Top Issues
Protect Our Democracy. Defend our Constitution.
People are being disappeared off our streets with no due process. Others are being investigated and prosecuted simply for disagreeing with or criticizing Donald Trump. Barriers to legal voting are being raised higher and higher. Our country is transforming into a repressive autocracy and is well on its way to a Vladimir Putin-style dictatorship where anyone can be declared a criminal and locked up with no due process.
Brian Fitzpatrick should be honoring his oath of office to defend our Constitution, loudly, adamantly opposing Trump and his zealots every day, fighting for our American democracy. But Fitz has done nothing. He won’t even meet with his constituents to explain his lack of action. How can he remain in Donald Trump’s party? How can Fitzpatrick sleep at night knowing the children of America will grow up with their Constitutional protections weakened or stripped away, subject to the whim of Donald Trump or whoever succeeds him.
We can’t even assume we will have elections in 2026, given Trump’s history of inciting violence to hang onto power. Imagine Trump declares some kind of national emergency and suspends elections. Fitzpatrick wouldn’t even vote to impeach Trump after J6, when our democracy was attacked and literally stopped for over 5 hours. Do you think he would oppose Trump now?
We live in an American Constitutional Democracy. My father and my wife’s father risked their lives fighting for that democracy in WWII. We must not simply hand it over to an Authoritarian Oligarchy and a wannabe dictator, and allow the youth of today and future generations to inherit the same freedoms and protections we’ve known.
Lower taxes for low and middle income Americans
Did you know that when federal income taxes were introduced in 1913, the lowest rate was 1%, which did not apply to the first $3,000 for individuals, and $4,000 for couples filing jointly. In today’s dollars, that’s $66,000 and $88,000 – NO TAXES! The intent then was to focus income tax on higher incomes who could afford to pay them while protecting low-middle income folk.
Over the years that’s changed. Now it’s gotten hard if not impossible for average wage earners to get ahead financially, let alone simply pay their bills. So I propose eliminating income taxes completely for all taxpayers on the first $20,000 they earn ($40,000 if married filing jointly). This benefits everyone, saving approximately $2,000/$4,000 per individual/couple, from those earning minimum wage to high earning billionaires and would cost $1.5-$3 trillion over ten years.
To offset this cost, let’s increase the current top tax rate of 37% for earned income above $609,351 to 41%. Also, I propose adding an additional top rate of 47% on earned income above $900,000. This would generate between $1.3-$1.8 trillion over ten years.
But salaries alone are not the only source of income for billionaires. So to further offset the cost of tax relief for middle class families, let’s tax long-term capital gains and qualified dividends at ordinary income tax rates for income above $1 million and tax unrealized capital gains at death above $5 million ($10 million for joint filers). This is largely what was proposed during the Biden administration and could generate $825 billion over ten years.
Additionally, I propose increasing the corporate tax rate from 21% to 25%, which would potentially generate $520 billion over ten year. And we could increase the excise tax on corporate stock buy backs from 1% to 5%, which would potentially generate another $40 billion in revenue OR encourage companies to invest in their businesses, raise wages or do other things that would actually help our economy.
Totaled together, the above would potentially generate $1.65 trillion in revenue, much of which would be applied to paying down our $37 trillion national debt.
And we could remove the cap on Social Security payments, currently set to $176,000. Depending on how it’s implemented, this would add $1-2.7 trillion to Social Security, helping to keep it solvent until 2046 to provide security for seniors.
Protect Health Care Access.
Access to abortion care should not be left up to individual states to decide, which results in women and girls in some states having fewer rights to control what happens to their own bodies then those in other states. A national standard, similar to Roe, should be established. Based on current medical science, the central nervous system, including the brain of the fetus, has begun to develop at five months. This means the fetus begins to experience sensations such as pain. Based on this, access to abortion should not be restricted until after the fifth month of pregnancy. Having said that, I am open to additional data or compelling perspectives.
Additionally, the cost of prescription drugs is far too expensive. The federal government should be able to negotiate lower prices, especially for insulin and other necessary ongoing treatments.
Medicaid is a vital program that millions of families rely upon, including over 100,000 in our district alone. My own Mother relied upon Medicaid to cover medical expenses towards her final years. God knows what kind of care we could have gotten for her without Medicaid, so I’m going to fight to protect it from those who would take it away.
Fiscal Responsibility. Reduce the national debt.
The deficit spending that’s been going on for the past fifty years (except for three years at the end of Bill Clinton’s presidency) must stop. It’s estimated we will pay $952 billion in INTEREST on our national federal debt in 2025. We are creating a financial debt nightmare which will burden our children and future generations. We MUST put our government on a path towards staying within budget as well as paying down our debt. It took a long time to build up this debt, and it’s going to take a long time to address it. But we’ve got to make some hard decisions to get this done.
Global Warming. Protect our environment.
Every year we're seeing more frequent and powerful storms, along with extended droughts and fires related to global warming. Trump's policies embrace fossil fuels while cutting back on green energy initiatives. He also wants to cut down trees from millions of acres of public land, at a time when we should be planting more trees to reduce global warming.
Deregulation has allowed micro plastics and other harmful pollutants into our air, water and food supply. It's vital to the health and prosperity of the young people of today that we act to protect Mother Earth before millions and/or billions suffer due to inaction. Relying on recycling has at best slightly slowed this threat. One approach would be to put the responsibility for reducing or eliminating micro plastics in our food chain on manufacturers of disposable plastics and packaging accountable for the products they produce, as well as the companies that use plastics to package and sell their products. Hopefully, this would encourage them to minimize the plastic used, or use materials that are safer for our environment.
Election Reform. Get money out of politics!
Our elections are corrupted by billions of dollars in donations, which buy those with the most to donate far too much influence over government. We need look no further than Elon Musk, who literally bought himself a seat in Trump's administration by donating $290 million to his campaign and supporting PACs. The Supreme Court foolishly ruled 15 years ago that donating money equals free speech, which results in those with the most money have the most free speech. We've got to severely restrict or eliminate donations so citizens of average income can have equal free speech in our elections.
Better yet, publicly fund financing for qualifying federal candidates. Those running for congress or president would no longer be allowed to build up “war chests.” Instead, they would have to meet a threshold amount of verified citizen’s signatures to qualify for taxpayer-funded campaign grants. All qualifying candidates would get the same amount, so well-heeled candidates won’t be able to overpower opponents by outspending them. Doing this will save us money because elected officials would no longer be allowed to accept donations from billionaire donors or PACs. They’ll have to learn to stay within the budget of their grants. And we won’t be bothered by politicians asking for money. A win-win!
Additionally, eliminate partisan gerrymandering, which dilutes the votes of citizens and helps extremists gain elected office. It's insane to allow political parties or elected officials to control drawing congressional districts. Independent commissions should be able to create fair and balanced districts.
And finally, it's time to end the electoral college. In presidential elections, the voters in our least populated states have up to 3.5 times the weight of votes cast in our most populous states. This is simply unfair and undemocratic. The original reasons for an electoral college, which include giving more electoral power to slave states, are no longer relevant. Plus elections by national popular vote would eliminate so-called battleground states (and thus maybe fewer political ads in Pennsylvania). It would also ensure every vote counts. Since Pennsylvania is “winner take all” electoral state, those voting for the losing candidate find that their votes are essentially wiped out in the final national results. Plus, voters in so-called “safe” red or blue states are far more likely to vote, since their votes are now meaningful.
End Presidential Pardons
Donald Trump pardoning the 1,500 criminals who attacked the capital and stopped our democracy on J6 was by far the most egregious abuse of this power. Clearly a quid pro quo where he rewarded those who, at his invite and provocation and while carrying flags with his name on them, stormed the capital, beating security officers so badly that they died from their trauma. In my view - and in James Madison's view as well - this abuse of power is impeachable.
But Joe Biden pardoning his son is an abuse as well. It's understandable that a father would seek to protect his son. But a president should not have that power. It will take an amendment, but it's been abused for decades and has to end.
Humane Immigration Policy. Effective Border Managment.
Masked, armed men in tactical gear harassing and kidnapping parents away from their children is inhumane and cruel. We can be tough on illegal immigration while still being compassionate towards families and communities. Arrest and deport actual criminals, not undocumented people who are otherwise law-abiding. Especially those with families or who have family members who’ve served in our military. We should provide a way to get documented with some kind of legal status, pay a fine and perhaps get on a path to citizenship. Many undocumented immigrants contribute taxes and even pay into social security WITHOUT being eligible for benefits. And there are many industries that rely upon the work these immigrants do. It’s simply stupid to undermine American businesses by deporting such people.