Sen. Barack Obama's 2008 Responses to GSOP Questions

participate in this Special GSOP Delegates Assembly. Candidates have been asked for written responses to our questions, and participants will be asked questions selected from this document.

In New Hampshire and across the country, too many low-income families are getting priced out of the housing market. Between 1993 and 2003, the number of units affordable to low-income households fell by 1.2 million.

In 2005, almost 17 million Americans lived in unaffordable housing and paid more than 30% of their monthly salary towards housing costs. A family in this situation loses its ability to safely pay other necessary expenses such as food, transportation, and health care costs. As the middle class shrinks, more and more Americans face economic insecurity due to their inability to find affordable homes.

As always, our most vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by the housing crunch. There is not a single county in the country where a person working full-time at the federal minimum wage can afford a single-bedroom apartment at the fair market rate. Further, a household with three members working full-time at the federal minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment.

There are a number of causes for the lack of affordable housing. Part of the problem is income levels have not kept pace with housing prices. Growing income inequality and stagnant wages and benefits for average workers – especially workers earning minimum wage – are thus important factors, as working families simply can’t afford the rising rental and purchasing costs of housing and the costs of health care, child care, and other basic expenses.

There is also the problem of supply: developers are simply not building enough low-income units and the federal government has significantly reduced its role in providing low-income housing.

I will create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund by setting aside profits from government-sponsored housing agencies to develop affordable housing. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund will use a small percentage of the profits of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to create tens of thousands of new units of affordable housing every year in mixed-income neighborhoods. The fund will also provide grants to preserve and rehabilitate existing housing for low-income families.

The Affordable Housing Fund will be primarily used for rental housing, though up to 25% will be used toward assisting low-income families in homeownership activities. The fund will also be targeted to help the most vulnerable families: 75% of the funds will support households below 30% of the area median income.

Moreover, the days of segregating and isolating the poor must end. I will direct trust fund dollars toward producing new housing in areas that are in close proximity to job opportunities, public transportation, and other services. The fund will also be used in a way that provides economic integration by building mixed-income housing developments and neighborhoods.

Finally, I will restore the federal government’s commitment to low-income housing. In the U.S. Senate I have opposed this administration’s slashing of the HOPE VI and CDBG programs, and will restore funding of those programs as president. I’ll also do more to protect homeowners from mortgage fraud and subprime lending by passing my STOP FRAUD Act, which will provide counseling to tenants, homeowners, and other consumers so they get the advice and guidance they need before buying a house and support if they get in to trouble down the

Our nation’s low-income families are facing an affordable housing crisis and it is our responsibility to ensure this crisis does not get worse by ineffective replacement of existing public housing units.

1. Almost uniquely among modern nations, why have we been unable to establish a health care system that assures decent care to all, and why are our health care costs so exorbitant?

In the richest nation on Earth, it’s a moral outrage that 47 million Americans lack health insurance. The reason that we haven’t provided universal health insurance is not because we are short on plans. Rather, it’s because we’ve lacked consensus and political will. It’s not too few ideas that’s holding us back; it’s too much politics.

I have a proven record on expanding access to affordable health care. In the state Senate, I spearheaded successful legislation to extend health care coverage under KidCare and FamilyCare to 154,000 additional children and parents.

I believe that every American has the right to affordable, comprehensive and portable health coverage.
My plan will guarantee coverage for every American through partnerships among employers, private health plans, the federal government, and the states. My plan both builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and leaves Medicare intact for older and disabled Americans.

Under my plan, Americans will be able to maintain their current coverage if they choose to, and will see the quality of their health care improve and their costs go down. My plan also addresses the large gaps in coverage that leave 47 million Americans uninsured.

(1) establish a new public insurance program, available to Americans who neither qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP nor have access to insurance through their employers, as well as to small businesses that want to offer insurance to their
employees;

I will go after runaway health care costs by investing in information technology, focusing on preventive care, increasing health care quality, reducing medical errors, and stopping price-gouging by drug and insurance companies.

1. As a nation, why do we often fear immigrants and denigrate their contributions to our nation?

It is unfortunate that some in our community have chosen to exploit the immigration issue to divide the nation rather than find real solutions.

This divisiveness has allowed the illegal immigration problem to worsen, with borders that are less secure than ever and an economy that depends on millions of workers living in the shadows.

I believe that our broken immigration system can only be fixed by putting politics
aside and offering a complete solution that secures our border, enforces our laws and reaffirms our heritage as a nation of immigrants.

2. As President, what do you see as the most vital foreign and domestic policy changes needed to: make public sentiment more welcoming of immigrants, to support immigrants and promote family preservation, and to shape foreign policies that expand economic opportunities abroad so
that emigration is not the only option for increasing numbers?

I believe in an earned path to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants. That includes bringing people out of the shadows by allowing undocumented immigrants who are playing by the rules to pay a fine, learn English, not violate the law, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.

We must also improve our immigration system by reversing large fee increases for legal immigrants seeking to become citizens and put greater emphasis on keeping immigrant families together and revisit a controversial new points system that never received a proper public hearing.

1. How do you explain the shrinking number of unionized workers, the large number of jobs that fail to supply a living wage and the growing income disparity between the rich and the rest (the “hollowing out” of the middle class) that has been advancing for three decades?

Rather than protecting the rights of hardworking Americans to organize and collectively bargain, we’ve witnessed the most anti-labor Administration in recent memory issue a series of policies that prevent workers from joining a union.

It’s taken the Congress 10 years to give the lowest-earning Americans a raise, which shouldn’t surprise anyone given the billions of dollars spent by corporate lobbyists resisting a minimum wage hike.

2. As President, what initiatives would you support to promote living wages and more equitable distribution of our nation’s overall income and wealth gains?

First, we can do more to promote union membership, a critical step to helping workers earn living wages. I was an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and voted for the legislation because I firmly believe that workers should choose whether they want to join a union without fear of intimidation, coercion, or threats to their livelihoods.

I am convinced that millions of Americans would join a union if given a fair
opportunity, but the National Labor Relations Act in its current form too often allows employers to violate workers’ rights with impunity.

I was disappointed that the Senate failed to pass EFCA. Strengthening our
workers’ right to organize shouldn’t be controversial. It will be working Americans, united and organized, that will help us restore a sense of shared prosperity and security to this nation.

I will continue to advocate for EFCA as a senator and will sign it as president. I will also work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers and use the power of the office to appoint members of the National Labor Relations Board
who understand the situation of working families and respect their desire to organize.

As a Senator, I have worked to overturn some of the most crippling decisions Bush’s NLRB has issued, the “Kentucky River” decisions, which threatens to revoke the rights of hundreds of thousands of workers to join a union.

As President I will continue to work for legislation that protects and empowers the labor movement and will use the bully pulpit of the presidency to educate our nation about the important role of unions in our society.

Second, as mentioned, the minimum wage increase was long overdue. We need to make the minimum wage a living wage that helps American families not just survive, but succeed. And we must tie future increases in the minimum wage to inflation so that it grows along with the costs those workers face.

Finally, I have proposed additional policies to help America’s workers. I will make higher education and lifelong learning affordable for low-wage workers and their families. I will expand the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and
pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing.

I have a track record in this area: I wrote and passed the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit for the working poor, one of the most effective tools devised to
move people out of poverty.

And we must help working families that are struggling with the costs of or lack
of health care. I have pledged that by the end of my first term in office, I will sign legislation that will provide all Americans with access to affordable, high-quality health care.

I will implement an aggressive plan to lower health care costs and work to ensure that the savings are passed along to families and individuals, not insurance or drug companies.

1. Why is our nation slow to shape educational programs and policies for both children and adults that provide effective, affordable education to all?

Every child in America, regardless of race, geographic location or economic situation, deserves a high-quality education, from outstanding early childhood programs to quality elementary, middle and high schools to affordable college education. I know from my own life what a good education can mean to a
child.

But I’ve also seen many young lives wasted, potential lost, and children robbed of their chance to succeed by schools that have failed them. No Child Left Behind is a great aspiration, but the program hasn’t lived up to the promise.

In fact, it’s left far too many students and schools and teachers behind – partly
because of its faulty assessments and partly because the administration left the money behind.

So while our educational goals in this country have been admirable, we have not yet found the will to offer sustained and sound commitment to close the achievement gap and ensure that all of our children attend high-quality
schools that can prepare them for a 21st century global workforce.

As President, I’d launch a campaign to recruit and support hundreds of thousands of new teachers across the country, because the single most important factor inside the school building for a student’s achievement is the person standing in front of the classroom.

I will treat teachers like the professionals they are, making sure they get the pay they deserve, while working with them to develop the high standards we need.

We need to create real career opportunities that reward successful teachers, motivate them to stay in the profession, and take advantage of their skills to help mentor new teachers.

Teachers and educators need time to plan lessons and learn. That time should be made available each week and in the summer time. And teachers and principals should be paid for this additional work.

We can’t ignore that the achievement gap is a problem across the country. To tackle this problem, the first thing we have to do is close the gap that exists between children before they enter kindergarten by providing high-quality preschool opportunities to all children.

My plan to attract and retain high-quality teachers in high-needs districts will go a long way toward closing this gap. I introduced the Teaching Residency Act, which recently became part of the Higher Education Amendments approved by the Senate HELP committee.

This program will provide grant funding for prospective teachers to serve residencies with school districts similar to training in other professional fields like medicine.

Prospective teachers will learn from mentor teachers, with stipends provided to teachers-in-training in exchange for a commitment to teach in that district once they complete the program. This will provide effective training of new teachers in high-needs districts.

But government alone cannot solve all the problems facing our public education system. We need greater parental involvement with their child’s education. We need parents to turn off the TV and the video games, talk to their child’s teachers, check their homework, and make sure they get the help they need.

We can start by increasing federal college grants to ensure that the cost
of college does not prevent anyone who wants to from attending college. I have a proven record of leadership for increasing the maximum Pell Grant and offering the grant to students who need it.

The first bill I introduced in the U.S. Senate would help make college more affordable for many Americans by increasing the maximum Pell Grant from $4,050 to $5,100. In February, 2007, President Bush signed into law legislation to increase federal Pell grants to $4,310. I have worked in a bipartisan way on the Senate HELP Committee to propose an increase in the Pell Grant to $5,400 over the next few years.

As president, I will eliminate wasteful subsidies for banks mandate that all federal student loans be provided through the direct loan program. By switching to the direct lending system, we can save taxpayers billions of dollars a year – money that can and should be directed to making college more affordable for Americans.

Savings from the elimination of the guaranteed loan program (nearly $6 billion in 2008 alone) will be redirected to fund need-based grants, such as Pell Grants.

As a former community organizer, I have great respect for organizations such as GSOP that focus on the grassroots. I have always believed that real change happens from the bottom up, and that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they come together and organize.

Opening up government is key to enabling organizations like GSOP to do the work you do. I have proposed a number of initiatives in my campaign – from posting White House communications and executive agency decisionmaking on the web, to expanding FOIA – that are geared toward shedding light on how Washington works.

In this administration, corporate lobbyists have been allowed access that belongs to the American people and organizations that represents their interests. I’ve made it clear that lobbyists will not control an Obama administration, which is why I have proposed closing the revolving door between the White House
and lobbying.

Finally, my Cabinet will be required to meet with the American people eriodically through “21st Century Fireside Chats,” to discuss issues before their agencies in a national broadband town hall forum.

2. Specifically, will you promise to convene a summit of leaders of GSOP and similar grassroots organizations nationally within 90 days of taking office to explore how such groups might play expanded roles in addressing serious socio-economic issues that face our communities, our nation, and our world?