A Progressive Latina for Congress - Texas Democratic Primary: March 3rd 2020
A True Progressive – Rosey will continue her activist and advocate role in the halls of congress. She will champion the interests of the people over those of unaccountable moneyed interests and corrupt politicians.
Environment – Rosey will fight to strengthen the EPA and force the administration to make decisions based on science instead of politics. Let’s protect our citizens and stop the poisoning of our environment. Rosey will hold polluting industries accountable for their own environmental costs. She supports full disclosure of all chemicals held on any industrial or warehouse site.
Campaign Finance Reform – Rosey will fight for public financing of elections. Political fundraising needs to be reformed to level the playing field so that the wealthiest and most well-connected candidates are not given an unfair advantage.
Civil Rights – Rosey will fight for the Texas values of equal justice, economic opportunity and political power for all, regardless of race or economic status. No one should be subject to police intimidation, brutality or arrest for exercising their constitutional rights
Common Sense Gun Laws – Rosey believes we must balance gun rights with common sense safety measures like background checks on all gun purchases regardless of whether the gun is bought from a licensed dealer or from a private seller at a gun show or over the internet. She supports banning military style assault weapons, bump stocks, and silencers.
End Private Prisons - Private prisons should be abolished. It profoundly stupid to use taxpayer dollars to finance private company’s profits while creating an incentive to stuff our prisons with ever more Americans. Our ever-growing prison population results in obscene profits for a few companies such as Core Civic and Geo Group while harming lower income and minority populations with perverse incentives to keep costs low and incarcerations at the highest rate of any developed country.
Equal Justice Under Law – Rosey will fight for the Texas values of equal justice, economic opportunity and political power for all, regardless of race or economic status. Institutional racism must end.
Equal Pay and Equal Rights – Women should receive equal pay for equal work. Period. Without exception. Rosey supports the Equal Rights Amendment.
Fight Global Warming - We must accelerate our transition to renewable energy with the help of a carbon tax. The crisis of global warming is here and now, phasing out fossil fuels is key to our survival. Green energy is and will continue to be key to creating jobs and prosperity for our future.
Government Reform - We must break the corrupting stranglehold of political donors and wealthy, well connected special interests over our government and return political power to the people. End Dark Money.
Increase College Funding – Let’s invest in our future by restoring adequate funding for our public colleges and universities. We need to roll back skyrocketing tuition costs that are impoverishing our young people. We will help our young people and boost their economic prospects by creating a program of college debt forgiveness.
Income Inequality – Corporate profits are at an all-time high while worker wages continue to stagnate. Income is being funneled upward ever faster via tax breaks. Rosey supports repeal of the recent republican tax giveaway, a financial transaction tax on trades, and a wealth tax for the ultra-wealthy. Rosey supports the $15 minimum wage.
Legalize Cannabis - Cannabis should be made fully legal for medical and personal use. Americans should be free to consume cannabis without fear of arrest or jail time. Thousands of PTSD and Chronic Pain sufferers will benefit from cannabis as a non-opiate alternative. Additionally, legalization will allow industrial hemp to replace much more environmentally costly cotton production.
LGBTQ Rights – Rosey fully supports the dignity, freedom, and equality of LGBTQ people. She will fight the anti-LGBTQ bigotry embodied in the so called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) laws. LGBTQ citizens must be afforded full and equal status with regards to employment, marriage, parental rights and access to public facilities.
Net Neutrality – Rosey fully supports net neutrality. Internet providers should be treated as common carriers, and not allowed slow internet access based on the ability to pay.
Opioid Addiction Crisis – Rosey advocates a treatment-based response as opposed to our current counterproductive law enforcement one. People suffering from addiction need treatment, not prison. Rosey would push for legislation to hold drug companies accountable amid the national opioid-drug epidemic.
Police Accountability – Rosey advocates community policing. Transparency, accountability and public involvement are necessary to challenge unfair and racially biased enforcement where it exists. Those responsible for police brutality and violence must be held to account. She supports reversing the trend of militarizing police forces and returning to treating community members as worthy of being protected, not adversaries to be subdued.
Voting Rights – Rosey supports a nationwide ban on undemocratic voter suppression tactics such as voter ID laws. Voter registration should be automatic, and all Americans should have access to mail-in voting. Voter’s representation should not be diluted through partisan or racial gerrymandering.
Reproductive Rights - A woman has the right to decide when and whether to have children, and whether to end a pregnancy without interference from the government, her employer, or anyone else.
Strengthen Unions and Worker’s Rights – For too long the power of workers to have a voice in their conditions of employment has been stripped away, whether from lack of enforcement of existing labor law or anti-worker legislation. Strong unions are key to workers prosperity. Rosey will fight to strengthen federal law in this area and prohibit anti-worker union busting legislation. Absurdly misnamed “right to work” legislation has contributed to the decline of the middle-class and to the rise of unbridled corporate power. The social contract between worker and employer has been broken and must be rebuilt. All workers should be paid fairly for their labor and enjoy the pride and dignity of earning a living wage for full time work. A $15 minimum wage will be a good start in that direction.
Undocumented Workers – Our current immigration law and enforcement policies result in what amounts to a system of black-market labor. Employers can currently hire undocumented workers and pay them substandard wages, and subject them to dangerous, inhumane working conditions with no serious repercussions. We need to encourage economic development that includes a way to legally hire immigrant workers and protect their rights and dignity. Rather than demonizing Mexico, as the current administration is doing, we should see our district’s 800 mile border as an opportunity to partner with Mexico in creating a strong cross-border economy. Our current enforcement policies waste untold money and resources that could be better spent improving the lives of all who live here.
Asylum Seekers and Detention Facilities – Our district is home to multiple immigrant facilities. To create a show for his supporters, the current occupant of the white house is traumatizing children by separating them from their parents and forcing asylum seekers to be imprisoned under overcrowded inhuman conditions. The current congressman has done nothing of any substance to stop this appalling situation. Rosey has been active in fighting these camps, having been falsely arrested and brutalized for exercising her first amendment right to protest. Rosey supports demilitarizing our border with Mexico by abolishing ICE and treating asylum seekers fleeing deadly conditions in their home countries with empathy and humanity. We should decriminalize undocumented entry so that it can be treated as the civil matter that it is, rather than making desperate people into criminals.
Universal Healthcare - No one should suffer or die because they can’t afford medical care. Everyone, regardless of class has the right to be free from suffering caused by untreated health issues. Healthcare is a right, and American’s freedom to live a healthy life should not be subject to the whims of their employer or the profit motive of huge, well connected pharmaceutical and private insurance companies.
Veterans – America owes a debt of gratitude to our Veterans. In return it is our responsibility to take care of them and treat the illnesses and injuries sustained by them while in service to our country. Our Veteran’s Administration health system has been underfunded for decades, and needs to be more effective for our vets. Many vets have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, illness due to exposure to toxins, and other health issues acquired in the line of duty. Neglect, and outright inaction by congress and the current administration has led to a crisis of veteran homelessness, opioid addiction and a shockingly high rate of suicide among our vets. They deserve better, we must do more to care for those who served. We must stop deporting non-citizen veterans and return those already deported.
Paid Sick Leave – Workers deserve to be able to recover from illness and not spread it to others at the workplace. They should not be forced to risk losing their job or their pay should they need to recover from illness or injury at home.
Universal Childcare – Low cost, subsidized or free childcare for working women is critical to economic security for lower income parents. I endorse Elizabeth Warren’s plan for Universal Childcare
