Ayanna Lee

Issues

  • Improving Healthcare

    Health care is the one issue that hits home for me the hardest.

    As a young mother, there were a number of years my children and I did not have access to health insurance and I, like so many other citizens, was forced to gamble with my family’s daily health care needs.

    Everyday, more and more Pennsylvanians are being forced to take the same risk. There are almost one million Pennsylvanians without adequate health insurance. We need a Representative that will fight for a plan that expands access to affordable health care coverage, improves the quality of care for Pennsylvanians and lowers the health care costs for employers and employees.

    Twenty-four years ago as a young child, I buried my 45 year-old Mother because she, like so many of our citizens today, was unable to focus on improving or maintaining her health because of the high cost of health care. Like my Mother, so many Pennsylvanians are losing in this battle as the costs for an adequate health care and prescription plan has grown too far out of reach.

    High quality, affordable and accessible health care should be made available to all Pennsylvanians.

  • Education is a valuable tool

    I am a passionate advocate for providing educational opportunities to our children. Throughout my childhood, I held onto the belief that education was my only hope to escape poverty and to open doors to a future of opportunity. I am an example of what a solid education can do for a child.

    Pennsylvania is one of only nine states that lack state-sponsored pre-school educational programs. Yet Pennsylvania is home to more than 700,000 children under the age of five. We must provide these children with a solid start into their educational futures by investing in quality head start, pre-kindergarten and full-day kindergarten programs throughout our communities. The early years of a child’s education have an incredible impact on their success in life.

    We must continue to improve the funding and management structure of Pennsylvania’s public elementary and secondary schools. I attended the inner-city public school system until I reached high school and can relate to many of the struggles and obstacles our children are facing. We must demand that all our public schools have adequate resources available to the students and that children are receiving appropriate curriculum and guidance to enable their success.

    Serving as a youth mentor in a program partnered with the public school system has enabled me to experience first hand the great need for improvement throughout our schools. We must do everything possible to give all our students high quality public education because there are no options or excuses when it comes to preparing our children for the future.

  • Our Economy

    Pennsylvania is at an economic crossroads. Pennsylvania is home to a large skilled workforce and numerous world-class companies. Yet, our state and our region are struggling to develop new businesses with sustainable good paying jobs. We must employ strategies to make Pennsylvania a competitive location for business and economic growth. We need more leaders in Harrisburg promoting economic development that is focused on sustainable growth and sustainable jobs.

    One of the ways Pennsylvania can begin to advance economically is by becoming a leader in the emerging alternative energy industry. Pennsylvania has already created new markets for electricity produced from alternative and renewable sources. By investing in renewable energy not only do we combat global warming and bring down energy costs but we are able to create new and good-paying jobs throughout Pennsylvania. In addition to creating new jobs, Pennsylvania will also be able to revitalize and generate investments in thousands of jobs that we already have. However, to capitalize fully, we must continue to support business expansion projects and find ways to draw private sector development into the rapidly growing renewable energy industry.

  • Property Tax Relief

    As I have gone door to door, I have met an alarming number of senior citizens that are thinking of selling their homes because of the high real estate tax bills.

    Property tax relief continues to be a priority as our Democratic lawmakers focus on softening the tax burden, while at the same time, creating a quality public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses.

    Last year through the Property Tax/Rent Rebate Program, approximately 540,000 Pennsylvania seniors received $234 million in property tax relief. More gaming revenue was recently transferred to the Property Tax Relief Fund, bringing the total to more than $570 million. Under the continued Democratic leadership, I believe Pennsylvania homeowners will see additional property tax relief.



Paid for by Pennsylvania HDCC; Authorized by Friends for Lee