House Candidate Tamara Zwinak Answers Questionnaire for The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer and the Herald-Sun

US House of Representatives District 11

Thank you for completing our candidate questionnaire for The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer and the Herald-Sun. Your answers will be published in our voter guide and may be lightly edited for spelling and grammar. Our goal is to help voters understand candidates' views on important policy issues.

Email address *

zdthm49@gmail.com

Political party (if applicable) *

Green

Age as of November 3, 2020 *

68

Campaign website *

https://ushouserace2020.blogspot.com/

Occupation *

Social Worker

Education *

Master's Degree, Social Work

Have you run for elected office before? (Please list previous offices sought) *

Rockland County, New York, Orangetown Legislative seat.

Please list highlights of your civic involvement: *

Advocating for the disadvantaged; mentally ill, drug addicted; disabled; Veterans; military families; immigrants; food stamp recipients; the elderly; Aids patients; suicide prevention and crisis resolution; Green community development; homeless: and religious accommodation. Advocate for stronger tenant rights in LIHTC affordable housing developments and expansion of the program to end homelessness.

What are the biggest lessons you've taken away from the coronavirus pandemic and what policy steps would you take to better position the country to deal with a future pandemic? *

The coronavirus pandemic has killed over 200,000 Americans of which nearly 50% are seniors; and Black and Brown people. Of those who have recovered, thousands still suffer from lingering symptoms that may leave them permanently disabled. Millions are unemployed, millions more are discouraged workers and only half of the unemployed receive unemployment insurance. The pandemic is not over and it is expected to surge again in November. My immediate plan for managing the pandemic includes Social Distancing, Mask Mandates, Rapid Testing with Immediate Results, a Safe and Effective vaccine available to all; production of PPE, medications and vaccines in the US; and testing of waste water. All the lessons have not been learned, yet. But in the future we need to listen to science and act early to prevent death and disability. We had a plan, but the current administration discarded it. That is a big lesson.

What is your plan for expanding affordable health care to more Americans? *

I have always supported universal healthcare coverage in order to ensure accessible and affordable healthcare for all. The ACA is not affordable; premiums, co-pays and deductibles are too high. The ACA is not economically sustainable and during the pandemic, the situation has worsened with many people losing coverage. MedicareUSA is the plan I propose that will be available to everyone with a small monthly premium and co-pays to cover outpatient and inpatient care. Employers can opt into the plan or continue to provide their own coverage for employees. The average Medicare premium for a senior is $220 a month. With MedicareUSA seniors remain covered while millions of Americans enroll in the plan, lowering the cost of their premiums. Local communities need federal grants to ensure that public hospitals and clinics remain open in rural areas, with competitive salaries to keep and attract doctors and nurses.

What is your plan for creating more and better paying jobs for Americans? *

Raise the minimum wage to $18 an hour. My plan for Sustainability will create millions of jobs for Americans as we reengineer how we do business. To do this workers need a college education, so we must make that affordable.

What issue of importance to North Carolinians does not get enough attention in Washington or in the press and how would you address that issue if elected? *

The issue of affordable housing and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program is stagnant and does not get needed attention from Congress. I have a new plan for LIHTC that will require stronger tenant rights. Presently, the program is designed in a lopsided manner, with incentives given to owners to build, but no tenant protections. We need affordable housing to end homelessness, displacement and to stabilize communities. But this can't be done without strong incentives to protect tenant rights. When elected, I propose to increase the tax credit for developers to 8% for first two years, 6% for 3-5 years and 4% for 5-10 with strong penalties for evicting tenants and a requirement to have a Tenant Rights Association at each development.

What's the most important thing you think you can work with members of another party to accomplish in office? *

It is time to demand sustainable planning. My plan includes creating the U.S. Department of Sustainability to accomplish this goal within my first-term in Congress. We need to be united if we are going to succeed at transitioning to sustainable communities that will reverse our environmental emergency and create enduring communities, without crashing the economy. My plan is aggressive and realistic. We must build better communities, using local resources. We need to balance our economy so that if one business leaves, the community survives. We do this by supporting a thriving small business community where large business is embedded but not wedded to our economy. The pandemic has shown us a new way to connect without warming the planet and wasting natural resources. We must transition to more sustainable packaging to end plastic waste.