Priorities
Hardworking New Jersey families are being squeezed from every angle — from housing to healthcare, childcare to groceries. Enough is enough. My first priority is to restore affordability so families can stop living day-to-day, from paycheck to paycheck, and finally focus on a bright future.
Let’s face it - bringing down the cost of living won’t be easy. The good news is that I have developed a pretty specific plan to make life a lot easier for my neighbors in NJ. Once I am elected, I will focus on federal policies that complement state efforts, drawing from proven Democratic approaches to deliver real relief.
Key Issues
Lowering Costs for New Jersey Families
As your Representative, I plan to support legislation to expand federal support for affordable housing, including helping first-time homebuyers, seniors, and our veterans. In addition, I pledge to:
- Champion expansions to the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, with the goal of building and/or preserving 100,000 affordable units nationwide over the next decade, with targeted funding for high-cost states like New Jersey to address our 200,000-unit shortfall.
- Push for federal grants to local governments for zoning reforms that encourage mixed-income developments, reducing barriers to new construction in transit-rich areas like along the NJ Transit lines.
- Support property tax relief through enhanced federal deductions for state and local taxes (SALT), capping them at a higher threshold to ease the burden on middle-class homeowners facing the nation's highest property taxes.
Affordable, Accessible Housing Solutions
Families can’t focus if they’re hungry. Kids can’t study, parents can’t plan. We live in one of the richest nations on earth, yet many American families (too many NJ families, in particular) good to bed hungry. We have to make food affordable, now. Here’s how I will work to put food on every NJ resident’s table:
- Strengthen SNAP benefits by increasing the maximum allotment by 15% and expanding eligibility for working families earning up to 200% of the federal poverty line, helping offset New Jersey's higher food costs.
- Support farm-to-table initiatives with federal agriculture grants for farmers in our District, making fresh produce more affordable through community-based programs that support local business and increase access to quality, affordable produce.
Feeding our Families
Most folks feel helpless when it comes to fighting ever-increasing energy costs, and the sad truth is – we are all at the mercy of big utilities. Until now. I believe that affordable energy is something we should all expect as citizens of the most powerful nation on earth, and as citizens of our great NJ District. As your representative, I will declare energy affordability a national priority, and implement policies specifically geared to:
- Promote the Inflation Reduction Act's extensions for clean energy tax credits, offering $2,000 for home energy efficiency upgrades like solar panels or insulation, which could cut utility bills by 20–30% for New Jersey families.
- Regulate out-of-control utility rate hikes through federal oversight of companies like PSE&G.
- Push for low-income energy assistance programs (LIHEAP) funding increases to $5 billion nationally, ensuring more grants for weatherization in older homes in places like Trenton or Camden.
- Invest in green infrastructure jobs via federal grants, creating union positions in renewable energy to lower long-term costs.
Controlling Energy Costs
Given the many challenges working families face these days, it’s no surprise that NJ residents could use a little help balancing the demands of work and raising a child. Unfortunately, childcare can cost NJ families an astronomical $15,000–$20,000 per year; but there’s hope. While serving as your representative in Washington, I will:
- Co-sponsor the Child Care for Working Families Act to cap costs at 7% of income for low and middle-income households.
- Expand the Child Tax Credit to $3,000 per child ($3,600 for under-6), making it fully refundable and monthly, putting an extra $250–$300 right back in NJ parents' pockets each and every month.
Caring for our Children
If income doesn’t keep pace with inflation – we will eventually fall behind despite all of the efforts I’ve outlined so far to bring down the cost of living. To make sure incomes keep pace, with inflation, there are two very simple policies that I will advocate for as your representative in Washington. As your Congresswoman, I will:
- Push for a federal minimum wage of $15/hour.
- Advocate for paid family leave expansions to 12 weeks, reducing the financial hit from life events.
Fair Wages for a Hard Day’s Work
Getting sick shouldn’t mean going broke. For too many New Jerseyans, one medical bill can cause serious financial hardship. There is good news – by building on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I will:
- Advocate capping out-of-pocket costs at $5,000 per year for families on employer-sponsored plans.
- Expand subsidies for premiums on Get Covered NJ, our state exchange, by pushing federal legislation to make enhanced premium tax credits permanent, potentially saving families $500–$1,000 per year.
- Fight for Medicare drug price reductions and expand coverage to include more medications, targeting high-cost treatments for chronic conditions like diabetes, which disproportionately affect our State's diverse populations.
Healthcare Shouldn't Be a Privilege
Most people don’t spend a lot of time thinking about infrastructure. We are too busy working hard, feeding our families, educating our children. Whether or not we realize it, our District’s infrastructure impacts our lives every day, in so many ways. Our roads, transportation system, energy grid, environmental health and disaster preparedness all critically rely on strong local infrastructure.
To ensure that each and every one of our neighbors in our District can rely upon – and even benefit from – our critical infrastructure, I have a plan. As your Representative, I will:
To ensure that each and every one of our neighbors in our District can rely upon – and even benefit from – our critical infrastructure, I have a plan. As your Representative, I will:
- Advance completion of the Gateway Project, an expansion of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line along a critical 10-mile stretch between Newark, New Jersey, and New York Penn Station.
- Strengthen our defenses to unforeseen natural disasters like floods by:
- Elevating bridges and roadways above expected flood levels.
- Undergrounding power lines to prevent outage events.
- Upgrading stormwater systems to handle extreme rainfall.
- Installing backup power, such as microgrids and generators, at hospitals and emergency centers.
- Support the development and expansion of renewable energy infrastructure to reduce electricity costs, including FAA – Air traffic EWR, renewable energy infrastructure, and AI & data centers (economic development)
Improve New Jersey's Infrastructure
Ensuring communities can respond immediately after disaster. Support includes:
- Resilient communications systems (satellite phones, mesh networks).
- Well-equipped emergency operation centers.
- Redundant transportation routes for evacuation.
- Shelters designed for extreme weather, including power, water, and accessibility requirements.
Emergency Response Infrastructure
FEMA and global resiliency frameworks focus on stabilizing
critical lifelines:
Strengthening lifelines ensures quicker recovery and reduced casualties.
critical lifelines:
- Safety & Security (law enforcement, search and rescue)
- Food, Water, Shelter
- Health & Medical
- Energy systems
- Communications
- Transportation
- Hazardous materials management
Strengthening lifelines ensures quicker recovery and reduced casualties.
Community Lifelines Protection
Support can come from national, regional, or international entities. Types of funding:
- Mitigation grants (e.g., FEMA BRIC, HMGP in the U.S.).
- Infrastructure Resilience loans from development banks.
- Community resilience block grants for housing and utilities.
- Technical assistance for planning and engineering design.
Funding, Grants, and Technical Assistance
Resiliency is not just engineering — it requires people. Support includes:
- Public education on hazard preparedness.
- Training local emergency responders.
- Involving communities in planning and design.
- Developing local maintenance and monitoring teams.
Community Engagement & Capacity Building
Modern tools help predict and mitigate disaster impacts. Examples:
- Early warning systems for floods, fires, storms.
- IoT sensors for bridges, dams, water levels, and power grids.
- GIS and remote-sensing for real-time hazard tracking.
- AI-based forecasting for emergency management.
- These technologies reduce response time and increase situational awareness.
