Contract For American Renewal (CFAR)

CONTRACT FOR AMERICAN RENEWAL

U.S. House of Representatives

First District, State of Minnesota

I, Johnny Akzam, if elected to a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing the First District of the State of Minnesota, hereby commit to sponsor or co-sponsor and vote in favor of legislation for all of the following:

• Raising the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour.
• Initiating government investment over five years towards rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, railways, airports, public transit systems, ports, dams, wastewater plants, and other infrastructure needs, while vigilantly minimizing their environmental impact.
• Implementing bold measures to address climate change; cultivating through investment and tax incentives sustainable sources of energy, as alternatives to fossil fuels.
• Ending the war in Afghanistan; ending the unnecessary military exploits across the globe, except where absolutely required to protect the safety of American citizens; reducing the military budget by a minimum of 20%.
• Establishing a progressive estate tax on the top 0.3% of Americans who inherit more than $3.5 million; increasing the income tax rates on the top 1% of earners to the levels they were at in January 1980; closing tax loopholes, especially targeting tax avoidance using offshore tax havens; introducing appropriate parallel increases to capital gains tax rates.
• Reforming tax regulations to discourage corporations from shifting their profits and jobs overseas to avoid paying U.S. income taxes; and enacting a universal transaction tax on Wall Street trading to discourage reckless speculation.
• Expanding social security by lifting the cap on taxable income above $250,000; and increasing benefits by at least 10% for all eligible recipients.
• Making no reductions in the existing benefits of Medicare; expand Medicare as part of a single-payer initiative to establish fully universal high quality health care.
• Reversing trade policies like NAFTA, CAFTA, and PNTR, and permanently blocking the passage of TPP and TTIP, all of which drive down wages and cause the loss of millions of domestic jobs.
• Overturning Citizens United and related Court decisions and initiating comprehensive electoral reform to ban big and corporate money in politics.
• Making tuition free at public colleges and universities throughout America.

I will not resist, discourage, or in any manner put up an impediment to, and will in fact publicly and on the floor of the House of Representatives actively promote, any and all legislation which exclusively supports these measures. If no other legislator comes forth to propose such individual pieces of legislation, I will create and introduce by my own initiative, within 180 days of taking office, legislative acts for all of the foregoing, for consideration by Congress.

I further understand and fully agree to the following:  If I violate the above-stated terms of this agreement, I will tender on the 181^st day after taking the oath of office for my legislative seat, my unconditional resignation from this elected position. Moreover, within one year of my resignation, I will refund all contributions made by individual donors in support of my candidacy for this office.

This entire agreement constitutes a legally-binding contract between myself and that class of citizens who will be my constituents, should I win the upcoming election. In the event that I fail to perform the above-required actions, I recognize redress may be sought by those same citizens in appropriate available legal channels. Such litigation can only be initiated by a clear majority of eligible voters in my district, via a referendum of those constituents.

I sign this contract voluntarily and with full appreciation of my obligations and responsibilities under this agreement to the citizens of the First District of the State of Minnesota, should they choose me as their elected representative. I accept the terms of this document as legally-binding, and with a thorough and lucid understanding of its requirements and consequences.