Issue Position: Fighting for Working Families

Issue Position

Working harder and longer for not much more is a raw deal. Over the last four decades, the rich have gotten richer while the majority of us struggle to get by. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed even more starkly the economic divides in our country.

All of us deserve the same deal that our parents' and grandparents' generation got -- when one job was enough to support a family and provide for a dignified retirement.

Economic productivity has increased by more than 50 percent since 1979 in West Virginia, but median hourly compensation has grown by just 3.6 percent. This means that although we are more productive than ever, the fruits of our labor have primarily gone to those at the top and to corporate profits that have not been reinvested in West Virginia.

Mergers have allowed corporations to increasingly consolidate power, squeezing small businesses, weakening organized labor and suppressing wages.

Meanwhile, many of the largest and most profitable corporations in the country take advantage of loopholes to avoid paying corporate taxes. In 2018, at least 60 of the largest corporations -- including many familiar faces in West Virginia like Amazon, American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, Dominion and others -- evaded paying more than $16 billion in corporate taxes.

I will fight for a more fair economy by:

Re-enacting and enforcing anti-trust laws to level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs

Closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and corporations, taxing Wall Street speculation and fairly taxing capital gains and dividends

Supporting workers' right to organize and fight for better workplace conditions, wages and benefits. I support the "Protecting the Right to Organize" (PRO) Act, which imposes penalties on employers who retaliate against employees seeking to unionize, and the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would require states to give collective bargaining rights to teachers and public employees.

Passing policies to support working families, including: a $15/hour minimum wage, fair scheduling, universal child care, and paid family and medical leave

Defending the funding for programs that hard-working West Virginians depend on, including Social Security and Social Security Disability Insurance, cash assistance, children's health insurance program, food stamps, and home heating assistance.

Fighting for dignified retirement, including funding for multi-employer pension plans that lost significant value in recent financial crises, and increasing Social Security benefits while eliminating the cap on Social Security taxable income so that the wealthy are paying their fair share into the program.

Bringing back postal banking, to expand access to banking services in rural areas. Nearly 8% of West Virginia households don't have a bank account and an additional 18.5% have difficulty accessing a bank account. This is a problem in normal times, and has become even more so now, as those in most need often have had the most difficulty getting their federal coronavirus relief checks. I support a return to postal banking, in which the U.S. Postal Service provides basic banking services at all branches, which would greatly improve access to banking in rural West Virginia.

Source