New Jersey's 7th Congressional District election, 2018

MEET LEONARD LANCE

Leonard Lance record in Congress includes fighting for a strong national defense, a secure border, spending cuts and lower taxes, American-made energy and job-creating policies to get our economy going again.

CREATING JOBS & STRENGTHENING OUR ECONOMY

Leonard Lance record in Congress includes fighting for a strong national defense, a secure border, spending cuts and lower taxes, American-made energy and job-creating policies to get our economy going again. Leonard Lance voted for fiscally responsible proposals that will bring growth, prosperity and certainty to our economy. And Lance has voted for proposals that lift bureaucratic hurdles, red tape, and cost burdens that have hurt New Jersey’s small businesses.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

Leonard Lance voted for a federal balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and is the author of the Lance Amendment to the New Jersey State Constitution that prohibits further state borrowing without voter approval. Leonard Lance has always fought against wasteful government spending, opposing the $1 trillion stimulus, the 9,000-earmark omnibus spending bill and President Obama's $3.6 trillion budget. And Lance was one of the first Republicans to reject earmarks and authored legislation to repeal the wasteful ethanol subsidy.

REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM

As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Leonard Lance is leading the fight for real Health Care Reform with sensible measures that include allowing insurance to be sold across state lines, improving health savings accounts (HSAs), establishing Association Health Plans (AHP) insurance pools and enacting real medical malpractice reform.

AMERICAN-MADE ENERGY

As New Jersey's only Republican member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Leonard Lance is committed to an “all-of-the-above” American-made energy policy to help bring down fuel prices, create more jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign energy. Four times Leonard Lance voted to approve the Keystone XL pipeline that will bring secure energy to America, support the creation of thousands of jobs, and help bring down prices at the pump.

IMMIGRATION

Leonard Lance opposes amnesty, supports securing our borders first and requiring businesses to use the E-Verify background check system.

TRANSPORTATION ISSUES

Leonard Lance voted for the highway transportation law that will ensure important construction projects continue moving forward while keeping more than 700,000 construction workers on the job. Leonard Lance also supported the bipartisan water resources legislation that is critically important to more than 20,000 Garden State jobs and directly contributes $3.4 billion to our state’s economy.

LOWER TAXES FOR NEW JERSEY

Leonard Lance voted to lower taxes for 99 percent of New Jersey taxpayers, voted to cut business taxes by 20 percent and cosponsored legislation to repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Leonard Lance is one of Congress' leading advocates for elimimating the "death tax. Leonard Lance supports a tax reform plan that calls for a simpler, flatter and fairer tax system that will restore economic opportunity and prosperity to our Nation's economy. Leonard Lance voted to protect American businesses from overly burdensome environmental regulations, including twice casting his vote against President Obama’s national energy tax proposal.

NO BAILOUTS; REJECT TOO-BIG-TO-FAIL

Leonard Lance voted against the TARP bailout bill. Leonard Lance voted to rein in housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and cosponsored legislation to audit the Federal Reserve. Leonard Lance voted against the disastrous Dodd-Frank financial reform bill that codified "too-big-to-fail" and created a permanent federal bailout authority paid for by the taxpayers. ^[52]

Affordable Healthcare for All
I have fought for human rights all my life, and I believe that every American has a right to affordable healthcare. It is cruel to force families to choose between life saving treatment for their children and avoiding bankruptcy, as we did before passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There’s no reason for America to remain the only country in the world where people know – and dread – the term “pre-existing condition.” And we can’t build an innovation economy if people feel they can’t leave a job to start a new business or pursue an invention without losing healthcare.

DEFEND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT The ACA was not perfect, but it made things better. The uninsured rate decreased by half; essential benefits like maternity care were guaranteed; mental health coverage vastly expanded; children could stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they were 26; and no American could be denied health care because of a pre-existing condition.

My opponent, Congressman Lance, voted to repeal affordable healthcare 19 different times. He voted to another 45 times to take out essential elements of the ACA. That is an undeniable pattern of partisan behavior in which Lance turned his back on the families he is supposed to represent.

And now, the Trump administration and Republican leadership in Congress are sabotaging the ACA: by repealing the individual mandate, which ensures that the costs of insurance are widely and equitably shared; by ending payments to insurance companies that keep the cost of insurance down; by promoting junk insurance plans that leave out essential health services and attacking protections for those with pre-existing conditions.

We’re already seeing the consequences: insurance companies are leaving ACA exchanges due to uncertainty about the marketplace and the expectation that fewer healthy people will be covered, and the cost of healthcare for everyone – especially seniors and those who need it most – is going up. In New Jersey, monthly premiums for a Silver Plan are up 16% since 2016, and will rise even more without the individual mandate. Meanwhile, the sabotage of the ACA has not saved taxpayers money – in fact, the increase in direct-to-consumer subsidies by the federal government (a result of ending cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies) is predicted to increase the deficit by $194 billion.

I will work to stop the assault on healthcare in America. We need to move forward, not backward – fixing what was wrong with the Affordable Care Act, and building on its advances to achieve, once and for all, universal and affordable healthcare.

EVERYONE SHOULD BE COVERED We would not accept a system that forces only bad drivers to have car insurance or only irresponsible homeowners to have fire insurance – because everyone suffers misfortunes, and the only way to keep costs down is to ask everyone to pay into the pool. Health insurance is no different. I would support restoring the health insurance mandate nationally, just as we are doing in New Jersey; that will encourage younger and healthier people to get preventive care, and stop insurance rates from skyrocketing for older Americans and for those with serious health conditions. I also would support paying the cost-sharing subsidies that allow insurance companies to provide affordable coverage to those in need while saving taxpayers money.

STOP DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN’S HEALTHCARE NEEDS I will work to ensure we fund reproductive health programs, for the sake of women, men, and families. I support and am proud to be endorsed by Planned Parenthood, which provides basic healthcare to millions of women in New Jersey, and has contributed to historic reductions in teen pregnancies and the spread of infectious disease. I will support access to contraceptives, and defend the progress the Affordable Care Act made by requiring insurers to provide women contraceptive coverage. I believe in a woman’s right to choose when, if, and how to start a family.

I also oppose the Trump administration’s effort to push through junk insurance plans, which won’t cover basic services like maternity care, mental health, and prescription drugs. It will create two parallel insurance markets in America, with substandard care for one group of Americans, and unaffordable care for another.

NO ONE SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION We cannot go back to the days when children born with congenital heart disease could be denied affordable coverage for essential treatment, or when women faced higher premiums because they were pregnant. In the 7th congressional district, over 330,000 people under age 65 have what insurance companies consider a pre-existing condition: everything from high blood pressure and high cholesterol, to past incidence of cancer or a heart attack, to being pregnant. They could be denied health insurance or see premiums spike if the Trump-backed legal challenge to protections for pre-existing conditions succeeds. We should not wait for that case to go through the courts, since the uncertainty it creates will further destabilize the health insurance marketplace. Congress must reaffirm these protections now.

A Fair Deal for New Jersey Workers
NEW JERSEY NEEDS TO BE AN EASIER PLACE TO LIVE FOR WORKING FAMILIES.

Affordability is out of control in our district – but we can do more to ease that burden by implementing worker protections that ensure incomes keep pace with the cost of living, families are supported, and all people are guaranteed a safe workplace free from discrimination.

Strong wage protections for women. Governor Murphy enshrined equal pay for equal work into law with the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, requiring for enhanced equal pay protections for all public employees in the state of New Jersey. I support efforts to pass and enforce similar laws on the national level, and explore mechanisms to ensure that the same protections are enforceable in the private sector.

Fighting for paid family leave. Starting a family or caring for a sick parent should not jeopardize a person’s economic future. The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee paid parental leave which has been proven to have overwhelming positive health and developmental impacts for the child, improved health outcomes for the mother, and increased economic security for both parents.

To live in New Jersey, workers need to earn a living wage – and New Jersey has been leading the fight for $15. Our district has among the highest costs of living in the country, with a survival wage for a single working adult of $13.78 per/hr, in the least expensive parts of the state. Low wages trap our workers in a cycle of poverty that limits their ability to advance their economic futures, provide for their families and grow our economy. That’s why I will be a strong fighter for a $15 minimum wage nationally.

Empowering our unions. Our workers must be permitted to bargain on an even playing field. In Congress I will fight against the Conservative attack on collective bargaining rights in this country to ensure that New Jersey’s laborers can take control of their own futures.

Workplace Safety and Worker Misclassification. Too many workers have been injured or killed on the job because of loose or neglected safety regulations. This needs to end. Ending worker misclassification is a big step towards this ultimate goal. I am committed to fighting back against the underground economy that’s crippling New Jersey’s construction industry and leading to unskilled workers on unsafe job sites. According to a recent Stockton University study, worker misclassification could be costing union shops as much as $16 billion annually and has led to a dramatic increase in job site accidents. I will work to strengthen the state’s ability to identify and punish misclassification and other forms of wage theft. Stronger enforcement means more highly skilled workers on safer job sites, better wages, and a better environment for our building trades unions.

Protecting the Prevailing Wage. Paying our workers the wage they deserve means more highly skilled workers, safer job sites, safer buildings, and projects far more likely to finish on time and on budget. Labor accounts for less than a quarter of construction costs in New Jersey. Balancing our budget on the backs of our workers doesn’t make sense for New Jersey and I will be the first and loudest voice in the House opposing any effort to undermine prevailing wage.

Protecting Our National Security
I’VE SPENT MUCH OF MY CAREER WORKING IN THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT AND THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL TO KEEP AMERICA STRONG, SAFE, AND RESPECTED.

For decades under presidents of both parties, America has built alliances with countries that share our democratic values and that have helped us prevent war, build prosperity and solve global problems. President Trump is turning his back on those alliances and on the ideals that underpin them. In Congress, I will be a strong voice for preserving principled American leadership around the world.

We must maintain a strong military to deter potential adversaries, but also strong diplomacy so that we don’t have to use our military all of the time. I will support our State Department and our front line diplomats, making sure they have the funding they need to do their jobs.

I will champion trade policies that are fair to American workers and businesses, and tough on countries like China that violate the rules of the global trading system. But I oppose starting trade wars with our closest allies, which cost American jobs and make goods more expensive for American consumers, while threatening the friendships and alliances that keep us safe.

I will insist that we keep our commitments to NATO and maintain sanctions on Russia until it stops its aggression in Ukraine and interference in our democracy. Russia should be readmitted to the G-7, and its government afforded the respect it craves, only when its behavior changes.

I believe the United States must continue to stand by Israel, and that we should work with our allies to maintain pressure on Iran to dismantle its nuclear program, while increasing pressure to stop Iran’s support for terrorism and missile development. Our policy should be to isolate Iran, not ourselves -- a break with our allies on this issue endangers both America and Israel.

I will urge deterrence, sanctions and diplomacy to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea, and make sure we keep funding an effort that I ran at the State Department to spread information to the North Korean people.

Congress has abdicated its responsibility to authorize and oversee military operations overseas. I will do my part to provide that oversight, insisting that our counterterrorism efforts are focused on real threats to the United States and our closest allies, consistent with American values, and reinforced by programs that win friends, rather than merely killing enemies.

I will work to keep America a force for good in the world, aligned with countries that share our belief in defending human rights and fighting corruption, not with the dictators whom Trump envies and praises.

Protecting the Environment
I WANT TO PRESERVE THE NATURAL BEAUTY OF OUR STATE FOR THE HIKERS, FISHERS, HUNTERS AND TOURISTS WHO CHERISH IT, AND TO KEEP OUR AIR, WATER AND SOIL SAFE AND CLEAN. I ALSO BELIEVE THAT OUR ECONOMIC FUTURE DEPENDS ON CLEAN ENERGY.

Congressman Lance has joined Tea Party Republicans to allow coal companies to dump waste in our rivers and streams and oil companies to pollute our atmosphere, while opposing sensible safeguards against climate change. That’s bad for our health, and for our economy, as China races to overtake us in electric cars and solar power.

I believe that climate change is real, and in the overwhelming scientific consensus that it is exacerbated by human activity. I support the Paris Climate Change Agreement and want the federal government to work with states to meet the voluntary commitments America made to reduce our emissions. I strongly oppose subsidies and other policies that artificially prop up fossil fuel industries, which hurt the environment and make no economic sense. I want America to lead the world to a clean energy future, and I want New Jersey to lead America.

To that end, I oppose the PennEast and Pilgrim pipelines – two projects that would pose immediate threats to farmland and landowners in the 7th district, to residential communities, EPA Sole Source aquifers, and more. I would also support legislation that would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to receive more public input before approving pipeline projects and measure environmental impact in a more rigorous way, unlike Leonard Lance – who voted in 2013 to speed up the natural gas pipeline approval process. New Jersey should be leading the charge on the environment by developing our burgeoning solar energy industry, not placing our health at risk by using old and unsafe energy sources.

I oppose offshore drilling – especially on the Jersey Shore. When hard working New Jersey families take a weekend off, we should not be greeted by the sight of oil rigs on the horizon, or have to cancel our plans last minute because of a leak. If we build anything off our coast, it should be windmills producing clean, reliable and safe energy for our state.

I will also support funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, and defend its scientists from political appointees who seek to censor their research or punish them for doing their jobs. We should be basing environmental policy in America on science, not ideology.

Breaking the NRA
It is a little-known fact that the first mass shooting in United States history occurred in New Jersey.

ON SEPTEMBER 6, 1949, AFTER BEING THE SUBJECT OF NUMEROUS PETTY SQUABBLES AND PERCEIVED SLIGHTS, HOWARD BARTON UNRUH, A WORLD WAR II VETERAN, WALKED THROUGH A NEIGHBORHOOD IN CAMDEN CALLED CRAMER HILL AND MURDERED THIRTEEN PEOPLE. THIS INCIDENT BECAME KNOWN AS THE WALK OF DEATH.

Currently, there are approximately 13,000 firearm homicides each year. Fifty women are shot to death by intimate partners each month. Seven children and teenagers are killed every day. This is not a problem that other countries face; our homicide rate is twenty-five times higher than the average industrialized country around the world. We have heard from military veterans who know better than most the dangers of giving weapons of war to civilians. We have heard from police officers, the true “good guys with a gun,” that they are tired of being outgunned in our neighborhoods. We have heard from our children that they don’t want to be afraid at school, or at the movies, or at the mall. We have heard from responsible gun owners who believe in the right to bear arms, but who also recognize that firearm ownership should be regulated no less than driving a car or drinking a beer.

We may not be able to stop gun violence in its entirety. But we have shown in New Jersey that common sense gun safety laws are consistent with the Second Amendment and can make violence more rare. As a Moms Demand Action “Gun Sense Candidate,” I am proud to offer the following proposals to strengthen our gun laws and make our communities safer:

ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN The Assault Weapons Ban (“AWB”) was in place from 1994 to 2004 and prohibited domestic firearm manufacturers from producing military-style assault rifles like the AR-15, as well as ammunition magazines that held more than ten rounds, unless ordered for police or military use. Many of these weapons of war are equipped with the capacity for modifications that give them full automatic capabilities, as well as high-capacity magazines. The AWB led to a 66 percent decrease in crimes resulting from an assault weapon. These types of weapons have been featured prominently in the mass shootings that have come to be a hallmark of the twenty first century. They have characteristics well suited to a military battlefield—the ability to deliver a large number of high velocity, devastatingly lethal rounds in a short period of time—but which are not needed for legitimate civilian uses, such as hunting or protecting a home. I strongly support renewing the ban nationwide, as well as reinforcing the ban that exists in New Jersey – something that our judicial system has repeatedly ruled would be consistent with the Second Amendment.

MINIMUM AGE FOR PURCHASING A FIREARM The NRA believes that if you’re 17, you’re old enough to own an AR-15, but not old enough to express an opinion about AR-15 ownership. New Jersey is already leading the way regarding keeping guns out of the hands of minors, with Assemblyman Roy (LD16) having proposed legislation that would raise the minimum age for purchasing any firearm in New Jersey to 21. I believe that New Jersey should serve as a role model to other states, and that this legislation should be enacted nationwide. One in five murders involves an assailant under 21 years old. Delaying the purchase of a firearm an additional 3 years would have a dramatic impact on gun deaths.

NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION We must face the difficult reality that all of these efforts will be tough to pass until we elect representatives who will stand up to the National Rifle Association. The NRA gun lobby can no longer claim to be an organization that represents responsible gun owners in America, most of whom support sensible measures to reduce gun violence in our country. It promotes virulent, divisive anti-government propaganda that borders on incitement to violence, and accepts massive amounts of dark money from anonymous –and sometimes foreign– donors, to attack any political candidate who seeks to find common ground on gun safety issues. I will never accept NRA campaign donations, or be bullied by their lobbying efforts. I am running for the U.S. House of Representatives to protect and fight for you, not the NRA nor the gun manufacturers that it represents.

CONCEALED WEAPONS I am strongly opposed to the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would allow residents of states with weak gun safety laws to carry their concealed weapons in states like New Jersey, completely overriding the laws we’ve passed to protect our citizens. I agree with the International Association of Chiefs of Police (“IACP”), which represents 18,000 police departments across the United States, and which recently published a letter signed by 473 police officials from 39 states urging Congress to reject this legislation.

UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS The Gun Control Act of 1968 requires that individuals “engaged in the business” of selling firearms must possess a Federal Firearms License (“FFL”). If you hold an FFL, you are required to conduct background checks through the National Instant Background Check system (NICS) and maintain a record of all firearm sales. There are exemptions, however, that allow sales between private individuals to occur without a background check, which is often referred to as the “Gun Show Loophole.” This is a dangerous loophole, allowing people who would never pass a background check because they clearly pose a threat to public safety to purchase firearms. In fact, the Islamic State terrorist organization has encouraged its followers in the United States to buy weapons at guns shows, specifically because it is so easy.

GUN VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDERS I support laws that allow family members, law enforcement officers, and other concerned individuals to petition a court to remove a person’s firearms if they are acting in ways that suggest a risk to themselves or to others. After many mass shootings, people close to the perpetrators reported previous disturbing behavior, but felt that if they had informed the authorities, nothing could be done, because a crime had not yet been committed. Federal prohibitions already exist to limit access to firearms for those citizens under permanent restraining orders, and I support state-level expansions to cover those with temporary restraining orders. This would be particularly helpful in protecting intimate partners and family members who have sought out the protection of temporary restraining orders in cases involving domestic abuse.

ARMOR-PIERCING AMMUNITION I support legislation that will prohibit the ownership of armor-piercing ammunition, in addition to existing legislation which prohibits its sale. It is important that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (“ATF”) has put in place both regulations defining armor-piercing ammunition and performance-based testing to determine whether a manufacturer has created such ammunition. There is zero reason why any reasonable gun owner should need ammunition designed to pierce a police officer’s body armor.

BODY ARMOR The proliferation of body armor protection has made it immeasurably more difficult for law enforcement officials to do their job. We should prohibit the acquisition, sale, or transfer of body armor to anyone except those who are required by the duties of their job to protect the public, such as police officers or members of the military, as well as other, limited circumstances, like journalists or humanitarian workers visiting war zones.

FIREARM PURCHASE WAITING PERIOD The National Instant Check Background System (“NICS”) has not eliminated the need for a firearm purchase waiting period. Studies have shown that such a period sometimes allows both homicidal and suicidal individuals to “cool off” and reconsider their actions, and would decrease the number of suicides by firearm. As such, I support a mandatory national five-day waiting period, regardless of the method of purchase, before an individual can purchase a handgun.

TRAFFICKING/FIREARMS TRACING Because of the Tiahrt Amendment, the National Tracing Center cannot release information from its databases to anyone other than law enforcement agencies or prosecutors when it's relevant to a criminal investigation. As a result, gun trace data cannot be used in academic research of gun use in crime, nor is it admissible in civil lawsuits. This Amendment significantly limits the ability of our nation’s law enforcement agencies to combat the sale of illegal guns, especially through municipal police departments. I strongly support repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, which weakens law enforcement’s ability to trace illegal firearms. We must close this loophole by mandating universal background checks in all situations. This would involve opening NICS to sales between private sellers for a nominal fee and increasing federal funding to ensure uniformity of both criminal and mental health updates to the system. Congress must appropriate this funding as mandatory spending, rather than leaving the Executive Branch discretion to decide whether it is spent at all.

Conclusion There are many pieces to the gun crisis puzzle. These include prohibiting high-capacity magazines, encouraging safe gun technology, repealing the Dickey Amendment, which prohibits the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from conducting research that may be used to advocate or promote gun reform, expanding mental health treatment and barring sales to the mentally ill, barring sales to domestic abusers, restricting Internet gun sales of kits used to make/modify guns, etc.

None of these on their own will stop all gun deaths. But as we place reasonable limits on other potentially dangerous activities, including driving, smoking, and drinking, we must also ensure that we protect an individual’s Second Amendment rights while also protecting everyone’s right to life.

Tax Reform: Repeal & Replace
THE TAX LAW THAT THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS PASSED IN 2017 WAS A DELIBERATE ATTACK ON STATES LIKE NEW JERSEY, WHERE WE HAVE CHOSEN TO HAVE BETTER SCHOOLS FOR OUR KIDS AND SERVICES FOR OUR CITIZENS.

Eliminating deductibility of state and local and property taxes will cost middle class families in New Jersey dearly, and has already resulted in a loss of property values in our state. New Jerseyans already get only 72 cents back from the federal government for every dollar we send to Washington (the worst of any state); the tax law makes that problem even worse.

The GOP tax law was also an act of economic malpractice: it will add $2 trillion to our national debt, largely to give the wealthiest Americans and corporations a tax break, which they have used mostly to reward their investors, not their employees. That’s $2 trillion we will not have to build infrastructure, or to relieve college debt, or to stimulate the economy during the next recession, or to pay down the debt when growth is strong. And Republicans are already threatening to pay for this scam by cutting Social Security and Medicare — which we must not allow to happen.

I will work to repeal the GOP tax law and replace it with fiscally responsible tax reform. New tax legislation must preserve middle class tax deductions like the State and Local Tax deduction (SALT), which prevented us from being double-taxed on our state payments, close corporate and special interest loopholes, bring home money stashed in foreign tax shelters, and avoid ballooning the deficit. A great New Jersey Senator, Bill Bradley, worked with Ronald Reagan to pass that kind of tax reform 30 years ago, and we can do it again. Support for such an effort will be one of my main demands of anyone who wants my vote for Speaker of the House.

Commuter Infrastructure
MILLIONS OF NEW JERSEYANS USE OUR ROADS AND RAIL LINES TO GET TO WORK EVERY DAY; OUR ECONOMY DEPENDS ON KEEPING THESE ARTERIES STATE-OF-THE-ART, AS WELL AS ON IMPROVING THE AIR AND SEA PORTS THAT MAKE OUR STATE A HUB OF NATIONAL AND GLOBAL COMMERCE.

Allowing our infrastructure to fall into disrepair increases our commute times and costs, and endangers our economic future.

As a member of Congress, I will have no more urgent priority than securing the investments we need to build and maintain the roads, bridges, railways and tunnels that New Jersey and America need to preserve our quality of life and competitiveness.

In particular, we need to fund the Gateway project. This tunnel is vital for the economic well-being of the 7th district and our region, and should be viewed as an economic and national security priority by the federal government. I will work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress who know that critical infrastructure is a non-partisan issue to ensure that Washington keeps its commitment to fund Gateway. And if the Trump administration refuses to do its part, I will fight to hold up funding for its highest priorities until it relents.

I will also work to obtain the resources and political commitments required to allow commuters using the Raritan Valley Line to ride into NYC without having to change trains, and to extend it further into the 7th district. Time spent commuting is a cost of living, whether it means buying food each night rather than cooking dinner, or having to spend more money to make sure someone is watching your kids, or simply the loss of time relaxing with our families.

Immigration
WHEN I WAS SIX YEARS OLD, MY MOTHER AND I LEFT COMMUNIST POLAND AND SETTLED IN NEW JERSEY. WE CAME HERE FOR THE PROMISE OF A BETTER LIFE AND OF A COUNTRY WHERE THOSE WITH POWER WEREN’T ALLOWED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THOSE WITHOUT AT A WHIM.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if today, 46 years later, federal agents came to my door and deported me to a country I no longer know -- because of something my parents did when I was a small child, or because the president was just feeling particularly vindictive that day. This is the predicament that DREAMers and DACA recipients face.

I would support bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform which provides funds to better secure the border, encourages legal immigration that will strengthen our economy, create a tough but fair process to bring unauthorized immigrants out of the shadows, and strengthens employment verification.

I fully support the extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, because by any common measure, DREAMers are Americans. They grew up in America; they pay taxes; they have started businesses; they have served in our military; and if deported they would be forced to start entirely new lives in countries they have never known.

I strongly oppose the Trump Administration’s policy of separating children from their families at the border. There is nothing unlawful about approaching a customs officer and asking for asylum from repression or violence; to punish people for doing so by taking away their children is heartless and lawless. I would oppose using a single cent of taxpayer money to fund the practice of family separation by ICE.

I believe a border wall would be a harmful symbol of America shutting itself off from the world and a waste of money -- anyone with a ladder can get over a wall and most illegal immigration these days results from people overstaying visas, not from crossing the border.

Unlike Congressman Lance, I have consistently opposed the Trump administration’s ban on travel from Muslim majority countries and closing the door to refugees coming to America. These policies hurt our national security by alienating allies who are fighting with us against terrorism and are inconsistent with our values as Americans.

And finally, I support granting additional protections for domestic and farm workers. Many of these jobs are taken by immigrants on work visas. This leaves these workers vulnerable to exploitation from their employers, who can threaten deportation if these law abiding immigrants speak out against low wages or abhorrent work conditions. Abuse of migrant workers also keeps wages artificially low for all workers.

Corruption
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF – BY POWERFUL SPECIAL INTERESTS, INCLUDING FOREIGN INTERESTS, WHO ARE THREATENING OUR PROSPERITY AND OUR SECURITY.

Our lax rules against corruption allow corporate lobbyists to bend government to their will, politicians to profit from public service, and hostile foreign leaders to undermine our democracy. We have seen this under Scott Pruitt’s polluter-friendly Environmental Protection Agency. We saw how influence peddlers for foreign countries were allowed to run the 2016 Republican presidential campaign – without disclosing their foreign task-masters. We see corruption driving up the cost of everything from real estate, to our utility bills to our national defenses. The next Congress must act to restore trust in our institutions, protect our democracy, and take the fight for clean and honest government to the foreign autocrats and kleptocrats who threaten our country.

Unlike Congressman Lance, I have pledged not to take campaign contributions from corporate PACs. I strongly support a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizen United, making clear that corporations are not people and do not have a right to spend unlimited funds to elect the candidates of their choice. And I would work to pass the bipartisan DISCLOSE Act, to require outside groups like the NRA trying to influence elections to report their contributors and their spending.

Whether you’re a drug trafficker laundering your profits, or a Russian oligarch making secret campaign contributions, or the president’s lawyer paying off a porn star, you should not be able to hide your tracks by establishing an anonymously owned company on American soil. When I was at the State Department, I urged the Congress to pass a bill requiring disclosure of the true owners of companies registered in the United States. As a member of Congress, I’ll work to ensure that happens.

As a candidate, I am maintaining an archive on this website containing every ad I run online so that everyone can see them, not just those targeted by the ads. In Congress, I’ll support the Honest Ads Act, to require online companies to keep a public registry of political ads and to disclose who pays for them, and a law to prevent online “bots” from impersonating human beings.

I support codifying ethics rules enforced by past administrations -- to prevent conflicts of interest and forbid former special interest lobbyists from regulating the industries they served. I believe presidents should be required to fully divest themselves of profit-making businesses, to disclose their tax returns, and to abide by the same rules as other government officials.

Defending Democracy
AMERICANS DISAGREE ABOUT MANY THINGS. BUT WE SHOULD AGREE THAT IT’S WRONG FOR OUR PRESIDENT TO PRAISE WHITE SUPREMACISTS WHILE DENIGRATING THE PATRIOTIC CITIZENS DEMONSTRATING AGAINST THEM; TO INSULT JUDGES, CIVIL SERVANTS, GOLD STAR PARENTS, AND THE BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN OF OUR INTELLIGENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNITIES; OR TO FIRE AN FBI DIRECTOR FOR TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE INDEPENDENCE OF HIS INSTITUTION.

All of us, whether we’re Democrats, Republicans or Independents, should defend our Constitution, freedom of speech and of the press, the integrity of our democracy, and the idea that America is one country, where we respect every person no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or country of origin.

As a member of Congress, I will fight to protect the democratic institutions that keep us free and hold our leaders accountable, and defend the women and men who serve America as members of the armed forces, diplomats, and civil servants. I will support the independence of the Justice Department and the FBI against partisan attacks, and insist that no one in America is above the law.

I will oppose policies and statements meant to divide Americans based on who we are, where we come from, or whom we love, whether President Trump’s current travel and refugee ban, or his effort to kick transgender Americans out of the military. I will continue to support LGBTQ rights by fighting to extend federal anti-discrimination laws to cover gender identity and sexual orientation.

I will encourage our law enforcement agencies to pay proper attention to all extremists who use violence in America, including white supremacist militias, and our leaders to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia at home and abroad

I will oppose voter suppression and partisan gerrymandering. Our government should do everything possible to make it easier for Americans to exercise their right to vote.

I will champion legislation in the Congress to safeguard our democracy from malign foreign interference, including by better securing voting machines and registration records, combating malicious online propaganda, and preventing dark money from abroad from corrupting our politics.

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