Labor Policy & Jobs
American working people are far worse off now than they were a generation ago. It's clear that misguided economic and trade policies have failed the American people, and that American industry, left to its own greed, has failed to adapt to a changing world. Unemployment is approaching historic levels, millions of middle-class American jobs have been lost, and the current system traps the American worker in a downward spiral.
Things simply do not have to go on the way they are now. In Congress I will work for legislation that rewards American industries which innovate and preserve American jobs. I will stand for laws which protect and strengthen the rights of America's workers to organize for better wages and working conditions.
I will work to overturn the "free trade" arrangements that destroy American manufacturing and cause continual trade imbalances with foreign nations. I support tariffs and other protective measures to reestablish American manufacturing self-sufficiency and quality in textiles, consumer electronics and appliances, alternative energy, automobiles, and other key industries.
I support decreasing future legal immigration quotas while streamlining the green card and citizenship process for our current legal immigrants who want to remain in the U.S. permanently. The technical work force and skilled professionals America needs should be recruited and trained from among our own citizens, and those who have shown a permanent commitment to America should be integrated rapidly.