PA-8 Democratic nominee Kevin Strouse has created his own checklist for Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick and Congress as they enter their fall session.

The candidate introduced the to-do list in his Bristol office in front of reporters, staffers and supporters this morning.

Strouse four-step agenda to “rebuild the middle class” was as follows: “End subsidies for big oil; Raise the minimum wage; Ban members of Congress from becoming lobbyists; Make college more affordable.”

“These issues enjoy broad bipartisan support,” Strouse said before transitioning to the issues. “More than two-thirds of those on the minimum wage are women. More than 70% of Americans support raising the minimum wage.”

The nominee also spoke out against the influence of money in politics, citing former Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s jump to an investment bank as an example.

“One of the key sources of dysfunction in our government right now, one of the key reasons we’ve had the less effective Congress in memory, in modern history, is because of the revolving door down in Congress,” Strouse asserted. “We need to really address ways to get money out of politics.”

He suggested that public financing of elections would be the most effective way to clean up government and even called for a constitutional amendment to that end.

Strouse finished by hitting Fitzpatrick for his votes for the Ryan budget which would cut Pell Grants.

“Over the long run if we want to make sure we have a thriving middle class in this country it has got to come through educational systems. Part of that is making sure our students have access to college,” he stated. “Without the middle class we will lose the backbone of our country and no longer remain the best country in the world.”

Of course, the Congress is not going to accomplish all this but it’s an example of the Democratic nominee using a time-honored campaign tradition of accusing the Congressional incumbent of getting nothing done.

“The Republican Congress has already indicated it intends to work 12 days, so that’s your tax dollars at work right now,” Strouse commented at the start.

Iraq

Strouse is a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and also worked in the CIA Counter-terrorism center. As a result, I asked him about the recent events in Iraq and Syria concerning ISIS.

“What we’re seeing now is a continuation of the last ten years,” Strouse responded, recalling how he learned about the beheading of Nick Berg in 2004 right after he returned from his deployment.

“The people in ISIS, the hardcore members, they are barbarians. These are not people that we can negotiate with. So there is no reconciling with that group.”

He went on to explain that while he felt the Administration’s decisions to launch airstrikes and push out Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister were “the right call”, this was nonetheless more of a political than military problem.

“One of the reasons that ISIS has had the military success its had, is because the nationalist Sunni groups hate the Iraqi government more than they hate ISIS,” Strouse explained. “That’s not a sustainable situation, which is the good news but the Iraqi government needs to start bringing them [the Sunnis] into the fold rather than using their anti-terrorism laws as an excuse to throw them into prison.”

“It’s got to be an Iraqi solution just for starters, and its a political solution and its gonna take time and I’m glad that we’re supporting the Iraqis in some of the things we’re doing but we’re not gonna bomb our way out of this one,” he concluded. “There’s no good option there and we needed the military option to get out of the emergency, but that’s not a long-term solution.”

Update: Fitzpatrick Campaign Coordinator Sam Bolstein provided the following statement to PoliticsPA:

“Whether during his time as a County Commissioner, or through his involvement in the bipartisan group No Labels, Mike Fitzpatrick has always sought to unite people – regardless of political affiliation – around the goals that unite us. That’s the message he carried with him this summer when he again visited more than 100 businesses in 100 days – connecting with the workers, families and small business owners who power our economy. Mike’s Better Jobs, More Opportunity plan lays out a detailed governing vision that shows what lawmakers can do when they’re willing to set politics aside and commit to the objectives that matter: closing the skills gap, investing in infrastructure, lowering the price at the pump and getting our veterans back to work.”