Steve Israel: 'Give Every Family A Fair Shot'

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Across New York, middle-class families are wondering how they’ll send their kids to college, pay their mortgages and still manage to save enough for retirement. Women across America face an uphill climb in the workplace, as they continue to earn less than men.

We face a tax code that is skewed against New Yorkers, a system that allows women to get paid less than men for the same work, and politicians who are hell-bent on backtracking on our promises to seniors. These are among the problems our elected leaders are expected to address. And this election, like all others, is about: who’s got your back? Who’s got the back of the middle class?

I am proud to have spent my career fighting for New York’s middle class families and in this election we face a critical choice: do we continue to push to make sure all New Yorkers have a shot at the American Dream or do we go back to the days of “you’re on your own.” I believe we must give every family a fair shot.

Living on Long Island, I know first hand how hard it is to make ends meet when you have to pay the highest property taxes, states taxes, and cost of living in the country. That’s why I stood up to members of both parties and stopped what would have been the largest tax hike in history on middle class families because our friends and neighbors simply cannot take it anymore. Now, I am fighting to adjust the federal tax code to reflect the high cost of living in places like New York because a dollar simply doesn’t go as far in Huntington, New York, as it does in Huntington, West Virginia.

Middle class New Yorkers also know that we cannot grow the economy from the top down or from the bottom up – but from the middle, out. That’s why I believe it is unconscionable that in 2014, women are still getting paid 77 cents on the dollar to what a man makes for the same job. We must end pay discrimination once and for all and raise the minimum wage because middle class families deserve to be treated fairly and I’m proud to take on this fight.

But as we fight to improve the quality of life for working and middle class families, we must continue to honor and defend the promises we’ve made to our seniors. I’m proud to have pushed back against ultra-conservative attempts to privatize Social Security and turn Medicare into a fee-for-service voucher program. Medicare and Social Security aren’t simply entitlements, they are solemn promises that our seniors rely on and I plan to defend and grow those commitments.

These are my priorities because they are the priorities of New York’s middle class families. I am Long Island middle class through and through and that’s why I’ll never shy away from this fight. I hope you’ll stand with my on November 4th so I can continue to stand for our values.

Rep. Steve Israel, D-Huntington, represents New York’s third congressional district.