Rebecca Parson 2020 Questionnaire – US House District 6

The Urbanist Elections Committee invited candidates in the Seattle metropolitan region to fill out our questionnaire and participate in our endorsement process. We based our endorsement decisions on the responses and follow-up interviews.

Below is the response from Rebecca Parson, who is running for US House District 6.

What housing reforms are necessary at the federal level? How would you achieve them? (200 words or less)

I support federal investment in millions of green built small housing units subsidized for the homeless, the disabled, low income workers, and others in need. I believe this is a critical part of the Green New Deal. I support a national Tenant’s Bill of Rights requiring just-cause for termination of tenancy, providing public legal counsel in all eviction cases and landlord/tenant disputes, and expanding protections of tenants’ rights to livable housing. I support national rent control and a prohibition on rental deposits. I support a vacancy tax to curb rampant speculation from investors that artificially drives up property value. Housing is a Human Right.

Do you support campaign finance reform? If yes, what form and why? (100 words or less)

Yes. I support a constitutional amendment to publicly finance elections. I support Congressional legislation to ban money in politics. Citizens United and Buckley v. Valeo were some of the worst decisions of the modern Supreme Court. Without packing the Supreme Court or at least getting a liberal majority, we can’t eliminate the horrific political abuse of the billionaire class outside of a constitutional amendment. That is going to require a lot of work and I support both working within congress and at the state level to enact actual campaign finance reform in favor of the people.

How do we ensure everyone in America has quality health care and can afford it? (200 words or less)

I am an advocate of the National Improved Medicare For All bill HR1384, and am committed to its passage. Healthcare is a Human Right. I am also a board member of the single payer advocacy group Whole Washington, which has been fighting to bring a single payer healthcare bill that parallels Medicare For All to Washington State via the state legislature or a ballot initiative. It is critical that we transform our healthcare system to be non-profit, taking the dollars out of the pockets of CEOs and shareholders, and putting that money into more facilities and more healthcare staff to ensure all residents can receive the healthcare that they need.

What lessons about government revenues and fiscal priorities from the wake of 2008 would you apply in responding to the Covid-19 crisis? (200 words or less)

It is clear that current prevailing economic wisdom among the political class is wrong. We can see throughout history that the best way to rise out of recession or depression is a massive amount of government spending. When FDR’s administration began to adopt austerity in the early days of the New Deal, it caused another recession, and it was only when the full force of the American economy was converted into wartime production that the Great Depression was overcome. The 2008 crisis had a response that was completely insufficient to truly turn around the recession. We should have bailed out the taxpayers instead of the banks and the major corporations. We need to embrace a Keynesian model of economics instead of the austerity that the political elites have been championing. Each state is woefully underprepared to handle the coming economic crisis and they are lacking the tools that the federal government has. We need to deliver a massive bailout aimed at the citizens and not the major corporations like the current CARES acts have been.

To get your vote, what must a transportation funding package include? (100 words or less)

I believe that in order to increase the livability of our cities and fight climate change, we need to have a massive increase in transportation. We need to subsidize existing rail lines instead of privatizing and require them to maintain a profit. We need to build high speed rail along major transit corridors and help reduce air travel. We need to transition cities away from cars and develop more bus routes and light rail. I also believe that public transit should be fare free to encourage its use and also as a subsidy to low income transit users.

What should be the federal strategy to solve homelessness nationwide? (200 words or less)

We need to build public housing funded by and owned by the government. We need to enact rent control at the federal level. We need to enact a vacancy and speculation tax, since a huge amount of livable properties are just sitting empty for investment. Those properties could be used as public housing. We also need to enact a Medicare For All single payer system since medical bills are a huge cause of homelessness. Nobody should be worried about medical bills in the richest country in the world. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it will save money as proven by an ultra-conservative think tank. I support drastically increasing the number of social workers and their pay, and would support legislation that would grant federal funds to local municipalities to do so.

Is a Vision Zero goal of eliminating road deaths achievable nationwide and should we make it a national priority? If not, why? If yes, what do we need to do to get there? (150 words or less)

I have been unaware of Vision Zero until now, so I do not feel comfortable commenting, and have do not have time to effectively research this before your deadline due to other campaign time constraints. I look forward to being able to address this in the future.

Do you support a Green New Deal? What does a Green New Deal look like to you? (150 words or less)

I strongly support a Green New Deal. It is the only proposal put forward so far that will adequately address climate change. The Green New Deal needs to do more than just increasing green technology and green manufacturing. It needs to incorporate climate justice and ensure that all people are treated fairly during the transition. We need a robust transition program for people who are currently employed in the fossil fuel industry that is not condescending like a voucher for coding training. We need to accept that a large amount of people cannot transition like that and need to offer a buyout or some sort of job transfer program instead of just retraining. Any Green New Deal needs to incorporate international justice and recognize the damage that the developed world has done to other countries and we need to help them build up their green infrastructure.

How should your Congressional caucus wield power? Is the wiser strategy to gravitate toward a political center or define a strong position away from it and pull people along? And are there reforms you support to level the playing field for groups you see as disenfranchised? (200 words or less)

Our caucus needs to fight hard for what we believe in. That does not mean triangulating to the center immediately, that means being bold and unyielding. Be willing to walk away from a deal if it’s bad, and to block bills in order to flex the power of our caucus and make sure that the caucus is taken seriously and not just a free vote. It is not good enough to be slightly better than the alternative, we must take seriously the charge of shepherding new generations into a better world and transform the country in way that will allow future generations to be proud. To ease disenfranchisement and promote equity, we must pay reparations to descendants of African slaves, establish direct-democratic community control of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, abolish ICE. grant amnesty to every undocumented person, fully fund the Bureau of Indian Education and strengthen self-determination, a create universal public child care, provide at least 12 weeks of paid family leave to all American workers, and pass the Revitalize Unions Now (RUN) act and federal legislation similar to the Raise the Wage Act (H.R. 582 in 2019) guaranteeing a living wage.

The Urbanist Elections Committee’s Take: Vote Parson

Read our full endorsement here.