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Meet Arati
Dr. Arati Kreibich is a scientist, a mom, and a Democratic Council Member in Glen Rock. She immigrated to the U.S. when she was 11 years old with her parents and two younger brothers because they believed in the promise of America.
Arati earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 and fulfilled her dream of becoming a neuroscientist. Her research focus on opiate addiction and her experience working with pharmaceutical companies gave her an unvarnished look at the serious shortcomings of for-profit healthcare. While pursuing her doctorate and career, she started a family with her husband Thomas, a doctor.
The 2016 election was a defining moment for Arati, and it spurred her to successfully run for Glen Rock Council in 2017. In office, she's made combating climate change a priority by leading Glen Rock to town-wide clean energy consumption and a plastic bag ban.
As a medical researcher and scientist, Arati understands the need for a bold, data-driven response to COVID-19 that prioritizes working families and small businesses. As a mom whose husband is a frontline healthcare worker, Arati is proud to be the only candidate in NJ-5 to support healthcare for all and paid sick leave.
Arati knew she had to step up and run for Congress when her representative backed Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. She's running not only because the incumbent doesn't honor our Democratic values, but because we live in an exceptional moment and need bold leadership.
Meet Arati from home by joining a virtual town hall at this link. Upcoming times:
Arati earned her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005 and fulfilled her dream of becoming a neuroscientist. Her research focus on opiate addiction and her experience working with pharmaceutical companies gave her an unvarnished look at the serious shortcomings of for-profit healthcare. While pursuing her doctorate and career, she started a family with her husband Thomas, a doctor.
The 2016 election was a defining moment for Arati, and it spurred her to successfully run for Glen Rock Council in 2017. In office, she's made combating climate change a priority by leading Glen Rock to town-wide clean energy consumption and a plastic bag ban.
As a medical researcher and scientist, Arati understands the need for a bold, data-driven response to COVID-19 that prioritizes working families and small businesses. As a mom whose husband is a frontline healthcare worker, Arati is proud to be the only candidate in NJ-5 to support healthcare for all and paid sick leave.
Arati knew she had to step up and run for Congress when her representative backed Trump's anti-immigrant agenda. She's running not only because the incumbent doesn't honor our Democratic values, but because we live in an exceptional moment and need bold leadership.
Meet Arati from home by joining a virtual town hall at this link. Upcoming times:
Endorsements
Senator Bernie Sanders
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As a neuroscientist, Arati conducted research on opiate addiction and after working directly with pharmaceutical companies, she gained a clear understanding of the major shortcomings of our for-profit healthcare system. She understands that healthcare is a right for all, and not a privilege for the wealthy few. |
Representative Ayanna Pressley
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The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented hurt and exposed the entrenched disparities and inequities in our communities, but it has also shown us why we so urgently need leaders like Dr. Arati Kreibich in Congress. An immigrant, a scientist, and a mother, Arati is ready to step up and provide real leadership for the people of the New Jersey 5th. |
Indivisible
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In 2018, Arati knocked doors in New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District to make sure her district went blue. Now, she’s running for Congress herself, because NJ5 deserves a representative who will fight for our healthcare, our financial security and our planet's future, without seeking permission from corporate donors. |
Working Families Party
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Arati is a true advocate for the working people and families of NJ. As a scientist and a woman of color, her voice is much-needed in Congress as we recover from the COVID-19 crisis and fight to achieve racial justice in our nation. |
Sunrise Movement
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Dr. Arati Kreibich will speak with moral clarity about what’s wrong, who’s responsible and how we fix it — whether that’s police violence, the economy, coronavirus, or climate change. We’re proud to put our movement’s force behind her. |
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
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A mom, scientist, and Councilmember in Glen Rock, Dr. Arati Kreibich is the only candidate in NJ-5 to support healthcare for all and bold coronavirus relief for working families, including a comprehensive paycheck protection program and an eviction & foreclosure moratorium. PCCC is proud to support Arati for Congress. |
Issues
Climate Change
COVID-19
Criminal Justice Reform
Democracy Reform
Education
Fighting Hate & White Supremacy
Financial Security
Gender Equity
Gun Violence
Healthcare for All
Hold Trump Accountable
Immigration
Israel & Palestine
Labor
LGBTQ+ Issues
Military & Veterans
Racial Justice
Reproductive Justice
Social Security
Climate Change
The climate crisis is an existential threat. It doesn't just change the face of the planet; it hurts our quality of life and will shape our children's future. New Jersey is especially vulnerable to climate change. It’s one of the fastest-warming states in the country and its miles of coastline make it vulnerable to storms that are now more powerful than ever.
As a councilmember in Glen Rock, NJ, I see firsthand the need to invest more in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis on a local level. Changing, more extreme weather already impacts my borough. We need short and long term planning for allocating resources to address flooding, repairing our roads and beyond. This experience underscores for me how vital it is to invest in fighting the climate crisis on the national level with a Green New Deal. We must:
As a councilmember in Glen Rock, NJ, I see firsthand the need to invest more in mitigating the effects of the climate crisis on a local level. Changing, more extreme weather already impacts my borough. We need short and long term planning for allocating resources to address flooding, repairing our roads and beyond. This experience underscores for me how vital it is to invest in fighting the climate crisis on the national level with a Green New Deal. We must:
- Pass the Green New Deal into law in order to aggressively combat climate change while once again exemplifying leadership to the world. I strongly support passing H. Res 109, “Recognizing the duty of the Federal Government to create a Green New Deal”.
- Through implementing the Green New Deal, bring America's net emissions to zero by 2030.
- Support countries worldwide in decarbonizing and bring global net emissions to zero by 2050.
- Rejoin the Paris climate accord while also demanding even stricter global emissions standards. Experts agree that the goals set in Paris were not enough.
- Make climate change a key part of the National Security Strategy. I strongly support HR 1201, Climate Change National Security Strategy Act of 2019.
- Focus on Climate Justice and making sure we prioritize vulnerable communities exposed to toxins, lead in the drinking water and effects of flooding.
- Keep fossil fuels in the ground, ban fracking and urgently work towards a fossil-free future.
- Implement a jobs transition and ensure that workers are a guiding force in plans to build green infrastructure.
COVID-19
This is Arati's COVID-19 policy. To view our separate COVID-19 resources page, click here.
Protect Working Families
We need substantial additional action from the federal government to protect those hit hardest by this crisis. The stimulus packages passed to this point have been crucial, but they have also steered billions to Wall Street and big corporations. Additional legislation is needed in order to protect working families and frontline healthcare workers.
We must ensure that working people and families are centered in subsequent relief legislation. For the sake of saving lives and our economy, relief legislation must include:
Building a Resilient Future
This moment is showing us the dire need to create more resiliency in our country and our communities. We need to create a stronger social safety net for everyone and jumpstart our economy with working people and families in mind. We must:
Protect Working Families
We need substantial additional action from the federal government to protect those hit hardest by this crisis. The stimulus packages passed to this point have been crucial, but they have also steered billions to Wall Street and big corporations. Additional legislation is needed in order to protect working families and frontline healthcare workers.
We must ensure that working people and families are centered in subsequent relief legislation. For the sake of saving lives and our economy, relief legislation must include:
- Moratorium on all rent, mortgage, and utilities payments.
- Direct, monthly cash payments of at least $2000 to those who need them until this crisis ends, as in the Emergency Money for the People Act.
- Inclusion of college students who have been left out of previous relief packages.
- Funding for public broadband internet access for all, which is critical to facilitate distance learning at all ages.
- Paid sick leave for ALL people.
- Free COVID-19 testing and treatment.
- Funding for personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep our frontline healthcare workers and their patients safe.
- Funding for universal vote-by-mail to protect our elections and the health of everyone participating in them.
Building a Resilient Future
This moment is showing us the dire need to create more resiliency in our country and our communities. We need to create a stronger social safety net for everyone and jumpstart our economy with working people and families in mind. We must:
- Move as quickly as possible towards a universal healthcare system, ideally by passing Medicare for All.
- Ensure that all people have paid sick leave.
- Strengthen & expand national medical supply stockpiles.
- Implement policies to ensure pandemic preparedness.
- Acknowledge that climate change will cause more public health crises and pass a Green New Deal both to combat climate change and as an economic stimulus.
Criminal Justice Reform
We must take substantive action to combat the racism inherent in our criminal justice system and the real harm that our criminal justice system causes. We need to investigate allegations of systemic racism and do more to address the findings. Our country has the world’s largest prison population, and we need to take major steps to address mass incarceration. To that end, I am a strong supporter of Rep. Ayanna Pressley's People's Justice Guarantee. We must also:
- Condemn and address police brutality.
- End cash bail.
- End the death penalty.
- End qualified immunity.
- Ban incarceration for debt.
- Ban private prisons.
- Restore voting rights to people who are incarcerated.
- End solitary confinement and expand visitation.
- Legalize marijuana and expunge the records of those who have been charged or incarcerated because of marijuana.
- End the war on drugs and treat addiction like the disease that it is.
- Institute policies that prevent children from being treated like adults in our criminal justice system.
- Decriminalize poverty and homelessness.
- Provide community and social support to those struggling with mental illness rather than relying on the criminal justice system as a means to address mental illness.
Democracy Reform
Democracy reform will be one among several of my top legislative priorities. It is popular with voters and important for preserving true democracy. We must make this a priority for congress in 2021 in order to restore trust in the democratic process and elected officials. We must:
- Implement the reforms of H.R.1 For the People Act of 2019.
- Pass H.J. Res.57, the proposed amendment to the Constitution that would overturn Citizens United.
- Implement universal vote-by-mail to protect our election workers and voters from the public health risks of voting in-person in 2020.
- Expand the use of ranked choice voting.
- Create a small-donor public financing program for Congressional elections.
- Pass H.R.51. Washington D.C. deserves statehood as well as representation and voting power in Congress. Residents of D.C. pay federal taxes without having full representation on the federal level. As a majority-POC district, it is vital that D.C. have a voice and a vote in Congress.
Education
Education is not just beneficial for the career advancement of individuals, it is also beneficial to the public good. Access to education helps to create a more empowered, informed public. Right now, education is a privilege and often difficult to access. It is time for government funded education to extend beyond the K-12 system. Student debt is a limiting force in the lives of so many Americans, and tuition free public college is one part of educational justice and our vision to reduce inequalities. We must:
- Make public colleges tuition free.
- Ensure that the American government upholds its obligation to remove barriers to education rather than profiting off of student loans.
- Provide access to quality education to everyone, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
- Ensure that schools in low-income communities receive federal help rather than facing closure.
- Implement federal standards that center around inclusion and focusing on the whole child to foster equity in our educational system. At the same time, we must re-evaluate the role of testing as a part of teacher evaluations. Testing should serve as a tool for gauging students' progress and needs, not assessing teachers' performance.
Fighting Hate & White Supremacy
According to statistics compiled by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the number of white nationalist groups in the U.S. rose from 100 chapters in 2017 to 148 in 2018; the number of rallies and demonstrations by white supremacy groups increased from 76 in 2017 to 91 in 2018; and most disturbingly of all, the number of terrorist attacks by far-right perpetrators quadrupled in the U.S. between 2016 and 2017.
In New Jersey, reports of the distribution of white supremacist literature tripled between 2018 and 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Rather than combat this dangerous trend, President Trump and his aide Stephen Miller have tacitly encouraged it through their policies and rhetoric. We must:
In New Jersey, reports of the distribution of white supremacist literature tripled between 2018 and 2019, according to the Anti-Defamation League. Rather than combat this dangerous trend, President Trump and his aide Stephen Miller have tacitly encouraged it through their policies and rhetoric. We must:
- Take a stand and leverage public policy to turn back the tide of white nationalism and protect vulnerable communities from hate.
- Go beyond addressing the most visible forms of white supremacy; white supremacy is not just swastikas and pitchforks. It is an insidious force with deep roots in our institutions and public discourse. We must continue to name white supremacy within institutions and discourse and cease to tolerate it.
- Support the efforts of community groups fighting hate and increasing inclusivity in their communities.
- Call out anti-Semitism and Islamophobia wherever we see it, whether it is in our communities or in the White House.
- Condemn Trump and the role that he plays in inciting white nationalist terror and a resurgence of white supremacy.
Financial Security
I support progressive taxation that prompts the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share. Those who can afford to pay more must pay more in order for our country to effectively combat income inequality. We must:
- Expand the implementation of progressive taxation by raising taxes on the wealthiest 1%.
- Break up too-big-to-fail banks and reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act.
- Repeal the GOP tax cut that guts poor & middle class.
- Reinstate SALT deduction for federal taxes.
- Ensure that behemoths like Amazon, Netflix etc. no longer avoid paying federal taxes.
- Fight to strengthen financial reforms like Dodd Frank.
- Ensure that our representatives are beholden to their constituents and not Wall Street or corporate donors.
- Create a national minimum wage of $15 an hour now and do away with exceptions in the case of tipped wages while working to ensure that the national minimum wage rises with inflation. Our federal minimum wage should be a living wage; someone working forty hours a week should not be living in poverty.
Gender Equity
Women's rights and the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming folks are human rights. Is it past time for gender equity in our nation and in our world.
As a woman of color and a mother, I have lived the challenges that so many of us working women face. I know that we need to do more for women in our country. Women have made great strides in the last century, but there is still so much work to be done in order for us to have equal leadership and a political voice as well as true self-determination. We must:
As a woman of color and a mother, I have lived the challenges that so many of us working women face. I know that we need to do more for women in our country. Women have made great strides in the last century, but there is still so much work to be done in order for us to have equal leadership and a political voice as well as true self-determination. We must:
- Pass the ERA.
- Provide paid parental leave nationwide to biological parents as well as adoptive parents.
- Provide subsidized childcare.
- Prioritize improving healthcare for women, transgender, and gender non-conforming folks.
- Address sexual harassment both from a legal and social perspective.
- Protect all people from discrimination on the basis of gender.
Gun Violence
We have a horrific gun violence problem in our country. There have been well over two thousand mass shootings since Sandy Hook, and about one hundred people are shot and killed every day in the United States. Guns account for more than half of all suicide deaths. Gun violence permeates our homes, our streets and our communities, regardless of where we live. We know what we need to do to protect our children. We know what policies and laws will save lives. We must:
- Institute universal background checks.
- Close the loophole that allows unlicensed sellers to avoid performing background checks.
- Require gun sellers to wait for complete background checks before transferring firearms.
- Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
- Strip the NRA of its tax-exempt status based on its improper relationship with Russia.
- Pass a federal Red Flag Law.
Healthcare for All
Healthcare is a right. The COVID-19 crisis reaffirms that we need healthcare for all, not just for those who can afford it. The Trump administration has taken steps to dismantle parts of the Affordable Care Act, imperiling the coverage of Americans across the country. My opponent supports only band-aids for our national health care crisis, not real solutions. As a medical researcher whose husband treats patients daily, I see the pressing need for Medicare for All. We must:
- Pass Medicare for All.
- Fight efforts by Trump to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health.
- Restore funding for medical research using fetal tissue, research that could help scientists understand and treat AIDS, cancer, Parkinson's disease and more.
- Ensure that comprehensive mental healthcare and reproductive healthcare are provisions of Medicare for All.
Hold Trump Accountable
We cannot normalize or tolerate Trump and his egregious behavior. Whereas my opponent advocated for censure rather than impeachment for the president, I believe that no one is above the law. We must:
- Call out the ways in which Trump incites violence and mistrust.
- Combat the dangerous policies that Trump has advocated for and implemented.
- If necessary, hold Trump legally accountable.
Immigration
Welcoming immigrants is central to America’s core values, and our immigration policy should reflect that. I came to the United States from India when I was 11-years-old. Being an immigrant and a proud naturalized citizen greatly informs my perspective, and it strengthens my conviction that we need meaningful immigration reform in our country. We must:
- Enact a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.
- Put a permanent end to the cruel practice of family separations and work to reduce the backlog, reuniting all types of families who have been ripped apart at the hands of the U.S. immigration system.
- Strengthen our family-based immigration system.
- Pass legislation to significantly reduce funding and limit internal enforcement capacities for ICE and CBP.
- Investigate human rights abuses committed by immigration officers in order to begin the process of addressing the humanitarian crisis created at the border.
- Plan for the influx of climate refugees that we will see in the coming years. As the effects of the climate crisis worsen and more of our planet becomes unable to sustain communities, we must prepare to welcome climate refugees into our country.
Israel & Palestine
I respect the history of allyship between the United States and Israel. Because of our special relationship with Israel, the United States has a responsibility to draw attention to actions of the Israeli government when they are not in line with our countries’ shared democratic values; we must call on the Israeli government to uphold the values that align our two nations. Palestinians are entitled to basic human rights, and Israel is entitled to national security. We must:
- Facilitate a two-state solution.
- Resume humanitarian aid to Palestine, including aid through UN agencies as an intermediary.
- Condemn acts of terror against Israel and call upon the Palestinian Authority to work to prevent these terrorist attacks.
- I do not support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. I also oppose efforts to criminalize any form of free speech.
- Support efforts to resettle Palestinian refugees and to allow a mutually agreed upon number of refugees to resettle in Israel in order to reunite families.
- Advocate for the end of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank through settlements.
- Condemn Trump’s “peace plan,” which is actually a thinly veiled annexation plan.
Labor
Workers are the foundation of this country. They build our houses, hospitals and bridges. They take care of us when we are sick. It is necessary for us to do more to protect workers and their right to healthcare, paid leave, benefits, and to collectively bargain. We must:
- Pass a $15 minimum wage.
- Ensure that all workers are entitled to paid medical and family leave.
- Pass H.R.5728-Workplace Democracy Act.
- Ban forced arbitration.
- Have substantive conversations about sectoral bargaining in the United States.
- Ban right-to-work laws.
- Institute wage boards in order to set industry-wide pay minimums.
- Pass national Fair Workweek legislation, similar to what was recently introduced in New Jersey.
- Expand NLRA to include workers in public sector.
LGBTQ+ Issues
We need to go well beyond marriage equality to do more to protect LGBTQ+ Americans. Discriminating against people because of who they are or who they love are not American values. We must:
- Start with the Equality Act passed by the current House to extend labor, housing, and other protections.
- Codify federal protections for LGBTQ+ Americans because no one should be discriminated against because of who they are or who they love.
- Pass Medicare for All that includes provisions for mental healthcare as well as gender affirming treatments and surgeries.
- Address LGBTQ+ youth homelessness.
Military & Veterans
The U.S. should emphasize peace and human rights in its foreign policy moving forward. The fact that the U.S. defense budget represents 54% of all discretionary spending is outrageous, and it shows the U.S.’s commitment to imperialism over caring for its residents--including veterans.
We need to uphold our promises to our veterans. As a sister of a veteran, I understand some of the unique challenges they face and the support that our veterans need. We’ve neglected the mental health aspect of veterans’ health care for far too long. We must:
We need to uphold our promises to our veterans. As a sister of a veteran, I understand some of the unique challenges they face and the support that our veterans need. We’ve neglected the mental health aspect of veterans’ health care for far too long. We must:
- Put a stop to the endless wars and turn the focus of the international community to building peace and fighting climate change.
- Redirect defense budget spending to domestic social spending. A reasonable funding level for the national defense budget is one that does not outweigh the amount that the U.S. should devote to fulfilling the human rights of its residents. Defense spending should be second to spending on healthcare, housing, education, and other basic needs.
- Redirect resources to the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide comprehensive healthcare, including dental care and meaningful mental healthcare, as quickly as possible.
Racial Justice
There is clear evidence of systemic racism and racial atrocities in our nation. In striving for equity, we should seriously consider reparations. We must:
- Condemn and demand accountability in response to police brutality, as in this resolution.
- Pass H.R. 40-Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act. H.R.40 is a good first step in exploring what reparations would look like for our nation.
- Pass legislation similar to H.R. 40 to explore returning of unceded lands and territory or related royalties to Indigenous Populations. Voluntary programs like Real Rent Duwamish and the Shuumi Land Tax allow individuals to compensate Indigenous people for the use of the land that they are living and working on. While these efforts have a real, positive impact on Indigenous Populations, reparations should not be achieved just through private donations and lawsuits.
Reproductive Justice
As a woman and a mother, reproductive choice has been crucial in my life. I am committed to fighting for reproductive health, rights and justice. I will defend the right of all people to make choices about their own bodies, and I will work to ensure that no one is denied their right or access to an abortion. We must:
- Codify Roe v. Wade so that a person’s right to an abortion is built on more than the tenuous foundation of right to privacy.
- Repeal the Hyde Amendment.
- Fight TRAP laws that place unnecessary requirements on clinics that provide abortion care.
- Provide financial support to those who have to travel to receive abortion care.
- Prioritize reducing maternal mortality, especially for black women, who are 4 to 5 times more likely than white women to die while pregnant or giving birth.
- Invest in creating more clinics that provide abortion care.
- Make birth control widely accessible.
- Ensure that menstrual hygiene products are accessible to all who need them.
- Advocate for comprehensive sex education to be taught in every state.
Social Security
Social Security must be protected and expanded. Senior citizens in NJ-5 and across the country spent their lives working, raising families and paying taxes. But for too many, it's unsustainable to continue to live in their beloved communities after retirement. It is critical that Social Security benefits be expanded so that seniors can spend less time worrying about bills and more time enjoying their golden years. We must:
- Pass Social Security 2100 Act in order to safeguard Social Security.
- Go beyond this act to ensure that everyone who relies on Social Security is sufficiently supported.
