Other Policies

As our politics has become increasingly polarized, it has been harder to find consensus on Capitol Hill to address our country's most pressing national issues. For this reason, I am proposing we investigate ways to pass bills that address national priorities without needing majority consent from all elected officials.

One strategy that I have in mind would be to use interstate compacts (Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution) to create legally binding agreements among like-minded states that can serve as a workaround to national partisan gridlock. With enough political will, these compacts can allow the states to collaborate on pressing issues, even when Congress is paralyzed on the national level.

This page also includes policies that don't fit neatly into the major issue areas — policies that I've engineered myself, not as an expert, but as a layman and freedom-minded tech dude who came up with my own solutions and formed my own opinions through my own observations, my own research, and my own critical thought.

We Can't Close Medical Centers Act (CCMC Act)

Let's Fight On the Frontlines To Revitalize Our Failing Health System

The pandemic put our public health system under enormous strain. Even today, private hospitals all around the country are struggling to stay afloat. The doctors, nurses, and health workers fought the virus on the frontlines for us during the pandemic, so it's time for us to return the favor by getting on the frontlines for our democracy.

Crozer Chester Medical Center (CCMC) was a for-profit hospital in Chester County, PA that recently shut down because it is more profitable to dismantle an entire health system than it is to serve the poor. For impoverished urban areas like Chester, as well as under-served rural areas around the country where it might take an hour to get to the nearest hospital, let's advocate for public funding to revitalize our hospital system. We can fight to build new public hospitals and restore disproportionate share funding for existing private hospitals (think Obamacare subsidies, but for hospitals, not health insurance). And who will foot the bill? The very people who profit by undermining our public health. The wealthy will pay for it all — not the high earners; the wealthy! This time, we're leaving no one behind — not the people in the inner city, and not the folks in countryside either. Americans don't leave Americans behind.

This one is personal for me, since Crozer Chester Medical Center was the hospital that saved my life when my appendix was trying to kill me, and it is also where I received my first dose of the mRNA COVID vaccine. Crozer Psychiatry saved my life when I went through a terrible mental health crisis during the worst of the pandemic in late 2020. To me, it is unconscionable for our society to let this hospital that has dutifully served the community for years, go out of business, especially one that helped us survive the pandemic. And it is unacceptable for rural Americans to have no nearby hospitals in the case their son or daughter overdoses on drugs. Together, we can bridge the urban/rural divide and fight for a government that works for us, not themselves or their corporate cronies.

Blue Shield United Health Network Interstate Compact

Let's establish a compact among states to agree to ban private insurance companies from considering any medical services that are operating within participating states to be "out-of-network." What the hell is "out-of-network?!" The money we give them every month isn't out of network, but somehow the service that we're actually paying for can be deemed "out-of-network?"

This one's personal for me, because when my appendix started giving me problems at work (I had "smoldering" appendicitis instead of the normal acute one), I immediately started driving home, and when the pain became unbearable, I drove straight to a hospital that, unfortunately, was out-of-network. Luckily, after I signed an Against Medical Advice (AMA) form, I was able to be driven to Crozer Chester Medical Center. (Incidentally, I was on a UnitedHealthcare plan at the time. Please read my thoughts on how the loss of faith in our society is a policy failure.)

Consumer Protection Interstate Compact

Let's establish an interstate compact designed to guide state-level governance to protect American consumers from corporate-sponsored terrorism. Together, we can cap credit card interchange fees and interest rates, protect the right to repair, eliminate the proliferation of microplastics and carcinogens, reduce landfill waste, and punish corporations for outsourcing jobs.

Even if not all states participate, a coalition of populous blue states (I'm thinking California, plus others) can force the corporations to play by the rules if they want to be competitive in American markets. Let's ban corporations from harming our society for profit.

21st Amendment Interstate Compact

Let's create an interstate compact to guide state-level governance to align with the spirit of the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which repealed the prohibition of alcohol.

Yes, this is me trying to find a way to force my state government to modernize the Pennsylvania state liquor control board. I'm a young man, and I want my liquor!

Pennsylvania-Delaware Tax Reciprocity Agreement

A Constitutional Argument

As a Philadelphian who works across the border in Delaware, not only do I have to travel longer distances to get to work, which means I pay more in gas and time, but also I pay more in taxes, too, because I get taxed at the Delaware state income tax rates, with the highest marginal rate at 6.6%, instead of Pennsylvania's flat 3.07% rate. And furthermore, none of those taxes go to Pennsylvania. It all goes to Delaware. And the Delaware state government knows this full well, and this is the reason why we have not had a reciprocity agreement between our states. It's because Delaware likes the free money off the backs of working Philadelphians. It is beyond unfair for Philadelphians to pay more in taxes just because we work across the border. Why should we pay more in taxes than someone working a similar job in Harrisburg?

It's even unconstitutional, in violation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause in Article IV, Section 2 of the Constitution, which guarantees that citizens of one state cannot be unfairly burdened by another.

On behalf of Philadelphians who work across the border in Delaware, I am calling on Governor Shapiro and Governor Meyer to work out a reciprocity agreement. In the meantime, Philadelphians can fight back by maxing out tax-deferred contributions to a Traditional 401(k) and/or HSA.

Existing Bills that I Support

911 SAVES Act

As of now, 911 dispatchers are not classified as first responders on the federal level, so they are ineligible to receive first responder benefits even though they have an extremely emotionally taxing job. One call might be from a prank caller, while the next one could be a high-stakes life or death scenario. There is already momentum on Capitol Hill to pass the 911 SAVES Act to allow 911 dispatchers to receive the same health benefits as other emergency workers.