Issue Position: Expand Opportunity and End Poverty.

Issue Position

Too many Ohioans cannot afford some combination of housing, health care, education, and utilities. We need to make them all more affordable for families.

I support the Biden-Harris plan to make child care more affordable, which includes relief for child care providers in danger of closing, expanding child care assistance, and increasing tax credits to cover child-care costs. I will fight to pass paid family and medical leave, which is critical to supporting families as they address health and caregiving needs. I also support universal Pre-K, free community college for all, free four-year public college for families making under $125,000, some college debt cancellation for everyone, with additional relief that goes to the people who need it most, and significant federal investments in pathways to the middle class that do not require a four-year college degree.

Should I have the honor to be elected, I will fight alongside Senator Sherrod Brown to dramatically cut childhood poverty by making the recent changes to the child tax credit permanent. I also plan to pick up former Congresswoman Fudge's mantle and finish the fight to make sure no American goes hungry. Of course, this includes fighting to pass the PRO Act, which strengths unions and empowers workers. And like Secretary-designate Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, I support a path to a $15 minimum wage that indexes to inflation so it has built-in increases.

Neighborhoods across Northeast Ohio have seen housing costs skyrocket. I support COVID relief legislation that imposes a moratorium on evictions. I will also work to make housing more affordable by ending discriminatory practices like redlining; provide down-payment assistance through a refundable tax credit; and will work to increase the supply of housing.

This pandemic has only underscored the challenges of the digital divide in Northeast Ohio, from children falling behind in virtual school or struggling to do homework, to veterans that cannot access virtual visits and telehealth. I plan to fight for the resources to connect every community to high-speed, broadband internet.

Here in Northeast Ohio we have struggled to keep up with increases in water and wastewater rates. As utility companies and municipalities have sought to bring our dated infrastructure into compliance with Clean Water Act standards, they passed the costs onto consumers. I am committed to continuing Congresswoman Fudge's initiative to lower water bills through the Low-Income Sewer and Water Assistant Program Act (LISWAP).

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