I grew up in a low-income single parent household in East Los Angeles and have been a non-stop fighter for my community. I was one of two Californians appointed to President Obama's Transition Team for the Treasury Department, and had worked in the financial services industry prior to that. I understand the causes and realities of our economic crisis, as well as the effects it has on our nation and our community here in the 32nd district; I also understand what needs to be done to get our economy and community onto the road to recovery.

• I will fight to make sure that the government spends money responsibly and targets funds at promoting economic growth and creating opportunities so that all of us can share in the American dream. I will ensure that we make long-term investments in our future and our national priorities – education, health care, clean energy – and that more policies, including tax relief, are tailored towards the middle class and small businesses, the real engines of job creation and economic growth.
  
  
• I will push to do more to stem the foreclosure crisis and keep people in their homes. Foreclosures hurt everyone: vacancy and abandonment lead to lower home values, underwater mortgages leave banks with less capital, and, in turn, less credit is supplied to the economy. We must escape this cycle by supporting aggressive foreclosure prevention programs that include expanding government subsidies for loan modification, utilizing Fannie and Freddie’s securitization toolkit to reduce mortgage rates, and enlarging policies that keep families in homes even as renters after foreclosure.
  
  
• I will work tirelessly to revive credit and lending. Credit is the lifeblood of our economy, crucial for consumer purchases and everyday business. I will work with the Obama administration to push for clearer policies about how to remove “toxic” assets from our banks and support small businesses, and recapitalize failing financial institutions. I will also insist that Congress conscientiously oversees expenditures and ensure that banks receiving bailout funds prove that they actually expand credit supplies.
  
  
• In the long term, I will help remake the financial regulatory system that governs our financial institutions. I will promote better lending and securitization practices so that ordinary people can benefit from modern financial practices, without suffering from its excesses and undue risks. I am the candidate with the most experience working in the financial and economic sectors, and will be an active and vocal participant in this dialogue about regulatory reform. I will partner with the White House, Treasury, and Federal Reserve as well as leading executives and economists to come up with the right solutions for our community and country.
  
  
• I will strengthen workers' right to organize. My mother is a union member, and watching her fight for fair pay and good working conditions alongside her colleagues instilled in me a great respect for the rights of workers. I believe that the decision to join a union should be the choice of the worker, and a choice made free of employer intimidation or harassment. As such, I support the Employee Free Choice Act, and will work to ensure its passage and full implementation.

Having attended one of the most underfunded public high schools in the nation, as well as one of the top universities in the nation, I know firsthand the educational disparities that plague our country. I want to ensure that every child can receive the best education possible and I will work to restore our education system to the model it once was.

• We must address the dropout crisis throughout schools within the district. Our schools are failing to retain students. We need to find inventive new solutions to ensure that they graduate and receive all the benefits of a high school diploma.
  
  
• I am committed to making college education accessible and affordable to those who want it. At a time of skyrocketing tuition costs and drastic cutbacks of state funding to higher education, we must expand educational tax credits and Pell grants as well as simplify the financial aid process. Higher education, in the form of a college degree or vocational training, enables our students to compete and succeed in a global economy.
  
  
• I will reform the No Child Left Behind Act to better serve our students and teachers. While No Child Left Behind has placed rigorous accountability requirements on our schools, it does not provide the support necessary to meet them. I will work toward fully funding NCLB and assuring that it lives up to its name..
  
  
• I support expanding Teacher Residency Programs and creating Teacher Service Scholarships. We must better recruit, prepare, retain and reward teachers and foster innovative approaches to teaching.
  
  
• I believe education must begin as early as possible. It is time for our government to recognize the importance of Pre-K programs and guarantee universal access.
  
  
• I support ESL education for adults and children in our community. As a son of an immigrant, I watched my mother learn English and saw the opportunities that opened up for her as a result.
  
  
• I support charter schools because they offer fresh new ways to educate our students without the obstacles posed by a daunting school bureaucracy.

With medical costs being the leading cause of bankruptcy, millions uninsured, and many in fear of losing their insurance in this economy, we cannot afford to continue rely on the current healthcare system without significant systemic reform.

• I believe Americans deserve the best health care system in the world. Unfortunately, our current system is costly, inaccessible, and unsustainable. I support immediate health care reform that reduces its financial burden on consumers, opens the system to the uninsured, and is financially sustainable.
  
  
• I support the modernization of our health care system. I would increase funding for new medical information technology as well as increase funding for important life-saving cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart disease research. I also fully support stem cell research, and believe it will play an important role in treating many debilitating diseases.
  
  
• I support increased nutritional and physical education courses in our schools, in order to make sure our children grow up to be fit and healthy as well as to stem the rise in childhood obesity.
  
  
• I believe that in times of fiscal crises the federal government has a responsibility to ensure uninterrupted health services to the most vulnerable in society. As state health systems are facing budget deficits, it is imperative upon federal government to not shy away from its shared responsibility and close the funding gaps in Medicaid.
  
  
• I would work to ensure that ethnic minorities have access to culturally-sensitive health care. Many non-English speakers are overwhelmed by a daunting health care system, and forgo treatment as a result. We need programs that are tailored to their unique needs, help them navigate the system, and improve their quality of life.
  
  
• We need to address the dangerous shortage of medical professionals. We need to provide more funding for medical residencies, create financial incentives for people to pursue a career in nursing, and encourage doctors to specialize in high-demand practices like geriatrics.

Throughout our history immigrants have been the lifeblood of this country. We need our political discourse to reflect the reality and beauty of our American melting pot. As past failures have shown, passing comprehensive immigration reform will not be easy, but it is necessary.

• I will work to pass comprehensive immigration reform that addresses the status of undocumented workers, creates an effective and accurate employee verification system, fixes the immigration bureaucracy, and provides for a path to citizenship.
  
  
• I will work to pass the DREAM Act because I believe that students who have demonstrated academic achievement or answered the call of national duty deserve a path to citizenship and the opportunity to fully participate in our society.
  
  
• I support intelligent border security policy in order to prevent gun, drug, and human trafficking between the United States and Mexico. Combating violence along the border not only ensures our national security, it is in our economic interests.
  
  
• I support a fair labor market that enforces labor laws and ends exploitation of workers.
  
  
• I believe that an effective immigration policy requires growing economies and stable democracies in Latin American countries. We must pursue smart economic development along the border that addresses the violence and removes incentives to enter the country illegally.
  
  
• I believe that the ICE raids should stop immediately. They are ineffective, they indiscriminately target and separate families, and they distract agents from more pressing concerns.

Having grown up in a tough neighborhood, I know what happens to a community when law enforcement and first-responders aren't present. I want to work with the cities to ensure that everyone in the district can rely on their emergency services. Any increase in emergency response time could mean the difference between life and death. We must also invest in community development programs in order to remove one of the central causes of crime: poverty.

• I am committed to ensuring that communities in East LA and the San Gabriel Valley are not forced to make cutbacks of essential public safety programs. I oppose the proposed layoffs in the El Monte Police Department and the closure of the El Monte Fire Station. We must provide adequate resources to local enforcement agencies in order to combat crime, gangs and drug-related activities.
  
  
• I will make sure kids have access to after-school programs, and ensure a safe educational environment by providing funding for at least one dedicated School Resource Officer at every school.
  
  
• I believe that gang related crime must be prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law and support stringent gun control laws that ensure weapons are kept out of the hands of violent criminals and children.
  
  
• I will work toward reducing the recidivism rate and relieving the burden on our prison and judicial system by supporting prison-to-work incentive and transition assistance programs. Transitioning back to society can be difficult for those who have been incarcerated; we need to have programs in place to help them become productive citizens.

For the last eight years, we have been neglecting our responsibility to the men and women who bravely serve our country. With the passage of the new GI bill, we are taking steps in the right direction to address the increasing needs of the veterans of Afghanistan, Iraq, and of wars past. In Congress, I will ensure that the veterans in the district and throughout the nation receive the care and services they deserve.

• I will ensure a predictable, reliable and sufficient VA health care budget. We must reform the congressional appropriations process so funding for the VA system is not subject to political wrangling. Appropriating funds in advance will enable the VA to plan ahead in order to meet increasing demand and ensure veterans receive the best possible care.
  
  
• I will work toward ending homelessness among veterans. All too often, we fail to honor the sacrifices of our brave service men and women who are now unable to find work or affordable housing. I commit myself to increasing affordable housing, and funding job-training programs for veterans that will enable them to compete in our economy.
  
  
• I will fight for increased mental health treatment for veterans. Many veterans have difficultly transitioning to civilian life because of undiagnosed mental health issues. We need to address the shortage of mental health professionals in the VA, require mandatory mental health screenings, and remove the stigma associated with seeking treatment.
  
  
• I will reduce bureaucratic hurdles in the VA's benefits claims system. With over 385,000 disability claims pending and wait times exceeding the Department's own targets, it's clear that our veterans' needs are not being met. We need to invest in technology that can reduce the backlog and ensure an efficient and transparent claims process.
  
  
• I fully support the new GI Bill. As a first-generation college graduate, I consider education a top priority. I want to ensure that all provisions of the new GI Bill are properly implemented by August 1st, 2009.
  
  
• I believe we need to make VA services more accessible to our district's veterans. Currently, there is no VA service center in the district, and many of our veterans without access to private transportation are faced with travel times of two-to-three hours to the nearest center.

Southern California is synonymous with the car culture and congestion. In a time of volatile energy costs and an increasing awareness of the dangers of carbon emissions, we need aggressive and innovative solutions to meet the transportation needs of this area and begin addressing the effects of climate change.

• I believe that a modern and reliable transportation system is essential to regional and national economic growth. Years of underfunding and inadequate long-term planning have caused decay to vital roads, highways, bridges, runways, and rail lines. I am committed to investing in critical transportation projects that assure the long-term competitiveness of East Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley.
  
  
• I believe that highway congestion is our most pressing transportation issue. The costs are high: billions of gallons of wasted gas and many more hours of lost productivity. Long-term solutions will require not only an expansion of our highways, but smart future urban planning and a significant change of our car culture.
  
  
• I fully support expanding mass transit services to reduce congestion and make jobs, education, and health care more accessible to those without cars. We must give people affordable, comfortable, and efficient alternatives to ensure they have a choice.

The fight for LGBT rights is the civil rights issue of my generation. We have unfairly denied gays and lesbians rights others take for granted. In Congress, I will be a fierce advocate of LGBT rights, work to remove discriminatory statutes from our books, and strengthen anti-discrimination law.

• I oppose any attempt to introduce discriminatory language into the U.S constitution. I would work to reverse the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that allows the federal government to grant all the federal rights associated with marriage to same-sex couples who are in a civil union, are in a domestic partnership, or are married.
  
  
• I would work to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to bring the same workplace protections afforded to Californians to all workers throughout the country. While California has been at the forefront of workplace protection on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, 19 states still do not protect workers from discriminatory employment practices.
  
  
• I support legislation that would allow any long-term partner of a U.S. citizen to apply for and receive residency status. The reunification of all families is a priority, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
  
  
• I believe that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" should be repealed. It is an unfair policy, and the cost of investigating, discharging, and replacing experienced personnel is an unneeded strain on our armed forces and a waste of taxpayers' money.
  
  
• I will promote HIV/AIDS education and prevention measures. HIV/AIDS has increasingly become one of the leading causes of death in gay and minority communities. I would work to ensure that funding is available for comprehensive and age-appropriate sex education.
  
  
• I believe that every child deserves loving parents, and anti-gay adoption laws are counterproductive towards this goal. With over 130,000 children in foster care waiting to be adopted and more children entering foster care than leaving, we cannot afford to continue any discriminatory adoption practices against stable same-sex couples.

America is facing many challenges around the world that will require not only leadership from the Obama administration, but support from the US Congress.

• We must reset our diplomatic relations with much of the globe, especially the Muslim world. The Obama Administration's recent decisions to unequivocally renounce torture and close Guantanamo as we know it are powerful opening overtures. By drastically changing how we reach out to many nations, we will be in a better position to advance American interests abroad.
  
  
• We must bring home our troops from Iraq promptly and responsibly. That means withdrawing troops from major cities by this summer and ending combat operations by August 2010, per President Obama's timetable. Throughout, we must work with the Iraqi government to train and equip their security forces – so we can bring our troops home in a way that upholds everything we have fought for, and that also allows us to concentrate on pressing problems here at home.
  
  
• Pakistan is a volatile brew of extremism, instability, and nuclear weapons that threatens U.S. interests at home and in the region. We will have to walk a fine line – one already traced by President Obama's early actions – between pressing Islamabad for more action against Al Qaeda, encouraging them to embrace democratic reforms, and bolstering them at times against their own internal threats. This is no simple task: it will require Congress to be both vigilant and cool-headed.
  
  
• I support President Obama's new strategy for Afghanistan. For too long, we have been spread too thin and too distracted to adequately address the raging insurgency and corruption in that nation. To prevent Afghanistan from regressing to a terrorist haven, we will need to adapt and act upon the lessons of counter-insurgencies elsewhere and devise new ways to address Afghanistan's debilitating development deficit.
  
  
• We should squarely confront the rise of drug violence along the US-Mexico border. Here in California we know that the U.S.-Mexican relationship goes both ways: we both benefit from trade in goods and labor; and we both suffer from smuggling drugs and weapons and the violence that has come with it in recent years. Congress needs to support President Obama as he forges a new comprehensive partnership with Mexico – across the areas of immigration, trade and homeland security.
  
  
• We must reestablish ties with Latin America by working with key allies such as Brazil and phasing out Cold-War era restrictions on relations with Cuba. Simultaneously, we should not shy away from standing up to the autocratic bullying of Hugo Chavez, who threatens to use the weapons of oil and ideology to destabilize the region and consolidate his power, to the detriment of Venezuelans and Americans alike.