SIX FIGHTS. ZERO HEDGING.

Austin rents are up 38% since 2021 in 78704. The median asking rent in TX-37 is now $1,940 for a one-bedroom. The federal minimum wage is $7.25.

1. 01

   Repeal Texas's 1987 state-preemption ban on local rent control

   Federal preemption-of-preemption legislation. If the city wants caps, the city should be able to vote on caps. Co-sponsor HR 2543.

2. 02

   Cap rent hikes at 5% a year for landlords holding more than 25 units

   Mom-and-pop landlords are exempt. Wall Street is not. Modeled on the Oregon Senate Bill 608 framework.

3. 03

   Section 8 as a federal entitlement, not a 12-year lottery

   Travis County's Section 8 waitlist has 19,000 names. Average wait is 7.4 years. Fully fund the program. Stop sending people the news that they don't qualify for the help we already promised.

4. 04

   Ban institutional ownership of single-family homes

   Hedge funds bought 16% of Travis County single-family transactions in 2024. We have a market. We should let working families buy in it. HR 3416.

I have been at the bedside for 12 years. I have watched people die because they were uninsured. I will co-sponsor HR 3421 on January 3, 2027. Period.

1. 01

   Medicare for All Act of 2027, co-sponsored

   I will sign HR 3421 the morning the 120th Congress is gaveled in. No public-option compromise, no Medicare-buy-in detour.

2. 02

   Mandatory nurse-patient ratios, federally

   California Title 22 ratios as the national floor. 1:1 in ICU, 1:2 in step-down, 1:4 in med-surg. We won this in our 2024 Dell Seton contract. Now nationally.

3. 03

   State-level price negotiation on the 25 most-prescribed drugs

   Expand the IRA Medicare-negotiation list from 10 drugs to 100 over four years. Insulin capped at $35 OUT of Medicare too.

4. 04

   Federal funding for community health workers in every county

   CHWs are the most cost-effective intervention in primary care. Texas has 3,200 of them. We need 20,000. HR 2310.

Texas lost $5.2 billion to climate-disaster damage in 2024. Greg Abbott still won't say the words. I will.

1. 01

   HR 5185, the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act

   Retrofit every public-housing unit in America to zero-emission. $172 billion over ten years. 240,000 union jobs. Tenants pay zero out-of-pocket.

2. 02

   Decommission ERCOT, integrate Texas into the federal grid

   February 2021 killed 246 Texans. Greg Abbott blamed the wind turbines. We are the only state in the lower 48 that runs its own grid. End it.

3. 03

   Federal weatherization dollars prioritized to majority-renter zip codes

   78702, 78721, 78741: the homes most likely to bake or freeze. The least likely to have an owner who can pay for retrofits.

4. 04

   Permitting reform tied to a clean-energy buildout

   Streamline transmission permitting for clean energy ONLY. Not a pipeline give-away dressed up as climate policy.

I have organized a hospital. I know what employers do when workers try to vote. Federal labor law has been broken for 50 years.

1. 01

   The PRO Act, co-sponsored

   HR 20. Card check, ban on captive-audience meetings, joint-employer standard. Filibuster carve-out if necessary.

2. 02

   Sectoral bargaining for healthcare and education

   Negotiate wages and conditions for an entire industry, not one hospital or one school district at a time. Modeled on the Nevada Culinary Workers framework.

3. 03

   Federal right-to-strike protection

   Replace striking workers? Lose federal contracts. Period. End Lechmere v. NLRB.

4. 04

   Public-sector union recognition in every state

   Texas teachers cannot collectively bargain. That changes with HR 1364. The Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act.

I am the son of a Cuban-born mother and a Mexican-American father. I will not vote for one more border-militarization bill dressed up as comprehensive reform.

1. 01

   Pathway to citizenship for the 11 million

   Including DACA, TPS, and farmworkers. No new enforcement triggers, no preconditions. HR 6 reintroduced clean.

2. 02

   Abolish ICE. Restore immigration enforcement to a civil agency under Labor

   ICE is a 2003 invention. We can un-invent it. Asylum processing belongs at USCIS. Workplace enforcement belongs at the Department of Labor with whistleblower protections.

3. 03

   End the 287(g) program in every Texas county

   Federal funding cut for sheriffs who choose to deputize as ICE. Travis County opted out in 2017. Every county should.

4. 04

   Asylum-seeker work authorization at 30 days, not 180

   You don't fix migration by making it impossible to work legally. HR 1325.

I do not pretend any of this happens with 60 votes. I am voting to end the filibuster on my first day.

1. 01

   Filibuster carve-out for voting rights, labor, and climate

   The John Lewis Voting Rights Act died on the filibuster. So did the PRO Act. So did Build Back Better. End it.

2. 02

   Statehood for D.C. and Puerto Rico

   700,000 D.C. residents have no senator. 3.2 million Puerto Ricans have no vote for president. HR 51, HR 1522.

3. 03

   Public financing of federal campaigns

   Small-donor matching at 6:1. The Government By the People Act, HR 1.

4. 04

   Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United

   Two-thirds. It will take years. We start in January 2027.