Legislative Priorities

Preventing Gun Violence

As a United States Marine, I carried an assault rifle in Iraq. It saved my life more than once. I’ve seen what assault rifles can do. Nobody in America needs to own an assault rifle. I also carried two grenades every day I was in Iraq, but we’ve made a decision in this country that our citizens don’t need to walk around carrying hand grenades. We need to do the same thing with assault weapons and other weapons of war. Nobody is allowed to drive a tank down the highway, or walk into a shopping mall with grenades—nobody should be allowed to have an assault weapon either.

It’s time for commonsense gun reform. We can start by passing an assault weapons ban and background checks, not letting people who are on a terrorist no fly list buy guns, and enforcing red flag laws.

Ensuring Health Care—and Mental Health Care—For All

Healthcare is a basic human right, not a privilege. All Americans deserve health insurance that’s affordable, that isn’t tied to a job, and that covers all pre-existing conditions — no matter who you are.

That’s why I support President Obama’s original plan to make private health insurance work better, alongside a public option. Competition is the cornerstone to Americans getting lower premiums, lower drug prices, and great care. We need to undertake drastic change to fix our healthcare system, and we need to give Americans the freedom to choose the plan that works best for them. This must include access to reproductive healthcare and contraceptive services so women can make the right choices for themselves and their families.

In addition, mental health should become a routine part of healthcare in our country. We all know someone who struggles with mental health or struggle with it ourselves. But all too often, we don’t talk about these issues or get help because of the stigma associated with them. That’s why I passed a bill to make 988 the national mental health crisis hotline. 

It’s time to end the stigma around these issues and make sure everyone gets the support they need.

Creating an Economy that Works for Everyone

Our economy is changing fast, and we need to equip Americans with the tools they need to thrive in the new economy—not the old. That means investing in infrastructure, reimagining our education system, and rewriting the rules of our economy to build an America where hard work pays off.

We need to pass a Democratic Tax Reform that ensures everyone pays their fair share. That means at least:

• Reversing the Trump tax cuts and raising the rates for corporations and top earners.

• Taxing capital gains at the same rate as working Americans.  

• Funding the IRS so that tax shelters and tax cheats are audited, not ordinary Americans. 

We also need to create equal opportunity in this country by closing school funding gaps, so that the quality of education does not depend on your zip code, improving workforce development programs to put more Americans in good paying jobs, and making college affordable to revive the American Dream that has been out of reach for so many.

Supporting our Veterans

Our veterans sacrifice so much to take care of us overseas, so it’s our responsibility to ensure they are taken care of when they return home.

Veterans are at high risk of facing mental health challenges: 50% of veterans who struggle with post-traumatic stress (PTS) don’t get help, and 22 veterans or active-duty service members commit suicide every day.

My plan to make mental health check-ups as routine as a physical for active-duty military and veterans would: 

• Require annual mental health check-ups just like annual physicals. Mindfulness training is preventative medicine as pioneered today by the special operations community and other elite units.

• In addition, require a mandatory counseling session for everyone returning from a combat deployment within two weeks of arriving home.

• Fill all mental health vacancies at the VA and adopt a more holistic approach to treatment, including alternative therapies like mindfulness, exercise, and cannabis. Fund an ad campaign for veterans’ families to recognize mental health symptoms.

Building Infrastructure of the Future 

We can rebuild our economy by rebuilding our country. That starts with connecting every house in America to affordable, high-speed internet. And it means not just repairing our roads, bridges, and water pipes but building next-generation transportation, like high-speed rail, because everyone should have access to good jobs in their region and a chance to make it home after work in time for dinner.

Reforming our Immigration System

We need a path to citizenship for everyone in America. I’m proud to have cosponsored and voted for HR 6, the Dream and Promise Act, which would create a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers who are American in every way except on paper. It should be law. 

We shouldn’t be cutting off foreign aid or closing the border or building a wall. We should be investing targeted foreign aid in the Northern Triangle, addressing the violence that’s driving people from their homes and to our borders.

When the president separated families and put kids in cages I was speaking out and fighting back. I led a delegation to the Mexican side of the border and met with deported veterans—a phrase that shouldn’t even exist.

Championing Equality for All Americans

There is systemic racism in our country, and one of the most important things I’ve learned over the last few months is how prevalent it is right here at home. That’s a difficult lesson to learn. 

We’re still feeling the repercussions of the past, and we need to address them. We need to have a conversation in this country that should have happened decades ago. I am a co-sponsor of HR40, which would create a commission to examine reparations. I’ve also introduced the GI Bill Restoration Act, which seeks to right historical wrongs by extending housing and education GI benefits to certain direct descendants of Black WWII veterans, who were denied them.

I also believe we need to rethink the way we police in this country. We should be diverting funds from police departments to social services; from policing crime to preventing crime; for providing more mental health support to people in our communities before they get caught up in the criminal justice system.

Addressing the Climate Crisis

We’re facing two primary challenges in this country right now. The first is that our economy is changing faster than ever before, and Americans everywhere are being left behind. The second is climate change. That’s why we need a Green New Deal: because if we do it right, we can solve both problems at once.

The Green New Deal needs to be built around green jobs and clean energy, decarbonization and breakthrough technologies, and access to green energy for the developing world—and America should lead the way in winning this moral and economic opportunity. We can lead the world in green tech and green jobs, and we should set the standards for other countries to follow.

The New Deal paved the way for a strong economy and American leadership in the last century. Let’s shape the Green New Deal to help America lead this one.