Comment & Debate
Chris Weigl, Screenwriter and Political Consultant on Quara: Require economic justification for tax changes
Implement “Women Owned Business” contracting program
Change standards for determining broadband access
Establish a credit card bill of rights
Expand loan programs for small businesses
Extend the Bush tax cuts for lower incomes
Extend and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax
patch
Close the “doughnut hole” in Medicare prescription drug plan
Expand the Senior Corps volunteer program
Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing
conditions
Give tax credits to those who need help to pay
health premiums
Require large employers to contribute to a national
health plan
Require children to have health insurance coverage
Expand eligibility for Medicaid
Expand eligibility for State Children’s Health
Insurance Fund (SCHIP)
Require health plans to disclose how much of the
premium goes to patient care
Establish an independent health institute to provide
accurate and objective information
In non-competitive markets, force insurers to pay
out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care
Eliminate the higher subsidies to Medicare Advantage
plans
Expand funding to train primary care providers and
public health practitioners
Increase funding to expand community based
prevention programs
Reinstate executive order to hire an additional
100,000 federal employees with disabilities within five years.
Increase the Veterans Administration budget to
recruit and retain more mental health professionals
Fully fund the Veterans Administration
Assure that the Veterans Administration budget is
prepared as ‘must-pass’ legislation
Expand the Veterans Administration’s number of
“centers of excellence” in specialty care
Appoint a special adviser to the president on
violence against women
Fully fund the Violence Against Women Act
Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq
Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq
No permanent bases in Iraq
Create a military families advisory board
Strengthen and expand military exchange programs
with other countries
End the abuse of supplemental budgets for war
Make U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional on
anti-terror efforts
Open “America Houses” in Islamic cities
around the globe
Allocate Homeland Security funding according to risk
Create a real National Infrastructure Protection
Plan
Increase funding for local emergency planning
Seek verifiable reductions in nuclear stockpiles
Extend monitoring and verification provisions of the
START I Treaty
Stand down nuclear forces to be reduced under the
Moscow Treaty
Appoint a White House Coordinator for Nuclear
Security
Initiate a grant and training program for law
enforcement to deter cyber crime
Improve relations with Turkey, and its relations with
Iraqi Kurds
Launch an international Add Value to Agriculture
Initiative (AVTA)
Create a rapid response fund for emerging
democracies
Grant Americans unrestricted rights to visit family
and send money to Cuba
Restore funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance
Grant (Byrne/JAG) program
Establish an Energy Partnership for the Americas
Expand the Nurse-Family Partnership to all
low-income, first-time mothers
Release presidential records
Require new hires to sign a form affirming their
hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
Provide affordable, high-quality child care
Recruit math and science degree graduates to the
teaching profession
Reduce subsidies to private student lenders and
protect student borrowers
Encourage water-conservation efforts in the West
Increase funding for national parks and forests
Increase funding for the Land and Water Conservation
Fund
Encourage farmers to use more renewable energy and
be more energy efficient
Expand Pell grants for low-income students
Pursue a wildfire management plan
Remove more brush, small trees and vegetation that
fuel wildfires
More controlled burns to reduce wildfires
Expand access to places to hunt and fish
Push for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which
expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors
Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy
Restore funding to the EEOC and the U.S. Department
of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
Reform mandatory minimum sentences
Create a White House Office on Urban Policy
Fully fund the Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG)
Establish program to convert manufacturing centers
into clean technology leaders
Establish ‘Promise Neighborhoods’ for areas of
concentrated poverty
Work toward deploying a global climate change
research and monitoring system
Fund a major expansion of AmeriCorps
Create a Social Investment Fund Network
Bolster the military’s ability to speak different
languages
Appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer
Provide grants to early-career researchers
Work to overturn Ledbetter vs. Goodyear
Create a national declassification center
Appoint an American Indian policy adviser
Create new financial regulations
Increase funding for land-grant colleges
Ban lobbyist gifts to executive employees
Sign a “universal” health care bill
Create new criminal penalties for mortgage fraud
Require 10 percent renewable energy by 2012
Release oil from Strategic Petroleum Reserve
Raise fuel economy standards
Invest in all types of alternative energy
Enact tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid
cars
Ask people and businesses to conserve electricity
Require more energy-efficient appliances
Create a ‘Green Vet Initiative’ to promote
environmental jobs for veterans
Create job training programs for clean technologies
Require states to provide incentives for utilities
to reduce energy consumption
Support high-speed rail
Support airline service in small towns
Invest in public transportation
Equalize tax breaks for driving and public transit
Consider “smart growth” in transportation
funding
Will seek more accommodations of bicycles and
pedestrians
Help states and localities address sprawl
Share environmental technology with other countries
Double federal spending for research on clean fuels
Provide grants to encourage energy-efficient
building codes
Increase funding for the Environmental Protection
Agency
Raise the small business investment expensing limit
to $250,000 through the end of 2009
Extend unemployment insurance benefits and
temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits
Support network neutrality on the Internet
Reverse restrictions on stem cell research
We will kill bin Laden
Double funding for the Manufacturing Extension
Partnership, a program that encourages manufacturing efficiency
Include environmental and labor standards in trade agreements
Create an international tax haven watch list
Make permanent the Research & Development tax
credit
Require automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans
Require automatic enrollment in IRA plans
Create a retirement savings tax credit for low
incomes
Create a consumer-friendly credit card rating system
Create a $60 billion bank to fund roads and bridges
Tax carried interest as ordinary income
Require full disclosure of company pension
investments to employees
Provide easy-to-understand comparisons of the Medicare
prescription drug plans
Invest in electronic health information systems
Phase in requirements for health information
technology
Require that health plans utilize disease management
programs
Require providers to report measures of health care
costs and quality
Hold hospitals and health plans accountable for
disparities in care
Implement and fund proven health intervention
programs
Prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs
Allow Medicare to negotiate for cheaper drug prices
Work with schools to create more healthful
environments for children
Improve recruitment of public health workers
Mandate insurance coverage of autism treatment
Fully fund the Combating Autism Act and Federal
Autism Research Initiatives
Double federal funding for cancer research
Increase participation in cancer-related clinical
trials
Fully fund the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA)
Set a national goal to provide re-screening for all
2-year-olds for developmental disorders
Commission a study on students with disabilities and
their transition to jobs or higher education
Set goals and timetables for implementing Section
503 of the Rehabilitation Act
Create a best practices list for private businesses
in accommodating workers with disabilities
Launch educational initiative for employers on tax
benefits of hiring employees with disabilities
Reduce the threshhold for the Family and Medical
Leave Act from companies with 50 employees to companies with 25 employees
Provide a $1.5 billion fund to help states launch
programs for paid family and medical leave
Require employers to provide seven paid sick days
per year
Streamline the Social Security disability approval
process
Expand Veterans Centers in rural areas
Establish standards of care for traumatic brain
injury treatment
Make the Veterans Administration a national leader
in health reform
Reduce the Veterans Benefits Administration claims
backlog
Institute electronic record-keeping for the Veterans
Benefits Administration
Expand housing vouchers program for homeless
veterans
Launch a supportive services-housing program for
veterans to prevent homelessness
Expand the Family Medical Leave Act to include leave
for domestic violence or sexual assault
Fully fund debt cancellation for heavily indebted
poor countries
Create a fund for international small and medium
enterprises (SME)
Launch robust diplomatic effort with Iraq and its
neighbors
Provide $30 billion over 10 years to Israel
Limit Guard and Reserve deployments to one year for
every six years
End the “Stop-Loss” program of forcing
troops to stay in service beyond their expected commitments
Fully and properly equip troops
Create a Civilian Assistance Corps that would
organize private sector professionals to help in times of need
Include humanitarian international missions in
long-term budgeting
Review weapons programs
Modernize ships and invest more in small vessels
Set standards for when the government should hire
defense contractors
Restore the government’s ability to manage contracts
by rebuilding our contract officer corps
Create a system of incentives and penalties for
defense contracts
Establish a Global Education Fund
Strengthen the Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI) aimed at stopping spread of weapons of mass destruction
Organize successful Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)
Review Conference in 2010
Expand federal bioforensics program for tracking
biological weapons
Develop a comprehensive cyber security and response
strategy
Mandate standards for securing personal data
Require companies to disclose personal information
data breaches
Work to persuade the European Union to end credit
guarantees to Iran
Seek to negotiate a political agreement on Cyprus
Restructure and streamline USAID
Increase the size of the foreign service
Urge China to stop manipulation of its currency value
Press China to end its support for regimes in Sudan,
Burma, Iran and Zimbabwe
Create a public “Contracts and Influence”
database
Require Cabinet officials to host Internet town hall
meetings
Conduct regulatory agency business in public
Promote more pre-school education
Expand Early Head Start and Head Start
Reform No Child Left Behind
Double funding for Federal Charter School Program
and require more accountability
Address the dropout crisis by giving schools
incentives for more dropout prevention
Create Teacher Residency Programs that will send
teachers to high-need schools
Expand teacher mentoring programs and provide
incentives for more planning time
Promote innovative ways to reward good teachers
Simplify the application process for financial aid
Increase the number of high school students taking
college-level courses
Create incentives for tree planting and promote
carbon sequestration
Improve water quality
Regulate pollution from major livestock operations
Strengthen federal environmental justice programs
Increase funding for organic and sustainable
agriculture
Partner with landowners to conserve private lands
Create a community college partnership program
Increase funding for progams that conserve lands and
habitat for select species such as the Osceola turkey
Support wetlands protection
Promote economic development in Mexico
Support repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
Vigorously pursue hate crimes and civil rights
abuses
Sign the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation
Prevention Act into law
Support regional innovation clusters
Help low-income areas get phone and Internet service
Create a Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit (HOME)
score for mortgage comparisons
Increase the supply of affordable housing throughout
metropolitan regions
Invest in transitional jobs and career pathway
programs
Fully fund the COPS program
Improve emergency response plans
Cap interest rates on payday loans and improve
disclosure
Expand public/private partnerships between schools
and arts organizations
Improve climate change data records
Support improved weather prediction program
Offer prizes for advances in consumer technology
Encourage contests and programs to interest students
in science
Increase research opportunities for college students
Strengthen the levees in New Orleans
Direct revenues from offshore oil and gas drilling
to increased coastal hurricane protection
Shake loose federal money for rebuilding the Gulf
Coast