U.S. House of RepresentativesCandidate for District 16

Visit RishiKumar.com/climate for my policy overview.

Climate and protecting the environment are my single greatest passion. I was speaking against the Keystone pipeline and I stood with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in their opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline - we have to protect and preserve. I was also speaking against the PUC push to gut California’s solar program by ending the incentives currently in place. We have to go clean and go green!

I will always push to choose wisely, as therein lies the opportunity for us to leave a clean, just, thriving world for our children and for us. America must continue to be the beacon of light and hope, trailblazing the path of revolution and justice for so many others in this world. 

I have a real climate plan at RishiKumar.com/climate which includes applying technological solutions to address the climate challenge. What my Climate Action Plan will achieve:

Millions of family-sustaining jobs: Whether replacing lead pipes, expanding railways, or manufacturing wind turbines, millions of workers will lead the transition to a new green economy.

 ☆ Climate sanity: We have to transition to a clean energy economy. By investing in smart grids for renewable energy distribution, encouraging energy-efficient manufacturing, and expanding low-emissions public transit, to reduce climate pollution.

 ☆ Clean air and water: A Green New Deal would replace lead pipes, clean up hazardous waste sites, and reduce toxic air and water pollution from oil, gas, and coal. Those benefiting the most would be the communities of color and low-income families who today endure disproportionate exposure to toxins.

 ☆ Lower costs: We need to help working class families slash their energy bills and reduce their transit costs by offering more energy-efficient homes, access to affordable wind and solar power, and more reliable options for affordable public transportation.

 

 ☆ We must promote and create jobs in a clean-tech economy in order to prevent a planetary catastrophe. Clean air, chemical free food and water standards are a basic necessity of America. We need investments in policies and projects that would change the way we design buildings, travel and eat.

I’m an immigrant myself.  I came to the US on a student visa, and this country has been absolutely incredible for me. I support DACA, and I believe we need to honor President Obama’s program. If people play by the rules, we need to keep our promises and give them a place in this country. I don’t want these DACA kids to be living in a world where their future is in question. I strongly believe that this country made promises to them, and we need to honor those promises. For more, go to rishikumar.com and search under “Immigration” to see my policies on this important topic. 

 

I supported the Biden administration move to extend Title 42: Migrants attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at the highest level in two decades.

 

Immigrants are the strength of this country. It sickens me to see the human rights violations committed against them at the southern border, the atrocities of detention camps, and the cruel separation of families that follows deportation. Hearing of unconsented medical procedures upon migrant women in ICE detention centers is shocking! I will do everything in my power to prevent such abominations from occurring in our country. First and foremost, I will fight to protect immigrant rights in our justice system, and help ingrain them into our economy under a legal and equitable standing.

 

To make immigration more effective, I will strive to address any ongoing issues with our H-1B visa program and to restore it to its original intent: protecting all workers from systemic abuses by profit-driven companies and increasing the pool of talented and high-skilled foreign workers that will further America’s economic success.

 

We also need to help immigrants take essential steps towards becoming permanent residents. Immigrants are beneficial both socially and economically to America; we need immigration visa reform, including HR 1044, that will increase opportunities for qualified individuals to achieve permanent residency and citizenship in a timely manner.

Visit RishiKumar.com/priorities for my policy overview.

In Congress, I will fiercely protect our democracy, safeguard voting rights, protect the integrity of our elections and purge dark money from our political system. Here is my agenda to protect our democracy:

☆ Stop the dark tainted money of corporate interests from influencing elections and subverting our democracy.

☆ End Citizens United.

☆ Push for free and fair elections on all fronts.

☆ Ensure voting is easily accessible while ensuring deceased voters and voters who moved have been taken off the voter rolls, mitigating any attempts at voter fraud.

☆ Allow a Voting Day public holiday and allow for a vote-by-mail electoral process.

☆ Continue the support of efforts like Proposition 18 in 2020, to allow 17 year-olds to register to vote if they were 18 years old by the general election.

 

☆ Support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, HR 1, the For the People Act, and the Protecting Our Democracy Act.

Visit https://rishikumar.com/water for my plan California has had no plan for our recurring droughts. When are we going to review the larger problems of California droughts strategically and the ecosystem of agriculture, almond farmers, urban economies, and marine life? When are we going to push for efficiencies in every aspect in dynamic changes induced by climate changes, population density changes, water demand changes, etc.? When will a comprehensive plan for water reservoir expansion in California be developed? California’s hundred year old system was developed for 10 million people. Today, we have almost a 400% increase in population, and our Sierra snowpack depletion is a consequence of significant climate change. Sacramento is pushing for super, high-density housing in our communities. Yet, there is no plan for water expansion to accommodate this population influx! How will communities following the Sacramento housing expansion mandate find new sources of water? Are we going to do something….anything to avoid the dystopia that Cape Town, South Africa endured in 2018 when the faucets ran dry? Or how about Chennai, India where water trucks were forced to import water as the huge population expansion led to rivers drying up? We need a vision and long-term water planning, and we must implement sustainable policies looking to new sources of water supply such as underground storage, recycling, and desalination. We must also improve California’s groundwater management as some parts of the state struggle with full groundwater utilization, leading to problems of overdraft that are associated with higher energy costs, toxicity, and land subsidence. This can be accomplished by reauthorizing the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Projects that I am advocating for on behalf of the future sustainability of Silicon Valley include the retrofitting and expanded capacity of the Anderson Dam, and many such projects. We have to adopt stringent approaches with smart agriculture, such as reducing the export of a hundred billion gallons of water per year via the export of alfalfa overseas that is depleting California’s water.