Democratic candidate Billy Kovacs outlined a detailed plan for how he would grow Arizona’s economy as Tucson’s Congressman.
“We can grow our economy without giving massive tax breaks for corporations,” he said at a recent meeting of the Democrats of Greater Tucson.
Among the five serious candidates, Kovacs is the only one emphasizing the economy in Congressional District 2. As Bill Clinton pointed out in 1992, winning elections is about “the economy, stupid!”
In a nutshell, his plan focuses on:
- Education – creating an educated workforce.
- Renewable resources – solar energy and energy storage.
- Public transportation – expanding the Tucson streetcar in all directions and preserving Amtrak in Arizona.
- Infrastructure – creating millions of jobs with a $1 trillion investment over 10 years.
- Immigration – creating a path to citizenship for 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants.
“We need to attract companies and workers to Arizona, and I’m talking about smaller companies that want to live in Arizona because of our natural resources and trained personnel from the university — and not for tax breaks,” he said.
Education
According to Kovacs, the US Department of Education is gutting public education with budget cuts to after-school programs, teacher training, Pell Grants, literacy programs and even school lunches. He calls for: