tACKLInG InEQUALItY
Jamaal is fighting for an America where all of us have what we need to thrive. For an America where Black lives matter. For an America that finally belongs to all of us, not the wealthy few. The central cause of our movement is to tackle the inequality that grips communities across the country. We will achieve this goal by taxing the rich, delivering affordable housing, ending the gender pay gap, expanding Social Security, and so much more.
9,200 Children In District Lifted Out of Poverty.
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Working with children his entire career, Jamaal Bowman came to Congress calling for expanding the Child Tax Credit. In one of his proudest votes, Jamaal helped deliver an average $2,800 benefit to families in our district, lifting thousands of kids out of poverty.
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THE CARE FOR ALL AGENDA.
Care work touches all of our lives from beginning to end, from the unpaid labor of those who raise us as children – childcare workers, teachers, home aides and healthcare workers – to those who care for us in old age and see us through the end of our lives. As the pandemic has underscored, care is one of the strongest pillars of our economy. Yet those who do this work – disproportionately Black and brown women, often immigrants – are under-supported, undervalued and under-compensated, if compensated at all.
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Jamaal Bowman and Elizabeth Warren introduced the Care for All Agenda to address this disparity, combat inequality and dramatically expand the care economy. The Care for All Agenda entails raising pay, benefits, protections, and standards for all care workers, ensuring pathways to unionization, and creating millions of new care jobs over the next decade. Care For All means we must invest in universal public programs to guarantee high-quality health care, home care, child care, and paid family and medical leave to all people.
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HOUSING JUSTICE.
Jamaal grew up in public housing and rent-controlled apartments. He lived with his grandmother during the week so his mother and older sisters could work to pay rent, a story all too familiar in our district. Over 30% of people in our district pay over 50% of their monthly income on housing costs. That’s untenable.
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Invest in Affordable Housing: To overcome our district’s shortage of over 70,000 affordable rental homes, the federal government must make a deep public reinvestment in affordable and social housing.
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Fully Fund NYCHA and Pass a Green New Deal for Public Housing: We must not only finally fully fund public housing in New York City, we must also decarbonize public housing. This will create thousands of union-track jobs for public housing residents.
National Rent Control: National rent control means a cap on rent increases at 150% of the consumer price index, or 3% — whichever is higher.
Eviction Protections: Too many families live one landlord’s whim away from a forced move. Tenants must have the right to renew their lease.
Housing Court Rights: Right to Counsel would provide tenants with free legal advice when facing an eviction case in court.
End Street Homelessness: We must invest $32 billion to end homelessness and set aside at least 25,000 units of low income housing to house the homeless across the country.
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A NEW DEAL FOR EDUCATION
As a teacher and a principal, Jamaal has seen firsthand how our education system is failing our children. Ending inequality begins with guaranteeing our children have the quality free public education they need to build successful, healthy, full lives.
From guaranteeing universal childcare and investing in public schools to making public colleges tuition-free and canceling student debt, we must take decisive action to repair the wounds of our history and fulfill the promise of our multiracial democracy.
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MEDICARE FOR ALL
Everyone knows America’s health care system is fundamentally broken. We must guarantee health care as a human right and save millions of lives. The solution is simple, and found in nearly every other wealthy country across the globe: A single-payer system that provides everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, with no premiums, deductibles or copays.
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BROADBAND JUSTICE ACT
Jamaal Bowman introduced the Broadband Justice Act because the internet is not a luxury, it’s a necessity to participate in our modern economy, receive proper health care and get a decent education. The more people have access to high-speed internet, the more access and opportunity they have in the world beyond their current home.
The Broadband Justice Act will expand affordable high-speed internet access to 8 million families living in government-assisted housing. It will classify broadband as a utility, in the same way water, heat and electricity are classified as utilities, because they are all necessary for modern life. In addition, it will retrofit public housing units, like the 21,000 units in our district, for high-quality broadband.
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TAX THE RICH
The wealthy and powerful should pay their fair share. It’s more than an issue of fairness and equality, it’s the only way to build a more just and fair society.
We must repeal the Trump tax cuts for the rich and massive corporations. We must tax capital gains at the same rate as income for the top 1%. We must close tax loopholes for corporations like Amazon who are paying little or zero federal taxes. We must pass a modest 2% wealth tax on the ultrarich with a net worth of over $50 million to invest in universal child care, free public college, canceling student debt and more.
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THE GREEN NEW DEAL
The climate crisis is already damaging our communities in New York, from deadly flooded basements to asthma-inducing dirty air. It will require a mass mobilization to combat climate change. The scale, scope and urgency of this issue surpasses anything we have faced in generations, and the Green New Deal is the only solution that matches our current crisis.
EXPAND SOCIAL SECURITY
No more uncertainty. Social Security will deplete its reserves by 2034, leading to cuts for over 20% of eligible seniors. We must guarantee Social Security funding for the next 50 years. But we have to go further than that. We must link Social Security benefits to inflation and ensure smarter adjustments for the rising cost of living. And we must raise the minimum benefit because it is unacceptable that an American retiring right now after 30 years of hard work is discovering their Social Security benefits put them below the poverty line.
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GROW LABOR UNIONS
Labor unions combat income inequality by bringing workers’ collective power to the bargaining table to increase wages and reduce racial and gender disparities. Jamaal knows the labor movement must thrive in every corner of America, which is why he traveled down to Bessemer, Alabama to support Amazon workers organizing to unionize in the face of overwhelming union busting.
In Congress, Jamaal has been a leading champion of the PRO Act, a landmark bill to grow labor unions. The PRO Act makes it easier for employees to form a union to negotiate for better pay, benefits and working conditions. It also increases penalties for corporations that engage in union busting or retaliate against workers who are organizing and speaking out to improve their workplace.​