Bennet pitches universal preschool, government payments to parents in $6T ‘Real Deal’

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.) has put forth a $6 trillion “Real Deal” plan that includes universal preschool and payments to parents. 

The senator’s campaign touted the plan in a Thursday statement as something that will both “galvanize the Democratic base” and help win back Obama voters who threw their support behind President Trump in 2016.

Bennet aims to spend the $6 trillion over the next decade on initiatives such as providing preschool to all 3- and 4-year-olds, making community college free and making public four-year colleges debt free for low- and middle-income families. 

His plan also includes expanding the Child Tax Credit to give $3,600 per year for children under age 6 and $3,000 for kids 6 and up, passing paid family and medical leave and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour in “high-cost cities.”

Bennet said he would pay for his proposals through measures including ending a loophole in Trump’s tax plan and raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent. 

In a web page outlining the plan, the long-shot White House candidate sought to differentiate his ideas from those of progressives candidates, whose proposals he panned as “unrealistic.”

“The choice we face in this primary is between unrealistic promises that will only breed further cynicism in our politics and building political momentum to achieve actual progress for people who need it,” the page says. “Instead of fighting a losing battle over the next 10 years for Medicare for All, for example, we should build a broad coalition to achieve The Real Deal.”

Some of Bennet’s 2020 rivals have backed policies including a $15 minimum wage for all workers and tuition-free public colleges.