Under Construction.

A lasting peace and a higher American standard of living do not come by luck. They are built the same way we build a good machine—by design, planning, and steady hands at the controls. No nation can run at full power when millions of its people are under-housed, under-fed, or uncertain about tomorrow.That is not merely waste; it is the squandering of people’s hard work & talent, the very source of all wealth. When working families are driven to struggle for the bare means of subsistence, their capacity to develop their productive energies is stifled. Consumption withers, the circulation of commodities slows, and inequality jams the mechanisms through which society reproduces itself. A nation that permits such conditions behaves like a machinist who allows his finest instruments of production to corrode — destroying not only the tools, but the creative force of the worker who wields them.America grew strong because we safeguarded the great political rights of a free people — speech & press, conscience & worship, due process & protection from arbitrary power. These are the foundations of our political liberty.But in an advanced industrial nation, liberty on parchment alone will not suffice. The working men & women of this Republic must also have the stability & security that allow them to share fully in the economic life of the nation.For without that measure of economic freedom, our political freedom becomes little more than a promise unfulfilled.Economic freedom is not a luxury; it is the firm foundation upon which a free people stand. No man can exercise his talents, build a business, or chart his own course while he is haunted by hunger or threatened with the loss of his home. Our history teaches us a plain lesson: when insecurity spreads through the land, confidence falters, opportunity dries up, and the darker forces of Fascism & violence find their opening. It is the duty of a democratic nation to shut that door tight — by ensuring that every citizen has the basic security that makes freedom real.In the 21st-century economy, these truths are self-evident. They form an implicit “Bill of Economic Rights,” not grounded in ideology but in real macroeconomic & microeconomic principles: when people are secure, the nation is stable, productive, and free.

The right to productive employment:Full employment is not just a social aspiration but a macroeconomic stabilizer that maximizes output, reduces welfare costs, and maintains consumer demand. Productive work is the engine of human capital development.

The right to wages sufficient for basic consumption & dignified living:Adequate income supports aggregate demand, prevents negative multiplier effects, and avoids the long run social costs associated with poverty traps.

The right of farmers to fair, sustainable returns:Stable farm income protects food security, prevents destructive boom bust cycles, and maintains rural labor markets essential to national supply chains.

The right of businesses—large & small—to operate in competitive markets free from monopolistic distortion:Competitive market structures promote innovation, reduce rent seeking, and prevent allocative inefficiency caused by concentrated economic power.

The right of families to stable housing:Housing stability is tightly linked to labor mobility, educational outcomes, and macroeconomic resilience. Volatile housing conditions create major negative externalities.

The right to accessible & effective medical care:Healthy workers are more productive; untreated illness imposes large negative externalities and raises long term public expenditure through avoidable chronic conditions.

The right to protection from catastrophic economic shocks—old age, illness, injury, or unemployment:Social insurance systems mitigate downside risk, stabilize consumption, and reduce the volatility that can trigger recessions.

The right to high-quality education:Education is the most powerful form of human capital investment, driving innovation, labor productivity, and long-run GDP growth.

Collectively, these rights form the economic foundation of national security and long term prosperity. Implementing them is not simply a moral project but an economically rational strategy for increasing national output, reducing systemic risk, and strengthening social cohesion.America's position in the global economy depends on the degree to which these economic rights are realized domestically. Persistent insecurity at home creates structural weaknesses abroad; no nation can sustain global leadership while tolerating internal economic fragility.Rewritten by
Bernie Reyna
U.S. Army veteran
College Station, Texas
2026 congressional campaignOriginally written by
Franklin D. Roosevelt
State of the Union Address
Tuesday, January 11, 1944.

Howdy, my name is Bernie, and I’m running to serve & protect American workers and senior citizens in the 10th Congressional District of our blessed State of Texas.

I’m running because Congress has been captured by a narrow political class—overwhelmingly lawyers, lobbyists, career politicians, and financial speculators—who do not represent the lived reality of ordinary Americans.For decades these idle “representatives” have bled the middle class dry and laid heavy burdens upon the working class—burdens they never feel themselves.Research shows that policymakers from elite professional backgrounds consistently prioritize the interests of donors, corporations, and political insiders over working people. We feel the consequences every single day.

I am not just another one of these typical politicians perched up high upon a pedestal.No — I am a working family man, and I have spent 22 years in the trenches of the working class, alongside the same people I’m asking to represent: rising early, putting in an honest day’s work, and paying my fair share of taxes.

I am running because the hard facts of our national life tell us something plain: the foundations that once upheld the American Dream have been allowed to crack, and the people who built this country are paying the price.Our quality of life has diminished compared to yesteryear, when the middle class was strong and growing, and the working class was filled with pride and dignity.

As a result, most households now operate with almost no financial margin. Millions live paycheck to paycheck with negative cash flow. Utility shutoffs, evictions, and medical delinquencies are rising at rates economists associate with systemic household stress.Families are turning to high-interest credit cards not for discretionary spending, but simply to meet basic consumption—distress financing.Without correction, our country will eventually return to the status of a colony, surrendering its independence piece by piece.

Washington, D.C. doesn’t need another lawyer, judge, lobbyist, or idle speculator. The place is already crawling with battalions of these loafers who have never worked an honest day in their lives.These middlemen will never grasp the true value of American labor or the pride that comes with it, because they have never experienced it.And because they’ve never built anything themselves, they will always shortchange the men and women who do. When the time comes to write laws, workers—the true producers of this country—are the last people they ever think about.

What Washington needs right now is workmen—real ones. Men & women who know the feel of an early morning, who rise at daybreak and report with their hands ready, their minds steady, and their purpose fixed on getting something done. This nation runs on people who can produce—not on people who merely talk about producing. And with barely two percent of Congress coming from the working & middle class, it’s no wonder Washington has forgotten what real work looks like.

What I bring to the table can’t be bought. It’s loyalty—earned by work, proven by conduct.How many politicians have sworn upon holy books to support and defend our Constitution, invoking God, only to become disciples of Judas, betraying their constituents for financial gain?Insider trading and corruption have defiled the once-venerable halls of Congress and turned them into hovels of hypocrites.

I do not own any stocks, nor would I deign to do so.And I make this solemn vow before God and my fellow citizens: I shall not soil my hands with insider trading, nor bow to any lobby that seeks to purchase the counsels of a free nation.I will never take bribes from lobbies—AIPAC or any other—whose lucre is offered to sway the judgment of Congress.Let all people know: my allegiance is fixed upon the honest citizens of this land.

If you grant me your vote, and Providence allows me to be elected, I pledge to work nights, weekends, and extended hours to personally answer every single one of your questions, comments, or concerns.

Thank you for your time and attention.Bernie Reyna
U.S. Army Veteran
College Station, Texas
2026 Congressional Campaign

Congress must stop tinkering at the edges and get back to first principles: cool wasteful speculation without strangling real work, and then pour its effort into the only things that ever built a nation—more food, more energy, more homes, more factories, more transport, and more trained workers.If Washington fast tracks production, breaks bottlenecks, cuts out the parasites, restores honest credit, and forces fair dealing in housing, healthcare, and industry, prices will fall, wages will rise, and the American family will stand on solid ground again.The cure is simple: build more, produce more, compete more—and stop letting speculators and monopolists run the country instead of the people who actually make it go.

Cool Excess Demand Without Causing a Recession:Congress cannot order the Federal Reserve, but it can shape demand levels through fiscal policy.Target deficit reduction only in overheated sectors (e.g., luxury autos, speculative finance) rather than cutting across the board.Pass countercyclical stabilizer rules (automatic triggers that slow certain tax incentives when inflation is above target).Increase support for productive sectors (infrastructure, energy, food production) so cooling demand doesn’t kill jobs.Impose temporary credit constraints on luxury lending & speculative asset markets through the CFPB & FSOC.Cool demand where it overheats, not where workers live. This avoids recession.

This is where Congress has the strongest tools.Pass a National Permitting Reform Act to speed up housing, energy, and industrial construction.Restore and expand the DOE Loan Programs Office to finance capacity expansion at 0-2% interest.Create a national industrial credit facility.Fund port, rail, and highway modernization to remove logistics bottlenecks.Provide temporary subsidies for critical inputs: fertilizer, diesel for freight, cold storage electricity, etc.Expand the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act to train more workers in food production, energy, logistics, and construction.Supply expansion lowers prices fast without destroying employment.

Congress can do this with targeted appropriations + temporary emergency authorities.Fund rapid port automation & expansion (especially Houston, Corpus Christi, Gulf Coast).Expand USDA emergency livestock stabilization programs to prevent herd liquidation.Lift refinery constraints through permitting reform & refinery modernization credits.Modernize regional grids with federal cost sharing, focusing on Texas ERCOT interconnection.If bottlenecks disappear, the inflation premium disappears.

Strengthen the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and authorize automatic releases when gas prices spike.Create a Strategic Food Reserve for grains, beef, poultry, dairy, and cooking oils.Provide temporary fuel or freight subsidies during severe supply shocks.Set up a Freight Stabilization Fund to keep trucking & rail running during crises.Strategic reserves reduce volatility without distorting long term markets.

Congress can directly attack housing inflation through land use, financing, materials, and labor.Condition federal infrastructure dollars on zoning reform (allow duplexes, triplexes, small lots).Create a Federal Starter Home Construction Program.Fund water/sewer expansion for new housing through a National Housing Infrastructure Fund.Provide 0% mortgages for first time buyers of new construction in high need areas.Launch a national prefab & off-site construction initiative to increase home factory capacity.Provide tax credits for domestic production of lumber, cement, HVAC, and building materials.Housing is the #1 cost-of-living driver. Increase supply → lower rents → lower CPI.

Congress has the authority to attack all three drivers: monopoly power, administrative waste, and pricing opacity.Break up regional hospital monopolies via strengthened FTC/DOJ authority.Allow interstate competition for health insurance (national competition reduces premiums).Ban publicly traded insurance models that profit from claim denial (the sick care model).Mandate universal price transparency for hospitals, insurers, and pharmacies.Create 0% medical modernization credit to update equipment, reduce overhead, and lower operating costs.Healthcare monopolies = permanently rising inflation. Competition + transparency = lower long-run CPI.

Congress can rebuild the industrial side of the economy.Pass a National Industrial Bank Act.Create regional manufacturing clusters with federal state matching grants.Fund domestic fertilizer, refinery, steel, and microchip production capacity through LPO & EXIM expansion.Expand cold storage, grain milling, and meat processing capacity through USDA & Commerce Department grants.Prioritize energy infrastructure (pipelines, transmission, nuclear, refinery upgrades).When supply is domestic & abundant, prices stop spiking.

Congress can stabilize income & participation.Fund large scale technical training (apprenticeships, trade programs, vocational schools).Provide childcare support to raise labor force participation.Create a portable benefits system for gig & contract workers.Reform occupational licensing to reduce job switching frictions.Provide accelerated depreciation for small & mid sized manufacturers to modernize equipment.A stable workforce reduces demand swings → reduces inflation swings.

Congress can prevent corporations from extracting unproductive mark up inflation.Strengthen antitrust enforcement (Agriculture, Energy, Healthcare).Pass a speculative land tax to discourage sitting on empty homes/lots.Limit corporate ownership of single family homes.Increase transparency in commodity markets to prevent manipulation.Restrict private equity predation in housing & healthcare.Limiting rent-seeking lowers prices without hurting supply.

The surest path to higher wages and a stronger Republic lies in directing our national resources toward the work that truly builds wealth—toward the roads that bind our communities, the factories that forge our future, the power that lights our homes, the farms that feed our children, and the machines that magnify the hand of labor.When America invests in production rather than in idle speculation, employment grows, prices find their balance, and the earnings of our people carry them further. Modern equipment, sturdy domestic supply lines, fair and open competition, and a system of credit that is honest, affordable, and loyal to the public good—these are the instruments by which every workshop, mill, and plant may expand without being throttled by the burdens of private greed.America doesn’t need more speculation—it needs more production, more power, more skilled hands, and a credit system that nourishes industry instead of draining it. Build these foundations, and prosperity will follow as surely as daylight follows the dawn.

Pass a multi-year national infrastructure program: Highways, bridges, water systems, ports, rail, airports, and grid modernization. Long-term authorizations (5–10 years) give contractors & manufacturers certainty to hire & expand.Restore & expand federal industrial credit programs: Reauthorize EXIM Bank, strengthen the DFC for domestic projects, expand DOE Loan Programs Office to cover more manufacturing sectors, or create a new Industrial Finance Authority.Provide targeted tax credits for domestic production: Advanced manufacturing credits, energy production credits, “Made in USA” supply chain credits.Reform permitting (NEPA modernization): Speed up clean energy, transmission, and industrial construction without removing environmental protections.Establish regional manufacturing hubs: Federal matching grants to states to build industrial parks, logistics hubs, and advanced manufacturing zones.These actions directly raise labor demand across construction, logistics, energy, and manufacturing.

Create an accelerated depreciation system for small & midsized firms: Let businesses write off machinery, robotics, automation, and energy efficiency upgrades within 1–3 years.Expand NSF/NIH/DOE technology adoption programs: Turn research into real commercial tools for businesses, not just labs & universities.Make reshoring tax incentives permanent: Credits for relocating factories, tool-and-die shops, advanced manufacturing facilities, semiconductor equipment, food processing, etc.Fund vocational & technical centers that partner with real employers: Training matched to actual industry needs → higher productivity → higher wages.Federal investment + business investment = sustained productivity growth → rising paychecks.

Expand energy supply & transmission: Fund grid upgrades, permit new pipelines, increase refinery capacity, and accelerate clean energy approvals.Increase housing construction by reforming zoning incentives: Provide federal incentives to cities & counties that allow more starter homes & multi-family housing.Invest in ports, rail, and trucking modernization: Dedicated freight investments reduce shipping costs—one of the biggest drivers of price spikes.Use targeted fiscal discipline: Cut waste in overheated sectors while maintaining investment in high-multiplier areas (infrastructure, manufacturing, energy).Lower prices = stronger real wages without forcing layoffs.

Fund apprenticeship programs tied directly to industry hiring needs: Require employer commitments so trainees walk into real jobs.Expand Buy American and Hire American rules: Ensure federal purchasing creates U.S. jobs instead of subsidizing foreign factories.Create local supply-chain clusters: Federal grants to cities & counties to build industrial parks, training centers, and logistics hubs near each other.Use federal procurement to back U.S. producers: Government purchases over $700B/year—the single largest buyer in America. Use it strategically.Clusters + production incentives = more stable, higher-wage jobs.

Strengthen antitrust enforcement: Increase funding & authority for DOJ/FTC to break up anti-competitive mergers that depress wages.Clarify protections for gig & contract workers: Prevent misclassification, ensure minimum standards for pay, safety, and benefits.Create portable benefits accounts:
Retirement, healthcare, and leave benefits follow the worker, not the employer—this frees workers to move to better-paying jobs.Ensure fair union elections & prevent retaliation: Without forcing membership, but guaranteeing workers have the right to organize without intimidation.Competitive labor markets lift wages naturally—without heavy handed mandates.

Charter a National Industrial Bank or Industrial Credit Authority: Modeled after TVA, EXIM, RFC, or Farm Credit—but focused on domestic production.Authorize 0–2% long-term loans for factories, equipment, energy projects, logistics facilities, and processing plants.Allow states & regions to create matching public-credit banks: The federal institution can guarantee or co-finance state industrial banks.Back the bank with federal bonds, not taxpayer dollars: This keeps taxes low while dramatically lowering the cost of capital for U.S. producers.Require domestic procurement & hiring to receive credit: Ensures public credit builds American jobs—not foreign outsourcing.Cheap credit = more investment = more productivity = higher wages.

Congress can repair healthcare only by dealing with it as one would deal with any system seized by speculators: abolish the monopolies, strip away the parasitic layers of profit, and return the machinery of care to the people who create its real value. The greedy hospital monopolies and insurance combines must be broken up, for they exist not to heal but to extract surplus from human suffering. Their pricing must be laid bare; their power to dictate the terms of life & death must be curtailed.Let Medicare bargain as any collective of workers would — not as a beggars, but as a disciplined purchaser acting on behalf of everyone. Set clear limits on what the working family can be compelled to pay, make every middleman reveal the transactions by which they enrich themselves, and ensure that every rebate & every saving flows back to the people, not to Wall-Street.Extend primary care so that illness is met early, before it becomes a burden of crisis. Guarantee protection against catastrophic costs so no household is thrust into ruin by the misfortune of disease. Sweep away the bureaucratic clutter—the paperwork, the billing games, the administrative labyrinths—which are nothing more than the dead weight of greed upon the living body of society.If Congress restores competition, transparency, and efficiency—not in the service of Wall-Street, but in the service of our Nation—then costs will fall, care will rise, and citizens will stand no longer as crops for exploitation, but as a community capable of healing itself.

Anti-Monopoly Hospital Reform ActBan anti-competitive hospital mergers (restore the FTC’s pre-merger review power).Require hospitals acquiring physician practices to undergo federal competition review.Mandate competitive bidding for high cost hospital services.Tie federal funding (e.g., Medicare/ Medicaid reimbursements) to compliance with pricing transparency.Price Transparency EnforcementCurrent transparency laws have no teeth.Impose civil penalties for hospitals that hide prices.Require standardized price formats nationwide so consumers can actually compare.Mandate insurer disclosure of negotiated rates in machine readable format.Lower prices through real market competition.

Congress can pass a Medicare Drug Negotiation Expansion Act to:Allow negotiation on all drugs with high national spending, not just 20-30.Extend negotiation to Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, and the VA for consistency.Cap insulin at $35 for everyone (public + private insurance).Prevent drug companies from raising prices faster than inflation.Revenue impact: Saves hundreds of billions over 10 years (CBO-confirmed).Lower premiums + lower drug costs for every American.

Universal Out of Pocket Caps: Create a single national annual cap for all insurance types (like Medicare Advantage has).Apply it to ACA plans, employer plans, and Medicare.Premium Growth Caps: Link premium growth to GDP per capita or median income, so insurance cannot outgrow wages.Give regulators power to reject unreasonable rate increases (what states like CA already do).Ban Surprise Billing Expansion.
Strengthen the No Surprises Act by:Closing loopholes used by air ambulances & specialty contractors.Requiring binding arbitration to discourage overbilling.Predictable household budgets and less medical debt.

Congress can pass a PBM Reform & Transparency Act to: Force PBMs to disclose rebate agreements.Ban spread pricing (PBMs charging insurers more than pharmacies receive).Require PBMs to pass 100% of rebates to consumers or insurers.Prohibit steering patients to PBM owned pharmacies.Empower the FTC to audit PBM contracts.Drug prices drop almost instantly.

Community Health ExpansionGrants for community clinics in rural & urban shortage areas.Loan forgiveness programs to attract primary care doctors.
Telehealth Permanency ActMake pandemic-era telehealth expansions permanent across Medicare/Medicaid.Require insurers to reimburse telehealth at fair rates.
Nurse Practitioner Scope ReformIncentivize states (via federal matching funds) to authorize full practice authority for NPs in shortage areas.Earlier care → fewer emergencies → lower premiums.

Congress can pass a Catastrophic Protection Act to create:A national catastrophic plan that automatically covers all Americans.A hard annual cap (e.g., $5,000-$10,000) beyond which government coverage kicks in.Private insurance still covers normal care.This delivers universal protection without replacing existing plans.No more medical bankruptcies in America.

Unified Billing StandardsReplace thousands of billing codes with a unified national standard.Require all insurers to accept the same digital formats.Pre-Authorization ReformSet federal limits on the number of procedures requiring pre-authorization.Impose penalties on insurers that abuse pre-auth delays.National Electronic Health Record (EHR) StandardsRequire interoperability: every provider must use systems that can talk to each other.Federal grants to help small clinics upgrade.Less paperwork → lower premiums → higher doctor productivity.

Congress can solve the housing mess the same way any good factory solves a production bottleneck: clear the obstacles, steady the supply lines, and get more output moving.Use federal dollars to make towns open their doors to sensible building.Train more carpenters & tradesmen.Cut the red tape that slows every permit.Build up American factories that make our lumber, steel, concrete, and parts.Put tax credits behind starter homes, and help working families buy them.Stop Wall Street outfits from treating houses like poker chips.Then lay the pipes, roads, power, and transit so new neighborhoods can actually rise.If Congress treats housing like an essential industry (not a playground for speculators) America can build enough homes for our people at prices they can afford.

Congress cannot rewrite local zoning, but it can use the federal spending power.Congress can pass a Housing Supply Acceleration Act, that:Ties federal grants (transportation, infrastructure, broadband, water, sewer, HUD funds) to: allowing duplexes/ triplexes/ fourplexes near jobs and transit, reducing minimum lot sizes, permitting starter homes under 1,600 sq ft, setting fast permitting timelines (ex: 90 days)Use conditional funding, the same method used to raise the drinking age, expand highways, and enforce civil-rights compliance.Cities build more housing → prices stabilize and fall over time.

Congress controls federal labor programs, permitting standards, and industrial policy.Construction Workforce Expansion Act:Expand apprenticeships through the Dept. of Labor. Fund community college training for carpentry, electrical, plumbing, HVAC. Create a GI Bill for Trades for young workersNational Model Permitting Code:Congress directs HUD+Commerce to publish model permitting rules.Provide grants to cities that adopt: digital permitting, 90 day approval windows, standardized inspectionsDomestic Building Materials Production Act:Tax credits & loans for U.S. lumber, steel, drywall, concrete, and modular factory expansion. Expand freight/ logistics investments so materials move cheaplyLower costs → more homes built → lower prices.

Congress controls all federal housing finance mechanisms.LIHTC Expansion Act:Increase allocations to all states. Add a starter home category for homes under 1,600 sq ft. Prioritize mixed income development.Starter Home Tax Credit (New Deal for Housing Act):Tax credits for developers who build: small single-family homes, townhomes, duplexes/ fourplexes, modular/ manufactured homes.Bonus credits for homes priced under local median.Public-Private Partnership Accelerator:Federal seed capital for mixed income projects. Local match required (ensures skin in the game)Affordable units actually get built; starter homes return to the market.

Congress controls federal tax credits & HUD rental programs.First Time Homebuyer Refundable Credit:Modeled after the 2008-2010 version, but better targeted. Helps moderate income families build equity.Expansion of Housing Choice Vouchers:Increase funding. Require source of income protections. Increase mobility counseling to help families move to good school districts.Targeted Rent Relief:A federal emergency rent stabilization fund for high cost metros. Prevents eviction spikes during price surges.Families access stable housing without distorting overall supply.

Congress can regulate financial markets & interstate investment.Anti-Bulk Buying Act:Prevent private equity firms from purchasing large bundles of single family homes.Cap the number of homes any institutional investor can own per metro area.Anti-Speculative Flipping Penalty:A federal excise tax on homes resold within 6-12 months.Exemptions for veterans, first-time buyers, and owner occupants.Ownership Transparency Requirements:Mandatory disclosure of beneficial owners buying single family homesMore homes available for families, less for corporate extraction.

Congress controls infrastructure spending & loan programs.Housing Linked Infrastructure Grants:Federal matching funds for water, sewer, roads, drainage, power, broadband.Prioritize projects tied to new housing construction.National Infrastructure Bank (NIB):Offers long term, low interest loans to cities for: utilities, road expansions, stormwater systems, transit access projects.Fast Track Infrastructure Permitting:Streamlined NEPA reviews for housing linked infrastructure.Housing can be built where it’s needed, not only where infrastructure already exists.

Congress controls all federal transit & education construction funds.Transit Oriented Development Fund:Tie federal transit dollars to guaranteed housing production near stops.Require zoning for mixed use walkable districts.School Housing Coordination Grants:Encourage districts to plan school expansions alongside new housing.Lower long term costs for commuting families.More walkable neighborhoods, lower transport costs, healthier local economies.

Congress can lift wages and strengthen the nation by doing what any successful industry does: invest in real work, clear out the bottlenecks, and give every man & woman the tools to rise.Build the roads, bridges, plants, and power lines.Supply cheap, honest credit to industry.Train the next generation of craftsmen.Clear the red tape that slows production.Give workers a fair shake by enforcing honest labor practices, cutting out wage theft, and stopping tricks that bind a worker to his boss.Lower the costs of living—housing, healthcare, childcare, energy—so a paycheck actually means something.Make sure the rich pay what they owe.Keep the safety net firm without dulling ambition.Help families build savings & homes of their own.If Congress puts production, fairness, and efficiency ahead of speculation & loopholes, America’s workers will thrive, and the whole country will move forward as one.

Congress has direct levers over national investment, permitting, and industrial capacity. To raise labor demand, Congress can:Pass a multi-year national infrastructure program:Highways, bridges, ports, rail, airports, water systems, broadband, and grid modernization.Long term authorizations (5-10 years) give firms confidence to hire & invest.Create or expand federal industrial finance tools. Congress can:Expand the DOE Loan Programs Office for manufacturing.Strengthen the Development Finance Corporation for domestic industry.Reauthorize & enlarge the Export Import Bank.Establish a new National Industrial Bank or Industrial Finance Authority.These provide low cost capital for factories, energy, logistics, and advanced manufacturing.Modernize federal permitting:NEPA streamlining, faster environmental reviews, predictable timelines for energy, transmission, and industrial projects.Expand apprenticeships & workforce training:Fund Dept. of Labor apprenticeship grants, community college partnerships, and employer led training consortia.

Congress directly controls national labor law.Modernize the National Labor Relations Act: Ensure fair union elections, ban captive audience meetings, protect organizing activities.Ban non-compete clauses nationally: Congress can codify FTC’s proposed rule into statute.Crack down on wage theft: Increase federal penalties & enforcement capacity within the Department of Labor.Reform worker classification: Define true employment for gig/platform workers to ensure basic protections.Raise the federal minimum wage gradually: Tie increases to productivity or regional cost of living.Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): Boost take home pay for low & moderate income workers without harming job creation.

Congress sets federal education funding and workforce policy.Universal early childhood education: Offer optional universal pre-K through federal grants to states.Tuition-free or low cost community college: A federal state matching program to eliminate tuition for 2 year degrees & technical certifications.Employer linked training pipelines: Congress can fund workforce partnerships that connect local employers to community colleges & apprenticeships.National Apprenticeship Expansion Act: Scale up apprenticeships in construction, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and the trades.

Essential costs determine real inequality. Congress can act in each sector.Housing: Tie federal infrastructure grants to zoning reform. Expand Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Increase funding for HUD construction programs. Incentivize starter home development under 1,600 sq ft.Healthcare: Expand price negotiation authority. Enforce hospital & insurer price transparency. Promote competition in pharmaceuticals & insurance markets.Childcare: Increase childcare tax credits. Expand subsidies tied to income. Support childcare workforce training & facility construction.Energy: Accelerate grid construction & modernization. Expand domestic production of energy & critical minerals. Offer incentives for home efficiency upgradesTransportation: Expand public transit capital grants. Modernize highways & supply chain logistics corridors.

Congress writes the tax code, and most inequality reducing measures fall squarely within its jurisdiction.Close major loopholes: End carried interest, eliminate offshore profit shifting shelters, limit stepped-up basis abuse for billionaires.Corporate minimum tax: Ensure large corporations pay a minimum rate regardless of deductions.Billionaire minimum income tax: Prevent indefinite deferral of tax on unrealized capital gains.Expand IRS enforcement: Fund the IRS to crack down on tax evasion by high income & high wealth individuals.Simplify the tax code: Remove carve outs that distort economic behavior.

Congress controls every major safety net program.Restore the Child Tax Credit expansion: Reduce child poverty, increase family stability.Expand EITC: Reward work & increase take home pay.Modernize SNAP: Raise benefits modestly to reflect real food prices & reduce administrative burdens.Smooth benefit phase outs: Eliminate benefit cliffs that punish work increases.Federal paid family & medical leave: A national paid leave standard increases labor force participation.

Income inequality becomes permanent when families cannot build wealth.Automatic retirement accounts (opt out): Modeled on Thrift Savings Plan; workers contribute automatically unless they choose not to.Down payment assistance for first generation homebuyers: Helps families break the no wealth → no homeownership cycle.Baby bonds: Small, federally seeded trust accounts that grow until adulthood.Government backed savings programs: Matched savings for low & moderate income households.

America’s free and democratic process rests upon the sovereignty of her people, and it cannot endure if any foreign nation (whether ally or adversary) is permitted to pour vast sums of money into the channels of our political life.When we allow outside interests to shape our elections, we surrender—quietly, perhaps unknowingly—a measure of our own independence. We permit others to place their hand upon the scales of our self-government, and we risk the slow erosion of the very liberties that generations of Americans have struggled to secure.History reminds us that freedom seldom disappears in a single stroke; it is often bartered away, inch by inch.A century ago, China learned this lesson when foreign powers, through influence, pressure, and financial entanglement, gained control of her ports, her courts, and her commerce. Those treaty ports were not taken by sudden force, they were conceded over time, as outside governments insinuated themselves into the affairs of a sovereign nation, until the line between independence and subservience had all but vanished.America must not—and will not—repeat that mistake.When foreign actors seek to sway the decisions of our elected leaders, they do more than influence policy; they diminish the sacred right of every American to determine the course of his own country. And when representatives fear the power of foreign policy financiers more than the judgment of their own constituents, our Republic is no longer guided by the will of the people but by pressures that have no rightful place in a free society.Our foreign policy, our domestic policy, our destiny as a nation must be shaped by one sovereign authority: the citizens of the United States.No foreign treasury, no outside lobby, and no international pressure group can be permitted to decide who speaks for Texas or for America. For in the final analysis, the strength of our Republic rests upon this unshakable truth: the only rightful masters of American policy are the American people themselves.Any force—foreign or domestic—that seeks to overrule their voice strikes at the very foundation of our freedom.