Vivek Bavda: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: MundeleinWebsite: http://www.bavdaforcongress.com/Office sought: 10th District U.S. RepresentativeAge: 34Family: SingleOccupation: AttorneyEducation: BA in Political Science and Economics, Northwestern University, 1999 Master of Public Affairs in Public Management, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2004, Fellowship in Public Affairs JD, The John Marshall Law School, 2009, Dean's ScholarshipCivic involvement: Teach For America Munifinancial Coro Public Affairs consulting Chicago Council on Global Affairs New Americans Democracy Project-voter registration Office of U.S. Senator Barack Obama internshipElected offices held: NoneHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: I have never been arrested. I have received one ticket for going through a red light. I paid the fine and went to traffic school.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 I am committed to creating jobs.As a public finance consultant, an undergraduate student of Economics and Political Economy at Northwestern, and a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago employee, I have a firm grounding in economic policy and the interactions of government and business, giving me the know how to create jobs. From what I have learned, I know that further federal stimulus is required to create jobs.While the stimulus can be anything, ideally, we should invest the money in the best interests of the nation.This would be infrastructure projects like transportation projects, aid to state and local governments, and research and development to name a few things.However, the Republicans will filibuster any national stimulus plan like the ones my opponents support.Consequently, I propose a Chicagoland jobs plan that includes doubling the number of lanes on 90 and 94 from the Loop to the airport and Tower Rd, respectively.94 is critical, connecting the 10th district to Chicago.Moreover, we should provide smart-grid funding from the federal government rather than increase utility rates.Finally, we should provide aid to state and local governments.If we do all three, we can bring unemployment down to 2004-2005 levels in Chicagoland.This will all, of course, require money.I am committed to trading votes for funding these three projects. As a public finance consultant with Munifinancial, I learned how politicians built support for infrastructure projects like these. While this may be sausage-making, it is also necessary to make sure our friends and neighbors have jobs until the economy recovers.All this requires the proper political packaging.Even the most ardent Republican believes in creating roads like 94/90, especially if they've lived in Chicago.Moreover, if the smart-grid is sold in the context of tax relief given the rate hike, it can be slid into an appropriations bill.Finally, the third proposal would be addressed in the context of preventing future need for state and local aid.Aid now would be conditioned on accepting the following policy.We can require state governments in good economic times to deposit a certain percentage of state tax revenue with the federal government. The federal government would have these savings to provide back during recessions. This would be a rainy day fund that the states couldn't raid.The boom times GDP growth level would be negotiated by states and the federal government.The Federal Reserve would report the state growth levels.By exchanging federal funds for this requirement, the law would pass constitutional muster.While it is time honored for elected leaders to bring money into the district, this would be a good use of our tax dollars to lower commute times, reduce pollution and energy use, create countercyclical economic policy, and create jobs.Key Issue 2 I am committed to making education a civil right.The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was a startling display of bipartisan legislation enacted to bring every student in the country to proficiency by the year 2014.The crux of the act was to force states to set standards in math, science and language arts, test all students in these subjects, and force schools to meet increasing requirements of success or face remedial measures.The fundamental policy behind NCLB was that students achieve and meet the expectations that we require of them.Several problems emerged over the years.With this in mind, I have formulated my own alternative to reauthorize NCLBFirst, NCLB only requires tests in math, science, and language arts.This creates an incentive to cut out other subject areas, leading to myopia in student knowledge.We need to test in all subject areas to make students proficient in all academic areas. The second problem to emerge is teaching to the test.Schools and teachers learn the testing mechanism and make gains on the test through style and test-taking strategies, rather than increasing substantive student learning.To mitigate this natural instinct by schools, we need to teach to tests worth teaching to that measure critical thinking.Moreover, we should require that tests are self-auditing.Self-auditing tests use different mechanisms of assessment all within a singular test.They corroborate that a student has learned a particular concept using a different testing mechanism.By testing in multiple ways, we reduce the ability of teachers to teach to any conventional test.In addition, we should require a singular test that is both criterion-reference and norm-referenced.This allows parents, educators, legislators, and the public to gauge progress on an absolute and relative scale respectively.The third problem that has emerged is the use of statistical confidence intervals at the school level to disguise failure to avoid the negative consequences of failing to meet the increasing proficiency rates of the federal law.We should require the use of the actual test scores rather than any confidence interval to meet adequate yearly progress to prevent any future statistical tinkering.The fourth problem that has emerged is the attempt to backload the proficiency progress.While states have much flexibility to apportion progress from enactment to 2014, we should require a linear model of progress for the new deadline after reauthorization.In other words, there must be equal improvements over the time period in question, rather than saving most of the progress for the end.The fifth problem is the incentives the current adequate yearly progress calculation creates.The first incentive is to neglect higher achieving students because they will pass proficiency without any problem.There is no incentive to make them reach their God given potential.The second incentive is to focus resources on students who are close to passing.Students who are the farthest behind will be left behind because the Act treats the passage of the farthest student as equivalent to a marginal student.This means a student can be taught three years worth of material and still fail the proficiency test.This student's gain is not reflected in the year's adequate yearly progress.We should impose a growth model on schools.This growth model incentivizes learning by counting and crediting schools with each year of learning rather than setting one passage score that determines adequate yearly progress.Average students who start at 5.0 grade levels worth of knowledge in 5th grade and learn one year's knowledge will be deemed as 1.0 students achieving proficiency for the adequate yearly progress calculation.If this student learns 1.5 years worth of knowledge, 1.5 students will be deemed to have passed for purposes of the adequate yearly progress calculation.In addition, this means students who are ahead have to be taught advanced material in order for them to be counted as passing in the next year's calculation.Moreover, if the advanced students learn more than one year's worth of material, the school is credited with an increase in adequate yearly progress.For example, let's take a fifth grader who is somewhat advanced for his age with 5.2 grade levels worth of knowledge.For this student to pass for purposes of adequate yearly progress, this student must achieve a 6.2 grade levels worth of knowledge.If the student learns more and achieves a 6.7 grade level knowledge, 1.5 students will be deemed to be proficient for the purpose of the adequate yearly progress calculations. Schools also will have an incentive to teach students who are currently being left behind.The low achieving student who is at 3.7 grade level in 5th grade will be counted as many times as he or she is behind.So this student will be counted as a minimum of 2.3 students because he is this far behind of where he needs to be by the end of the school year.If he achieves only a 5.0 grade level, 1.3 out of 2.3 students will be deemed as passing.If he achieves 6th grade level, then 2.3 students will be deemed proficient.If he achieves a 7th grade level, 3.3 students will be deemed to be proficient for purposes of the adequate yearly progress.The point is that teachers will be incentivized to increase learning.One downside to this system is that the adequate yearly progress calculation will become an index rather than a simple passage rate.Given this, we should require that adequate yearly progress calculations will be made public in both the old method as well as the new indexed growth model (with the new method counting toward the remedial measures of failing adequate yearly progress of NCLB).The sixth potential problem of NCLB is the failure of the remedial measures to increase performance.We should seek to help schools that have failed and become restructured by giving these schools one more tool to impact student performance.We should allow principals to double the salary scale of teachers who agree to work on an at-will basis at the discretion of the principal.By doubling the salary scale, restructured schools could expect to recruit the best teachers for the most difficult teaching areas.Given the greatest single factor on student performance is an excellent teacher, this would be an effective way to make sure that no child is left behind.To ensure that only the best performers receive this incentive, principals need to have hire and fire flexibility.It should also be pointed out that any teacher could choose either to have an ordinary contract and union provisions or take the increased salary with all union provisions except an at-will employment contact.These six problems and changes to No Child Left Behindwill help students and teachers increase learning. Beyond No Child Left Behind, we have to extend public education to lower ages.Early childhood education is critical.There can be as much as a 1,000,000 words deficit between children in poor families and affluent families.This puts many kids at a different starting point, and it can be difficult to catch up.We also have to find a way to increase funding for schools to bring all schools up to New Trier funding levels. The federal government should use the estate tax to supplement schools.Inheritances are the opposite of earned opportunity. They give the next generation a leg up, and if we use this money to even the playing field for poor kids who start behind the starting line, we move a step toward a more equitable society.And from a political standpoint, this is a winning counterpoint to Republican attacks.Key Issue 3 I am committed to breaking apart too big to fail financial institutions due to their role in this recession.As we are all aware, these institutions are so intertwined with the economy that their failure would collapse the economy.In 2008, the fall of Lehman Brother lead to a freezing of credit markets that haunts us to this day. Only bailouts saved us, but we still had a recession.There were many reasons for this recession including the Fed's easy money policy, the Shadow Banking system, Wall St. compensation structure, ratings agencies, a lack of skin in the game, opaque financial products, and finally too big to fail.There should be no one company or a small group of companies whose bad decisions should sink us all.Dodd-Frank addresses many of these concerns including bailouts for too big to fail financial institutions.However, the resolution authority that attempts to address the bailouts for too big to fail financial institutions is not nearly enough.Too big to fail institutions are too complicated to unwind quickly the way the FDIC currently does with regular banks.Beyond this, reductions in debt or haircuts are handed out during unwinding.If the haircuts are too small, you have a backdoor bailout.If the haircuts are too big, you have a cascading set of payment failures, leading to Lehman like situation. Given the pressure to prevent catastrophe in these type of situations, haircuts will be small, resulting in backdoor bailouts.This is unacceptable.Capitalism works on accountability.If you take bad risks, you lose your money and go out of business.If you keep these companies afloat, they will keep endangering us all.Too big to fail financial institutions are too big to exist.Like we do with monopolies, we must create a division in the Department of Justice to break apart too big to fail financial institutions.Questions Answers What would you do to help ease partisan gridlock? Are you willing to compromise on sticking points including spending cuts and taxes to produce results? How can Congress move from being a "crisis-driven" institution?1. Partisan gridlock exists for many reasons.First, each side has mirror images of each other.Unfortunately, many see each other as demons whose beliefs are radically different from theirs. We have to humanize each other.Members are in echo chambers and don't take the time to know people from the other side.This wasn't always true.Members were each other's friends.They would come together on big issues to move the country forward because there was trust.We need to create retreats for Congress to help restore trust.We need to require some time for members to spend together to simply be people before congresspeople.Another problem is the filibuster in the Senate.While the filibuster is a valuable tradition, it never was used the way it is now.Everything requires 60 votes, creating more sclerosis than there ever was before.So let's give each senator a certain limited number of filibusters.This way they are used judiciously allowing minority rights to be upheld without frustrating both sides.Another reason for partisan gridlock is the candidates that win tend to be more ideological.This is because only the most partisan folks vote in primaries, electing the most partisan people.If wecreate a holiday on election day and mandate people enter the voting booth, there will be more moderate voters, and more moderate candidates will be elected.These reforms will end gridlock.2. I believe in collaboration and compromise.However, this requires both sides to give. I am committed to long term entitlement reform, but this is politically risky to say.Republicans simply can't say no to taxes.They have to be willing to take a risk too.3. As a country, we have to elect pragmatic people to prevent crisis-driven situations.We can't be so tied to ideology that it takes the pressure of a default to get anything done.Ideologues get elected because primary voters tend to be the most ideological.To address this, I would mandate voting for all citizens and create a holiday on election day to give people time to go to the booth.More moderate voters will ensure more moderate candidates, limiting brinkmanship.Should tax breaks be extended? Why or why not? If so, for whom? What should Congress do to improve unemployment? Why do you support or oppose President Obama's jobs plan? What cuts or revenue increases do you support for deficit reduction?1. The Bush tax cuts should be extended for the middle class for a few reasons.First, we are in the middle of a recession.The middle class spends far more of their money on consumption than the rich.A tax hike will hurt the economy by reducing consumption.However, the rich will be less likely to spend money, meaning a tax hike on them wouldn't cause much of a decrease in consumption.Second, the middle class is hurting, and an increase will make lives more difficult.However, the wealthy have a greater ability to pay.Third, extending tax cuts for the wealthy will further distort income inequality.2. Congress needs to spend money to increase demand to lower unemployment.On a macroeconomic level, there is a lack of aggregate demand due to radical decline in the supply of money that began with the fall of Lehman Brothers. Together, the loss of liquidity, wealth, and changed expectations reduced aggregate demand.Currently, there is not enough consumption, investment, and export demand to match our productive capacity.Without this aggregate demand, employers layoff or don't hire employees because there is less consumption.Businesses' full productive capacity isn't being used so they see no reason to invest in increasing their capacity.As this is a global recession, exports aren't as high as they used to be.Typically, there are two options, fiscal and monetary policy.The Federal Reserve has used up most of its ammunition in terms of monetary policy by addressing the decline in money supply.However, the lack of monetary velocity, how fast money changes hands, among others things complicated the ability of monetary policy to affect aggregate demand.This leaves the neo-Keynesian response, which is for government to increase spending and lower taxes to make up for aggregate demand.Now the reason that this is the correct response rather than supply-side analysis is that the supply curve is elastic.We know it is elastic because inflation is minimal when oil is not considered.While the supply curve eventually becomes inelastic if aggregate demand continually increases, we haven't reached that level nor are we close to it.Congress has to spend money on infrastructure, research and development, and other investments that will payoff in the future to increase demand.Increasing demand will grow the economy and create jobs.3. and 4. I support the President's jobs plan.However, it is a second best solution.It puts more money into the economy because it redistributes money to people who are more likely to spend it.It would be better if it was all deficit spending rather than paid for.Many would balk and suggest that we can't take on more debt.While the debt is about 100% of GDP, it is important to remember that the government owes itself about 30% of the debt.This makes the immediate concern of lowering the deficit, balancing the budget, and decreasing the debt misplaced.At 120% of Debt to GDP rather than 70% is when a sovereign debt crisis becomes likely. Furthermore, given the U.S. is the biggest economy in the world, the dollar is the reserve currency of the world,and U.S. debt is the most safe investment in the world, the percentage is likely higher. At the end of the day, the debt and deficit matters, but it matters in the long run.The main drivers of deficit and debt in the long run are entitlements with health care spending the most critical.The Affordable Care Act's ideas such as the independent payment advisory board, electronic records, preventative care, comparative effectiveness research, and new ways to pay for health care all will help bring health care spending down.We need to do more.We need to let Medicare negotiate drug prices.We can also address the slowing health care costs while dealing with lack of access to care.The lack of medical professionals in rural and inner-city areas for Medicare patients can be mitigated effectively through a reverse Dutch auction payment system and will save money.Currently, many health care professionals are highly concentrated in suburban and/or affluent areas.The shortage in rural and inner-city areas means that low-income people have to wait longer for services and travel further to get to services.Medicare is paying a higher rate than it should because it supports the fixed costs of the professionals in high concentration areas even though there are fewer patients than optimal.Using a reverse Dutch auction, Medicare would look at its population data and determine the optimal level of services in each geographical area.Using internet software, Medicare would list each geographical area, the number of each type of professional needed, and the bid (pay).As the bid increases for each area, more professionals would take the bid on each geographical area that they would like to live and work.Presumably, the popular geographical areas would be chosen first at a lower cost.Meanwhile, other professionals would wait for the current shortage area prices to be increased until the pay is worth practicing there and the need is met.A limited number of positions would create market discipline, ensuring that people don't wait for obscene prices.Moreover, anti-trust laws could be used to prevent collusion.This concept could save money and remove a barrier to health care for rural and low-income people.Not only would this save money for the government, insurance companies could use this model to lower health care costs in the rest of the economy.Social Security also needs to be addressed to tackle the deficit and debt.We have to remove the cap on the income subject to the payroll tax.Moreover, we need an accurate inflation index that is chain weighted.Chain weighted simply means accounting for substitutions if one price goes up.These reforms will address the deficit in the long run.What steps should the country now be taking in the war on terrorism? What policy should the U.S. have toward Iran and North Korea? What is your view of terrorism policies that pit public safety against civil liberty?1. and 3.While I fully support destroying and dismantling terrorist groups like Al Qaeda, I don't believe this is a traditional war matter.Outside of explicit state-sponsored acts of terror or provision of safe harbor, we should not invade a country.As we saw with the killing of Bin Laden, we didn't need to invade a country to get to a target.Our special forces, drone abilities, the CIA, and the FBI have the capacityto address this issue outside and inside of the U.S.Fighting terrorism and terrorists should not be a war for many reasons.First, you cannot fight a tactic.Second, this is a war that has no end.Terrorism has always existed and will continue to exist.Without an end to a war, there are legal ramifications for executive power including the ability to suspend the writ of habeas corpus as Lincoln did during the Civil War, put Japanese-Americansin internment camps as FDR did in World War II, and hold people for a decade of their life with no due process as the George W. Bush and Obama administrations are doing.While I despise KSM and his acts, this is not who we are.We are a nation of laws, not men.We judge ourselves on how we treat the worst, and our values extend to a realm beyond convenience.Moreover, we live in a free society.There are risks that come with a free society.The reality is that 9/11 wasn't the first terrorist act nor will it be the last.The measures our government has taken including greater airport security that violates our privacy, warrant-less wiretapping, and waterboarding, all give the federal government more power, risking the slippery slope to that the founding fathers feared.Remember, when power is first concentrated to achieve a noble end, most applaud like the Romans did of Caesar.However, the path of concentrated power is not easily reversed as Caesar became emperor.As Benjamin Franklin once said, "those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."2. Iran The major question on Iran is whether Iran should be allowed to have nuclear weapons.Iran should be stopped for many reasons.First, a nuclear Iran represents an existential threat to Israel.Second, a nuclear Iran becomes the hegemon of the Middle East.Its expanded influence would be contrary to American interests such as democratization of the Middle East.Moreover, Iran's theocracy will become a more persuasive model for Arab governments.Furthermore, Iran's support for terrorists such as Hezbollah would become more prominent.Third, as many Middle East regimes are Sunni, Iran's bomb will start a nuclear arms race in the most volatile region in the world. The U.S. in concert with its allies must persuade Iran to halt its program.This can be done by progressively tightening the economic net through greater and greater sanctions.This is where we are currently, and the Obama administration policy is sound.However, the point where military air strike becomes necessary is the nuclear bomb's completion.And the military strike should be done by the U.S., rather than Israel to prevent blowback against Israel.While I listed the reasons to stop Iran, the military approach has negatives.It would isolate us with Israel.Even Arab countries that privately would be happy would publicly condemn military action.It would be another military intervention in a Muslim country that would stoke anti-American sentiment in a part of the world that already doesn't trust us.This would fit the message that terrorist groups like Al Qaeda use to recruit.It might also cause a counter punch by terrorists who feel they need to respond in kind.There is also the chance that the military air strike will fail.Not only could Iran have the bomb, it might decide to retaliate.While it is unlikely they would use nuclear weapons for anything other than an existential threat, Iran may react by through a conventional missile assault on Israel.They also could use their oil leverage to threaten the global supply chain.While this would be temporary given Iran's need to sell oil for survival, it would make life difficult for allies like Japan who rely on Iranian oil exports.Having said that this is worth military action, sanctions are likely to work.The benefit of sanctions is that we would have the moral weight of the international community.While many Americans scoff at the persuasiveness of the international community, there is a consistent and proven record of countries coming into compliance with international norms.South Africa and Libya are the most well known.However, the most glaring examples of evidence contrary include the situations in the Indian subcontinent and North Korea.Unlike these countries, Iran doesn't have a neighbor it fears as an existential threat like North Korea against the U.S. and South Korea or India and Pakistan.This bomb will eventually be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with U.S. and the international community.They will ask for and need help with peaceful nuclearpower generation.The downside of sanctions alone is that at some point it becomes accepted that a country is committed to the particular goal.At that point like with India, sanctions are lifted with an unfortunate acceptance of nuclear weapons.We cannot allow the Iranians to have nuclear weapons. North Korea With the demise of Kim Jong Il, there is great uncertainty in North Korea.Kim Jong Un is a complete wild card.In fact, it is not even clear that he is in charge.The military plays an important role and may take advantage of Kim Jong Un.Our policy in concert with South Korea, Japan, and China must be as clear as possible.Uncertainty has a way of feeding on itself.We cannot add to it.We simply have to wait and see to get a sense of who we our negotiating partner is.We must do everything we can to create stability until the North Korean power vacuum is filled.How should Medicare and Medicaid be changed overall to fix fund gaps' How should Medicare be changed for those currently enrolled? How should it change for the Baby Boomer generation?Medicare and Medicaid need to be seen in the context of overall health care spending.If we can slow the cost of health care overall, Medicare and Medicaid can be preserved.The Affordable Care Act's ideas such as the independent payment advisory board, electronic records, preventative care, comparative effectiveness research, and new ways to pay for health care including bundling and accountable care organizations all will help bring health care spending down.We need to do more.We need to let Medicare negotiate drug prices.We can also address slowing health care costs while dealing with lack of access to care.The lack of medical professionals in rural and inner-city areas for Medicare patients can be mitigated effectively through a reverse Dutch auction payment system and will save money.Currently, many health care professionals are highly concentrated in suburban and/or affluent areas.The shortage in rural and inner-city areas means that low-income people have to wait longer for services and travel further to get to services.Medicare is paying a higher rate than it should because it supports the fixed costs of the professionals in high concentration areas even though there are fewer patients than optimal.Using a reverse Dutch auction, Medicare would look at its population data and determine the optimal level of services in each geographical area.Using internet software, Medicare would list each geographical area, the number of each type of professional needed, and the bid (pay).As the bid increases for each area, more professionals would take the bid on each geographical area that they would like to live and work.Presumably, the popular geographical areas would be chosen first at a lower cost.Meanwhile, other professionals would wait for the current shortage area prices to be increased until the pay is worth practicing there and the need is met.A limited number of positions would create market discipline, ensuring that people don't wait for obscene prices.Moreover, anti-trust laws could be used to prevent collusion.This concept could save money and remove a barrier to health care for low-income people.While I accept the need to cut costs and support the President, I believe in single payer health care systems.This mechanism is the quickest and easiest way to bring health care spending down.I predict single payer's lure to the middle class will increase as we go further down the health care road over decades, and the Affordable Care Act will be replaced by single payer.With single payer, there will be increases in salary since employers won't provide coverage.This will mean additional tax revenue to allocate to health care since benefits have been tax free except for the Cadillac Heath Care Plans.With single payer models around the world that manage costs better than our model, the U.S. will be able to customize the system and still cut costs to prevent budget busting.What is your position on concealed carry gun laws' How do you believe marriage should be defined legally? What is your position on abortion? What, if any, abortion exceptions do you support? Should abortion clinics receive government funding?1. While I believe in the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms, guns belong in hunting areas and homes for self-defense.I am against concealed carry gun laws.There are legitimate dangers with Americans carrying guns in public.As it is, the police deal with many altercations and accidents.With concealed guns, deaths would increase due to escalation of conflicts and more opportunities for accidents.2. I believe in gay marriage.It should come with all the privileges, rights, and responsibilities that heterosexual couples receive.Marriage: The legal status, condition, or relationship that results from a contract by which two people, who have the capacity to enter into such an agreement, mutually promise to live together in the relationship of friendship, intimacy, and sexuality in law for life, or until the legal termination of the relationship.3. I am firmly pro-choice.Abortion clinics should receive government funding.Abortion is a legal medical procedure.As the government has decided to get in the health care business, it has the obligation to fund all legal medical procedures. <div style="margin:8px 8px 0 8px;"><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.congressionalprimaries.org/static/primaries/js/widget_api.js"></script><script type="text/javascript">document.write(CongressionalPrimaries.donations("www", "www", "D1129646BCBE92C41681", "Vivek", "Bavda"));</script></div><div style="margin:8px 8px 0 8px;"><script type="text/javascript">document.write(CongressionalPrimaries.tweets("www", "www", "D1129646BCBE92C41681", "Vivek", "Bavda"));</script></div>