Michael Bennet

U.S. Senator, Colorado

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Opportunity

Racial Wealth Gap

Michael Bennet addresses the racial wealth gap in his “Plan to End Poverty”. His plan will:

• “Expand the Child Tax Credit through the American Family Act… up to $300 per month per child.”  

• “Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to up to $3,000 per worker without children.”

• “Raise the minimum wage to $15 or more in high-cost cities.”

Additionally, in his “Plan to Reward Hard Work” he will:

• “Increase investment in active labor market policy by more than $500 billion over the next decade.”

He stated on Twitter: “There is a racial wealth gap in this country and a straight line from slavery to Jim Crow to redlining to mass incarceration. That straight line is our nation’s shame and it’s why I support #HR40 #TheView”

Affordable Housing

Michael Bennet addresses affordable housing in his “Plan to Tackle America’s Housing Affordability Crisis”. His plan will:

• “Increase Affordable Housing Supply.”

• “Support Main Street Revitalization.”

• “Create a Radically Low-Cost Housing Innovation Fund.”

• “Expand Funding Options for Multi-Family Housing.”

• “Fully Fund Opportunity Vouchers.”

• “Provide Down Payment Assistance.”

• “Reform Federal Housing Tax Incentives.”

• “Expand Credit for Small Mortgages through a Loan Fund and Better Appraisals.”

• “Require that competitive federal transportation investments go to communities that promote inclusive, affordable housing supply, including those that are measurably increasing affordable housing supply near existing transit hubs.”

• “Create a one-time $10 billion competitive grant program for local governments, councils of governments, or state governments that reduce barriers restricting affordable housing in high-opportunity areas and increase the number of affordable units.” 

Access to High Quality Education

Michael Bennet addresses access to high quality education in his “Equal Must be Equal” education plan. The Plan will:

• “Expand support for child nutrition programs, including the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and the free- and reduced-price breakfast, lunch, and snack programs to ensure that all kids are ready to learn.”

• “Establish Universal, Free Preschool.”

• “Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline” by “expanding mental health supports and resources; promoting positive behavioral supports such as restorative practices; and providing innovation grants to allow communities to develop and implement diversion programs to keep kids from incarceration.”

• Expand Title I and IDEA funding, to help push back against school funding disparities.

• “Enact Free Community College.”

• “Ensure that every student in America can graduate debt free, including tuition, fees, and reasonable costs for room and board.”

• “Cap student loan payments at 8% of income, a 20% reduction in income-based student loan payments from current law, and forgive student loans after 20 years for people who have successfully made payments on time.”

• “Expand Debt Forgiveness and Allow for Refinancing of Student Loans.”

Environmental Equity

Michael Bennet addresses environmental equity in his “America’s Climate Change Plan”. His plan will:

• “Create an Office of Climate and Environmental Justice at the Environmental Protection Agency to mitigate harm to the communities that have been most affected by pollution.”

• “Prioritize opportunities to cut waste in communities that have been most harmed by pollution.”

• “Prioritize investments in workers and communities that are most affected by climate change, the transition to zero-emission technologies, and that have been most harmed by pollution.”

Health Equity

Michael Bennet addresses health equity in his ”Plan for High Quality, Affordable Healthcare”. His plan will:

• “Establish a public option.”

• “Increase the tax credit for individuals earning less than 400% of the federal poverty line.”

• “Eliminate the arbitrary subsidy cliff and provide premium tax credits for those earning more than 400% of the federal poverty level, who currently do not qualify for any assistance.”

• “Addresses racial disparities in maternal mortality by ensuring people of color are covered with quality care throughout pregnancy and childbirth, including ending maternity care deserts, requiring culturally competent screening and treatment, and strengthening state and federal programs that cover family planning and maternity care.” 

Transportation Access

Michael Bennet addresses transportation access in his “Plan to Tackle America’s Housing Affordability Crisis”. His plan will:

• < p class="" style="white-space:pre-wrap;">“Expand investments in major mass-transit projects like bus-rapid transit or commuter rail that connect people to good jobs, not projects that only service high-income neighborhoods.” 

• “Require that competitive federal transportation investments go to communities that promote inclusive, affordable housing supply, including those that are measurably increasing affordable housing supply near existing transit hubs.”

• Triple the funding ($4.5 Billion annually) for competitive and innovative transportation funding through the BUILD (formerly TIGER) program.

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Justice

Bail/Prison Reform 

Michael Bennet’s campaign platform does not address bail/prison reform. However, in his Equal Must Be Equal education plan he will:

• “Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline” by “providing school-based resources to support students who may be struggling, including significantly expanding mental health supports and resources; promoting positive behavioral supports such as restorative practices; and providing innovation grants to allow communities to develop and implement diversion programs to keep kids from incarceration.”

In the Senate, he has sponsored:

• The First Step Act bill in 2016, which limited juvenile solitary confinement and reduced minimum sentences for some repeat non-violent drug crimes.

• The Marijuana Justice Act in 2019 to end the federal prohibition on marijuana.

Re-Entry Services

Michael Bennet’s campaign platform does not include a plan for establishing re-entry services. In the Senate, he has sponsored:

• The First Step Act bill in 2016, which aims to reduce federal recidivism and crime, prepare inmates to successfully reenter society, and enhance prison security and officer safety. 

His Plan to Fix Our Broken Politics will:

• “Restore voting rights to the millions of Americans who have served their time immediately upon release from prison.” 

Ending Capital Punishment

Michael Bennet is against re-instituting capital punishment. Bennet expressed his views during an interview with the New York Times:

• “I oppose the death penalty because I think, in part, It’s part of our broken system of mass incarceration that is not administered in a way that is equal, just or fair.”

Enacting Smart Gun Safety Measures

Michael Bennet does not have an agenda for enacting smart gun safety measures in his campaign platform. However, Bennet did share his views on gun control during an interview with USA Today: 

• “It is egregious that mass shootings and daily acts of gun violence plague our communities. As president, I will expand and improve universal background checks, limit the size of magazines, and keep weapons of war off the streets with an assault weapons ban.”

Improving Police-Community Relations 

Michael Bennet’s campaign platform does not include a plan for improving police-community relations.

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Democracy

Voting Rights

Michael Bennet addresses voting rights in his “Plan to Fix Our Broken Politics”. His plan will:

• “Require states to let students vote where they attend school.”

• “Require no-excuse absentee voting and at least two weeks of early voting.”

• “Make Election Day a national holiday.”

• “Require counting of provisional ballots for federal races, even if voters lack photo ID or show up at the wrong polling location. At the same time, there should be reasonable steps to verify a voter’s identity.”

• “Restore voting rights to the millions of Americans who have served their time immediately upon release from prison.”

• “Make the District of Columbia a state.”

• “Restore core provisions of the Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court in Shelby v. Holder.”

• “Prohibit politically motivated purging of inactive voters from the rolls, while establishing robust procedures to verify their status and restore their registration in the case of wrongful removal.”

• “Significantly increase penalties for intentional voter suppression.”

• “Prohibit voter caging, the practice of using non-forwardable mail as justification to remove registered voters from the rolls.”

• “Ban modern-day poll taxes that make re-enfranchisement contingent on the payment of hefty fees, as we have seen recently in Florida.”

• “Require the use of paper ballots for federal elections and risk-limiting audits for all federal races.”

Access to Voter Registration

Michael Bennet addresses access to voter registration in his “Plan to Fix Our Broken Politics”. His plan will:

• “Automatically register every eligible citizen to vote. Automatic voter registration registers eligible citizens to vote when they engage with government agencies, with the option to ‘opt-out.’”

• “Establish online voter registration.”

• “Require same-day voter registration.”

• “Require portable voter registration. If an eligible, registered voter moves within the state, their registration automatically moves with them.”

• “Pre-register 16- and 17-year olds to vote.”

Gerrymandering

Michael Bennet addresses gerrymandering in his “Plan to Fix Our Broken Politics”. His plan will:

• “Prohibit partisan gerrymandering for Congressional districts.”

Census 2020

Michael Bennet addresses census 2020 in his “Plan to Fix Our Broken Politics”. His plan will:

• “Protect the integrity of the U.S. Census by removing any question about citizenship status.”