It’s not an accident that our cost of living keeps going up and up. Corporate profits are at record highs right now – working people are feeling pain, while the folks at the top are raking in the cash. We need a response to inflation that actually addresses its causes. That means passing laws to stop big businesses from price gouging, considering price controls on vital goods, breaking up corporate monopolies, taxing excess corporate profits, re-shoring manufacturing, and creating supply chains resilient to trade shocks, climate change, and other threats.

Government should be working to improve the lives of the middle class, working families, and poorer people, not the folks who already have more wealth than they know what to do with. Aaron believes that progressive taxation is a critical mechanism for reducing the staggering economic and political inequality that has plagued our society and democracy. He supports The For the 99.8% Act to lower the estate tax exemption, a millionaires surtax on income over $2 million, a wealth tax applied to the fortunes of the ultra-wealthy, and the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act. And will fight to close the Carried Interest Loophole, like he did in the Rhode Island State House.

As a state legislator, Aaron led the fight to pass paid sick days in Rhode Island. In Congress, he will fight for federal laws on paid family and parental leave, earned sick time, and at least a $15 minimum wage indexed to inflation.

As the father of a two-year-old, Aaron and his wife, Katie, feel the steep cost of childcare every week. All working families need affordable child care and early childhood education. Aaron also supports efforts to pass universal pre-K, and he will work to expand access to free child care by increasing investments in federal child care programs.

People deserve to live with dignity, and retire with it too. Aaron won’t just work to protect Social Security from efforts to privatize it and reduce benefits, he is the only candidate who will fight like hell to expand Social Security benefits. The cost of living keeps going up, and seniors are struggling to make ends meet — that’s why Aaron will champion legislation to increase benefits and put money that you deserve, that you worked for and paid into the system, into your pockets. Aaron understands the importance of these programs — his father passed away before he was born, and Social Security survivors benefits helped his single working mom raise his sister and him on her own.

Aaron is ready to take on Big Oil in Congress. He will support efforts to end federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. He will fight expansions of fossil fuel infrastructure that we know are incompatible with a livable future. He will push for financial regulations and other policies to ensure banks and the Federal Reserve are adequately accounting for the severe risk that climate change poses to our financial system. He will continue working to cast a spotlight on the decades of climate deception the fossil fuel industry engaged in, and he will fight to make sure these corporations pay our communities for the damage they have caused. He will advocate for climate justice initiatives that put the people and communities who are most vulnerable to climate disasters at the center of our policy solutions. And he will champion Green New Deal legislation to create millions of good-paying union jobs transitioning our economy away from fossil fuels and toward wind, solar, geothermal, and other clean energy sources.

Aaron will also prioritize environmental protection and environmental justice. Our children deserve clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and clean green spaces to discover and explore. In Congress, Aaron will fight for both the policies and enforcement procedures we need to keep our beautiful Narragansett Bay healthy and to protect our communities from the harmful effects of pollution. In particular, he will prioritize supporting the communities who have borne the greatest burdens from industrial activity and who are most vulnerable to the climate crisis, and will fight like hell to pass the Environmental Justice for All Act.

Aaron is the only candidate who has been endorsed by climate and environmental organizations and leaders – Friends of the Earth Action, Climate Action Rhode Island, Food and Water Watch, the Center for Biological Diversity, Oil Change U.S., Climate Hawks Vote, Food and Water Watch, and Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org and Third Act – and the only candidate with a record of standing up to Big Oil. As a legislator, Aaron created new clean energy and community solar programs. As a lawyer, he’s supported court cases to hold Exxon, Chevron, and other fossil fuel companies accountable for their environmental crimes. Aaron is a father, and he is committed to doing whatever it takes to secure a livable future for his son and for all of our children.

Every person has a right to the safety and dignity of a home. New Deal Democrats used to understand this when they launched public housing programs in the 1930s that lifted millions out of poverty. It is time for that energy to come back to Washington. A national shortage of affordable housing requires a national mobilization to develop and provide high-quality, stable, and affordable homes. Aaron will support federal involvement to build such housing for a wide swath of Rhode Islanders, from those at the very low end of the economic spectrum to those close to the middle class yet relentlessly pushed down by high rents. Aaron will fight for direct federal spending and partnerships with states and local governments to build public, low-income, and mixed-income housing across our communities. As a first step, Aaron will staunchly advocate for the passage of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which would increase the national Housing Trust Fund by $445 billion.

A federal mobilization in housing offers a tremendous opportunity to advance economic, climate, and racial justice. First, this construction boon will serve as a stimulus measure that can boost our economy when private investment is down by creating thousands of good paying union construction jobs. Second, ensuring that working-class people have affordable homes gives a boost to those consumers who are most likely to spend their money and not stash it away. Third, as housing is responsible for 20 percent of energy-related emissions nationally, building new, zero-emission homes will be a catalyst for our decarbonization efforts. Finally, increased housing supply will be crucial in tackling the racist impacts of historic red-lining policies which blocked so many Black families from homeownership.

Aaron will work to expand Medicare to include dental, hearing, vision, and long-term care, and will push for stronger coverage of mental healthcare and substance abuse treatments.

And in all cases of expanding health coverage, including any transition to a Medicare for All program, Aaron will prioritize ensuring comprehensive coverage for reproductive health. Abortion and contraception must be accessible to every American, regardless of their ability to pay. And Aaron will fight to codify these rights in federal law, just as he did as a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Nearly all of us will require long-term care over the course of our lives, and families shouldn’t have to impoverish themselves to afford such care. Aaron supports the development of a universal family care program that allows people who need it to have access to quality care regardless of their means. And in the meantime, he supports raising eligibility caps for long-term care under Medicaid.

Aaron also believes we should ensure that people can receive care in their homes, and have the option to choose friends or family members to become their compensated care providers. And of course, we must ensure appropriate staffing levels in congregate settings, and drastically improve the wages and working conditions for the heroes who provide such care to their patients day in and day out.

Aaron will fight like hell for a price cap on insulin and other necessary drugs, and will push for the federal government to negotiate drug prices and end the unethical price gouging that Big Pharma commits against working people every day.

Aaron also believes the U.S. should stop offering private pharmaceutical corporations exclusive licenses to produce and distribute drugs that are based on publicly-funded research, and supports exploring other methods that would increase affordability and access. For example, California has announced it will produce insulin and sell it at cost — why can’t we expand such a program to other drugs?

Each year that he served in the General Assembly, Aaron introduced legislation banning high-capacity magazines – legislation that our state has finally passed. In Washington, Aaron will continue Congressman Cicilline’s record of championing gun safety legislation. He will advocate to expand the federal background checks requirement, closing the so-called “Charleston loophole” to allow background check operators more time to do their jobs. He will push to pass national “Red Flag” laws, repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) that protects arms manufacturers from liability, and ensure that guns are used and stored responsibly. And he will fight with everything he’s got to pass an assault weapons ban.

Increasing regulation of the gun industry will not address every aspect of our crisis of gun violence. We must also increase federal funding for violence intervention programs that work in communities most affected by gun violence. These include street outreach programs, where organizers work to mediate conflicts and prevent violence between at-risk groups — like the Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence here in Rhode Island. They also include Group Violence Intervention programs that connect individuals to social services, and Hospital-Based Violence Intervention programs.

There is no single fix to the structural problems of the Supreme Court, but one initial step should be clear: when Democrats win back the House in 2024, Clarence Thomas must be impeached. Article III of the Constitution stipulates that judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” Article II, Section 4 provides the means for adjudicating this standard: impeachment by the House and trial by the Senate. This is the primary mechanism our Constitution provides for reasserting public oversight over judges who hold themselves above the law, and as a member of Congress, I am committing to using this tool to hold Justice Thomas accountable for his corrupt behavior.

The founders did not expect the judiciary to be above the system of checks and balances built into our government – they intended the executive and legislative branches to be active participants in restraining the courts when they got out of hand. And it’s time for our elected leaders to begin engaging in this constitutional rebalancing. To protect the rule of law in this country, members of Congress should bind the Supreme Court by the same code of ethics that applies to other federal judges. They should eliminate the power of a single judge, like Kacsmaryk, to issue nationwide injunctions. They should establish term limits for Supreme Court justices. And they should require a supermajority of the Court to strike down federal legislation. These reforms won’t be easy to achieve. But our democracy is worth the fight.

The Biden administration’s whole-of-government approach to unwinding monopoly power is a welcome step and opportunities remain for a stronger executive branch response, even within existing laws. In Congress, Aaron would push the Biden administration to embrace an even more ambitious agenda, advocate for funding the under-resourced entities responsible for federal antitrust enforcement, and advance legislation that matches the full scale and urgency of the harms of corporate consolidation. 

Antitrust enforcement is currently guided by a limited court-made “consumer welfare standard” that only stops the most egregious proposals. Aaron supports legislation to reform merger standards, such as the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act to stop corporate mergers that would put too much of the sales or labor market under a single entity and to give agencies tools to retroactively break up the most harmful mergers. Aaron also supports the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act, which would increase standards for mergers, as well as shift the burden of proof to merging parties in many cases and authorize greater resources for enforcers.

While strengthening broad antitrust law, tailored solutions will also help build fairer competitive economies in specific industries, like the technology sector. Big Tech has stifled the open internet, forcing citizens into monopoly-controlled “walled gardens” where their every click is closely monitoried and privacy is lost. Aaron would build on Representative Cicilline’s leadership to reign in Big Tech. Representative Cicilline co-founded the Congressional Antitrust Caucus and led the introduction of six major bills to protect small online businesses, make a fairer antitrust legal procedure, block dominant platforms from acquiring threats, and more. 

As Congress reauthorizes the Farm Bill this year, it has an opportunity to ensure that government resources support farmers in need over agricultural megacorporations. Aaron would support bills like the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming Act to ensure transparency in checkoff programs – which require farmers to pay a percentage of their harvest to business groups that promote specific commodities – and restrict funds used for lobbying. Congress could institute a Right to Repair for farm equipment so farmers wouldn’t be beholden to large machinery producers to fix the equipment their livelihood depends on. Congress could hold corporate polluters responsible for the harms large concentrated animal feeding operations impose on communities, as in the Farm System Reform Act. And Congress could strengthen support for local food production and sustainable farming practices. 

In Congress, Aaron would seek to continue David Cicilline’s legacy and be an advocate for the Equality Act from day 1. The Equality Act guarantees protections for the LGBTQ+ community in employment, housing, credit, education, public spaces and services, federally funded programs, jury service, and more. Aaron believes it is unconscionable that in a society fraught with prejudice and inequity, there is no federal ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. When only 20 states explicitly ban this discrimination, it is clear federal protections are urgently needed. It is outrageous that there are still states where it is legal to fire someone or deny them housing for being queer or trans.

The Equality Act would amend existing civil rights laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Aaron believes that LGBTQ+ people deserve the same guarantees from the federal government as other protected groups, and that no state should have the ability to perpetrate discrimination or let it slide. In Congress, he would take on this fight.

In Congress, there is a host of necessary pieces of legislation that Aaron would support to move us closer to LGBTQ+ equality. These include:

• The Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would prohibit state welfare agencies from discriminating against same-sex couples who are trying to adopt or foster children.

• The LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act, which would require federal surveys to include data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity.

• The Fair and Equal Housing Act, which amends the Fair Housing Act to include protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

• The GLOBE Act, which would make protecting LGBTQ+ human rights worldwide a diplomatic foreign policy priority.

• The PrEP Access and Coverage Act, which would require every insurance plan to cover the HIV prevention pill without any out-of-pocket costs.

Last year alone, Republicans filed more than 150 bills in state legislatures to restrict the lives of transgender people. In that same year, more than 50% of transgender and non-binary youth reported seriously considering suicide. It’s clear that Congress needs to get to work to improve life for trans and gender non-conforming people.

Extremist Republicans across the country have defied the consensus of every major medical association to put undue restrictions on gender-affirming care. These associations—representing over 1.3 million doctors—are clear that gender-affirming care is medically-necessary, safe, and well-researched health care. Attacks on age-appropriate, medically-necessary care are not meant to protect trans and non-binary youth, but to prevent them from living safe and authentic lives.

In Congress, Aaron will push for legislation that protects and expands the rights of trans and gender non-conforming Americans. This includes…

• Ensuring trans people are never barred from fully participating in public life, including military service.

• Pushing for every murder of a trans person to be investigated as a federal hate crime.

• Passing Medicare for All, which explicitly bans discrimination against LGBTQ+ patients and would cover gender-affirming care and all mental health services with no premiums, deductibles, or co-pays.