CARL'S 2018 ACTION PLAN

CARL SPOERER

ACTION PLAN

FOR REPRESENTING THE WORKING CLASS

1. JOB CREATION – REBUILDING THE WORKING CLASS

·         Create Job Leadership Teams (local citizens, workers, state and federal officials, business leaders and Union members) to develop and initiate regional economic plans.

·         Ensure Job Leadership Teams addresses 10–18 percent loss of jobs in almost every city in District 15.

·         Provide necessary resources to invest in clean energy and other manufacturing industries to bring jobs to the district.

·         Create and fund job training programs.

·         Obtain resources to support broadband services for District small businesses and self-employed, and to attract new industry to the District.

·         Support equal pay for equal work.

·         Work with state officials to ensure state-funded projects (such as construction projects) are not delayed or stopped.

·         Promote increasing the living wage to provide well-being and full participation in society:

2.                   UNIONS – THE BACKBONE OF THE WORKING CLASS

·         Reinforce the reality that Unions support the working class and are paramount to a successful economy.

·         Defend the Davis/Bacon Act to ensure workers are paid at prevailing wage.

·         Reject privatization of federal/state projects that further destabilize Union representation.

·         Reject Right to Work, an effort that destabilized the union’s ability to fully support and protect its workers – support closed shops.

·         Support Project Labor Agreements, a productive and stabilizing force in the construction industry.

·         Support all Unions to protect workers and revitalize the working class.

3.                   HEALTHCARE – A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE

·         Work with the pharmaceutical and healthcare-related industries to reduce drug costs.

·         Maintain essential health benefits so constituents do not pay extra for needed services.

·         Protect constituents with pre-existing conditions from exorbitant premium increases.

·         Fight to restore Risk Corridor protections to stabilize health insurance companies.

·         Protect women’s health services and community clinics that provide vital services to local/rural communities (cancer screening, STD testing, low-cost birth control, etc.)

·         Defend women’s right to choose.

·         Fight tax advantages for the wealthy that financially burden the working class.

·         Increase funding for mental health services, mental health facilities and drug addiction programs to provide necessary services for opioid addiction, PTSD and other needed mental health treatment.

·         Protect benefits of District miners including Black Lung Benefits.

·         Bring together all interested parties in the healthcare industry to fix the ACA.

·         Promote Medicaid expansion.

·         Protect Medicare funding for seniors.

·         Work to ensure smaller community hospitals remain viable.

·         Support the move to universal healthcare (Medicare for All) for Illinois and the country.

4.                   SOCIAL SECURITY – PROTECTING WORKER INVESTMENT

·         Reject myth that Social Security is an entitlement.

·         Introduce legislation to prevent Congress from raiding Social Security funds.

·         Fight for legislation to stabilize Social Security funding by removing the cap on wages matched by employers.

·         Promote legislation to raise the retirement income cap and still qualify for benefits.

5.                   EDUCATION – PREPARING OUR CHILDREN FOR THE FUTURE

·         Defend increased funding for the public school systems.

·         Hold public schools accountable to standards, but provide the freedom to design curriculum.

·         Reject the Voucher System, which will drain public resources, lessen public schools’ ability to be competitive and restrict children whose parents can’t afford it.

·         Increase funding to provide teachers with necessary resources (tools, supplies, technology).

·         Promote meaningful discussion to address differences in rural/urban schools.

·         Fight to provide students with accessible and affordable higher education, including vocational/trade schools.

·         Support efforts to reduce student loan debt burdens on young graduates.

·         Restore funding for public school lunch and after-school programs.

·         Safeguard teachers and their Unions as part of rebuilding the working class.

·         Obtain resources to support broadband services in all district public schools.

6.                   ENVIRONMENT – PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN’S FUTURE

·         Promote projects that move Illinois forward to clean energy that protects our water and air.

·         Restore necessary environmental provisions to keep people and wildlife safe and healthy.

·         Fight for the resources needed to bring renewable energy industries to the District.

7.                   CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS – MAXIMIZING INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS

·         Protect freedom of the press to ensure a healthy and honest democracy.

·         Fight to curtail attempts to limit First Amendment rights.

·         Protect Second Amendment rights to promote responsible gun ownership, including concealed carry.

·         Support background checks to ensure guns are kept out of the hands of offenders.

·         Support common-sense gun laws that addresses gun violence in District cities while protecting honest, law-abiding citizens’ rights to possess and use firearms.

·         Create a method that promotes further discussion on this complicated issue.

·         Support equality in regards to religion, race, sexual orientation and gender.

·         Reject efforts to suppress votes or gerrymander districts.

·         Ensure separation of church/state continues to be upheld.

·         Restore internet privacy for consumers.

8.                   BUDGET – PROVIDING RESOURCES THAT ALLOW THE WORKING CLASS TO                            FLOURISH 

  

·         Acquire resources necessary to attract manufacturing and clean energy industries to provide jobs for the District.

·         Invest long-term in agricultural entities that provide assistance for our rural farming communities.

·         Safeguard exports of corn, grain, soybeans and dairy products to allow farming to expand and increase profits.

·         Ensure farming supplements are directed to family farms instead of corporate farms, protecting families from one generation to the next.

·         Fight for increased mental health resources to help combat poverty, addiction and homelessness in our District.

·         Increase funding to ensure veterans receive the care they need.

·         Restore funding for public school lunch and after school programs.

·         Protect SNAP and WIC benefits for struggling families.

9.                   TAX REMEDIES – PROTECTING THE WORKING CLASS ECONOMY

·         Dispel the myth that tax advantages for the wealthy create jobs and economic growth. In reality, they create high deficits, a stagnant economy and further income disparity.

·         Reject the notion that money saved due to repatriation of taxes (Tax Holiday) was reinvested in hiring and production. In fact, it was used to pay shareholder dividends.

·         Fight to protect the alternative-minimum tax and estate tax provisions, which raise billions of dollars a year from the wealthy. Repeal of those provisions will cause higher taxes for the working class.

·         Penalize corporations that hide money overseas to avoid paying taxes.

·         Support a tax plan that is progressive, without loopholes, and provides for all (including corporations and billionaires) to pay their fair share.

10.               IMMIGRATION – REFLECTING AMERICA’S VALUES

·         Provide a timely and efficient path to citizenship for immigrants struggling for freedom, who work hard and pay their taxes.

·         Restore the DREAM Act and reunification of families.

·         Protect due process to ensure minor offenses, such as traffic violations, are not a cause for deportation.

11.               FOREIGN POLICY – ENGAGING AMERICANS ON THE WORLD STAGE

·         Restore a robust State Department using highly skilled personnel for negotiations and diplomacy.

·         Support foreign policy that involves consensus when instituting sanctions.

·         Ensure swift military action only as a last resort.

·         Provide front-line troops with needed support to destroy ISIS.

·         Ensure actions instituted against ISIS are consistent and in line with established objectives.

·         Support actions in partnership with peaceful Muslim countries.

12.               MARIJUANA – THE GREAT DEBATE

·         Support reducing marijuana from a Schedule 1 to a Schedule 2 drug, so that adequate research on the effects and usefulness of this drug can be conducted.

·         Ensure all constituents meeting the criteria for medical marijuana have easy access to it.

·         Create a team of constituents and officials to discuss the benefits of moving toward legalizing marijuana in Illinois.