Your Interests. Not Special Interests

The Bush Administration has failed America. Our government appears to be broken, and our nation moving in the wrong direction. But we can change Washington if our elected officials are not beholden to lobbyists and powerful interests. Now, more than ever, we need representatives in Congress who are committed to changing the direction of our country, including standing up to leaders of their own Party when those powerful special interests drown out doing what is right for the people. We need members of Congress who will stand up for the people’s interests over powerful special interests.

People are now paying more for everything from energy to food, while wages have remained stagnant. We live in the richest country in the world, yet 47 million Americans lack health insurance and millions more are underinsured. We are still in Iraq, fighting a war that never should have been started. Big Oil has been allowed to go unchallenged, and gas is approaching $5 per gallon.

This occurred because, in Washington, as in Albany, lobbyists are writing the laws. Their influence has affected nearly every piece of legislation that is introduced and considered. Special interests have stalled attempts to enact a universal single-payer national health insurance system, known as “Medicare for All.” Their powerful grip on the system has shut down attempts to crack down on energy speculators, and stymied any effort to impose a Windfall Profits Tax on big oil companies to end gouging at the pump.

Economy

We need to create a vibrant and innovative upstate economy in which private enterprise and not-for-profits can flourish. To do so, we must make it easier for small businesses to create jobs, by lowering energy and health care costs, and increasing the purchasing power of working Americans.

Lower Health Care Costs.
A single-payer health care system would be less expensive for businesses, eliminate costly red tape and government programs, reduce the share of health insurance costs paid by employees and erase barriers for new entrepreneurs.

Energy Solutions Create Jobs.
New York has the second highest energy costs in the nation. Investing in alternative energy sources will create jobs as well as reducing harmful effects on the environment. Federal aid must focus on high tech research.

Middle Class Tax Cuts.
Tax relief should focus on middle and working class families. Pensions need to be protected. People should not have to work multiple jobs to keep their heads above water.

Health Care

As a Congressman, Phil will work to create single-payer health care insurance system. With a single-payer system, every American will have quality health care; doctors, not insurance bureaucrats, will make medical decisions; costs will be reduced for both patients and businesses; and barriers to new opportunities will be eliminated.

Let Patients & Doctors Make Decisions, Not HMO’s.
A majority of doctors support the single-payer system as an alternative to the health insurance system we have now. HMO’s and other insurers have created a complex administrative tangle under which doctors and patients are buried under red tape and under constant bureaucratic oversight. The health insurance system needs to be simplified; and decision-making needs to be returned to doctors and patients.

The current insurance system is fragmented into a patchwork quilt of inefficient governmental and private insurance plans. Oftentimes, the only way for private health insurers to increase profits, and for government to cut costs, is to deny legitimate claims by patients for coverage and legitimate claims by doctors for payment. Single payer health insurance will end this travesty.

 

Phil’s Record on Healthcare is Clear.
In Congress, H.R. 676, a bill to enact a single-payer health system, has been introduced and sponsored by 90 members of the House of Representatives. Locally, Phil introduced a resolution in support of single-payer health insurance which passed in the Albany County Legislature. Albany County is also a self-insurer for health insurance, which saves the taxpayers money. Unfortunately, 90% of the County share of the property tax goes to Medicaid. This will no longer be necessary if the single-payer system is adopted.

Protecting Medicare Because it Works.
Medicare is a single-payer system but only the elderly are allowed to be members. Medicare is highly efficient. It spends only 3 cents of every dollar on administration and 97 cents on health care, compared to HMOs, which spend 40 cents of every dollar on administration. Medicare, however, needs to be reformed to open it up to more people and to eliminate Bush administration efforts to privatize portions of the system..

Energy

We need a national energy policy. Currently, special interests are steering American energy decisions. Big Oil corporate executives and their lobbyists are writing energy laws, earning excessive profits and stifling the development of alternative technologies..

Crack Down on Speculators.
Many economists believe energy speculation accounts for a big part of the hike in the price of oil. Phil supports closing the “Enron Loophole” and cracking down on energy speculators with better regulation and beefed up enforcement of the commodities market.

Taking on Big Oil.
Phil supports enacting a Windfall Profits Tax on Big Oil to stop gouging at the gas pump. The revenue from that tax should be used to invest in sustainable and clean alternative energy technologies..

Alternative Energy Solutions.
The federal government needs to create real incentives for investment in renewable energy technologies, ease the regulatory burdens on clean power producers, and phase out environment-wasting old energy producers.

We need new, ambitious energy efficiency standards. America is a creative, innovative nation, and American businesses have the capacity to meet these standards. Icing on the cake is that innovation creates jobs.

Local Solutions.
In the Capital Region, we are fortunate to have companies that are transforming their businesses to meet the growing demand for renewables. As a Congressman, Phil will fight to create a national energy policy that will support the efforts of our local businesses who are investing in alternative energy.

Phil will also strongly support local efforts to expand hydroelectric power to fully utilize our natural assets.

Iraq, Veterans & Foreign Policy

The country was misled into a war in Iraq that never should have been started. Our brave troops have done all that has been asked of them, and we must now to end the war immediately and fund their safe return. Phil spoke out against the War from its inception and co-sponsored a resolution in support of a safe withdrawal from Iraq.

Money Better Spent Here at Home.
The independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that our misadventure in Iraq will cost close to $2 trillion by 2018. That money could be better spent here at home. Phil supports ending the funding to continue the war.

Changing our Foreign Policy.
In a broader sense, we need to end the same old, same old approach to foreign policy that led us to disaster in Vietnam and again in Iraq. We need to become part of the international community and not act as if we are superior to the rest of the world.

More for Our Veterans.
We need to do more for our veterans. Our troops have done everything asked of them in the war on terror, but the Bush Administration has not held up its end of the bargain.

Veterans deserve of thanks, but once they return home, we have reduced their benefits or failed to meet their increasing needs. The VA hospitals need more resources. Our troops are coming home with the worst injuries imaginable. The Bush administration has nickled and dimed these brave men and women out of the support they deserve. Phil supports an expanded GI Bill for education to provide economic opportunities for returning veterans. As a Congressman, he will vote to end the war now and bring our troops home with the dignity and honor they deserve.

FISA Revisions Are Unjust.
Phil does not support retroactive immunity for any industry that violates the law and he does not support secret courts because judicial power may be abused like any other.

Phil has been outspoken and critical of recent changes to FISA. Phil is a practicing civil rights attorney, and has questioned how the revisions, which set up profiling, are constitutional. This country has longstanding mandates of probable cause and reasonable suspicion that require attention to individual circumstances

Education

Education has been a priority in Phil’s life. Phil’s wife, Tricia, teaches 10th grade English at Rensselaer High School; Phil’s mother, Roselyn, taught 7th grade at Hackett Middle School in Albany; and his father, Ernie, was a well-known football coach and Director of Athletics at Albany Academy.

Ending Bush’s Failed Policies.
As a Congressman, Phil will continue to listen to teachers who tell him that No Child Left Behind has been a cruel joke played on students and educators by the federal government. Schools should teach a child how to learn and achieve, and provide them with the facts and substantive knowledge needed for success. Instead, No Child Left Behind too often forced schools to focus on teaching test-taking skills so that they can claim higher test scores without real substantive improvement in the quality of our children’s education.

Reducing Class Size with Federal Support.
Phil believes smaller class sizes and smaller schools lead to a better education for our children. The Federal government needs to adopt policies to facilitate change at the State and School District level and fund schools properly. We have reached the limit of the property tax as the means of funding local education, and the burden of financing education should be shifted to the federal government.

Universal Pre-K Works.
Because an investment in early education pays huge benefits down the road, all children should have access to universal Pre-K and full-day Kindergarten.

Urban Agenda

Phil Steck understands that our Nation's future depends on the success of our cities, which have always been at the center of community life. The economic downturn, stagnant wages, and the rising cost of everything from health care to food to gas, has taken its toll. In the Capital Region, just as in other metropolitan areas, workers in urban areas are working harder, yet can afford less.

A Better Environment for Youth.
Youth in urban areas face greater challenges than ever before. We cannot afford to let children fall hopelessly behind. Federal leadership is required in the following areas:

• Establishing universal pre-Kindergarten programs;
• Giving schools the resources to remain open after hours so that community programs may be established as an alternative to the distractions and dangers of street life;
• Making college affordable by giving students relief from student loans in exchange for public service.
• Enacting a uniform nationwide gun law so that illegal guns are less available.

Lowering the Cost of Living for Urban Families.
A single-payer universal health insurance plan system would assure that no one would be forced into debt as a result of medical bills. Since everyone would be covered, there would be no need for the costly Medicaid system, which wastes scarce resources on administrative costs. Money that Counties would no longer need to spend on Medicaid would be freed up for much needed affordable local housing initiatives.

Affordable local housing initiatives.
In Albany County, 90% of the county property tax is currently spent on Medicaid. This money should instead be used to make the housing trust fund a reality not merely an under-funded, unfulfilled promise. Funds would also be available to make sure that local housing authorities have the resources they need to create and maintain a safe and clean environment.

Vacant and abandoned buildings.
We need to expand economic development beyond downtown business districts into residential neighborhoods. Our urban neighborhoods are beset with vacant and abandoned buildings that are a plague on our cities. In Congress, Phil will introduce legislation to make it easier for municipalities to acquire vacant homes and resell them to moderate-income families who will commit to rehabilitating the structures. Among other things, the homesteading family's property taxes would be used to subsidize the rehabilitation until the project was completed.

 

Focus on broader governmental policy to rebuild aged infrastructure. Every municipality in the 21st Congressional District has difficulty maintaining its streets, water, and sewer systems. Under the Bush Administration, similarly situated urban areas have been forced into competition for access to an ever-dwindling supply of federal grants. Instead, we need to have consistent national programs which recognize the widespread nature of urban blight and the need to rebuild our urban infrastructure. We must stop subsidizing suburban sprawl and put urban redevelopment projects on a fast track. Redevelopment of inner cities and underused brownfields should be a more economical alternative to building on virgin land.

Better Communication.
Urban residents should never feel left out or left behind. Phil will be responsive and easily accessible to the district’s urban communities. He will hold regular town hall meetings throughout the district where residents can be heard and express their concerns..

Suburbanization was in part the result of Federal policies – subsidization of highways and the oil industry and neglect of mass transportation. Now, with gas prices at record highs, making suburban housing increasingly unaffordable, and with the environmental costs of sprawl having become readily apparent, the stage is set for an urban renaissance. The Federal government should seize the moment to enact policies that will facilitate the urban renaissance. It is time for the pendulum to spring back toward urban revitalization.

Agricultural Agenda

Even though the United States is the richest nation the world has ever known, it is a tragic irony that our most basic need – our food supply – is becoming increasingly at risk. People are beginning to recognize that current agricultural practices, which are industrial in scale and international in scope, need to change.

With the increased price of fuel, food is becoming more expensive to produce and transport. With agribusinesses’ heavy use of industrial chemicals, our food is less healthy and our farmland under stress. And because much of our food is imported, controlling our food supply becomes a question of national security.

We need to bring food production back to a human scale by revitalizing local and regional farming Upstate New York and the 21st Congressional District with its great farming tradition, is in a position to take advantage of this opportunity.

By rebuilding local infrastructure to support the local farm economy, which has been neglected in the era of trans-national shipment, we can support increased local production which in turn helps to ensure affordable and healthy food for our families and helps our farms remain viable for the future.

Phil has supported local right to farm laws and preservation of family farms as an Albany County Legislator. He and his family have also decided to show their support for New York's family farmers by becoming members of the New
York Farm Bureau, a non-partisan and not-for-profit statewide agricultural organization.

Supporting Family Farms.
Phil will support farm programs that provide diversified family farms that grow specialty crops like fruit and vegetables with stability in a volatile market. Subsidies for corporate farming need to be ended. Policies need to favor farmers rather than supporting the dominance of food processors and big retail chains.

We need to work to expand direct marketing and value-added opportunities for farmers by investing in local agricultural infrastructure, helping to develop niche-markets, and connecting consumers to the availability of local food and agricultural products.

Phil supports ‘Country of Origin Labeling’ and New York's branding program called ‘Pride of New York,’ which help farmers to compete in a world market and allow consumers to know where their food comes from.

We need federal help to bring universal broadband internet to underserved and rural areas, thereby supporting small business development.

Expand Land Conservation Efforts.
Phil will support conservation programs that help farmers protect our precious natural resources and maintain open-working landscapes.

New Opportunities for Farmers.
Phil will support policies that encourage the development of alternative energy like wind energy, solar, and the production of New York homegrown biofuels, including non-food based cellulosic ethanol. By devoting part of their land to wind “farming”, farmers can add another revenue stream, thereby adding value to the farm economy and increasing the demand for "green collar" jobs.

Phil supports funding for agricultural education programs at New York's colleges and universities, like SUNY Cobleskill, that foster the next generation of farmers. We must also make it easier for young and beginning farmers to start their own farms through tax or other incentives.

Statement on Civil Rights

In his 17 years as an attorney in private practice, Phil has handled cases for employees who have been the victims of discrimination on the basis of age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, and whistleblower activity. Phil has protected workers rights to overtime and the minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act. He has represented women who have been victims of sexual harassment, who have lost their pensions in violation of ERISA, who have been denied equal pay for equal work, and whose family and medical leave rights have been violated. Phil is particularly well known for his work in what are called “first amendment retaliation” cases, that is, employees fired for expressing their views in the workplace, and for workers denied due process of law.

Many of Phil’s cases have been brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1871, which was originally passed to protect freed slaves from having their federal constitutional rights denied by the States. This critically important statute protects all of us from having our constitutional rights infringed by government and those who conspire with government.

For example, Phil’s cases have involved the following allegations:

• Lou: School District Athletic Director whose job was eliminated in retaliation for writing a letter to the School Board critical of its handling of the football program

• Angela: School cafeteria worker whose job was eliminated in retaliation for a speech she gave at a School Board meeting criticizing the school budget.

• Marie: Investigator who lost her job because she objected to being solicited to attend a political fundraiser.

• Jim: School intervention worker fired without a hearing in violation of his right to due process of law.

• Manny: Restaurant worker denied access to racetrack without a hearing.

• Marcine: Teacher who won a hearing only to have the same baseless charges brought over and over again in violation of her right to due process of law.

• Candi: Health insurance worker who lost her job because she took federally protected family leave to care for her sick daughter.

• Helen: Clerk terminated from employment due to supermorbid obesity.

• Maggie: Scientist retaliated against for making a claim of race discrimination.

• Judy: Bank President who was replaced by a man who was paid a higher wage in violation of the Equal Pay Act.

• Renee: Dental hygienist who lost her pension when her employer invested the funds in highly speculative stocks.

• Bob: Floral salesman with diabetes terminated due to his alleged inability to operate a company-owned vehicle.

• Melissa: Employee terminated due to same-sex relationship with member of management.

• Hong: Victim of sexual groping in the workplace.

• Sue: Victim of improper touching and other harassment in the workplace.

• Angela: Finance worker whose supervisor discriminated against her for taking leave to undergo fertility treatments.

• Rose: Insurance agent terminated after a long history of being subjected to sex discrimination.

• Bob: Teacher discriminated against because of protected union activity.

• Joe B.: Teacher’s aide discriminated against because of protected union activity.

Phil’s everyday work experience shows a natural affinity and empathy for all Americans whose civil rights have been violated, whether in employment or otherwise. Phil knows we need to reform federal labor and civil rights laws so that pensions are protected from evisceration in bankruptcy proceedings, so that protection under Title VII (Civil Rights Act of 1964) is extended to protect sexual orientation and gender identity, and so that whistleblowers are given comprehensive protection without loopholes.
Phil knows that hate crimes are a civil rights issue as well. We need enhanced penalties for criminals who target victims on the basis of age, race, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or political activity.

Phil strongly believes in the right to privacy. A woman has the right to control over her own body, and decisions that relate to that, such as whether or not to have an abortion. These are private matters for the woman to decide for herself in consultation with her physician and her ethical or religious advisor. Phil recognizes that America is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation in which opinions on these matters will always differ. Consequently, he does not support efforts to use government to impose any particular viewpoint on the abortion issue on all Americans and he opposes States’ efforts to limit a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion.

Phil is opposed to any attempt by the federal government to interfere in State’s laws on marriage. He is a supporter both of Equality of Marriage (for all couples who desire marriage), including parental and adoption rights, and of Civil Union (to assure equal benefits to persons with a history of cohabitating together who do not desire marriage). The Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution requires that any marriage legal in one state be respected and enforced in any other state.

In the arena of international civil rights, Phil is a strong opponent of any justification for torture. The United States Courts have long ruled that international law should be incorporated into our legal fabric as a part of our own law. Therefore, the United States must adhere to all aspects of the Geneva Convention.

Phil opposes much of the new FISA law. He does not support retroactive immunity for any industry, such as telecoms, that violates the law. And, because judicial power may be abused like any other, he does not support secret courts.

But, as bad as they are, the immunity provisions are not even the worst aspect of the FISA revisions. For example, the new FISA revisions extend the time under which the National Security Administration may conduct a wiretap from 72 hours to a week. No need has been demonstrated to increase this time period. Second, the bill gives wholesale approval to bulk monitoring of electronic communications (primarily email and phone calls). This monitoring is based on software algorithms of dubious validity that supposedly determine whether or not a person's behavior patterns suggest that he or she is acting in a way that merits eavesdropping.

This concept, which is really a form of profiling, flies in the face of our longstanding mandates of probable cause and reasonable suspicion that require attention to individual circumstances. There is no conceivable constitutional basis for this type of surveillance.

Statement on Health Care

Phil Steck is a strong supporter of universal single-payer health insurance, also known as Medicare for All. As an Albany County Legislator, he got the Legislature to pass a resolution in support of single-payer health insurance. .

Single-payer operates similarly to Social Security, the most popular government program in American history. In the Social Security program, the government raises revenue to pay a monthly pension benefit to all Americans. In a single-payer health insurance program, the government raises revenue to pay medical bills. The government plays no role in health care decisions, which continue to be made by patients and their doctors. Under single-payer health insurance, Americans would receive, according to the chief sponsor of the bill currently pending in Congress, “all medically necessary primary care, dental, mental health, prescription drugs, and long term care services by the physician of their choice, with no restrictions on what providers they could visit.”

Medicare is a single-payer health insurance program for elderly Americans. Medicare, an initiative of the Kennedy administration, is an extremely successful program. However, recent Bush administration changes in Medicare, designed to begin privatizing it, have made the program unnecessarily complicated and have reduced benefits to senior citizens. Phil Steck will vote to reverse these changes and restore Medicare to its original condition.

Phil came to support single-payer health insurance during his service as an Albany County Legislator. He learned that 90% of Albany County’s property tax revenue is used to pay for the costly Medicaid program, the health insurance system for lower-income Americans. Medicaid is so costly because government has to police Medicaid recipients to make sure they are truly qualified for benefits and police physicians, who are paid extremely little by Medicaid, to make sure they do not inflate their billings to the system.

Albany County has saved taxpayers millions of dollars by becoming a self-insurer for health benefits for its employees. In the County program, employee health insurance premiums are used solely to provide benefits to employees and are not used to pay for an expensive health insurance bureaucracy.

Albany County’s experience as a self-insurer demonstrates why single-payer health insurance saves money. In comparison to both Medicaid and private health insurance, Medicare is the most efficient health insurance program available. Medicare spends 3 cents of every dollar on administration and 97 cents on health care. HMOs spend 40 cents of the dollar on administration and only 60 cents on health care.

The Bush Administration, which is captive to private health insurance interests, showed its true colors when it proposed a 10.6 % cut in doctors’ reimbursement rates for treating Medicare patients. Fortunately, the Democratic Congress rejected the Bush proposal. Given the tremendous efficiencies realized by Medicare and other single-payer programs, physicians should embrace the adoption of single-payer health insurance. As Congress recently demonstrated, there is no reason not to maintain and even improve physician reimbursement rates in a single-payer program.

Billions of dollars will be saved by adopting a single-payer health insurance program. The savings include the following:

1. Replacement of the extremely costly Medicaid program and its adverse effect on property taxes.

2. Elimination of the costly medical insurance component of Workers’ Compensation.

3. Elimination of the costly medical insurance component of auto insurance.

4. Reduction of costs to businesses which pay extremely high health insurance costs.

5. Making American business more competitive internationally, since firms in other nations that have single-payer or other national health insurance programs do not have to factor health insurance costs into the prices of their products, in contrast to American companies which have to absorb those costs or pass them along to their customers.

6. Employees will no longer be forced to pay a percentage of health insurance premiums.

7. Doctors will no longer have to waste time and money complying with health insurance bureaucracies, which often try to increase profits by denying benefits and micromanaging physicians’ medical decisions.

8. End the impoverishment of senior citizens who are forced to give up all their assets to pay for nursing home care.

Single-payer health insurance is not some pie-in-the-sky program. A recent study found that 59% of physicians favor a single-payer system. Furthermore, Jim Barba, CEO of Albany Medical Center, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Capital District Business Review in support of single-payer.

Single-payer health insurance is the only reform yet proposed that will:

• Cut health insurance costs
• Provide coverage to all Americans

Other health insurance programs designed to obtain universal coverage are defective because they obtain universal coverage at the price of higher taxes on the middle class. Single-payer health insurance is the only program that will both save tax dollars and provide solid health care benefits to the middle class. It is a middle class tax cut.