Ray’s main message is to bring hope and opportunity back to the 15th Congressional District, and to do that, we need better jobs, higher quality, accessible healthcare and improved infrastructure.
Affordability
Having grown up in a family with limited means, “I know what it’s like,” Ray says, adding “I know the effect that has on a person’s basic ability to function. It impacts everything.” People don’t want a handout, they want opportunities: good jobs and affordable education.
I know firsthand what it’s like to have aspirations and be unable to attain them simply because I didn’t have money or any system to help me reach my goals,
Ray knows that “there are thousands of Pennsylvanians in the same boat. We cannot be successful as a state if we don’t support our citizens in achieving their true potential.”
One idea is to expand the small business incubators that have been piloted in Centre and Clearfield Counties. “Our small businesses create jobs, and we need to support our own entrepreneurs to keep smart people right here in the District,” Ray believes. Improving infrastructure and healthcare also expand opportunity!
Healthcare
Small businesses can’t afford healthcare for their employees – that’s why restoring subsidies for the Pennie Health Insurance exchange is a top priority. But affordability is only one piece. The healthcare industry is one of the largest employers in the 15th, and Republican cuts to Medicaid mean cuts to jobs. When Warren loses an Ob-Gyn, they lose all the jobs that go along with these services.
But Ray wants to think big:
We need better hospitals, more healthcare professionals, and a higher standard of care at reasonable prices. We’re paying far too much and having to travel too far to get decent healthcare,
Together, we’re going solve the hard problems.
Infrastructure
“We cannot have a productive, thriving, healthy society and economy without a modern infrastructure,” Ray says, noting that improving roads, bridges, rail and the electrical and water supply will mean many more good-paying jobs. Ray also wants to push for broadband access in the whole of the 15th, not just the big towns like State College. As he says…
I’m a guy who knows how to fix things.
If elected, “I owe it to the public to do whatever I can to make their lives better.”