# Who Voted for This? 11 ideas to help lower costs for American families. Six ideas focus on household costs. Five other ideas cover funding, retirement, immigration, public safety and rights. Read each plan, cast a vote, and add a private comment. These are proposals, not current law. Visitor votes are not a scientific poll. Canonical source: https://whovotedforthis.com/ This guide uses the same policy text as the website. Read each summary with the full plan, its limits, and its sources. This is not a government website. These plans are not law. ## Lower costs for families ## 1. Lower Home Payments and Build More Homes Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/home-ownership/ Buyers who qualify could pay less each month for a home, then share its gain when they sell. ### What it would do - Offer qualified buyers a second loan for up to 35% of a home’s value. - Use private lenders and bond funding, with no interest or monthly payment on that loan. - Repay the loan plus a share of the home’s gain when it sells. - Build more starter homes and give renters a first chance to buy from large landlords. Help qualified buyers finance up to 35% of a home’s value with a second loan that has no interest or monthly payment. When they sell, they repay the loan plus a share of the home’s gain in value. Build more starter homes and help renters buy from large landlords, so help for buyers does not just raise prices. ### How the loan works - Qualified private lenders compete to offer the second loan. Bonds supply the money, and common federal rules apply. - A buyer can finance up to 35% of the appraised value. Newly built starter homes and homes that renters buy from large landlords can get extra support. - There is no monthly payment on the second loan. - When the home is sold, the buyer repays the amount borrowed plus the same share of the home’s gain in value. - Repaid money is lent again to future buyers. It is not a one-time grant. - An example model shows a 30% second loan freeing up about $645 to $1,373 a month across three sample households. These examples are not a promise of savings. ### Protections for buyers - Regional price caps keep the program from fueling luxury sales or simply pushing prices up. - Rules on living in the home, first-time buyers, income, inspections, escrow, and safe lending protect families from taking on too much. - Money a family spends on documented home improvements is not counted as gain, so the family keeps the value it creates. - Refinancing to a new rate or term should not force repayment. - Buyers get a clear, penalty-free way to say no to the product. ### Why more homes are part of the plan Help for buyers without more homes can raise prices. So the plan also calls for easier financing of condos and townhomes, more starter homes, more modular housing, and rewards for large rental owners who sell homes to their tenants or to other people who will live in them. Tenants would get a first chance to buy. ### The tradeoff The buyer gives up a share of future gains. In return, the family gets into a home sooner, keeps most of the gains, and pays no interest or monthly bills on the second loan. The fair comparison is not only a regular mortgage. For many families it is renting for years and building no equity at all. ### Sources and background The CFPB explains the basic exchange in a shared-appreciation mortgage: lower payments in return for giving up part of a future gain. Its example concerns a mortgage modification, not the second-loan program proposed here. It does not establish the sample savings or approve this proposal. - [CFPB: What a shared-appreciation mortgage means](https://www.cfpb.gov/ask-cfpb/my-servicer-offered-me-a-shared-appreciation-mortgage-as-a-means-of-modification-what-does-that-mean-en-270/) ## 5. Send One Hospital Bill and Make Insurance Easier to Compare Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/health-care-billing/ For care a hospital arranges, you would get one bill instead of bills from each doctor or lab. ### What it would do - Send one hospital bill and have the hospital pay the other providers. - Use standard insurance plans, billing codes, and clear payment schedules. - Require a provider to accept a plan at all its locations. - Require nonprofit hospitals to publish how much free and discounted care they give and how they use their tax exemption. After a hospital procedure, patients can get separate bills from the hospital, the anesthesiologist, the lab, and others. This plan would send one bill from the hospital. The hospital would then pay the others. It would also make insurance plans easier to compare. Require nonprofit hospitals to publish how much free and discounted care they give and how they use their tax exemption. ### One bill For a procedure the hospital coordinates, the patient gets one bill from the hospital. The hospital pays the anesthesiologists, labs, imaging providers, and others. The patient does not have to sort out separate bills and networks. ### Make insurance easier to compare - Offer a limited set of standard plan designs, so benefits can be compared side by side. - Use common billing codes so insurers cannot win by making claims harder to understand. - Use clear, set payment schedules to reduce the power that comes from hospital mergers. - A provider would accept a plan across all of its locations, not pick and choose networks. ### Accountability for nonprofit hospitals Require nonprofit hospitals to publish how much free and discounted care they give and how they use their tax exemption. Federal law would set measurable standards for charity care and community benefit, require clear reporting of executive pay, and put tax-exempt status at risk after repeated failure. ### The hard questions Standard plans can limit new ideas. Some doctors might leave insurance networks and take only cash. Any final law would also need strong risk adjustment. That means plans cannot profit by attracting healthy patients and avoiding people with greater medical needs. ### Sources and background CMS explains protections against surprise medical bills under the No Surprises Act. Those protections are background, not the draft’s proposed single hospital bill, standard insurance designs, or payment schedules. - [CMS: No Surprises Act — Understand your rights against surprise medical bills](https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/no-surprises-understand-your-rights-against-surprise-medical-bills) ## 2. Make It as Easy to Cancel a Recurring Charge as It Was to Sign Up Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/silent-charges/ You could cancel the same way you signed up, and choose each year which companies may keep charging you. ### What it would do - Give credit card users a clear right to stop repeat charges. - Require card companies and payment networks to honor that request. - Ask you to approve each company again once a year. - Require your permission before sharing a new card number with a company. If you cancel a subscription, the charges should stop. Today, debit card users have a legal right to stop certain automatic payments, but credit card users do not. This plan gives credit card users a stop-payment right that banks must honor. It also asks you to re-approve a company once a year, and it stops card networks from passing your new card number to a company you cancelled. ### The gap today Debit card users have a federal right to stop certain automatic payments. Credit card users do not. Also, some card-update services pass a new card number to a company even after you cancel the old card. ### How it would work - Define a clear category for subscriptions and charges that renew unless you cancel. - You approve a company once. That approval ends after one year unless you renew it. - A stop-payment request to your card company is binding on the card company and the payment network. - Card updater services must get your permission for each company before sharing a new card number. ### Enforcement without a new agency Companies would label what they sell. The banks that process their payments would check those labels. Card issuers would have to honor stop-payment requests. State attorneys general and consumers could take action over repeated violations. ### The tradeoff Stronger consent adds some friction. The yearly approval is the compromise. It is often enough to catch forgotten charges, but it does not interrupt a service you want every month. ### Sources and background The CFPB describes stop-payment protections for automatic debit payments from a bank account. This is background for the gap the draft addresses, not a source showing that the proposed credit-card rules or annual renewal requirement already exist. - [CFPB: Protections for automatic debit payments](https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/you-have-protections-when-it-comes-to-automatic-debit-payments-from-your-account/) ## 10. Have Large Power Users Pay for the Grid Upgrades Their Projects Need Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/energy-and-grid-costs/ Have large power users pay for the grid upgrades their projects need. ### What it would do - Make very large users pay for the power plants, lines, and connections they need. - Improve grid planning and make cost sharing public. - Update nuclear licensing while keeping independent safety checks. - Plan for long-term supply without selling future technology as a quick fix. Have large power users pay for the grid upgrades their projects need. This includes data centers and other projects that add large amounts of demand. The plan would also improve grid planning and keep advanced nuclear power under consideration for the long term. ### Who pays for new demand Very large customers, such as data centers, should pay for the grid, power plants, and connections their projects need. Those costs should not be passed into home electric rates. ### Federal tools - Use the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to improve power line planning and the process for connecting to the grid. - Make cost sharing for large users public, so households can see what they are and are not paying for. - Update Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing while keeping independent safety review. ### A realistic supply plan A better grid and advanced nuclear power can help supply last for the long term. Neither removes the need for honest rate design now. Technology that does not exist yet should not be sold as a quick fix for your power bill. ### Sources and background FERC’s fact sheet for Order No. 1920 describes regional transmission planning and cost allocation. It is background on federal grid tools, not proof that the draft’s proposed large-user payment rules are already in force or that household savings are guaranteed. - [FERC: Order No. 1920 transmission planning and cost allocation fact sheet](https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/fact-sheet-building-future-through-electric-regional-transmission-planning-and) ## 6. Expand Job Training and Tie School Choice to Results Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/education-and-training/ You would have more paths to skilled work, with school options for families whose schools keep failing students. ### What it would do - Expand trade classes, paid apprenticeships, and aid for short job-training programs. - Link training money to skilled jobs that need workers. - Use more in-person ways for students to show what they know. - Offer school choice after long-term failure, not universal vouchers; judge schools by student growth. A four-year degree is not the right path for everyone. This plan would expand apprenticeships, career and technical classes, and short job-training programs. It would also test what students really know in more reliable ways. If a school fails children year after year, families would get a real option. ### Use federal tools that already exist - Expand Perkins career and technical education funding. - Grow registered apprenticeships run through the Department of Labor. - Let short, high-value job training programs qualify for some Pell Grant support. - Link training money to skilled jobs in housing, energy, infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing. ### Measure learning differently It is getting harder to tell what a student wrote from what software wrote. Schools could use fewer high-stakes tests and more in-person ways for students to show what they understand before they move on. ### Choice tied to results This is not universal vouchers. More options would open only when a school has failed students over a long period. That would be judged by student growth, not raw test scores alone. Where a school is working, public policy should help it, not drain it. ### Sources and background The Department of Labor’s registered-apprenticeship research describes on-the-job learning, classroom instruction, credentials, and concerns raised by apprentices. It is background on one training route, not a guarantee of pay, placement, or results from this proposal. - [U.S. Department of Labor: Registered apprenticeship research](https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/research/publications/registered-apprenticeship) ## 11. Open Self-Driving Fleets to Independent Owners Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/transportation/ Open self-driving fleets to qualified independent owners under the same safety and fair-competition rules for everyone. ### What it would do - Limit the share of a local fleet that one maker or ride platform can own. - Give qualified owners fair access, fair ride assignments, clear fees, and a choice of platforms. - Require safety and service checks, reach more neighborhoods, and work alongside buses and trains. - Offer a chance to earn, not a promise of savings, income, or safety. Open self-driving fleets to qualified independent owners under the same safety and fair-competition rules for everyone. Limit how much of a local fleet one company can own. Use published entry terms, fair ride assignments, clear fees, and a choice of platforms. Lower costs and owner income are goals, not guarantees. ### The problem Transportation was the second-largest spending category after housing in the federal government’s 2024 household averages. That includes more than owning a car, and each family’s budget is different. A family without reliable transportation can struggle to reach a better job across town. Self-driving fleets could offer another option, but technology alone does not decide who benefits. Rules do. - [Bureau of Labor Statistics: 2024 household spending (February 12, 2026)](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2026/housing-and-transportation-accounted-for-50-percent-of-household-spending-in-2024.htm) ### What the cost reports show These reports were checked on October 11, 2026. They describe car costs, not what a self-driving service would charge or save. - Kelley Blue Book reported that buyers paid an average of $49,855 for a new vehicle in July 2026. That is an average across vehicles sold, not the price of every car. - In Edmunds’ data, a $10,000 to $15,000 budget bought a used vehicle averaging 8.7 years old and about 98,000 miles in April through June 2026. In the same months of 2019, that budget bought one averaging 4.7 years old and about 58,000 miles. These are group averages, not a promise about any particular car. - AAA estimated $12,863 a year to own and operate a new vehicle in its 2026 study, based on five years and 75,000 miles. That includes loss in resale value, not just monthly bills. Your cost will depend on the car, where you live, and how much you drive. AAA changed its method, so this estimate should not be directly compared with its 2025 total. - [Kelley Blue Book / Cox Automotive: July 2026 new-vehicle prices (August 11, 2026)](https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/july-2026-atp-report-2) - [Edmunds: second-quarter 2026 used-car report (August 18, 2026)](https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/insights-q2-2026-used-car-report.html) - [AAA: 2026 new-vehicle ownership costs (September 15, 2026)](https://newsroom.aaa.com/2026/09/aaa-new-vehicle-ownership-costs-hit-12863-annually/) ### Four fair-ownership rules - Ownership cap. No single manufacturer or ride platform could directly own more than a set share of the licensed self-driving fleet vehicles in a metro area. Above that share, vehicles must be independently owned. The cap tightens as the market grows, before one company dominates. - Open access. A large platform must accept qualified independent owners on published, equal terms. It can require safety, maintenance, and service standards. It cannot exclude owners at random. - Fair dispatch. A cap means little if a platform sends rides to its own cars first. Ride assignment must not depend on who owns the car, and outside auditors must be able to check how it works. - Clear terms. Platforms would publish their fees and could not change the economic terms of an existing owner contract midway. Owners would get data on their own car’s use and earnings. Owners could list the same car on more than one platform, so platforms compete for owners. ### Why this idea has precedent The country has often limited a company from owning both a product and the only way to reach it. Examples include rules that kept movie studios from owning theaters and rules that kept airlines from ranking their own flights first. Those rules were meant to keep markets open, not to punish business. ### Safety, coverage, and transit - Safety standards would apply to every car and every owner. This plan does not promise that any system is safe. Regulators would need to set and enforce the standards. - Require service areas that reach beyond downtown, including neighborhoods that are hard to serve. - Fleets would work alongside buses and trains. They would not replace public transit. ### What Congress can do - Federal law limits certain temporary safety-standard exemptions to 2,500 vehicles per manufacturer in a 12-month period. This is not a limit on every self-driving fleet. It applies to vehicles using those exemptions because they do not meet all existing vehicle standards. - Congress could change that exemption limit and attach fair-ownership rules and enforceable safety requirements. Those ownership rules are this proposal, not current law. - In its July 2026 update, the federal vehicle safety agency said it had begun work on self-driving performance requirements. Work on standards is not the same as having final rules, and it is not a guarantee of safety. - Set a national framework for safety, ownership, and open access while the industry is still small. - Require fleets that operate across state lines to follow the access rules. - [49 U.S.C. § 30113(d)–(e): exemption limits (2024 Code edition; checked October 11, 2026)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2024-title49/pdf/USCODE-2024-title49-subtitleVI-partA-chap301-subchapII-sec30113.pdf) - [NHTSA: automated-vehicle framework update (July 31, 2026)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-07-31/html/2026-15483.htm) ### Drivers and owners People who drive for ride apps today could lose that work. This plan aims to open a chance for some of them to own a car instead. It is an opportunity, not a guarantee. Owning a car carries costs and risks, and owner income is not promised. The published data and terms are meant to help people decide with open eyes. ### The tradeoffs Caps and open-access rules could slow how fast companies expand, and could add costs for them. Safety and service checks add paperwork for owners. Some people will say the market should decide. The case for this plan is that without rules, one company may end up owning the cars, the network, and the customer. ## Other ideas we're testing These ideas are about funding, retirement, immigration, public safety and rights rather than direct household bills. ## 3. Make Federal Funding Keep Up With Growth Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/community-growth/ Your town would get funds based on how many people live there now, and show if basic services keep up. ### What it would do - Update population counts used to divide federal funding more often. - Replace some grant contests with clear, steady funding rules. - Show how police, roads, schools, and other services compare with population growth. - Reduce a small share of related funding if a community keeps failing to report. When a town grows fast, it needs more police, water, roads, and schools. But federal money often follows old population counts, or goes to whoever writes the best grant. This plan would update funding to match who lives there now. It would also ask communities to report honestly whether services are keeping up. ### How it would work - Update federal funding formulas more often so fast-growing places are not funded for an old population. - Turn some competitive grants into predictable formulas, so funding does not favor the places with the biggest grant-writing teams. - Communities that get these funds would publish how much service they provide per resident, next to their population growth. - For long-term failure to report, cut a small, growing share of related funds. This is not an all-or-nothing cutoff. ### What counts as capacity Police and fire are just examples. The same report would cover water and sewer systems, road upkeep, schools, courts, emergency response, and other basic services that rapid growth can strain. ### Who is responsible for what Washington can make funding follow the people who really live in a place. Hiring, management, and daily service stay with local elected officials. ### Sources and background GAO describes the Census Bureau’s annual population estimates and how governments use them to allocate federal funds. The proposed funding and service-reporting changes remain ideas in this draft, not findings or recommendations attributed to this report. - [GAO: Population Estimates — Results of the Census Bureau’s Challenge Program](https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107503) ## 7. Apply Social Security Payroll Tax to All Wages Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/social-security/ Phase out the wage cap so people earning above it pay Social Security payroll tax on all their wages. ### What it would do - Phase out the wage limit on Social Security payroll taxes. - Protect benefits, rebuild reserves, and raise the minimum benefit for long-time low-paid workers. - Keep the money separate from housing loans and do not rely on stock market returns. - Keep early claiming at 62 and require an independent funding review. Social Security payroll tax applies to wages up to a yearly cap. This plan would phase out that cap, so people earning above it would pay the tax on all their wages. Use the added revenue to fund scheduled benefits, rebuild reserves, and strengthen the minimum benefit for long-time low-paid workers. ### The main change Today, Social Security payroll tax applies only up to a yearly pay limit. The plan would phase that limit out. People earning above the limit would pay the tax on the wages that are now above it. Workers below the limit already pay on all their wages. ### What the estimates tell us A previous analysis of a similar change estimated it could close roughly three-fifths of the 75-year funding gap. That is not an estimate of this full plan. A new, independent review is needed before claiming how many years of full benefits it would protect. ### What the money is for - Protect scheduled benefits and shrink the long-term funding gap. - Rebuild the trust fund reserves instead of starting unrelated spending. - Strengthen the minimum benefit for people who worked a lifetime at low wages. - Require a new independent Social Security actuarial score before anyone claims a specific date when the program is safe. ### What this plan does not do It does not make benefits depend on stock market returns. It does not mix Social Security money with the housing bond plan. The trust funds need steady income when benefits come due. ### Retirement age Raising the retirement age for everyone hits hardest for people in physical jobs and groups with shorter life expectancy. Claiming early at 62 would stay available. Any future talk about age would need to protect lower earners and hard physical work. ### Sources and background Social Security’s actuaries explain how payroll-tax provisions can change the tax rate or taxable earnings limit. Their estimates concern the provisions listed there; they are not an actuarial score or solvency date for this working draft. - [Social Security Administration: Provisions affecting payroll taxes](https://www.ssa.gov/oact/solvency/provisions/payrolltax.html) ## 4. Border Enforcement and a Legal Work Status Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/immigration-and-work/ Keep border enforcement and let eligible workers apply for renewable legal status by working and paying taxes. ### What it would do - Keep strong, permanent border enforcement. - Offer eligible workers two-year work permits they can renew. - Require proof of identity, work, and taxes; bar serious or violent felony convictions. - Let workers change jobs and seek permanent residency after ten years of steady work and taxes. Keep permanent border enforcement and offer eligible workers a renewable legal work status. Applicants would document their identity, work, and taxes paid. Serious or violent felony convictions would disqualify applicants. After ten years of steady work and taxes, eligible workers could seek permanent residency. ### The proposed system - Keep permanent border enforcement alongside the legal work process. - Offer a two-year work status, renewable up to five times, to eligible people who come forward, document who they are, work, and pay taxes. - Let workers change employers. Reporting wage theft or unsafe work would not cost them their legal status. - After ten years of steady work and taxes paid, allow a path to permanent residency. ### Who would not qualify A serious or violent felony conviction would disqualify an applicant, and could end their status later. After a set sign-up period, people who stay outside the system would be the top priority for enforcement. ### Legal immigration that follows real needs Future work visas would respond to documented needs in each industry, not only to who applied first. People with DACA or Temporary Protected Status could move directly into the documented system. Military service could speed up the timeline. ### Why switching jobs matters When an employer controls a worker’s status, abusive employers gain power over that worker. Businesses that break the rules can then undercut those that follow them. A permit held by the worker supports fair pay and fair competition. ### Sources and background USCIS explains employment authorization documents under the existing system. This is background on permission to work, not evidence that the draft’s proposed two-year status or path to permanent residency is available today. - [USCIS: Employment authorization](https://www.uscis.gov/employment-authorization) ## 8. Require Background Checks for Private Gun Sales Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/background-checks/ A private gun sale would need the same background check as a store sale, with no national owner list. ### What it would do - Run private sales through a licensed dealer using the current background check. - Allow a reasonable dealer fee and keep the record rules already in place. - Create no national gun-owner registry or new federal agency. - Keep legal gun ownership for buyers who pass the check. Today, a gun bought from a store gets a background check, but many sales between private people do not. This plan would route private sales through a licensed dealer, who runs the existing background check. It would not create a national list of gun owners. ### How it would work A private buyer and seller complete the sale through a licensed firearms dealer. The dealer runs the existing federal background check and keeps records under the rules that already exist. The dealer may charge a reasonable fee. ### What stays the same - It uses the current dealer and background check system. It does not create a new federal agency. - It does not create a national registry of gun owners. - People who pass the check can buy and own firearms as they can today. ### The idea behind it Private sales would go through a licensed dealer using the existing background check. There would be no national list of gun owners. ### Sources and background This FBI testimony explains how the National Instant Criminal Background Check System works. It is historical background on the system the draft would use, not evidence that all private sales are already covered or a promise about the proposal’s effects. - [FBI: National Instant Criminal Background Check System — testimony](https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches-and-testimony/national-instant-criminal-background-check-system-nics) ## 9. A National 18-Week Standard on Abortion, With States Free to Go Further Source: https://whovotedforthis.com/policies/liberty-and-conscience/ Set a national minimum for abortion access through 18 weeks, with medical exceptions afterward and states free to allow broader access. ### What it would do - Set a national minimum for access through 18 weeks, replacing earlier state limits. - Keep medical exceptions after 18 weeks and respect the patient’s and doctor’s judgment. - Let states allow broader access. - Keep legal access and federal funding as separate questions. Set a national minimum for abortion access through 18 weeks, with medical exceptions after that. States could allow broader access, but could not set an earlier limit. People hold sincere, different beliefs about when life begins. This plan sets a national minimum and lets states go further. ### The legal framework - Set a federal minimum for access across the country through 18 weeks. - Let states allow broader access if their voters and laws choose to. - After 18 weeks, keep medical exceptions and respect the judgment of the patient and doctor. - Treat legality and federal funding as two separate questions. ### Different beliefs People hold sincere, different beliefs about when life begins. This plan sets a national minimum and lets states go further. ### The result, stated plainly A national minimum through 18 weeks would replace earlier state limits. States could allow access after 18 weeks. Medical exceptions would remain after 18 weeks. ### Access and funding Whether a procedure is legal and whether federal funds pay for it remain separate questions under this plan. ### Sources and background The First Amendment’s text protects religious exercise and bars government establishment of religion. It provides context for the draft’s conscience argument; it does not state an 18-week abortion rule or establish that the proposed national minimum is current law. - [Congress Constitution Annotated: First Amendment text](https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/)