Throughout Joe’s time in public service growing our economy and uplifting working and middle-class Americans has remained one of his top priorities. As a former small business owner, he understands what it takes to create jobs and build an economy that works for working people.
Unfortunately, for too many Americans the economy isn’t working the way it should. Wages are stagnant while the cost of living continues to skyrocket. Private corporations are achieving record-breaking profits while working families are scraping by living paycheck-to-paycheck.
It is time to rethink and retool our economic and job creation policies. It is time to create a level playing field that ensures all Americans have access to a good job with good pay, and the ability to build a stronger, more secure future for their families. We need to provide Americans with access to job training programs and create pathways to higher education that don’t lead to decades of crippling debt. We need to establish a fair living wage standard and address the cost of living that prevents far too many people from ever getting ahead. We need to empower entrepreneurs, incentivize small business growth, and ensure our trade policies fairly benefit our collective economic interests.
In the State Assembly, Joe has always fought for fairness and growth within our economic policies: he sponsored landmark Buy American legislation (A8427), which strengthens the New York and national iron and steel manufacturing industries, he helped cut tax rates for small businesses across New York (2017-18 NYS Assembly One-House Budget) and he reduced tax rates for Upstate manufacturers (2014-15 NYS Budget).
Joe has worked to build an economy that puts working people first and ensure equal opportunities for all New Yorkers: he proudly co-sponsored legislation raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour (2016-17 NYS Budget), he co-sponsored the Wage Protection Act (A8106) which protected workers from wage and hour abuses, and he supported efforts to ensure that the highest earners among us paid their fair share in taxes while also reducing taxes for hard-working families (2011-12 NYS Budget).
If elected to serve our community in Congress, Joe will continue to prioritize building an economy that favors the many, not the few by supporting the following actions:
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Support the passage of the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the national minimum wage to $15 per hour;
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Increase access to work-training and career development programs that ensure people can obtain the skills they need for the good jobs available now;
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Support the passage of the Child Care For Working Families Act;
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Support the Fairness In Taxation Act, which would raise nearly a trillion dollars over 10 years by creating new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires;
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Eliminate tax incentives that enable the outsourcing of American jobs and favor corporate profits over working families;
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Support trade agreements that create good paying jobs for our community and ensure fair standards for all participants.