A Legislative Slam Dunk
Republicans are poised to force Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” down our throats, a budget bill crammed with wildly unpopular measures. So I wondered, what bipartisan legislation could be enacted that polls highly among all Americans across the aisle? What do we agree on as a majority? A hypothetical slam dunk for any politician to enact.
Bundling wildly sweeping legislation into one giant bill is generally undemocratic and impractical as representatives can be steamrolled into voting for policies that they wouldn’t otherwise agree to. Case in point, bloated cable packages that include far more channels than any one person could watch. Do I want to pay for Fox News? Absolutely not, but it comes with YouTube TV by default. It puts me in a bind. I want HGTV, and to have it, I must accept including Fox News within my subscription. My interest in HGTV supersedes my hatred of Fox News. An à la carte model would prevent such a situation (maybe, hopefully cut costs as well) and it would indicate to YouTube TV which elements of their subscription plan users actually desire.
Now imagine your representatives facing the same sort of impossible binary choice. This week the Republican party is telling it’s members, if you want tax cuts for the wealthy you must accept slashing Medicaid. If you campaigned on tax cuts and in order to get them you have to swallow a poison pill of slashed Medicaid, which isn’t what you campaigned on, you might just agree to it in order to keep your word. This is how stupid and unpopular items become enacted policy. If we don’t like forced entertainment options, it’s that much worse when applied to policy impacting daily American life.
It seems the world we live in today is hell bent on bundles and subscriptions, so I’m entertaining the idea. In this thought experiment, I’ve concocted a huge bill containing only policies that are supported by at least 51% of the American people. The same threshold that is supposed to prevent Congress from passing unpopular ideas as the law of the land. Disclaimer: I haven’t extensively checked the sources I’ve included in the interest of time, though I attempted to only include trusted and objective resources when available. This post isn’t designed as an in depth research piece, but rather a quick outline of general public sentiment.
My “Plethora of Popular Policy” to combat Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” I presume, could be enacted by any politician for some easy and popular wins for the American people. Even if only the top one or two items in each section, or perhaps all items over the super-majority threshold of 66% in favor, were enacted it would go a long way toward repairing American institutions and overall trust in the system. In my view, this is a line-by-line outline of what our representatives would act on if they were truly invested in what their constituents want, rather than corporate donors or personal interests. Everything here should already be law in a functioning democracy.
Plethora of Popular Policy
Political Reform
Overturn Citizen’s United and reduce the influence of large campaign donors (88% support)
Enact term limits for congress (87% support)
Prohibit members of Congress from trading stocks (86% support)
Reduce the influence of special interest groups and lobbyists (84% support)
Set a maximum age limit for federally elected officials including SCOTUS (79% support)
Require government-issued photo IDs in order to vote (76% support)
Prohibit former senior Executive Branch officials from lobbying for foreign governments for life (75% support)
Make it more possible for independent and third-party candidates to compete (74-77% support)
66% super majority threshold
Abolish the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote (65% support)
Automatically register all eligible citizens to vote (62% support)
End partisan gerrymandering of voting districts (57% support)
Adopt ranked choice voting in federal elections (55% support)
Budget & Economics
Raise the cap on income subject to the Social Security payroll tax (88% support)
Promote international trade through a set of internationally agreed-on rules (87% support)
Eliminate the ‘hedge fund managers tax’ loophole (84% support)
Encourage apprenticeship programs by offering tax credits (83% support)
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (82% support)
Increase the amount spent on training programs for cybersecurity and energy (81-82% support)
Raise the Social Security retirement age to at least 68 years old to mend shortfalls (79% support)
Adopt a 1% surtax on corporate income above $100 million (78% support)
Increase unemployment benefits as a percent of prior earnings—currently 39% (78% support)
Reduce Social Security benefits for the top 25% of lifetime earners to mend shortfalls (76% support)
Create a federal jobs program for community projects in times of low employment (75-82% support)
Adopt a 4% surtax on individual income above $5 million (75% support)
Create a congressional commission to reduce child poverty (75% support)
Raise the federal minimum wage to $9 (74% support)
Raise taxes on tobacco products (73% support)
Have a free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada (72% support)
Raise average effective tax rates on incomes of $500k - $1 million+ including capital gains (68-75% support)
66% super majority threshold
Reduce spending on nuclear weapons programs by $2 billion (65% support)
Reduce the defense budget by at least $7 billion (64% support)
Raise tax rates on large businesses and corporations (63% support)
Raise the alcohol tax to 25 cents per ounce (61% support)
Raise tax rates on household incomes over $400,000 per year (58% support)
Raise the minimum Social Security benefit for those who have worked at least 30 years (58% support)
Reduce spending on agencies that enforce federal law by at least $2 billion (56% support)
Reduce subsidies to agricultural corporations by at least $7 billion (56% support)
Regulation
Increase personnel to process asylum claims faster (93% support)
Allow USPS to offer a wider range of products and services (89% support)
Make marijuana federally legal for medical use (88% support)
Include enforceable labor and environmental standards in new trade agreements (86-89% support)
Increase and strengthen immigration paths toward full citizenship (74-80% support)
End or limit forced arbitration clauses preventing consumers from suing corporations (67-75% support)
Require a declaration of war from Congress before the President can use nuclear weapons (68% support)
66% super majority threshold
Legalize abortion in all or most cases (63% support)
Make marijuana federally legal for recreational use (57% support)
Provide aid to reduce poverty and violence in Central America (57% support)
Tighter restrictions on firearm sales (56% support)
End Daylight Savings Time (54% support)
Ban the manufacture, possession, and sale of assault rifles (52% support)
Climate
Plant one trillion trees to offset carbon emissions (90% support)
Build more solar and wind farms (83-90% support)
Tax credits for businesses that capture carbon (84% support)
Tougher restrictions on power plant emissions (80% support)
Invest in the development of alternative energy sources (79% support)
Larger taxes on carbon producing businesses (73% support)
Stricter fuel efficiency standards for cars (71% support)
Recommit to the 2014 Paris Agreement or go above and beyond its aims (68-70% support)
66% super majority threshold
Protect conservation lands and wildlife (62% support)
Enforce strict clean air and water regulations (56% support)
Funding for states to help communities adapt to climate change (54% support)
Heath & Science
Allow Medicare to negotiate drug price (92% support)
Invest in developing new medicines to prevent or cure diseases (91% support)
Invest in developing advanced technologies that help drive economic growth and increase wages (90% support)
Amend the patent system to market generic drugs more quickly (88% support)
Invest in developing innovative manufacturing and materials to boost domestic production capabilities (88% support)
Invest in developing new energy technologies to make America more energy independent (86% support)
Give NASA a larger budget (85% support)
Guarantee paid parental, family and medical leave (85% support)
Increase SNAP benefits (78-88% support)
Lower Medicare eligibility to 55 years or older (79% support)
Increasing spending $18 billion a year to eliminate chronic hunger by 2030 (72% support)
Offer a government-run public healthcare option open to all (71% support)
Increasing spending $21 billion a year for universal access to clean drinking water and sanitation by 2030 (70% support)
Lower Medicaid costs by encouraging use of generic drugs (69% support)
Increasing spending $11 billion a year for universal access to vaccinations by 2030 (69% support)
66% super majority threshold
Invest in exploring space to better understand the broader universe and make new discoveries (63% support)
Provide universal basic healthcare coverage (57% support)
Education
Mandate civic education about the Constitution, voting rights, and elections (94% support)
Focus on preparing students to enter the workforce (84% support)
Federally fund child care and preschool programs (81% support)
Do more to attract and retain quality educators (81% support)
Prioritize student mental health programs (73% support)
Expand pre-K and Head Start programs for low-income families (72% support)
Increase teacher salaries by raising property taxes (67% support)
Give teachers more influence over what’s taught than school boards, residents, and state legislature (66% support)
66% super majority threshold
Debt-free college education (61% support)
Increase funding for public schools (59% support)
Protect students from discrimination (58% support)
Criminal Justice
Require all officers to wear body cameras (89% support)
Reduce the mandatory minimum sentence for ‘one strike’ drug offenses from 10 years to 5 years (83% support)
Require officers to intervene in cases where another officer is using excessive force (82% support)
Create a national registry of police misconduct openly available (81% support)
Prohibit employers from disqualifying a person on the basis that they were arrested but not convicted (81% support)
Prohibit public Housing Authorities from rejecting applicants or evicting tenants on the basis of an arrest (79% support)
Give judges discretion for early release of prisoners convicted as juveniles (78% support)
Prohibit chokeholds and other neck restraints (73% support)
Require officers to receive implicit racial bias training (72% support)
Incentivize states to hire independent prosecutors (70% support)
Require de-escalation training and make officers criminally liable if they fail to attempt before using deadly force (69% support)
Automatically reinstate the right to vote for felons after they have completed sentences (69% support)
66% super majority threshold
Ban no-knock warrants (65% support)
Require government approval for police department requests for surplus military equipment (64% support)
Amend qualified immunity so it’s possible to hold officers liable for use of excessive force (63% support)
Tech & Industry
Hold AI companies liable for political deepfakes (84% support)
Pass national data privacy legislation (83% support)
Mandate safety measures and government oversight for the certification and release of new AI models (80% support)
Ensure the right to repair personal electronics and equipment (70-80% support)
Hold social media companies liable for illegal/unethical activities on their platforms (79% support)
Create privacy protections for AI use (72% support)
66% super majority threshold
Require broadcasters to disclose when a political ad is produced with AI (64% support)
Increase regulations for tech companies (56% support)
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