Wendy Davis (Texas)

• Health Care

Texas families and small businesses are struggling as the cost of health care coverage continues to rise. That’s if they’re fortunate enough to have insurance at all or to find the type of coverage they need.

Unfortunately, politicians in control in Washington just don’t seem to care. Because they aren’t doing anything about it.

Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured people in the country. That includes the highest percentage of uninsured women. The highest percentage of uninsured children.

I’m a grandmother of 1 and 3-year-old granddaughters, and when I think about children and mothers across this state who are being denied the care that they need, I get angry.

I’m running for Congress because I believe that we need representation in Washington that will listen to us and work every day to assure that EVERY person in America has healthcare.

Here are six steps we can take immediately:

1. Create a public option to provide a competitive driver in the insurance marketplace and provide coverage for all. That includes allowing all families the option to obtain Medicare coverage and provide a subsidized buy-in for those left without coverage because of Texas’ failure to expand Medicaid;

2. Allow Medicare to use its muscle to negotiate the cost of prescription drug prices;

3. Increase the number of rural health centers and rural insurance plans;

4. Expand the number of families who receive tax breaks to pay for their plans;

5. Expand the use of telemedicine and new technologies;

6. Increase the focus on preventative care which will improve healthcare outcomes and drive down long term costs.

• Education

As I talk to Texas families, they tell me over and over again that they are concerned about shrinking resources at their public schools; teachers that are underpaid and overworked; about a lack of affordable, quality pre-k and childcare options and the rising cost of college tuition.

Unfortunately, politicians in control in Washington aren’t responding to the need to create the educated workforce that we need for tomorrow. They’re doing nothing to improve our public schools or make things easier for parents struggling to ensure their kids get access to higher education or trade schools.

I’m running for Congress to be a voice for parents, students and children. I was privileged to serve as a member of the Texas Senate’s Public Education Committee, and I was proud to fight against cuts to our public schools and to fight for the needs of our students. I will be that same partner in our nation’s Capitol, working every day to create the opportunities that our children and grandchildren deserve.

​:Here are seven steps I will work on immediately when I get to Washington:

1. Increase funding to states and school districts to raise teacher compensation and recruit and retain a strong, diverse workforce;

2. Invest in school infrastructure and resources;

3. Increase funding capacity in Title I schools and ensure all students have access to academic opportunities like computer science, music, and civics;

4. Meet our federal commitment to fund special education;

5. Enact and fund full day, quality Pre-K for every child;

6. Create affordable quality childcare for all families;

7. Make public and community college free for middle and lower income families.

• Retirement

Too many Texans are concerned that Medicare and Social Security are not going to be there when they retire. Who can blame them when they hear politicians in Washington talk openly about slashing or even eliminating these vital programs?

My mom is 82-years-old. She struggled throughout her working life in a low-wage job that did not create the social security investment needed to keep her secure in her retirement years. Thankfully, my siblings and I are able to help her. But what about all the other seniors across Texas and across the country who don’t have family support available to them?

I’m running for Congress to ensure that Texans can retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work. And I’ll work for our retirees as though they were my own mom.

Here’s my pledge when I get to Washington:

1. I’ll fight any attempt to cut Social Security, Medicare or the benefits retirees have earned by even a single dollar and assure that cost-of living increases are a part of these benefits, making more resources available to our retirees, not less;

2. I’ll work to provide financing to put failing pension plans back on solid ground to ensure they can meet their commitments to retirees today and workers for decades to come;

3. I’ll put safeguards in place so pension plans remain strong in order to be there for today’s workers when they retire.

• Immigration

We continue to face a humanitarian crisis on the border. As a mother and grandmother, it breaks my heart to see children the same age as my grandchildren, Ellis and Sawyer, being taken away from their mothers and put in freezing cold cages without access to adequate medical attention or food. That can’t be who we are as a nation. And it must stop, immediately.

I’m running for Congress because we need a comprehensive solution to address immigration.

Here are a few things we can do immediately:

1. Pass comprehensive immigration reform that provides a pathway to citizenship for those currently living in the shadows and protects our border with effective security methods recommended by experts;

2. Pass protections for Dreamers and Temporary Protected Status holders;

3. Honor our nation’s asylum laws, while assigning more caseworkers and judges to speed the process;

4. Assure that no one who has served our country in battle is deported after giving their all to fight for our country and its values.

• Gun Safety

I am heartbroken about the senseless loss of life as Texas and our nation tries to come to terms with tragic mass shootings. I am equally troubled by the proliferation of hand-gun violence, which claims the lives of far too many, whether in struggling communities, in domestic-violence incidents or in deaths by suicide.

But I'm also angry. I'm angry at the inaction by Washington politicians more interested in courting the NRA than protecting the lives of the people they were elected to serve.

Thoughts and prayers aren't good enough.

I’m running for Congress because It's time for common-sense action to address this gun violence epidemic. I’m running because I think our kids need to go to school to learn how to think critically, not learn to hide from an active shooter.

Here are things we can do immediately:

1. Pass universal background checks;

2. Ban the sale of military assault-style weapons and large capacity magazines;

3. Ensure that known and suspected terrorists, domestic abusers and those who have been demonstrated to be a danger to themselves or others can’t get their hands on guns through the creation of red-flag laws;

4. Lift the ban on academic institutions and research facilities and allow them to study the impact of gun violence on public health, providing needed resources to conduct those studies.

• Veterans' Rights

We have an obligation to protect our brave men and women in uniform both while on active duty and after they come home. This has always been one of my top priorities.

I was proud to serve on the Veterans Affairs Committee throughout my 6 years in the Texas Senate. As a senator, I was proud to reach across the aisle to help pass a constitutional amendment that provides tax exemptions for disabled veterans and their spouses. I was also proud when I created a source of funding through the renewal of drivers licenses and motor vehicle registrations and co-authored the creation of a veterans’ specific lottery ticket, each of which have raised millions to support our veterans.

Unfortunately, too many politicians in Washington like to pay lip service to our veterans without providing them with needed support after they’ve sacrificed so much on our collective behalf.

As a member of Congress, I will work to:

1. Increase investments in mental health services, disability benefits and job training;

2. Expand access to small business tax credits to encourage hiring veterans;

3. Increase the travel reimbursements for long distance care and increase benefits for caregivers, spouses and dependents;

4. Expand critical benefits that assist with homeownership;

5. Fully fund the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which provides economic and education opportunities for our service members;

6. Fight the growing homelessness problem for our returning service members and ensure that no person who serves our country should ever be homeless;

7. Protect funding for our military bases like Joint Base San Antonio from being raided for other purposes.

• Climate Change

Climate change is a crisis that poses an existential threat to the United States and the world. Anyone who isn’t urgently working to address it is failing our responsibility to our kids and grandkids. When I think about the world we are leaving for my grandchildren to inherit, I feel an extraordinary commitment to them. I want to be able to tell them that I did my part to assure they will live in a world that can sustain their children and grandchildren.

That’s why I support aggressive action now that leads to the United States attaining carbon neutrality by at least 2050.

There are those on the other side who like to talk about the economic costs of action. But we really should be talking about the costs of inaction as climate induced natural disasters like hurricanes, droughts and wildfires become increasingly commonplace.

We should also be thinking about opportunities that addressing climate change can present. We can achieve the ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by ensuring that states like Texas become the leader in green technology, creating thousands of jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.

Steps that can be taken immediately include:

1. Restoring protections once provided through the Environmental Protection Agency that have been systematically unwound by the current presidential administration and that have left communities with little to no protections against air and water pollutants;

2. Incentivizing clean energy solutions like wind, solar and geo-thermal energy;

3. Providing job training for the clean energy jobs of the future;

4. Re-entering the Paris Climate Accord and owning our responsibility as a country to lead the way in clean energy solutions.

• Economic Justice

Almost half of Texans are struggling to pay bills each month for basics like housing, food, and childcare. That second job or extra credit card just doesn’t cover the costs anymore.

I know what that feels like. I grew up poor in Texas, many times feeling like I was on the brink of financial disaster. I know what’s like not to be able to pay the light bill and to sit at home at night in the dark. I know how it feels to stand at the grocery cashier, looking over my items and deciding what to leave out because I don’t have enough money in my checking account to cover it all. I know what it feels like to make what should be one meal stretch into two or three. I know what it feels like to have a flat tire and worry that it will be what finally pushes you over the edge into financial ruin.

Sometimes it feels like there’s nobody that wants to help, least of all the people elected to serve us in Washington. It’s like we don’t have a voice.

That’s why I’m running for Congress. We need someone fighting every single day to create an economy that works for all of us, one that’s thinks about a family’s budget, equity and justice.

That’s why my priorities in Congress will be to:

1. Pass a $15 dollar an hour federal minimum wage;

2. Support the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will help close the wage gap between men and women;

3. Pass strong paid family leave, universal pre-K and child care to ensure fathers and mothers aren’t punished for growing their families;

4. Pass strong paid sick leave so that serious illness doesn’t mean families lose their home or their jobs;

5. Crack down on payday lenders taking advantage of families living paycheck to paycheck;

6. Pass tax relief and increase access to credit for Texas small businesses to help them grow;

7. Invest in good paying clean energy jobs in Texas that can’t be shipped overseas.

8. Invest in infrastructure like roads, bridges, high speed rail and broadband.

• Equality for All

The phrase “we the people” in the constitution refers to ALL of us. That’s why in Congress I will be a champion for human and civil rights, using my voice to protect and empower the LGBTQIA community.

My priorities in congress will include:

1. Passing the Equality Act, which will amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to end discrimination based on sexual orientation, sex and gender identity and provide critical protections on employment, housing and education.

2. Working to protect public school students from bullying and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

3. Working to reverse the discharge status of any member of the military discharged as a result of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

4. Amending the Fair Housing Act to explicitly provide protections for LGBT Americans.

Ending the discriminatory ban on transgender service members trying to serve their country openly.^[4]