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Crystal Clear Vision for today and tomorrow
As Illinois
’
United States senator my primary role will be to serve as an agent of economic change andprosperity for the people of Illinois. That includes two important tasks: to envision change and tocatalyze change. Change is as much in the details as it is in the vision. My
20/20 Vision
plan is more thana statement of ideas. It is a plan of action. As United States senator, I will pursue my
20/20 Vision
to:
 
Build a new educational infrastructure and create jobs
 –
 
including “green” jobs –
in a revitalizedmanufacturing economy for the people of Illinois.
 
Promote research and development that will enable the United States to be a domesticproducer of infrastructure systems such as high-speed rail and a leading global competitor inscientific fields such as biotechnology.The policy and legislative agenda of 
20/20 Vision
will
 
channel economic stimuli to Main Street, in muchthe same way that recent stimulus packages have been directed to Wall Street. Our solutions will belong-term, because we can no longer afford to mortgage the prosperity of future generations throughshort-term quick fixes that remedy nothing. We need to first invest in our human capital and reshapeour educational infrastructure:My
20/20 Vision
links all levels of education to the economy. Improvement of our educationalinfrastructure to create sustainable jobs in Illinois and revitalization of 
the state’s manufacturing base is
no small task. It will require federal policy that is dedicated to:
 
Strengthening education from early childhood through the university level.
 
Supporting training, research and development in fields that promote advanced manufacturingand create green jobs.Large corporations and smaller supply-chain manufacturing companies must work in tandem to increaseglobal competitive advantage; businesses must partner with local governments and school districts toproduce a well-educated and highly skilled workforce. I will draw on the many sources of human andinstitutional capital in our state that are already working independently toward strengthening educationand paving the way for employment in green industries.
Educational policy and legislative agenda
20/20 Vision
will include
 
initiating and/or supporting federal policy for a fully articulated, educationalinfrastructure which focuses on one child at a time, beginning at early-childhood, continuing intosecondary, and sustained through post-secondary and four-year education by:
 
Continuing the Early Learning Challenge Fund and other federal early care funding streams.
 
Creating funding for the establishment of polytechnical high schools, as well as expanding careerand technical education.
 
Improving math and science instruction in public high schools and promoting the stud
 
y of engineering at the university level.
 
 
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Strengthening post-secondary manufacturing training programs in community colleges.
 
Supporting advanced manufacturing and green-job creation through more research anddevelopment by public and private universities.
 
Ensuring that every Illinois student who seeks a college degree will have the resources neededto complete it.
 
Supporting Education Access legislation to enable every eligible low-income student to receivePell Grants that cover at least 85% of the costs of attending a public university or college.
 
Reducing debilitating educational debt while promoting public service.
 
Providing Illinois school districts with the flexibility to develop innovative educational solutionsand programs that address localized educational contexts and needs.
o
 
Including micro-grants for unique programs that serve special-needs students and thebest and brightest students, one child at a time.As I pursue this legislative and policy agenda, I will also bring together a coalition of stakeholders fromacross Illinois to formulate a shared strategy; including the:
 
Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, a partnership of stakeholders from thegovernment-labor-business-communities. Since 2005 the CMRC has been working throughoutnorthern Illinois to improve secondary and post-secondary education. Over the last two yearsCMRC has opened two high schools aligned with technology and advanced manufacturing.
 
The Illinois Community College Sustainability Network
 
, a consortium of all 48 communitycolleges in the state. It is dedicated to providing training and expertise for the new energy
economy and building a “green
-
collar” workforce in Illinois.
 
 
The Vermicomposting Center at Southern Illinois University, which puts millions of wigglerworms to work to consume tons of food waste. The center also develops sustainable initiativesincluding green construction techniques, industrial ecology and rain-water harvesting.
 
Local and regional economic development initiatives, such as the Danville-based VermillionAdvantage in east-central Illinois. This initiative works with businesses and schools to enhanceworkforce preparedness.
Revitalizing manufacturing and creating green jobs
20/20 Vision
will create jobs in Illinois manufacturing and nurture green industries whose productsreduce our dependence on foreign oil and protect our environment. I will initiate a comprehensivefederal policy for rejuvenating manufacturing and creating jobs that:
 
Increases funding for research and development by publicly and privately held companies thatsupports advanced manufacturing and green-job creation.
 
Provides matching funds for manufacturers that offer in-house worker skills retraining.
 
Establishes a system of national skills standards for salaried and production manufacturing jobsthrough an education, training and verification system that will increase the globalcompetitiveness of American advanced manufacturing.
 
Encourages the development and sustainability of small businesses as an immediate source of  job creation through microloans, R&D incentives, accelerated depreciation and tax credits fornew capital expenditures
 
Provides tax incentives for corporations
that “in
-
source” job
to local workforces in areas such aselectronics-component manufacturing and assembly and software development.
 
 
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Encourages the reverse flow of low-tech manufacturing (such as sewing and plastics) back
“onshore” to the United States, where lower transportation costs and a weakened dollar can
now yield efficient and profitable domestic production and distribution.
 
Funds a wind-turbine supply chain initiative to link local companies to rapidly expandingopportunities in the renewable-energy industry.
 
Increases funding to improve state manufacturing infrastructures, including increasedbroadband access and improved environmentally friendly electricity grids.
Labor policies
20/20 Vision
includes pro-labor policies which have and can continue to improve the workplace for allAmericans. In the U.S. Senate, I will be an advocate for labor and support:
 
Employee Free Choice Act
 
Pension and benefit reform
 
Education-to-employment pipeline
 
Health-care benefits for retired workers
Environmental protection
20/20 Vision
offers forward-looking environmental solutions that will reduce our consumption of fossilfuels
 –
through sustainable practices, technology development and alternative energy sources
 –
as theprimary objective of environmental legislation that I will introduce and co-sponsor in the U.S. Senate.Legislation will include:
 
Telecommute tax credit: For employers that allow employees to work from home either full orpart time.
 
 
Broadband Internet tax credit: To companies that provide areas without service, or increasespeeds in areas with service.
 
Sustainable environmental choices: Support comprehensive cap-and-trade climate-changelegislation that will provide incentives to reduce global-warming emissions while putting millionsof people back to work in clean-energy jobs and promoting long-term economic growth,including:
 
vehicle fuel-cell/battery technologies
 
wind, solar, geothermal and biomass power
 
commercial building retrofits and home weatherization
 
mass transit, high speed rail and freight rail
 
high-speed broadband Internet access
Banking and securities regulation
20/20 Vision
supports banking and securities regulation that protects the public interest and respectsthe free market. Lawmakers need to understand the organic, underlying relationship between jobs andregulation. Regulation is the prevention that heads off the need for critical-care treatment.Understanding this relationship is the first step in finding the cure to what ails us and preventingrelapses. Therefore, as senator I will support legislation that:
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