Formu can watch the entire tonight at 9 30, and you can also follow our programs online at cspan. Org, and listen with the free cspan radio app. President ial candidate senator Elizabeth Warren held a town hall in los angeles. The massachusetts democrat talked about her tax plan, universal childcare, and tuition education. Hi everyone. Old,avinia, im 14 years and Elizabeth Warren is my gammy. I are very close. She comes to my practices, we have sleepovers, and we paint , blue, ofs toenails course. She works hard, but always makes time for our family and shes there no matter what. I want her to be the first female president of the United States. [cheering] lavinia because thats what girls do. [cheering] come on out, gammy. [cheering] sen. Warren hello los angeles. [cheering] sen. Warren wow im so glad to be here with all of you. [cheering] sen. Warren it sounds like we have some folks in california who are ready for some big, structural changes. [cheering] sen. Warren now, as you all can see, for me this is a family affair. , you metavinia atticus, my other granddaughter, octavia is also here, my daughter and soninlaw, and my son alex are here. [cheering] guest sen. Warren its good to be here, alex has been out on the road, and he has been my tech support. Since second grade. Its true. Now,ns his own business hes also trying a new one, which is support your mother when she runs for president of the United States. [cheering] im so glad all of you are here tonight. I thought what we would do, as i will tell you a little bit about myself. I will tell you a little bit about why i am in this fight, and we will take some questions. I think atticus has managed the numbers. We think it might take a while for people to make it to the mic. And i will stay as long as you want and we will do selfies. [cheering] yes, i was born and raised in oklahoma. [cheering] oakiesrren we have some . I love it. I have three much older brothers , im what used to be called a late in life baby. Referred to mes as a surprise. My three older brothers, who to ,his day are known as the boys they went off and joined the military. My oldest brother was career military, he spent 5. 5 years off and on in combat in vietnam, we were lucky to get him back home. [applause] john, heen my brother was stationed overseas for a little over a year, and my brother david, the youngest of the boys, he trained as a combat medic. That has given rise to a rule in our family. Which is never joke around david. He carries a sharpened pocketknife and is convinced that he could perform an emergency tracheotomy. It makes for some very exciting moments during thanksgiving, anyone clears their throat and david is ready. But i love my brothers. Im close to them, they all moved back to oklahoma. We talk on a regular basis and i get there as often as i can. When we were growing up, our daddy had a lot of different jobs. ,e sold paint, fencing housewares. When i was in middle school, the boys were all gone. It was just my mom, my daddy, and me. And my daddy had a massive heart attack. For a long time we thought we would lose him. He pulled through, but he couldnt work. And it went on and on. I can still remember the day we lost our family station wagon. I remember how my mama would tuck me into bed at night, she would give me a kiss, she would walk out of the room and close the door and i always knew what was coming next. I would hear her start to cry on the others, because you never want on the others, because she never wanted to cry in front of me. This is when i learned words foreclosure. , and to myrning i walked in folks bedroom, and on the bed was the dress. To of you will know, its the one that only comes out for weddings, funerals, and graduations. In herre was my mother, slip and stockings, looking down , pacing, and crying. Shes saying we will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. We will not lose this house. And finally she looks up and she sees me in the doorway, just a , and shelooks at me looks at that dress and she is 50back at me he years old, she has never worked outside the home, and shes terrified. That dress on, puts on her high heels, and walks to the sears and gets a full time, minimumwage job. Sen. Warren that minimumwage job saved our house. And it saved our family. [applause] so for many years, i thought of that, as this is the main lesson is this the main lesson my mama taught me. That is no matter how scared you are, no matter how hard it looks, 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. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren and it was years later before i came to understand that it was not just what my mama taught me. It is what millions of people across this country do every day. No matter how hard it looks, no matter how scared they are. They reach down deep. They find what they have to find and they take care of the people they love. That is who we are. [applause] sen. Warren but it was only years after that that i came to inerstand, that same story my mother and daddys bedroom is also a story about the government. , aause when i was a girl fulltime minimumwage job in america would support a family three. It was pay mortgage, 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 baby out of poverty. That is wrong and that is why i am in this fight. [cheering] [applause] sen. Warren and understand this. That difference is not a difference that just happened over time. It is a difference in who Government Works for. When i was a girl, when i was a girl, the question asked in washington about the minimumwage was, what does it take a family of three to survive . What does it take a family of three to get a toehold in americas middleclass . What does it take a family of three to have something solid that they can build from . Asked in question washington is, where do we set the minim wage to maximize the profits of giant corporations. To maximizeumwage the profits of giant corporations. I do not want a government that works for giant corporations. I want one that works for your our families. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren so, i love you too. Like i said, the boys, they all went off and joined the military. Me, i had a different path. I have known what i wanted to do since second grade. Laugh. Ouple of you you did not decide until what, yeah, i get it. [laughter] i have. Ive known what i wanted to do since second grade. I wanted to be a Public School teacher. Can we hear it for americas Public Schools . [applause] yes. [applause] oh yes. Oh yes. Oh i wanted to teach school. And i invested early. I use to malign my dollies up line my dollsto up and teach school. Yes i did. I had a reputation pretty tough but fair. It is what i wanted forever. [laughter] but by the time i graduated from high school, we did not have the money for college application, much less to semioffer four years at the university. Me offuch less to send to four years at university. So, like a lot of americans i have a story with a lot of twists and turns to it. So heres how my story goes. I got a scholarship to college. Yeah. Then at 19, i fell love, got married, dropped out of school, and got a job. Yeah. Ok, a good life. What i picked. Absolutely. But i thought the dream was gone. So by this time we are living in houston. And then i found it. What was then a commuter college, 45 minutes away, that cost 50 a semester. Yep. So for price, that i could pay for, in part time waitressing job, i finished my four year diploma. I became a special needs teacher. I have lived my dream job. [applause] i love that work. I still member the faces. 46ad little ones, yearolds. To have any special needs teachers here . Yes. We have that one over there grade one over there. [applause] so back me up on this, it is not a job. It is a calling. A calling from the heart. Exactly right. I love that work. And i would probably still be doing it, but my story has got another twist. Heres the twist. By the end of my first year in teaching, i was visibly pregnant. And principal did what principals did in those days. Hired someonend else for the job. Yeah. So there i was. Im at home. With a baby. Amelia. Who is other theyre talking to people and not listening to her mother. There talking she is over there talking to people and not listening to her mother. It has been that way for long time. So i dont have a job. What my going to do. To law lascaux i go school [applause] yes. Never inquired too closely about why your friends are going to law school. Hip, i go off to law school. This how we are living in new jersey. 450 per semester. And iyears in law school, graduate visibly pregnant. You will discover a pattern to these stories. [laughter] , whoturns out to be alex was good enough to wait until after graduation to be born. Thank you, son. There is an, i have two little ones. I take the bar and pass the bar exam. I practice law for 45 minutes. [laughter] and then went back to my first love, which is teaching. Bigaded little ones for ones, and have spent most of my grownup life teaching in law school. [applause] now, i do not know if it is because i grew up without any money, or worried a lot when i was a kid. But i taught many courses in law school. If it was about money, i learned it and then i taught it. So i taught contract law and commercial law and secured. Ransactions all of the uniform commercial code payment systems, corporate finance, debtor creditor law, and cropsey. Bankruptcy, i taught it all. There was one central question i always worked on. That was, what is happening to working families in america. Little rcos americas middleclass being hollowed out . Why is it that for people who work every bit as hard as my mother worked two generations is so muchth today rockier and steeper . And for people of color even rockier and even steeper . [cheers and applause] the answer why . Like the answer around min wage it is about who the government in washington works for. Think of it this way. We have a government that works forlously, wonderfully giant drug companies. Just not for people trying to get up or skips and felt. Trying to get a prescription filled. Right . [applause] a government that works wonderfully, terrifically, for people who want to invest in private prisons and private detention centers. Just not for people whose lives are torn apart by those institutions. [applause] we have a government that works great for giant Oil Companies that want to drill everywhere. Just not for the rest of us who see Climate Change bearing down upon us. [applause] [cheers and applause] sen. Warren yep. And heres the deal. When you see a government that works great for those with money , for those who can hire armies of lobbyists and lawyers, and 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. [cheers] corruption. Corruption. The corruption of money, that flows through every part of washington. Decision. Ences every whatever issue wakes you up in the morning or keeps you up at night, whether his gun safety. [inaudible] serve[cheers and applause] health care. [applause] immigration [cheers and applause] criminal justice. [applause] whatever the issue, if there is a decision to be made in washington, i guarantee it has been made by money influence by money. It has been nudged by money. It is had a little exception created by money. Honey, money, money. Let me tell you a story. Back in the early 1990s, Climate Change is something that our country and scientists around the world are beginning to start to understand. They do not have all the pieces but theyre starting to get it. And heres the deal. You go back to look in the early 90s, democrats and republicans working together. This was not a partisan issue. Everybody wanted to make sure we got this right. So they are talking about should the epa have more power, howd we get the rules we need, how are we going to make these changes in time. How do we have to do this . And then along came the koch brothers. [booing] sen. Warren i see you have heard of the koch brothers. And have some strong opinions about him them. And some oilem, companies, and some giant polluters. And the get together and say, wow, is climate is Congress Serious about this climate business. That is going to cut into our bottom line. That is going to hurt our profits. So they have an Investment Decision to make. They could say, we are going to stop investing in fossil fuels. We are going to move this over to clean no, they do not do that. They could so we are going to invest in all the new cleanup technology, clean the air, clean the water. Day do not do that. They do not do that. They invest in politicians. They put their money in washington. And understand it. This is the part man, that really turns the knife. You know they sent to washington on the front lines . Is the bought and paid for experts who deny climate science. Yep. Yep. Now, why did they do that . These guys who stand up and say oh, i do not know about the climate thing, maybe yes, maybe no, it was hot 85 bazillion years ago and the dinosaurs loved it, and yet it. Why do they do that . They do not do it because they do not understand the science. They do it to build an umbrella, and barela over the politicians an umbrella over the politicians. So politicians can keep taking brothers. The koch so politicians can keep taking money from the oil industry can keep taking money from the big polluters. And say g, i dont know. You want to understand the Climate Crisis we face today . It is 25 years of corruption in washington. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren so what are we going to do about that . It is not going to be enough just to say we are going to change a statute over here. Were going to get a couple of regulations over there. Heres a little piece of this. No. If we want to change this, it is going to take big structural change. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren and let me tell you were big, structural change starts. We are going to attack the corruption headon. [cheers and applause] call it out. We have got to be willing to go on offense. Enough of this doing defense. Yes. [applause] now, heres the good news. I have the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. [applause] sen. Warren heres the bad news. We need the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. Yeah. It is big plan because money makes itself felt in so many ways, so many different ways. So it is a big plan so i want to do the whole thing. But im just going to give you some samples out of it ok. Heres one of my favorites. And lobbying as we know it. End lobbying as we know it. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] sen. Warren i got another. Lock the revolving door between wall street and washington. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren heres when you may not of thought about but it matters. Make the United StatesSupreme Court follow basic rules of ethics. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren ok i truly could do these all night long. [laughter] know. Arren i know, i you the angels sing on my shoulder, does keep doing him. I can do one more. This is a goodie. You really want to root out corruption in washington . Heres one. Make everything a person who runs for federal office but their tax returns online put their tax returns online. [cheers and applause] person whory single runs for office make everything a person who runs for federal office put their tax returns online. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren ok that is step one. To fight corruption headon. Because that puts them on the back foot. Make someeve got to structural changes in this economy. Heres the big problem we have got. The giant corporations have just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. They have chewed up the little businesses, the mediumsized businesses. Shoot, they chewed up the businesses that used to be called big businesses. The thing is, they have got such credible power. The role over their own employees. Their role over their own customers. They roll over their own employees. They roll over their own customers. How about we have a president who the courage to enforce our antitrust laws . [cheers and applause] the laws are there. It just takes a little courage to pick them up and enforce them. Ok. I want to talk about structural change. Because structural change is how you get change over time. And what that means in this case, we have to have somebody who pushes back against the big corporations. That means we need more power in the hands of workers paired we need him to make it easier to we need to put more power in the hands of workers. We need to make it easier to join a union. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren unions built americas america last. Middle class. Unions will rebuild americas middle class. That is one way to get some structural change in this economy. Lets talk about a second way. It is time for a wealth tax in america. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren ok. So lets talk a little bit about how this would work. The basic idea is, for the big fortunes. Ok . Anyone who has more than 50 million in acute laded assets. Your in accumulated assets. Your first 50 million is free and clear. Million and first dollar, you have to pitch into cents. Cents. H in 2 cents for every dollar after that. That is the basic idea. Just a you know for here in america, that will be the top 1 10 of 1 of the Great Fortunes in this country. Ok . 2 cents. And just see you all know, im not proposing this because im cranky. [laughter] you do not want to see me cranky. [laughter] sen. Warren so heres the deal. The bazillion errors say hey, lit the bonilla billionaires bazillionaires say, i worked hard, i stayed up late, or inherited wealth. Heres the thing. You built a Great Fortune in america. Good for you. But i guarantee you built it at least in part using workers all of us helped pay to educate. [applause] mmm hmm. You built it at least in part getting your goods to market on roads and bridges all of us helped pay to build. [applause] yep. Part,ilt it at least in protected by police and firefighters all of us helped pay the salaries for. [applause] sen. Warren and we are glad to do it. We are happy to do it. We understand in america that making these investments gets lots of people at chance. All we are saying is, when you make it to the top, the top of the top, the top of the top of the top, 1 10 of 1 . Cents so everyone else get the chance to make it in america. [cheers and applause] 2 cents. Sen. Warren 2 cents. [crowd] 2 cents. Sen. Warren so what can we do . Ith 2 ce3nnts. Are you ready . The answer is that we can do universal childcare for every baby in this country. [cheers and applause] all of them. Every one of them. Prek for every three old and fouryearold in this country. [cheers and applause] plus, raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher, to the professional levels they deserve. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren we can do all of that for our babies, plus we can technicalition free school, community college, for your college for everyone who wants to get an education. [cheers and applause] plus, im not through yet. Sen. Warren plus we can expand pell grants so it is a meaningful grant chance to go to. Ollege plus, we can level the playing 15 we can put fifth billion dollars into historically black colleges and universities. We can do this. We can do all of that. Cents. Plus, we can cancel Student Loan Debt for 95 . [cheers and applause] sen. Warren think about that. I just want everybody in here to reflect fourminute on how badly broken to reflect for a minute on how badly broken this economy is. From the top 1 10 of 1 would let us make an investment in an entire generation. Think about that. Think about it. [applause] sen. Warren ok, so that is part two. Part one, tacked the corruption headon. Part one, attack the corruption headon. Part two, make a couple of structural changes in this economy. Part three, protect our democracy. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren yep. I want a constitutional amendment to protect the right of every american citizen to vote and to get that vote counted. [cheers and applause] [cheers and applause] sen. i got a p warren sen. Warren i got a plan to make voting as secure as fort knox. No more open to russian hacking or any kind of interference. Single to repeal every racist Voter Suppression law that [applause] [cheers and applause] sen. Warren get rid of political gerrymandering. [applause] more. Arren and just one overturn Citizens United [cheers and applause] yep. Warren sen. Warren just three things. That is all i want. Attack corruption headon. Get structural change in our economy. And protect our democracy. Thats it. [applause] sen. Warren we do those things. They may sound like they are unrelated. Right . Three random things. But we do those things. And think how much more, then, we can change. How much more we can get right if we can make this government not just work for those at the top, but make it work for everyone else . [cheers and applause] is. Warren for me, this what pulled me into this race. Not in a million years did i think i would run for any public office, much less to standing here. But i can tell you this, it is about opportunity. Opportunity for every single one of our kids to get a great education. Start there. [applause] opportunity, opportunity for all of our kids to get a good job. To start your own business. May to buy a home. Opportunity may to buy a home. Maybe to buy a home. Opportunity. Opportunity to marry the person you love. [applause] specialren i was a needs teacher. I understand opportunity is not the same for everyone. They beat is just opportunity, maybe it is just opportunity to be able to live independently. But it is opportunity for every person. [applause] ill tell you why this means so much to me. My daddy ended up as a janitor. , i got baby daughter opportunity. Opportunity to be a Public School teacher. Opportunity to be a college professor. Unity to be a senator. Senator. Unity to be a an opportunity to run for president of the United States. Audio] [cheers and applause] [no audio] sure i she [no audio] [no audio] no audio] please stand by] [no audio. Please stand by] [audio interrupted, please stand by] [no audio, please stand by] [audio interrupted, please stand by] trying to create exception so Health Care Providers can decide i will not treat you because i do not like the life you live. That is wrong and it must be stopped in america. [cheers and applause] right now this whips now that theright administration is in court trying to defend the proposition , that youd sexual identity, that you can discredit against people and you can fire people and you can fail to treat them in health care because of their identity. Warrant ands no, a administration will enforce our laws and make sure they cover administration will enforce our laws and make sure they cover everyone. Sen. Warren i want to do this all the way across a little bit about health care. Because its touches so many people and inseminate of her ways. Month two years ago this that the house of to repealtives voted the oporto care act. Your memo that . Do you remember that . Voted to take away health care from tens of millions of people in this country. Every republican voted for it. Heres the part that always got me. And then they highfived each other. Theykind of a people broke out the brewskis, right . What kind of people highfive each other over taking away health care from millions of americans . And heres the thing, also buried in that bill part of it was if president obama had been in favor than they were against it, right . That was a big part of it. But buried in there was also to take a big bite out of medicaid. Why, because they figured they could do it and nobody would really notice. Because they figured most americans think merit medicaid is about somebody else. Heres the deal, two out of three seniors in a nursing home are counting on medicaid to pay the bills. Yep. Friends,n here have a a beloved family member, who has Mental Health issues . If they are able to get medical treatment, is most likely paid for by medicaid. Trans people, most likely to need medicaid. Eople have addiction issues and when you hear snow someone with addiction issues nosa the buddy with addiction issues . Is paid with medicaid. Anybody in your know somebody who had a baby that ran up big medical bills in the first couple of days . Even if the parents have the best insurance in america, it is medicaid that provides a special breeding equipment, the special feeding equipment, the occupational therapist, the speech therapist, the physical therapist, so that baby has a chance. So heres how i see this. In america. Isdo not know whose grandma going to outlive her savings. We do not know whose beloved friend is going to need access to health care and cannot pay for it. We do not know whose beloved nice is going to give birth to the baby that runs up a Million Dollars in medical bills. But heres what we do know. We are all going to pitch in some money today, so that if it happens to your family, or to ,our family, or to your family the rest of us are all going to be there for you. That is the best in america. That is the best in america. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren so yes, in case anybody missed it, i believe health care is a basic human right. We fight for basic human rights. [cheers and applause] i will fight for medicare for all, so everybody gets coverage. [cheers and applause] because i believe in the worth of every single human being. And i believe that we can build a government that reflects that value. That is what i want. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren so, thank you for the questions. There are a zillion things we would like to talk about. We got at least in some of them in here. Let me say this. How grateful i am. I know there are many things. It was beautiful out this afternoon. Of course, it always is in southern california. But there are many things you could be doing. But 22 any matters. 020 im grateful 22 matters. Im grateful you chose to come and be here this afternoon and make a little investment in your democracy. [applause] sen. Warren i know and ive been teased a lot for having a lot of plans. I get it. I get it. My view on this is that if you actually want to get something done, you ought to have a plan for it. But it is true, that all of the whiched experts includes everybody in the United States senate except me tells me, you know, people do not want to hear all that. They said, it is new to complicated. It is too hard. Say some nice things. Find something catchy. Smile more. [laughter] sen. Warren that is what running for office is all about. And when i heard this the first time. And believe me i have heard a lot. When i heard the first time, i thought, what you think they . Aid to the suffragettes [applause] sen. Warren too hard, quit now. What did they say to the early Union Organizers . Too hard, quit now, right . What did they say to the foot soldiers in the Civil Rights Movement . Too hard, quit now. What did they say to the lgbtq activists . Too hard, quit now. But they did not quit. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren they got organized. They built a grassroots movement. And they changed the course of american history. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren this is that. This is our moment in american history. This is our opportunity to get organized. To build a grassroots movement. To persist. And to build the america of our best values. Dream big. Dream big [crowd chanting] respect ] i and going to do you wrong why youre gone i in did you wrong, all im asking sen. Warren ok. We are ready. Hello. Again. If you want to take selfies with my gammy, line over there. Sen. Warren thank you all. [crowd] announcer c spends live coverage of campaign 2020 10 use this week. Today at 6 30 p. M. , john delaney and congressman tim ryan live at londonderry, new hampshire. Friday on 6 00 p. M. Eastern, mayor Pete Buttigieg with a live town hall from nashua, new hampshire. Watch campaign 2020 coverage on cspan. Anytime online at cspan. Org. Or listen live from wherever you are on the go, using the free cspan radio app. Announcer in case you missed it, we will show the town hall meeting with president ial candidate, senator Elizabeth Warren from los angeles, again tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan. You can also follow all of our coverage online at cspan. Org, or use the free cspan radio app. At 9 30 p. M. Night eastern, a conversation about the future of campaign debates. We will hear about how debates are planned, and why some candidates refuse to participate. At a forum held by the city club of cleveland. Heres a preview. Political debate has been an integral part of the american political process at all levels. And yet, over the last decade, debate between candidates seeking Political Office has declined. This is not for lack of effort. As community and civicand yet, groups, including the city club, as well as television stations and other media organizations, have organized debates, only to have candidates often in beds, turned down invitations. , turn downcumbents invitations. Refusing to debate or requiring a highly choreographed debates in front of their opponents. In 2006 the city club famously uninvited to gubernatorial candidates after the refusal to participate in an unscripted debate. This debate over debates so to speak has gained momentum. The proliferation of social media, cable news, and other online platforms, has given candidates opportunities to connect with audiences in ways that debates is to provide. Furthermore, when it comes to debates, there are often there often is no agreedupon authority, note shared sense of what best practices are, and no clear ideas of what debates ought to look like or strive to accomplish. All things we have seen in the recent debates among Democratic Candidates for the president of the United States. In an effort to preserve political debates as part of our democratic process, several states have created debate commissions, with the goal to convene high quality debates that play a substantive role in informing citizens about issues and candidates on the ballot. In 2018, the ohio debate joiningon was formed, indiana, utah, and washington as estates with this type of statewide collaboration. How are they working . And what should the future of debates look like. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2019]you can watch this entire forum on canadas debates for the city club of cleveland tonight at 930 eastern. A reminder you can also follow all of our programs online at cspan. Org. And listen with the free cspan radio app. Announcer saturday on the tv at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Author zara hung care faces the challenges female middle eastern journalist face all reporting. All the authors were able to push through whatever barriers they had and right really openly and honestly about their deepest struggles heard one of the essays that comes to mind is bakrias. You mentioned her. It is an honest account of grief and loss. It reflect the state of the arab world today. It is not an uplifting book. Announcer sunday at 7 45 p. M. Eastern, press instant University Professor imani peri on race, gender, and class in america. Her most recent book is breed, a letter to my sons. The reality is i have to arm them not simply with a set of skills and intellectual tools that allow them to flourish in school and ethics and values, but also a way to make sense of the hostility that they encounter every day, from people at times whose responsibility is to treat them as community members. And a not 00 p. M. Eastern afterwards, we do Research Center found on his book unmasked, big medias war against trump