Diane Mitsch Bush

Mitsch Bush believes in supporting and preserving family agriculture. To that aim, Mitsch Bush supports the continuation of loans for family farms, ranches, and small business, supports a Farm Bill that prioritizes family agriculture, and wants to repeal the Trump Tax provisions. Mitsch Bush wants to ensure that hemp farmers can use their water rights and to remove federal obstacles to a vital cannabis industry.[9]

Mitsch Bush was awarded Legislator of the Year 2015 by the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union and the conservative Colorado Livestock Association for her work on ranching and farming.[10][11]

Mitsch Bush served as a member on the Colorado House Committee for Agriculture, Livestock, and Natural Resources from 2013-2017, serving as the Vice Chair in 2017.[12]

Mitsch Bush supports ending Citizen's United by constitutional amendment, as well as measures that support campaign disclosure and reporting requirements. Mitsch Bush supports measures that protect and expand voter access and registration, especially for minority communities, and wants to end voter suppression initiatives.[9]

Mitsch Bush has taken the No Corporate PAC Pledge, the OFF Fossil Fuel Pledge, and the Colorado Democratic Party's Clean Campaign Pledge.[9]

Mitsch Bush wants to invest in 21st Century infrastructure such as water, broadband, multimodal transportation, and renewable energy. Mitsch Bush supports raising the minimum wage and indexing it to the cost of living, while incentivizing small business expansion and living-wage job growth by supporting local communities. Mitsch Bush believes in equal pay for equal work, and supports collective bargaining. Mitsch Bush wants to disincentivize corporations from taking jobs overseas by implementing effective taxation policy.[9]

Mitsch Bush also supports protecting Net Neutrality.[9]

Mitsch Bush is a strong advocate for education, and says she will "invest in public education, increase teacher pay, and reduce the student debt burden so our children receive the education and skills they need to succeed in today's economy".[9] Mitsch Bush sponsored the bipartisan Debt-free Schools Act in Colorado in 2016, later signed by the governor, to increase public school funding in Colorado.[13] In addition to supporting universal pre-K, she supports funding for vocational training and expanded apprenticeship opportunities. Mitsch Bush wants to regulate the for-profit college industry and protect students and families from predatory lending, while maintaining funding for pell grants for hardworking low-income students.[9]

Mitsch Busch is committed to fighting climate change, including striving to uphold the goals of the Paris Climate Accord and ending fossil fuel subsidies.[9]

In 2017, Mitsch Bush was Conservation Colorado's 2017 Legislator of the Year, and has a100% lifetime environmental voting record rating from Conservation Colorado.[14] Mitsch Bush is for enacting science-based environmental protections and funding more effective waste disposal and recycling programs.[9]

Mitsch Bush is an advocate for congressional oversight of military force, and wants to repeal the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force and insist that any act of hostilities, not in self-defense, must obtain authorization from Congress. In addition, Mitsch Bush wants to reform military contracts and spending in the Pentagon, and supports global denuclearization.[9]

Mitsch Bush supports a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel.

In 2013, Mitsch Bush voted for universal background checks and magazine limits in Colorado.[15] Mitsch Bush continues to support universal background checks, long-term assault weapons ban, and a ban on purchasing bump stocks. Mitsch Bush also supports funding for national research for gun use, safety, and violence prevention through the Center for Disease Control. A number of violence prevention groups have recognized Mitsch Bush for her record on combating gun violence, including Colorado Ceasefire, Moms Demand Action, and LEAP Forward.[16][9]

Mitsch Bush supports the goal of universal, single-payer healthcare. To improve current healthcare systems, Mitsch Bush supports measures to solve the 2-earner glitch and cliff effect in the Affordable Care Act while protecting funding for Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and rural health clinics. Mitsch Bush would allow the federal government to negotiate with prescription drug companies to lower costs. Mitsch Bush supports providing funding for behavioral health and drug prevention programs, including programs to combat the opioid crisis.[9] In 2016, Mitsch Bush was given a 100% rating by the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative.[17]

NARAL has given Mitsch Bush a 100% rating for her legislative work.[18] Mitsch Bush is committed to protecting a woman's access to reproductive healthcare and the right to choose abortion.[9]

Mitsch Bush supports measures that protect equal rights and protection of all people, prevent discrimination, and supports the rights of minority communities. Mitsch Bush wants to ban racial profiling, end arbitrary and infinite detention, and fight for the right to harassment-free workplace, school, and community.[9] One Colorado has given Mitsch Bush a 100% rating for her support of LGBTQ issues.[19]

In 2013, Mitsch Bush cosponsored legislation to allow recipients of the DREAM act to receive in-state college tuition in Colorado, and currently supports a clean passage of the DREAM Act. Mitsch Bush wants to create a predictable path to citizenship, and end practices of family detention and separation.[9]

Mitsch Bush supports collective bargaining and is for the repeal of Taft-Hartley. Mitsch Bush supports the passage of a Full Employment Act, a Green New Deal, and major public investment in infrastructure jobs of at least $1 trillion over 5 years.[9]

Mitsch Bush supports increasing access to birth control, and opposes any effort to reduce or restrict family planning funding in Title X or Medicaid. Mitsch Bush supports Roe v. Wade and opposes fetal personhood amendments.[9]

The Equal Rights Amendment, Violence Against Women Act, Violence Against Women Veterans Act and HR 4396 ME TOO Act all have the support of Mitsch Bush.[9] In 2016, Mitsch Bush co-sponsored and voted to require state contractors to comply with Federal equal pay standards, and supports equal pay for equal work.[20]