Brendan Schultz

Healthcare As your representative, I will work with other progressives in Congress to revolutionize the US healthcare system through the following: - Passing the Medicare for All Act. - Authorizing the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. - Eliminating all outstanding medical debt. Healthcare I am opposed to federal vaccine mandates. Social Services As your representative, I will ensure the preservation of the social security system through the following: - Establishing a wealth tax on the top 0.1% of households to replenish the social security trust fund. - Removing the Social Security (FICA) tax cap, which currently exempts the wealthy from paying Social Security taxes on income over 147,000. - Diversifying the assets of the social security trust fund to include stocks, bonds, and real estate. - Never voting for a reduction in social security benefits. Social Services I see no path toward justice for the Native Hawaiian community without reparations and self-determination as defined by the Native Hawaiian community. Environment / Energy As your representative, I will propose drastic policy changes to limit the impact of climate change and build a coalition for a Green New Deal that includes the following: - Transitioning to 100% renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030 and creating a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Environment / Energy Investing 5.35 trillion over ten years in efficient and inexpensive public transportation and renewable energy infrastructure, including funds to establish a carbon-neutral geothermal electricity system for Hawai’i. - Supporting local, fam. Environment / Energy Passing the National Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy Act, which would provide a streamlined federal government response to climate emergencies in coastal communities and fund climate mitigation efforts. Education Redistributing federal funding from private universities to public universities, particularly minority-serving higher education institutions. - Prohibiting federal dollars from funding for-profit charter schools and expanding US Department of Education oversight of non-profit charter schools. Education Subsidizing teacher salaries with federal funding so that no teacher in Hawai’i earns less than the federal government’s low-income limits, which are 57,900 for Maui, 67,700 for O’ahu, 47,950 for the Island of Hawai’i, and 57,100 for Kaua’i. Education Forgiving the student debt of public servants – including military service members, teachers, firefighters, police offices, and other federal, state, and local government employees – who have served for eight years. Education As your representative, I will work to revolutionize the public education system through the following legislative agenda: - Establishing universal, fully-funded public pre-kindergarten. - Funding community colleges to make associate degrees tuition-free. Criminal Justice / Public Safety Legalizing and taxing recreational soft drugs, including cannabis, psilocybin (shrooms), and DMT. Decriminalize hard drugs – such as heroin, hydrocodone, oxycodone (oxycontin), morphine, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine (meth), cocaine, crack, Ecstasy, ketamine, PCP, and LSD – following the Portuguese model, which is a humane and health-led approach to combatting drug use. Criminal Justice / Public Safety Expanding federal funding for convict education and reintegration programs to reduce criminal recidivism through job training during imprisonment and job placement programs upon release. - Creating a federal fund for states and municipalities to test alternative public safety measures, such as expanding emergency mental health services through hiring social workers. Housing Expanding the mortgage interest rate deduction from the first 750,000 of a mortgage to the first 1,250,000 of a mortgage. - Liberalizing zoning restrictions and ensuring the elimination of the remnants of racist housing restrictions. - Creating a forgivable down payment assistance program of up to 25,000, adjusted for home costs, for first-time home buyers. Housing As such, I will advocate for the following policy changes to ensure affordable housing for Hawai’i’s working families: - Declaring a national housing emergency and authorizing the Defense Production Act to construct emergency housing for unhoused people in Hawai’i and across the United States. - Mobilizing each relevant body of the federal government to facilitate the effective supply of building materials to the US market. Taxes / Budget Enacting a tax on carbon dioxide pollution. Taxes / Budget Lowering taxes on earned income by 20% for the average middle-class family. Taxes / Budget Raising taxes on capital gains from 20% to 33%. Taxes / Budget Reinstating the full state and local tax (SALT) deduction. Taxes / Budget As your representative, I will propose tax reform that creates a fair tax code. Guns Enact common-sense gun reform, including universal background checks, allowing the Centers for Disease Control to conduct research on gun violence, and enabling law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from individuals in crisis. Wages / Job Benefits Reforming retirement accounts by creating a unified system in which all workers can participate, regardless of if their employer offers a 401(k) or not. Wages / Job Benefits Protect and Expand Unions. Abortion / Contraception Passing the Women's Health Protection Act, which codifies the precedent set by Roe v. Wade into federal law. Defense / Veterans Passing comprehensive toxic exposure reform, including improvements to the claims process, to provide health care and benefits to all toxic exposed veterans. - Increasing dependency and indemnity compensation benefits for family survivors. Defense / Veterans Improving education benefits through increased online student housing allowances, childcare stipends, and elimination of delimiting dates. Defense / Veterans Ending the expiring US military leases in Hawai’i, including the Pohakuloa Training Area, the Poamoho Training Area, the Kahuku Training Area, and the Makua Military Reservation. - Requiring the US Military to return land stolen from the Kingdom of Hawai’i to the Hawaiian people. Defense / Veterans Repealing the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which authorizes the President to start wars without authorization from Congress. Defense / Veterans As your representative, I will work to end all foreign wars, bring our troops home, and transition to a foreign policy based on peace through the following pro-peace policies. Defense / Veterans Cutting the US defense budget in half, primarily through ending US participation in foreign conflicts, closing US military bases overseas, and eliminating exorbitant contracts with defense companies. Defense / Veterans Renewing treaties with other nuclear-armed states to reduce the global supply of nuclear weapons and prohibiting the US Military from stationing nuclear weapons in Hawai’i. Defense / Veterans Increasing funding for the US Agency for International Development and US State Department public diplomacy programs. Defense / Veterans Establishing a 1 billion federal fund for an expedited cleanup of polluted military sites in Hawai’i, such as Kaho’olawe. Defense / Veterans As your representative, I will advance a legislative agenda that accomplishes the following for our veterans: - Strengthening mental health care to reduce the number of service members and veterans who die by suicide to zero. - Increase funding for HUD-VASH vouchers, grant and per diem payments, and pilot programs to combat veteran houselessness. Defense / Veterans Nhancing employment counseling for new veterans and expanding preferences and tax incentives for hiring veterans and military spouses. - Preserving the integrity of TriCare.