The cost of living and raising a family is climbing dramatically. We must have a fair economy and that starts with a fair tax code. I don’t believe we should be giving billionaires tax cuts at a time when we are debating whether vulnerable children should have food provided by SNAP benefits. We need a tax code which empowers the middle class and raises people from poverty into the middle class. 

I support expanding our Medicare system to cover all Americans. Short of that, I think we should strengthen the Affordable Care Act so that it actually works as intended. Given the position of the current Supreme Court, however, the ACA is greatly undermined by the ability of state Republicans to reject federal assistance. I also support greatly expanding federal community health centers so that families in both rural and urban areas have access to medical and preventive care.

I believe our country should make a historic investment in universal Pre-K, which would provide a solid educational foundation for the next generation of Americans and provide much needed relief to working families. I believe we should invest in families and strengthen our workforce by raising the minimum wage and requiring paid parental leave, which can be supported by utilizing current unemployment insurance programs.

As a mother, I am fighting not only for the children of today but also for the future generations of tomorrow. Our public policies should be based on objective facts and science, not political nonsense. The rest of the industrialized world has recognized the urgency of addressing global climate change. Yet, the United States finds itself in league with third world nations on this issue. We need to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord to do our part as global citizens to protect our planet and all who call it home.

Congress should take bold action to restore the Voting Rights Act and to greatly expand it to prevent state-led voter suppression efforts. Congress must take action to promote online voter registration, same-day registration, public school voter registration, expansion of voting accessibility, and expansion of mail-in ballots. Nefarious tactics such as voter roll purges, last-minute voting procedure changes, and polling location scare tactics must be heavily regulated by the federal government. The DOJ Civil Rights Division must be re-focused on prosecuting voter intimidation and discrimination. Lastly, Congress should establish a federal Election Day holiday.

As a proud Mexican-American, I am well aware of how deep our roots run in Texas. Many Mexican and Tejano families are generational and have been here long before the border was established. Congress must take bold and bipartisan action which secures our border and allows for reasonable and humane immigration laws. Congress has completely ceded its authority to the President, who is enacting an enforcement-only policy with no long term solution. These policies are sowing fear in our communities, interfering with small business and impacting not only our daily lives but our children’s lives. As we look forward towards the future, we must move the immigration process out of stagnation, provide fair and humane vetting and reasonable pathways to citizenship for our neighbors who are living and working here.

Our Constitution grants us the right to bear arms, but it also grants us the right to life and liberty. No constitutional right is without reasonable limits grounded in common sense, and laws concerning responsible gun ownership should be no exception. President Kennedy said, “No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.” The rash of gun violence in recent decades is a problem that we can – AND MUST – solve. The majority of Americans support universal background checks, a ban on bump stocks, and red-flag laws that work. At the same time, we must increase funding and support for mental health and crisis intervention. As a mother, I can’t describe the pit in my stomach when I drop my children off at school every morning, knowing that they are more at risk than  when I was growing up. We owe it them to remove the politics from this issue, come together as Americans, and solve it once and for all.

I believe women’s reproductive rights need to be protected. A woman should have rights over her own body and choices. When it comes to health and medical procedures, that should remain between a woman and her doctor and no one else. The government has no business getting involved in those decisions. Texas has one of the highest maternity mortality rates in the country and one of the contributing factors is that women are unable to seek medical procedures in their own area hospitals even when facing life threatening urgency. This is unacceptable. Women should not have to risk their lives or safety when seeking medical health procedures.