The Hill
By Jonathan Easley
August 13, 2015
Democratic
presidential candidate Martin O’Malley on Thursday will unveil the 15
goals “to rebuild the American Dream” that he will use as benchmarks for
his administration
if he wins the White House.
The
benchmarks dovetail with a series of ambitious policy proposals
O’Malley has released since launching his bid for the Democratic
presidential nomination.
The
former Maryland governor has sought to position himself as the most
policy-minded Democratic candidate running for president. He has
released proposals to overhaul
the nation’s criminal justice, make higher education more affordable,
crack down on Wall Street and address climate change, among others.
O’Malley’s
15 goals, which he’ll outline in a soapbox speech at the Iowa State
Fair later in the day, apply hard numbers and dates of achievement to
those policy proposals.
“Already,
the governor has been setting the standard for Democrats with his
progressive policy vision,” an O’Malley official told The Hill. “This is
a new, dynamic approach
that incorporates his plans. “
O’Malley
says under his leadership, the U.S. will increase college completion
rates by 25 percentage points within 10 years, require banks to divide
their commercial and
investment banking operations within five years and increase the median
net worth for the average American family by $25,000 in 10 years.
O’Malley
is vowing to cut the unemployment rate among young people in half
within 10 years, says he will have the nation on a path to 100 percent
renewable energy by 2050,
and reduce deaths by gun violence by 50 percent by 2025.
He
has not tied all of the goals to policy proposals yet. For instance,
O’Malley says he will end childhood hunger by 2020 and reduce infant
mortality rate by 10 percent,
but he has not released a plan to do so.
Having
measurable goals is a similar approach to the one he took as governor
of Maryland, where citizens could go online to track the goals the
O’Malley administration
set.
O’Malley
has struggled to gain traction in the Democratic presidential field. He
routinely polls at 1 percent nationally, and has largely been squeezed
out by Vermont
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has emerged as the biggest threat to Hillary
Clinton and captured much of the energy among the liberal grassroots
base.
But O’Malley believes he can gain traction by continuing to release detailed, liberal policy prescriptions.
He also believes his liberal record as governor of a deep-blue state will set him apart.
“There
will come a time in the fall when people will need to focus on which of
us actually has the track record of not just professing progressive
values, but getting
progressive things done,” he said Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
“Marriage equality, raising the minimum wage, the DREAM Act,
comprehensive gun safety legislation — I’m the only candidate in our
party that’s actually, over 15 years of executive experience,
done these things.”
O’Malley’s
Thursday stump speech in Iowa will kick off a three-week campaign
across the state where he’ll focus on highlighting the goals he’s set
for the nation.
O’Malley’s 15 goals:
1) Increase American families’ median net worth by $25,000 in 10 years.
2) Generate 100 percent of American electricity with renewable energy by 2050.
3) Cut the unemployment rate among young people in half with three years.
4) Reach full employment for American veterans by 2020.
5) Put 11 million new Americans on the pathway to citizenship through comprehensive immigration reform.
6) Ensure that all higher education students have the option to graduate debt-free within five years.
7) Improve college and career readiness, and increase college completion rates, by 25 percentage points within 10 years.
8) End childhood hunger in America by 2020.
9) Reform the U.S. criminal justice system to save and redeem lives.
10) Cut deaths from gun violence – homicides, suicides and accidents – in half by 2025.
11) Reduce deaths from drug overdoses by 25 percent by 2020.
12) Reduce infant mortality by 10 percent by 2020.
13) Require banks to separate commercial and speculative banking within five years.
14) Restore America’s competition and antitrust laws, taking action within one year in office.
15) Implement public financing of Congressional campaigns within five years.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
No comments:
Post a Comment