Tom Steyer in Survey of 2020 Presidential campaign websites
On Education:
Sustained $125B federal investment in HBCUs
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were mostly created after the Civil War to serve the needs of black students who didn't have access or opportunity to attend the nation's universities.
They have served as the backbone of the black middle class for generations of graduating doctors, lawyers, entertainers, engineers, and other black professionals. HBCUs make America better, smarter,
and more successful, and we must do more to protect their ability to educate for generations to come.Without sustained federal investments, we risk losing these institutions that shape so many bright futures. As president, Tom will invest
$125 billion to HBCUs over the next 10 years for infrastructure and technology upgrades, student and faculty support, building endowment capacity, and HBCU Centers of Innovation, among other initiatives.
Source: 2020 Presidential campaign website TomSteyer.com
Feb 3, 2020
On Gun Control:
Gun violence is a public health epidemic
Gun violence is a public health epidemic that claims far too many lives each year.
Tom stands with students, parents, educators, law enforcement, victims of gun violence, and community members, and is ready to implement the urgent common-sense gun safety reforms we desperately need.
His plan--titled "We Can End Gun Violence"--will establish universal background checks, ban large-capacity magazines and assault weapons, enact red flag laws, close loopholes, create a new
Office of Gun Safety and licensing requirements, and provide resources to communities to reduce gun violence.
Source: 2020 Presidential campaign website TomSteyer.com
Feb 3, 2020
On Homeland Security:
National Service Plan: $50B for public service
For the last several years, Tom has traveled around the country listening to young students talk about their vision for the future of this nation.
Many are ready to roll up their sleeves and join millions of others in tackling the challenges we face both at home and abroad.
Tom's New National Service Plan will channel this energetic spirit into a historic $50 billion expansion of our public service programs to address pressing challenges in communities across our country and abroad. He will pass an updated Serve
America Act in his first 100 days as president, increase public service program living allowances and educational benefits, and increase public service participation to one million positions in five years.
Source: 2020 Presidential campaign website TomSteyer.com
Feb 3, 2020
On Welfare & Poverty:
Increase the earned income tax credit
Corporate influence in Congress has silenced labor groups, and halted progress on wages, retirement security, health care, and other issues affecting families across the country.
It's time to push power back to the people who actually do the work. Tom's first and best partner in organizing has always been organized labor.
As president, he will keep fighting for a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, strengthen the right to organize, institute paid family leave, and make childcare more affordable and available.
Tom will invest in programs that work for working people: increasing the earned income tax credit, enforcing strong workplace protections, and fighting for a living wage.
Source: 2020 Presidential campaign website TomSteyer.com
Feb 3, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Tell Congress that we need our 5 basic rights
The 5 Rights: We need to redefine what it means to be free in the 21st century, to make sure we all have a fair chance at success in America. Together, let's tell the new Congress we need the five rights.- The Right to an Equal Vote
- The Right to Clean Air & Clean Water
- The Right to Learn
- The Right to a Living Wage
- The Right to Health
"If you have these 5 rights, you have the protections you need to be truly free." -- TOM STEYER
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Education:
$1.5 trillion in student loan debt is unacceptable
A good, equitable education opens up the world. A degree or certificate says, "I can compete in this 21st century economy."
It gives you the means to pursue your dreams and contribute to our society.That doesn't mean everyone needs a graduate degree. It doesn't even mean everyone needs a bachelor's degree.
But it does mean that everyone should be able to open the door to a good school, and gain the knowledge they need to succeed, without worrying about the cost.
Americans collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loans.
This is unacceptable. Everyone must be able to acquire new skills, start new careers, and work for whatever it is they want.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Education:
Keep schools open despite Republican demonization
Our government has to keep [school] doors open to everyone, but the Republican agenda of demonizing teachers, framing public education as a costly burden, and gutting education spending--all so they can cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy--
means our system is suffering.Schools in Oklahoma and Colorado can't stay open for a full five-day week.
Students in Rhode Island and Michigan are suing their states because their public high schools don't properly teach them fundamental things like civics and literacy.
Virtually all our public school teachers spend some of their own pay on school supplies for their classes.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Environment:
Corporate profits matter more than keeping people alive
The Right to Clean Air & Clean Water: Pollution is everywhere, choking the air we breathe and contaminating the water we drink. It is literally killing people--cutting years off many Americans' lives, threatening everyone's health and safety. And none
of this is happening by accident.Residents in Flint, Michigan, are 54% African-American and nearly 42% live below the poverty line. They were exposed to dangerous, lead-filled water when Republicans running the state decided to switch the
city's water supply to the polluted Flint River, because it was cheaper than clean water from Lake Huron.
In Fresno, California, where over 49% of the people are Latino and nearly 3 in 10 are poor, soot pollution makes air quality among the worst in
the country, thanks to dirty power plants coughing out chemicals that cause sickeningly high asthma rates.
For big businesses--and way too many politicians--driving corporate profits up matters more than keeping people alive and well. Cheap beats safe.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Government Reform:
It's up to us to un-rig the voting system
The Right to an Equal Vote: A true democracy depends on the broadest participation possible. But as things stand now, all Americans do not have an equal vote. The struggle to make sure everyone is allowed an actual voice in our democracy is ongoing, and
it's up to us to un-rig the system that continues to favor wealthy corporate donors.Deliberate voter suppression by Republicans, gerrymandering, and corporate money flooding our politics have made it impossible for us to obtain equality in our
government. Many people have to travel for hours to get to their polling location. Many more are faced with hours of wait time just to get inside. People worry they'll be penalized at their job for taking time to go to cast their ballot. This isn't fair
or democratic, and now we have a president who is doing everything he can to exacerbate this inequality.
Voting must be easy and accessible, for every American. Without that, we are left governed by a democracy of dollars, not voters.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Health Care:
Healthcare must be a RIGHT, not a privilege
The Right to Health: Right now, in this country, we don't have a healthcare problem. We have a serious ACCESS problem, and a COST problem. We are spending far more to get less: On average, other well-off countries spend a little over $5,000 a year, and
they manage to cover everyone. And if it isn't free for their citizens, it's heavily subsidized. In America, we spend over $10,000 per person on healthcare each year, for less effective, less consistent care than those countries provide.
Pharmaceutical companies continue to raise prices of drugs--not because production of these drugs got significantly more expensive, but because they wanted to increase their own profits. Many Americans are living without coverage,
praying they won't get sick and go bankrupt trying to pay off their medical debts.
Healthcare must be a RIGHT, not a privilege--and our government must act to protect the foundations of our health.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Jobs:
Most people are denied a fair paycheck, while CEOs get rich
The Right to a Living Wage: America has always strived to be a nation where everyone can rise as far as their potential will take them.Over the last forty years, I've seen America digress and move away from the forward momentum of progress
that we had collectively achieved as a nation. Today, our economy booms but the average budget tightens.
Most people are denied a fair paycheck and the life of dignity it provides. We've gone from a place where workers were considered part
of the company, to where workers are considered a cost to the company.
In 1978, CEO pay was roughly 30 times that of typical worker salaries in the United States. These days? It's 271 times. This is wrong--pure and simple. Every
American must be guaranteed a living wage, because economic fairness is essential to the freedom to pursue opportunity. No one should be forced to work three jobs just to survive, and no one should see their raise eaten up by the rising cost of living.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, TomSteyer.com
Jul 8, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Fight racial disparities in our criminal justice system
NextGen America fights to protect equal rights, opportunities, and dignity for all. Equality for all is a core American value, the premise upon which our nation was built, and the heart of our democracy.
While we have never fully lived up to the promise of equality for all, America is at its best when moving towards it.But this central American value is under assault from those sworn to protect it--Donald Trump and the Republicans.
From immigration to voting rights to access to health care to racial disparities in our criminal justice system, our fellow Americans face the threat of increased discrimination.
NextGen America is proud to stand with them and work to realize the promise of equality America makes to us all.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, NextGenAmerica.org
Jul 4, 2019
On Environment:
Stand up to corporate polluters who poison our air & water
We all need clean air to breathe, a fair and prosperous economy, and a safe and secure nation. But climate change and the pollution that causes it threaten all of that and more, putting the health and well-being of all
Americans at risk--and hitting hardest those who can least afford it, exacerbating racial, gender, and class inequality.
We're standing up to corporate polluters who put their profits before people, poison our air and water, and hold our economy back.
Transitioning to clean energy will prevent damage to our climate, ensure our kids have clean air and water, and create millions of good-paying jobs.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, NextGenAmerica.org
Jul 4, 2019
On Health Care:
Women need reproductive care; GOP wants to take it away
Every American deserves high quality health care. Women need reproductive care, struggling families need Medicaid, people with pre-existing conditions need coverage, and we all need health care we can afford.
No one should have to risk their life savings to save their life. But Republican attacks on health care threaten the most vulnerable among us in order to give a tax break to the wealthiest few.
They want to make health care more expensive and harder to get and to dismantle health programs like Medicaid that millions of Americans rely on.
Together, we can stop Republican efforts to take away our health care.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, NextGenAmerica.org
Jul 4, 2019
On Immigration:
Failing to offer a path to citizenship is inherently unjust
For centuries, immigrants have come to America in search of a better life--and made vital contributions to our economy, our culture, and our society. But across the country, immigrants' are under attack and families live in fear of being torn apart.
A system that depends upon the labor of immigrants, but fails to offer a path to citizenship, is inherently unjust. This broken system hurts us all.We stand for a nation that welcomes immigrants and respects their rights.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, NextGenAmerica.org
Jul 4, 2019
On Jobs:
Corporations hold down wages; unions get fair return
Americans value freedom--and real freedom requires an economy that works for everyone. Freedom means being able to make a living and have time for a life--time to take a loved one to the doctor, attend a parent/teacher conference, spend time with
family, and retire in dignity.But our economy is dangerously out of balance. The wealthy and big corporations have rigged the rules so they profit at the expense of hard-working Americans. They hold down wages, take away our right to join together
in union, and take advantage of favorable tax laws while working American families struggle just to put food on their tables. It's simple: when all the money goes to the wealthy few, working families struggle to get by.
NextGen America is working to make sure that everyone gets a fair shake, so we all have the freedom to join together in union and negotiate for a fair return on our work, affordable health care, and a fair tax code.
Source: 2020 presidential campaign website, NextGenAmerica.org
Jul 4, 2019
Page last updated: Dec 01, 2021