I am very very grateful to be on this stage with this distinguished group of candidates tonight. And what you heard tonight ... was a very very different debate from the sort of debate that you heard from the two presidential republican debates. On this stage you didn't hear anyone denigrate women, you didn't hear anyone make racist comments about new American immigrants. You didn't hear anyone speak ill of another American because of their religious beliefs. What you heard was an honest search for the answers that will move our country forward, to move us to a 100 percent clean electric energy grid by 2050.

To take the actions that we have always taken as Americans, so that we can actually attack injustice in our country, employ more of our people, rebuild out cities and towns, educate our children at higher and better levels, and include more of our people in the sociopolitical and economic life of our country. I truly believe that we are standing on the threshold of a new American progress, unless you become discouraged about our gridlock in Congress, talk to our people under 30. You'll never find among them people who want to bash immigrants, people who want to deny rights to gay couples. That tells me we are moving to a more connected, generous, compassionate place, and we need to speak to the goodness within our country.

Twenty years ago, a group of researchers began tracking the personalities of 1,420 low income children in North Carolina. At the time, the goal was simple: to observe the mental conditions of kids living in rural America. But then a serendipitous thing happened.

Four years into The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth, the families of roughly a quarter of the children saw a dramatic and unexpected increase in annual income. They were members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and a casino had just been built on the reservation. From that point on every tribal citizen earned a share of the profits, meaning about an extra $4,000 a year per capita.

For these families, the extra padding was a blessing, enough to boost household incomes by almost 20 percent on average. But for the fields of psychology, sociology and economics, it has been a gold mine, too. The sudden change in fortunes has offered a rare glimpse into the subtle but important ways in which money can alter a child’s life. The dataset is so rich that researchers continue to study it to this day.

Not only did the extra income appear to lower the instance of behavioral and emotional disorders among the children, but, perhaps even more important, it also boosted two key personality traits that tend to go hand in hand with long-term positive life outcomes.

Twenty years ago, a group of researchers began tracking the personalities of 1,420 low income children in North Carolina. At the time, the goal was simple: to observe the mental conditions of kids living in rural America. But then a serendipitous thing happened.

Four years into The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth, the families of roughly a quarter of the children saw a dramatic and unexpected increase in annual income. They were members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and a casino had just been built on the reservation. From that point on every tribal citizen earned a share of the profits, meaning about an extra $4,000 a year per capita.

For these families, the extra padding was a blessing, enough to boost household incomes by almost 20 percent on average. But for the fields of psychology, sociology and economics, it has been a gold mine, too. The sudden change in fortunes has offered a rare glimpse into the subtle but important ways in which money can alter a child’s life. The dataset is so rich that researchers continue to study it to this day.

Not only did the extra income appear to lower the instance of behavioral and emotional disorders among the children, but, perhaps even more important, it also boosted two key personality traits that tend to go hand in hand with long-term positive life outcomes.

Twenty years ago, a group of researchers began tracking the personalities of 1,420 low income children in North Carolina. At the time, the goal was simple: to observe the mental conditions of kids living in rural America. But then a serendipitous thing happened.

Four years into The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth, the families of roughly a quarter of the children saw a dramatic and unexpected increase in annual income. They were members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and a casino had just been built on the reservation. From that point on every tribal citizen earned a share of the profits, meaning about an extra $4,000 a year per capita.

For these families, the extra padding was a blessing, enough to boost household incomes by almost 20 percent on average. But for the fields of psychology, sociology and economics, it has been a gold mine, too. The sudden change in fortunes has offered a rare glimpse into the subtle but important ways in which money can alter a child’s life. The dataset is so rich that researchers continue to study it to this day.

Not only did the extra income appear to lower the instance of behavioral and emotional disorders among the children, but, perhaps even more important, it also boosted two key personality traits that tend to go hand in hand with long-term positive life outcomes.

Restoring Our American Democracy

Truly fixing our economy requires fixing our democracy. Today in America, big-money special interests have taken over our elections. In the five years since the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling, super PACs, corporations and dark money groups have spent almost $2 billion trying to sway the outcome of federal elections—2.5 times what they spent, in total, between 1990 and 2008. As a result, special interests have drowned out our voices, while relentlessly lobbying for policies that improve their bottom lines at the expense of the American middle class. This corrupt system—while technically “legal”—forces candidates into a race to the bottom, embracing the muscle of their super PACs even as they espouse democratic principles and lukewarm promises of change.

It’s time for actions, not just words, on campaign finance reform—and Americans of all political stripes agree. That’s why Governor O’Malley has committed to establishing publicly financed congressional elections within five years as part of his 15 Goals to Rebuild the American Dream. Meeting this ambitious goal will require a new campaign finance system, a tougher regulatory system, and stronger disclosure rules—in addition to an unrelenting effort to overturn Citizens United once and for all.

We The People Are Not Corporations

Today in America, due to a deeply flawed reading of our Constitution, a handful of wealthy special interests and corporations are able to buy candidates and elections—on both sides of the aisle—ensuring that the voices of the vast majority of Americans are not heard.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Fight to Overturn Citizens United. As president, O’Malley will fight to ratify the Democracy for All amendment, which will allow the American people to once again place reasonable limits on the money that flows into our elections. This will give Congress and the states the authority to do what they always did before wealthy donors and corporations bought our courts and our elections: enact meaningful campaign finance rules that cap candidate spending, establish contribution limits, and bar corporations from meddling in our democratic process. The vast majority of Americans—including both Democrats and Republicans alike—overwhelmingly agree that Citizens United should be overturned.

Push to Establish a Constitutional Right to Vote. Our democracy depends on greater participation, yet in recent years Republicans have sharply limited access to our most fundamental right. O’Malley has called for amending the Constitution to explicitly guarantee the right to vote—giving U.S. courts the authority to strike down efforts that disenfranchise voters, while empowering Congress to enact strong electoral standards nationwide.

Support Bipartisan Redistricting Commissions. O’Malley applauded the Supreme Court’s ruling in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission this spring, which upheld voters’ right to draw their electoral districts fairly and independently. O’Malley will support states that are seeking to overcome gridlock by turning to bipartisan redistricting commissions to draw their Congressional districts.

Citizen Funded Elections

Runaway election spending by special interests forces candidates to listen to big money donors over the voters they claim to represent. As races are inundated with more and more outside spending, members of Congress now devote more than half of their time to fundraising, not governing. At the same time, the total number of small donors has begun to fall. In 2014, the top 100 donors to super PACs spent almost as much money as every single small-dollar donor combined.

It’s time for a new campaign finance system that gives candidates the opportunity to raise a larger number of smaller contributions from people back home—encouraging every citizen to participate in the democratic process and making candidates truly work for every vote.

Build a New Campaign Finance System

Governor O’Malley has set a national goal of implementing public financing of congressional elections within five years. To meet that goal, he supports the Government By the People Act introduced by Congressman John Sarbanes (D-MD). As president, Governor O’Malley will work aggressively with Congress to pass and implement the Act.

Through the Government By the People Act, Governor O’Malley will:

Empower Americans to Participate in Elections. To counter the decline in small donors, O’Malley will provide Americans with a $25 refundable My Voice tax credit for contributing to candidates for Congressional office. By encouraging many more Americans to participate in giving, O’Malley will give candidates needed incentive to engage voters instead of special interests.

Amplify the Voices of American Voters. To make the contributions of small-dollar donors go even further, O’Malley will establish a national Freedom From Influence Fund. Americans who give $150 or less to a candidate who forgoes PAC money will have their contributions matched at a rate of $6 to $1. And if voters donate to candidates who agree to take exclusively small-dollar donations, they will see their contributions matched at an even higher $9 to $1 rate. As a result, congressional candidates will be able to spend far less time dialing for dollars and more time listening to the interests and concerns of voters.

Fight Against Special Interest Influence. Outside groups have monopolized our airwaves in the years since Citizens United, especially as campaigns enter their final stretch. In order to help citizen-funded candidates compete on more equal terms, O’Malley will provide additional public financing to congressional candidates who raise at least $50,000 in small-dollar donations in the 60 days before an election.

Real Accountability Under The Law

One of the biggest problems with our campaign finance laws is that we don’t enforce the laws we already have. Candidates, their political action committees, and even our party leadership are complicit in openly defying the letter and spirit of the law as they vie for larger and larger campaign contributions from Wall Street, fossil fuel companies and other special interests. And they do so without penalty, because the Federal Election Commission is now so gridlocked and broken that its commissioners have given up on enforcing election laws altogether. This is an unbelievable and unacceptable outcome. But as the chairwoman of the FEC says herself, “There is not going to be any real enforcement” of campaign finance regulations in 2016.

We need a new, nonpartisan system that actually works, both to hold candidates and PACs accountable under existing rules—and to enforce the next generation of stronger, citizen-driven election laws.

Overhaul the Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission was designed and weakened by those it regulates—members of Congress—in order to be as ineffectual as possible. With three appointed members from each party, the commission is inherently partisan and perpetually deadlocked. As a result, its members cannot complete basic orders of business without resorting to extraordinary measures and hostile debates; their case backlog is now unprecedented. The FEC is imposing record-low fines even as political spending soars, failing to hold lawbreakers accountable and failing to respond to Citizens United.

It’s time to fix the FEC—while making its mission and work a real national priority.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Fight for a New FEC. The FEC’s partisan design is the root of the agency’s dysfunction. O’Malley will urge Congress to fundamentally restructure and strengthen the FEC by establishing a single administrator position to oversee the agency. This administrator would lead the FEC and enforce its laws, serving a term independent from the president who appoints them. O’Malley will also fight for real enforcement authority for the new FEC, including replacing the FEC’s toothless settlement process with a comprehensive schedule of strong, mandatory fines.

Strengthen Existing Disclosure Requirements. The FEC has broad authority to bring “dark money” spending—which accounted for a third of the $2 billion spent by outside groups on elections since Citizens United—into the light. But the FEC has allowed loopholes in disclosure rules to proliferate, leaving doors open to corruption. O’Malley will pressure the FEC to update its regulations: mandating that political action committees register and disclose the full extent of their campaign spending, preventing non-political committees from skirting disclosure requirements, and requiring all groups that engage in “electioneering communications” to disclose all of their underlying donors under the law.

Restrict Coordinated Campaign Activity. Despite unprecedented coordination between candidates and their super PACs, the FEC has stepped aside: allowing candidates to functionally evade contribution limits via coordination without imposing any significant penalties on campaigns that do so. O’Malley will call on the FEC to enforce laws restricting coordination, while using its existing authority to strengthen them. This includes treating candidate fundraising for outside groups as direct, prohibited coordination; and ending the “internet exemption” that allows some outside groups that engage in political activity online to coordinate directly with campaigns.

Strengthen Enforcement of Campaign Finance Laws. O’Malley will make real enforcement of campaign finance laws a federal priority. O’Malley will appoint FEC Commissioners and an Attorney General committed to assertively enforcing our nation’s existing laws even as we forge a new consensus for broader reforms to restore our democracy.

Transparency In Our Democracy

Our laws are riddled with loopholes that allow corporations and other special interests to pump undisclosed and unaccountable money into our elections. The biggest loophole is that “social welfare groups” face no requirements that they disclose their donors at all. Two such groups put more money into the presidential campaign in 2012 than all super PACs combined.

It’s time to bring “dark money” political spending into the light—through extensive executive action, and by passing strong and comprehensive disclosure laws.

Enforce and Strengthen Financial Disclosure Rules

The federal government already has significant authority to establish strong, comprehensive financial disclosure requirements. However, political pressure and partisan dysfunction have prevented agencies from putting forward commonsense and long-overdue transparency rules.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Use Executive Authority to Increase Transparency. In addition to the FEC rules described above, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and Federal Communications Commission each have the authority to strengthen campaign finance disclosure laws. O’Malley will direct each agency to act, completing regulations that require publicly traded companies to disclose political spending to their shareholders, restrict political spending by dark money groups, and enforce laws requiring broadcasters to disclose the real identities of sponsors who run political ads.

Pass Expanded Disclosure Laws. O’Malley will endorse, prioritize, and fight to pass and implement the DISCLOSE Act, which would require that all groups that engage in more than $10,000 in political spending—including social welfare non-profits—disclose their donors. The Act would also require disclosures by organizations that transfer or receive more than $50,000 for political spending, preventing special interests from setting up shell organizations to avoid disclosing their political contributions. Finally, the DISCLOSE Act would expand reporting requirements for organizations and donors who place and pay for television and radio ads in the months before an election.

Trade Policy

Today, the United States is negotiating trade agreements that are unprecedented in their ambition, size, and scope. Agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are endeavoring to align the global economy around a common set of rules, governing not just trade in goods but labor rights, intellectual property rights, financial regulations, and more. The future of American workers, businesses, and innovation depends on us getting the rules right.

In our increasingly global and interconnected world, trade is a powerful and vital tool. Done well—through high standards and carefully crafted rules—trade can open new markets for U.S. businesses, lift standards for workers in developing countries, protect our environment from climate change, and support a thriving middle class. Done poorly—by relying solely on market forces and hoping for the best—trade agreements can unleash a global race to the bottom.

As president, Governor O’Malley will support free trade agreements—but only those agreements that establish strong and enforceable rules for fair competition, creating opportunity for American workers while lifting standards in our partner nations.

The United States already has the leverage we need to meet this high standard, including in the TPP. Other nations sought to join the TPP in order to receive privileged access to the U.S. market. We should do everything in our power to assert a progressive trade agenda, rewarding countries with high labor and environmental standards—and encouraging those with weaker standards to make meaningful changes in order to join any trade deal.

REQUIREMENTS FOR GOOD TRADE AGREEMENTS

As president, Governor O’Malley will support and negotiate global trade agreements only if they meet the following benchmarks. This includes the TPP, which after years of being negotiated in secrecy, will soon become public. Together, the following principles clearly define what it means for a trade agreement to be in the best interest of the United States. Agreements that meet these criteria will support American jobs, innovation, and businesses, while lifting standards in our partner nations and building a stronger global economy that works for everyone.

Going forward, every significant trade agreement negotiated by the United States should:

1. REJECT SECRET TRADE AGREEMENTS

The TPP was written behind closed doors, with corporate lobbyists and other special interests sitting at the negotiating table—without adequate representation from labor, environmental, or consumer groups. In fact, the American people still don’t know what is in the agreement, because it is yet to become public, even though our representatives in Congress were forced to vote to rubber stamp it several months ago. But, because special interests are buying our elections and our democracy, they’re able to protect their special access to our trade agreements—making them into just one more way to rewrite the rules of our economy to benefit themselves at the expense of everyone else.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Democratize Trade Negotiations. America’s leadership in the world demands that we make good, fair trade agreements. But we shouldn’t let the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and their allies dictate the terms alone. Businesses big and small should be engaged in the writing of trade agreements, alongside and equal to labor unions, consumer groups, health and environmental advocates, and all others who have a stake in the outcome of a deal.

2. PROHIBIT CURRENCY MANIPULATION

Nations that are part of the TPP—or are likely to join in the future—have artificially undervalued their currencies in the recent past, boosting their own exports by making them cheaper on the global market. Their actions have come at an enormous cost to U.S. manufacturers, causing thousands of factories to close and millions of American workers to lose their jobs.

We cannot afford to lose any more manufacturing jobs to countries that gain unfair advantages by breaking international rules. As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Prohibit Currency Manipulation in Global Trade Agreements. Currently, the Treasury has no clear definition of what constitutes currency manipulation and imposes no consequences for those who engage in it. Worse, currency manipulation is not addressed within the TPP.

As president, O’Malley will take action to end currency manipulation. In agreements such as the TPP, he will clearly define currency manipulation—as a prolonged, one-way, large-scale foreign exchange intervention that prevents appreciation or forces a currency to depreciate—and prohibit all signatories from engaging in it. Then, if a country deliberately tries to depreciate its currency, it would lose its preferential access to the U.S. market and other privileges granted under the free trade agreement.

Hold Cheaters Accountable. Well-designed currency manipulation protections will not impede U.S. monetary policy or freely floating exchange rates. Rather, such provisions will prevent important trading partners from cheating, using their desire to join the TPP and other agreements as leverage to establish fair trade rules that are in the best interests of American workers and jobs.

3. PREVENT CORPORATE POWER GRABS

Global trade agreements increasingly include a provision called “Investor-State Dispute Settlement,” or ISDS. This is a process that corporations use to sue—outside of the legal system—governments that seek to protect public and environmental health and the well-being of workers. And companies are now using this process to try to weaken or overturn regulations they don’t like more aggressively today than they ever have before.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Oppose ISDS in Trade Agreements. ISDS was designed 50 years ago to protect business investments in developing nations where corporations feared they would face discriminatory laws or have their assets expropriated. Today, ISDS is no longer necessary. Corporations that invest in uncertain markets can buy political-risk insurance to protect themselves against the possibility of a loss. And investors in the United States know they face no such legal risk. ISDS should not be included in the TPP agreement—and in past agreements, ISDS provisions must be revised.

Put Public Interests First. Corporations have abused ISDS, using it to ensure their interests always trump public ones. Through ISDS, they have challenged local laws that require safety warnings on cigarettes, limit mining and hydraulic fracking in sensitive areas, or reduce reliance on nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster. Eliminating ISDS, including from the TPP, is one of the most important ways to stop big business from using trade agreements to rewrite the rules of how our economy works” at the expense of workers and the public.

4. LIFT LABOR STANDARDS

Countries that join the TPP or other free trade agreements gain better access to the U.S. market. The United States should reward only those nations that have robust labor standards in place—setting a high floor that encourages our trading partners to meaningfully and continuously improve conditions for their workers, creating high-paying and high-standard jobs. We should not be satisfied with trade deals that reinforce the status quo when our partners inadequately protect their workforce.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Protect Core Labor Rights. By assuring strong labor rights, the United States can leverage nations’ eagerness to join agreements to lift standards globally—while ensuring American companies are not be placed at a competitive disadvantage for paying higher wages and respecting their workers’ right to bargain. At a minimum, free trade agreements should guarantee freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain; uphold the rights of migrant workers; and prohibit forced labor, child labor, and employment discrimination. And for developing countries, free trade agreements should include a mechanism to ensure that labor rights and standards continue to meaningfully improve long after a deal is signed.

Set and Enforce Meaningful Labor Standards. Strict oversight and enforcement—including regular compliance monitoring and tariff snap-back provisions when rules are violated—are fundamental to ensuring that labor rights are actually respected. In the past, toothless enforcement mechanisms have made the labor and environmental chapters of trade agreements meaningless. Going forward, we must get the rules precisely right.

For the TPP, this means partner nations must change their laws before the agreement goes into effect. Consider Vietnam, which has never allowed workers to choose their own representatives; the country’s single labor union is controlled by the Communist Party. Or Mexico, where—despite promises made while negotiating NAFTA—freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain are severely limited. Both nations—as well as Brunei and Malaysia—will have to responsibly update their labor laws and practices in order to implement the TPP.

In addition, the TPP and other trade agreements must have strong labor chapters that allow for labor abuses to be investigated and actively monitored, require that labor disputes be quickly resolved, and, when parties fail to remedy labor violations, provide for the benefits of trade agreements to be suspended. Finally, partner nations must have the resources, institutions, and political leadership in place to ensure full compliance.

5. IMPROVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

The United States has entered free trade agreements in the recent past that provide little to no meaningful protection of our land, water, air, and wildlife. At best, the environmental chapters of these agreements have covered a broad range of topics—from whaling and wildlife trafficking, to deforestation and illegal fishing—while lacking language actually prohibiting nations from engaging in these activities. And no trade agreement has recognized or sought to counter the risks posed by climate change.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Ensure Real and Enforceable Environmental Standards. Even the best agreements are only as strong as our commitment to enforce them. But to date, the United States has never once brought a trade dispute against another nation for violating the environmental provisions of trade agreements. When our trading partners pollute and destroy the environment in misguided efforts to gain a competitive advantage, they should lose their benefits under trade deals.

Enforce Delivery of International Climate Commitments. Every TPP nation, with the exception thus far of Brunei, has made international commitments to the UNFCCC on curbing their emissions of carbon pollutants. The TPP should have made delivering on these commitments a condition of continued preferential access to U.S. markets.

Oppose ISDS in Any Agreement. If trade agreements allow for investor-state cases against governments, any potential benefits of environmental provisions could quickly be wiped out. That’s because corporations have overwhelmingly used ISDS to challenge regulations that protect our air, water, and climate. The best way to protect the environment through trade agreements is to ensure that they don’t include ISDS provisions from the start.

6. UPHOLD STRONG FINANCIAL REGULATIONS

Increasingly, trade agreements are not about reducing traditional barriers to trade—trade in goods is already quite free—but rather about rewriting the rules of how the global economy works. This includes “harmonizing” between nations regulations governing corporations, banks, and pharmaceutical companies. As with ISDS, these industries often have an incentive to rewrite the rules in ways that weaken regulations and pad their own profits.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Protect the Dodd-Frank Financial Reforms in Trade Agreements. The biggest banks are already lobbying aggressively over the details of future trade agreements, particularly the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)—a proposed deal between the United States and the European Union. It is very likely that they will try to use the agreement to undermine Dodd-Frank’s capital requirements and leverage ratios, derivative compliance rules, and other protections. If the largest players in the global financial industry win out, American banks could shift business to Europe (or even reincorporate some of their activities there)—where financial rules are much weaker than in the United States—in order to sidestep Dodd-Frank altogether.

In addition, O’Malley will strongly oppose any trade provisions that would require new financial regulations to be screened (or even slowed down) based on how they might impact trade. No trade agreement should be used to delay implementation of important financial regulations against the public’s will.

7. PROVIDE FOR FAIR ACCESS TO MARKETS

The rules of any trade agreement must be written to ensure that benefits accrue to the nations that are party to them—limiting countries’ ability to take advantage of loopholes and impose non-tariff barriers to protect their domestic markets, at other nations’ expense.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Require Robust Rules Of Origin. When a nation grants trading partners preferential access to their market, they expect to receive the same treatment in return. Strong “rules of origin” protect this dynamic—strictly defining the extent to which inputs from countries outside an agreement can be incorporated into products that benefit from duty-free treatment. Such rules are especially vital to the U.S. automotive industry, because other nations—particularly Japan—import significant quantities of auto parts from outside the TPP bloc.

All trade agreements should include rules of origin standards that meet or exceed those established under NAFTA. Reports indicating that the TPP includes weaker rules of origin are disconcerting.
Ensure Fair Market Entry for U.S. Products. It is inconsistent with the spirit of TPP and similar agreements to keep in place non-tariff barriers that effectively exclude U.S. products. This has been a salient issue in the past, and it is likely that the existing version of TPP does not move sufficiently far to remove all such barriers.

8. PROTECT ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE MEDICINES

Many countries and non-profit organizations rely on affordable generic medicines to treat life-threatening diseases, including in TPP nations. Access to generic medicines depends on each nation’s laws and regulations, as well as trade and other international agreements, including rules governing intellectual property. As a result, the global community in the past has sought to ensure that countries can overcome barriers that restrict access to medicines—preventing patent monopolies from blocking life-saving care and providing for competition in the generic drug market. In this way, commercial interests are respected but not allowed to trump global public health concerns.

As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Balance Access and Innovation to Provide Needed Medicines. The United States must ensure that trade agreements do not place onerous restrictions on the use of new medicines by partner nations, particularly in low-income countries. These medicines and treatments are a major American contribution to the world. It is critical that we provide access to needed medicines, even as we establish strong intellectual property protections that allow for pharmaceutical innovation and progress. While the TPP agreement takes steps in a better direction, we must carefully review the final agreement to ensure that it takes the right approach.

9. SUPPORT INVESTMENT IN THE U.S. ECONOMY

While trade agreements can open markets for American goods and services and create wealth around the world, they have often done so unequally—further concentrating wealth among a small number of corporations and investors at the expense of everyone else. This has happened both because past trade agreements have failed to guard against a global race to the bottom—and because the United States has failed to enact commonsense policies to help American workers and businesses thrive in a globalized world.

As a nation, we can do far more to boost our competitiveness, seizing new opportunities to create jobs, drive investment, and lift incomes for all families. As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Tie Trade Agreements to Investments in the U.S. Economy. O’Malley will work with Congress to ensure that free trade agreements are forged in concert with policies that help the middle class and advance our own economic competitiveness—such as raising the minimum wage, passing comprehensive immigration reform, and making robust investments in our nation’s infrastructure.

Ensure That U.S. Corporations are Taxed Fairly, Including on Their Global Activities. It has become too easy for very large U.S. corporations to shift the reporting of their global activities – solely to reduce their tax burden. These corporations, their executives, and their owners benefit from the laws and resources of the United States – including the public goods that we provide. The only way to sustain these public goods—and the functioning of our government—is with a fair revenue system that includes fair taxes on corporations. Governor O’Malley will be putting forward his plans to reform the tax code in the coming weeks and months.

The epidemic of untreated substance use disorder is a crisis that claims tens of thousands of American lives each year. With deaths from prescription drug overdoses quadrupling since 1999, overdose-related deaths now exceed the number of traffic fatalities, suicides, or homicides. Yet our response has not matched the scale of the emergency. Proven prevention and treatment strategies are underutilized. Funding for treatment programs is insufficient. Outdated stigmas make too many people reluctant to seek care, and make too many communities unwilling to provide it. Millions of families are needlessly torn apart.

As Mayor of Baltimore and Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley brought all resources to bear to stop the epidemic of drug addiction and overdose. In Baltimore, Martin O’Malley expanded access to drug treatment to thousands of people while more than doubling funding for the city’s treatment system. His innovative efforts drove a 60 percent reduction in overdose deaths from heroin over 10 years—a program still cited as a successful national model.

In Maryland, Governor O’Malley made addressing addiction one of his Administration’s top goals. The centerpiece of this agenda includes forming an Overdose Prevention Council, which coordinates state agencies and local governments to collaborate on reducing overdose deaths. Under Governor O’Malley’s leadership, Maryland increased addiction treatment services by 45 percent, helped doctors identify and treat substance use disorder, and empowered pharmacies and first responders to stock and safely administer overdose-reversing drugs. Maryland also developed the nation’s first local overdose review teams, which review the circumstances of each overdose death to find lessons for prevention.

As president, Governor O’Malley will hold this same commitment to saving lives and addressing addiction. Drawing on his 15 years of executive experience, he will expand and improve addiction treatment, invest in recovery, improve coverage, and prevent substance use disorders before they start.

GOAL: REDUCE DEATHS FROM DRUG OVERDOSE BY 25 PERCENT BY 2020

As a nation, we have looked past people imprisoned by drug addiction for too long—despite having the tools to save them. They are our husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, and children. By focusing coordinated public health efforts on outcomes and holding ourselves accountable for results, we can save lives, spare families anguish, and rebuild our communities.

An O’Malley Administration will provide a new level of support and accountability for efforts to address addiction and overdose in the United States. Governor O’Malley’s ultimate goal as president is to reduce deaths from drug overdoses by 25 percent by 2020—an objective he first laid out in his 15 National Goals to Rebuild the American Dream.

As president, Governor O’Malley will take a public health approach to substance use disorders: developing and implementing a coordinated national strategy to reduce risky prescribing of pain medications, expanding access to effective addiction treatment, and investing in community resources for recovery.

Launch a National Dashboard on Overdose

To manage this strategy, Governor O’Malley will establish a national dashboard on overdose and addiction to monitor the problem, track our response nationwide, and target resources so that all Americans have access to critical services that support prevention, treatment, and recovery. This includes improving data collection and sharing information more quickly—with law enforcement, first responders and physicians, and other local leaders—so communities can respond effectively as soon as addiction and overdose challenges arise. This dashboard will guide $12 billion in federal investments and partnerships over the next decade, while providing a clear and transparent way for O’Malley to hold the federal government accountable.

The dashboard’s first use will be to reduce addiction to fentanyl—a highly potent and deadly narcotic increasingly laced into heroin—which was responsible for an unprecedented number of overdose deaths last year. The problem is especially acute in New Hampshire, where fentanyl took more lives than heroin in 2014. Within 100 days of taking office, O’Malley will direct his Administration to create and adopt a national fentanyl strategy—one that includes expanded prevention education, greater coordination with law enforcement, increased use of naloxone to reverse overdose, and robust treatment.

Stop the Over-Prescription of Pain Medications

The rapid rise in prescribing drugs to manage pain has contributed to the epidemic of opioid addiction. Physicians have an important role to play in reducing the inappropriate use of prescription drugs and helping individuals suffering from addiction reach treatment. As president, Governor O’Malley will:

Require Physician Training on Pain Prescribing. O’Malley will require all physicians seeking authority from the Drug Enforcement Administration to prescribe pain medications to first demonstrate that they have taken courses in appropriate prescribing. In Maryland, all physicians must complete required continuing medical education on prescribing controlled substances in order to maintain their license.

Strengthen Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs. O’Malley will reward states that implement effective prescription drug monitoring programs, and demonstrate that they canreduce addiction and overdose. These programs can help doctors and other health care providers access information that allows them to identify patients who are at risk of addiction, and connect them to the treatment they need. In Maryland, O’Malley did just that—launching a prescription drug management system that is linked to the state’s web- based health information exchange.

Support Patient Education on Pain. O’Malley will develop an effective public campaign on pain drug addiction, modeled on previously successful efforts to reduce patient requests for unneeded antibiotics. By increasing public awareness around this quiet tragedy, O’Malley help patients understand that there are many other ways to manage chronic pain, beyond risky opioid medications.

Expand Access to Treatment

As the Mayor of Baltimore, Governor O’Malley led an effort that reduced heroin-related deaths by more than 60 percent—by expanding the resources for treatment, and focusing on therapies that worked. As president, he will ensure that states and local governments have the funding, support, and information they need to save lives:

Expand Access to Naloxone. Naloxone is an effective reversal drug used to treat overdoses from both prescription opioids and heroin; its increased use may already be saving hundreds of lives in New Hampshire. O’Malley will set a national goal of training and equipping all first responders to administer naloxone in areas with significant numbers of overdose fatalities. O’Malley will also bring together the FDA, industry, and others to make sure a readily-available and inexpensive supply of naloxone is available. In particular, that means focusing on those who need the most support—such as the friends and family of people with substance use disorders. In Maryland, O’Malley worked to ensure that pharmacies stocked naloxone, developed training programs for family and community members, and signed legislation and an executive order to expand use of the medication.

Equip All First Responders. Ensuring that first responders can carry and safely administer naloxone is an important first step, but not a sustainable solution. That’s why O’Malley will work to ensure that—whenever hospitals or first responders treat overdose—they can quickly direct patients to effective addiction treatment options. Emergency rooms are our first line of intervention, and must be empowered them to provide access to lasting care.

Increasing Funding for Effective Therapies. Existing federal investments to support comprehensive drug treatment systems pale in comparison to the need. O’Malley will work to greatly expand federal grant programs, increasing the number of grants and incentives for innovation in each state. This includes providing resources and technical assistance to states willing to overcome barriers to expanding care, like New Hampshire.

Expanding Coverage of Proven Treatments Under Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare pays for pain medications that can lead to addiction, yet many states do not reliably cover treatment medications as part of comprehensive treatment programs. In Maryland, O’Malley ensured that Medicaid covered medications to reverse overdose and treat addiction. As president, he will support regulations and legislation to expand coverage of evidence-based, medication-assisted treatment for opioid dependence under Medicare and Medicaid, helping tens of thousands of people afford the treatments they need to recover.

Assuring Every Veteran Access to Treatment Within 12 Hours. The demands of military life, combat, and the return home can be complicated dramatically by addiction and related disorders. Mental and substance use disorders caused more hospitalizations among U.S. troops in 2009 than any other cause. O’Malley would set a new national goal for helping veterans access proven therapies for treating addiction—in every community.

Improving Data Collection and Access. Federal, state, and local partners need accurate and timely data in order to address addiction spikes as they occur. Yet currently, federal overdose death data is only available a year or more later. O’Malley will launch a new national emergency surveillance program on addiction and overdose deaths, as he also did in Maryland. This effort will feed into his new national dashboard.

Investing in Community Resources for Recovery

In Maryland, Governor O’Malley supported innovative services for individuals in recovery to help them gain employment, as well as contribute to their families and their communities. As president, O’Malley would:

Implement a Public Health Response to Addiction. Incarceration is an inadequate—and in most cases inappropriate—response for people in need of treatment for substance use disorders. O’Malley will provide individuals with the care and support they require outside of the justice system, as detailed in his criminal justice reform plan. He will also establish federal guidelines for law enforcement on how to best serve people in crisis, support state Crisis Intervention Training for police officers, and ensure that people leaving prison or jail have the support they need—including substance use disorder treatment—to successfully reenter their communities.

Support Community Recovery Services. Recovery from addiction is holistic, involving not only clinical treatment but also resilience, support, and longer term care. O’Malley will provide a new level of support for community-based recovery for individuals suffering from mental illness and addiction, making urgent new investments across the country in housing, supported employment, and outpatient treatment.

Fight the Stigma of Addiction. We have long understood addiction to be chronic brain disease, yet negative associations persist—preventing too many of our neighbors from seeking care, and leading some communities to avoid providing treatment altogether. O’Malley will launch a national campaign to reduce the stigma associated with drug addiction, opening up a path for all Americans to seek treatment and recovery.

Remarks as delivered to the Strafford County Democrats in New Hampshire

“What I really want to talk with you about tonight is the sickness in our country of gun violence. The sickness in our country that would have us bury thousands and thousands of Americans who needlessly die violent deaths and other deaths as a result of our obsession, our sickness, that is the unchecked proliferation of guns in our society.
“We can’t say ‘this is just how it is.’ There is not another developed nation on the planet that has this problem. There is not another advanced nation on this planet that puts as many of its sons and daughters in coffins from dying violent deaths from guns.

“This week we saw another slaughter of the innocent: nine people struck down in a senseless act of gun violence. And yes we heard the outpouring of thoughts, and we heard the outpouring of prayers and the same promises from a lot of our elected officials that this time it will be different — But no specific prescriptions for how we will fight this sickness. President Obama pointed out that approximately 3,500 have died because of terror attacks — American civilians —from 9/11 forward. But over 406,000 have died because of guns here in the United States in America.

“I have been to a lot of funerals. When I was elected in 1999 as Mayor of Baltimore it was not because Baltimore was doing well, it was because we had allowed to become far too commonplace drive-by shootings where 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 people seemed to get shot down, have their life taken from them on a weekly basis. We had to forge a new consensus to turn that around. Not a single day was easy, especially across the divisions of race, and class, and place, that we have seen so painfully intertwined around the issues of violent crime and public safety. But we did it. We did it by reminding one another of the powerful beliefs we share. A belief in the dignity of every person. A belief in our own responsibility to advance the common good we share. And an understanding that we’re all in this together. All of those beliefs are far more powerful than any lobbying effort the NRA can possibly send to a state capitol or to the United States Congress.

“I’ve had some experience with this issue. In Maryland, we took action after the senseless murder of the 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut. My friend Dannel Malloy told all of us, as the nations Governors, how he had to walk into a room where all the parents had been separated out from the other parents and waited for the Governor to tell them why it was that they were in that room and not another.

“We had huge crowds descend on Annapolis — practically closed down the hallways. There were many people that said the mountain was too high. We had to take on people in our own party who had some cultural affinities with North Carolina that were closer than their affinities with North Baltimore.

“But we did it. We never gave up. We had our own rally. And we talked about the goodness of our people, the compassion of our people and the senseless senselessness of the slaughter. And we passed our legislation. And in so doing, not only did we pass legislation that had comprehensive background checks and fingerprints. Not only did we ban combat assault weapon sales in our state. Not only did we ban the sale of more than 10 magazines, well we did something else.

“We banded together. We drove consensus. And so when the NRA polled afterwards in a cynical attempt to try to drive that legislation to popular referendum, which is easy to do in our state, they found the vast majority of Marylanders also now after their legislature debated the issue, their representatives talked about the issue and passed it. They found that they could not undo it at referendum.
“None of that was easy. We need to apply the same persistence today as a nation. And that is why, among the 15 strategic goals that I’ve set for our country to rebuild the American Dream, one of those goals is to cut gun violence in half in the next 10 years in the United States.


“I have put out a specific roadmap for how we get there. Among those things, number one, a ban on the sale of combat assault weapons. Two, a requirement that every person who purchases a gun gets a license and is fingerprinted so that law enforcement will be able to quickly trace any gun used in a crime back to its source. Three, using the full power of the federal government — did you know the largest purchaser of firearms in our nation is our own government? And our own government needs to refuse to buy guns from any company that doesn’t use the latest and best safety technology, like micro-stamping and internal serial numbers that cannot be defaced. Four, we need to make illegal gun trafficking a federal crime.

“And now this is where it comes to you. This is where it comes to you. I know that not everyone in this room has made a decision about what candidate you will support. But I also know this is New Hampshire and that some of you have.

“So I’m asking supporters of Senator Sanders to please urge Senator Sanders to back these four commonsense provisions that I just laid out to reduce gun violence.

“And I am asking the supporters of Secretary Clinton to please urge Secretary Clinton to back the specific provisions that I just laid out.

“And I’m asking both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, Governor Chafee, all of those in our race, to join me in building a new consensus.”

Remarks as delivered to the Strafford County Democrats in New Hampshire

“What I really want to talk with you about tonight is the sickness in our country of gun violence. The sickness in our country that would have us bury thousands and thousands of Americans who needlessly die violent deaths and other deaths as a result of our obsession, our sickness, that is the unchecked proliferation of guns in our society.
“We can’t say ‘this is just how it is.’ There is not another developed nation on the planet that has this problem. There is not another advanced nation on this planet that puts as many of its sons and daughters in coffins from dying violent deaths from guns.

“This week we saw another slaughter of the innocent: nine people struck down in a senseless act of gun violence. And yes we heard the outpouring of thoughts, and we heard the outpouring of prayers and the same promises from a lot of our elected officials that this time it will be different — But no specific prescriptions for how we will fight this sickness. President Obama pointed out that approximately 3,500 have died because of terror attacks — American civilians —from 9/11 forward. But over 406,000 have died because of guns here in the United States in America.

“I have been to a lot of funerals. When I was elected in 1999 as Mayor of Baltimore it was not because Baltimore was doing well, it was because we had allowed to become far too commonplace drive-by shootings where 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 people seemed to get shot down, have their life taken from them on a weekly basis. We had to forge a new consensus to turn that around. Not a single day was easy, especially across the divisions of race, and class, and place, that we have seen so painfully intertwined around the issues of violent crime and public safety. But we did it. We did it by reminding one another of the powerful beliefs we share. A belief in the dignity of every person. A belief in our own responsibility to advance the common good we share. And an understanding that we’re all in this together. All of those beliefs are far more powerful than any lobbying effort the NRA can possibly send to a state capitol or to the United States Congress.

“I’ve had some experience with this issue. In Maryland, we took action after the senseless murder of the 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut. My friend Dannel Malloy told all of us, as the nations Governors, how he had to walk into a room where all the parents had been separated out from the other parents and waited for the Governor to tell them why it was that they were in that room and not another.

“We had huge crowds descend on Annapolis — practically closed down the hallways. There were many people that said the mountain was too high. We had to take on people in our own party who had some cultural affinities with North Carolina that were closer than their affinities with North Baltimore.

“But we did it. We never gave up. We had our own rally. And we talked about the goodness of our people, the compassion of our people and the senseless senselessness of the slaughter. And we passed our legislation. And in so doing, not only did we pass legislation that had comprehensive background checks and fingerprints. Not only did we ban combat assault weapon sales in our state. Not only did we ban the sale of more than 10 magazines, well we did something else.

“We banded together. We drove consensus. And so when the NRA polled afterwards in a cynical attempt to try to drive that legislation to popular referendum, which is easy to do in our state, they found the vast majority of Marylanders also now after their legislature debated the issue, their representatives talked about the issue and passed it. They found that they could not undo it at referendum.
“None of that was easy. We need to apply the same persistence today as a nation. And that is why, among the 15 strategic goals that I’ve set for our country to rebuild the American Dream, one of those goals is to cut gun violence in half in the next 10 years in the United States.


“I have put out a specific roadmap for how we get there. Among those things, number one, a ban on the sale of combat assault weapons. Two, a requirement that every person who purchases a gun gets a license and is fingerprinted so that law enforcement will be able to quickly trace any gun used in a crime back to its source. Three, using the full power of the federal government — did you know the largest purchaser of firearms in our nation is our own government? And our own government needs to refuse to buy guns from any company that doesn’t use the latest and best safety technology, like micro-stamping and internal serial numbers that cannot be defaced. Four, we need to make illegal gun trafficking a federal crime.

“And now this is where it comes to you. This is where it comes to you. I know that not everyone in this room has made a decision about what candidate you will support. But I also know this is New Hampshire and that some of you have.

“So I’m asking supporters of Senator Sanders to please urge Senator Sanders to back these four commonsense provisions that I just laid out to reduce gun violence.

“And I am asking the supporters of Secretary Clinton to please urge Secretary Clinton to back the specific provisions that I just laid out.

“And I’m asking both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton, Governor Chafee, all of those in our race, to join me in building a new consensus.”