A summer 2025 report revealed that outstanding federal student loan debt totaled $1.661 trillion held by 42.5 million borrowers. Over 10 percent of those federal student loan dollars were delinquent in Q2. Observers worry of a “default cliff” where a large number of borrowers default on their loans.
The administration’s plan on student loan debt is to garnish wages from more than five million borrowers in 2026.
Matt will fight for student loan debt cancellation. A college graduate in 2006, he knows the struggle to pay off student loans first hand. He knows what borrowers sacrifice and what we, as a country, are missing out on from millions of Americans, young and old.
Cancellation of student loan debt would free millions of borrowers to secure a better financial foundation for themselves. This may include the first time they were able to seriously build life savings or invest in retirement. Borrowers may be able to make milestone purchases of a new car or become a first-time home owner. Freed from student loans, borrowers can create or invest in businesses, spurring economic activity.
A 2021 study found that the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans paid an effective 8.2 percent in taxes from 2010 through 2018. A rate far lower than many working families. Current tax policies which allow the wealthy to skip out on paying created unprecedented wealth inequality in the United States as economic mobility declines. It’s a glaring disparity that will only exacerbate as many of these same wealthy elites push for greater adoption of automation and AI to cut costs on a human labor workforce.
The concentration wealth poses an existential threat to the proper functioning of a democracy. Individuals like Elon Musk sink hundreds of millions into elections to secure preferred outcomes. Electoral influence buys policy influence or direct access to the levers of power. Policies in which the American people lose.
Matt will fight to tax billionaires to pay for services for millions of Americans. The nature of how the wealthy “earn” their money, many of them pay considerably lower effective tax rates than the rest of us. Their wealth is largely assembled through unrealized capital gains and stock value which is not taxed until sold. To fund their extravagant lives, some take out loans against their assets and avoid taxes.
The fact of the matter is that these individuals often owe their accrued wealth to the public. Infrastructure used to get their their products to consumers. An educated workforce which are largely products of public school systems. Monetizing scientific research advancements made possible with federal research dollars.
It’s time for them to pay up.
This administration and their Republican lackeys in Congress greatly increased the budget for immigration and deportation measures to $170 billion . It makes immigration enforcement the largest paramilitary force in the country. The budget surpasses all annual law enforcement expenditures on police by state and local governments. Deportation operations under ICE saw a three-fold increase in its annual budget. $30 billion over four years to hire 10,000 new agents.
DHS and ICE recruitment propaganda are overtly white supremacist . The standards and training for new ICE agents are abysmal . The process, by which corners are cut, was described as a “shit show.” The results are predictable .
Masked ICE agents without name badges are documented to have:
Unlawfully detained U.S. citizens without proper due process
Unlawfully detained legal immigrants without proper due process
Misidentified individuals with benign NIKE or autism tattoos as signifiers for MS-13 gang membership and deported them to a foreign torture gulag
Drawn firearms on peaceful protesters
Fired “non-lethal” projectiles at peaceful protesters including in the head
Violently assault U.S. citizens and immigrants on the streets and within government buildings
Despite its claims to deport “the worst of the worst,” data leaked in October 2025 showed only 5 percent of those detained by ICE held violent convictions. 73 percent had no convictions at all.
Matt will fight for the abolition of ICE and prosecution of human rights violators. Under this administration, supercharged by the Republican Congress with massive increase to its budget, ICE is a flagrant human rights violator. It regularly violates the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens and immigrants of every status. ICE agents hide their identities in an attempt to escape accountability.
ICE must be abolished and its functions drawn-and-quartered into separate agencies and rebuilt from the ground-up. We must clean house. Everybody involved in this national disgrace must understand that the present circumstances are not going to last forever. There will be a day of reckoning and it is coming.
The key to reducing the cost of health care is prevention and that requires access. With the expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, we are moving in the wrong direction. This new year, many Americans see their premiums increase as high as three-, four-, or five-fold. The high cost will force many to go without insurance altogether. As many as 15 million Americans are expected to lose their Medicaid by 2034. Manageable health concerns may exacerbate without intervention leading to complications or even death. It’s poor policy that leads to sicker communities and higher costs for all.
Employer-based health insurance places a heavy financial burden on businesses. It disadvantages small businesses of whom only 51 percent cover partial insurance premiums in 2025. (Down from 56 percent two years ago.)
It restricts the free movement of labor. Workers may fear losing their health insurance and stay in a job with less professional growth and limited wage increases. At a time of high costs for groceries, child care, and more, it infringes on Americans’ freedom to live our lives.
The fact of the matter is that health insurance is not health care. The health insurance industry’s model is simple: profit off exorbitant premiums and deny care.
Matt will fight for Medicare for All. It will save Americans money , maintain private medical practices and bolster rural hospitals , and lead to healthier lives. Americans, with greater economic freedom, will be able to pursue professional advancement and higher wages without fear of losing their health care.
The decision on when and how to start a family is sacrosanct. It does not belong in the hands of any legislator or judge.
The situation post-Roe v. Wade is one of dramatic health and economic impacts. A 2024 study revealed the Dobbs decision led a 7 percent increase in infant mortality. Abortion bans, deeply unpopular around the country, were linked to a dramatic jump in sepsis—50 percent in Texas, for example. These burdens are, of course, borne more heavily on marginalized communities, Medicaid beneficiaries, individuals without college degrees, young people, and communities in the South.
A number of women died because they were denied abortion care when it could have saved their life.
Additional studies found contraception access declined.
A 2024 study found that states with the most restrictive policies experienced a combined economic loss of $64 billion as it reduced women’s labor force participation, ages 15 to 44, by 556,000.
Matt will fight to establish a national right to abortion access and protect those who seek and perform an abortion. Anti-abortion forces spent decades concocting a myriad of ways to weaken access to abortion prior to and after Dobbs . There are a number of actions Congress must undertake to restore abortion access.
Establish a statutory right to abortion with minimum standards for access
Repeal the Comstock Act to prevent a backdoor national abortion ban
Codify FDA approval of mifepristone
Shield FDA decisions from judicial meddling
Outlaw fetal personhood
Prohibit criminalization of travel to obtain an abortion
Protect those who assist an individual to obtain an abortion
Protect doctors and hospitals who perform abortions
Prohibit crisis pregnancy centers from lying to women
Prohibit government registries or databases which track personally identifying information of those who had an abortion
Prohibit civil actions and deputized private citizens as defined in Texas’ SB 8
Every moment of early childhood development can make a significant impact on a child’s long-term learning. Studies show returns as high as $4 to $9 for every $1 invested in early childhood development. (One estimate showed return as high as $16 .) A young child’s introduction into a learning environment improves their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Children enter the school system equipped with language, problem-solving, sharing, and educational skills.
Universal child care programs also provide immense benefit to parents. They know they are giving their child the best chance to learn and succeed as studies show benefits last into high school. Working parents are able to ensure their children are cared for while they earn an income to support their families. Data shows 70 percent of children under the age of 6 have both parents who work.
An estimated 12 million children under the age of 6 receive regular weekly care from center-based care, at home, or with relatives. A 2024 report showed working parents with young children spend up to 24 percent of income on child care. Single parents face an even more daunting task with costs as high as 75 percent of their income. The lack of child care hurts families, businesses, and taxpayers, resulting in billions of lost economic activity.
Matt will fight for universal child care. As a working father with two young sons, Matt is all too familiar with the struggle to secure affordable child care. Quality child care full-time can rival the cost of housing. With two good-paying jobs, he and his wife were only ever able to send one son to child care at a time and only for three days a week. He is determined to expand access for quality child care to every child. For their future and ours.
Social Security, a cornerstone program of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, approaches its centennial as one of the most popular federal programs. It kept as many as 20 million adults and children above the poverty line, according to a 2024 analysis .
When Matt’s mother passed away in 1992, his family was a beneficiary of Social Security’s survivor benefit. Roughly 5 million Americans received this monthly benefit following the death of a family member in 2024.
The importance of Social Security for Americans to maintain their standard of living into retirement continues to grow. Americans, half of whom are without access to retirement plans like defined benefit pensions or even 401(k)s, are unable to save for retirement due to high costs and stagnant wages. The cost of prescriptions continue to climb. This year, pharmaceutical companies raised prices of 350 drugs. This constant increase continues to take a greater share of the fixed incomes of retirees, about a quarter of whom rely on Social Security to cover 90 percent of their income.
A 2025 report from the Social Security Trustees shows full benefit payouts for the next nine years before facing a funding shortfall. Without action, Social Security could pay 81 percent of scheduled benefits from tax income.
Matt will fight to expand Social Security. Right now, earnings above a specific figure are exempt from payroll taxes which fund Social Security. By removing this cap, set at $184,500 in 2026, it would cover roughly 75 percent of the program’s projected long-term shortfall. The richest 293 Americans paid all of their Social Security taxes within minutes on New Year’s Day. It’s unfair and the wealthy can pay more to ensure the long-term viability of a critical program like Social Security. In tandem with an affordability agenda that lowers costs of prescription drugs, energy bills, and groceries, we can continue to take care of retirees.
