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Issues
I believe in equal opportunity for all and special privileges for none. I’m in Congress to deliver a New American Dream, in which working hard and following the rules secures an:
excellent education by 18;
a home of your own by 30; and
a dignified retirement by 65.
The foundation of this American Dream is the rule of law and individual freedom. Americans owe one another equal justice under law. And we commit to one another free minds, free enterprise, free elections, and freedom from fear.
Here’s what I’m working on:
The financial freedom agenda
Treat cost disease, reduce the debt, and save Social Security
Americans deserve better than a hot-potato game of ‘affordability.’ In that game, whichever party is out of power promises to lower prices. Then, it fails to deliver.
Americans deserve financial freedom.
That requires:
Treating cost disease
Cost disease is when prices in a sector go up faster than wages, year over year. Housing, healthcare, and utilities are most afflicted. But their cost disease can be treated. Cut regulations that drive up prices, like bans on starter homes. Promote technology that lowers prices, particularly in hospital services. And, always: take on special interests, like utilities, that keep prices high.
Saving Social Security
This earned benefit is sacrosanct. Yet, it’s on track to be insolvent by 2033. Congress must fix the arithmetic of Social Security. That fix should include the wealthiest paying more than into a Trust Fund. It should also include raising the minimum wage and expanding access to wealth creation for workers.
Reduce the debt
The last president to balance the budget was a Democrat, and the next one should be, too. Handing off more than $40 trillion in debt to the next generation is a bill that comes due in taxes and inflation. It’s not fair.
Lowering deficits requires changes in growth, taxes and spending. Education, science, infrastructure and legal immigration improvements drive growth. Closing tax preferences like the Buy-Borrow-Die loophole for billionaires will raise tax revenue. And pursuing efficiencies in healthcare delivery, especially in chronic-disease care, can lower spending.
Social media & AI regulation
Social media corporations are running an experiment on our children for profit
The results are devastating for families. The typical American child now spends less time outdoors than a federal inmate.
In 2024, I co-led legislation to force TikTok out from under the Chinese Communist Party.
Now I’m leading legislation in Congress to:
Raise the minimum age for social media accounts from 13 to 16 - Social media and similar apps must verify users’ ages without uploading photo IDs or scanning faces.
Hold social media & AI companies liable for deepfakes, harassment, and other harms.
Tax Big Tech – which pays lower effective rates than most nurses – to fund the construction of 1,000 trade schools and to surge 1:1 tutoring to public schools. After the catastrophic school closures, American public school students need more help.
The Eds & Meds economy in Massachusetts
Medical science delivers therapies for dread diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and addiction. It’s also a jobs engine for Massachusetts. Every 10 biotech hires generates 16 non-biotech jobs.
Yet science is under attack right now.
Bloomberg called me the “Democrat taking on RFK Jr.” I fight his quackery, grift and incompetence. I am also leading legislation to:
Fix affordability and access in drug pricing. Patients should pay low or no co-pays. Insurance companies must not abuse prior authorization. And American patients should always get the newest, life-saving medicines.
Support and defend the integrity of the National Institutes of Health and the Food & Drug Administration. Peer review, not politics, should determine which science is funded. Medicines should be evaluated based on safety & efficacy, not wins for the White House.
Modernize U.S. clinical trials infrastructure. Better and faster trials will reduce the cost of drug development, bring therapies to market faster, and make the United States more competitive versus China.
Support & defense of the rule of law
Corruption is out of control. It’s not just Trump, with his crypto scams and slush funds for friends & felons. It’s a political system in which dark money floods elections, lawmakers don’t listen, and authoritarian actions go unpunished.
We must:
Overturn Citizens United. Mine was the first signature on a ballot petition in Massachusetts to overturn this Supreme Court decision. It unleashed dark money and corporate contributions in elections. I’ll continue working to clean up that mess.
Ban government officials from stock trading, prediction markets, and cryptocurrencies. Elected officials should also submit annual cognitive exams for the public record.
Restore checks & balances. Strengthen congressional control over war, tariffs, appropriations, law enforcement, and independent agencies.
The rule of law is not only about the Constitution. It’s also about public safety. When shampoo is locked up, but not shoplifters, then public order decays. Public safety policy should prosecute those who break the law with firmness and justice. It should train and resource the police to solve crimes at a higher rate. And it should integrate behavioral and addiction services.
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Democrats need big ideas. Americans do not trust either party. We cannot earn back their trust by defending the status quo. We must demonstrate that we can govern better, and better governance starts with better ideas. These ideas are not fine pottery to be admired, they are clay to be molded. Together.
Simple but Not Easy is dedicated to sharing ideas for us to shape together.