Chip Coldiron’s Plan to Build a 21st Century Economy
Growing up in a small town, I understand the daily struggles Hoosiers face. For far too long, far too many Hoosiers have seen jobs leave their communities and wages stay stagnant. For far too long, far too many Hoosiers have watched as future generations choose to leave the communities they grew up in for better opportunities elsewhere. These are long-standing problems that can’t be solved by the same tired policies we’ve been hearing about for the last 30 years. And we can’t look to the past to try to rebuild our communities for the future.
Seven months into a global pandemic, the economic struggles of small town and rural America have only gotten more difficult. As COVID-19 saw schools and businesses shuttered, millions unemployed, and an economy lagging to recover, we need our leaders in Washington to stop playing politics with our livelihoods and take action to get this virus under control, reopen our economy, and take this opportunity to invest in building an economy that revitalizes our communities now and works for the next generation.
As a teacher, Army Veteran, and healthcare worker, I understand how the decisions Congress makes every day impact the lives of those on the ground. I have heard from thousands of Hoosiers about the most pressing challenges for their communities, and developed a plan for Washington to help the Main Street economy instead of wealthy special interests and big corporations.
My plan to build a 21st Century Economy has four steps:
Step 1: End the COVID-19 Pandemic
Step 2: Defend our Workers from Training to Retirement
Step 3: Invest in a Modern Infrastructure and the Jobs of the Future
Step 4: Support Small Business and Entrepreneurs
Step 1: End the COVID-19 Pandemic
Our country’s failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought our economy, and our lives, to a standstill. If we had acted sooner, there is no doubt we would be better off than we are today. Instead, our leaders in Washington were too afraid of the political impacts of this virus to do what was needed, and we now face what could be a brutal second wave this winter having neither protected our economy nor the lives of the 220,000 Americans who have died from this virus.
We are seven months into the greatest public health crisis in a century, and pretending it doesn’t exist won’t get our lives back on track, it won’t reopen the businesses that have closed, and it won’t get our family members back. We can’t go back in time to fix the early response to COVID-19, but we can make better decisions, based on science, going forward. The first step to getting our economy back up and running is to end this COVID-19 pandemic. Under my plan, this means:
Empowering public health experts to lead national decision-making, developing an independent coronavirus task force, and coordinating with Governors to employ effective mask and social distancing guidelines.
Regardless of who is in the White House next January, Congress must step up to depoliticize a public health crisis. It is time for public health experts, not politicians, to lead the decision-making of our federal government. In Congress, I will work to empower public health experts to lead this work, not only by listening to them, but also by creating an independent coronavirus task force that is responsible for briefing the public on updates, guidance, and policy. Additionally, I will push Congress and the White House to work with Governors to establish clear national standards for mask-wearing and social distancing so we have one policy, not 50, for containing further spread.
2. Mobilize the entirety of our federal government around the distribution of protective equipment, testing, vaccination, and eliminate personal costs for receiving care.
It is long past due for America to utilize every tool it has to get the supplies it needs to keep every community safe. Congress should authorize and fund the production of massive quantities of personal protective equipment, including masks and testing, as well as utilize the U.S. military to distribute them to every community. The federal government and U.S. military should begin planning, and update the American people, immediately on a strategy for disseminating a vaccine to every American as soon as one is approved. Congress should fund efforts to scale up testing even further and ensure no American has to pay to get tested. Additionally, Congress should underwrite the expenses for insurance coverage of any treatment costs related to COVID-19, so patients don’t need to choose between getting the care they need and bankruptcy.
3. Support essential industries with protective equipment and social distancing costs, enact hazard pay for frontline workers, and protect small businesses hit by closures or lost capacity.
In order to reopen our economy, we need to make sure essential industries, including healthcare, schools, and grocery stores, have the resources they need to keep their workers and guests safe until we have a vaccine. It will take more funding, not less, to keep our schools open, our healthcare workers healthy, and grocery stores stocked. Congress should be trying to help those industries, not threatening them. A new stimulus should specifically target aid to those industries that need the most help, fund hazard pay for workers in essential industries, and support infrastructure for virtual work or education when possible. Additionally, for industries and businesses that are forced to close or have seen decreased revenue as a result of this pandemic, Congress to ensure no one has to go out of business to keep their community safe. Funds to businesses should be targeted to small businesses and restaurants, rather than large corporations.
4. Protect the American worker with additional stimulus payments, extended unemployment, and emergency paid leave.
It has been three months since extended unemployment benefits have expired. Meanwhile, politicians on both sides of the aisle have played politics with a new stimulus. That is unacceptable. It is time Congress set aside petty fights and did what is necessary to ensure those suffering from this pandemic don’t have to worry about paying rent or putting food on the table. Congress should pass a new stimulus that includes payments to every American, extended unemployment, and emergency leave for those who get sick.
Step 2: Defend our Workers from Training to Retirement
Even before this pandemic, our economy worked well for those already well off, and not well enough for those putting in the most work. Under my plan, working Americans across the country would know their Congress has their backs, first. This includes:
Raise the Minimum Wage.
The federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised in more than a decade despite the fact that if it kept up with productivity since its creation, the minimum wage would be over $20 per hour. It is long past due our workers get a raise. In Congress, I will introduce legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, at a phased in pace, and tie it to inflation. Economists have shown raising the minimum wage creates more jobs through increased economic activity, raises millions out of poverty, and helps raise wages for middle-income Americans as well.
2. Strengthen Union Protections and Allow Gig Workers to Unionize.
As a union member myself, I know the important role unions play in keeping workers safe and ensuring they have a voice in their workplace. We need Congress to protect our union families, not work to dismantle them. In Congress, I will always work to strengthen union protections and introduce legislation to allow gig workers to unionize as well.
3. Increase Resources for Trade Schools and Apprenticeships
Americans should have access to the resources required to be competitive in a globalized workforce. But, not all jobs require a four-year college education, and I commit to expanding and increasing resources for trade schools and apprenticeships. These degrees and credentials in high-demand industries like green technology should not be cost-prohibitive to Americans seeking good-paying jobs. If elected, I will support legislation that invests in workforce training programs, expands Pell grants for community college, and provides much-needed technology for trade schools and apprenticeship programs.
4. Protect Social Security and Medicare from Privatization
Over the last 75 years, Social Security and Medicare have helped lift millions of Americans out of poverty and allowed our seniors to retire in dignity. Today, nearly 90% of eligible Americans enroll in Social Security and a quarter rely on the program for almost all their income. In Congress, I promise to protect Social Security from privatization efforts led by Republicans. In addition, I will work to strengthen Social Security and Medicare so they will be solvent for the next generation of Americans.
Step 3: Invest in a Modern Infrastructure and the Jobs of the Future
The current Administration and Congress has been promising a major infrastructure package since 2017. But no matter how many “Infrastructure Weeks” they’ve announced, Congress still hasn’t delivered, under control of either party. This isn’t acceptable. A strong infrastructure helps businesses grow and attracts new jobs to our communities. The only answer to this problem is to elect more people to Congress who understand how our infrastructure impact American’s daily lives. In Congress, I will work day and night to ensure we finally deliver the infrastructure that was promised, and that any infrastructure bill includes the kind of modern investments the next generation of businesses will need. I will push for:
Rebuild our crumbling infrastructure by mobilizing national resources to repair roads and bridges.
In the richest country in the world and in America’s Crossroads, we should not have to grumble as we drive over potholes, or avoid bridges shutdown for never-ending repairs. If elected to Congress, I commit to support infrastructure projects to repair roads and bridges in our communities, by using American-made goods and by paying workers fairly. I believe investing in our communities includes improving transportation networks that will help expand and grow our local economy in Northeast Indiana.
2. Make broadband internet a public utility and get it into every house and every business.
This past Spring, my students and I suffered from our internet cutting out during remote learning, small businesses were unable to quickly transition from in-person to online customer service, and so many in our community struggled to connect with loved ones over video chat. This pandemic has made clear that every American household must have access to high-speed, affordable internet. In Congress, I will introduce legislation to make broadband internet a public utility. I will work to expand rural broadband internet to communities like my own in Wells County by investing in jobs to install the service, and supporting the Digital Equity Act to ensure broadband access for historically overlooked and underserved communities.
3. Invest in converting unused manufacturing infrastructure into manufacturing renewable energy to create 850,000 new, high paying jobs.
As a science teacher, I can walk you through the reasons why climate change is real, why it is manmade, and why it puts our health, our jobs, our farmers’ yields, and our national security at risk. And while the human consequences alone are reason enough to take action, the good news is that fighting climate change can also mean hundreds of thousands of new, good-paying jobs for years to come. Both solar and wind energy are each expected to become trillion dollar industries in the next quarter century, and the U.S. is already falling behind global markets in production of renewable energy. With support from Congress, the U.S. could create 850,000 new manufacturing jobs to support renewable energy, with Rust Belt districts like ours benefiting the most. In Congress, I will not only fight to increase investments in renewable energy for the future of our planet, I will fight to bring the prosperity they bring to Northeast Indiana by repurposing our manufacturing infrastructure.
4. Support farmers to utilize sustainable agriculture practices that will increase yields and sustain production for the next generation of farmers.
As we fight climate change, we can’t leave rural America behind. Our farmers and agriculture workers play an essential role not only in making sure we stop climate change from reducing their yields and damaging their crops from floods, but in building a modern agriculture sector that helps family farms share in our future prosperity. In Congress, I will work to bring resources to rural America to help fund programs for our farmers to transition to sustainable agriculture practices that protect our environment and grow their yields--and profits--for generations to come.
Step 5: Support Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Small business is the backbone of our economy. Now more than ever, we need a Congress that is willing to work with those who will start new businesses, bring jobs, and revitalize our cities and towns. When in Congress, I will:
Encourage the creation of new businesses by expending start-up tax credits, first-employee tax credits, and allow entrepreneurs to access the Earned Income Tax Credit in the early years of their business.
For years, Congress and politicians across the country have taken in billions of dollars worth of campaign contributions from corporate special interests while giving these same large corporations tax and regulatory breaks that have pushed small, local business out of the market. It is time we even the playing field for the Main Street businesses that power our local community. Rather than giving huge breaks and bailouts to large corporations, we need to be making it easier for people to start their own businesses and for small businesses to thrive even as communities start to build themselves back. If I am elected, I will be a strong partner for small business owners and entrepreneurs by relieving the financial burden for starting a business in the first place. I will expand tax credits for start-up businesses, create additional tax credits for businesses who create their first job, and I will propose expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit for entrepreneurs in the early years of their business so they can focus on building their companies rather than where their rent payments will come from.
2. End double taxation and simplify tax filing for small businesses and independent workers.
In addition to making it easier for entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses, we need to make it easier for small businesses to make ends meet. One of the most important ways we can do this is alleviating the complex and burdensome tax benefits for small businesses. Corporate donors have gotten huge tax breaks and have the ability to hire high-paid lawyers to minimize their tax burdens while small businesses are left alone to navigate a complex tax code and the world of double taxation.
In Congress, I will work to even the playing field for small businesses and effectively end double taxation for small business. I will make it a top priority to introduce legislation that allows businesses that employ fewer than 100 people globally to deduct their first $50,000 of profit from their taxes, regardless of their corporate or business status, and to drastically simplify the tax code for small businesses to ensure owners don’t need to find complex schemes to avoid an undue tax burden. Additionally, I will push to allow self-employed workers and independent contractors more flexibility to file their taxes annually rather than quarterly.
3. Expand business development grants to rural, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses to make it easier to start and grow businesses in underserved communities.
Rural, women-owned, and black-owned businesses have suffered the most during this pandemic. Not only have they been disproportionately impacted by business closures, it is also disproportionately difficult for minority and rural entrepreneurs to attract the capital they need to start and maintain a small business. In order to help make it financially feasible for entrepreneurs from minority communities, women, and rural entrepreneurs to take the risk it requires to start a new business, I will work to expand business development grants for the communities that need the most help from small business.
4. Expand student debt relief to small business owners and entrepreneurs and allow self-employed workers to deduct healthcare costs from their taxes.
In 2020, about 60% of American jobs require more than a high school diploma. I believe that all Hoosiers should be able to attain and receive the education they need to achieve their dream. But, too many Americans today are saddled with college debt and are unable to pursue opportunities in their careers, buy a home, and even start a family. If elected, I will work to expand student debt relief to thousands of Hoosiers who are entrepreneurs and small business owners. This is especially important now as the economic impact from the pandemic are straining critical small businesses in our community. For those who are willing to put their own money into starting businesses that will help our communities, America should have their back to make sure they don’t spend their lives paying off the debt that got them there.
Summary:
As millions of Americans suffer financially from the effects of the pandemic, elected officials have an opportunity to rebuild the American economy to benefit workers and the middle class, not reward the wealthy. My plans will increase access to high-quality, affordable education, invest in good-paying jobs in expanding fields like green technology, and safeguard important programs like Social Security and Medicare for future generations. I will be proud to support Hoosiers in Congress by protecting the right to organize, fighting for fair prices for our farmers, and investing in the bridges, roads, and high-speed internet that connect our communities and families.
For too long, special interests have been put ahead of what’s needed in our communities. It’s time for a leader in Washington to fight for our Northeast Indiana community, by passing a $15 minimum wage, helping our small businesses succeed during this pandemic, and helping our seniors by protecting Medicare and Social Security from dangerous privatization efforts. I recognize how important the next two years are to our future, and I promise to never stop working towards a more prosperous and inclusive future for all.