Trouble. It is a lot of trouble. And you have decided to spend it working on our democracy. And on our future. And i just want you to know that i am grateful for that. It really does matter. Thank you for being here, i appreciate it. Heres what ill do. Ill tell you a little about myself, tell you a little bit about why i am in this fight. We will take as many questions as we have got time for and if anybody wants to, ill stay and well do pictures because that is the fun part. Ok . So, we can do all of this. It is always nice to be here in New Hampshire because this is like coming we are neighbors, we are family. I was here a lot in Jeanne Shaheens last election. Yay. [applause] sen. Warren and we are going to get jeannie reelected, right . Also, for maggies election. It has been fun. You sent two extraordinary women to the United States congress. United states senate. They really are extraordinary. Since this is a family event, i brought my husband. He drove me up. Where are you, sweetie . There he is. [applause] sen. Warren in many ways, i still think how beautiful it is here. I didnt grow up here. I grew up out in oklahoma. I am the baby im what used to be referred to i have three much older brothers who are to this day referred to as the boys. And then this long gap, and i came along. I was referred to as a late in life baby. My mother always just called me the surprise. I have three older brothers. All three of my older brothers joined the military. My oldest brother was career military. He spent about five and half years off and on in combat in vietnam. We were really lucky to get him back home. My brother john spent over a year stationed overseas. My brother david trained as a combat medic. Now, we have a rule in our family and that is never choke around david. The reason is because even all these years later, he always carries a sharpened pocket knife and he is convinced he can perform an emergency tracheotomy. [laughter] sen. Warren hes ready at all times. It makes for an exciting moment during thanksgiving. Anybody goes, ahem, we all back up and say not me. But i love my brothers. Im close to my brothers. They all live back in oklahoma now, and i stay in close touch with them. When we grew up, our daddy had a lot of different jobs. He sold paint, he sold carpet, he sold hardware, he sold fencing. And when i was in middle school, the boys were all gone by then so it was just my mama, my daddy, and me. My daddy had a massive heart attack. And we didnt think he was going to pull through. And he did, but he couldnt work for a long, long time. And i remember as a kid when we lost the family station wagon. And i remember how my mom used ck me into use td to tu bed at night. And she would leave and that is when they would talk about what was going on. And of course, i would like there in bed and listen to them. It is where a learned words like mortgage and foreclosure. One morning, i walked into my folks bedroom and there on the bed was the dress. It was laid out on the bed. And some of you will note the will know the dress. It is the one that only comes out for weddings, funerals, and graduations. There is my mama in her slip and stocking feet, and she is pacing and crying. Shes not looking at me. Shes saying, we will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. She was 50 years old. She had never worked outside the home, and she was terrified. And finally, she looks at me, she looks at the dress, she looks at me, and she wiped her eyes, pulls the dress on, puts on her high heels, and walks to the sears, where she gets a fulltime, minimumwage job and. And that fulltime, minimumwage job saved our house and more importantly, it saved our family. And for pretty much years and years and years, that was the story i believed my mother had taught me. That no matter how hard it is, no matter how scared you are, that when it comes down to it, you reach down deep, you find what you have to find, you pull it up, and you take care of the people you love. It was only years and years later that i came to understand that wasnt just the story for from my mama to me, it is the story of millions of people around america. Millions of people who no matter how scared they are, no matter how tough it looks, when it comes down to it, they reached down deep, they find what they have to find, they pull it up, and they take care of the people they love. And it was only years after that that i came to understand that this was also a story about government. Because when i was a girl, a fulltime minimumwage job in america would support a family of three. It would pay a mortgage, it would cover the utilities, and it would put food on the table. Today, a fulltime minimumwage job in america will not keep a mama and a baby out of poverty. That is wrong, and that is why i am in this fight. [applause] sen. Warren and understand the reason for this difference. It is not trust like a it is not just like a difference that occurs over time. It is not like gravity make it happen. It happened because of who Government Works for. When i was a girl, the question asked in washington when they were setting the minimum wage was, what does it take a family of three to survive . What does it take a family of three to get a toehold in america . A chance to be able to build something . To go somewhere . Today, the question asked in washington is, where do we set the minimum wage that maximizes the profits of a bunch of multinational corporations . Well, i dont want a government that works for a bunch of multinational corporations. I want one that works for our families. [applause] sen. Warren so like i told you, my three brothers, they all went off and joined the military. That was their chance. That was their ticket. Me, i had a different dream. I knew what i wanted to do since i was in second grade. Some of you laugh. You might not have decided until thirdgrade. [laughter] fourth grade back there. I really did, i always knew what i wanted to do. I wanted to be a Public School teacher. Can we hear it for americas Public School teachers . [applause] sen. Warren my commitment ran deep. I used to line my dollies up and teach school. I just want you all to know, i was tough, but fair. Always there for the dollies. By the time i graduated from high school, we didnt have the money for a college application, much less to send me off to four years at a university so i could be a Public School teacher. So unlike a lot of americans, i do not have an entirely Straight Path story. My story has a lot of twists and turns. Here is how my story goes. It starts with, i got a scholarship to college. Yay [applause] sen. Warren and then at 19, i fell in love. Yay . [laughter] sen. Warren not to that guy. [laughter] sen. Warren oh, and i got married. Yay. And dropped out of school. Oh. And took a fulltime, minimumwage job answering phones. A good life . A life i had chosen, but not the dream. Not the dream. And then, i found it. A commuter college that cost 15 a semester. It was about 45 minutes away, and i knew that was my chance. And i held on for dear life. I finished my fouryear degree and i became a special needs teacher. I have lived my dream job. [applause] sen. Warren i loved that job. In fact, if ive got any special needs teachers here, they will back me up on this. It is not a job. It is a calling. I would probably still be doing it today, but there are more kinks in the story so here how the rest of it goes. By the end of the first year, i was visibly pregnant and the principal did what principles did in those days. Wish me luck, showed me the door, and hired someone else for the job. So there i am. I am at home, i have a little baby, i cant get a job, i dont know what i am going to do and i get this crazy idea. Ill go to law school. I got myself signed up, i found a public law school that is 450 a semester and baby on hip, i head off to law school. Do three years of law school, graduate, visibly pregnant you will discover a pattern to this and then take the bar and practice law for 45 minutes. And then yes next best change. Back to my first love, and that is teaching. I traded little ones for big ones and taught in law school for many years. More twists and turns to the story, i got divorced. That was the end of that one but i found the forever husband, my keeper. The keeper husband. [applause] [applause] and warren my sweetie, kept working on teaching all of the money courses. I think this is what kids do who grow up without much. I talk contract law, corporate finance, bankruptcy law, debtor creditor law, all across economics, all across the money spectrum. As alexander said, the central question for me always was what is happening to working families in america . Why is americas middle class being hollowed out . That families today, people today who work every bit as hard as my mother did find the road so rocky and so steep . And for people of color, even rockier and even steeper. The answer is like the answer on minimum wage. It is who Government Works for. So right now, weve got a government, a government in washington that works great for giant drug companies. It is just not working for people who are trying to get a prescription field. It works great for investors in private prisons. It is just not working for people whose lives are destroyed and whose communities are torn apart. It works great for giant Oil Companies who want to drill everywhere. Just not for those of us who see Climate Change bearing down upon us. It works great for those with money. Government that works great for those with money, it is not working so well for everyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. [applause] corruption, its and whatever issue brings you here today, if there is a decision to be made in washington, i guarantee it has been touched by money. It has been pushed a little. It has been influenced a little by the lobbyists, by the lawyers, by the Campaign Contributions, by the bought had paid for experts. In fact, ill tell you one short version of this. Back in the early 1990s, you go back and start reading we are first beginning to understand Climate Change. It is starting to hit, were starting to get it. Heres the deal, washington is starting to get it. Oh, maybe we need to make some changes. Democrats and republicans were working together. This is not a political issue, it is a threat to all of us. Then, what happens . The Koch Brothers come along. They make their money in fossil fuels. Wow. Och brothers look about Climate Change, that could bite into the bottom line. That could undermine the profits we make and they get joined by big Oil Companies and some big polluters, and then what happens . This is the part that really gets me. What do they do . They can make investments. They are smart guys, so they can invest. They can decide i am going to stop doing fossil fuels. I will invest in clean energy and removal renewable energy. No, they dont do that. They can decide, im going to Carbon Capture and im going to really double down and double down again. Im going to find the ways we get carbon out of the atmosphere and water, clean it up. No, they dont go in that direction. Instead, they say ill invest in politicians. Washingtono go to and im going to get politicians to do nothing. And thats exactly how it works. Do you know where they start . They hire a bunch of bought and paid for experts to have it out have doubt about Climate Change. Why . Not because these guys dont get it. Not because they dont understand what is happening on climate. That is not it at all. They do it so it gives the umbrella under which politicians can hide, where they continue to take money from the oil industry, from the Koch Brothers, and do absolutely nothing. To understandt the Climate Crisis we are in right now . It is 25 years of corruption in washington that has kept us from taking the actions we need to take. Thats why we are in this mess. [applause] sen. Warren so when you think about it this way. When you think about a government that is working great those who can hire the lobbyists and experts, and not working for anyone else, what will it take to change that and the answer is, it will take big structural change. We cant just nibble around the edges. We cant do one piece here and and other statute over there. We need to think about this structurally. Here is part one of what we need to do. We need to attack the corruption headon. Just go after it. [applause] sen. Warren call it out and go after it, and i have a plan for the. Heres how it works. Heres the good news. I have the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. Heres the bad news. We need the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. This one, you wouldnt be surprised because it is big. The influence of money is felt everywhere. It has a lot of moving parts to this particular plan, so let me give you some samples. First one, and lobbying as we know it. End lobbying as we know it. [applause] sen. Warren block the revolving door between wall street and washington. Enough. [applause] sen. Warren make the United StatesSupreme Court follow basic rules of ethics on conflicts of interest. [applause] i can do this all day, but ill do one more. One more, and that is, you want to root out some corruption . To run for who wants federal office have to put their tax returns online. [applause] so theres part one, and that is, attack the corruption headon. Knock it back because that gives us a chance to make other changes. Second level of changes we need to make, and that is weve got to do some basic restructuring in this economy. Heres part of the problem. We have seen of the past four decades big industry get bigger and more concentrated, and the problem is with these giant corporations, they roll where ever they want to roll. Own roll over their employees, their own customers, their own communities. We need in the system some power to balance them out. That means we need more power in the hands of employees. We need to make it easier to join a union and we need to give unions more power when they are negotiating. [applause] sen. Warren unions built americas middle class. Unions will rebuild americas middle class. Theres a second way we should think structurally about changing this economy, and it starts with a wealth tax. We needed to impose a wealth tax 1 . He top. 1 of home . Of you own a you have been paying a wealth tax. It is called a property tax. All im proposing that is different is for the top 1 10 of 1 , it is not just your real estate. Your your rembrandts, stock portfolio, your diamonds, and your yachts. You got to include every thing in it. The first 50 million of assets, keep it. It is yours, no problem. The 50 million and first dollar, you have to kick in two cents. The point is not to be punitive. The point is to say, look, you build a great business. You have this fabulous idea. You work your rear end off, or you inherited. Either way, youve got this Great Fortune. If you build that Great Fortune here in america, i guarantee you build it in part with workers all of us helped pay to educate. You build it in part getting routes to market on roads and bridges all of us helped pay to build. You build it in part protected by police and firefighters, all of us helped hader salary. So pay their salary. We are glad to make those investments. We are happy to make those investments but by golly, when the top it really big, 1 10 of 1 , pitch in two cents so everybody else gets a chance to make it in america. [applause] sen. Warren and here comes the best part. What can you do with two cents . Two cents from the top one first of 1 , universal childcare for every baby age zero to five. Every one of them. Prek for every three year and fouryearold in this country. Wages for every child e worker andol Community College fouryour college for everyone of our kids who wants to go to college. [applause] sen. Warren im still not through. Theres one more thing we can do out of that same two cents. We can cancel Student Loan Debt for 95 of the people who have got it. Think about that. Two cents. It tells you how badly broken this economy is, that two cents wouldhe top 1 10 of 1 provide us with enough revenue to invest in the education and the opportunities for every single one of our kids. Thats how we build a future going forward. We can do this one. [applause] sen. Warren ok. So part one, attack the corruption headon. Part two, make a couple of structural changes in the economy. And part three, weve got to change the rules to protect our democracy. Heres where i would start. A constitutional amendment to protect the right of american citizens to vote and to get that vote counted. [applause] overturn every one of these Voter Suppression laws and the gerrymandering that is going on. We have to put some muscle behind the importance of voting. And just one more on this. Overturned citizens united. Democracy is not for sale. [applause] i just want to see three things. Attack the corruption, get a couple of structural changes in the economy, and protect our democracy. And for me, those three things are deeply related to each other. Because what they are really about his opportunity. Not the opportunity for just those born into privilege. Not opportunity for just those who can hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers, and opportunity for all of our kids and i know that means a lot of Different Things for different people, but it is opportunity. Opportunity for everyone to get a good education. Good job. Y to get a opportunity to start a small business. Opportunity to buy a home, to start a family. Im a special needs teacher. The opportunity to live independently. It is about opportunity. Here is why it matters so much to me. My daddy ended up as a janitor, but his baby daughter got the opportunity to become a Public School teacher, to become a college professor, to become a United States senator, and to become a candidate for president of the United States. [applause] sen. Warren weve got to dream big, fight hard, and win. Thank you. [applause] you. Warren thank ok, are you guys ready for questions . Ill select three. Three. Lect that way, you can start thinking about your question. First one, 7447608. Next, 7447645. Next, 7447630. Sen. Warren whos up first . Right now, the country is tom harris, good to see you again. Dividedw, we are pretty sexually into two tribes and ctionallya lot se into two tribes. The have plans that will help address that . Sen. Warren that is a good question, tom. Let me start this back in oklahoma with my three brothers. I said i have three brothers. I am close to my brothers. One of my brothers is a democrat. [laughter] sen. Warren do the math. Think about thanksgiving. Here is the deal. On a lot of the basic, core values, my three brothers and i are in the same place, all four of us. We want to see our kids get access to health care. We want to see our kids get a decent education. We want to see Social Security strong and last forever. There are these core things as americans we agree on. Et it, we are a country weve got a lot of differences. There are a lot of things we argue with each other about. Oure core pieces i think where we dont from. Are where we build from. When i talk about action in this country, it is not just democrats who nod, it is republicans get it too and are furious the fact that washington is working great for those who can make big Campaign Contributions and can hire a bunch of lawyers. They get they are getting the short end of the stick. When i talk about a wealth tax, it is not just democrats who like it, it is a majority of republicans who say, yeah, that sounds like the right way to help level the Playing Field a little. When i talk about Student Loan Debt cancellation, its not just a majority of democrats who say, am on board for that, it is majority of republicans who say i am on board. I think there are some core pieces that speak to our values, and in a concrete way. You dont have to do this abstractly. A concrete way to how we build the future. I think that is going to be our foundation, not just for building the future, but for building it with each other. Here is what i think will change in america. I think we will talk about these ideas from now through november 2020 and we will get some more people. One at a time, find the time. Five at a time. That is why i am working on this Grassroots Movement. I get this part about student loans, i get this part about a wealth tax, i am in on that. When we start to deliver change come january of 2021, when we actually make this government work not just for a thin slice at the top, but really deliver Something LikeStudent Loan Debt cancellation, i think you will see a lot of change in this country and a lot of healing. That is how i see it. [applause] sen. Warren thanks tom, good question. Who is next . Oh, over here, sorry. I looked the runway. Hi, great nails. [laughter] hi, my name is stephanie and i am an aclu voter. Racial justice and social justice is something very important to me, so i had a couple questions about that. How would you challenge issues of racism in our Justice System . And would you be willing to reduce mass incarceration, particularly for black and brown men by, say, 50 while you are in office . Sen. Warren it is an important question. Yes i am committed to reducing mass incarceration. What does the system look like right now . We have a criminal Justice System that is broken, and i mean badly broken. Race is at the center of that. Study after study after study in this country shows that africanamericans, for exactly as whites, are more likely to be arrested, are more likely to be taken to try, are to trial, are are more likely to be wrongly convicted and are more likely to receive harsher sentences. That is wrong. Our Supreme Court carved above the doors, equal justice under law. That is not where we are in this country. Youve got a system that is broken from the front end all the way to the back end. Let me give you a few ideas along the way. That is, what do we make illegal in this country . We need to think about the racial implications. We talked about crack cocaine, but let me talk about marijuana. Every bit of data shows blacks and whites smoke marijuana at the same rate, but blacks are two to three times more likely to be arrested for marijuana use than whites. That is easy, lets legalize marijuana and take this out of the criminal Justice System. [applause] there is an example. On through the system, we need to put money into the public defenders office. You dont have justice for free. We are asking these Young Lawyers to take on huge caseloads where they have very little chance to administer justice, because it is just too much. We actually have to make the investment. We need to end the cash bail system, which is a penalty for being poor, or a penalty for being black or brown. Private prisons have no place in a democracy. [applause] sen. Warren and one more, we need to make a Real Investment in helping people reintegrate into society. Once they have served, lets help them get jobs. Lets help them get housing. Instead of locking them out so that i have no alternative except to go back to crime, because it is the only way they can support themselves, lets find ways to help people do this. This is about trying to repair much that we have broken over andpast 20, 30 years, making the kind of changes that start with one premise, and that is the value of every human being. That we make the investment and the respect for every human being. We need a criminal Justice System that is consistent with that. So thank you. So glad you raised that. We have another question . Hello elizabeth, how are you . Sen. Warren im well, tell me your name. Kathy, i am from alan in the next pelham in the next 10. There is nothing you said i disagreed with. Sen. Warren my husband doesnt even say that. [laughter] i am a pragmatist, and i have a question. How will you implement these fabulous ideas without the assistance of a willing legislature . How do we get rid of the religiosity group that just wants to say no to every democratic idea, confident a democratsa female idea, even if it would benefit them and is the most sensible thing in the world. That is the biggest obstacle to any president getting things done. Wanted to nothing he get done because they said no before they even read the proposal. What is the plan . Sen. Warren ive got a plan. And its got a lot of pieces. You asked about the technical question. Let me do the technical part first. You have to figure out all of the tools in the toolbox and be willing to use them. On the first day i am sworn in, i will put in place a moratorium that there will be no new drilling, no new mining of fossil fuels on any federal lands or federal parks or offshore on this country. [applause] sen. Warren we will make our public lands part of the solution on Climate Change, not least it out as part lease it out as part of the problem. That is something the president gets to do by herself. You take everything you can and start pushing in that direction. Getsecond thing is you strategic about where you are going to pick fights. I want to give you a couple ideas behind this. One is attacking corruption. There is a lot of groundswell in this country around this. There are a lot of people angry onut this, on democrats both sides, democrats and republicans. They feel they go to the polls and nothing changes. Wait a minute, the rich guys got a trillion dollars in tax breaks . They are getting special breaks for being able to dump in the river, what . They have special exceptions so they dont have to keep the air clean. What . People are unhappy about this. Places that are really hard for people in congress to say no. One of the provisions in my anticorruption proposal is, if you are a center are a senator, a president , a head of an agency, a lifetime ban on lobby. That is your job. [applause] sen. Warren this will be a nice yout to pick, because scramble where the usual power alignments are, and get a lot of people in from the outside pushing back, and a lot of lobbying firms rock back on their heels. A lot of this fight disrupts the patterns of where everything goes. The next one is, pick the fight that matters to so many people. This wealth tax i was talking about earlier, it gets majority approval among democrats and republicans and independents. Would see americans their Student Loan Debt forgiven. That is a pretty darn big army in america. That is a lot of people pushing. Youve got to be willing to show the leadership from the white house. You got to be willing to get in the fight, and you got to be willing to call out people will all across this country to join that fight. Put congress in the space in between, where they have got to respond to things the American People want. I think that is how we are going to do this. [applause] sen. Warren this is what i was saying to tom, you do it once or twice and the whole world looks different. People start to see what is possible. Understand this, because it ties into why i am here tonight. When a decision to run for president of the United States, i decided at the beginning i would not spend my time off with a bunch of millionaires and corporate lobbyists behind closed doors. I was not going to spend my time on the two coasts scooping up money. The reason for that is because i wanted the time to be able to be here. Th something or other town hall. I have taken 2000 unfiltered questions. I think it is close to 30,000 selfies now. [laughter] but the reason for that, what is our comparative advantage right if we are going to roll into 2020 playing the same game as 2016, who can scoop up the most money and who can be beholden to this group versus that group, we will turn people out. Our comparative advantage starts now. It starts in building this Grassroots Movement. It starts how do you fight back against fakeness . You fight fake news neighbor to neighbor, someone in your church, someone you stand in line with as the school bus comes. It has to be person to person. We build that Grassroots Network now, it is strong. It supports us come november 2020. It supports us not just for the white house and the senate races and the congressional races, it is for the statehouse races, it is for the local races if up and down we strengthen each other. Here is the most important part, that is not over on the wednesday after the election. We want real change. About building a Grassroots Movement now, holding out that this is what we are going to do. Now letsin on it, hold everyone accountable to get it done. Hes got to be active on election day, but you have to be active on the day after election day. We will push and continuing that flight through the january of 2021 and beyond. Weve got to take back our democracy, and this is our chance to do it. [applause] thank you for the question. We will be doing a photo line. Sen. Warren oh, we are not going to do any more questions . Damn. [laughter] we will line up against the placards. Lineup here and against the house. In. Warren hold up one sec, want to say one more thing. I will stay as long as you want in the photo line. I want to say one quick thing about you being here. I know i have a lot of plans. I talked about this in washington, they say, elizabeth, you are making this too hard. They are complex, they got moving parts to them, go easier, do less, smile more. What do youut think they said to the abolitionists . Too hard, give up now. You will never make the kind of change in america. What do you think they said to the suffragettes . N quit quit now. Too hard. Give up. What did they say to the early Union Organizers . Too hard. Quit now. When did they say to the foot soldiers in the Civil Rights Movement . Too hard, give up now. What did they say to that lgbtq activists that wanted equal marriage . Whoa, that is not going to happen. Quit now. But they did not quit, they stayed in the fight, they build a Grassroots Movement. They changedd and the course of american history. [applause] moment in american history. We make the decision what comes next, and we need to stay in this fight. This is our chance to build that getsroots movement, to organizers to persist and change the direction this country is going. This is our moment to dream big, to fight hard, and to win. [applause] sen. Warren thank you. Now who wants to do pictures