Martin O'Malley

Martin O'Malley was born in Washington, D.C. on January 18, 1963. He graduated from The Catholic University of America and earned his J.D. at the School of Law of the University of Maryland, Baltimore. O'Malley served as the Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007 and the Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. On May 30, 2015, O'Malley publicly announced his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election.

Issues

Martin O'Malley sets his vision in his "15 Goals to Rebuild the American Dream." [1]

Jobs and Business Policy

Increasing Median Net Worth

• Reach wage growth of 4% annually by 2018 [2]
• Increase number of families with adequate retirement savings by 50% within 8 years [3]
• Cut the pay gap between full-time men and women workers in half by 2025 through paycheck fairness laws, strong family leave policies, and expanded access to quality, affordable healthcare [4]

Unemployment

• Cut the unemployment rate among young people in half within 3 years [5]
• Reach full employment for American veterans by 2020 [6]

Wall Street Reform

• Require banks to separate commercial and speculative banking within 5 years [7]
• Ensure key political appointees are independent of Wall Street [8]
• Close the regulator/prosecutor revolving door [9]
  • Institute a three-year revolving door ban
  • Institute an additional three-year mandatory disclosure rule
• Immediately double funding for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) [10]
• Elevate focus on economic crimes at the Department of Justice [11]
  • Create a standalone Economic Crimes Division
• Immediately reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act and end "too big to fail" [12]
• Implement a financial transaction tax to limit high-frequency trading [13]

Competition and Anti-trust

• Restore competition and anti-trust laws, taking action within one year in office [14]

Health Policy

Making Health Care Affordable

• Encourage states to adopt comprehensive payment reform and consider options like hospital global budgeting, patient-centered medical homes, and accountable care organizations
• Improve the value of Medicare
  • Launch a "Medicare Essential" program to provide comprehensive benefits (hospital, physician, prescription drug, supplemental coverage) in one opt-in plan
• Increase support for primary care and promote widespread adoption of medical homes
• Require clarity in healthcare billing and fairness for the uninsured
• Enforce anti-trust law to counter dramatic price increases
• Fight against corporate tax inversions
• Ban price gouging for prescription drugs
• Use the government's purchasing power to ensure reasonable drug prices
• Invest in health information exchanges
• Expand patients' access to their own health data
• Prioritize data security in the transition to electronic medical records

Expanded Access to Quality Care

• Build on the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
  • Ensure access to affordable healthcare for immigrants
  • Work with states to close the "coverage gap"
  • Extend access for working families and their children
  • Treat multi-employer and high-cost plans fairly
  • Address high deductibles by covering critical services
• Support universal access to reproductive care
  • Promote universal access to prenatal care and family planning
• Set a goal for universal access to primary, behavioral, and oral health care, supported by renewed investment in community health centers
• Eradicate lead poisoning by restoring funding for state programs and creating an interagency task force to find solutions to keep children healthy
• Reduce diseases and premature deaths caused by air pollution
• Mobilize communities to address the cause of health disparities
• Expand the National Health Service Corps and Area Health Education Centers and invest in the next generation of the health care workforce
• Task the Department of Health and Human Services with developing the basis for states, health systems, and health care providers for progress in health equity

Cures and Healthier Lives

• Invest in NIH and FDA research
• Support promising therapies at every step of development
• Release clinical trial data to advance scientific discovery
• Invest in early childhood health
  • Provide stable funding for the ACA's Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program
• Build on the ACA
  • Protect the Prevention and Public Health Fund
• Renew focus on preventing and treating infectious diseases
  • Set goals for disease prevalence for diseases like HIV, hepatitis C, and tuberculosis
• Reauthorize and fully fund the Older Americans Act
• Require Medicare and Medicaid programs to create a consistent set of incentives to encourage community-based care
• Encourage physicians to speak with their patients regarding end of life care and support the implementation of patient wishes

Mental Health and Addiction

• Invest in strong community health systems
• Integrate behavioral health and physical health care
  • Introduce new incentives through Medicare and Medicaid to increase ease of access to behavioral health care
• Stop the criminalization of mental illness

Middle East

Foreign Policy

• Adapt national security institutions to better anticipate fast-emerging threats
• "Engage with a new generation of leaders from different walks of life—often in hostile environments where we lack historic ties; where we lack relationships"[15]

Iran

• "Negotiations are the best way to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon" [16]
  • Supports a verifiable, enforceable, tightly-monitored nuclear deal

ISIS

• "Containing, degrading, and defeating ISIS will require an integrated approach" [17]
  • Focus on both military power and political solutions
  • Amplify credible, local voices in the region and counter ISIS propaganda
  • Encourage the Iraqi government to govern more inclusively

Trade

Trade Agreements

O'Malley will support and negotiate trade agreements only if they: [18]

• Reject secret trade agreements and democratize trade negotiations
• Prohibit currency manipulation
• Prevent corporate power grabs
  • Oppose investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)
  • Put public interests first
• Lift labor standards
  • Protect core labor rights
  • Set and enforce meaningful labor standards
• Improve environmental protection
• Uphold strong financial regulations
• Provide fair access to markets
• Protect access to affordable medicines
• Support investment in the U.S. Economy
  • Ensure that U.S. corporations are taxed fairly, including on their global activities

Immigration

Comprehensive Immigration Reform

• Immediately extend executive action to protect at least 9 million immigrants from deportation [19]

Environmental

Renewable Energy

• Create a Clean Energy Jobs Corps to partner with communities to become more energy efficient, create new green spaces, and restore and expand forests [20]
• Generate 100% of American electricity with renewable energy by 2050 [21]
• Federal legislation that caps on carbon emissions from all sources, proceeds from permits returned to low- and middle-class families and invested in job transition assistance and Clean Energy Jobs Corps [22]
• Reject projects like Keystone XL and deny new permits for drilling in Alaska, the arctic, and off the coast [23]
• Increase royalties and emissions fees for fossil fuel companies currently drilling on federal land and invest proceeds in jobs and skills training [24]