Domestic Policy Caucus Priorities
It is our mission to support transparent, public conversations on critical policy issues at the local, state and federal level. We educate voters on the issues that will have the greatest impact on their community and support community members as they engage with elected officials on these critical policy matters.
Initiatives
Across Massachusetts, infrastructure is crumbling. Bridges are falling apart, water quality is degrading, and municipal budgets are facing higher costs to deliver basic services. All the while, taxes continue to increase, and the cost of living becomes less and less affordable. Municipal governments should get their priorities straight. Tax dollars should go to fixing our infrastructure, making housing affordable, and keeping our communities safe.
Government-owned broadband networks have a long history of failure, causing tax increases and leaving cities and their residents in debt. A study from University of Pennsylvania found that nearly 90% of government-run networks are financial failures because they can’t attract enough customers to cover expenses. Simply put, the government shouldn’t be in the business of business, especially when it comes to the Internet.
Politicians shouldn’t ban cars and trucks or the fuels they run on. Prioritizing American-made, American-grown fuels—fuels like Minnesota ethanol, biodiesel, gasoline and diesel—is crucial to keeping our communities alive. Bans are a recipe for higher prices and fewer choices. Our message to elected officials is simple: Don’t flush decades of investment in Minnesota fuels.
Meant to help low-income people afford their medicines, 340B is a federal mandate whereby hospitals and pharmacies are allowed to buy prescription drugs at a deep discount, and they are reimbursed by insurance companies at the full price. Yet, the financial benefits are accruing almost entirely to hospitals, clinics, and physicians while patients’ costs are increasing. State-by-state 340B expansion over the years has given more economic power to national chain pharmacies that have driven many local pharmacies out of business. It’s time to fix the 340B program.
The current state-based winner-take-all method of awarding electoral votes causes the voices and desires of voters in four out of five states to be ignored. The National Popular Vote will guarantee that every vote in every state will be politically relevant in every presidential campaign. It will make every American’s vote equal.
Tribal Sovereignty & Economic Development
The key to modernizing and expanding economic development for Native American Tribal Governments is leveraging technology and e-commerce. Doing so would allow them to overcome geographic and economic isolation, to implement better job training and education programs, to reduce dependence on businesses requiring face-to-face interactions, and to reduce unemployment.
Imposing interest rate caps on loans and restricting the credit options available to consumers are ill-conceived policies that do not achieve their desired outcome. Such policies unfairly target short-term, small-dollar loans that many disenfranchised and disadvantaged people use. People with subprime credit scores or “underbanked” or “unbanked” people often rely on these types of loans and other creative financing solutions to access credit for car repairs, to pay rent, or in a medical emergency.
Texas ranks worst in the nation for racial health disparities and many public hospital and hospital districts’ spending priorities in Texas are shortchanging Black and Latino communities. County-based public healthcare systems were created to provide medical care to the poor, but a number of these tax-supported institutions are collecting more taxes while spending less and less on charity care. Spending priorities must be transformed.
