Issues

Most Americans now believe our government is more responsive to the needs and wants of special interests than to its own citizens. Unfortunately, this is based on a strong degree of truth. Our government’s bureaucracy has grown corrupt at the expense of democratic principles via regulatory capture by industries. Lobbying is one small but better-known part of regulatory capture. However, those who are responsible for regulating industry towards the public good often attend the same schools as those they regulate, pass through revolving doors between industry and government, sympathize with industry perspectives, rely on industry for expertise and information, and often corrupt the regulatory integrity of our government unwittingly. We will create a more independent government and competitive public workforce from industry to ensure controls in our economy and society protect our fundamental liberties, adhere to the public interest, and respond effectively to the needs of the People. 

The state of housing in California is past the breaking point. The overwhelming cost of housing also means intransigent homelessness, young people cannot afford to start families, our elders are at risk of poverty in their retirement, and other unbearable cost of living conditions. At the federal level, Nicolas will act to open supply chains for housing materials and labor, reduce costs through domestic manufacturing incentives, and reform the tax code to disincentivize speculative homeownership and the use of housing as an investment vehicle. By phasing out unfair deductions and loopholes that reward vacancy and rent extraction, we can restore housing’s true purpose: shelter, community, and stability. 

The state of healthcare in America is indefensible. Millions remain uninsured or underinsured, costs continue to skyrocket, and families face bankruptcy for simply getting sick. We are the only developed country with a system like ours and we shouldn't tolerate it. Employers and workers alike shoulder crushing premiums, while pharmaceutical and insurance companies extract billions in profit. Healthcare should not be a privilege, but a public guarantee. Nicolas will work to establish a universal, single-payer system, "Medicare for All", to ensure every person in this country has access to high-quality, affordable care. By reducing the inefficiencies of middlemen and private insurers, and negotiating fair drug prices, we can redirect billions toward direct care, prevention, and medical innovation. 

The Bay Area stands at the front line of the climate crisis. Our oil refineries are closing, our agricultural regions are drying and flooding in the same year, and the workers who literally power California’s economy will be left behind if nothing is done. Entire industries are being reshaped by forces far larger than any one county, yet our policies remain reactive and piecemeal. We cannot allow climate action to mean community abandonment. A Green New Deal for the Bay Area means investing in a just transition by rebuilding the economic foundation of our refinery towns, retraining workers for clean energy industries, and restoring agricultural resilience through sustainable water, soil, and energy practices. Nicolas will work to expand clean energy supply chains, incentivize domestic renewable production, and direct federal funding to regional climate adaptation led by local communities. We will mobilize public investment to create new industries, new jobs, and a livable planet. 

Immigration to the United States has always been among the principal contributions to our greatness. We are all immigrants if we are not indigenous, and we should share the same opportunities we had with others who continue to believe in the American Dream and strive for a better life here. Therefore, Nicolas supports immigration reform that would allow anyone with the will to become an American to enter, try their hand, and succeed fairly, just as we should expel those who harm others or partake in illicit activities, and punish anyone who criminally employs illegal immigrants as a form of indentured servitude.  

The aggregate amount of student debt in America is reaching $2 trillion. Americans' futures, and the economy itself, cannot continue to sustain this amount of debt. Among the principal reasons for this much debt are the low subsidization of public education and high interest rates. Nicolas would vote to free Americans of this unreasonable debt, greatly expand funding for public education, and end the practice of applying above-inflation interest rates on government loans to unleash the full potential of citizens seeking education for the benefit of our civic life and the economy. 

Social Security is the greatest program devised by Americans to end the blight of poverty in our country. Shamefully, the Social Security trust fund is being targeted by wealthy interest groups who want to privatize it and gamble our earned benefits on market uncertainty. This would put the one thing that guarantees income to millions of deserving and vulnerable Americans at risk of financial insolvency during a market crisis; precisely when they would need it most. Nicolas will vote to protect Social Security and expand it by lifting the payroll tax cap so that the most well off pay their fair share.