Middle-class families need cost-of-living relief

In Hawaii, we know family comes first and generations take care of each other. We need to make sure our policies reflect these values and to help families who feel stretched thin attain economic security. As a Hawaii U.S. senator, I wake up every day thinking about what I can do to help middle-class families make it in Hawaii.

Hawaii is the most isolated, populated place on the planet. This makes nearly everything more expensive: housing, gas, food. And even though the economy is recovering, it can be hard for families to get by with Hawaii’s high cost of living.

Working harder and harder shouldn’t get you further and further behind. If you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to get ahead. But that doesn’t seem to be the reality for many in Hawaii. Ten percent of families in Hawaii have to rely on three separate paychecks. And when it comes to affordable child care, Hawaii is second to last in the nation.

That’s why I’m working with my friend, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, on an Opportunities Plan. Last month we introduced the FAMILY ACT — to create paid family and medical leave insurance, so if your parent has a stroke or your child needs to have surgery, you can have the job security to take time off work to help. No one should have to choose between their job and their family. America is the only high-income nation without a paid family leave program. Our families deserve this security and flexibility.

This Opportunities Plan would also increase the minimum wage, ensure women get equal pay for equal work, establish universal pre-kindergarten on the federal level, and provide tax credits to help families pay for quality, affordable day care.

This plan will reward work and improve the economy.

Besides just getting by, I know that what many parents go to bed at night and wake up in the morning thinking about are how to give our kids the best future possible, and how to help our own older parents living on a fixed income. That’s why I’ve made expanding Social Security while strengthening its fiscal foundation and also making college more affordable major legislative priorities in the Senate.

Social Security is the most successful anti-poverty program in U.S. history. The average Social Security recipient in Hawaii receives just $14,000 a year. That’s simply not enough here. I introduced legislation with one of the most senior members of the Senate, Tom Harkin, to expand Social Security and increase Social Security benefits for seniors.

This issue is personal to me. Like many multigenerational households, my mother-in-law and my father-in-law, George Kwok, live with my wife Linda and me. George Kwok worked hard all his life and owned Kwok’s Chop Suey on Waialae Avenue. Later in life, after an illness caused a degenerative condition in his eyes, and he had an accident in the kitchen, he had to stop working and Social Security became his only source of income. I think about George Kwok and the other seniors who worked hard their whole lives when we talk about Social Security. Our seniors deserve to retire in dignity, not poverty. Every conversation we have about Social Security should be about how to increase benefits, not how much to cut them.

We need to make sure each generation and every family in Hawaii has an opportunity to succeed. If you work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to get ahead in this country — and in Hawaii. We know how strong and good our values are in Hawaii, and as long as our policies reflect those values, 2014 will be a great year for us.

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U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz is one of Hawaii’s two senators in Washington, D.C.