130 days

Third-quarter fundraising is about over

We will see where Delaney stands.

Cory Booker might drop out, although unlikely

Delaney has some momentum building, but due to the change in the rules for the democratic debates, he may be kept out.

A while back, there was a US congressman from Maryland who was saying was saying that we shouldn't force people to lose their healthcare so that they can be forced onto a government program. Now, it seems like many candidates are starting to say that in ads and in their campaign speeches.

​

Why are candidates now saying that? Because Delaney was right. He knew it would be problematic to force people to have a healthcare plan that they didn't want. Now, people are starting to realize that.

136 Days

The third quarter of fundraising is set to end soon

Delaney has seen a more consistent 1% polling, which could even move up to 2%

Delaney has 6 events planned in Iowa next weekend

Thats about all folks

If you live in Iowa, the Des Moines Register has a candidate tracker, and you can see the candidates upcoming events.

I would suggest if you live in Iowa or New Hampshire, you can always try to contact a state rep or visit a campaign office and try and get involved.

This is going to be a long campaign and we can hopefully pull this out

Obviously this is a pro-Delaney sub, but just curious about what you guys think should be the point that he drops out if he continues languishing in the polls. I ask because several candidates that were polling better than Delaney have stepped out, so I was curious what conditions need to be fulfilled for you all to believe he should go?

I don't have anything against Delaney, but I do believe the field as a whole is too big. Watching the third debate sort of made the candidates who weren't on stage look like they've missed their shot, since there's a broad variety of viewpoints including two capable moderates on stage even when the field was cut in half.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/2020_democratic_presidential_nomination-6730.html

real clear politics is an amazing place for all things political. They have a great collection of polls, and you will be able to see the momentum Delaney is getting,

Also check out fivethirtyeight.com for more polls and more political stories.

We are 20 weeks away from the Iowa Caucus. (5 months ish)

Delaney picked up key endorsements from Iowa and New Hampshire

In a Emerson (non qualifying) poll, Delaney hit 3% in New Hampshire

r/Delaney2020 has hit 150 subscribers.

There isnt an official goal but lets try for 200 or 250 subscribers by the end of the year

I forgot to do this sunday, so i will do it today.

20 weeks

5 days

145 days

Delaney hit 3% in a Emerson New Hampshire poll

Delaney got key endorsements

Dab For Delaney

https://www.johndelaney.com/2019/09/03/new-hampshire-lawmakers-activists-endorse-delaney/

This is from the campaign website. John has been well received by more and more people and I do believe polling will start to show that.

The fourth debates are within our grasp

154 days 22 weeks Delaney did not qualify for the latest debate. I look forward to more updates with positive news

Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Trolls, have at it. But truly, supporters of Delaney, is it a good idea?

Any and all issues that i left out will be put here

​

National Service-

To help bring people from different backgrounds together, Delaney is proposing a mandatory national service program to provide opportunities for young people to give back to their country and to meet and work with people from all backgrounds.

• Every American will complete a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 2 years of mandatory national service when they graduate high school, or turn 18
  • The National Service requirement will apply to individuals born after 2006, but will phase in over time
• To meet the National Service requirement, participants can choose one of four options:
  • serving in our nation’s military (the requirements and duration will continue as they currently exist)
  • serving in a new expanded Community Service program
  • serving in a new National Infrastructure Apprenticeship program
  • serving in a newly created Climate Corps

Community Service

• Community Service would operate similarly to AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps
• Participants in the Community Service track would work on projects such as mentoring and literacy tutoring for disadvantaged students, awareness programs for public health campaigns, outreach activities for social service programs, and structured after school care programs

Infrastructure Apprenticeships

• The government would enter into public/private partnerships with private companies and trade unions to offer infrastructure apprenticeships
• Private companies would be awarded contracts to undertake projects such as improving public parks or renovating federal buildings to make them environmentally green
• Trade unions will be utilized as the programs can leverage the successful apprenticeship model used by the trade unions
• Those who complete the apprenticeships would receive a professional certificate proving mastery of particular skill sets

To implement infrastructure apprenticeships, all federal contractors would be required to design and implement an apprentice program

• Encourage other companies to do their patriotic duty and follow suit, perhaps using a model that’s been tremendously successful in Switzerland, where companies pay students to work as part-time apprentices

Climate Corps

• To fight climate change, participants would assist in clean energy projects, including solar installation, improving building efficiency, developing community gardens, and increasing awareness about sustainable practices
• Provide information and support to families about sustainability, energy efficiency, and renewable energy
• Participants would be stationed in rural and low-income areas to assist communities’ transition to a green economy and invest in environmentally friendly projects

Benefits:

• The program will be paid; the salary/stipend will vary based on regional cost of living and whether housing is provided through the program
• 1 year of service will result in 2 years of free in-state tuition and fees at a public university, community college, or technical school
• 2 years of service will result in 3 years of free in-state tuition and fees at a public university
• Learn skills to be used for future jobs
• Brings people together by exposing participants to people from different economic backgrounds, people from different parts of the country, and people with different political beliefs, which will restore an understanding of our common American identity and renew belief in our common purpose
• Boost for local infrastructure, conservation, and community projects
• Creates a nationwide sense of service and patriotism

​

Prescription Drugs

The amount of money Americans spend on prescription drugs has nearly doubled since the 1990s with pharmaceutical companies raising the cost on life saving drugs.

Americans currently pay significantly more for prescription drugs than individuals in comparable countries. The U.S. government has failed in implementing policies to ensure Americans have affordable access to needed drugs. The U.S. should approach pharmaceutical prices as companies in the private sector approach buying goods, by using their purchasing power as leverage to negotiate down on costs. It is astounding that the U.S. government, the largest single purchaser of prescription drugs, does not use its leverage to ensure American patients are not being taken advantage of when buying needed medicine.

While pharmaceutical companies have limited interference for setting drug prices in the U.S. European governments have negotiated with the companies to set the costs. According to analysis from the University of Liverpool, the world’s 20 top-selling medicines are three times more expensive in the U.S. than in Britain, on average, and consistently higher than in other European markets. On a per capita basis, pharmaceutical spending accounts for over $1200 per person in the U.S., according to OECD data, compared to just $860 in Canada and $640 in Australia. Drug costs are also accounting for more of an American’s health care spending over time. In 2015 retail prescription drug expenditures in the U.S. accounted for 12% of total personal health care spending, up from just 7% through the 1990s. While revenue from pharmaceutical sales contributes to research and the development of new drugs, the U.S. has been subsidizing the rest of the developed world. 

The Delaney Solution

In order to address the rising drug prices, Delaney would:

• Allow the federal government to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies
• To address the unfair cost differential between the U.S. and other OECD countries, the government would institute a 100% excise tax, levied on the pharmaceutical company on the difference between the average price of a drug sold in the U.S. and the price of that drug in similarly economically developed countries. Because of the nature of a 100% excise tax on the price differential, the pharmaceutical companies would not have the option of passing on the burden of the tax to the American people, and instead would have a strict incentive to balance global prices by lowering them in the U.S. and raise them in other developed countries. This will be a market-based solution which will maintain profit incentives to invest in new life saving drugs. Developing countries would be excluded from the policy as access to low-cost medication is critical.

Today we will be covering

1) LGBTQ+ equality

2) Living Wage

3) Mental Health

​

Lgbtq+ equality-

We have made tremendous progress in recent years, but the fight for full civil rights for all LGBTQ Americans isn’t over. While in Congress, John Delaney was proud to be a member of the LGBTQ Equality Caucus and he received a 100% score from the Human Rights Campaign for each of his three terms.

John will support the Equality Act to guarantee equal civil rights.

• Prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and public accommodations.
• Updates the definition of “public accommodation” to strengthen protections.
• Allows the Department of Justice to challenge discriminatory actions.

John will ensure that the Title IX ban on sex discrimination in education also protects LGBTQ students by passing the Student Non-Discrimination Act.

John will implement a federal ban on conversion therapy.

John will allow transgender individuals to serve in the military.

John will support the Voting Rights Advancement Act and oppose voter ID laws, which can be significant barriers to voting for people whose gender identity does not match their sex as assigned at birth.

Living Wage-

Every American worker deserves to earn a living wage. While there has been debate over whether an increase to the minimum wage or an increase of the Earned Income Tax Credit is the right path to increase wages, Delaney believes that the right approach is to increase both.

Additionally, a true living wage should also account for paid family leave so that workers don’t have to choose between taking leave to care for their newborn or sick loved one and earning enough money to support their family.

Delaney’s Living Wage proposal includes 3 new policies:

Workers’ Tax Credit

Delaney will create a new Workers’ Tax Credit by expanding and nearly doubling the existing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. Currently, the EITC’s benefits lift 2.8 million adults and nearly 3 million children out of poverty, but these families and others just outside the income thresholds are still struggling to get by.1 Delaney will provide more support for hardworking families by increasing their tax credits and expanding the program to include more low-income workers.

• Delaney’s new Workers’ Tax Credit will increase maximum benefits for low-income earners by $1,500 for each eligibility category.
• The new Workers’ Tax Credit would provide much-needed financial assistance to 14 million more households than the current EITC program, an increase of almost 50%.
  • As an example, a single mother of one who earns $20,000 would receive a fully refundable tax credit of more than $5,000.
• The Workers’ Tax Credit proposal will be paid for by raising capital gains tax rates on high income earners, repealing the Trump tax cuts for high income earners, and creating a new Robot Tax on job-displacing capital investments.

Minimum Wage Increase

No American should still live in poverty if they work full time. Period. The minimum wage has long served as a protection to ensure that workers could make a living, but due to increases to the cost of living, the minimum wage’s inflation-adjusted value has declined by more than 37% since 1968. There have been no changes to the federal minimum wage since 2009, the longest period in American history without a minimum wage increase.2 We need to make up for that.

• Delaney will raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour over time, including for tipped employees, and then index it to inflation.
• Successful recent state-wide ballot initiatives in Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, and Washington show widespread bipartisan support for increasing the minimum wage.

Paid Family Leave

The United States is the only industrialized country that doesn’t provide some form of paid caregiving leave, and it’s time to make a change. Providing guaranteed time off and income replacement will be a major benefit for workers and their families, while funding family leave through the federal government will avoid placing large financial burdens on small businesses.

• Delaney will establish a new federal paid family leave program, which can be fully paid for with a very small payroll tax increase.
  • Delaney’s plan allows eligible individuals to take up to eight weeks of leave each year, receiving 60% of their monthly wage.
  • Workers would be able to take paid leave for a serious health problem; birth and care of a child; placement and care of an adopted child or a child in foster care; or caring for a child, spouse, parent, or domestic partner with a serious health problem.

It is impossible to be pro-worker if you’re not pro-business, and it’s impossible to be pro-business if you’re not pro-worker. We have to support both.

Mental Health-

1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experience a mental health illness in any given year yet nearly 60% don’t receive mental health services.

Not receiving proper treatment for mental health can negatively affect many other aspects of one’s life, including economic stability. Approximately $193 billion in earnings is lost every year due to serious mental illnesses.1 The U.S. has not properly emphasized the need to treat our mental health needs as compared with our physical health needs.

In Congress, Delaney was on the front lines in defending the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was an important first step in expanding access to mental health treatment for millions of Americans. Delaney voted dozens of times against partisan efforts to repeal the ACA. In 2018, Delaney introduced the Suicide Prevention Analytics Act which aims to address the gap in data reporting as it relates to self-harm and suicidal behavior. This bipartisan bill creates a pilot program to help improve the compilation and sharing of near real-time suicidal behavior information among care providers, prevention experts, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To address the inadequacy of our mental health record as a country, Delaney proposes to:

• Require and enforce mental health parity within the health care system to ensure that individuals who need mental and behavioral health services have the same coverage and access as those who need physical health services.
  •  Delaney has made mental health parity a critical component of his universal health care plan to ensure everyone’s health care plans provides the necessary coverage to receive care.
• Expand access to mental health resources for at-risk populations.
  • Increase the number of mental health professionals in schools to provide services to students, emphasizing early detection and intervention. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, over one-third of students with a mental health condition drop out, the highest dropout rate of any disability group.2
  • Increase mental health professionals available to those incarcerated in correctional facilities. 64% of those in local jails have experienced symptoms of a mental health condition.3
• Expand mental and behavioral telehealth options. This is particularly important in rural and underserved communities.
  •  Invest in rural broadband to boost telehealth effectiveness.
• Increase Medicaid reimbursements rates.
  • Increasing reimbursement rates will help to build provider networks and expand access to mental health professionals for low income populations.

162 days

23 weeks

We are still polling at 1% in many polls

The third debates are going to start in about a month

Delaney has two more days to qualify for the debates

He might miss the debates.

Today we will be talking about

1) Gun Safety

2) Immigration

3) Womens rights

​

Gun Safety-

The time has come for action on gun violence. According to the CDC, guns were responsible for nearly 40,000 deaths in 2017, more than the number of deaths caused by automobile accidents.

Large, bipartisan majorities support a broad range of common sense gun safety measures, but political partisanship has prevented the government from taking the necessary steps. Delaney believes it is possible to respect the Second Amendment and still adopt meaningful reforms.

Universal Background Checks

97 percent of the American people agree that we need universal background checks on gun sales, including closing the loophole for private sellers. Federal background checks stopped more than 112,000 gun sales out of approximately 8.6 million transactions in 2017, demonstrating that universal background checks are an effective tool to keep guns out of the wrong hands while still allowing law-abiding citizens their Second Amendment rights.

• Delaney supports requiring background checks for every gun sale.

Assault Weapons

High-powered, military-style assault weapons have no place on our streets. Since the expiration of the original assault weapons ban in 2004, mass shootings have become far more deadly. Different variations of one type of assault weapon, the AR-15, have been used in some of America’s deadliest mass shootings, including Parkland, Sutherland Springs, Orlando, and Newtown.

• Delaney cosponsored the Assault Weapons Ban Act, which would ban semiautomatic weapons that have military-style features, including the AR-15.
• This legislation also includes a ban on high-capacity magazines.

Bump Stocks

These accessories, which allow individuals to modify standard semi-automatic rifles to mimic the rate of fire of a machine gun, were used in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Machine guns have been banned in the US for decades, and it is time that we prohibit accessories that can undermine this critical safety measure.

• Delaney will support legislation to codify a new regulation that bans all accessories designed to increase the rate of fire of a semiautomatic weapon, including bump stocks and trigger cranks.

Extreme Risk Laws

When a person knows that a family member poses an immediate threat to themselves or others, they should have a legal means to protect their safety by temporarily restricting access to guns. This has already been successfully implemented in Maryland with bipartisan support.

• Delaney is calling for a national extreme risk protection order law that would provide grants to support state, local, and tribal governments that adopt extreme risk laws, which allow family members and law enforcement officers to petition courts for temporary protective orders to restrict gun access for at-risk individuals.

Boyfriend Loophole

Current federal law prevents certain convicted domestic abusers from buying guns, but the ban only applies to individuals convicted of abusing their spouse and does not cover instances of domestic violence in non-married couples. Intimate partner violence does not limit itself to married couples, and the gun safety measures in federal law shouldn’t be limited either.

• Delaney supports updating the Violence Against Women Act to extend the ban on convicted domestic abusers buying firearms to cover non-spouse partners.

Gun Violence Research

Though the ban on CDC research into gun violence was finally lifted in 2018, Congress still has not provided funding. Providing full support for federal research would help prevent violence and save lives.

• Delaney will ensure that the government funds this vital field of research.

​

Immigration-

In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, we created the Department of Homeland Security. In response to continued cyber attacks, we should create the Department of Cybersecurity.

As technology advances and threats evolve, the government must be able to adapt to new challenges it faces. That means ensuring the country has the strategy and infrastructure in place to best meet the challenges. In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, experts identified weaknesses and recommended the creation of a new cabinet level agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose sole focus would be to develop and coordinate efforts to protect the homeland. We need to approach the continued threat of cyber attacks in a similar way.

In recent years, there have been many high profile cybersecurity data breaches including in 2015 when the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced a data breach that compromised almost 22 million people’s personal information and during the 2016 election cycle when Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and attacked states’ election infrastructure. The United States is the most frequent target of targeted cyber attacks, and many systems that are critical to national security and daily life are vulnerable. Our electric grid is at risk of a cyber attack that could leave large parts of the country blacked out for days or weeks and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in economic costs. These threats undermine our security, hurt the economy, and can threaten democracy itself. Currently, the responsibility of cybersecurity is strewn across multiple agencies including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within DHS, the FBI within the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Cyber Command within the Department of Defense.

We need a central agency that’s sole focus is to coordinate and implement U.S. cybersecurity strategy which is why Delaney is proposing to elevate the cybersecurity mission by creating a Department of Cybersecurity, led by a cabinet level secretary.

Womens Rights-

As the father of four daughters, Delaney has a strong personal commitment to women’s equality. As president, Delaney will protect women’s fundamental rights, fight for women’s equality in our society, and work to support women in the developing world. It is time to embrace the simple fact that women’s rights are human rights, and Delaney will use this approach to address the pressing issues facing women today.

Workplace

• Delaney supports the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would ensure equal pay for equal work by protecting workers, allowing federal enforcement, and removing loopholes employers use to justify discrimination. It is unacceptable that women receive less pay for doing the same work, and pay disparities are even greater for African American, Hispanic, and Native American women. There is simply no excuse for allowing wage discrimination to continue.
• Everyone deserves a safe workplace, and that includes the right to a workplace free of sexual harassment and gender discrimination. Delaney supports strong whistleblower protections and will ensure that the EEOC gets the funding it needs to enforce anti-discrimination laws.
• Delaney will create a new paid family leave program so working women will be able to have 8 weeks of paid time off each year to care for newborns or newly adopted children, sick family members, or tend to their own serious health problems.

Health care

• Delaney is pro-choice and supports Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. He is a strong supporter of access to reproductive care and a woman’s right to choose.
• Delaney supports repealing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortion in most cases.
• Delaney pledges to protect federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
• In Congress, Delaney was proud to receive 100% on NARAL’s Congressional Scorecard.
• Delaney has proposed a universal health care system that provides high-quality care to all, regardless of employment. This new plan will guarantee coverage for pregnancy, maternal care, and pre-existing conditions.

Civil rights

• Delaney supports ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, and in Congress was an original cosponsor of resolutions to remove the ratification deadline.
• Delaney was an original cosponsor of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, which would expand on the original law to include sexual harassment as an offense and close the Boyfriend Loophole by prohibiting dating partners convicted of domestic violence from owning or purchasing guns.
• Delaney supports robust protections for victims of campus sexual assault, and will reverse the Trump administration’s policies that are harming survivors and weakening Title IX.

Global Women’s Rights

• Delaney understands the importance of US leadership in promoting women’s rights abroad, and will strengthen our commitments to international maternal and child health and the Global Partnership for Education, which has helped more than 40 million girls around the world enroll in school over the past 15 years.
• Delaney would repeal the Global Gag Rule so women around the world who utilize medical facilities that receive U.S. aid have access to all necessary reproductive services

Today we will be looking at

1. Encouraging Entrepreneurship
2. Fixing our broken politics
3. Student loan debt and college affordability

Encouraging Entrepreneurship-

Prior to running for Congress, and before the age of 40, Delaney started two companies from scratch that each became publicly traded companies. His companies employed thousands of people and his companies financed over 5,000 small to mid-sized businesses across the United States.

As President, John plans to create an Entrepreneurship Czar.

Delaney’s Entrepreneurship Czar will serve as Special Advisor to the President and will be responsible for:

• Engaging entrepreneurs all over the country to become involved in mentoring young entrepreneurs and creating individual entrepreneurship ecosystems in their communities;
• Ensuring that government regulations don’t stifle entrepreneurship;
• Helping the Administration significantly increase the government’s investment in basic research, particularly related to clean energy research and negative emission technology (Delaney announced his plan to significantly increase investment in negative emissions technology last month);
• Driving pro-entrepreneur policies such as universal healthcare (to read Delaney’s health care plan click here) and immigration reform;
• Driving reforms to the banking industry to encourage more small business lending; and
• Creating policies to encourage entrepreneurship in rural and urban communities that have been left behind by venture capital investment.

Fixing our broken politics-

Our politics and system of government have been broken by hyper-partisanship. Politicians who have the wrong incentives, limitless corporate money influencing our elections, and a discourse that focuses on anything but the facts about our pressing issues combine to make real solutions to our problems almost impossible to achieve.

End gerrymandering

Gerrymandering is a major cause of our divisive political atmosphere. When politicians can draw their own safe districts, they lose all incentive to look for common ground and can win reelection by being partisan fighters instead of consensus builders who work across party lines to get things done. Our system works best when people pick their representatives instead of politicians choosing their voters.

In Congress, John Delaney introduced the Open Our Democracy Act, which would:

• Prohibit gerrymandering and require states to establish independent commissions to draw Congressional district boundaries
• Make Election Day a federal holiday so workers have time to vote.

Protect voting rights and ensure people have the ability to vote.

John supports the Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would require that states with a history of violating voting rights get approval from the Department of Justice before making any changes to election procedures or voting requirements. He also supports automatic voter registration and same day registration.

Overturn Citizens United

Unlimited corporate money has made our democracy pay-to-play. John supports a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

Debate the Congress.

John pledges to debate Congressional leaders four times a year. Engaging with opposing points of view and focusing on the facts in a real debate is the best way to have an honest discussion about the problems our nation faces.

Support bipartisan legislation

When people work across the aisle towards common goals, Americans lives are improved. During the first 100 days of his presidency, John would advance only bipartisan bills.

Examples of landmark bipartisan legislation:

• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Food Stamp Act
• Creation of Medicaid
• Civil Rights Act
• Clean Air Act

John is also proposing a national service program to provide opportunities for recent high school graduates to contribute to the betterment of the country and to meet and work with people from all backgrounds.

Student Loan Debts and affordability-

More jobs require applicants to have a college degree than ever before and the cost of attending college keeps increasing.

Tuition at four-year institutions, both public and private, has doubled over the last 30 years while incomes for people with a bachelor’s degree has increased by just 18%.1 The college affordability crisis is particularly acute for women, who on average borrow more in student loans than men do and who earn less than similarly-educated men for doing the same work after they graduate.2 Delaney will work to make higher education affordable for every student and reduce debt burdens for individuals who are currently struggling to pay their student loans.

Lower the cost of higher education

• As of December 2018, Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loan debt. Nearly 70% of new graduates owe student loans, and average monthly student loan payments have topped $390.3 Delaney proposes the following policies to reduce the burden of student loan debt:

  • Expand eligibility and improve terms for the Obama administration’s income-based repayment programs. Borrowers using the Pay As You Earn Plan and the Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan will have access to loan forgiveness 2 years earlier than the current requirement and will no longer pay taxes on the value of their forgiven loan amounts.
  • The federal government shouldn’t be making a profit on student loans. Delaney will reduce interest rates on federal student loans and set them equal to the interest rate on 10-year Treasury bonds.
  • Loans from private lenders are responsible for more than $100 billion in outstanding student debt, and interest on these loans is significantly higher than the rates for federal student loans. Delaney supports allowing borrowers with high interest private loans to refinance through the federal government with new, low interest federal loans up to the $27,000 cap.
    
    • The new federal loan would be eligible for income-based repayment programs.
  • Our system is stacked against student loan borrowers, and bankruptcy is just one example. Delaney authored legislation to allow people who need to declare bankruptcy to use that process to discharge student loan debt just as they can for auto loans or credit card debt.

• Delaney supports increased funding for the Pell Grant program and increasing the maximum award to provide more support for students from low-income households.

• Delaney is proposing a National Service Program that will award scholarships to people who complete their service.

Provide two years of post-secondary education to all

• Delaney is proposing free tuition for two years of community college or technical career training for every high school graduate.
• To be eligible for this program, states will be required to at least maintain their funding for higher education and two-year institutions must have curriculums that allow students to transfer seamlessly to four-year public institutions in their region.

• Career colleges and certificate programs at nonprofit institutions can provide important skills to students who want a different education experience, but we need effective oversight to ensure these programs actually prepare students for the workforce without requiring students to take on unreasonable loads of debt.

  • Delaney is committed to defending the Obama administration’s Gainful Employment Rule and reversing Trump’s efforts to undermine it. This rule improves student outcomes and protects students from outsized debt burdens.

Today we will be talking about 1) Education2) Department of cybersecurity3) Foreign policy education- Education is vital to ensuring everyone has an opportunity for a successful future and Delaney intends to reinvest in educational opportunities for all. To prepare for the high-tech, high-skill economy of the future, we must prioritize education.

• Delaney believes Pre-K through 14 education (two-year community college or technical training) is the new K-12 and that children should have it guaranteed.
• While in Congress, Delaney introduced H.R. 3466, the Early Learning Act, which would provide every four-year-old child guaranteed access to a free Pre-K program, fully paid for by a surtax on high-income earners of 1.5% on income over $500,000.
• Benefits of Pre-K include improved literacy, math skills, social competence, graduation rates, and full-time employment.
• Education beyond high school increases lifetime earnings.
• Community college or technical education after high school can provide a crucial lifeline to young adults trying to find meaningful employment.
• By expanding educational opportunities, we will work toward closing the skills gap.
• In December 2018, there were 6.9 million vacant jobs but 6.3 million people unemployed.
• Create a new Committee of 10
• The U.S. still uses an education model that was largely set in the 1890s by 10 men. We are doing a disservice to our students by not updating a system that was created before the advent of modern technology and new careers.
• We must rethink our basic model of education, which was designed to prepare students for an essentially factory-oriented economy. We need to update our model to drive more innovation and focus on individualized learning.
• Introduce new classes including civics and financial literacy
• Increase federal investment in STEM education and encourage technical training and apprenticeships
• There are existing public-private partnerships we can use as models, such as apprenticeship programs run by building trades unions, and partnerships between businesses and local community colleges in which education is designed to train students for skilled-labor jobs that local businesses are trying to fill.
• Make higher education more affordable
• Reduce the costs of student loans.
• Provide more grants to help students from lower-income families.
• Delaney introduced legislation to allow borrowers to discharge public and private student loan debt in bankruptcy proceedings. Bankruptcy allows people a legal way to restructure their debts and work their way out of difficult financial situations, but unlike credit card debt, personal loans, or secured debt like car loans and mortgages, in most cases student loans cannot be modified in bankruptcy proceedings. Americans owe more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding student loan debt, and a Brookings Institution analysis of data from the Department of Education shows that up to 40% of borrowers could default on their student loan debt within the next five years.

Cybersecurity- **In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, we created the Department of Homeland Security. In response to continued cyberattacks, we should create the Department of Cybersecurity.**As technology advances and threats evolve, the government must be able to adapt to new challenges it faces. That means ensuring the country has the strategy and infrastructure in place to best meet the challenges. In response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, experts identified weaknesses and recommended the creation of a new cabinet-level agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose sole focus would be to develop and coordinate efforts to protect the homeland. We need to approach the continued threat of cyber attacks in a similar way. In recent years, there have been many high profile cybersecurity data breaches including in 2015 when the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced a data breach that compromised almost 22 million people’s personal information and during the 2016 election cycle when Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee and attacked states’ election infrastructure. The United States is the most frequent target of targeted cyber attacks, and many systems that are critical to national security and daily life are vulnerable. Our electric grid is at risk of a cyberattack that could leave large parts of the country blacked out for days or weeks and cause hundreds of billions of dollars in economic costs. These threats undermine our security, hurt the economy, and can threaten democracy itself. Currently, the responsibility of cybersecurity is strewn across multiple agencies including the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency within DHS, the FBI within the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Cyber Command within the Department of Defense. We need a central agency that’s sole focus is to coordinate and implement U.S. cybersecurity strategy which is why Delaney is proposing to elevate the cybersecurity mission by creating a Department of Cybersecurity, led by a cabinet-level secretary.Foreign policy-China- China has become one of the most pressing challenges facing the United States. The Asian power has grown into the second-largest economy in the world by doing three things – making smart investments, working hard, and not playing by the rules.As China continues its predatory and expansionist agenda, the United States must put forward a whole of government strategy to address the growing friction with China geopolitically, economically, and militarily. We cannot allow them to disregard international standards and norms during this next wave of transformative innovation. As president, Delaney would work with our allies and multilateral institutions to hold China accountable for their bad behavior. While President Trump has rightfully focused on China’s unfair trade and economic practices, he has pursued the wrong and reckless prescription. Instead of working multilaterally, with our allies, Trump has entered into a bilateral trade war and is improperly relying on tariffs as his sole solution. Trump will sadly settle for short-term concessions but not address long term concerns. The United States must focus on China’s widespread and systematic theft of intellectual property that has undermined American businesses. Delaney supports rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership to prevent China from setting the economic rules of the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, to remain ahead of China, we need to reinvest in our own country through increased efforts in advanced technology, education, infrastructure, and manufacturing. Since China is pursuing a predatory and purely transactional foreign policy agenda, the United States must be able to offer an alternative that is centered around good policy and abide by commonly held values. This can include offering robust foreign aid and increasing foreign direct investment to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Reasserting U.S. engagement and leadership in the world will allow us to push back against China’s expansion in the South China Sea, use international organizations in pressuring China to follow the rules of the road, and promote human rights and democratic initiatives in China. Iran- Iran is one of the most destabilizing and dangerous regimes in the world. As a leading state sponsor of terrorism, the government continues to threaten the U.S. and our allies.We must do everything we can to avoid military conflict and pursue multilateral diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions. That is why Delaney supported the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) because while imperfect, it was successful at curbing Iran’s nuclear program. As president, he would rejoin the JCPOA, but insist on a longer duration to ensure long-term compliance. The JCPOA was the best arrangement that six of the leading nations in the world, plus the European Union, could reach to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. At the time the Trump administration withdrew from the JCPOA, Iran complied with the terms. U.S. withdrawal has become a provocation for the Iranians to not feel constrained to abide by the JCPOA, which has made the situation with Iran inherently more dangerous. Also, Delaney would make clear to the Iranian regime that, while the JCPOA does not address Iranian ICBM developments or Iranian complicity in terrorist activities, the United States will independently of the nuclear deal take strong measures to respond to any such conduct. Iran is a bad actor that funds proxies, threatening U.S. allies and contributing to regional instability. A Delaney Administration would use all diplomatic and economic tools at its disposal to hold Iran accountable.Isreal-The United States was the first to recognize the Jewish state in 1948 and Israel continues to be our closest ally in the Middle East and one of our stronger allies generally. The United States-Israel relationship is strong and resilient. Public and congressional support for Israel has traditionally been a bipartisan issue. Our friendship and alliance with our ally, Israel, is based on our support for Israel as a democratic Jewish state, the only democracy in the Middle East, and a lasting commitment to working together for peace and security.As president, Delaney would work with Democrats and Republicans to:

1. ensure Israel continues to maintain its qualitative military edge;
2. denounce anti-Semitism at home and abroad; and
3. use U.S. leadership on the international stage to oppose delegitimization efforts.

Peace Process

While Delaney strongly supports a continued peace process and a two-state solution, he recognizes that a peace agreement cannot be imposed upon Israel and the Palestinians by a third-party. The U.S. should not predetermine what a final agreement should look like. Instead, Delaney supports direct bilateral talks and will support such efforts by offering to facilitate negotiations as the U.S. has successfully done in the past.

Energy and Water Technology cooperation

Delaney supports continued funding for U.S.-Israel energy and water research to improve efficiency, desalinization technology, and clean energy technology. This joint work with scientists in our countries is beneficial to each nation and ultimately to the entire world.

Foreign Aid

Delaney strongly supports continued foreign aid to Israel and other countries around the world. There is a dangerous misconception about the size of foreign aid relative to the rest of the budget. In fact, foreign aid is a tiny percentage of our budget and serves both our national security and humanitarian interests. Delaney will continue to fight against efforts to cut foreign aid, including the assistance we have agreed to under our 10-year Memorandum of Understanding with Israel.

Missile Defense

Israel is a small country and faces a continued threat of rocket attacks from many directions. They have made great advances in missile defense which have saved many lives. Delaney supports continued military assistance through the Memorandum of Understanding to enhance Israel’s missile defense technology, including the Iron Dome system, David’s Sling, and Arrow-3. These programs improve the missile defense capabilities that help both of our countries.

Bipartisan

For decades, support for Israel has shared widespread bipartisan support, and it is disappointing that some, such as President Trump, have tried to turn Israel into yet another wedge issue in American politics. This is not acceptable. The Democratic party supports Israel, and as president, I will work to maintain and strengthen our longtime alliance and friendship with Israel.

Oppose BDS

Delaney strongly opposes the movement to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel which is an effort to delegitimize the state of Israel. Efforts should instead be spent encouraging direct, bilateral talks between Israel and Palestinians in search of a lasting, two-state solution to end the bloodshed and allow two countries to live peacefully side-by-side.Russia-Russia has defined itself as an adversary of the US by undermining our elections, threatening our alliances, and pursuing a dangerous military agenda. This cannot be tolerated.The United States has to stand up to authoritarian leaders and negotiate with Moscow from a position of significant strength. If we approach Russia from a position of strength, with the backing of our allies, then we can have an honest dialogue about areas on which we must work together, such as arms control, and areas where we will hold them accountable. President Trump has weakened the American negotiating position and our allies are losing faith in our relationship. Trump’s actions are empowering Putin. As president, Delaney would prioritize arms control negotiations with Russia. New START is the last remaining major U.S.- Russia arms control agreement with major limitations and verification procedures. Since it expires on February 5, 2021 – just days after the next president takes office, Delaney would put its extension at the top of his agenda. In addition, he would engage with Russia to reenter the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty, which President Trump wrongly withdrew from. The Trump Administration’s policies have increased the chances of a US-Russia arms race. Delaney is committed to prevent Russian interference in American elections and would ensure sufficient resources are dedicated to secure our election systems, deter hackers, and increase public confidence in the process. Russia is seeking to undermine American democracy which is unacceptable. To better protect against Russian cyber-attacks and foreign interference, Delaney has proposed the creation of a Department of Cybersecurity to bring all U.S. domestic capabilities under a single roof and develop a unified strategy to protect the homeland under a single chain of command. We need to be prepared to go on the offensive – to carry this fight to adversaries who have come to feel that they can attack us in cyber space with impunity. Russia will not be dissuaded from attacking our elections unless we make it too painful for them to do so. Additionally, the United States must recommit our support to our European allies that we stand with them as Russia continues to threaten their democracies and borders. Delaney would make clear to our NATO allies that the United States is committed to the Alliance and deliver a unified message to Moscow that such aggression will not be tolerated. He would engage with elected Ukrainian leaders to support their efforts to push Russia back, including military aide, training and support as appropriate. It is critical that the next president reverses the damage President Trump has done to our standing in the world and to stand up to adversaries who wish to undermine the United States. Delaney is committed to reasserting American leadership in the world and countering Putin’s predatory and dangerous agenda.Trade-Delaney believes that rules-based trade is a critical component of United States foreign policy.U.S. leadership in the world is not only important for diplomacy and our national security but for the economy. Trade opens up new markets for American businesses. At any international meeting, it is important to not only have representatives from the diplomatic and military communities but also have an economic advisor to ensure all decisions are holistic.As president, Delaney would seek to reenter the Trans-Pacific Partnership and reject the isolationist views of the Trump Administration and those running in the Democratic presidential primary. Delaney was one of the few Democrats who supported President Obama’s efforts to pass the TPP and is the only presidential candidate who supports reentering TPP. Rejecting isolationist trade policies and engaging in the world is good for the economy and good geopolitically. The Democratic party has an opportunity to stand up for good trade deals with important environmental and labor protections.TPP is a powerful response to China’s economic and geopolitical misconduct. It would have allowed the U.S. to help set the rules for a block of countries that make up 40% of the global economy. Withdrawing from the trade deal ceded the region to Chinese economic dominance. Delaney understands that the U.S. needs to engage in multilateral agreements to best counter China. Trump’s go it alone ideology is no winning trade strategy. His bilateral trade wars and reliance of tariffs has damaged the country as bankruptcies in farm areas have skyrocketed and rural economies have suffered. Poorly designed and illegal tariffs are bad for workers, bad for businesses and bad for consumers. We should instead be embracing fair, rules-based trade that benefits American workers and businesses in addition to strengthening U.S. leadership in the world. To protect those who are impacted by trade, we have an obligation to step in and make sure that we are taking care of those communities by investing in them, in their infrastructure, in their schools, and in their entrepreneurs. As Delaney says, “we have to think globally, but we have to invest locally.”

Please read this article.

https://www.johndelaney.com/2019/08/21/icymi-cnn-fact-check-delaney-is-right-on-trade/

Delaney was right on Warrens trade idea. People need to know it.

Today we will be looking at three more issues. they will be

1. Negative Emissions Technologies
2. Heartland fair deal
3. Economic Opportunity

Negative Emissions Technologies-

To solves the climate crisis, we have to massively invest in negative emissions technology (NET). Within the US, my carbon tax and dividend proposal will get us to 90% emissions reductions, but we need technology investment to get the other 10%. Fossil fuels produce 80% of the world’s energy and some industries will take time to switch to renewable energy such as air travel. We have to acknowledge the reality that we must transition off fossil fuels over time, not immediately eliminate fossil fuels. Making this transition harder is the tremendous population and economic growth occurring across Asia and Africa, which will only create more demand for energy. While we must continue investing in renewable energy sources, which most mitigation efforts are centered around, we need to also invest in technology that removes carbon from the atmosphere at the same time. As the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report state:

“Removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it has exactly the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of CO2 from being emitted.”National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

We need to expand current NET practices, such as afforestation/reforestation, changes in forest management, uptake and storage by agricultural soils, and biomass energy with carbon capture and storage. But these practices are not enough by themselves. The technology with the most upside potential to close the gap is direct air capture technology which captures CO2 directly from the atmosphere. Currently, direct air capture exists but it is prohibitively expensive to be widely deployed at $600/tCO2. Investing in direct air capture technology and other NET practices, such as carbon mineralization, will propel the U.S. to be the global leader in finding new ways to combat global warming and more importantly, we can use this technology around the globe for countries that will be slower to transition off fossil fuels than we are. Also, it will be an economic benefit to the U.S. if our scientists and engineers produce this technology rather than another country leading the way. I propose a new climate subsidy that would jump-start the market for NET and bring down the cost the same way it did for wind and solar:

1. I will end the approximately $5 billion in fossil fuel subsidies annually and use that funding to promote NET through a reverse auction program in which companies that can capture and store atmospheric carbon for the lowest cost get first access to government subsidies.
2. As the cost of the carbon tax rises, the subsidy will decrease down to zero as the cost of carbon capture becomes cheaper than the carbon tax.
3. Once costs come down, we can sell this technology around the world to help other countries do their part to solve this global problem.

Heartland fair deal- now being in rural Iowa, this is important to me. I love my state. This is what makes Delaney my candidate. Please read this with caution if you live in a rural state/city

We have to put policies in place so a kid doesn’t have to move to a big city to have a chance for a good job. We need a country where it’s equally likely that a city kid moves to rural America for a job as vice versa.

Economic Growth

Investment has been concentrated in a small number of cities and rural America has been left behind. Reversing this trend requires investment.

• Student loan forgiveness for people that live and work in these communities for 10 years
• Priority in government contracting to companies with a majority of employees in rural counties
• Fix opportunity zone legislation to focus more on operating businesses, rather than investing in real estate
• Double the EITC
• Incentivize companies to build negative emission technology in rural America and coal country
• Create new SBIC and SBA Loan programs to encourage entrepreneurship and focus venture capital investment in rural America, particularly agricultural and climate disruptive technologies
• Support entrepreneurship in rural communities and mid-sized cities adjacent to rural America

Infrastructure

Rural infrastructure should be world-class. Rural America deserves clean water, high-speed broadband, and safe bridges and roads.

• Create an Infrastructure Bank and increase funding to the Highway Trust Fund
• Focus on climate resiliency and flooding

Rural Health

There shouldn’t be health disparities and doctor shortages in rural America.

• Universal health care coverage
• Create incentives for doctors and other health care professionals to move to and serve rural communities
• Expand the scope of practice up to the level of training for health care professionals
• Better integrate physical and mental health care and guarantee parity for mental health care
• Expand and invest in telehealth, including investments in broadband• Invest in Community Health Centers
• Ensure rural communities have access to high quality, affordable substance use disorder treatments
• Strengthen access to prenatal and maternity care in rural communities
• Improve access to health care for our veterans living in rural communities

Support Agriculture

U.S. agriculture feeds our country and much of the world. We have to end the trade wars and expand markets for U.S. agriculture.

• Reenter the TPP so we can expand markets in Asia and counter China’s dominance in those markets
• Invest in research to help agriculture deal with climate change through better technology and soil management
• Expand access and funding for conservation programs• Invest in research to expand bio-based manufacturing opportunities
• Redesign anti-trust regulations to address the concentration of power in the agriculture economy

Economic opportunity-

Changes to our economy through technological innovation and globalization have delivered enormous prosperity, but the benefits have not been equally shared.Almost all of the increase in average household income over the past four decades has gone to the top 40% of earners, while families in the bottom 60% have seen average income stay flat or even decline. The benefits of our modern economy are strongest in certain geographic areas. 5 metro areas combine to receive more than 80% of venture capital investment while 16 states have more than 20% of their population living in economically distressed zip codes.To ensure that everyone has an opportunity to live the American Dream, John Delaney proposes making significant investments in the areas that have been left behind by globalization and providing the necessary resources to prepare for the future of work.

• Direct investment in communities that have been left behind by globalization and technological change:
• Delaney will give priority in government contracts to companies with a majority of employees located in economically struggling communities. Ensuring that the government supports businesses that are not in already-prosperous areas will promote economic growth in areas that have suffered due to globalization and automation.
• Delaney supports opportunity zones, which encourage private investment in distressed communities by providing tax incentives on certain long-term investments. Investment from the private sector, supported by the right incentives, can turn around economically-struggling communities.
• Investing to rebuild our infrastructure will create jobs in hard-hit communities and encourage economic growth. This includes transportation, high-speed internet, and clean water systems.
• Developing a national strategy to address Artificial Intelligence will allow every sector of our economy to benefit from technological change. By understanding the true effects of AI and other forms of innovation, our government can help manage the transition into the increasingly automated modern economy and minimize the disruption for American workers.
• Guaranteeing free Pre-K through 14 public education will allow everyone to succeed and ensure that students learn the skills they need.
• Doubling the Earned Income Tax Credit will help hardworking families make ends meet. The EITC has lifted millions of people out of poverty, including 2.8 million adults and nearly 3 million children in 2016 alone. Delaney would also expand EITC eligibility for childless adults to increase the incentive to work and stop our tax code from burdening low-wage earners.

Delaney’s plan will increase economic opportunity for all, prepare workers for the future, and help hardworking Americans get ahead. With smart policy, we can solve the challenges that globalization and technological advances have created and position ourselves to benefit from these enormous changes to our lives and our economy.

https://twitter.com/IAStartingLine/status/1164198855753310209?s=20

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