Mandela Barnes

• Small business employees are only able to work limited hours due to the cost of childcare, a crisis that has only worsened during the pandemic. Do you support capping and subsidizing childcare costs to make it more affordable and accessible, in particular for women of color?

  YES.

  We need affordable child care for working families. This was a problem before the pandemic, but it's gotten even worse now that so many providers closed down. And the lack of available child care ‚Äî during the pandemic, but also before ‚Äî brought women's participation in the workforce to its lowest point since the 1980s. In the Senate, I would support the Child Care for Working Families Act. This legislation would direct more federal funding to child care, so we can make sure that no family goes bankrupt paying for care, but at the same time that child care workers are paid a living wage. I'll fight to make sure that no family spends more than 7% of their income on child care ‚ and that our child care workers are paid a living wage they can support a family on. Ron Johnson says he doesn't think it's the government's responsibility to take care of other people's kids ‚Äî I say that there's no bigger responsibility than caring for the next generation.

• The pandemic exposed and exacerbated the lack of access to guaranteed, universal paid family and medical leave for so many small businesses. The vast majority of small businesses lack the capital and the scale to offer paid leave, even when owners want to provide this benefit to their employees. Moreover, private insurers generally do not offer affordable, adequate paid medical leave policies to small businesses and do not offer paid family leave nationally at all. State programs have shown universal paid leave helps level the playing field between them and large businesses. Do you support a universal paid leave policy for small business owners and their employees?

  YES.

  As a community organizer in Milwaukee, I was so proud of my work to help win paid leave for the city of Milwaukee. Unfortunately, it was overturned shortly after — which is exactly why we need action on the federal level to ensure fair access to paid family and medical leave. The pandemic made this need even more clear. So many workers and families had to make the horrible decision between keeping their job and taking care of their health. We know that paid family and medical leave is essential to the health of Wisconsin workers and families, particularly to new parents and those who are the main caregiver for elderly or disabled loved ones. Women in particular have been set back decades in the workforce in part due to a lack of paid leave. I know small businesses want to offer top notch benefits to their staff, including paid leave, but our current system often makes it impossible for businesses to provide good benefits and stay afloat. That's why we need a universal paid leave policy that ensures small business owners and their employees can take the time they need for their health and their families.

• Are you in favor of breaking up Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google, Unilever, Proctor & Gamble and other large corporations that are choking out competition from small businesses and, in the case of Big Tech, exploiting them? Would you support legislation to break up monopolies?

  YES.

  In boardrooms, major corporations have engaged in numerous anti-competitive practices that stifle innovation and growth, and make it harder for small businesses to enter the marketplace and compete in the 21st century economy It's long past time to do what's right for Wisconsin businesses and workers. In the Senate I will crack down on anticompetitive practices used by major corporations to favor their own products, stifle competition from small businesses, and raise prices on everyone.

• As more and more small businesses go bankrupt, large businesses are coming in and buying them out ‚ usually leaving them permanently shuttered and creating supply chain issues (recent examples are Abbott with baby formula and Kellogg's with cereal and crackers and slaughterhouses). This increases prices for the consumer and also health and safety problems. Will you support policies and funding that would ensure that we robustly enforce the antitrust laws that exist?

  YES.

  Small businesses and the working families that power them are the heart and soul of Wisconsin. From family farms to main street shops and everything in between, small businesses are at the center of the community in every corner of Wisconsin. They support great jobs and economic growth all across our state. One of the first policy plans of my campaign was a plan to support small businesses, including supporting antitrust laws that will help small businesses get a fair shot to succeed.

• Do you think it's fair that Amazon and other large corporations pay a much lower tax rate than small businesses?

  NO.

  It's not fair that the biggest corporations have a lower tax burden than the small businesses that support our communities. In Washington, too many members of both parties often put the interests of the wealthy and well-connected ahead of workers and small business owners. I think it's time to crack down on corporate handouts and level the playing field so that every worker, entrepreneur, and business owner has a fair shot in our economy.

• Will you support closing loopholes to ensure that the very wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes to make critical public investments that will help small businesses and their communities?

  YES.

  In the Senate, I'll fight for fair budgets and tax laws that don't pick winners and losers in our economy. I will work to repeal Ron Johnson's massive tax handouts that only benefit big corporations and the ultra-rich, and instead, provide tax relief to Wisconsin's middle class and small business owners.

• There are many historically marginalized business owners being turned away from banks for loans to start or support their businesses, both before and during the pandemic. Will you lead or support efforts to greatly reduce and hopefully eliminate this discriminatory access to capital for Black and brown entrepreneurs so that they too can gain equitable access to low-interest capital?

  YES.

  Small businesses enrich neighborhoods and provide good-paying, rewarding jobs in underserved communities, but too often minority business owners encounter additional roadblocks. I've met with countless business owners and heard about the struggle of raising capital and accessing credit — and how minority-owned businesses' disproportionate difficulty to access credit put them even more on the backfoot during the pandemic. In the Senate, I will fight to ensure that veteran, women, and minority entrepreneurs have access to low-interest loans.

• Will you support increased funding for cooperatives and other employee-ownership structures, as we see many businesses passing from the older generation to cash-strapped younger people?

  YES.

  Entrepreneurship and small businesses are a fundamental part of lifting communities up, and we should support those businesses surviving for generations to come. I will fight to make sure Washington supports structures to help small businesses pass down their business — particularly our family farms, so that the next generation has the opportunity to keep our great Wisconsin tradition of family farms alive.

• Access to affordable healthcare is an ongoing struggle faced by rural and urban Wisconsinites alike. This issue is especially burdensome to small business owners on Main Street and on the family farm. Will you work to ensure all Wisconsinites have access to quality, affordable health care?

  YES.

  I will help businesses attract and keep talented workers by putting America on a path to universal healthcare, with lower costs and high quality coverage. I am proud to join Sen. Tammy Baldwin in support of Medicare for All, which is the quickest way to get there. While we work to make that a reality, there are a lot of immediate steps we can take to make sure people get the coverage they need. Our fight for better healthcare has to include allowing the federal government to negotiate lower drug prices, and lowering the Medicare age of eligibility to 50. I also support legislation that would cap insulin costs at $35 and close the health care coverage gaps in states like Wisconsin that have not expanded Medicaid, which will ensure lower prices, better healthcare, and better access to care in rural communities.

• When the ACA premium tax credits expire at the end of this year, many people will be faced with their health premiums skyrocketing in cost for those on the marketplace. Will you work to extend the enhanced subsidies in the ACA marketplace or ideally make them permanent?

  YES.

  The Affordable Care Act was an incredible step forward for working families and small businesses across the country. Fully 400,000 Wisconsinites rely on the Affordable Care Act. While Ron Johnson and the Republicans continue their crusade to repeal the ACA, I will fight to strengthen the ACA by making its tax credits permanent, and build on the ACA's foundation to put the country on a path towards universal health care.