We must secure a $15 minimum wage by 2010; we must invest in workforce development and trade programs so that we’re positioning people to be 21st-century job ready.

Let’s fix our existing federal programs. We must fully fund congressional mandates and legislation, and ensure that dollars are going directly into the classroom, not into bureaucracies.

Make healthcare affordable and universal by implementing a funding model that distributes the cost between employers, eligible households, and the savings received from several tax breaks that subsidize health care.

An assault weapons ban and universal background checks are just the start. We must reenact the Brady Bill or similar legislation that will curtail the military weaponry that we see in the marketplace.