will rebalance our economy so it works
for all Americans, hold Wall Street and corporations accountable, and bring
fairness to our tax system so we can lift millions out of poverty and into
greater opportunity.”
Pete’s plans to achieve tax fairness in America
include:
Expanding the Child Tax Credit to reduce child poverty
by 2.5 million
Under the Trump administration, housing and health care costs have
outstripped working-class wages. As President, Pete will rebalance the economy
in favor of working and middle class Americans by making the current Child Tax
Credit fully refundable, so every family earning under $400,000 receives $2,000
per child per year in refundable tax relief. He will also create an additional
$1,000 refundable Young Child Tax Credit for children under 6. These policies
will lift 2.5 million children out of poverty, including 1.5 million Black and
Latino children.
Expanding the Earned
Income Tax Credit.
Pete will expand the Earned Income Tax Credit and grow workers’
incomes by an average of $1,000 per year for 35 million American households.
This tax cut will help put more money in the hands of workers and middle class
families by offsetting income taxes and other taxes that eat into workers’ take
home pay.
Removing Trump’s
punitive cap on the State and Local Tax Deduction (SALT) for households earning
less than $400,000.
SALT avoids penalizing states and cities in high-cost areas and
with robust social services, by allowing families to pay state and local taxes
out of pre-federal-income-tax dollars and thereby avoid double taxation. In the
2017 Republican tax bill, while at the same time as providing tax breaks to
corporations and millionaires, Trump placed a politically motivated cap on
SALT. Trump’s economic adviser gloated that it would deliver “death to
Democrats” by hurting families in Democratic-leaning states with high costs of
living and more progressive tax policies and social services. Removing the SALT
cap for families undoes Trump’s politically motivated tax increase and enables
governors and mayors across the country to enact progressive tax
policies.
These efforts bring Pete’s total direct
investments in the working and middle class families to $6 trillion and, in
combination with his other policy proposals, will cut child poverty in half. He
makes an additional $3 trillion of long-term investments in climate resilience,
strengthening our infrastructure, and protecting Social Security for American
workers and families.
At the same time as providing tax relief to
working and middle class Americans, Pete will hold Wall Street, corporations
and the wealthy accountable to pay their fair share by:
Rolling back the Trump and Reagan-era tax cuts for
corporations and the wealthy.
Pete will raise the total effective tax rate on millionaires from
31% to 49%, rolling back the Trump and Reagan-era tax cuts for the wealthiest
Americans and the corporations they own. In rolling back these tax cuts – which
lined the pockets of corporations, millionaires and billionaires – Pete will
achieve historic tax fairness by raising $9 trillion from corporations, Wall
Street, and the top 2% over the next ten years and will raise over $5 trillion
from wealth and wealth income.
Holding Wall Street
accountable through a Financial Transaction Tax and by making banks pay for
financial risk.
It’s time that Wall Street be held accountable for taking
advantage of Main Street. As president, Pete will impose a .1% financial
transaction tax on all stock and other securities trades to curb inequality and
Wall Street gambling that causes “flash crashes”. Pete will also make big banks
pay every year for the extra financial crisis risk they pose: the bigger and
more threatening the bank, the more tax they have to pay. Together, these
policies will raise $900 billion to pay for tax relief for working and middle
class Americans and to invest in priorities like education, infrastructure and
protecting Social Security.
Cracking down on
corporations shipping profits and jobs overseas.
Foreign profits of U.S. multinational corporations are currently
taxed at only 10.5% and on a weak “global basis” instead of a strong
“per-country basis”. As president, Pete will increase the tax on corporate
profits made abroad on a per-country basis at a 28-35% rate to ensure that
multinational companies are held accountable when they ship profits and jobs
overseas. This will raise over $700 billion to pay for tax relief for working
and middle class Americans and to invest in priorities like education, infrastructure
and long-term care for ailing seniors.
The vigorous contest of
Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent
policy proposals to address major issues. Senator Elizabeth Warren has
released independent analysis supporting her plans for a Green New Deal
creating 10.6 million new green jobs. This is from the Warren campaign:
Charlestown, MA – Senator Elizabeth Warren, campaigning for President, released a new independent analysis estimating that her plans for a Green New Deal will create 10.6 million new green jobs.
“America has a long and proud history of rising to the
challenges that have faced this country — and defeating the climate crisis is
no exception. A Warren administration will ensure that as we fight climate
change, each and every American benefits from the opportunities created by the
clean economy — especially the 10.6 million workers who will power our
transition to 100% clean energy.”
Elizabeth Warren’s plans for a Green New Deal will:
Develop the green workforce of the future by expanding job
training, partnering with unions to rebuild the middle class, and ensuring the
new clean economy is open to everyone
Rebuild and repower our energy grid to grow our economy,
invest in offshore wind, and achieve 100% carbon-neutral power by 2030
Transform our transportation sector by expanding green
public transportation programs and requiring all new light and medium-duty
vehicles sold by 2030 to be zero-emission vehicles
Repair our water infrastructure by rebuilding America’s
dams, levees, and inland waterways and ensuring safe drinking water for all
Rebuild our homes, buildings and schools to achieve safe and
affordable housing and provide our children with healthy living and learning
environments
Finance the green jobs program by creating a new Green Bank
and issuing Green Victory Bonds, modeled after the programs FDR implemented
during the New Deal
My Plan to Create 10.6 Million Green Jobs
Earlier this month, climate scientists published new research suggesting the planet is hurtling towards an ecological tipping point that would irreversibly damage the earth and threaten our livable climate — for good. This most recent study adds to the growing body of evidence that climate change is happening faster than scientists originally thought. And it further reinforces what we already know: we have roughly a decade left to avoid catastrophic impacts by ending our economic dependence on fossil fuels and substantially reducing global emissions.
But while climate change presents an urgent threat, it also presents the greatest opportunity of our time: the chance to rebuild our economy with 100% clean energy, to address the racial and economic inequality embedded in our fossil fuel economy, and to create millions of good, union jobs in the process. This is not the first time our country has faced a threat of this magnitude.
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt said we would build a historic air force of 185,000 planes to defeat the Nazis, America had a nascent military aircraft industry. But FDR rallied the nation to the task: by the end of World War II, we had produced around 300,000 aircraft in less than 5 years.
When John F. Kennedy told the nation that we would send a man to the moon in under a decade, people said that would be impossible, too. But our top scientists and engineers came together and changed the world forever, delivering not just a lunar landing but also a torrent of new technology that helped working Americans here at home.
From World War II to the space race, American ingenuity has risen to meet seemingly impossible challenges — leading the world and unleashing economic benefits for Americans in the process.
Today we face a new challenge. Defeating the climate crisis will require the ingenuity of the moon landing and an economic and industrial mobilization unseen since our efforts in World War II. It will need to happen at the speed and scale of FDR’s New Deal, which launched over 50 federal programs and pulled millions of Americans out of unemployment. It will take workers of all kinds to rebuild and repower our energy grid and to upgrade our transportation, building, and water systems to guard against the worst effects of climate change and protect our most vulnerable communities. And it will take workers in every corner of America — from construction foremen in the Rust Belt to pipefitters in the Bayou — to transform our country’s infrastructure.
The Green New Deal is the answer to this national call.
After the 2008 crash, President Obama ushered through the historic American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to jumpstart our economy and bring an end to the Great Recession. Included in this total federal investment was $90 billion for clean energy, making it one of the largest investments in clean energy in U.S. history. The Council of Economic Advisors later reported that every $1 invested in clean energy leveraged an additional $1.60 in non-federal and private dollars.
Using this historical data and other estimates as a guide, my plans for a Green New Deal will result in an estimated total public and private investment of $10.7 trillion in our new clean energy economy. And independent experts that examined my ideas for a Green New Deal to analyze how they will drive job creation estimated that they will create 10.6 million new green jobs. This will help rebuild the middle class by providing family-supporting wages, career pathways, and worker protections in our new green economy. This is the opportunity of the Green New Deal: a $10.7 trillion total investment in our clean economy that spurs 10.6 million green new jobs. And we’ll do it all together — with no community and no worker left behind.
I mean it when I say that defeating the climate crisis will be a top priority of my administration. That’s why today I’m releasing my plan to enact a climate change agenda that not only reduces our carbon emissions but also jumpstarts our economy.
Developing the Green Workforce of the Future
There are already clean energy job opportunities across the country. But with $10.7 trillion in federal and private investments, we can turn these opportunities into 10.6 million new, union jobs rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure and transitioning to the new clean energy economy. To support the millions of skilled and experienced contractors we will need to plan and execute large construction and engineering projects in the new clean economy and to support the first responders, healthcare workers, social workers, and other public and private employees who respond to climate-induced disasters, my administration will commit to investments in retraining, joint labor management apprenticeships, and creating strong career pipelines to ensure a continuous supply of skilled, available workers. And, we will look for every opportunity to partner with high schools and vocational schools to build pathways to the middle class for kids who opt not to go to college.
Expanding job training.
We currently invest $200 million annually in apprenticeship programs across the country. Successfully training and re-training millions of skilled laborers to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure, however, will require scaling up dramatically. That’s why my plan to Defend and Create American Jobs calls for a tenfold increase in investments in apprenticeships — a $20 billion commitment over the next ten years. I’ll follow Governor Inslee’s lead by re-establishing dedicated programs for green industrial and construction job training and placement under the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA), too.
And investing in job training is only the first step. A Warren administration will link public investments in clean energy infrastructure to apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship training, as well as graduation rates and local hires, to ensure that we are creating a full training-to-career pipeline. My plans also call for expanded technical and trade school opportunities to create pathways into good jobs in the new clean energy economy that will not require a college degree. And my administration will create regional sector-specific training partnerships to help better align training with the local job market, leverage the community college system, and ensure that workers gain transferable skills.
Partnering with unions to rebuild the middle class.
I am committed to ensuring that all of the 10.6 million new jobs in the clean economy pull working Americans back into the middle class — and to working hand-in-hand with unions to do so. That’s why I will fight for good wages and strong benefits for every worker that joins the new clean economy. A Warren administration will condition federal clean energy investments to state, local, and tribal governments on employers offering family-supporting wages and benefits — and will enforce this through Project Labor Agreements, prevailing wage laws, and Community Benefit Agreements. And I will work hand-in-hand with unions to return power to the working people powering the green economy. Unions built the middle class and unions will rebuild the middle class in the green economy of the future, too.
I’ve already committed to making sweeping reforms to our labor policy. These changes will extend labor rights to all workers — for example, narrowing the definition of “supervisor” under the National Labor Relations Act to end the exclusion of workers like the construction foremen that will lead the charge on building our clean energy grids. They will guarantee workers entering this new economy have a voice in actually shaping it by strengthening organizing and collective bargaining rights and increasing worker choice and control, including by requiring large companies to allow workers to elect no less than 40% of board members. And I will work with unions to design the training and apprenticeship programs that can create strong career pipelines for workers to enter this new green economy, helping to expand opportunities — and a continuous supply of skilled workers to power this transformation.
Ensuring the new clean economy is open to everyone.
In addition to employing millions of new workers in the clean economy, I am committed to leaving no worker behind as we transition to an economy powered on clean energy. That includes honoring our commitments to fossil fuel workers by holding fossil fuel companies accountable and defending worker pensions, benefits, and securing retirements. I will make sure the opportunities created are available to those who have traditionally been excluded — especially women and communities of color — by imposing new rules on companies that hope to receive federal contracts.
Rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure as part of the new clean energy economy will take all of us, including returning citizens — which is why my administration will partner with organizations that make renewable energy and associated job training available to underserved communities and formerly incarcerated individuals. And my plan to empower workers will expand worker safety protections for workers entering the green economy — like our transit workers who are increasingly subject to assault — and I will strengthen anti-discrimination protections for workers from all backgrounds.
Repowering our Energy Sector
In 2018, clean energy industries employed over 3.2 million Americans — more workers than in the petroleum, natural gas and coal industries combined. The clean energy industry is rapidly expanding — the two fastest-growing jobs in the nation are solar panel installer and wind turbine technician. But there is more to do, and the federal government can and should play a role in increasing the speed and scale of this transition. A Warren administration will focus on rebuilding and repowering our energy grid to grow our economy — and my plans will create 6.8 million good paying jobs in the energy sector, all while cutting carbon pollution.
100% Clean Energy Plan
While some states and utilities have been leading the way on cleaning up their electricity sources, far too many are falling behind. My plan calls for the federal government to set a bold standard for achieving 100% carbon-neutral power by 2030, including carbon-free baseload solutions, putting us on the path to a 100% emissions-free electricity supply by 2035.
These ambitious targets will require us to ramp up renewable energy generation and deployment dramatically. Cleaning up our energy system will create a diverse range of jobs — from construction worker to electrician to project manager. But these good paying jobs won’t just be in renewable energy. They will also come from making homes, offices, and industries more energy efficient. And through my Green Manufacturing plan, we’ll jumpstart American research and manufacturing in areas like battery storage, which will require a whole new set of skills and laborers. And wherever possible, we’ll invest in modernizing our grid with American-made materials, spurring still more jobs right here at home.
Offshore Wind Jobs
Right now, there is only one offshore wind project operating in this country — Rhode Island’s Block Island Wind Farm. It’s clear that today, we are failing to make use of the clean, powerful energy resource that lies just off our coasts. My Blue New Deal For Our Oceans plan will jumpstart the offshore wind industry. Bringing these offshore wind projects to life will generally require the help of workers from more than 70 different occupations — from machinists to engineers, sailors to ironworkers, electricians to longshoremen. By 2030, offshore wind energy development from Maryland to Maine could support more than 36,000 full time jobs. And even after they’re built, we will need workers to operate and service the turbines. My Blue New Deal also calls for electrifying and shoring up our ports, creating additional jobs throughout our coastal communities.
Restarting Our Transportation Sector
America’s transportation and trucking industry accounts for more than 10 million direct jobs, with over 3 million truck drivers alone. But right now, transportation also accounts for the largest portion of U.S. carbon pollution. Moreover, our public transportation infrastructure is crumbling: the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our roads a “D” grade on their most recent infrastructure report card, with one out of every five miles of highway pavement in poor condition.
For too long, our government has failed to invest in critical infrastructure — and unless we take action, poor conditions will continue to plague one of our most important industries. But this, too, is an opportunity: as we rebuild our crumbling transportation infrastructure, we can build in climate resiliency, and create a transportation system powered by electricity rather than fossil fuels. The massive project of investing in our transportation infrastructure will affect every state and county in the nation, creating about 2.6 million jobs in the public and private sector.
Build Green Program
Public transportation is a $71 billion industry that employs more than 430,000 people. And yet, 45% of Americans still do not have access to public transportation, leaving those without access reliant on car ownership to get to work, school and worship. We know that increasing public transportation rates and decreasing vehicle miles traveled is one of the best ways to reduce emissions. That’s why I’m proposing a new Build Green program, which would establish a new grant program to electrify public buses, school buses, rail, cars, and fleet vehicles that is modeled after the Department of Transportation’s BUILD grant program. This program will be paid for by closing corporate loopholes, and will open up new funding opportunities for states, cities, counties and tribal governments to expand and electrify public transportation options. A study conducted in the Twin Cities found Black, Asian-American, and Latinx commuters have longer commutes than white commuters. And people with disabilities face particular barriers in using and accessing public transportation. These investments will be crucial to ensuring equitable and accessible transportation for all.
100% Clean Vehicles.
Demand for passenger electric vehicles is growing at home and abroad — but even though more and more people want electric vehicles, they still only account for around 1% of vehicles on the road. To spur auto manufacturing in this space, I have put forward a bold and ambitious goal to require all new light -and medium-duty vehicles sold by 2030 to be zero emission vehicles. We’ll achieve this goal by investing in a nationwide network of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. By the end of the first term of a Warren administration, there will be a charging station at every rest stop in America. And this nation-wide network of charging infrastructure will begin to lay the groundwork for electrifying long-haul trucking, too. But charging station infrastructure is only half the battle. Right now, consumers don’t have enough access to vehicles. In 2011, there were only two mass market electric vehicles available to consumers — and even now, the auto industry offers only fifteen models. While car manufacturers are already trying to meet growing demand, my investment in clean energy technology, including products designed for use in the electric vehicle supply chain, will further increase adoption of electric vehicles by making it easier for auto manufacturers to build the vehicles that consumers want.
We’ve let our failure to take action destroy our transportation infrastructure for too long and a Warren administration will make sure that the Department of Transportation acts with the speed and scale necessary to address the climate challenges ahead of us. I will take executive action to require the Department of Transportation set performance management rules that require federal transportation investments to be accompanied by life-cycle analysis and reduction strategies for climate and other transportation related pollution.
Renewing Our Water Infrastructure
America’s water infrastructure is crumbling. The government’s failure to invest is putting Americans in danger in two ways: first, our levees, dams and inland waterways infrastructure are all at risk — and will only become more stressed by climate change as sea-level rise, extreme flooding, and drought all become more frequent and severe. Second, our drinking water is increasingly at risk: as the infrastructure supporting it crumbles, an estimated 77 million Americans live with tap water that violates federal safe water standards — and this number does not even include the millions more served by very small water systems or private domestic wells. Meanwhile, more and more Americans struggle to afford their water bills as water bill costs have risen at more than double the rate of inflation over the last 20 years. Fixing our water infrastructure is an urgent priority — but we risk not having enough hands on deck, as the water sector’s aging workforce increasingly enters into retirement. Reinvesting in our nation’s water infrastructure isn’t just essential for the health and the safety of our communities, it’s also a chance to grow our workforce. In a Warren administration, we’ll not only protect Americans by rebuilding our nation’s water infrastructure — we’ll also create about 190,000 thousand good, union jobs in the process.
Rebuilding America’s dams, levees, and inland waterways.
Our nation’s dams, levees, and inland waterways provide necessary infrastructure for shipping and hydroelectric power — but they’ve been so underfunded that they are putting our communities at risk. When the Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway failed in 2017, nearly 200,000 people were evacuated from rural Northern California. And the failure of New Orleans’ levees during Hurricane Katrina made Katrina one of the most devastating U.S. hurricane on record, killing 1,800 people, damaging 70% of homes in New Orleans, and resulting in damages of $125 billion. This stops now. A Warren administration will triple the US Army Corps of Engineers’ annual budget so that they have the resources they need to upgrade our water infrastructure and defend our vulnerable communities from harm. We’ll pay for this with savings from my plan to transition the military away from its dependence on fossil fuels and other internal Department of Defense funding shifts. This dramatic expansion will create new opportunities for good, federal jobs as we update critical infrastructure across the nation — an investment that is more important than ever to defend vulnerable front-line communities from more frequent and more severe weather events.
Ensuring safe drinking water for all
Nearly a decade ago the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing access to water and sanitation as basic human rights. But today, the United States is in the middle of a dangerous drinking water crisis. Not only do an estimated 77 million Americans’ have tap water that violated federal standards, but at least 2 million Americans still don’t have access to running water. And because of a long legacy of unfair, racist, and deliberate policy choices, communities of color are disproportionately likely to lack access to safe, affordable drinking water. After decades of declining federal investments in safe water, it’s time to invest in safe, affordable water for our communities. That’s why I have committed to fully capitalizing federal programs that fund drinking water capital infrastructure, such as the Clean Water State Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. And I will go further by supporting Rep. Joe Kennedy’s Affordable Safe Drinking Water Act, which would extend the horizon for states and localities to repay revolving loans and expand the funding to cover the installation of lead and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) filtering systems and remediation measures. These important updates to the State Revolving Fund programs will not only guarantee much-needed upgrades to our drinking water infrastructure, but will also spur necessary investments to allow for expanded job opportunities. My administration will continue to invest in brownfield remediation, which is why I have proposed to reinstate and then triple the Superfund Tax to ensure that we protect our communities from the legacy of environmental harm and we put people to work in the process. And I will remain committed to standing with communities across the country that are impacted by lead.
Jobs in the water sector are wide ranging: there are more than 200 different occupations, including in skilled trades, administration, and finance. What’s more, because every community needs quality water, these jobs exist across the nation. I will work to create more inclusive career paths for water workers to meet the needs of our drinking water infrastructure by fighting for increases in the percent of local hires and minority/women-owned contracts that are awarded as part of water-related government contracting. And I will work with Congress to fully fund the EPA’s Brownfields Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants Program and the Environmental Health Sciences Environmental Career Worker Training Program, which is helping to improve workforce development for water-related careers. Lastly and in order to confront America’s drinking water crisis head on, I will take executive action to develop a national inter-agency safe and affordable drinking water roadmap. And to inform this effort I will convene a Water Equity Advisory Council with representation from key environmental justice and community-based organizations that are on the frontlines of addressing our safe water crisis.
Rebuilding our Homes, Buildings and Schools
In his Second Inaugural Address, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that the “test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” Later that term, FDR signed into law the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act, which put Americans to work building new, modern affordable housing units across the country. But today, whether it’s a leaky window, an old appliance, or mold in a home, it’s hard-working Americans that pay the price through increased utility bills and housing costs.
As I’ve outlined in my 100% Clean Energy Plan, I’ll work with states and local governments to develop and implement new and stronger building codes to reach zero-carbon emissions and building those new standards into federal grant requirements, tax credits, and mortgage products. And I’ll launch an initiative to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings, with the goal of upgrading 4% of buildings a year until the job is done. All told, my plans will create over 970,000 thousand new jobs as demand grows across sectors from the manufacturing of American-made energy efficient materials to large and small-scale construction efforts.
Safe and affordable housing
We currently have a government that has paid lip service to the idea of providing all Americans in need with safe and affordable housing. The federal government hasn’t funded new public housing construction in decades and has turned a blind eye to the massive maintenance backlog needed to make sure the limited housing we do have is safe to live in. That stops now. My Affordable Housing Plan would invest $500 billion over 10 years to address this crisis and would create 3 million new housing units. As a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, I recognize the right to safe, affordable housing for every American and the need for new, green jobs to realize FDR’s dream. My Green Public Housing program will build on the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, by raising living standards and providing the financial assistance necessary to retrofit these homes. This will require training a new American workforce and would alone create 240,000 new jobs. We can address the climate crisis while we tackle the housing crisis, too.
Providing our children with healthy learning and living environments
As a former public school teacher, I know firsthand how our children’s learning can be affected by their environment. More than half of our public schools need repairs in order to be in “good” condition. Our poor school infrastructure has serious effects on the health and academic outcomes of students and on the well-being of teachers and staff. That’s why in my K-12 plan I’ve committed at least an additional $50 billion to improving our school infrastructure. This will require a workforce across the country to identify the schools most in need and carry out the necessary upgrades to provide our children with the learning environment they deserve. There’s nothing more important to me than investing in our kids because it means we’re investing in our future.
Green infrastructure means inclusive infrastructure. We have to recognize that our building infrastructure crisis is an environmental justice crisis. The disparities in our building infrastructure reflect the racial inequities that exist in America today. Historically, redlining denied entire groups of people—primarily communities of color—the chance to live in neighborhoods of their choice while also making them the victims of environmental racism. Studies have shown that low-income and minority children bear the brunt of poisoning from lead-based paint and failing lead pipes in older housing units. Our system has also failed Americans with disabilities who occupy 41% of our public housing units and yet only 3% of those units are ADA accessible. These same inequities exist in our public schools, too. In New York City, for example, 83% of elementary schools in New York City are not fully accessible to students with disabilities.
This ends in a Warren administration. It’s the job of our government to reverse these injustices, and I will put Americans to work to finish the job. That’s why I will use the full force of the federal government to invest in addressing these disparities — and creating millions of good, union jobs in the process.Together, these plans will curb homelessness in America, put Americans to work in quality jobs, protect the health of American families, and ease the burden on their pocketbooks.
Financing the Green Jobs Plan
Defeating the climate crisis and transitioning our economy to run on 100% clean energy will take big, structural change. That’s why my plans will result in $10.7 trillion in federal funding to fight for a Green New Deal — backed up by detailed plans laying out exactly how we will use those dollars — to address the size of this crisis.
The transition to clean energy is an opportunity to transform our economy, creating new industries, like in zero-emissions building construction, and greatly expandingothers, like electric vehicle manufacturing, at a speed and scale not seen since World War II — and creating huge opportunities for state, local and non-federal investment in the process, too. My Administration will create new financing tools to unlock state, local, and private investment and direct it towards meaningful investments that tackle climate change, produce jobs, and reduce inequality. And my administration will put in place strong protections to ensure that this $10.7 trillion commitment flows to the right places, so that our climate investments benefit all Americans — not just the wealthy and well-connected.
A New Green Bank
A Green Bank is among the best ways to ensure a dedicated funding stream for an economy-wide climate transition to reconcile the scale of investment required with the speed of transition necessary to defeat the climate crisis. I’ll work with Congress to establish a bank modeled after and expanded upon the National Climate Bank Act, introduced earlier this year by my friend and colleague Senator Markey. We’ll put in place strong bipartisan oversight and governance to ensure that investments are equitable and benefit working Americans. And ultimately, this new Green Bank will mobilize $1 trillion in climate and green infrastructure investments across the country over 30 years.
The Green Bank will open up new markets for greater investment by working alongside existing federal authorities through direct spending, grants, and loans. It will provide security for investors looking for climate-friendly investments in mid- to large-scale infrastructure projects that serve the public interest but might not otherwise attract private capital due to risk-return thresholds, payback horizons, credit risk or other factors. It will increase the overall scale of clean energy investment and the pace of substitution of clean energy technologies for fossil-fuel based technologies, while also protecting consumers by keeping energy prices low and ensuring compliance with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s regulations. And it will expand opportunities for communities and the private sector by directing funds toward communities on the front lines of the climate crisis that have traditionally been left out of investment opportunities.
Green Victory Bonds
Today many states have green bonds programs, using the proceeds to fund land use projects, river and habitat preservation, and energy and water infrastructure. Green bonds have also surged in popularity worldwide, with sales growing 46% last year to about a total of about $460 billion.
While the federal government has never issued a green bond, the World War II-era “Victory Bond” program was a major success, raising $185 billion — over $2 trillion in 2012 dollars — and four out of five American households bought Victory Bonds. I’ll propose a “Green Victory Bond,” backed by the full-faith and credit of the United States by the Treasury Department, to finance the transition to a green economy. These Green Victory Bonds will be sold at levels that allow Americans across the socioeconomic spectrum the opportunity to own a piece of the climate solution, and to benefit from the new green economy that we build together.
The vigorous contest of Democrats
seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy
proposals to address major issues. One of the major issues is how to
restructure the economy for sustainability and protect jobs. Senator Amy
Klobuchar just released a comprehensive plan to address the future of work
in a changing economy This is from the Klobuchar campaign:
DES MOINES – Today, ahead of a panel discussion
at Machinists Lodge 254 in Des Moines, Senator Amy Klobuchar released her plan
for the future of work and a changing economy. Senator Klobuchar’s proposal is
a comprehensive plan to address digital disruption and renew the social
contract in the gig economy, respect the dignity of work, invest in America’s
future and focus on economic justice and shared prosperity.
Senator Klobuchar’s plan includes updating consumer and worker
protections, strengthening collective bargaining and labor rights, establishing
national paid family leave, creating portable personal retirement accounts,
boosting entrepreneurship and investing in cybersecurity.
Senator Klobuchar’s Plan for the Future of Work and a
Changing Economy
In America, no matter where you come from, who you know, or where you
live, if you work hard, you should be able to make it in this country. But
that’s not the case for too many people in today’s economy. Senator Klobuchar
is committed to championing economic policies that give all Ameicans an
opportunity to succeed. That means connecting our students and affordable
education to the jobs of today and tomorrow, increasing wages and respecting
the dignity of work, making health care more affordable, ensuring a secure
retirement, investing in our infrastructure and creating jobs, focusing on
economic justice and shared prosperity, and budgeting responsibly for our
future. And it means a Competitive Agenda for America to ensure that America
continues to be a country that thinks, that invents, that makes stuff, and that
exports to the world.
Address Digital Disruption
Senator Klobuchar believes we need to start tackling the challenges
presented by digital disruption and a changing economy. The future of work is
changing, which is putting stress on the social contract we’ve had in this
country when it comes to job training, employment, and retirement. Senator
Klobuchar’s plan is a plan for the future: offering stronger worker
protections, reasserting protections for consumers in a digital world,
investing in cybersecurity across the economy to prevent crippling attacks on
infrastructure and commerce, and taking on consolidation which is threatening
to take us into a new Gilded Age.
Renew the Social Contract for the Gig Economy. Senator
Klobuchar believes we must update our laws to reflect the evolving nature of
work.
Invest in education and job training, including for
workers at risk of losing their jobs to automation. Senator Klobuchar
is committed to creating new opportunities and ensuring a just transition for
workers who have been displaced by the changing economy. She believes the
federal government has an important role to play during economic transitions.
As President she will take action to ensure that workers can pursue additional
education and can do so without a financial burden at any age. She will also
create a new tax credit for employers that invest in training for workers at
risk of being laid off through on-site training programs or provide paid time
off for off-site retraining.
Make it easier to save for retirement. The
retirement system we have today wasn’t designed for today’s economy where
workers stay in a job for an average of four years and more than 57 million
Americans are working in the gig economy. As President, Senator Klobuchar will
work to create innovative, portable personal retirement accounts called
UP-Savings Accounts. Under her plan, employers will set aside at least 50 cents
per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth over the
course of a career.
Invest in quality, affordable child care and create a
national paid family and medical leave program. As President, Senator
Klobuchar will create a national paid family leave program to provide workers
with 12 weeks of paid leave per year to care for a new child, a family member
with a serious health condition, or their own serious health condition. She
will also create a new federal-state partnership to make child care more
affordable by capping spending on child care at seven percent of income for
families making up to 150 percent of their state’s median income, invest in
expanding the availability of child care, and work to raise wages for
caregivers and early childhood teachers. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
child care and paid family leave policies here.
Give workers access to a non-profit public option for
health insurance. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass
legislation to create a non-profit public option that expands Medicare or
Medicaid. She will also build on the Affordable Care Act to help bring down
costs to consumers, including expanding premium subsidies, providing
cost-sharing reductions, making it easier for states to put reinsurance in
place, and continuing to implement delivery system reform. And she will take on
the other health care challenges we face including the price of prescription
drugs, mental health care, addiction and long-term care. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
health care policies here.
Allow gig workers to organize and prevent employees from
being misclassified as independent contractors. As President, Senator
Klobuchar will work to pass Senator Patty Murray’s Protecting the Right to
Organize Act — a bill Senator Klobuchar co-sponsors in the Senate — that
protects gig workers by preventing employers from misclassifying their
employees as independent contractors.
Update the tax code to work for gig workers. Gig
workers face additional challenges in properly tracking earnings and expenses
and calculating and paying taxes. As President, Senator Klobuchar will simplify
withholding for self-employed workers. Giving workers the option of having
their self-employment taxes withheld directly from their 1099s would reduce the
burden of quarterly tax filing and help smooth irregular incomes. She will also
lower the 1099-K threshold for gig economy platforms, so workers have more
information about their earnings, and consider creating a gig worker standard
business deduction to simplify the calculation of business expenses for gig
workers.
Update Consumer Protections for the 21st Century
Economy. Advances in technology have opened new opportunities for
consumers, entrepreneurs and businesses, but they have also created new threats
to privacy. Consumer protection laws have not kept pace with these
technological advances. As President, Senator Klobuchar will update consumer
protections so they work in the 21st century economy.
Strengthen consumer privacy protections. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass legislation similar to the
Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act, which she leads with Senator Maria
Cantwell. The bill would establish strong privacy rights for consumers
including the right to access their data and greater transparency, the right to
prevent data from being distributed to unknown third parties, the right to
delete or correct their data and the right to take their data to a competitor.
It would also establish a “duty of loyalty,” which would prohibit
companies from engaging in deceptive and harmful data practices. In addition,
the legislation would require companies to implement strong data security
policies, receive affirmative consent from consumers for collecting sensitive
information, and give consumers, states, and the Federal Trade Commission new
enforcement authorities. Senator Klobuchar will also work to pass legislation
based on her bipartisan Protecting Personal Health Data Act to create
protections for new health technologies not covered by existing privacy laws.
Increase rights for consumers after data breaches. As
more personal information is collected and stored online, consumers are
increasingly vulnerable to having their data exposed in a data breach. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will push for legislation similar to her
bipartisan Social Media Privacy and Consumer Rights Act to require companies to
notify users within 72 hours when their data has been breached and offer
meaningful remedies for people whose data has been compromised.
Empower consumer protection agencies. Without
effective enforcement, fraud and scams — like robocalls, senior fraud,
identity theft, and predatory student loans — have become problems for too
many Americans. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make sure that the federal
agencies charged with protecting consumers have the tools they need to be
effective cops on the beat, including personnel, technological expertise, and
strong enforcement authorities.
Tackle new forms of discrimination. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will update our laws to counter new forms of
discrimination, like digital redlining and racial bias built into algorithms
that are playing a larger role in everything from hiring decisions to medical
care.
Provide access to a free and open internet. Consumers
and businesses deserve a level playing field on the internet. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will work to codify strong net neutrality principles and make
immediate progress in her first 100 days by using federal contracting
requirements to encourage broadband providers to honor net neutrality
principles and promote a free and open internet.
Invest in Cybersecurity That Protects Our Economy and Our
Democracy. Our economy increasingly relies on internet-connected
devices and infrastructure and this trend will only accelerate in the coming
years. This creates opportunities for terrorists, foreign governments, and
competing firms that could severely damage our economy. And we already know
that our election infrastructure is vulnerable to cyber attack and foreign
governments are working to interfere in our elections. Read more about Senator
Klobuchar’s plans to protect our democracy here.
Build the cybersecurity workforce our economy
needs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the United States will
add over 550,000 new information technology jobs to our economy over the next
10 years, including in big data and information security. As President, Senator
Klobuchar will expand STEM programs, including for women and traditionally
underrepresented minorities, and invest in apprenticeships so students and
workers can get on-the-job training in the technology jobs of the future, and
she will expand access to credentials through tution-free one- and two-year
degrees, technical certifications, and tuition-free community college.
Protect critical infrastructure against cyberattacks. Cyberattacks
on our electric grid, transportation infrastructure, or water management
systems could be devastating to our economy. As President, Senator Klobuchar
will work to build federal partnerships with the private sector to implement
NIST’s cybersecurity framework. She will make sure the federal government is
assisting companies in addressing global supply chain risks and increasing the
security of emerging technologies. Senator Klobuchar will also improve federal
preparedness for responding to cyber incidents.
Increase cybersecurity expertise in the federal
government. As President, Senator Klobuchar will make cybersecurity an
immediate priority. She will issue an Executive Order launching government-wide
cybersecurity initiatives, fast-tracking and streamlining procurement of modern
information technology across agencies. She will also work to pass legislation
similar to her bipartisan Cyber Security Exchange Act to provide a path for
cyber experts at private firms or academia to work for federal agencies for up
to two years. Federal workers will also be given the opportunity to work in the
private sector to develop their skills in the latest cybersecurity
practices.
Strengthen Antitrust Enforcement. U.S. firms
have engaged in $10 trillion worth of acquisitions during the past
decade. Senator Klobuchar believes we need to do more when it comes to
taking on monopoly power and promoting competition not just for our consumers
but for our businesses. Competition does more than just lower prices. It
improves quality, spurs innovation, makes it easier for entrepreneurs to start
new businesses, and creates better jobs. As the top Democrat on the Senate
Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, Senator Klobuchar has been a leader in taking
on this new Gilded Age. She leads the Consolidation Prevention and Competition
Promotion Act to make sure our antitrust laws adequately promote competition
and protect consumers, the Merger Enforcement Improvement Act to give antitrust
enforcement agencies the tools they need to be effective, and the Merger Filing
Fee Modernization Act to update merger filing fees.
Investigate monopolization claims and review mergers that
have already taken place. As President, Senator Klobuchar will harness
the power of investigations to look at acquisitions that have already occured
and investigate monopolization claims, including whether the integration of
services insulate tech companies from competition.
Strengthen merger enforcement. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will make sure that our antitrust agencies have the resources
they need to be aggressive and effective, updating the outdated merger filing
fees so that the merging parties of the largest deals start paying their fair
share. She will also give the agencies tools to analyze the effectiveness of
merger conditions so they can make better and stronger enforcement decisions.
Give antitrust agencies and courts the legal tools
necessary to promote competition. As President, Senator Klobuchar will
work to pass legislation creating a more stringent legal standard to protect
competition, shifting the burden of proof for mega-mergers from the government
to the parties to demonstrate that their mergers do not reduce competition, and
clarifying that existing antitrust laws should take into account more than
price and that they should also consider vertical integration, harm to
innovation, as well as monopsony — a market condition where there is only one
buyer.
Create a new competition advocate. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will create a new position to oversee the effectiveness of
merger enforcement. The Office of the Competition Advocate would help consumers
raise complaints about anti-competitive activity, encourage antitrust
investigations, and analyze and publish reports on merger activity.
Respect the Dignity of Work
Senator Klobuchar believes that everyone who works hard should be able
earn enough to care for and support their family. Respecting the dignity of
work means raising the minimum wage, providing paid family leave and child care
and making sure people have a secure retirement.
Raise the Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour and Enforce
It. As President, Senator Klobuchar will push for legislation to raise
the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and eliminate the tipped minimum wage.
To make immediate progress toward this goal, she will increase the minimum wage
for federal contractors to that threshold. She will also immediately strengthen
enforcement and expand investigations to make sure that our wage laws are
properly enforced and that workers are able to recover back pay when the
government rules in their favor.
Create a National Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. The
United States is the only industrialized nation without a national paid leave
program, and only 19 percent of American workers have access to paid family
leave through their employer. As President, Senator Klobuchar will create a
national paid family leave program to provide workers with 12 weeks of paid
leave per year to care for a new child, a family member with a serious health
condition, or their own serious health condition. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
plan for paid family and medical leave here.
Invest in Quality, Affordable Child Care. Senator
Klobuchar believes that early, quality child care and education is one of the
most important public investments we can make as a country. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will work to create a new federal-state partnership to make
child care more affordable by capping spending on child care at seven percent
of income for families making up to 150 percent of their state’s median income
and invest in expanding the availability of child care and raising wages for caregivers
and early childhood teachers. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
plan for child care here.
Make It Easier to Retire. As President, Senator
Klobuchar will work to create innovative, portable personal retirement accounts
called UP-Savings Accounts. Under her plan, employers will set aside at least
50 cents per hour worked, helping a worker build more than $600,000 in wealth
over the course of a career. She will continue to push for legislation to
protect retiree pensions. Senator Klobuchar will also work to strengthen Social
Security, and she believes that this program must remain solvent for
generations to come and she will fight against risky schemes to privatize it.
As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to lift the Social Security payroll
cap. Currently the payroll tax only applies to wages up to $133,000. Senator
Klobuchar supports subjecting income above $250,000 to the payroll tax and
extending the long-term solvency of Social Security. And Senator Klobuchar will
make sure people are treated fairly by the current Social Security system. As
President, she will work to strengthen and improve Social Security benefits for
widows and people who took significant time out of the paid workforce to care
for their children, aging parents, or sick family members. Senator Klobuchar
also opposes cuts and risky schemes to privatize Medicare and will take action
to strengthen Medicare and find solutions so it remains solvent. She will
improve Medicare for current beneficiaries by reforming payment policies
through measures like site neutral payments and providing incentives for
getting the best quality health care at the best price, including bundled
payments and telehealth. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
policies for seniors here.
Stand up for Our Unions. As the granddaughter of
an iron ore miner and the daughter of a union teacher and a union newspaperman,
Senator Klobuchar knows firsthand how unions give Americans and their families
the opportunities they need to succeed. As President, she will support real
labor law reform, ensure free and fair union elections, protect collective
bargaining rights, roll back Right to Work laws, and make it easier — and not
harder — for workers to join unions. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
labor policies here.
Invest in America’s Future
Right now, our economy is stable thanks to the efforts of our workers
and our businesses. Senator Klobuchar believes that real leaders use times of
stability to take on the challenges before them and invest for the future. As
President, Senator Klobuchar will strengthen our economy by empowering small
businesses and entrepreneurs and expanding exports, get our fiscal house in
order and tackle the big challenges we face as a country.
Empower Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs and Expand
Exports. Senator Klobuchar knows that small businesses and
entrepreneurs help power our economy and create jobs. Supporting small
businesses is one of the best ways to maintain a dynamic economy. And in an
increasingly global economy, she is committed to giving more businesses the
opportunity to export and reach customers across the world.
Expand access to capital for small businesses. Lack
of access to capital is one of the biggest obstacles to starting a small
business. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand Small Business
Administration (SBA) lending programs and make it easier for small businesses
to get the loans and technical assistance they need to grow. She will also work
to increase small dollar lending by the SBA, which can be particularly
important for women and people of color seeking to start a small
business.
Promote entrepreneurship and reverse the “startup slump.” New
businesses drive economic growth, but fewer startups are launched every year.
Startup rates have fallen to near 30-year lows. Senator Klobuchar recently
launched the bipartisan Senate Entrepreneurship Caucus with Senator Tim Scott
to address the most pressing issues facing entrepreneurs. As President, she
will build on her work through the America COMPETES Act to close the gap
between innovation and commercialization, help colleges and universities
partner with entrepreneurs, accelerate the commercialization of federally
funded research and update regional innovation programs at the Economic
Development Administration. To reverse the startup slump she will also tackle
unprecedented corporate consolidation, make it easier to export, simplify small
business rules, expand access to capital, as well as promote incubators,
mentoring and training.
Make it easier to export, especially for small businesses. Ninety-five
percent of the world’s potential customers live outside of the U.S., but less
than one percent of American businesses export. As President, Senator Klobuchar
will restart the President’s Export Council, which brings together business,
labor, and agricultural leaders with Members of Congress and key Administration
officials to help promote a comprehensive export and trade strategy. She will
also work to pass legislation based on her bipartisan Promoting Rural Exports
Act to establish a Rural Export Center to help rural businesses export their
products to new international markets. And since international tourism is one
of our top exports, she will work to reauthorize Brand USA so the United States
can compete to attract foreign visitors.
Support small manufacturers. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will support and expand the Manufacturing Extension
Partnership program, which the Trump Administration has tried to eliminate. The
program helps small manufacturers innovate, upgrade their technology and
improve production. She will work to create a manufacturing tax incentive to
encourage investment in rural communities or communities that have faced or are
about to face manufacturing job losses. She will also support our small
manufacturers by expanding guaranteed loan programs that make it easier for
rural manufacturers to access capital, pushing for a new tax credit for
manufacturers to hire registered apprentices, providing financing and grants
for equipment and technology upgrades, and working with states, localities,
research universities and community colleges to promote workforce development,
apprenticeships, and innovation in manufacturing.
Govern with Fiscal Responsibility. In less than
three years, President Trump has added $4 trillion to the national debt. The
nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2029, the national
debt will be higher than it has been at any time since 1946, right after World
War II. And each year over the next decade the federal government will spend an
average of about $1.2 trillion more than it collects in revenue. As President,
Senator Klobuchar will reverse this trend with the goal of lowering the debt to
GDP ratio by the end of her first term and putting our country on a sustainable
fiscal path.
Move to a biennial budget process. Senator
Klobuchar will push to overhaul the way Congress budgets federal dollars to
strengthen oversight of government spending and move the country forward when
it comes to tackling the nation’s debt. She is a co-sponsor of Senators Johnny
Isakson and Jeanne Shaheen’s Biennial Budgeting and Appropriations Act, which
would create a two-year budget and appropriations cycle with the first year
dedicated to appropriating federal dollars and the next year dedicated to
conducting oversight of how those federal dollars are being used. Senator
Klobuchar also supports moving from a 10-year forecasting window to a 25-year
forecasting window for Congressional Budget Office and Joint Tax Committee
scores, as the expanded window will better capture the long-term fiscal impact
of federal policies.
Establish a dedicated fund to tackle the U.S. debt and
support our economy. Senator Klobuchar will establish a dedicated fund
to make a down payment to tackle the U.S. debt and protect our economy. She
will initially seed the fund with $300 billion by raising the corporate tax
rate and dedicating savings from the government-wide budget review. When the
economy is doing well, the fund will finance deficit reduction. When specific
economic indicators show our economy is in a recession, the funding will
automatically be diverted to increase spending on programs that are effective
at stimulating the economy like infrastructure spending, increased unemployment
and nutrition assistance, and an increased federal share of Medicaid and CHIP
spending. As tax changes are implemented and as departments complete Senator
Klobuchar’s government-wide review, she will invest additional government-wide
savings towards expanding the fund to decrease the deficit and support our
economy.
Eliminate duplicative government spending. Senator
Klobuchar will immediately order all cabinet secretaries to undertake a
comprehensive review of their department’s budget and identify a list of
duplicative and unnecessary programs as well as potential gaps in spending.
When it comes to our nation’s defense, Senator Klobuchar is committed to
maintaining and extending our military superiority over any adversary that
would challenge us. She will ensure that our troops are the best-trained and
best-equipped in the world, while also providing for their families at home.
Yet virtually every analysis of the Pentagon’s budget has found duplicative and
unnecessary programs – so she will ask her Secretary of Defense and other
cabinet secretaries to take a close look at how money is being spent with an
eye towards eliminating duplicative and unnecessary spending.
Tackle Today’s Challenges for a Stronger Future. Senator
Klobuchar believes we need to govern from opportunity, not chaos. And governing
from opportunity means meeting the challenges we face head on.
Build a 21st century workforce. Senator
Klobuchar believes we should align our education system with the needs of our
economy. As President, she will champion tuition-free one- and two-year
community college degrees and technical certifications, expand apprenticeships,
and make it easier for Americans who need help to afford four-year degrees. She
will work to reduce the burden of student loans, support our Historically Black
Colleges and Universities, and expand Pell Grants. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
post-secondary education policies here.
Pass comprehensive immigration reform. Senator
Klobuchar believes that comprehensive immigration reform is crucial to moving
our economy and our country forward. As President, she will push for a
comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes the DREAM Act, targeted
border security and an accountable pathway to earned citizenship.
Invest in our infrastructure. Senator Klobuchar
has proposed a bold plan to rebuild America’s infrastructure, invest in our
future, and create millions of good-paying American jobs. Her plan includes
repairing and replacing our roads, highways and bridges as well as building
smart climate infrastructure, ensuring clean water, modernizing our airports,
seaports and inland waterways, expanding reliable public transit options,
rebuilding our schools, overhauling our country’s housing policy, and
connecting every household to the internet by 2022. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
policies to build America’s infrastructure here.
Make housing more affordable. Senator Klobuchar believes everyone deserves a safe and affordable home. As President, Senator Klobuchar will expand the Housing Choice Voucher program to make vouchers available to all qualifying households with children, increase access to homeownership while investing in neglected neighborhoods, tackle homelessness, and increase affordable rental housing in rural communities. She will also fight housing discrimination and invest in providing access to counsel in civil cases involving basic human needs. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s housing policies here.
Focus on Economic Justice and Shared Prosperity
Senator Klobuchar believes that right now the Trump economy works for President Trump and his wealthy friends, not for everyone else. As President, she will take on structural racism and remove barriers to success and support communities at risk from being left behind in the new economy.
Address Structural Racism and Barriers to Success. Senator
Klobuchar is committed to addressing the structural racism in our society and
making sure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed. She believes that no
matter where you live, who you know, where you come from, or what you look
like, you should be able to make it in this country.
Work to end child poverty. As President, within
her first 100 days, Senator Klobuchar will put forward a plan to cut childhood
poverty in half in ten years and end child poverty in a generation. The plan
will be based on a National Academies of Science report and include expanding
the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Care Tax Credit, SNAP benefits and
overhauling our country’s housing policy.
Eliminate the wage gap. Today, women working
full-time earn 80 cents for every dollar paid to a man, and the gaps are even
larger for women of color. As President, Senator Klobuchar will work to pass
Senator Patty Murray’s Paycheck Fairness Act to ensure that employers pay
employees equally for equal work — including by prohibiting employers from
asking about the salary history of prospective employees.
Eliminate the wealth gap. Today, Black and
Latino households have only about a tenth of the median net worth of white
households. Senator Klobuchar’s proposal to establish portable, employer-funded
UP-Savings Accounts for retirement savings will help address this disparity.
She is also co-chair of the Diversifying Technology Caucus and the
Entrepreneurship Caucus with Senator Tim Scott. As President she will work to
get more women and people of color in STEM jobs and she will fully empower
agencies to aggressively fight modern-day redlining that prevents businesses
owned by people of color from getting loans and take on predatory lending that
results in higher interest rates in low-income communities of color.
Make education the great equalizer. Senator
Klobuchar believes a good education is one of the very best investments we can
make in our country’s future. As President, Senator Klobuchar will help make
education the great equalizer by increasing teacher salaries, investing in math
and science to prepare our students for the jobs of tomorrow, and rebuilding
our school infrastructure. She has proposed “Progress Partnerships” to help
states take bold action to fund our public schools — including making sure
infrastructure funding goes to high need areas and reviewing state funding
formulas to improve equity. She will also put back in place guidance from
President Obama directing schools to reduce racial disparities in how they
discipline students.
Support Communities at Risk From Being Left Behind in the
Changing Economy. As President, Senator Klobuchar is committed to
providing additional support to at-risk communities so that no one is left
behind.
Expand loans for and investments in local communities in
need. For the past 40 years, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has
encouraged financial institutions to make loans and investment in local
communities, especially low-income and minority communities. Senator Klobuchar
will protect the CRA and instruct financial regulators to conduct greater outreach
to assess the true credit needs of their communities.
Support and strengthen the Economic Development
Administration. The Economic Development Administration (EDA) works
directly with communities and regions to promote competitiveness and innovation.
It has a proven track record of success and on average every $1 of EDA
infrastructure funding generates $15 in private investment. Still, the Trump
Administration has repeatedly proposed eliminating the agency. Senator
Klobuchar will ensure the agency has the resources to carry out its mission.
Bridge the rural-urban divide. Senator Klobuchar
has proposed a plan for America’s Heartland that will strengthen our
agricultural and rural communities, bridge the rural-urban divide, and make
sure that kids who grow up in rural America can stay in rural America. This
includes connecting every household to high speed internet by 2022. She knows
that America’s prosperity depends on the success of our farmers and rural
businesses and as a senior member of the Agriculture Committee, she’s been a
champion for farmers and rural communities in the Senate. Read more about Senator Klobuchar’s
agriculture and rural policies here.
Fulfill our responsibility to our communities and workers who have helped power this country. As the granddaughter of a miner who worked 1,500 feet underground, Senator Klobuchar understands the hard work and sacrifice of those who built and powered our country. She is committed to supporting and creating new opportunities for workers and communities that have depended on the fossil fuel industry as our country transitions away from fossil fuels. Senator Klobuchar will work with the public and private sectors to attract new employers and maintain public services, while investing in infrastructure and educational opportunities in areas that experience job loss. As part of any carbon pricing system, she will create a significant manufacturing tax incentive to encourage investment in communities that have faced or are about to face job losses. To make it easier for workers to find new jobs, Senator Klobuchar will also create a new tax credit for companies that hire workers who have previously depended on the fossil fuel industry for employment.
Senator Klobuchar describes how she will pay for these plans and more here, here, here, here, here and here. To pay for her deficit reduction fund, Senator Klobuchar will increase the corporate rate by two additional points to 27 percent and initiate a government-wide budget review. To pay for her child poverty plan, Senator Klobuchar will repeal the regressive portions of the 2017 Republican tax bill.
The vigorous contest of
Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent
policy proposals to address major issues. Senator Bernie Sanders, long a
crusader to end corporate influence and corruption in the political system,
unveiled his “Money Out of Politics” Plan. He has expanded upon it to
detail how he would end corporate greed and corruption, ensure corporations pay
their fair share of taxes and give workers an ownership stake in companies
where they work, end corrupt corporate mergers and break up monopolies. This is
from the Sanders campaign:
WASHINGTON – Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled a plan to end corporate greed and corruption, ensure corporations pay their fair share of taxes, give workers an ownership stake in the companies where they work, end corrupt corporate mergers and break up monopolies.
“For more than 40 years, the largest and most profitable corporations in America have rigged the tax code and our economy to redistribute wealth and income to the richest and most powerful people in this country,” said Sen. Sanders. “The American people are saying enough is enough. They are sick and tired of companies like Amazon, General Motors and Chevron making billions in profits, but paying nothing in federal income taxes. Under this plan, we will demand that profitable corporations pay their fair share of taxes. We will give workers an ownership stake in the companies they work for. And we will start breaking up some of the largest and most powerful companies in America to lower prices for consumers, help small business and make markets competitive.”
Bernie’s plan, the boldest and most comprehensive corporate accountability plan in modern presidential history, would bring an end to the era of unchecked corporate greed and return power to American workers.
As President Bernie would:
Give
Workers an Ownership Stake in Corporate America and End Corporate Greed
Give
workers 20 percent of shares in their companies and 45 percent of the seats on
their corporate boards.
Ensure
all workers and savers have the right to vote the shares they own.
Give
workers the right to purchase factories or offices they are employed in from
companies that decide to put them up for sale or shut them down.
Establish
a U.S. Employee Ownership Bank to provide low-cost financing to employees who
want to start their own businesses.
Make
large-scale stock buybacks illegal.
Require
companies to provide shares of stock to workers who lose their jobs as a result
of outsourcing or automation.
Break Up
Monopolies and Make Markets Competitive
Review
all Trump administration mergers and undo improper mergers.
Reinvigorate
the Federal Trade Commission to break up conglomerates and monopolies and
institute clear, strong merger guidelines.
Establish
caps for vertical mergers, horizontal mergers, and total market share.
Ban
mandatory arbitration clauses and non-compete clauses that trap workers in
low-wage jobs and strip them of their legal rights.
Make
Large Corporations Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes
Repeal
all of Trump’s corporate tax breaks
Restore
the corporate tax rate to 35% from 21%.
Ensure
that corporations pay 35% by eliminating virtually all corporate tax breaks and
loopholes.
Eliminate
the use of offshore tax havens by:
Requiring
corporations with revenues over $25 million to publicly disclose significant
portions of their tax returns and country by country financial information
including earnings, financial accounts, and tax payments in other
countries.
Eliminating
the 20% deduction on pass-through business income and requiring large
pass-through businesses to be subject to corporate taxes.
If this plan had been in effect last
year, instead of paying nothing in federal income taxes:
Amazon
would have paid up to $3.8 billion in taxes.
Delta
would have paid up to $1.8 billion in taxes.
Chevron
would have paid up to $1.6 billion in taxes.
GM would
have paid up to $1.5 billion in taxes.
The top ten percent of Americans today
own an estimated 97 percent of all capital income, including capital
gains, corporate dividends, and interest payments. Since the 2008 Wall Street
crash, 49 percent of all new income generated in America has gone to the top
one percent. The three wealthiest people in our country now own more wealth
than the bottom 160 million Americans. And the richest family in America
– the Walton family, which inherited about half of Walmart’s stock – is worth
$200 billion and owns more wealth than the bottom 42 percent of the American
people.
As Donald Trump departed the White House to attend the G7 after
a day in which he attacked Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell as a “worse
enemy” than China’s Chairman Xi and ordered US companies to leave China, a day
in which the Dow plummeted 600 points, a day after he referred to himself as the
“Chosen One” as he looked to the heavens and demanded that Russia be invited
back into the G8, Vice President Joe Biden, candidate for the Democratic
nomination for president, issued this statement:
“This week, in the lead-up to the G7 in
France, President Trump has continued his irrational and self-defeating
campaign to make America less secure and less respected in the world. He
has insulted our closest partners and denigrated one of our most capable
allies, Denmark—a country that has repeatedly fought and sacrificed alongside
our troops. He issued yet another attack on NATO, reiterating his belief that
NATO is an American-run protection racket where our allies better pay up, or
else. And he advocated for Russia’s return to the G7, despite Vladimir Putin’s
long and growing record of aggressive behavior and provocations against the
United States and our allies in Europe.
“Trump’s actions and words are not just embarrassing—they are making the
American people less safe. Every incident further isolates us on the global
stage, reinforcing that his version of “America First” means America alone. For
the first time in its history, the G7 will not even issue a joint communique,
because President Trump refuses to cooperate with our partners on the pressing
issues of our time, including climate change, China’s predatory trade
practices, Russian attacks on western democracies, and nuclear proliferation.
No country, even one as powerful as ours, can go it alone against 21st century
challenges that respect no borders and cannot be contained by walls.
“NATO, the most powerful alliance in history, is the bulwark of America’s
national security and the free world’s first line of defense. It’s how we
amplify our own strength, maintain our presence around the globe, and magnify
our impact – while sharing the burden among willing partners. NATO is an
alliance built first and foremost on shared democratic values, which makes it
more durable and more reliable than partnerships built on coercion or cash. But
it is not indestructible, and Trump has taken a battering ram to our most
important strategic alliance.
“More than two-and-a-half years into his presidency, the pattern of
Trump’s conduct and character is clear. He never misses a chance to lavish
praise on dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un, and takes every opportunity to
bash our closest democratic allies. Instead of leading alongside fellow
democracies, he seems to be on the other team. His incompetence threatens to
permanently reduce America’s standing and, consequently, our capacity to bring
together nations to address shared challenges. This will change when I am
president. We will restore the soul of this nation. And we will once again lead
the international community in a way that is consistent with our most cherished
values, standing with—not against—the rest of the free world.”
The vigorous contest of Democrats seeking the 2020 presidential nomination has produced excellent policy proposals to address major issues. Senator Elizabeth Warren details a plan to transform America’s approach to trade: “Trade can be a powerful tool to help working families but our failed pro-corporate agenda has used trade to harm American workers and the environment. My plan represents a new approach to trade — one that uses America’s leverage to boost American workers and raise the standard of living across the globe. The President has a lot of authority to remake trade policy herself. When I’m elected, I intend to use it.” Here are the details, as provided by the Warren campaign:
Charlestown, MA – Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running to be the 2020 Democratic candidate for president, released her plan to break decades of Washington consensus and transform every aspect of America’s current approach to trade.
America enters trade negotiations with enormous leverage because it is the world’s most attractive market. A Warren Administration won’t hand that leverage to big corporations to use for their own narrow purposes. Elizabeth will use it to create and defend good American jobs, raise wages and farm income, combat climate change, lower drug prices, and raise living standards worldwide. Under Elizabeth’s plan, America will engage in international trade — but on our terms and only when it benefits American families.
The plan is the third pillar of Elizabeth’s economic patriotism agenda. Read more about her plan here and below:
Last month, I released my economic patriotism agenda
— my commitment to fundamentally changing the government’s approach to the
economy so that we put the interests of American workers and families ahead of
the interests of multinational corporations. I’ve already released my ideas for
applying economic patriotism to manufacturing and
to Wall Street. This is my
plan for using economic patriotism to overhaul our approach to trade.
For decades, big multinational corporations have bought and
lobbied their way into dictating America’s trade policy. Those big corporations
have gotten rich but everyone else has paid the price. We’ve lost millionsofjobs to
outsourcing, depressedwages for American
workers, accelerated climate
change, and squeezed America’s
family farmers. We’ve let China get away with the suppression of pay and labor rights, poor environmental
protections, and years of currency manipulation.
All to add some zeroes to the bottom lines of big corporations with no loyalty
or allegiance to America.
We need to completely transform our approach to trade.
America enters into trade negotiations with enormous leverage because America
is the world’s most attractive market. As President, I won’t hand
America’s leverage to big corporations to use for their own narrow purposes —
I’ll use it to create and defend good American jobs, raise wages and farm
income, combat climate change, lower drug prices, and raise living standards
worldwide.We will engage in international trade — but on our terms
and only when it benefits American families.
A New Approach to Trade
My plan is a new approach to trade — one that is different
from both the Washington insider consensus that brought us decades of bad trade
deals and from Donald Trump’s haphazard and ultimately corporate-friendly
approach.
Unlike the insiders, I don’t think “free trade” deals that
benefit big multinational corporations and international capital at the expense
of American workers are good simply because they open up markets. Trade is good
when it helps American workers and families — when it doesn’t, we need to
change our approach. And unlike Trump, while I think tariffs are an important
tool, they are not by themselves a long-term solution to our failed trade
agenda and must be part of a broader strategy that this Administration clearly
lacks.
To ensure that American families benefit from international
trade in the decades to come, I want to invest in American workers and
to use our leverage to force other countries to raise the bar on everything
from labor and environmental standards to anti-corruption rules to access to
medicine to tax enforcement. If we raise the world’s standards to our level and
American workers have the chance to compete fairly, they will thrive — and
millions of people around the world will be better off too.
Achieving this vision isn’t about tough talk or tweets. We
must do the hard work of transforming every aspect of our current approach to
trade: from our negotiating process to the negotiating objectives we pursue to
the way we enforce agreements. That’s what I intend to do.
A Trade Negotiation Process that Reflects America’s
Interests
Our current approach to negotiating trade agreements works
great for the wealthy and the well-connected. The negotiating text is
kept confidential from
all but a small set of advisory groups comprised mostly of corporate
executives and industry trade group representatives. Once those corporate
interests are finished whispering in the ears of our negotiators, the completed
text is released. Then, under the expedited “Fast Track” procedure
Congress typically uses to approve trade agreements, our elected
representatives must vote up or down on the agreement with no ability to
propose and secure any changes to it. Meanwhile, the negotiators who
constructed it often breeze through the revolving door to
take jobs with the corporations whose interests underlie the deal.
This is undemocratic and obviously corrupt. In a Warren
Administration, we will negotiate and approve trade agreements through a
transparent process that offers the public a genuine chance to shape it:
Trade negotiators will publicly disclose negotiating
drafts and provide the public with an opportunity to comment. When
federal agencies write new rules, they typically must publish a proposed
version of the rule and permit the public to submit comments on it. I will
adopt a similar approach for our trade deals. Prior to negotiations, our
negotiators will publish a draft of their proposals in the Federal Register,
let the public offer comments on the draft, and take those comments into
consideration during negotiations. And then as talks proceed, they will publish
drafts of the negotiating texts so the public can monitor the negotiations.
Trade advisory committees will prioritize the views of workers and consumers. I will ensure that there are more representatives from labor, environmental, and consumer groups than from corporations and trade groups on every existing advisory committee. And I’ll expand the current list of advisory committees to create one for consumers, one for rural areas, and one for each region of the country, so that critical voices are at the table during negotiations.
The US International Trade Commission will provide a regional analysis of the economic effects of a trade agreement. Trade agreements can hollow out communities and transform regional economies. Yet the report the ITC provides before Congress considers a trade agreement only includes a nationwide analysis of a trade deal’s economic impact. I will push for the agency to provide a region-by-region analysis so the public and Members of Congress can understand how an agreement is likely to affect the places they live and represent.
The congressional approval process will offer more
opportunities for the public and elected representatives to shape trade
agreements. I will seek expedited congressional approval of trade
agreements only when every regional advisory committee and the labor, consumer,
and rural advisory committees unanimously certify that the agreement serves
their interests. I will also expand the list of congressional committees that
must review any agreement before it is eligible for expedited consideration.
Together, these changes will ensure that our negotiations
reflect the views of American families, not corporate interests.
Using Our Leverage to Demand More for American Families
and to Raise the Global Standard of Living
While a better process will produce better agreements, we
also must fundamentally shift the goals of our trade agenda so they are aligned
with the interests of America’s families.
With certain important exceptions, we live in a low-tariff
world. Modern trade agreements are less about the
mutual reduction of tariffs and more about establishing regulatory standards
for everything from worker rights to pollution to patent protections.
My approach to trade reflects that reality. For too long, we
have entered into trade deals with countries with abysmal records on labor, environmental, and human rights issues.
In exchange for concrete access to the American market, we get vague
commitments to do better, which we then hardly enforce. The
result is that millions of people in our trading-partner countries don’t gain
the benefits of higher standards — and companies can easily pad their profits
by shifting American jobs to countries where they can pay workers next to
nothing and pollute the air and water freely.
That will end under my Administration. I am establishing a set of standards countries must meet as a precondition for any trade agreement with America. And I will renegotiate any agreements we have to ensure that our existing trade partners meet those standards as well.
My preconditions are that a country must:
Recognize and enforce the core labor rights of the International Labour Organization, like collective bargaining and the elimination of child labor.
Uphold internationally recognized human rights, as reported in the Department of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights, including the rights of indigenous people, migrant workers, and other vulnerable groups.
Recognize and enforce religious freedom as reported in the State Department’s Country Reports.
Comply with minimum standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
Be a party to the Paris Climate agreement and have a national plan that has been independently verified to put the country on track to reduce its emissions consistent with the long-term emissions goals in that agreement.
Eliminate all domestic fossil fuel subsidies.
Ratify the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions.
Comply with any tax treaty they have with the United States and participate in the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project to combat tax evasion and avoidance.
Not appear on the Department of Treasury monitoring list of
countries that merit attention for their currency practices.
A country should only be considered an acceptable partner if
it meets these basic standards. Shamefully, America itself does not meet many
of these labor and environmental standards today. I am committed to fixing that
as President. And to help bring other countries up to these standards, I’ll
revitalize our commitment to providing technical assistance to help countries
improve.
I will also go beyond these minimum standards in key areas
to promote the interests of American workers and families.
Labor. I will ensure trade agreements protect
Buy American and other programs designed to develop local industry, contain
strong rule-of-origin standards to promote domestic manufacturing, protect
worker pensions, promote equal pay for equal work for women, and prohibit
violence against workers. Unlike previous trade deals agreements that
have put labor standards in side agreements that
are difficult to enforce, I will make labor standards central to any agreement.
Climate Change and the Environment. Climate
change is real, it’s man-made, and we’re running out of time to address it.
America should be leading this fight, but we have turned our backs on our
responsibilities — with communities of color in the U.S. and developing countries bearing
a disproportionate amount of the harm.
Beyond requiring implementation of the Paris Climate accord
and the elimination of fossil fuel subsidies as preconditions for any trade
agreement, I have already proposed a Green Marshall Plan to
dedicate $100 billion to helping other countries purchase and deploy
American-made clean energy technology.
But we must do more. I will push to secure a
multilateral agreement to protect domestic green policies like subsidies for
green products and preferential treatment for environmentally sustainable
energy production from WTO challenges. And because big corporations
will move their production to the countries with the weakest greenhouse gas
emissions standards — undermining global efforts to address climate change and
penalizing countries that are doing their part — I will impose a border carbon adjustment so
imported goods that these firms make using carbon-intensive processes are
charged a fee to equalize the costs borne by companies playing by the rules.
Prescription Drugs. Last year, Americans spent more
than $500 billion on
prescription drugs. That’s a 50% increase since 2010. Nearly 3 in 10Americans
report not taking their medicine as directed because of costs. And yet, one of
the core elements of America’s current trade agenda is guaranteeing
pharmaceutical firms monopoly protections so they can avoid competition from
generic drugs — driving up costs and reducing access to
necessary medicine abroad, and undermining our
efforts to reduce drug prices here at home. That’s exactly what
the Trump Administration has done as part of their failed effort to renegotiate
NAFTA.
While medical innovation is important, there is no link between
extremely long exclusivity periods and pharmaceutical innovation. These are
giveaways to drug companies, plain and simple, which allow them to maintain
ludicrously high drug prices.
As President, I will fight to bring down the costs of
prescription drugs here and around the world. I will never use
America’s leverage to push another country to extend exclusivity periods for
prescription drugs. I will support efforts to impose price controls on
pharmaceuticals. And I will actively seek out opportunities to reduce
exclusivity periods in our existing trade deals in exchange for securing other
changes that will help America’s working families.
Agriculture. For decades, trade deals have squeezed family
farmers, with Black farmers losing their land particularly quickly.
Between the trade fights incited by Trump’s haphazard tariffs and a series
of natural disasters,
America’s farmers are now facing the worst crisis in almost 40
years. They are also facing unprecedented levels of uncertainty and
instability. Trump’s tariffs have reduced crop prices, threatened farmers
already operating on razor-thin margins, and opened up new non-American markets
against which our farmers are now forced to compete. Like trade deals of the
past, Trump’s NAFTA 2.0 is written to help giant multinational agribusinesses
at the expense of family farms, and it
will do nothing to solve the newly created market insecurity Trump’s tariffs
have caused.
As President, I will fight for trade agreements that reward
American farmers for their hard work by negotiating for fair prices for goods,
breaking up the monopolies in grain
trading and meat packing, and protecting domestic markets to create stability
for America’s family farms. And I will impose Country-of-Origin Labeling rules
to protect American producers and provide transparency to consumers.
Consumer protection. We must ensure that the food we
eat is high-quality and safe. But our trade agreements have limited safety
standards and the inspection of imported foods,
while simultaneously enabling a new flood of food imports that overwhelm food
safety inspectors. In my Administration, our trade pacts will require
imported food to meet domestic food safety standards, including enhanced border
inspection requirements.
As with imported food, our current trade deals require us to
allow imports of other products and services that do not meet domestic safety
and environmental standards. My trade agreements will ensure that imported
products and services must meet the same standards as domestic products and
services.
Antitrust. We are in an era of massive
consolidation across many sectors of the economy. One of the reasons why is
that we have a narrow, permissive approach to mergers that looks only at
economic efficiency and consumer welfare instead of assessing the impact that a
merger will have on competition itself.
In recent years, we have added this problematic
standard into trade agreements and
proposed it as the defining objective for competition policy in new and renegotiated agreements.
Under my administration, we will not propose this standard in any new
agreement, and we will work to renegotiate agreements to remove it.
Delivering for American Families with Stronger
Enforcement
Our approach to enforcing trade agreements drives down
standards worldwide and undermines American families. We offer big corporations
fast and powerful methods to enforce the provisions that benefit them but make
it nearly impossible for Americans to enforce labor and environmental
protections. Foreign governments only fear a challenge to strong rules that
might hurt corporate bottom lines, not to weak rules that might not adequately
protect workers, the environment, or public health.
I will entirely reorient our approach to enforcement so we drive standards up, not down. I’ll start by ending “Investor-State Dispute Settlement,” or ISDS, the favorable enforcement approach we offer corporations. Under ISDS, a company that believes that a new law violates some aspect of a trade agreement can skip the courts and challenge the law before an international panel of arbitrators. If the company wins, the panel can order that country’s taxpayers to pay out billions in damages — with no review by an actual court. What’s worse, the arbitration panels handing out these binding rulings are often made up of corporate lawyers whose day jobs are representing the very same companies that seek judgments before them.
Companies have used ISDS to undermine laws intended to benefit the public interest. A French company challenged Egypt when it increased the minimum wage. A Swedish company challenged Germany when it decided to cut back on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster. These cases have real effects across the globe: an ISDS panel’s decision to hear a challenge that Philip Morris brought against Uruguay’s anti-smoking campaign prompted several other countries to abandon similar public health efforts.
As President, I will not include ISDS in any new
agreement and will renegotiate existing agreements to remove ISDS from them.
And I’ll strengthen our approach to enforcing labor and environmental
standards. Unlike a corporation under ISDS, a labor union seeking to enforce
labor standards can’t bring a claim on its own — it must convince the federal
government to bring a claim on its behalf. Even in the face of overwhelming
evidence, our government can refuse to act for diplomatic or other unrelated
reasons.
As a result, the federal government has only pursued one such claim in
the last 25 years. In that one case, the American government, AFL-CIO, and
Guatemalan unions spent nine years trying
to challenge the Guatemalan government for violating the labor chapter of one
of our trade deals because Guatemalan workers were being murdered for trying to
join a union. In the end, we lost because the
trade agreement required a showing that the violations had affected trade.
I will replace this broken process by creating independent
commissions — made up of experts in the area — to monitor potential violations,
respond to complaints, and investigate claims. The commissions must review and
investigate claims promptly so that claims don’t languish for years. If
one of these commissions recommends that the United States bring a claim
against another country, the United States will be required to do so, without
exception.
I will also fix the problem that arose in the Guatemala case
by pushing to remove language from our deals that require us to show that a
violation of rights was “sustained or recurring” and “affecting trade or
investment.” A violation is a violation, and I won’t let another case like
Guatemala happen ever again.
I will strengthen our enforcement approach in other ways as
well:
Under WTO rules, a country designated as a “non-market economy” can face more serious trade penalties. I will push for a new “non-sustainable economy” designation that would allow us to impose tougher penalties on countries with systematically poor labor and environmental practices. We cannot allow countries that treat their workers and the environment poorly to undercut American producers that do things the right way.
I already have a plan to move the lead American trade negotiator — the Office of the United States Trade Representative — within my new Department of Economic Development. That will ensure that America’s trade policy supports our broader economic agenda of defending and creating good American jobs. I will also create a new labor and environment enforcement division at the USTR to more effectively enforce obligations, and embed a labor attache at U.S. embassies to monitor compliance with our labor standards.
Unlike the current approach that lets our government ignore unfair trade practices, my administration will create automatic triggers to initiate investigations into unfair trade practices. If those investigations produce compelling evidence of a violation, the Department will impose trade remedies immediately until the offenders show they are no longer engaging in an unfair trade practice. These automatic triggers will also apply to violations of labor and environmental standards.
Finally, when we impose duties to support particular
domestic industries, I want to ensure that the money we collect actually goes
to American workers, instead of being sucked up by
executives and shareholders. I will fight to change our trade laws so
that we review duties every six months and lift the duties if companies can’t
demonstrate the benefits of the duties are going to their workers.
Charlestown, MA – Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Senator from Massachusetts who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, laid out her vision of economic patriotism, calling for using new and existing tools to defend and create quality American jobs and promote American industry. Warren will continue to release individual plans reflecting how economic patriotism should shape our approach to specific parts of the American economy. She released the first plan: A bold $2 trillion investment of federal money over 10 years in American green research, manufacturing, and exporting — which includes ambitious new ideas to link American innovation directly to American jobs, and focuses on achieving not only the ambitious domestic emissions targets in the Green New Deal, but also spurring the kind of worldwide adoption of American-made clean energy technology needed to meet the international targets of the Green New Deal.
The plan is designed to ensure that American taxpayer investments in combating climate change result in good American jobs. The plan makes a historic $400 billion investment in clean energy research and development, and includes a provision that any production stemming from that federally-funded research should take place in the United States. It also makes a massive $1.5 trillion commitment to federal procurement of clean, green, American-made products over the next 10 years, and requires that all companies that receive federal contracts pay all employees at least $15 per hour, guarantee 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, let employees exercise collective bargaining rights, and maintain fair schedules at a minimum. According to an independent analysis from Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, these provisions ensure that Warren’s Green Manufacturing Plan would boost economic growth and create more than a million new jobs right here at home.
Warren’s plan also includes a Green Marshall Plan — a commitment to using all the tools in our diplomatic and economic arsenal to encourage other countries to purchase and deploy American-made clean energy technology. It creates a new federal office dedicated to selling American-made clean, renewable, and emission-free energy technology abroad, with a $100 billion commitment to assisting countries to purchase and deploy this technology — supporting American jobs while supplying the world with the clean energy products needed to cut global emissions.
Warren’s plan also identifies specific cost offsets that, according to the Moody’s economic analysis, cover nearly the entire cost of her plan: her Real Corporate Profits Tax, ending subsidies for oil and gas companies, and closing tax loopholes that promote shipping jobs overseas.
Warren’s Green Manufacturing Plan comes after her Public Lands Plan, two in a series of proposals as she continues to lay out her vision for how we implement the Green New Deal.
“The climate crisis demands immediate and bold action. Like we have before, we should bank on American ingenuity and American workers to lead the global effort to face down this threat — and create more than a million good jobs here at home,” Warren said.
Read more about Warren’s vision of Economic Patriotism here.
Read more about Warren’s Green Manufacturing Plan here.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a declared 2020 candidate for 2020 presidential nomination, came to Long Island City, where local activists rejected Amazon, to propose a plan to rein in big tech and other giant multi-national companies that use their economic power to stifle competition and intimidate government. Here is her proposal — Karen Rubin, News& Photo Features
Today’s
big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our
society, and our democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private
information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And
in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation.
I want a government that makes sure everybody — even the biggest and most
powerful companies in America — plays by the rules. And I want to make sure
that the next generation of great
American tech companies can flourish. To do that, we need to stop this generation of big tech companies
from throwing around their political power to shape the rules in their favor
and throwing around their economic power to snuff out or buy up every potential
competitor.
That’s why my Administration will make big, structural changes to the tech
sector to promote more competition—including breaking up Amazon, Facebook, and Google.
How the New Tech Monopolies Hurt Small Businesses and Innovation
America’s big tech companies provide valuable products but also wield enormous
power over our digital lives. Nearly half of all e-commerce goes
through Amazon. More than 70% of all Internet traffic goes through
sites owned or operated by Google or Facebook.
As these companies have grown larger and more powerful, they have used their
resources and control over the way we use the Internet to squash small
businesses and innovation, and substitute their own financial interests for the
broader interests of the American people. To restore the balance of power in
our democracy, to promote competition, and to ensure that the next generation
of technology innovation is as vibrant as the last, it’s time to break up our
biggest tech companies.
America’s big tech companies have achieved their level of dominance in part
based on two strategies:
Using
Mergers to Limit Competition.
Facebook has purchased potential competitors Instagram and WhatsApp.
Amazon has used its immense market power to force smaller competitors
like Diapers.com to sell at a discounted rate. Google has
snapped up the mapping company Waze and the ad company DoubleClick. Rather
than blocking these transactions for their negative long-term effects on
competition and innovation, government regulators have waved them through.
Using
Proprietary Marketplaces to Limit Competition. Many
big tech companies own a marketplace – where buyers and sellers transact –
while also participating on the marketplace. This can create a conflict of
interest that undermines competition. Amazon crushes small
companies by copying the goods they sell on the Amazon
Marketplace and then selling its own branded version. Google
allegedly snuffed out a competing small search engine
by demoting its content on its search algorithm, and it has
favored its own restaurant ratings over those of Yelp.
Weak antitrust enforcement has led to a dramatic reduction in
competition and innovation in the tech sector. Venture capitalists are now
hesitant to fund new startups to compete with these big tech companies because
it’s so easy for the big companies to either snap up growing
competitors or drive them out of business. The number of tech startups
has slumped, there are fewer high-growth young firms typical of
the tech industry, and first financing rounds for tech startups
have declined 22% since 2012.
With fewer competitors entering the
market, the big tech companies do not have to compete as aggressively in key
areas like protecting our privacy. And some of these companies have grown
so powerful that they can bully cities
and states into showering them with massive taxpayer handouts in exchange
for doing business, and can act — in the words of Mark Zuckerberg —
“more like a government than a traditional company.”
We must ensure that today’s tech giants do not crowd out potential competitors,
smother the next generation of great tech companies, and wield so much power
that they can undermine our democracy.
Restoring Competition in the Tech Sector
America has a long tradition of breaking
up companies when they have become too big and dominant — even if they are
generally providing good service at a reasonable price.
A century ago, in the Gilded Age, waves of mergers led to the creation of some
of the biggest companies in American history — from Standard Oil and JPMorgan
to the railroads and AT&T. In response to the rise of these “trusts,”
Republican and Democratic reformers pushed for antitrust laws to break up these
conglomerations of power to ensure competition.
But where the value of the company came from its network, reformers recognized
that ownership of a network and participating on the network caused a conflict
of interest. Instead of nationalizing these industries — as other countries
did — Americans in the Progressive Era decided to ensure that these networks
would not abuse their power by charging higher prices, offering worse quality,
reducing innovation, and favoring some over others. We required a structural
separation between the network and other businesses, and also demanded that the
network offer fair and non-discriminatory service.
In this tradition, my administration
would restore competition to the tech sector by taking two major steps:
First, by passing legislation that requires large tech platforms to be
designated as “Platform Utilities” and
broken apart from any participant on that platform.
Companies with an annual global revenue of
$25 billion or more and that offer to the public an online marketplace, an
exchange, or a platform for connecting third parties would be designated as
“platform utilities.”
These companies would be prohibited from
owning both the platform utility and any participants on that platform.
Platform utilities would be required to meet a standard of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory dealing with users.
Platform utilities would not be allowed
to transfer or share data with third parties.
For smaller companies (those with annual global revenue of between $90 million
and $25 billion), their platform utilities would be required to meet the same
standard of fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory dealing with users, but
would not be required to structurally separate from any participant on the
platform.
To enforce these new requirements, federal regulators, State Attorneys General,
or injured private parties would have the right
to sue a platform utility to enjoin any conduct that violates these
requirements, to disgorge any ill-gotten gains, and to be paid for losses and
damages. A company found to violate these requirements would also have to pay a fine of 5 percent of annual revenue.
Amazon Marketplace, Google’s ad exchange, and Google Search would be platform
utilities under this law. Therefore, Amazon Marketplace and Basics, and
Google’s ad exchange and businesses on the exchange would be split apart.
Google Search would have to be spun off as well.
Second, my administration would
appoint regulators committed to reversing illegal and anti-competitive tech
mergers.
Current antitrust laws empower federal regulators to break up mergers that
reduce competition. I will appoint regulators who are committed to using
existing tools to unwind anti-competitive mergers, including:
Unwinding these mergers will promote healthy competition in the market — which will put pressure on big tech companies to be more responsive to user concerns, including about privacy.
Protecting the Future of the Internet
So what would the Internet look like after all these reforms?
Here’s what won’t change: You’ll still be able to go on Google and search like you do today. You’ll still be able to go on Amazon and find 30 different coffee machines that you can get delivered to your house in two days. You’ll still be able to go on Facebook and see how your old friend from school is doing.
Here’s what will change: Small businesses would have a fair shot to sell their products on Amazon without the fear of Amazon pushing them out of business. Google couldn’t smother competitors by demoting their products on Google Search. Facebook would face real pressure from Instagram and WhatsApp to improve the user experience and protect our privacy. Tech entrepreneurs would have a fighting chance to compete against the tech giants.
Of course, my proposals today won’t solve every problem we have with our big tech companies.
We must give people more control over how their personal information is collected, shared, and sold—and do it in a way that doesn’t lock in massive competitive advantages for the companies that already have a ton of our data.
We must help America’s content creators—from local newspapers and national magazines to comedians and musicians — keep more of the value their content generates, rather than seeing it scooped up by companies like Google and Facebook.
And we must ensure that Russia — or any other foreign power — can’t use Facebook or any other form of social media to influence our elections.
Those are each tough problems, but the benefit of taking these steps to promote competition is that it allows us to make some progress on each of these important issues too. More competition means more options for consumers and content creators, and more pressure on companies like Facebook to address the glaring problems with their businesses.
Healthy competition can solve a lot of problems. The steps I’m proposing today will allow existing big tech companies to keep offering customer-friendly services, while promoting competition, stimulating innovation in the tech sector, and ensuring that America continues to lead the world in producing cutting-edge tech companies. It’s how we protect the future of the Internet.
Donald Trump keeps rattling on about the US trade deficit. Yet he is singularly responsible for depressing America’s #2 export: international travel.
It is ironic, really. The guy has his name on hotels around the globe but he no sense whatsoever of “hospitality,” nor a clue about how important face-to-face contact among people from different backgrounds is toward to greater issue of national security. Trump is more like the evil, ruthless landlord, Snidely Whiplash, who lashes the girl to the railroad tracks until her father signs the deed to their farm, than the international hotelier Barron Hilton.
President Obama understood the importance of engagement of people from abroad coming to the US and Americans – especially young people – going abroad – for work, study, volunteering, travel.
“Americans are now getting out – to build empathy and stewardship, for personal growth, to create a sense of global citizenship.” (Ah, the bad word: “global” when this guy extols America First.)
In 2016, thanks largely to Obama policies, the US saw a record 75.6 million international visitors who spent $245 billion and generated an $84 billion trade surplus. Travel and tourism in 2016 was a $1.5 trillion industry, employing 8 million and supporting 7 million more jobs, with every $1 million in sales of travel goods and services directly generating nine jobs. Globally, travel and tourism accounts for 10 percent of the world’s jobs.
Travel to the US has been in decline ever since Trump took office, causing the USA to slip to #3 behind Spain (#2) and France (#1) in popularity for foreign travel.
Indeed, despite 2017 being a strong year as the global economy, not just the US economy was surging (thanks Obama!), every area on the globe showed growth except the United States, which saw a 4 to 6% decline in international visitors. So what you ask? That represented a $4.6 billion hit to the economy and cost 40,000 jobs. What is more, the US, once #1 destination on the world’s bucket list, slipped to #8, boding ill for future international spending here. Brand USA has a lot of catch-up to do.
“It’s not a reach to say the rhetoric and policies of this administration are affecting sentiment around the world, creating antipathy toward the U.S. and affecting travel behavior,” Adam Sacks, the president of Tourism Economics, told The New York Times.
“Certainly it is the travel ban, rhetoric of Trump, the visa situation,” Alejandro Zozaya, CEO, Apple Leisure Group said during an industry panel at the New York Times Travel Show to explain the drop in bookings to the US. “Brand USA is hurt.”
New York City received 100,000 fewer international visitors in 2017. And while the “strength of the American dollar” was likely a large factor in that dip, “There’s a real concern that this isolationism, this ‘America first’ rhetoric could lead to a decline in international travel,” said Fred Dixon, the head of NYC & Company. International visitors spend four times what domestic travelers do in New York City. The city, which garners $64 billion in economic impact from tourism supporting 383,000 jobs, collected $4.2 billion in taxes from tourists in 2016.
Instead of a welcoming place, this is the image that the US has broadcast around the world: gun violence (15 countries actually have travel advisories against the US because of this scourge); Charlottesville and the mounting White Nationalist attacks on the “other;” calls for erecting walls and closing borders, that defy international norms, treaties and American values and traditions by refusing to accept refugees and asylum-seekers (and withdrawing from the United Nations Treaty on Migration), that pulls out of the Paris Climate Accord as a big F-U to the planet and the global community. Trump said as much at Davos: America First and foremost, and you all should be doing the same. Attacking the United Nations, hollowing out the US State Department, loose nuke rhetoric. That’s the recipe for international conflict.
Recently, NPR interviewed Jake Haupert of Evergreen Escapes, an inbound tour operator that organizes visits into his area from around the world. After a decade of steady growth, this year, his business volume plunged 25% after 11 years of growth- he is looking to sell him business. What accounts for it?”
“There is a sense of fear – gun violence, homelessness, the political climate. Trump comes across as anti-foreigner. The rhetoric is affecting US representation around the globe. Also the strong dollar. They are choosing not to travel. They are disinterested in coming to the US (once the most desired destination) or are waiting for this to pass.”
This undoes all the good that Obama had done – expediting travel visas, making visitors feel welcome at ports of entry, spending money to promote travel to the US, and yes, projecting the United States as a global leader advancing the betterment of the planet with climate action, eradication of poverty and disease, and spreading the institutions and values of democracy. What do you suppose the Trump CDC will do with another outbreak of Zika or Ebola?
Trump, the very opposite of a smart businessman (witness the number of bankruptcies including Atlantic City casino hotels), whose entire fortune including his ascension to the Oval Office is based on selling his “brand”, is cutting funding entirely to Brand USA, not just the title but a public-private coalition to inspire people from around the world to visit the United States. Every country on the planet has an entity that promotes tourism into their country, because tourist dollars are new dollars. In fact, Brand USA, which generated $615 million in incremental federal taxes and another $52 million in state and local taxes -produces a 27 to 1 return on investment – that’s $27 returned to ripple through the economy for every $1 spent on promotion. If Trump were actually a good businessman, he would appreciate that ROI as a great deal.
But Trump is ostensibly the president of the US, who should be concerned beyond mere dollars. He should be concerned about relationships, forging mutual understanding, dispelling myths about Ugly Americans. Travelers who come to the US, and Americans who travel abroad, take on the mantle of “ambassador” – presumably ambassadors of good will. It’s “minds and hearts” versus “bullets, bombs and bluster” that actually wins the day.
Trump in his State of the Union address will no doubt take credit for the economy (which grew only 2.6%, much lower than needed to support his tax cuts). But travel is the canary in the coal mine – it is the leading indicator for the economy – and because of its sheer size in the economy, supporting for one in every nine nonfarm jobs, what happens causes a ripple effect.
Travel spending is tied not so much to household income, but to consumer confidence – it is a manifestation of feeling, outlook.
Trump’s “Wall” is no different than the Iron Curtain or the Bamboo Curtain. It is a wall of ignorance, isolation, indifference, and just as anti-democratic and destructive. I would bet that 90% of Trump voters have never been outside their own province: they have no “world view” only a narrow view so easily shaped and molded by an autocratic regime that feeds on hate and mistrust.
Trump’s disdain for other countries and cultures, manifest in his “shithole” comment regarding the entire continent of Africa, Haiti and El Salvador, communicates his prejudice and resuscitates the image of “The Ugly American.”
And that image of the US border patrol agent dumping water left in the desert for people desperately fleeing violence in Central America is the new “Brand USA.”
Some 200,000 took over the streets of New York City for the Womens March, exactly one year after Donald Trump gave his dystopic inauguration speech and one year after the first Womens March that brought out millions in the largest single day of protest in history.
The Government shutdown kept Kristin Gillibrand away. It also overshadowed news coverage.
No matter. The women had already learned that the change we need, the rights we want, are up to us. It was important to be together, to see comrades in arms, to be amid a sea of people – 200,000 was the official count in New York City – who despite the fact there were 280 other womens marches taking place across the country including Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Chicago with about 2 million turning out – still came from all over the country, all ages and walks of life.
They marched for the Womens Agenda, which includes a score of vital issues: an end to sexual harassment, assault and extortion is one; reproductive rights and the right to self-determination as well as Equal Protection is another (somehow always get overshadowed and put on a back-burner of priorities). But the list encompasses access to affordable health care, gun violence prevention, environmental protection, protection for Dreamers and rational, humane immigration reform that keeps families together and ends the torture of insecurity. They marched for justice and fairness: political, social, economic, environmental and criminal justice.
There was definitely a change in attitude from last year, when people marched to show their despair over the selection by the Electoral College of Donald Trump as president, despite Hillary Clinton, the first woman to be a serious contender for President, winning 3 million more popular votes, and they marched to put the Republican majority in Congress on notice which they didn’t heed. This year, the Womens March was ramped up on anger and a new jeer, courtesy of Trump himself: “Shithole” is what marchers yelled as they passed Trump International on Columbus Circle, his incarnation; otherwise placid grey-haired suburban women giving the middle finger.
Anger and determination. It doesn’t matter whether or not the news media covered – in this case, the conundrum, “if a protest happens but no one reports it, did it happen?” doesn’t apply. The marchers aren’t asking permission, they are marching to register voters, launch the candidacy of a record number of women (390 for House, 49 for Senate, as many as 16,000 for state and local offices), and get out the vote in the 2018 midterms.
Hillary Clinton tweeted, “In 2017, the Women’s March was a beacon of hope and defiance. In 2018, it is a testament to the power and resilience of women everywhere. Let’s show that same power in the voting booth this year. #PowerToThePolls”
Instead of Trump and the Republicans heeding the message of the 2017 womens marches, the year has been one long travesty – the news didn’t bother to report – about stripping away women’s reproductive freedom (441 rulings limiting access just since Jan. 1), access to health care, their children’s health care, rolling back the regulations that protected the environment and public health and safety, launching reign of terror against undocumented immigrants, a tax code that literally robs working people to further enrich the already obscenely rich and undermines the ability to reach the American Dream and threatens Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP.
“The 2017 Women’s March unleashed a collective energy for change that continues to this day,” Laura McQuade, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of New York City said at a pre-march rally held by New York Planned Parenthood. “President Trump and Congress have spent the last year pushing policies to take away our hard won rights, roll back our ability to make decisions about our own lives, and block access to the fundamental health care we need and deserve. And we’ve responded with the largest grassroots movement in a generation. New York must be a leader in this fight. We have the momentum behind us and we won’t stop fighting until ALL New Yorkers have the ability to live the fullest lives they can.”
“We march to demand full equality for women,” JoAnn Smith, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County.“We know that 2018 promises to be a pivotal year for women’s health and rights. If 2017 taught us anything, it is that woman are a potent political force in fighting for a just world.”
“The Women’s March tapped into an energy that is even more powerful one year later,” Vincent Russell, President & CEO, Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic.“In the past year, we defeated Trumpcare and attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, witnessed voters turn out to make their voice heard with amazing results, and saw victims of sexual harassment speak out and say ‘No more!’ I continue to be amazed by our dedicated supporters who turn out, sign petitions, and march to ensure that each individual is empowered to determine their own reproductive future and have control over their own body.”
“We must step forward to achieve our goals,” says Robin Chappelle Golston, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts. “While the Women’s March started in the streets like many other social movements throughout history, the energy and power must transition into deeper action to create lasting change in policies and laws, to counter this harmful federal agenda. We must march toward seats in the halls of power, call out injustice and push for legislative change locally and on a state level. We must protect our people against discriminatory and damaging policies that impact access to justice, health care and progress in this country.”
At the rally before the march, New York State Attorney General declared, “I’m your lawyer.” He was referring not only to women’s rights including reproductive rights, but the due-process rights of the undocumented, of the Dreamers.
“Equal justice means that there is not one set of rules for the powerful and another for everyone else.
“This is a moment of transformation for the US. All of you here and across the country, showing up, registering and mobilizing, have built a movement to transform the country. You are no longer just the opposition. You are committed to justice and making sure government delivers.
“We believe in unions and the right to organize; that health care is a right, not a privilege; in a woman’s right to control her body and reproductive health care. If not, a woman is not truly free. We embrace a vision of America as one of pluralism and diversity, equal justice. We fight for the rights of immigrants. We are against white supremacy, against male supremacy in all its forms.
“I’m proud to be your lawyer, to fight the toxic volcano of bad policy, to fight for justice, equality, fairness, dignity and respect. We can never go back, only forward.”
Halsey, a Grammy winning Jersey girl, told her story on behalf of the many victims of sexual assault and extortion in the way that best captured the emotion, in a stirring poem:
It’s 2018 and I’ve realized nobody is safe long as she is alive
And every friend that I know has a story like mine
And the world tells me we should take it as a compliment
But then heroes like Ashley and Simone and Gabby, McKayla and Gaga, Rosario, Aly
Remind me this is the beginning, it is not the finale
And that’s why we’re here
And that’s why we rally
Ashley Bennett, newly elected Atlantic County, NJ Freeholder, said she was motivated to challenge her opponent after last year’s March when he said he hoped the women would get back in time to prepare dinner. “Because you marched, I took the first step toward changing my own community… people standing together for equal citizenship, pay, respect. When ordinary people stand for what they believe, for a common purpose, for the betterment of their community, extraordinary things happen…You don’t have to be perfect, just willing.”
The women marched for workers rights, for a living wage, for the right to collective bargaining.
Nancy Kaufman of the National Council of Jewish Woman, working on behalf of civil rights, workers rights, immigrant rights, women’s rights for 125 years, said, “We work to resist racism, sexism, Islamophobia” battling back against the “repeated, relentless assault on the Affordable Care Act, the goal of ending access to healthcare for millions.” The Republicans, she said, were willing to shut down government rather than allay the anxiety of Dreamers, or to reauthorize health care for 9 million children.
“Enough, we’re fed up. Persist and Resist because our democracy depends on it, for us, for our children and grandchildren. Our voices, our votes will count in November 2018 and November 2020. March on, turn passion into action today and every day.”
Ann Toback of the Workman’s Circle, fighting for worker and immigrant rights since 1909, winning the 8 hour workday, child labor laws, worker safety. “As Jews, we know too well the danger of name-calling, threats, closing borders…. The Jewish community is here to say, ‘Never again, the subjugation of women, immigrants, Muslims. All must be welcomed, protected, empowered. The way to victory is for all to stand united and resist bigotry. Attacks on one are attacks on all. Fight back the attacks on women, the deportation of 800,000 Dreamers whose only crime was not being born here – they didn’t cause the shutdown. Trump caused it…. We will rise up, resist. We will win.”
Actors Veronica Dunne and Rosie Perez spoke to the #MeToo movement and the need for women to mobilize. “This is our time. Power to the Polls. Create the world you want to live in because no one will do it for you.”
Nadina LaSpina spoke up for the rights of those with disabilities. “My body, my choice. We want control over the way our bodies are cared for and who cares for us, choose where care is provided – in home not an institution, not having treatments or drugs forced, never being denied care we need or want, not having strangers grab us, ask personal questions, stare with contempt, view with suspicion of a disability that is not obvious or visible, the assumption that a disability makes us less valuable as human beings. But this is a marginalized group that everyone can join – you never know what will happen. It intersects with all other s- women, color, immigrant, LGBTQ, seniors, poor. Many are forced into poverty by discrimination in the workplace – those with disabilities earn 37% less than persons with equal qualifications. Many are forced into poverty by the for-profit health care system. You have to impoverish yourself to be eligible for Medicare to pay for long-term care. Medicaid is under attack.
Disabled activists were dragged out of Congress and arrested, but stopped a bill that would have taken away your health care. Health care must be equal for all. Medicare for all, and include long-term care.
“We are strong fighters, we’ve been fighting for a half-century. We are not going to let our hard won rights be stripped away by a brutal, vicious administration and Congress. Put an end to this political nightmare. Move forward toward equality for all.”
Sulma Arzu-Brown, an immigrant rights advocate, said, “What 45 has done to this country has taken us back decades, even centuries. I never thought this country would be banning Muslims…. Save the soul of this nation and don’t let 45 destroy what we built. Show up for one another.”
“The Religious Freedom Act has been revived, marginalizing LGBT and repudiating the rights movement. Don’t let them dictate what we do with our bodies, how we choose to live our lives.”
At the end of the rally, the marchers were sent off with an inspiring performance by MILCK, joined on stage by Yoko Ono. (See video https://youtu.be/bPqkv7bqdec)
