While many Democratic and Progressive activists are enamored with the policy proposals advanced by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, the ideas offered by other Presidential candidates also merit consideration.
Among these plans is the Real Deal legislative program released today (January 2, 2020) by Colorado Senator and Presidential Candidate Michael Bennet.
According to the Bennet campaign website and a press statement released by the Bennet Presidential Campaign:
“The Real Deal is an agenda that Democrats up and down the ballot—in blue, purple, and red states—can run on to defeat Donald Trump, take back the Senate, expand control in the House, and win statehouses across the country. It will not only galvanize the Democratic base but also help win back some of the nine million people who voted twice for Barack Obama and then for Donald Trump.”
Highlights of the Real Deal, according to the press release and the campaign website include:
- Support Families Raising Kids and Workers Trying to Make Ends Meet by Expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.
- Pass Paid Family and Medical Leave.
- Raise the Minimum Wage.
- Lower Costs and Cover Everyone with High-Quality Health Care.
- Tackle the Housing Affordability Crisis.
- Make a Secure Retirement More Attainable and Affordable.
- Create a Universal Preschool for three and four-Year-Olds.
- Invest in the 70% of Americans Who Don’t Graduate from College
- Make College Affordable to Drive Upward Mobility
- Pay Teachers Like Professionals
- Tackle Climate Change and Drive the 21st Century Clean-Energy Economy
- Rebuild America’s Infrastructure
- Reform Our Broken Immigration System
- Address Inequality by Making Sure Our Tax Code Requires Everyone Pay Their Fair Share
- Reform Campaign Finance Laws and Our Broken Political System
This proposal would cost six trillion dollars (a fraction of the Warren and Sanders programs) and is paid for by “repealing much of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, increasing capital gains taxes in what Bennet calls a “smart wealth tax” and heightening IRS enforcement.”
Senator Bennet’s campaign has consistently striven to appeal to red, purple, and blue America. At an October event at Arizona State University, he stated that his program proposals could win in states like Colorado, Arizona, and other purple/red states compared to the more ambitious and costly Warren and Sanders ideas.
Voters in the Democratic caucuses and primaries would do well to research all the candidate’s ideas and ask three questions:
- Are they good ideas that are grounded in reality and move the country forward?
- Can they appeal to the people and what they are looking for from their leaders?
- Can they pass the Congress in 2021?
By framing the policy programs of all the candidates around those questions, Senator Bennet’s Real Deal should warrant more consideration in the days leading up to Iowa, New Hampshire, and beyond.
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His 6 trillion dollar plan is only a fraction of the cost of the Warren and Sander’s plans. How can Trump lose?
You gave away $900,000.00 USD of Arizonan’s tax money to your owners at GEO and said it was because you didn’t think they were making enough money off of me.
Oh, those poor millionaires! Thank you for saving them!
You cost Arizona $2,000,000,000.00 USD your racist SB1070 scandal. That’s two billion, and I feel the need to spell that out to you.
How’s the debt and deficit doing under your boy Trump?
After years of declining deficits under Obama, we are now running trillion dollar per year PLUS deficits under your idol Trump, and the debt is going up, not down, as your cult leader Trump promised.
The lack of self awareness in the GOP is sad.
Learn math.
John The only Presidents that have been fiscally responsible over the last quarter-century have been Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. You can include the first George Bush if you go back a little further. At least Bennet’s programs, like most of the Democrats, are paid for. How were the Trump, Bush II, and Reagan tax cuts paid for? I would rather invest in people than give tax cuts to the one percent that do not need them. I would recommend this article from the New Yorker (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/01/06/the-ultra-wealthy-who-argue-that-they-should-be-paying-higher-taxes?source=EDT_NYR_EDIT_NEWSLETTER_0_imagenewsletter_Daily_ZZ&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_010120&utm_medium=email&bxid=5dff951e7e553f1989620b24&cndid=59458820&esrc=&mbid=&utm_term=TNY_Daily). Even a substantial portion of the ultra-wealthy know the tax cuts are counterproductive and prudent investments are needed. As always, take care and have a great day.