Michael Bloomberg

Bloomberg has vowed to create a housing proposal and an earned income tax credit to provide economic opportunity for all Americans. His housing proposal would expand funding for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, and would increase federal spending for programs like the Public Housing Capital Fund, the HOME program and Community Development Block Grants. He proposes revising the Earned Income Tax Credit and raising the incomes of low-wage workers. By 2025, he wants to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Bloombergwrote in an op-ed in December 2017 that, in order to achieve revenue-neutral tax restructuring, he was in favor of reducing the 35% corporate tax rate. He criticized President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul as an “economically indefensible blunder that will harm our future.”

Bloomberg would make it a top national priority to increase student achievement, college preparedness and career readiness. He says he leads national efforts to increase the number of lower-income students enrolled in top colleges, and that as mayor, he strengthened standards and created more quality school options. He says he increased graduation rates, increased the education budget and opened new schools. While he was mayor of New York, a state law placed the New York public school system under mayoral control. Bloomberg supported the move, and used the power to open new schools, champion charter schools and close poor-performing schools. He was often at odds with the United Federation of Teachers.

In 2014, Bloomberg pledged to spend $50 million to build a nationwide grassroots network to combat the National Rifle Association. He founded the umbrella group Everytown for Gun Safety, which brought together groups he already funded: Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. A goal of the groups was to try to “expand the background check system for gun buyers both at the state and national levels,” according to The New York Times. If elected, Bloomberg says, he would continue to back common-sense gun policies. More on Bloomberg’s gun violence policy

Bloomberg said the US should expand Obamacare and Medicare in order to achieve universal coverage. His campaign website reads: “As a mayor, businessman, and philanthropist, Mike has pioneered bold health initiatives that have cleaned the air we breathe, expanded access to prenatal and postnatal care, increased screenings for breast and prostate cancer, dramatically cut teen smoking, and reduced injuries and deaths on roads.” Bloomberg said “Medicare for All” would “bankrupt us for a very long time,” The New York Times reported in January 2019. “I think you could never afford that. You’re talking about trillions of dollars,” he said of the single-payer health plan. As mayor, Bloomberg pushed for New York City to ban smoking in all restaurants and bars and for big soft drinks to be banned.

Bloomberg founded New American Economy, a pro-immigration coalition of business leaders and mayors that aims to reach the public and policymakers. In 2018, the group targeted senators with a TV and phone campaign to urge them to protect so-called Dreamers, undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children.