As Mayor of Hoboken, I have worked hard to ensure that all who live or work in our community are treated fairly and that our most vulnerable residents are protected. I supported and signed into law an ordinance establishing living wages for all building service workers and protections against displacement at any building that receives City subsidies. I have been a strong champion of organized labor. Workers are the backbone of our economy and society. In Congress, I will fight to pass the PRO Act to protect the right to form or join a union and ensure workers enjoy decent jobs, wages, benefits, and working conditions. I will fight to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, create millions of living wage, union jobs, make the expanded child tax credit permanent, expand Social Security benefits for all, and close the carried interest loophole so that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes.

The Trump administration’s SALT deduction cap has punished our residents at a time of skyrocketing costs. Along with my Democratic and Republican colleagues, I will fight to restore the SALT deduction to make life more affordable for our residents.

Across our district, families are getting crushed by the rising costs of child care, paying more than $10,000 a year for essential care. As a father of two, I have experienced the child care crisis first-hand and will make addressing it one of my top priorities in office. In Congress, I will fight to pass legislation that will guarantee high-quality and affordable child care for working families and universal, free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds. This plan would save New Jersey parents an estimated more than $5,000 a year on child care, expand the supply of child care and preschool slots, and pay early childhood workers a living wage.

Our residents are burdened with the costs of unaffordable housing. We have some of the highest rental costs in the state of New Jersey. Mortgage rates have surged, putting the dream of homeownership out of reach for too many. Families are forced to wait several years before they get off the housing voucher list. As Mayor, I have fought hard to make housing more affordable, strongly supporting rent control, including lowering the maximum annual increases landlords are allowed to make and taking action against corporate landlords who were attempting to evade the requirements. I have put in place an ambitious plan to upgrade our existing affordable housing and to ensure that new housing constructed in Hoboken will include a significant percentage of affordable units. I will fight to pass a historic investment to build and preserve millions of units of affordable housing, fully fund public housing, and expand housing vouchers, so that every eligible recipient receives the benefit. I will work to strengthen tenant protections, support first-time homebuyer assistance programs, and crack down on predatory practices by Wall Street investors that drive up the cost of housing.

Our public schools are the bedrock of American democracy. That is why in Congress, I will fight to pass legislation that would invest billions of dollars into public education. I will fight to modernize school infrastructure, invest in community schools with health and social supports and wraparound services, raise the salaries of teachers and staff to at least $60,000 a year, and provide universal, free school meals. As Mayor, I have been a strong supporter of our public schools and educators, consistently advocating for the ongoing funding and facilities upgrades needed to ensure all of our children receive a quality education. From Hoboken to Newark to Weehawken, we deserve fully-funded public schools that address the diverse needs of children and families and prepare them for higher education, work, and citizenship.

Too many of our residents cannot afford their health care premiums and deductibles or are uninsured in the first place. I strongly believe that health care is a right of all, which is why I am a champion of Medicare for All, which would guarantee high-quality, affordable health care for every American, regardless of their income. As we fight for this legislation, I will also back Democratic efforts to lower the Medicare eligibility age and expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing care. Thanks to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, Medicare, for the first time, has the power to negotiate drug prices directly with drug companies. This is huge progress, and I will push to expand the list of eligible drugs in order to further reduce costs for patients. We must rein in the cost of prescription drugs.

The extremist, right-wing Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling has put the lives and bodily autonomy of millions of women in jeopardy. Women should have the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies - period. In Congress, I will be a champion of reproductive justice and fight to codify Roe v. Wade into law to protect and strengthen abortion access and reproductive health care. Finally, I will also work to protect abortion care providers from bad-faith actors who seek to intimidate doctors from providing abortions.

Under my leadership, Hoboken continues to be a national leader on climate, recently establishing the creation of a new Department of Climate Action & Innovation. To reduce our carbon footprint, we have expanded alternative transportation options and put in place electric vehicle charging stations as part of an ambitious overall Climate Action Plan. We have also been proactive in making Hoboken more resilient and less vulnerable to flooding, constructing state of the art resiliency parks, including New Jersey’s largest one–ReslienCity Park. As a partially coastal district, our congressional district is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including the flooding that is a result of the more intense storms that scientists tell us a warming planet will produce. As an urban district where the absence of tree cover produces heat islands, higher summer temperatures also pose a health threat, particularly to our older residents. In Congress, I will fight to help implement the climate programs in the Inflation Reduction Act and push for more investments to reduce carbon emissions and protect our planet.

Our country is crying out for action on gun violence. In Congress, I will fight to end the epidemic of gun violence. This starts with passing universal background checks, banning assault weapons, and implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to keep guns out of the hands of those who may harm themselves or others. We should also address other root causes of gun violence by creating good-paying jobs, reducing concentrated poverty, expanding mental health programs, funding afterschool and summer enrichment and jobs programs for youth, rehabilitating abandoned homes and lots, and investing in community and hospital based violence interruption programs.

As a nation, we must ensure that the landmark investments incorporated in the $550 billion Infrastructure, Investment and Jobs Act are spent wisely and effectively. Additionally, in Congress, I will advocate for further investments in public transportation and stepping up safety in all of our modes of transportation. As Mayor, I launched Hoboken’s Vision Zero pedestrian safety initiative, making Hoboken a safer place to walk, bike and drive. This initiative was lauded by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg as a nationwide model. I have also consistently advocated for expanding alternative transportation options, including affordable train, bus, and ferry travel as well as expanded bicycle lanes and bike share programs. In Congress, I will work to secure federal dollars to invest in New Jersey Transit, PATH, and Amtrak to improve the quality and reliability of service, modernize stations, and control the cost of fares. I will also advocate for more federal public transportation funding nationwide. This will not only reduce traffic; it will enable us to better combat air pollution and meet our climate change goals.

The stepped up pace of automation is likely to result in a change in the mix of jobs over the next 5 or 10 years, resulting in the elimination of some current ones as well as the creation of new opportunities opened up by the use of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence. To maintain our leadership in the world economy and provide Americans with good paying union jobs will require ensuring that our job training and education system keeps abreast of these changes. As Mayor, I have forged a strong partnership with Stevens Institute of Technology, which is located in Hoboken, and this has given me a firsthand appreciation for the value of high quality up-to-date technological skills training and education. As a Member of Congress, I will advocate for ensuring that our community colleges continue to expand their role in custom job training as well as in providing overall courses that prepare people not only for today’s jobs, but for tomorrow’s. It will also be important to think creatively and put in place incentives and opportunities for all Americans to be lifelong learners. That is one of the best ways to increase productivity across the board and ensure that nobody is left behind.

Donald Trump’s reckless all-out effort to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election, clinging to power by any means necessary, has driven home the need to fortify our democracy, protecting it from a rising tide of authoritarianism at home and abroad.  In Congress, I will actively support and work for the passage of the Protecting Our Democracy and Freedom to Vote Acts, both of which would put essential safeguards in place. The Protecting Our Democracy Act strengthens the guardrails of our democracy, preventing presidents or other officials from using their offices for personal gain and protecting our elections from foreign interference, among other provisions. The Freedom to Vote Act bolsters our democracy by strengthening voting rights, combating voter suppression, ending partisan gerrymandering and instituting campaign finance reforms. 

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Here in New Jersey, I will use the bully pulpit of my position in Congress to continue to advocate for the abolishment of the county party line and for an open and fair Hudson County Democratic Party endorsement process that gives the grassroots neighborhood committee members the right to vote on party endorsements–as opposed to leaving these decisions in the hands of a select few party bosses.  As part of my advocacy efforts, together with several others, I recently filed an amicus brief supporting Representative Andy Kim’s lawsuit challenging the county party line as unconstitutional.