Key Issues

Safe and Accessible Education

Our children are the future and hope of our country. We need to invest in their education, their health, and mental wellbeing. Public Schools are an essential part of that. Our Schools need to be well-funded and safe. I believe that:

• As an educator I have seen how narrowly applied federal funds do a disservice to our students and schools. Schools need more local control over certain Federally allocated funds.

• Great schools can only exist with great teachers. We need to attract and retain highly qualified educators. I support the passing of the American Teachers Act, guaranteeing a minimum $60,000 salary, making teaching a more attractive option for college educated professionals. 

• Across the country, including parts of Texas, teachers often must get a second job to support themselves. I support raising the tax deduction for teachers from $300 a year to $1,000 a year, around the average teachers spend out of pocket a year on their classroom and students.

• I support the continuation of the department of education. The department is an essential part of protecting students. From women’s sports, to ensuring equitable access to education for students with disabilities. Without the department of education, our students will suffer and fall further behind.

• Student loans allowed access to college for those who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Tuition costs, though, have skyrocketed because universities knew the government would pay up. Congress needs to use their position and authority to lean on colleges to lower their cost of attendance if they wish to continue receiving federal dollars.

• We are facing critical shortages across the country in essential industries including healthcare, welders, cybersecurity, and many more. Community Colleges are poised to assist with filling these much needed jobs, acting as an essential element to the growth and prosperity of the communities they serve. Through federal funding, access to community colleges essential programs from certifications to degrees will become more affordable. Full-time tuition and fees for 15 credit hours cannot exceed more than $1000 per semester. This will facilitate better access to skills needed for our job market and will limit the expansion of the student debt crises. 

• Under-regulated banking principals and predatory practices in the student loan market over the last several decades has stilted the growth and prosperity of working and middle class Americans. Over 40 Million Americans have federally backed student loans, and many of these Americans pay for decades with little changes to their principal. As Americans struggle under these over inflated loan repayments,  the economy continues to be stifled. People do not mind paying back what they borrowed, but the current situation is untenable. Student Loan interest rates should be retroactively adjusted to 0%, with a one-time loan processing fee of 1% of the original amount borrowed. All borrower payments will be reapplied to the principal only, up to the full amount owed. No cash refunds will be provided.

Protecting Children. Securing our Future.

Houston is the number one city, year after year in America for Human Trafficking. We’ve seen cases of it impacting our communities and children in Cypress, Klein, and Tomball. It's estimated that around 15,000 people are trafficked through Houston each year, and that over 100,000 children are reported as victims of child trafficking in the US. The trafficking and assault of children should be of paramount concern. In congress, I will sponsor the Protecting American Families from HARM Act, which will work with state and local governments to increase federal cooperation, funding, education, and training around Human Trafficking, allowing for more personalised assistance and responses as local communities know best themselves what they need.

Children need to remain just that; children. Yet, since 2000, over 300,000 children have been married while underage. This opens up to potential exploitation. We need to end child marriage in the United states of America. Through the Protecting American Families from HARM Act we will ban marriage under the age of 18 on federal property, and use incentives to assist states with passing similar legislation. 

Responsible and safe gun ownership

The right to bear arms is enshrined in our Bill of Rights; However guns today far outstrip the power and ammunition of what was available to our founding fathers. They need to be well-regulated to ensure that they are only in the hands of those who are safe. Every year, over 500 Americans die from accidental discharge. In Houston alone last year, multiple teenagers and young children were shot and killed by accidental discharge. Americans have the right to go to school, work, church, and places of commerce without being worried they will be in the next mass shooting. Safe gun legislation ensures gun rights are protected as well as people's lives. Under the Protecting American Families from HARM Act, 

• Universal Background checks for all firearm sales, including gun shows and private sales.

• National Red Flag laws 

• Increase national wait time by expanding time on background checks

• Ban High-Capacity magazines

• Develop incentives to increase the safe storage of guns and ammunition. Gun safety devices and training will be a tax credit at 100%, including but not limited to gun safes, gun locks, ammunition lock boxes, safety training through accredited programs.

They served us, now we need to serve them

Our veterans and current service members swore an oath to protect the constitution; now it is our turn to support our veterans and service members. They deserve full access to free, exceptional healthcare with staff who specialize in the unique challenges that come with veteran health. We need to:

• Make changes to the VA Mission Act, extending community care options for mental health access. 20 days is too long a wait for those who served us to wait for these critical lifesaving services.

• Allow for increased access to tele-health for routine services.

• Staffing shortages affect the care veterans receive. We need competitive salaries and to modernize and streamline the process for hiring to address work shortages- 2-4 months to hire someone is far too long- good candidates cannot wait that long, and will often have to explore other opportunities.  

• All prior service members with a discharge other than dishonorable qualify for access to a VA social worker and, through them, mental health services, even without active VA health benefits. The claims process to gain access to the VA hospital, and to file disability claims, as well as access other services can be difficult on one's own. VA Social workers can help guide the veteran through an often-confusing process, as well as connect them to other programs and opportunities.

• Facilitate programs to assist veterans in receiving training and education to be hired onto the VA as paid mentors and case management. This would expand job opportunities for veterans through paid mentorships and case management. This would allow for a more focused and personalized transition from military to civilian life.

Keeping our communities healthy

In this great country, no one should have to choose between food and medicine. Between the light bill and necessary medical treatment. Out-of-pocket healthcare costs have outpaced inflation while companies see soaring profits to the tune of tens of billions while patients face seeming constant denials. It's time to reform the industry and make it work for all Americans. We need to:

• Enact anti-trust enforcement against these conglomerate healthcare companies who use their size to increase consumer cost.

• Negotiate drug prices to benefit both insured and uninsured.

• Limit out of pocket costs for critical, life-sustaining medicine and treatment

• Address rural and underserved communities with:

  • Increasing usage and training of midwives to close gaps in rural and underserved maternal medicine. Include options for in-home pre and post visits.

  • Medical Professionals in Rural Communities Student Loan Forgiveness (MPRCSLF)- Serving in rural, underfunded communities. 4 years gives $50,000 Forgiveness, and 8 years equals full forgiveness.

• We also need to promote healthier communities by:

  • Ensuring access to healthy foods for all by addressing food deserts. 

  • Funding for Fentanyl education and overdose prevention.

• Houston is a city of scientific and medical innovation- funding for research must be protected

• We need to protect women’s rights. We must codify into the law protections of women’s healthcare access

  • Protecting healthcare access for women, with all abortions during the 1st trimester always permitted.

  • Abortions after the 1st trimester are permitted in cases of Rape, Incest, or when the health of the mother is in danger or the pregnancy is no longer viable, according to medical professionals.

  • States can expand the length for which women can access abortions, but they may not lower it.

American Energy and Environment

We need to balance protecting jobs and protecting our planet. America produces the cleanest oil and is a boon to the Texas economy. Extracting more fossil fuels needs to be balanced with protecting our land for future generations. 

But oil isn’t infinite; We need to not only invest in renewable energies like solar and wind, but bring its manufacturing home to Texas on a larger scale. China produces the majority of Solar Panels and Wind Turbines- Good Jobs that could fuel the Texas economy.

Safe, Secure, and Accessible

Immigration is the story of America; people have come here for over two centuries for religious freedom, economic opportunity, and political freedoms. Immigration is still essential for the growth and strength of our nation. However, we need strong borders to control who enters. We also need to work with our neighbors to address issues leading to high levels of immigration. Finally, we need to revamp our immigration process, including streamlined work visas, so good people can enter legally and build the strength of our country and not wait years.  

Feeding America

Farmers and Ranchers have historically been the backbone of our country, and their importance cannot be underscored today. Over the last half century, family farms and ranches have been disappearing at an alarming rate; swallowed up by large, corporate farms or disappearing altogether. The US Food system is becoming increasingly concentrated- food production, processing, and distribution are centered in the hands of a few companies. 

Congress needs to support small farmers and ranchers by: 

• Breaking up the food monopolies. 

• Create Farm-to-school partnerships between local farmers to sell fresh produce to local schools. 

• Remove harmful chemicals and additives from our food supply that other countries have banned.

  • BVO (Brominated Vegetable Oil)

  • Potassium Bromate

  • Red 40, Yellow 5, & Yellow 6

  • Azodicarbonamide

• All Americans should have access to healthy and safe foods. A concerted national effort to close food deserts would help ensure access for all.

Keep our system working for the people, not corporations

The independence and integrity of our judicial and justice systems are vital to the sustainability and health of our democracy, as well as safeguarding the civil rights of all in America. Private, for profit jails and detention centers profit off imprisonment. They are financially incentivized to increase imprisonment rates. While imprisoned, profit not rehabilitation is the primary decision driver in prisoner care and experience.​ 

Government FOR the People

Politicians should be in DC working for the people, not profiting on inside information. We must ban politicians and their immediate families from trading individual stock.

Minimum wage is not a living wage; The cost of living today is too high to survive on such a small amount.  It has been 16 years since the last wage increase- and in that time mega corporations don't pay their employees enough to survive; many minimum wage employees have to use assistance like food stamps, while raking in billions of dollars- profit subsidized by the government with suppressed wages.​