Restoring Familes

We have too many children in poverty in this country and everybody should be ashamed, but don't tell me it doesn't have a little to do with the fact that we got too many daddies not acting like daddies. Don’t think that fatherhood ends at conception. I know something about that because my father wasn't around when I was young and I struggled.¹

Barack Obama sees the family unit as the most important structure in a person's life. He recognizes that personal effort is what makes families successful, but also that government should do what it can to help.

Obama has pushed for measures that help working families find economic stability, such as increases in the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and the minimum wage. He spearheaded an increase in the EITC in Illinois and has helped successful efforts to increase the minimum wage in both Illinois and the United States. Obama has also called for more flexibility in working hours, paid leave, child care availability, and school structures, so that parents don't have to choose between their children's financial future and their own presence in their lives.

Barack Obama states that the breakdown in the family in many neighborhoods doesn't have as much to do with a lack of love as a lack of knowledge and opportunity. Obama has introduced legislation to reduce marriage penalties in welfare regulations, encourage fathers to be more responsible towards their children, provide free parenting classes for needy couples, and make trained nurses available for home visits to low-income households that are starting a family.

Obama on Families and Poverty, in his own words

A Living Wage

For many men today, the inability to be their family’s sole breadwinner is a source of frustration and even shame; one doesn’t have to be an economic determinist to believe that high unemployment and low wages contribute to the lack of parental involvement and low marriage rates among African American men.²

Barack Obama believes that people who work full time should not live in poverty. As president, Obama would raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to pay for their family's basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing -- things so many people take for granted. Before the Democrats took back Congress, the minimum wage had not changed in 10 years. Even when it rises to $7.25 an hour by 2009, the minimum wage's real purchasing power will still be below what it was in 1968.³

In Illinois State Senate, Obama helped pass a state EITC and then worked to make it permanent.⁴ He also successful sponsored an amendment to the welfare reform bill that tracked families who left welfare to determine whether they remained in poverty.⁵ Since he came into the U.S. Senate, he has fought for increases in the CTC^{6 7 8} and the EITC^{9 10 11}. As president he has promised to increase the benefits of the tax credits for working parents and reduce the marriage penalty in the EITC.

Facilitating Work and School for Family Life

If we’re serious about family values, then we can put policies in place that make the juggling of work and parenting a little bit easier. We could start by making high-quality day care affordable for every family that needs it... Improved day-care licensing and training, an expansion of the federal and state child tax credits, and sliding-scale subsidies to families that need them all could provide both middle-class and low-income parents some peace of mind during the workday—and benefit employers through reduced absenteeism....
Most of all, we need to work with employers to increase the flexibility of work schedules...California has recently initiated paid leave through its disability insurance fund, thereby making sure that the costs aren’t borne by employers alone.
We can also give parents flexibility to meet their day-to-day needs. Already, many larger companies offer formal flextime programs and report higher employee moral as a result.¹²

As a U.S. Senator, Obama has sponsored a bill that would eliminate some welfare provisions that force both parents to work in order to continue receiving aid¹³, and has called for legislation to guarantee all workers seven days of paid sick leave. Obama has also sponsored several bills to improve childcare opportunities for low-income families.^{14 15 16 17}

Bringing Families Together

Since 1960, the number of American children without fathers in their lives has quadrupled, from 6 million to more than 24 million. Children without fathers in their lives are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime, nine times more likely to drop out of school, and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.¹⁸

Barack Obama believes that motivating fathers' own sense of responsibility is the most important factor towards bringing them back into their children's lives, but that government can take a positive role in facilitating this decision. He has introduced the "Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act" that removes some marriage penalties, cracks down on deadbeat dads, reduces welfare bureaucracy, and funds support services for fathers and their families.¹⁹ He has also called for an expansion in the "Nurse-Family Partnership", which provides home visits by trained R.N.'s to all low-income, first-time mothers.²⁰

Affordable Housing

There is a growing epidemic of mortgage fraud crimes in which sophisticated scam artists cheat homeowners out of their mortgages. Some have estimated that more than 2 million homeowners with subprime mortgages are at risk of losing their homes.²¹

Barack Obama has fought for legislation to reduce fraud in lending, regulate sub-prime and high-risk loans, and counsel homeowners to help them avoid foreclosure.^{22 23 24} As an alternative, he will create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund to develop affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods. Obama worked in the Illinois Senate to ensure that all city redevelopment plans to include housing impact and affordable housing studies.²⁵

^[1] Selma Voting Rights March Commemoration Speech, March 4, 2007.

^[2] The Audacity of Hope, page 347.

^[3] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/, Issues: Fighting Poverty

^[4] "A look at Obama's record in the Illinois Senate", Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2007.

^[5]"What the Data Actually Show About Welfare Reform", The Chronicle of Higher Education, June 21, 2002.

^[6] Hurricane Katrina Fast-Track Refunds for Working Families Act of 2005

^[7] Working Family Child Assistance Act

^[8] Working Family Child Assistance Act

^[9] Senate Amendment 2616

^[10] Senate Amendment 2652

^[11]Senate Amendment 2665

^[12] The Audacity of Hope, pages 342-343.

^[13] Equality for Two-Parent Families Act of 2006

^[14] Public Assistance Rates for Childcare

^[15] Covering Childcare for Low-Income Famlies in Training Programs

^[16] Training Childcare Providers in Needy Communities

^[17] Training Childcare Providers in Needy Communities

^[18] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/family/, Issues: Strengthening Families and Community

^[19] Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act

^[20] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/family/, Issues: Strengthening Families and Community

^[21] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/, Issues: Fighting Poverty

^[22] PREDATORY HOME LOAN Act

^[23] STOP FRAUD Act

^[24] STOP FRAUD Act

^[25] AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Data and Cites...

Summary only...

Redeeming Third World Poverty

The year I was born, President Kennedy stated in his inaugural address: "To those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required--not because the Communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich." Forty-five years later, that mass misery still exists. If we are to fulfill Kennedy’s promise--and serve our long-term security interests--then we will have to go beyond a more prudent use of military force. We will have to align our policies to help reduce the spheres of insecurity, poverty, and violence around the world, and give more people a stake in the global order that has served us so well.¹

Barack Obama has pursued a comprehensive strategy to reduce poverty and increase freedom across the world through debt relief, economic stimulation, health care aid, fair trade laws, advocacy for democratization, disaster relief, and the termination of human rights atrocities. He especially advocates facilitation without force - giving countries the means necessary to achieve political stability and participate in the global economy while enabling them to own their reforms and instigate progress from within. Although he has fought for aid to countries in need around the world, Obama has brought a special focus to the multiple crises occurring in Africa. In the US Senate Barack Obama has reached across party lines to build support for an end to the genocide in Sudan, a consistent U.S. strategy in Somalia, a peaceful democracy in Congo, and an escalation in the fight against AIDS and other epidemics that rage across the African continent. As president, Barack Obama will work to stabilize the political and economic insecurity that fuels violence across the world.

Economic Renewal

In 1941, FDR said he looked forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Our own experience tells us that those last two freedoms---freedom from want and freedom from fear—are prerequisites for all others. For half of the world’s population, roughly three billion people around the world living on less than two dollars a day, an election is at best a means, not an end; a starting point, not deliverance….If we want to win the hearts and minds of people in Caracas, Jakarta, Nairobi, or Tehran, dispersing ballot boxes will not be enough. We’ll have to make sure that the international rules we’re promoting enhance, rather than impede, people’s sense of material and personal security.²

Barack Obama has helped countries address hunger by supporting bills that maintain international food assistance programs^{3 4}. He has also cosponsored bills that spur long-term solutions to reduce poverty by extending trade preferences to underdeveloped nations^{5 6}, improving banks in developing countries⁷, providing debt relief⁸, and evaluating progress towards the Millennium goals⁹.

The Fight for Human Rights

Moreover, we fool ourselves in thinking that, in the worlds of one commentator, ‘we must learn to watch others die with equanimity,’ and not expect consequences. Disorder breeds disorder; callousness toward others tends to spread among ourselves. And if moral claims are insufficient for us to act as a continent implodes, there are certainly instrumental reasons why the United States and its allies should care about failed states that don’t control their territories, can’t combat epidemics, and are numbed by civil war and atrocity. It was in such a state of lawlessness that the Taliban took hold of Afghanistan. It was in Sudan, site of today’s slow-rolling genocide, that bin Laden set up camp for several years. It’s in the misery of some unnamed slum that the next killer virus will emerge.¹⁰

Barack Obama believes that working for stability in nations torn by violence is both our duty as a nation and in the best interests of world stability. His first successfully passed bill in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate was a comprehensive package to aid the new democracy in Congo in building a stable political structure, reducing corruption, and professionalizing the military. The bill also facilitated these aims by increasing humanitarian and peacekeeper aid to the nation¹¹.

Barack Obama then focused on the genocide in Darfur. He helped write a successful bipartisan bill that froze the assets of Sudanese war criminals and blocked the transaction of goods related to the Sudanese military from US ports¹². He also cosponsored legislation that called on the president to take immediate steps to protect Sudanese civilians^{13 14}, provided targeted sanctions against Sudan^{15 16}, assessed the potential of a NATO no-fly zone¹⁷, and funded the UN peacekeeping force and Africa Union Mission in Sudan^{18 19 20}, almost all of which passed the Senate. Along with the diplomatic and military pressure on the war criminals, Barack Obama supported a successful bipartisan amendment that added $40 million in famine and disaster relief to the area of Sudan affected by the genocide²¹. Obama is a cosponsor of the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act of 2007 and the Sudan Disclosure and Enforcement Act of 2007 that are pending in the Senate^{22 23}. He has personally met with Sudanese officials at the UN and visited refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border in order to better understand and bring global attention to the situation.

Barack Obama has also formerly called on the president and the UN to address human rights atrocities in Burma²⁴, Somalia²⁵, Sierra Leone²⁶, and Zimbabwe²⁷; and to support democracy and address human rights violations in Haiti²⁸ and around the world²⁹.

The AIDS Epidemic

[The US should] lead the global fight against the AIDS virus. The US must give its fair share to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to avoid both a humanitarian and economic crisis. President Bush's budget this year actually cuts the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund by 65 percent. As Senator, I will hold President Bush to his word and fully fund our commitment to the war on AIDS. We must also increase the availability of generic drugs to AIDS victims around the world.³⁰

Barack Obama has called for a reauthorization of our current program to fight AIDS, an assessment of which components of the program have been most effective, and an increased investment of at least $1 billion a year to strengthen the effort worldwide. He has sponsored and cosponsored bills that would augment and focus the research into microbiocides to prevent the transmission of HIV and other diseases^{31 32}, a successful bipartisan amendment that restored US appropriations to the Global Fund in order to maintain a 1 to 2 ratio with the rest of the world's contributions³³, and the comprehensive African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007³⁴. Obama also incorporated funding for AIDS relief into his comprehensive Congo aid package³⁵. Barack Obama has fought for increased awareness of the crisis by being the keynote speaker at the 2006 Global Summit on AIDS and the Church and by traveling to Kenya, where he and his wife spread information and publicly took HIV tests in order to dispel fears about the tests.



^[1] The Audacity of Hope, pages 314-315.

^[2] The Audacity of Hope, pages 317.

^[3] Whereas although there is enough food to feed all of the people in the world

^[4] Senate Amendment 380

^[5] TRADE act of 2005

^[6] Haiti Economic Recovery Opportunity Act

^[7] Development Bank Reform and Authorization Act of 2005

^[8] Multilateral Debt Relief Act of 2005

^[9] International Cooperation to Meet the Millennium Development Goals Act of 2005

^[10] The Audacity of Hope, pages 319-320.

^[11] Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006

^[12] Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2005

^[13] Calling on the President to take immediate steps to help improve the security situation in Darfur, Sudan, with an emphasis on civilian protection.

^[14] Calling on the President to take immediate steps to help stop the violence in Darfur.

^[15] Darfur Accountability Act of 2005

^[16] To impose sanctions against perpetrators of crimes against humanity in Darfur, Sudan

^[17] A concurrent resolution calling on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to assess the potential effectiveness of and requirements for a NATO-enforced no-fly zone in the Darfur region of Sudan.

^[18] To provide additional assistance in Sudan.

^[19] To make funds available for the African Union Mission in Sudan.

^[20] To increase by $20,000,000 the amount made available by chapter 2 of title IX for Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide for the purpose of assisting the African Union force in Sudan.

^[21] To provide additional assistance in Sudan.

^[22] Sudan Divestment Authorization Act of 2007

^[23] Sudan Disclosure and Enforcement Act of 2007

^[24] Sense of Senate regarding military junta in Burma...

^[25] To require the President to develop a comprehensive strategy toward Somalia.

^[26] To support a United States contribution to the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

^[27] A concurrent resolution condemning the recent violent actions of the Government of Zimbabwe against peaceful opposition party activists and members of civil society.

^[28] To provide additional assistance for Haiti.

^[29] ADVANCE Democracy Act of 2005

^[30] Renewal of American Leadership", July 12, 2004 Press Release.

^[31] Microbicide Development Act

^[32] Microbicide Development Act

^[33] To continue providing 33 percent of the Global Fund's revenue and to contribute an additional $566,000,000 to the Global Fund for fiscal year 2007 to support grant renewals and new proposals to support international HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs.

^[34] African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007

^[35] Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006

Data and Cites...

Summary only...

Education

Money does matter in education--otherwise why would parents pay so much to live in well-funded suburban school districts?--and many urban and rural schools still suffer from overcrowded classrooms, outdated books, inadequate equipment, and teachers who are forced to pay out of pocket for basic supplies. But there's no denying that the way many public schools are managed poses at least as big a problem as how well they're funded.
Our task, then, is to identify those reforms that have the highest impact on student achievement, fund them adequately, and eliminate those programs that don't produce results. And in fact we already have hard evidence of reforms that work: a more challenging and rigorous curriculum with emphasis on math, science, and literacy skills; longer hours and more days to give children the time and sustained attention they need to learn; early childhood education for every child, so they're not already behind on their first day of school; meaningful, performance-based assessments that can provide a fuller picture of how a student is doing; and the recruitment and training of transformative principals and more effective teachers.¹

Barack Obama has pushed for a multi-pronged approach to reforming the educational system throughout his life. As a community organizer, Illinois senator, and U.S. senator, he created and funded programs that increased after-school and summer learning programs for disadvantaged students. In the Illinois Senate he expanded early childhood education programs so that all students would be ready for kindergarten regardless of their backgrounds. Obama has sponsored bills that create incentives for veteran teachers to work in at-need schools, and to allow school districts to create innovation districts that experiment with new methods of increasing student achievement and retaining quality teachers. And Barack Obama has sponsored and cosponsored several bills that increase college opportunities for both children and adults of all backgrounds.

Early Childhood Education

Research shows that many poor and minority children do not enter kindergarten ready to learn. Black children start school substantially behind white children in reading and math, and these early achievement gaps expand throughout elementary school. Barack Obama supports increasing funding for the Head Start program to provide low-income preschool children with critically important learning skills, and supports the necessary role of parental involvement in the success of Head Start.²

Barack Obama pushed an expansion of early childhood education programs through the Illinois Senate^{3 4}. He also cosponsored a bill that would allow intervention programs for developmentally disabled children to be covered through MediCaid⁵. As president he would continue this expansion through the federal Head Start program, while adding incentives to increase parental participation in this early stage of their children's lives.

Expanding Summer Learning for Low-Income Students

Students lose an average of two months or more worth of math facts and skills during the summer, with the largest learning loss affecting children who live in poverty, suffer from learning disabilities, or do not speak English at home. Barack Obama's "STEP UP" plan addresses the achievement gaps among grade-school children by supporting summer learning opportunities for disadvantaged children through partnerships between local schools and community organizations.¹⁵

Barack Obama has consistently supported an array of summer education programs as a data-based reform that has been proven to make a difference in the lives of inner-city and rural students. He led the U.S. Senate to designate a "National Summer Learning Day" in order to promote summer learning and raise awareness about its benefits^{16 17}. Obama has also sponsored bills to provide grants that would offer summer learning to all students and encourage teachers to collaborate and obtain new skills during the summer^{18 19} and sponsored successful amendments that provided $100 million for summer learning grants for low-income students^{20 21}.

Attracting and Supporting Quality Teachers

Some studies have indicated that the most important factor in a child's education is the quality of their teacher. Barack Obama introduced a plan to support school districts that try new methods to improve student achievement and reward high-quality teachers and school leaders. Under his initiative, 20 districts across the country will get grants to develop innovative plans in consultation with their teacher unions. High-performing teachers, and those who take on new responsibilities, such as working at struggling schools and mentoring new teachers, will be eligible for pay increases beyond their base salary. These innovation districts will show results that can be replicated in other school districts.⁶

Barack Obama has called for changes in how schools recruit and retain quality instructors, including a streamlining of the credentialing process for qualified graduates, the implementation of teaching mentors, increased control of curriculum for experienced teachers, increased pay for high-performing teachers of math and science (and in difficult inner-city schools), and greater ability to replace ineffective teachers ⁷. He has already sponsored bills that would create "innovation districts" that could experiment with these reforms ^{8 9}. In addition, he wrote bills that would create programs to prepare and support new teachers working at high-need schools¹⁰ and special incentives for veteran teachers to transfer to and stay at these schools^{11 12}. Barack Obama also cosponsored a bill that would have provided funding to recruit and train 10,000 math and science teachers¹³ and the America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act, which would have provided funding for the education of math, science, technology, and foreign language teachers who were willing to work in high-need school districts, as well as training current teachers in improved math and science instruction and providing professional development for such instructors¹⁴.

Increasing College Opportunity for All

No matter how well we do in controlling the spiraling cost of education, we will still need to provide many students and parents with more direct help in meeting college expenses, whether through grants, low-interest loans, tax-free educational savings accounts, or full tax deductability of tuition and fees. So far, Congress has been moving in the opposite direction, by raising interest rates on federally guaranteed student loans and failing to increase the size of grants for low-income students to keep pace with inflation. There's no justification for such policies--not if we want to maintain opportunity and upward mobility as the hallmark of the U.S. economy.²²

Barack Obama has pushed a multi-facited approach to make a college education possible for all students who desire it. From the first bill he proposed in the U.S. Senate he has worked to increase the maximum amount of Pell Grants and fund them to all students^{23 24}. Obama has also proposed bipartisan legislation that would provide educational grants to low-income students²⁵, and bills that focus on African-American and Latino students with need^{26 27}. And he has acknowledged that not everyone follows the traditional path to education by supporting college grants for low-income parents²⁸, expanding the capacity of community colleges²⁹, and supporting the DREAM Act³⁰.

In the U.S. Senate Obama has sponsored two successful bills that give everyone more access to science and technology education, especially the women, minorities, and low-income students that traditionally have not been well-represented in those fields^{31 32}. He cosponsored a recently proposed bill that will fund grants and scholarships for the study of math and science at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate level, as well as increasing funds for the graduate education of current math and science teachers, the creation of extra support structures for such teachers, and the training of 70,000 new AP and IB instructors³³. Barack Obama also expanded a current program that supports minorities pursuing an education in the legal field³⁴.

Obama wants to protect students who take out student loans and ensure that the maximum amount of student loan aid possible goes directly to students. He has cosponsored bills that make government-provided student loans more efficient, regulates the lenders of student loans, cut the interest rates on student loans, and forgive debtors who meet certain qualifications of consistent public service or economic hardship^{35 36 37}.





^[1] The Audacity of Hope, page 161.

^[2] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/: Fighting Poverty

^[3] CHILDREN-EARLY INTERVENTION

^[4] Go Mobile for Barack flyer

^[5] CHILDREN-EARLY INTERVENTION

^[6] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/: Fighting Poverty

^[7] The Audacity of Hope, pages 162-163.

^[8] Innovation Districts for School Improvement Act

^[9] Innovation Districts for School Improvement Act

^[10] Teaching Residency Act

^[11] Veteran Teachers to Schools in Need Act

^[12] Certified Teacher Retention Bonus Program

^[13] PACE-Education Act

^[14] America Creating Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science Act

^[15] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/: Fighting Poverty

^[16] Designating July 13, 2006, as `National Summer Learning Day'

^[17] A resolution designating July 12, 2007, as "National Summer Learning Day"

^[18] STEP UP Act of 2005

^[19] STEP UP Act of 2007

^[20] To provide $100 million for the Summer Term Education Program supporting summer learning opportunities for low-income students...

^[21] To establish summer term education programs.

^[22] The Audacity of Hope, page 165.

^[23] Higher Education Opportunity Through Pell Grant Expansion Act

^[24] Student Debt Relief Act of 2007

^[25] Education Opportunity Act

^[26] To increase funding for education programs serving Hispanic students.

^[27] Predominantly Black Institution Act of 2007

^[28] H ED FOR REAL OPPORTUNITIES

^[29] To build capacity at community colleges in order to meet increased demand for community college education while maintaining the affordable tuition rates and the open-door policy that...

^[30] DREAM Act of 2007

^[31] To require the Director of Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Education to establish a program to recruit and provide mentors for women and underrepresented minorities who are interested in careers in mathematics, science, and engineering.

^[32] To expand the pipeline of individuals entering the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields to support United States innovation and competitiveness.

^[33] PACE-Education Act

^[34] To increase funds to the Thurgood Marshall Legal Educational Opportunity Program and to the Office of Special Education Programs of the Department of Education for the purposes of expanding positive behavioral interventions and supports.

^[35] Student Aid Reward Act of 2007

^[36] Student Loan Sunshine Act

^[37] Student Debt Relief Act of 2007

Data and Cites...

Summary only...

Creating Jobs

Work should keep Americans out of poverty. It should make it possible for you to live with dignity and respect, to have a comfortable place to live in a safe neighborhood, to see a doctor, to have a shot at education, to save a little money, to enjoy the opportunities of this great country. But that's out of reach for most people at $5.15 an hour. It is time that we do better by those in our workforce who make the least.¹

That philosophy helped lead to the passage of an increase in the Federal Minimum Wage a month ago, and Barack Obama also fought for an increase in the state minimum wage while in Illinois. He continues to call for further increases, as the real value of these wages is still less than what it was 40 years ago.

In addition to the increase in wages, Barack Obama has advocated for increased entry into the workforce by the least in our society. While in the Illinois Senate, Obama sponsored bills that created job training and work programs for ex-felons. In the U.S. Senate, he sponsored a bill that would have provided incentives to employ individuals in struggling neighborhoods. Obama now calls for bills that would help disadvantaged youths, laid-off workers, and ex-criminals transition into the working world by targeting them for training programs and work projects that benefit their communities.

Raising Wages

In Illinois, Obama voted to raise the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 ². In the U.S. Senate, Obama sponsored bills that would raise the minimum wage and tie the wage to congressional pay^{3 4 5 6}. He has also sponsored and cosponsored amendments that would keep corporations from taking advantage of migrant laborers and guest workers to depress wages^{7 8 9}.

Building up the Workforce

Transitional jobs are a promising way to help chronically unemployed people break into the workplace. This approach places participants into temporary, subsidized wage-paying jobs. It also offers mentoring and social services designed to address the work-blocking problems like personal and family conflicts. Obama supports providing funding for both transitional jobs programs as well as bridge programs that partner the federal government with employers and community-based organizations to identify job opportunities, develop customized training programs, and place low-income employees in better jobs.¹⁰

Government could kick-start a transformation of circumstances for these men by working with private-sector contractors to hire and train ex-felons on projects that can benefit the community as a whole: insulating homes and offices to make them energy-efficient, perhaps, or laying the broadband lines needed to thrust entire communities into the Internet age. Such programs would cost money, of course—although, given the annual cost of incarcerating an inmate, any drop in recidivism would help the program pay for itself.¹¹

Obama has worked to provide new job opportunities to ex-criminals¹² and welfare recipients^{13 14}. He states that as president he would sign these bills into law and create a Prison-to-Work incentive program to match the successful Welfare-to-Work program. Obama also has worked to increase general job-training programs^{15 16} and add incentives for the employment of individuals from impoverished areas¹⁷. As president, Barack Obama would create the 5-E (Energy Efficiency, Environmental Education and Employment) Disconnected Youth Service Corps, a program that would train and employ youth in targeted high-growth employment fields while also benefiting their communities ¹⁸.

Protecting Worker Rights

Barack Obama believes that workers should have the freedom to join a union without harassment or intimidation from their employers. Although an estimated 60 million Americans would join a union if given the opportunity, companies too often evade employment laws and deny workers the opportunity to organize and advocate for their rights. Obama is a cosponsor and strong advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to make the unionization process more transparent and increase penalties on companies that violate employee rights. He voted in favor of the legislation this year and will continue to fight for its passage. Obama also will fight to make the card check process more common and less difficult.¹⁹

Barack Obama has consistently fought for the right of workers to unionize. Besides supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, he has been involved with ACORN and has spoken on behalf of UNITE-HERE and Wake Up WalMart^{20 21}. He also sponsored legislation in Illinois that protected workers' overtime pay from federal deregulation ²² and has successfully fought for better working conditions for miners and agricultural workers^{23 24 25 26}.



^[1] "Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007", Speech to Senate, Jan. 30, 2007.

^[2] "A look at Obama's record in the Illinois Senate", Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2007.

^[3] Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2005

^[4] Tax Relief and Minimum Wage Act of 2006

^[5] Standing with Minimum Wage Earners Act of 2006

^[6] Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007

^[7] To amend the temporary worker program

^[8] Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2005

^[9] AgJOBS Act of 2007

^[10] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/, Issues: Fighting Poverty

^[11] The Audacity of Hope, pages 258-259.

^[12] SB2239, Ex-Offenders Employment

^[13] PUB AID-WELFARE TO WORK

^[14] DHS-TANF-JOB SKILLS TRAINING

^[15] CHICAGO COLLEGES-JOB PROGRAM

^[16] JOB-TRAINING EXP

^[17] To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to alleviate poverty by encouraging the employment...

^[18] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/, Issues: Fighting Poverty

^[19] http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fightingpoverty/, Issues: Fighting Poverty

^[20] "What Makes Obama Run?", Chicago Reader, Dec. 8, 1995.

^[21] Project Vote Smart Biography.

^[22] "A look at Obama's record in the Illinois Senate", Chicago Tribune, January 17, 2007.

^[23] Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 2006

^[24] MINER Act

^[25] Senate Amendment 2728

^[26] AgJOBS Act of 2007

Data and Cites...

Summary only...

Restoration for Homeless Veterans

Each and every night in this country more than 200,000 of our nation's veterans are homeless. Nearly twice as many will experience homelessness over the course of a year. There's no single cause for this. Homeless vets are men and women, they're single and married. A lot of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD, others were physically and mentally battered in combat, and a large number left the military without job skills that could have easily been used in the private sector. All have risked their lives for their country. All deserve, at the very least, the basic dignity of going to sleep at night with a roof over their heads. And every day we allow them to go without, I think it brings shame to every single one of us.¹

Barack Obama has fought consistently to create housing opportunities for homeless veterans and address the root causes that lead to the these situations. He has sponsored and cosponsored successful bills that increase mental health services to veterans, address shortfalls in disability payments, improve job services, create affordable housing options, and increase funding for many other programs that help homeless veterans reintegrate into society. Obama continues to work to develop programs that will help prevent homelessness among veterans, especially those that address the mental and physical health difficulties that returning vets often experience.

Rehabilitating Homeless Vets

Barack Obama led a bipartisan effort to address the issue of homelessness among veterans by sponsoring and cosponsoring successful bills that addressed shortfalls in disability payments received by veterans², increased funding for health services to veterans^{3 4}, added $40 million in funding to the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program⁵, and evaluated shortcomings in a program meant to monitor veterans moving though the health care system⁶. He also worked for bills that would have monitored the quality of care in veterans hospitals⁷ and provided funding for mental treatment, health and dental services, veterans with special needs, rental assistance, low-interest mortgages, the treatment of sexual trauma, and other comprehensive services for low-income and homeless veterans^{8 9 10}. Obama continues to push through legislation that will provide housing assistance for low-income veterans¹¹, monitor the quality of services available at veteran's hospitals¹², and provide mental-health services and quality medical care for veterans returning from the current conflicts^{13 14 15 16 17 18}.

Summary of effects of Obama's bills



^[1] "Housing for Homeless Veterans", Podcast discussing the Homes for Heroes Act, April 12, 2007.

^[2] To instruct the Department of Veterans Affairs to conduct a veterans disability compensation information campaign.

^[3] To make available from Defense Health Program $19,000,000 for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center.

^[4] To provide an additional $430,000,000 for the Department of Veteran Affairs for Medical Services for outpatient care and treatment for veterans.

^[5] To provide a $40 million increase in FY 2007 for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program

^[6] "To require a report on the costs of the Comprehensive Service Programs for homeless veterans.

^[7] VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2006

^[8] Sheltering All Veterans Everywhere Act

^[9] Homes for Heroes Act

^[10] Comprehensive Homeless Veterans Assistance and Prevention Act of 2006

^[11] VA Hospital Quality Report Card Act of 2007

^[12] Homes for Heroes Act of 2007

^[13] Veterans' Mental Health Outreach and Access Act

^[14] Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act

^[15] Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act of 2007

^[16] Homecoming Enhancement Research and Oversight (HERO) Act

^[17] Military and Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Act

^[18] Dignified Treatment of Wounded Warriors Act

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Excuse the incomplete posts

Unfortunately, I was not able to finish formatting everything, so all posts dated 6/30/07 are just a mesh of information. Also, I have not updated with any new information from the second half of 2007. Thank you for reading anyway.

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Reinvigorating our Inner Cities

African Americans understand that culture matters but that culture is shaped by circumstance. We know that many in the inner city are trapped by their own self-destructive behaviors but that those behaviors are not innate. And because of that knowledge, the black community remains convinced that if America finds its will to do so, then circumstances for those trapped in the inner city can be changed, individual attitudes among the poor will change in kind, and the damage can gradually be undone, if not for this generation then at least for the next.Such wisdom might help us move beyond ideological bickering and serve as the basis of a renewed effort to tackle the problems of inner-city poverty

The Audacity of Hope, page 255.

Strategies like an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit that help all low-wage workers can make an enormous difference in the lives of these women and their children. But if we’re serious about breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty, then many of these women will need some extra help with the basics that those living outside the inner city often take for granted. They need more police and more effective policing in their neighborhoods, to provide them and their children some semblance of personal security. They need access to community-based health centers that emphasize prevention—including reproductive health care, nutritional counseling, and in some cases treatment for substance abuse. They need a radical transformation of the schools their children attend, and access to affordable child care that will allow them to hold a full-time job or pursue their education.And in many cases they need help learning to be effective parents. By the time many inner-city children reach the school system, they’re already far behind—unable to identify basic numbers, colors, or the letters in the alphabet, unaccustomed to sitting still or participating in a structured environment, and often burdened by undiagnosed health problems. They’re unprepared not because they’re unloved but because their mothers don’t know how to provide what they need. Well-structured government programs – prenatal counseling, access to regular pediatric care, parenting programs, and quality early-childhood-education programs—have a proven ability to help fill the void.

The Audacity of Hope, pages 256-257

Barack Obama believes that the majority of reforms to help the inner city are the same ones that benefit the rest of the population - improved education, improved health care, the creation of new jobs, and so on. Still, there are problems which specifically plague the inner city and need to be addressed.

Transportation
Business creation
Health
Crime
Hunger


Three quarters of welfare recipients live in areas that are poorly served by public transportation and low-income workers spend up to 36% of their incomes on transportation. As president, Obama will work to eliminate transportation disparities so that all Americans can lead meaningful and productive lives. Obama will strengthen the federal Jobs Access and Reverse Commute program to ensure that additional federal public transportation dollars flow to the highest-need communities and that urban planning initiatives take this aspect of transportation policy into account.

Access to capital is critically important to the development of minority-owned businesses. Yet there has been a growing gap between the amounts of venture capital and access to business loans available to minority-owned small businesses compared to other small businesses. Less than 1 percent of the $250 billion in venture capital dollars invested annually nationwide has been directed to the country's 4.4 million minority business owners. A recent study found that minority business owners, even if they have the same characteristics as other business owners, are significantly denied credit more frequently and required to pay higher interest rates than white applicants. To compound this problem, in recent years there has been a significant decline in the share of the Small Business Investment Company financings that have gone to minority-owned and women-owned businesses. In order to increase their size, capacity, and ability to do business with the Federal government and to compete in the open market, minority firms need greater access to venture capital investment, as well as greater access to business loans. Barack Obama will strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide capital to minority-owned businesses, support outreach programs that help minority business owners apply for loans, and work to encourage the growth and capacity of minority firms.

The Bush Administration has consistently attempted to cut funding for CDBG, by $1.2 billion next year and $6.9 billion over the next five years. Obama has fought against these cuts, and will restore funding for the CDBG program, which supports economic development and affordable housing opportunities in communities throughout the country.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/summary/900SB0579.htmlProvides that the additional $50,000,000 shall be used to fund start up and expansion loans for businesses that qualify under the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Females, and Persons with Disabilities Act.

We could begin by acknowledging that perhaps the single biggest thing we could do to reduce such poverty is to encourage teenage girls to finish high school and avoid having children out of wedlock. In this effort, school- and community-based programs that have a proven track record of reducing teen pregnancy need to be expanded, but parents, clergy, and community leaders also need to speak out more consistently on the issue.

The Audacity of Hope



In Illinois - funded AIDS prevention in minority communitieswww.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=264&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=1867

In US Senate: S.2047 : A bill to promote healthy communities.

In US Senate: S.2506 : A bill to require Federal agencies to support health impact assessments and take other actions to improve health and the environmental quality of communities, and for other purposes.

In US Senate: S.1067 : A bill to require Federal agencies to support health impact assessments and take other actions to improve health and the environmental quality of communities, and for other purposes.

In US Senate: S.1068 : A bill to promote healthy communities.

Our failure as progressives to tap into the moral underpinnings of the nation is not just rhetorical, though. Our fear of getting "preachy" may also lead us to discount the role that values and culture play in some of our most urgent social problems.
After all, the problems of poverty and racism, the uninsured and the unemployed, are not simply technical problems in search of the perfect ten point plan. They are rooted in both societal indifference and individual callousness - in the imperfections of man.Solving these problems will require changes in government policy, but it will also require changes in hearts and a change in minds. I believe in keeping guns out of our inner cities, and that our leaders must say so in the face of the gun manufacturers' lobby - but I also believe that when a gang-banger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels somebody disrespected him, we've got a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart - a hole that the government alone cannot fix.

Call to Renewal address

If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.
It is that fundamental belief -- I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper -- that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family: 'E pluribus unum,' out of many, one.

I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs for the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that we have a righteous wind at our backs, and that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices and meet the challenges that face us.

From 1985 to 1988, organized and directed a non-profit community development program that raised up local leaders in a low-income community and encouraged job training, college prep, school reform, and hazardous waste cleanup.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.945:
To provide reliable officers, technology, education, community prosecutors, and training in our neighborhoods.

Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2006
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.1120:

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Hurricane Katrina?

But as we walked along the rows of cots that now lined the Reliant Center, shaking hands, playing with children, listening to people’s stories, it was obvious that many of Katrina’s survivors had been abandoned long before the hurricane struck. They were the faces of any inner-city neighborhood in any American city, the faces of black poverty—the jobless and almost jobless, the sick and soon to be sick, the frail and the elderly. A young mother talked about handing off her children to a bus full of strangers. Old men quietly described the houses they had lost and the absence of any insurance or family to fall back on. A group of young men insisted that the levees had been blown up by those who wished to rid New Orleans of black people. One tall, gaunt woman, looking haggard in an Astros T-shirt two sizes too big, clutched my arm and pulled me toward her.
‘We didn’t have nothin’ before the storm,’ she whispered. ‘Now we got less than nothin’.’In the days that followed, I returned to Washington and worked the phones, trying to secure relief supplies and contributions. In Senate Democratic Caucus meetings, my colleagues and I discussed possible legislation. I appeared on the Sunday morning news shows, rejecting the notion that the Administration had acted slowly because Katrina’s victims were black—‘the incompetence was color-blind,’ I said—but insisting that the Administration’s inadequate planning showed a degree of remove from, and indifference toward, the problems of inner-city poverty that had to be addressed.

The Audacity of Hope, page 229.

"Housing for Homeless Veterans", Podcast discussing the Homes for Heroes Act, April 12, 2007.

Compassion for Victims of the Katrina Disaster

Senator Obama not only led criticism of the Bush Administration's response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster, he also helped lead Congressional efforts to bring effective and prompt relief to the Gulf Coast. Obama worked with the Congressional Black Caucus to introduce the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act of 2006 which provides comprehensive federal supports for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the reconstruction of New Orleans. Additionally, Obama worked to:
Strengthen Accountability on Behalf of Katrina Victims: In wake of reports of no-bid construction contracts and administrative waste in the Katrina relief process, Barack Obama worked to create a Chief Financial Officer for federal spending on the Gulf Coast to ensure that money is spent appropriately and that all contracts were accessible to local businesses, including small and minority owned firms, through fair and open competition.
Expand and Streamline the Child Tax Credit: Barack Obama worked to make all working families that were victims of Hurricane Katrina eligible for an expanded and refundable Child Tax Credit.
Passed Legislation for "Special Needs" Disaster Planning: Prior to Hurricane Katrina, the federal government did not require localities to make specific plans for safeguarding Americans with special needs. Senator Obama championed legislation, that was signed into law, to require special needs planning for future disasters, whether they be man-made or natural.

S.AMDT.3697 to H.R.4939 To improve transparency and accountability by establishing a Chief Financial Officer to oversee hurricane relief and recovery efforts.

S.AMDT.3810 to H.R.4939 To provide that none of the funds appropriated by this Act may be made available for hurricane relief and recovery contracts exceeding $500,000 that are awarded using procedures other than competitive procedures.

S.AMDT.4254 to S.2766 To require the use of competitive procedures for Federal contracts worth over $500,000 related to hurricane recovery, subject to existing limited national security, public interest, and other exceptions.

S.AMDT.4624 to H.R.5441 To provide that none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available for expenses in carrying out the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act may be used to enter into noncompetitive contracts based upon the unusual and compelling urgency exception under Federal contracting law unless the contract is limited in time, scope, and value as necessary to respond to the immediate emergency.

S.1770 : A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for advance payment of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit for 2005 in order to provide needed funds to victims of Hurricane Katrina and to stimulate local economies.

S.2257 : A bill to provide for an enhanced refundable credit for families who resided in the Hurricane Katrina disaster area on August 28, 2005.

S.2319 : A bill to provide for the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and for other purposes.

S.1630 : A bill to direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish the National Emergency Family Locator System.

S.1685 : A bill to ensure the evacuation of individuals with special needs in times of emergency.

S.2319 : A bill to provide for the recovery from Hurricane Katrina, and for other purposes.

S.AMDT.4254 to S.2766 To require the use of competitive procedures for Federal contracts worth over $500,000 related to hurricane recovery, subject to existing limited national security, public interest, and other exceptions.

S.AMDT.4573

H.R.5441 To assist individuals displaced by a major disaster in locating family members.

S.AMDT.4972 to H.R.4954 To ensure the evacuation of individuals with special needs in times of emergency.

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Health Care for the Poor

Barack Obama is committed to signing universal health legislation that ensures all Americans have high-quality, affordable health care coverage by the end of his first term in office. His plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on medical expenditures by providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American; modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.



Fight Health Disparities
Barack Obama cosponsored the Minority Health Improvement and Health Disparity Elimination Act to understand the root causes of health disparities and to start addressing them. The bill puts new emphasis on disparity research by directing the Department of Health and Human Services to collect and report health care data by race and ethnicity, as well as geographic and socioeconomic status and level of health literacy. The legislation outlines mechanisms to conduct educational outreach, increase diversity among health care professionals, and improve the delivery of health care to minorities and other under served groups.

Foster Healthy Communities
How a community is designed -- including the layout of its roads, buildings and parks -- has a huge impact on the health of its residents. For instance, nearly one-third of Americans live in neighborhoods without sidewalks and less than half of our country's children have a playground within walking distance of their homes. This lack of a safe place to walk and play is a major contributor to the growing numbers of overweight children. Barack Obama introduced the Healthy Places Act to help local governments assess the health impact of new policies and projects, like highways or shopping centers. Once the health impact is determined, the bill gives grant funding and technical assistance to help address potential health problems.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=264&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=1867Sponsored bill to appropriate $4 million to AIDS prevention in minority communities

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=59&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=491
Created Hospital Report Card Act

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=130&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=784Extended Children’s Health Insurance Act by 3 years

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=2579&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=9036Sponsored bill to require every hospital to address how they will help the uninsured.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=2000&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=5063
Sponsored bill to require Illinois to provide Health Care to all employees

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=1428&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=4449
Sponsored bill to allow community providers, schools, service agencies, employers, labor unions, local chambers of commerce, and religious organizations to assist in enrolling adults and families in programs under Medicaid and under the Children's Health Insurance Program Act.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SB&DocNum=263&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=1866
Passed bill requiring HIV testing and counseling to be provided for in prenatal care.

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920SB0126.html
Sponsored bill to ensure that MediCaid would cover breast cancer screening and treatment

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920SB1782.htmlPassed bill requiring Department of Health to address postpartum depression

Sponsored bills requiring Illinois to develop a plan for universal health care coverage
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/summary/900SJR0048.html
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SJR0013.htmlhttp://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?GA=93&DocTypeID=SJRCA&DocNum=22&GAID=3&SessionID=3&LegID=5666

Sponsored a bill allowing Illinois families who start working (and thereby are cut off of welfare) to continue receiving MediCaid for up to two years.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet90/summary/900SB0758.html
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SB1408.html
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SB0681.html
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920SB0124.html

Sponsored bill to allow more parents of children on welfare to receive MediCaid coverage themselves.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SB1710.html
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920SB0125.html

Sponsored bill to increase family coverage under Children’s Health Insurance Act
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920SB0620.html

Sponsored bill to create commission that would ensure the fair pricing of prescription drugs
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SB1606.html
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet92/summary/920SB0622.html


Sponsored bill to increase income limit for children’s health insurance to twice federal poverty level.http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SB1413.html

Sponsored bill to create mental health services planning councilhttp://www.ilga.gov/legislation/legisnet91/summary/910SB0930.html

Barack Obama believes we live in the greatest country in the world and that when it comes to health care, America can and must do better. The Obama plan will save a typical American family up to $2,500 every year on premiums by:
Providing affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage for every American;
Modernizing the U.S. health care system to contain spiraling health care costs and improve the quality of patient care; and
Promoting prevention and strengthening public health to prevent disease and protect against natural and man-made disasters.

The Obama plan both builds upon and improves our current insurance system, upon which most Americans continue to rely, and leaves Medicare intact for older and disabled Americans.
1. Obama's Plan to Cover the Uninsured. Obama will create a new national health plan to allow individuals without access to affordable insurance coverage to buy coverage similar to that available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have:
Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), and cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
Subsidies. Individuals who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
Simplifying paperwork and reining in health costs.
Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies will be required to collect and report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.
2. National Health Insurance Exchange. Obama will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase private insurance. The Exchange will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums. The Exchange will require benefits comparable to those offered in the new public plan. Insurers would be required to justify an above-average premium increase. The Exchange would evaluate plans and provide information about differences between them.
3. Employer Contribution. Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan. Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt.
4. Mandatory Coverage of Children. Obama will require that all children have health care coverage.
5. Expansion of Medicaid and SCHIP. Obama will expand eligibility for Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
6. Flexibility for State Plans. Obama's plan allows states to continue innovating on health care reform.

1. Reducing Costs of Catastrophic Illnesses for Employers and their Employees. Catastrophic health expenditures account for a high percentage of medical expenses for private insurers. The Obama plan would reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers' premiums.
2. Lowering Costs by Ensuring Patients Receive and Providers Delivery Quality Care.
Helping Patients
Support disease management programs. Seventy five percent of total health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Obama will require that providers that participate in the new public plan, Medicare or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) utilize proven disease management programs.
Coordinate and integrate care. Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease and these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly. More than half of Americans with serious chronic conditions have multiple physicians, leading to duplicate testing and conflicting treatments. Obama will support greater integration and coordination of care for those with chronic conditions.
Require full transparency about quality and costs. Obama will build on his efforts in the U.S. Senate and Illinois State Senate to ensure that patients receive accurate information about hospital and provider quality. Obama will require hospitals and providers to collect and publicly report measures of health care costs and quality, including data on preventable medical errors, nurse staffing ratios, hospital-acquired infections, and disparities in care.
Ensuring Providers Delivery Quality Care
Promoting patient safety. Obama will require providers to report preventable medical errors, and support hospital and physician practice improvement to prevent future occurrences.
Aligning incentives for excellence. Both public and private insurers tend to pay providers based on the volume of services provided, rather than the quality or effectiveness of care. Providers who see patients enrolled in the new public plan, the National Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare and FEHBP will be rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on outcome measures.
Comparative effectiveness research. Obama will establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness, so that Americans and their doctors will have the accurate and objective information they need to make the best decisions for their health and well-being.
Harnessing the power of genetic medicine. Genomics has the potential to revolutionize the practice of medicine, but despite significant scientific advances, very few genomics-based tests or treatments have reached consumers. As President, Obama has a plan to overcome the scientific barriers, adverse market pressures, and outdated federal regulations that have stood in the way of better medicine.
Tackling disparities in health care. As a United States Senator, Barack Obama has fought to maintain funding for the Centers of Excellence in Women's Health at the Department of Health and Human Services and helped spearhead legislative efforts to address gender and ethnic health disparities. As President, Obama will continue to challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs, and diversification of the health workforce.
Reforming medical malpractice. Obama will strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance, and will promote new models for addressing physician errors that improve patient safety, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and reduce the need for malpractice suits.

Federal, State and Local Governments. Governments at all levels should develop a national and regional strategy for public health that includes funding mechanisms for implementation. Senator Obama also supports greater organization of the 3,000 health departments in this nation and supports collaborative arrangements between government and the private sector. The Obama plan will also force government to examine its own policies, including agricultural, educational, and environmental policies, to assess and improve their effect on public health in this nation. As president, Barack Obama will prioritize these activities to strengthen prevention and public health, as well as fight for the following initiatives:
Fight AIDS Worldwide. There are 40 million people across the planet infected with HIV/AIDS. As president, Obama will continue to be a global leader in the fight against AIDS. Obama believes in working across party lines to combat this epidemic and recently joined Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS) at a large California evangelical church to promote greater investment in the global AIDS battle.
Improve Mental Health Care. Mental illness affects approximately one in five American families. The National Alliance on Mental Illness estimates that untreated mental illnesses cost the U.S. more than $100 billion per year. As president, Obama will support mental health parity so that coverage for serious mental illnesses are provided on the same terms and conditions as other illnesses and diseases.
Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning. More than 430,000 American children have dangerously high levels of lead in their blood. Lead can cause irreversible brain damage, learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and, at very high levels, seizures, coma and death. As president, Obama will protect children from lead poisoning by requiring that child care facilities be lead-safe within five years.
Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution. More than five million women of childbearing age have high levels of toxic mercury in their blood, and approximately 630,000 newborns are born at risk every year. Barack Obama has a plan to significantly reduce the amount of mercury that is deposited in oceans, lakes, and rivers, which in turn would reduce the amount of mercury in fish.
Help Americans Affected by Autism. Autism is a serious and growing problem for American families. Affecting over one million Americans, autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that causes extreme impairment in thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others. Fortunately, federal support for autism research has grown tremendously in recent years. But Barack Obama believes that we can do more to help autistic Americans and their families. He has been a strong supporter of over $1 billion in federal funding for autism research and treatment, and he believes that we should increase funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to truly ensure that no child is left behind.More than anything, autism remains a profound mystery with serious consequences for autistic individuals, their families, loved ones, the community, and education and health care systems. Obama believes that the government and our communities should work together to provide a helping hand to those affected by this growing epidemic.

In Illinois - sponsored a successful health care bill that implemented studies on how to make a universal state health care system, expanded health care for families⁸, created community mental health councils across the state

In US - extending health care to low-income HIV patients, establishing a reporting system for quality of care in VA hospitals²⁸ and hospitals in general, >, reducing pregnancy-related deaths and infant mortality⁴³, improving emergency medical services for children, >, improving heath care for minorities, protecting Medicare enrollees in the federal drug program, making all immigrants eligible for Medicaid⁶⁸, establishing a national health program, >, fully funding health insurance programs for children,

The bills reducing infant mortality became law

>, imploring that Medicaid, Medicare, and federally-qualified health centers be continued and prioritized

Also cosponsored amendments increasing medical care for veterans

protecting Medicaid funding from cuts in impoverished areas

increasing funding for health, education, and low-income programs¹⁰⁷, increasing funding for health care for veterans

protecting Medicaid from cuts adn increasing outpatient care for veterans became law

eliminating funding gaps in children's health insurance

donates to AIDS action funds

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A Lifetime of Committment

Barack Obama has been a lifelong advocate for the poor -- as a young college graduate, he rejected the high salaries of corporate America and moved to the South Side of Chicago to work as a community organizer. As an organizer, Obama worked with churches, Chicago residents and local government to set up job training programs for the unemployed and after school programs for kids.

Obama later took these important experiences to the Illinois State Senate and the United States Senate, where he has been a consistent proponent of expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), creating a living wage, ensuring low-income students have access to the best and brightest teachers, lowering the costs of college education, and helping Americans purchase their own homes without relying on predatory mortgage lenders. As president, Barack Obama will continue to fight for meaningful opportunities for low-income Americans to join the middle class.

From 1985 to 1988, organized and directed a non-profit community development program that raised up local leaders in a low-income community and encouraged job training, college prep, school reform, and hazardous waste cleanup.

From 1993 until the present, worked as a lawyer specializing in civil rights and the representation of nonprofits in urban redevelopment, including housing developments, community health clinics, social service agencies, and schools.

Chaired the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, the Woods Fund of Chicago, and the Joyce Foundation, directed the Developing Communities Project, and has been involved with ACORN, the Centers for New Horizons, Leadership for Quality Education, and the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law. Has also spoken on behalf of "Wake Up Wal-Mart", "Families USA", and the "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church".<

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