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Seeking his third term in Congress, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright said he has worked across party lines and has always stood up for working families.
Cartwright, 55, of Moosic, said he made those promises before ever being elected and has kept those promises.
“I have worked hard to earn a reputation as an effective leader,” he said. “That culminated this year when I was elected to the powerful House Appropriations Committee.”
Cartwright said the 2016 election represents a chance for the Democratic party to make gains on the shortcomings of Congress over the past two years.
“It could take us closer to a long-term budget plan that gets the deficit under control, while also making the investments needed to grow the economy,” Cartwright said. “Like investments in transportation infrastructure.”
Cartwright said this election could also result in a more responsive national legislature — in a timely way — to crises like the Zika virus or opioid epidemic.
“And it could give a boost to the Democrats’ desire to add certainty and stability to our economy and our commitment to seniors and veterans,” he said.
ISSUES
Jobs and the economy: Cartwright said the country needs to invest in the jobs of the future, like advanced manufacturing and green energy jobs. He said it is equally important to create economic stability and certainty to spur private sector expansion. Our education system must also make sure American workers are ready for 21st century careers, he said.
Cartwright plans to use his seat on the House Appropriations Committee to maximize federal investment in the 17th Congressional District in areas like the re-use of aged or underutilized properties, transportation infrastructure development and Tobyhanna Army Depot.
Border control and counter-terrorism: Cartwright supports federal investments in U.S. Border Protection Agency personnel, technology and infrastructure to boost that agency’s ability to intercept unauthorized migrants and smugglers. He favors prioritizing the apprehension and deportation of undocumented aliens engaged in criminal activity in the U.S. He also supports the president’s ratcheting up of the fight against ISIS.
Natural gas: Cartwright said natural gas is cleaner than many alternatives and is abundant and relatively inexpensive in our region. We need to make sure it is extracted in a safe and responsible manner, he said.
Global warming: Cartwright thinks the country needs to move toward clean clean, renewable fuels, live up to its international commitments and lead by example.
Making Washington work: Cartwright is proud to have introduced more bipartisan bills than any other Democrat in the House since 2012.
Social Security solvency: Cartwright would like to see improvement of the long-term fiscal condition of Social Security by ensuring all U.S. workers are paying into the system and by requiring Americans whose annual income measures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to contribute proportionally to the system.
Medicare solvency: Bringing down the cost of Medicare’s annual outpatient drug outlays, estimated to increase by over half a billion dollars in the next five years, would significantly extend the solvency of Medicare, Cartwright said.
Minimum wage: Cartwright supports raising the federal minimum wage to (at least) $12 an hour by the year 2020.
Racial tensions across U.S.: Cartwright supports the professionalism shown by police departments in his district. Nationally, he said, officers need better training and racial patterns in arrests and shootings need to be better identified.
Taxes: Cartwright said a fairer and simpler tax code that progressively raises sufficient revenue to make the investments needed to grow our economy and to set us on a path for long-term deficit reduction is needed. He said millionaires and billionaires should pay a percentage of their income in federal taxes comparable to what middle-class households pay.
U.S. Supreme Court justices: Cartwright agrees with many Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill that President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland, has outstanding federal appellate judicial experience from his position as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and is well qualified to serve on our nation’s highest court.
