Thread by @MichaelBennet

We have an historic opportunity to make lasting progress for families and workers across the country.

In contrast to the other candidates, my agenda is progressive, fully paid for, and widely popular among the American people.

It's The Real Deal.

MichaelBennet.com/RealDeal

The Real Deal is an agenda Dems up and down the ballot—in blue, purple & red states—can run on to defeat Trump, win the Senate & hold the House. It will not only galvanize our base, but also help win back some of the 9 million people who voted twice for Obama and then for Trump.

The Real Deal would cost about $6 trillion over the next decade—less than one-fifth of the cost of Medicare for All alone. And I've got a plan to fully pay for it.

The Real Deal represents a turning away from the politics of empty promises and can’t-do rhetoric, and instead imagines a world where we accomplish 15 key policies and transform the lives of millions of Americans.

Here they are ↓

Support families raising kids and workers trying to make ends meet: Expand Child Tax Credit—$3,600 per year for kids under 6, $3,000 for kids age 6+. Expand EITC to $3,000 for workers who do not have children at home—the only Americans that we tax into poverty today.

Pass paid family and medical leave, so that America is no longer the only developed economy in the world that denies its citizens the ability to take care of a newborn, an aging parent, or themselves.

Raise the minimum wage to $15 or more in high-cost cities, with an exemption for rural and lower-cost communities where $15 would potentially harm employment and small businesses.

Lower costs and cover everyone with high-quality health care: Offer a high-quality public health care option called Medicare-X that will lower healthcare costs, drive down prescription drug prices, and expand coverage to every corner of America in three years.

Tackle the housing affordability crisis by driving the creation of more than 7 million new, affordable homes for the middle-class, seniors, and working families. Provide rental support so every American can live in high-opportunity areas with good jobs and good schools.

Ensure every American can achieve a secure and dignified retirement by protecting Social Security, building more affordable housing for seniors, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and creating a universal retirement savings account that is portable as people switch jobs.

Enact high-quality, universal preschool for every 3- and 4-year old to ensure that every kid in America, regardless of where they are from, can get a strong start in school and in life.

Make a $500 billion investment over 10 years in proven pathways to a middle-class job for the nearly 70% of Americans without a four-year college degree, so they can advance in the 21st Century economy to earn a living wage, not just the minimum wage.

Make college affordable to drive upward mobility: Make four-year public college degree affordable for every middle-class American & debt free for families with incomes below $75,000/year. For families & workers with existing debt, cap debt payments at no more than 8% of income.

Pay our teachers like the professionals that they are by increasing federal support for K-12 education, especially in high-poverty and rural school districts.

Tackle climate change and drive the 21st Century clean-energy economy: Drive $10 trillion in public-private investment to combat climate change and other forms of pollution and create millions of jobs across every part of America.

Rebuild America’s infrastructure with a major, long-overdue $1 trillion investment, including in our roads, bridges, airports, mass transit, water infrastructure, and connecting every community in America to high-speed, modern broadband internet.

Pass comprehensive, durable immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants, enacts the Dream Act, establishes 21st Century border security, and makes our immigration system rational.

Address inequality by making sure our tax code requires everyone pay their fair share: Reform our tax system to ensure the wealthy are paying their fair share, so working families and the middle-class do not bear an unfair share of the burden.

Take the money out of politics & put the people back in so we can make progress on these challenges, including overturning Citizens United, banning Members of Congress from becoming lobbyists, ending partisan gerrymandering, and ensuring every eligible voter has access to vote.

The choice we face in this primary is between unrealistic promises that breed further cynicism & building political momentum to achieve actual progress for you and your family.

Together, we can build a broad coalition to achieve The Real Deal.

Join us: MichaelBennet.com/RealDeal