With the Capitol Dome, not Wall Street, as his backdrop, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pulled up the curtain on his much-discussed progressive “contract with America,” a 13-point liberal platform in which every child has free kindergarten, wages start at $15 an hour and corporate executives pay the same tax rate as their secretaries.

Flanked by nearly two dozen supporters, including former 2004 presidential candidate Howard Dean, de Blasio said the framework he presented is more than a wish list for the left. He said it addresses Americans’ top domestic concerns – wealth and inequality – and provides marching orders for progressives and Democratic candidates ahead of the 2016 presidential election

“These 13 progressive ideas will make an enormous difference for families all over this country, for everyday Americans. They are bold steps,” de Blasio says, touting agenda items including national paid sick leave, paid family leave and closing gaping corporate tax loopholes. “The only way we’re going to turn this country around is if we have the resources we need to actually give people economic opportunity again, and that will take progressive taxation.”

Yet despite two inconvenient truths – Republicans have full control of the legislative branch, and he’s mayor of New York, not a presidential candidate or even a member of Congress – de Blasio insists the agenda is an idea whose time has come, and that he’s the ideal messenger.

“The issues we’re talking about here have a huge impact on the people of New York City,” including plunging working-class wages and skyrocketing college tuition, the mayor told reporters. New Yorkers can’t get relief without Washington’s help, he says, and “we need national policies to change.”