The biggest threat America faces today is our own polarization. We too often view the world in “us vs. them” terms and treat our political adversaries as enemies. Through his work defending civil liberties on college campuses and in legislatures across the country, Joe has seen this attitude exhibited by our college students and our political leaders. Joe’s top priority in Washington will be to get out of this vicious cycle because he believes that progress on everything else hinges on our ability work across our differences.

When Donald Trump refused to admit his defeat, he set into motion events that have put our very democracy at risk. From the January 6 insurrection to members of Congress falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, to the Supreme Court’s weakening of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, political partisans have been working overtime to make it harder for citizens to exercise their right to vote and have conspired to stop properly cast votes from being counted. Now, more than ever, Congress needs representatives who value their country above their party and who defend democracy from all threats. As your representative, Joe will fight to end the chaos in Washington that threatens to dim the beacon of America.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade they put at risk every woman’s freedom to pursue their own futures. As a free speech advocate, Joe successfully fought a bill in North Dakota that would have forbidden public dollars from being spent on pro-choice speakers at public colleges in that state. He also worked on a successful campaign in South Carolina opposing a measure to criminalize any person or website that shared information with women in that state about where abortions could be obtained elsewhere. As your congressman, Joe will defend the right to choose whenever it is threatened.

Since our founding, America has relied on its free press to hold those in power accountable. But lately, the freedom of the press has been under constant assault from politicians like Donald Trump, who has accused the press of being “enemies of the people,” and Ron DeSantis, who tried to enact legislation to make it easier for people to sue reporters. Joe successfully led efforts to defeat the DeSantis-backed anti-reporter legislation. Across the country, including in New Jersey, Joe worked to pass legislation protecting student journalists from being censored. In Congress, he will defend freedom of the press by supporting legislation protecting student journalists and bills guaranteeing that no reporter will have to disclose confidential sources.

Free speech is the lifeblood of a democracy. It either applies to everyone, or it works for no one. Without the robust free speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment, America would never have enjoyed the crucial advancements of the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage, the labor movement, or the LGBTQ movement. That’s why Joe spent the last dozen years of his career defending the rights of all people to be free from censorship. First, at the American Civil Liberties Union and then, at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, Joe has fought against those who would censor street performers in Las Vegas, silence the Occupy Salt Lake City movement, muzzle college students and faculty across the political spectrum, criminalize drag shows, and ban books. As your Congressman, Joe will continue to defend free speech for all.

New Jerseyans of all ages rely on prescription drugs to treat debilitating and even life-threatening ailments. In 2022, Congress enacted historic legislation that will for the first time ever allow Medicare to negotiate the costs of prescription drugs with drug manufacturers. The first negotiations are underway, but more needs to be done. One step Joe would take is to require pharmaceutical companies to disclose how much they spent on research and development and set a profit trigger that allows the government to negotiate the price of any drug once the company has recouped their costs and realized a substantial profit. Joe would also seek increased investment in the National Institute of Health so it can accelerate the speed of clinical trials, bringing cutting edge drugs to the market faster. In Congress, Joe will explore and pursue practical ways to lower the costs of prescription drugs without stifling innovation.

With wages stagnant and costs rising, Americans struggle every day to pay their bills and save for the future. To get the training required for promising jobs, young people must saddle themselves with student loans, car payments, and credit card debt. Then they find their wages are so low, they can’t afford to build their futures by saving for a down-payment or setting aside money for retirement. The lack of affordable childcare options prevents ambitious, promising adults from entering the workforce and pursuing rewarding careers. As New Jersey’s next Congressman Joe will focus on these bread-and-butter issues with solutions that don’t pit the interests of college graduates and tradespeople against each other.

According to the latest census data, 9.7% of New Jersey’s population earns income below the poverty line. The Earned Income Tax Credit is a federal tax credit for working people with low and moderate incomes. In 2018, the EITC was responsible for lifting $5.6 million people, including nearly 3 million children above the poverty line. Another often overlooked way Congress can help fight poverty is by increasing funding to legal aid organizations across the country. These grossly underfunded organizations are essential in helping low income Americans access resources already set aside. In Congress, Joe will ensure that the EITC remains available to New Jersey workers who need the boost to lift them out of poverty and he will push for increased funding for legal aid organizations that assist our most vulnerable.

The growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters across the country, has exposed the weaknesses in America’s power grids and other critical infrastructure have been exposed. Here in New Jersey, powerful storms have knocked out power that stranded people without electricity out for days. We must not wait until we are in crisis to address these shortcomings. The good news is that projects that strengthen our power grids, invest in cleaner renewable energies, and improve our transportation systems don’t only make us safer and improve the environment, but they also create good-paying jobs. In Congress, Joe will prioritize funding to enhance critical infrastructure and create jobs.

Climate change is real. It is man-made and it is already contributing to natural disasters that are pushing species to the brink of extinction, destroying lives and crippling economies. That’s why Joe will champion policies that reduce our emissions, keep our air and water clean, and grow the economy in the process. Joe will support extending tax credits for home improvements that improve energy efficiency and for the purchase of low emissions vehicles. He will also support legislation locking in the President’s executive order requiring the federal government to purchase only zero-emissions light-duty vehicles for the fleet by 2027 and he will advance programs that prepare our workforce to invent, install, and service clean technologies. Joe will insist that federal policies prioritize reducing our emissions before it’s too late.

The New Jersey Third Congressional District is home to the New Jersey Pinelands National Reserve. But only through effective partnerships between local, state, and federal governments, and the public will we be able to safeguard the Pinelands from damage caused by development and pollution. Joe will work to ensure that our open spaces are preserved for people and indigenous species to enjoy for generations to come.

For far too long, workers’ wages and benefits have been stagnant while corporate profits have soared. In Congress, Joe will fight for an increase in the minimum wage with automatic cost of living increases in the future. He will also advocate for more paid family leave. To ensure that single parents aren’t forced out of the workforce, Joe will support tax credits to offset costs of childcare and grants to childcare providers to retain caregivers and costs down.

America has made great strides for civil rights and civil liberties, but it’s clear that there is much work to be done. We must vigilantly defend reproductive freedom, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, disability rights, immigrants’ rights, religious liberty, privacy, free speech, and due process. As a civil rights attorney, Joe has dedicated his career to defending these rights, and as your representative to Congress he will continue to fight for freedom, equality, justice, and liberty for all.

America’s promise of a free public education is the key to unlocking economic opportunities for all. But budget cuts, attempts to divert public money to private schools, school violence, unacceptable teaching and learning conditions, and teacher and support staff shortages imperil the success of our schools and our students. Too often teachers are paying out of pocket for basic classroom supplies. We are also graduating students who are unable to read at an adult level, do basic math, and do not have even a basic understanding of our complicated history or system of government. To solve these problems, we need to do more than just improve the compensation for school employees and keep class sizes low. We must also reform the culture. This requires improving school safety, creating mentorship programs for young teachers, fully investing in the school buildings, technologies, books, and supplies. Congress must also provide funding for public charter schools so that we can innovate new methods of education without steering resources away from public schools. Ultimately, the United States must ensure that every student who graduates can read, do math, receives an honest teaching of our history, and has a basic understanding of our system of government.

As of 2023, American’s owe nearly $1.57 trillion of student loan debt. The cost of obtaining a higher education continues to climb with the average debt of a student graduating from a four-year college climbing to $29,000. In Congress, Joe will propose legislation that prohibits federal loans from accruing interest until five years after a student has completed her education. His bill will revise the tax code so that graduates get a deduction for payments made during that window. After the five years, Joe’s bill would give graduates a tax credit for all interest paid on the loans each year and deduction for the portion of payments that are applied to the principle. Because carpenters, mechanics, electricians, and plumbers are every bit as important, Joe’s bill will offer the same tax benefits for graduates of trade schools and offer tax incentives to small businesses that offer apprenticeships.

America imprisons more people than any other nation. The prison population is disproportionately people of color with black inmates accounting for nearly half of the people serving life sentences. In Congress, Joe will join Senator Booker’s efforts to enact the Smart Sentencing Reduction Act which provides billions of dollars in grants to states that reduce their prison populations by 20% or more.

On any given day nearly 500,000 people are in jail awaiting trial. Joe will fight for federal bail reform so only those who are a true danger or real flight risk will be held
before trial.

“More than 1.5 million drug arrests are made every year in the U.S. – the overwhelming majority for possession only.” Joe will push to decriminalize possession of drugs
for personal use.

While many police serve honorably, and all are entitled to meaningful due process when they are accused of wrongdoing, the lack of accountability has led to deep distrust of law enforcement. Joe will support grants to states that require police departments to improve training for officers and have fair, independent systems for investigating and prosecuting police misconduct.

Under our Constitution those accused of crimes are entitled to court appointed attorneys to defend them if they cannot afford an attorney on their own. Unfortunately, low pay and unreasonable caseloads have created a shortage of quality counsel in communities across the country. In Congress, Joe will support legislation to appropriately fund public defense, improve pay, and set workload limits.

Our immigration system is broken and our politicians have been unwilling to work together to find solutions. America was built on immigration, and we must not turn away from our heritage now. We must adopt an immigration policy that secures our borders, welcomes hopeful, talented immigrants by admiring them lawfully, appropriately staffs our immigration courts and enforcement agencies to address the unacceptable backlog that delays those properly seeking to make America their home and slows the process of removing those without legal basis for staying. Our policy must be reformed to treat asylum seekers with dignity, offer citizenship to dreamers, and spread the benefit and burden of welcoming immigrants to states throughout the country by dedicating resources to border states to process entry and creating welcome centers in all regions of America to disperse population into communities prepared to absorb the growth. America has been—and must continue to be—a beacon for those seeking freedom and opportunity.

For generations America has been a symbol of freedom throughout the world, but our own shortcomings on civil rights at home, and our inaction in the face of human rights abuses around the globe, have left many to wonder whether the United States still lives up to its legacy. In Congress, Joe will support funding for allies fighting brutal dictatorships and terrorists across the globe. This includes approving aid to Ukraine and Israel in a timely manner. He will routinely urge the White House to speak with moral clarity and consistency about threats to human rights.

As a Jew, Joe is an avid supporter of Israel’s right to exist free of violence from terrorists. He has also fought for the free speech rights of Israel’s critics on college campuses to speak their minds provided their speech did not cross into categories that are unprotected by the First Amendment. The brutal events of October 7, the failure to return civilian hostages, and the ongoing declarations by some that they will never stop the violence until Israel is eradicated, have made clear that violent extremists cannot continue to govern in Gaza. Because terrorists are deeply embedded in civilian communities, hiding bases in hospitals and schools, it has proven impossible to eliminate the terrorist threat without inflicting agonizing suffering amongst civilians. It is important for Israel’s allies to help it chart a path that minimizes the impact on civilians with periodic cease fires so humanitarian aid can get in and medical teams and journalists can operate safely. And when the immediate war is over, the world must work together to invest in Gaza to raise the standard of living for Palestinians and improve their opportunities. In Congress, Joe will support policies that pursue long-term peace and security for all people.

America asks a lot of our servicemembers and their families. We must meet their needs in return. Joe would support legislation to allow active duty servicemembers to opt-out of TRICARE to purchase their own medical insurance, with vouchers up to the same premium paid by the government for TRICARE. His legislation would expand access to out of network medical providers, whenever the wait for in network providers exceeds 30 days. He would also ensure that TRICARE provides immediate and continuing access to mental health services because no veteran in crisis should be denied these services. Joe would also reform the Higher Education Act to require colleges that receive federal dollars to accept equivalent transfer credits that any service member or family member of a service member earned at any other accredited institution. This will ensure that no higher education is derailed by a military transfer.