Statement by Michael Bennet on The Real Deal Agenda

As we enter this election year, Democrats across the country have the opportunity to champion an agenda that is progressive, paid for, and popular among the majority of the American people. It's The Real Deal, and it will make lasting progress for you and your family. This is the political and policy blueprint that should guide our priorities for the next 20 years.

For too many decades, we have failed to invest in our country and our kids' futures. We have spent $5 trillion on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and another $5.6 trillion fighting wars in the Middle East. Donald Trump has made matters worse. Average monthly job growth during Donald Trump's first term continues to lag behind the job growth numbers of Obama's second term. In addition, Trump passed a tax bill that benefited the wealthy and corporations and increased economic inequality.

We are not going to reverse these policy failures with empty promises of free stuff. Yet that is what many candidates have offered in this primary election—free health care, free college, medical debt forgiveness, and more. Few candidates have offered any plausible means of paying for these plans, and some have offered massive tax increases on working people and the middle class.

There is a better way. With The Real Deal, we can turn away from the politics of empty promises and can't-do rhetoric. We can choose to invest in our country and our future. We can say to the people who I've met in town halls for the last 10 years: We hear you, and we are meeting you with real solutions to make a difference for your family.

The choice we face in this primary is between unrealistic promises that will only breed further cynicism in our politics and building political momentum to achieve actual progress for people who need it. Instead of fighting a losing battle over the next 10 years for Medicare for All, for example, we should build a broad coalition to achieve The Real Deal.

Our country would look very different if we passed The Real Deal: Every three- and four-year old would have access to preschool. Every family with kids would receive at least $3,000 a year, paid out monthly, to put toward rent, groceries, and child care. 40% of kids currently living in poverty no longer would be. Every worker would have paid family and medical leave. The 70% of Americans who graduate from high school but don't earn a four-year degree would have the training and opportunities they need to earn a living wage, not just the minimum wage, in their local economy. Millions of people would have access to new jobs in clean energy and infrastructure. 11 million undocumented immigrants would have a pathway to citizenship and the chance to contribute even more meaningfully to our economy.

This is an agenda Democrats up and down the ballot—in blue, purple, and red states—can run on. It would profoundly improve the lives of millions of Americans. It is achievable and fiscally responsible. The Real Deal will not only galvanize the Democratic base, but it will also help us win back some of the nine million people who voted twice for Barack Obama and then for Donald Trump. These are policies that will unite us to make the strongest case possible to defeat Donald Trump, take back the Senate, expand control in the House, and win back statehouses all across the country.

We have an historic opportunity to reimagine a politics that finally makes lasting progress for you, your family, and millions of Americans. This is The Real Deal.