Breaking Down The Plans: Andrew Yang

Breaking Down The Plans is a short political writing series that I am doing trying to break down 8 of each Presidential candidate’s plans (the issues that young people most care about) into factual bullet points that anyone can easily digest. I will give my opinion at the end as well as a link to the official website to read more. I’m doing this because 1. I’m a policy geek and 2. not everyone can sit through a 36-page plan. Also, if anything is in bold, it means that I feel it is significant in some way. We are gonna start with the highest polling candidate. Enjoy!

Climate change:

• Creating an American Scorecard to make sure American’s well-being is considered in policies
• Ending tax benefits and cuts on fossil fuel companies
• Instituting a tax on carbon emission to fund health research
• Directing EPA Secretary to regulate carbon emissions
• Directing the EPA to collate all state/private programs that promote renewable energy
• Stopping the Secretary of Interior from taking any lands from public to private without approval
• Preventing extraction of federal lands by state governments
• Restoring protection to all land stripped during the Trump administration
• Expanding the Every Kid in a Park initiative
• Quintupling the budget for the U.S Forest Service
• Setting a carbon tax to $40 per ton
• Directing the EPA to research reducing waste from packaging
• Making it easier to open up nuclear plants
• Instituting an Energy Race to the Top program
• Eliminating the penny

Gun violence:

• Closing the gun show and Charleston loophole
• Implementing a purchase limit on all firearms and a federal cooling off period
• Promoting a federal licensing system
• Banning assault weapons sale and distribution
• Prohibiting the sale of deadly gun accessories
• Confiscating any weapon that has been modified to hold higher ammunition capacity
• Creating an agency to monitor gun manufacturing developments
• Banning Large Capacity Ammo Feeding Devices
• Passing a federal gun transportation law
• Forming a commission to study 3D printing of guns
• Creating federal safety guidelines for gun manufacturers
• Repealing laws that shield gun manufacturers from liability
• Implementing a federal buyback program for anyone who wants to donate their guns
• Increasing funding to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and the US Department of Veterans Affairs Suicide Prevention efforts
• Directing the CDC to research gun violence
• Requiring all locations where guns are sold to display mental health resources
• Initiating mindfulness programs in schools and correctional facilities

Public education/student loan debt:

• Prohibiting the government from profiting off of student loan debt
• Proposing the 10×10 Student Loan Emancipation Act
• Initiating a program that allows graduates to pay a percent of income instead of a fixed amount
• Establishing a commission to explore debt forgiveness for students who got degrees under false pretenses
• Expanding a program to forgive the debt of graduates who work in rural areas or underprivileged populations
• Closing schools with high loan default rates and consistently low employment success
• Prosecuting all representations of schools that induce enrollment under false pretenses
• Allowing student loan debt to be discharged through bankruptcy
• Working with the Department of Education to create an information database on all post-secondary institutions
• Stipulating any university that receives public funding cannot increase its costs by more than annual median wage growth the year before
• Eliminating the ability of any university to compensate teachers with incentives tied to their rankings
• Requiring all universities that make over $30 billion to contribute 1% of their total endowment each year to the founding of a new university in Ohio
• Expanding what classes are defined as vocational classes, especially in IT skills
• Directing the Department of Education to create a plan for universal pre-kindergarten education
• Provide loan forgiveness for education majors who volunteer at preschools
• Directing the Department of Education to provide materials to all public schools about career paths that don’t require a college degree
• Beginning a public education campaign championing vocational jobs and education

Immigration:

• Providing long-term residency to anyone who has been here illegally for a long time
• Deporting any undocumented immigrant who doesn’t commit to the long-term residency tier
• Providing body cameras to all agents along the US/Mexico border
• Lowering the backlog of asylum cases
• Creating anti-cartel initiatives with the Mexican government
• Letting workers who receive positive reviews from employers remain in the country as permanent residents
• Granting any student who graduates with at least a graduate degree a green card

Gender equality:

While he has stated that he supports equal pay and the right to abortion access/contraception, there is no official gender equity plan on his website.

Racial equality/criminal justice:

• Establishing a central location to study white nationalism and extremism
• Directing the DOJ to release an annual report on domestic terrorism
• Establishing a victim’s fund for victims of domestic terror
• Ending relationships with white nationalist political parties
• Implementing a program of pre-trial services such as a text message to remind individuals of upcoming court dates
• Identifying non-violent drug offenders for probation and potential early release
• Legalizing marijuana
• Expunging the federal convictions of all marijuana-related use or possession offenses
• Authorizing federal funding to pay for a body camera for every officer in every police department in the country
• Directing the DOJ to research police-related deaths
• Providing federal funding for training of local police officers in the latest techniques
• Re-establishing the ban on distributing military-level artillery gear to police

LGBTQIA+ equality:

While he has stated that he supports funding LGBTQIA+ initiatives and appointing openly LGBTQIA+ people to his cabinet, there is no official plan for LGBTQIA+ equality on his website.

Voting rights:

• Pushing the DNC to adopt a ranked choice voting system
• Provide every eligible American voter with $100 Democracy Dollars for each federal election
• Having a constitutional amendment limiting a maximum of 12 years in each chamber of Congress
• Providing automatic voter registration
• Making Washington D.C a state
• Appointing experts, artists, and thinkers to a Public Council of Advisors
• Committing to releasing any communications between him and the Advisors publicly
• Committing at least one meeting per quarter to a subject chosen by online petition
• Making Election Day a holiday
• Proposing a constitutional amendment imposing 18-year term limits on Supreme Court Justices
• Pledge to accept no speaking fees or board positions for personal gain after leaving office
• Ban anyone in the federal government from receiving money for campaigning after they leave
• Providing an Anti-Corruption Stipend for members of the federal government as long as they don’t accept anything of value in exchange for campaigning for someone
• Overturning Citizens United and Valeo
• Eliminating Super PACS
• Lowering the voting age for federal elections to 16

To read more of his plans, go to: https://www.yang2020.com/policies/