The pandemic has underscored the serious and often deadly injustice of tying health coverage to employment, while leaving upwards of 87 million Americans uninsured or underinsured even in normal times. States like Georgia and Louisiana, which refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, lead the nation in hospital closures, infant & maternal mortality, and disproportionate deaths among African Americans due to Coronavirus. The situation is now worsening as millions more workers and their families lose coverage because they’ve lost their jobs. The solution is to fully recognize healthcare as a human right and implement Medicare for All as the cost-effective way to provide enhanced coverage to everyone.

The climate crisis is an emergency, and we’re running out of time to stop the most catastrophic impacts. With our entire economy in free-fall and requiring bailing out due to the coronavirus pandemic, now is the time to rapidly decarbonize. Instead of propping up the dying fossil fuel industry, we must accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy through a just transition that puts human needs first, reinvests in frontline and marginalized communities, puts millions of people to work in good-paying union jobs, and ensures that critical energy systems operate under public democratic control. We know that black & brown communities are disproportionately impacted by environmental racism, with increased rates of asthma, cancer and other diseases.

Forty-five million people in this country are burdened with $1.7 trillion in student debt. For the average college graduate, that means coping with nearly $30,000 in loans, while students who leave college before graduating also carry a heavy debt load. s both the biggest and has grown the fastest among those with a college education, primarily due to student loans. The racial wealth gap is both the biggest and has grown the fastest among those with a college education, primarily due to student loans. By canceling student debt, we can stimulate the economy from the ground up and make it possible for America’s young adults to pursue their dreams — including careers helping the most vulnerable among us — without the often-crushing burden of debt.

The United States has been engaged in endless wars for nearly 20 years. By turning away from what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism,” we can reorder our priorities and devote far more of the nation’s resources to sustaining and improving lives instead of taking them. The federal discretionary budget—57 percent of which now goes to the military—should be directed toward meeting human needs and providing for true national security in all its dimensions.