Mr. Castro hello, brooklyn are you all ready to elect a new president . [cheers and applause] all, i wantfirst of to thank each and every one of you for being here. It is a pleasure to be with you here tonight in the heart of new york city. I want to thank you for coming tonight and participating in our democracy and making your voice heard. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro now, just really quickly, yall, i know all of us have our phones, and we follow whats going on in the news, i wanted to just begin by saying that tonight were thinking about our men and women in uniform, especially those who are stationed in iraq. [applause] mr. Castro and were praying for their safety. Were also our hearts go out to the people of the island of puerto rico today. [applause] mr. Castro who already have endured so much loss after Hurricane Maria and suffered an earthquake. We are thinking about them and urging the administration to act , to serve them as we should. [cheers and applause] you know, those are two very powerful and poignant reminders of why all of us have a role to play. Engaging in our democracy. Voting. And ushering in new leadership in 2020 with a new president. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and that president should be Elizabeth Warren. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro now, as yall know, i also ran for president. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and im proud of the campaign that we ran. I ran for president because i have a vision for an america where everyone counts. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro where every voice is heard. I ran for president because i felt tremendously blessed with the opportunity that ive had in life, and i wanted to make sure that everybody, no matter who you are, could have that same kind of opportunity. Some of yall know that i have a twin brother, joaquin. My brother is here tonight. [applause] mr. Castro dont clap too loud or i am going to get jealous. Dont clap too loud. [laughter] mr. Castro you know, joaquin and i grew up on the west side of san antonio with my mother and my grandmother. My mothe grandmother had come or to the United States in 1922 from northern mexico, because her parents had passed away she. She never finished elementary school. She worked as a maid, a cook, and a babysitter. She raised our mother as a single parent. And my mom raised my brother and me as a single parent too. We grew up and were proud products of a Public School of texas. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro we had the opportunity to go to college and go to law school. We went together, because i cant get rid of my brother. [laughter] mr. Castro and then to go back home and be the first in our family to be professionals, as attorneys, and then go into Public Service. My brother went into the state legislature. I went into city council, became eventually became mayor of our hometown of san antonio, texas. [cheers and applause] and just to think, that only two generations after our grandmother got here, like i bet a lot of your family members did, wherever they came from, got here with almost nothing, two generations later, one of her grandsons, she only had two grandkids, one of her grandsons is representing the neighborhood she grew up in as the congressman for the 20th Congressional District of texas. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and chairing the congressional hispanic caucus. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and the other one had the opportunity to serve as in president obamas cabinet and to run for president of the United States of america. That is america that is the possibility of our country. That is the story of so many people in our country. And now im here because i believe in a person who is going to make sure that those same kinds of opportunity that my brother and i were blessed with, and that so many people here as well have been fortunate to have , of a good education, of the chance to get a good job, to get Decent Health care, to be able to reach for your dreams, that we make that possible for every Single Person in this country in the years to come. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and i had the opportunity to see all of the remember, you all at one time, we had 25 candidates running in this cycle. 25. I had the opportunity to see all of the candidates. To get to know many of the candidates. To understand them. This is what i understand about Elizabeth Warren. She is a fighter for Everyday Americans. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro she is a fighter because she has also struggled and lived that american dream. Elizabeth warren grew up the daughter of a janitor. She grew up to become a Public Schoolteacher. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and a law professor. And a United States senator. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and a champion for consumers everywhere in this country. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro she knows she knows what sacrifice is like. After her father had a heart attack, her mom had to take a minimum wage job at sears to make ends meet. She understands because she has listened to people for many years throughout this country. She has heard their calls for change. She has heard about their dreams and aspirations for themselves, their families, their communities, and for our country. She is a fighter because she knows that too often today the deck is stacked against people who just want a shot at reaching their dreams. She knows that too often today in washington, the power goes to special interests who can afford big lobbyists and lawyers to write in special provisions in legislation. She knows that we need to get big money out of politics. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro she knows we need to give people the power, and not the powerful the biggest voice. [applause] mr. Castro and let me tell you something. I dont have to guess what kind of president she is going to be, because i have seen firsthand what kind of senator she is. [applause] mr. Castro i had the opportunity to serve as secretary of housing and urban development for president obama. [applause] mr. Castro as part of that, i worked with senator warren. , who sits on the Senate Banking and finance committee that has jurisdiction over h. U. D. And i remember one day going to lunch, and we were going to lunch in the Senate Dining room. And i was, you know, looking forward to the lunch, and i thought wed have a nice, leisurely lunch, and, you know, get to know each other and have some small talk. Boy, was i in for a rude awakening. [laughter] mr. Castro she wasnt there for small talk. She was there to know what i was going to do to make sure that more people could stay in their homes. [applause] mr. Castro she was there to know what we were going to do to make sure that we saw to it that Homeless People got a place to live. [applause] mr. Castro she was there to know what we were going to do to invest in communities that were hurting. She is a fighter for people who need a voice. She is a fighter for Everyday Americans that simply want a shot. So i know that thats the kind of president that shes going to be. And here is the thing. We are meeting at a very special moment in this entire campaign cycle. We are less than a month away from when the voting starts in iowa. February 3 is the iowa caucus. Thats right. Somebody is counting. 27 days. And, look, i have tremendous respect for everybody who is running in this race. This is perhaps the most talented field of people, and theres an embarrassment of rich es, people who have great vision, great integrity, a great track record, experience. It has been said many times in many Different Campaign seasons , but, you know what, i think this is more true this year than ever before. Any one of the folks running would make a better president than the president we have sitting in the oval office today. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro but heres the thing that i saw. So many times when we would get out there, and id be having a conversation with somebody and , and they would be nodding their head in des moines or in davenport or somewhere in iowa, or in manchester, new hampshire, and i thought i had them sold on my candidacy, and they said, you know, i really, really like you, i love what youre talking about, but my first choice is Elizabeth Warren. Youre in my top three, but my first choice is Elizabeth Warren. More than any other candidate in this race. More than any other candidate that will be on that debate stage in a few day, Elizabeth Warren is a candidate who can unite the entire democratic party. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro she can bring people together. She can appeal to all sides. People believe in her vision. All of the candidates are great, but you start looking that the data, and i did as a candidate, and you see interesting things. You know, the polling says well, perhaps, a lot of older voters go one way. Right . And Younger Voters go another way. You have a preponderance of Younger Voters that support elizabeth. And older voters that also support elizabeth. You have people in small towns and people in big cities that support elizabeth. You have folks that are dreaming about a country that we can have that represents the best of who we are. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro and think about what it is going to take to defeat donald trump in november of 2020. Consistently when you talk to people on the ground, you find that they like Elizabeth Warren. You find that theyre willing to support her. You find that she has the best damn organization in these early states in iowa and new hampshire, in nevada, all throughout our country. [cheers and applause] mr. Castro the level of enthusiasm is tremendous. So i wanted to come here tonight to tell you that i am proud to support senator Elizabeth Warren for president of the United States of america. [cheers and applause] [crowd chanting warren] mr. Castro yall sound good. [applause] mr. Castro im proud to support her. I want to thank you for supporting her. I am proud to support her on behalf of all the people that we were fighting for in our campaign. Im proud to support her on behalf of every kid who is out there dreaming about being an astronaut or being a teacher or being a firefighter. Im proud to support her on behalf of every Single Person who is sleeping on the street tonight and needs a safe, decent, affordable place to live. [applause] im proud to support her on behalf of people like miss swain that i met in waukee, iowa, who had lived in a trailer park for 40 years until she got a letter from a private equity group telling her they just bought out her trailer park and , and they were raising her rent more than 60 . Im proud to support senator warren on behalf of so many people who are going broke because they got sick. Proud to support her on behalf of parents of children with disabilities who simply want to see their child be able to get the kind of education they deserve. [applause] mr. Castro im proud to support her on behalf of folks who too often have been the victims of police brutality. And just want to be treated the same, like everybody else. And im proud to support her on behalf of each and every one of those migrants out there that is simply dreaming of a better life in the United States of america. So that we can say in the years to come no more kids in cages, no more separating family, no more playing games with people who are seeking asylum. We can do things in a better, more effective, more humane way, and the person that is going to lead us to a better america for everyone is senator Elizabeth Warren. Help me welcome the next president of the United States of america, Elizabeth Warren [cheers and applause] [9 to 5 by dolly parton playing] workin 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin barely gettin by, its all takin and no givin they just use your mind and they never give you credit its enough to drive you crazy if you let it 9 to 5, for service and devotion you would think that i would deserve a fat promotion want to move ahead but the boss wont seem to let me i swear sometimes that man is out to get me [cheers and applause] ]crowd chanting warren sen. Warren hello brooklyn [cheers and applause] sen. Warren i am so happy to be here with you tonight. But we have to we have to start on a very sober note. We love you sen. Warren i love you, too. For any of you who havent been able to follow it, within the last hour, the iranian government has announced that it has sent missiles to attack our military bases in iraq. My three brothers all served in the military. At this moment, my heart and my prayers are with our military and with their families. , in iraq and all around the world. [applause] sen. Warren but this is a reminder why we need to deescalate tensions in the middle east. [applause] sen. Warren the American People do not want a war with iran. [applause] sen. Warren and on another sober note, our brothers and sisters in puerto rico need our help. We will fight to make sure this government is there for them this time. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren it is so terrific to be here with my dear friend, julian castro. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren julian and i have been friends for a long time. And for me, it all comes down to one thing. Julian is a good man. [cheers and applause] he is a good man who went into Public Service not for himself, not for his own glory, but went into Public Service to make a real difference in the lives of millions of people across this country and that is what he has done. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren he has been in the fight for safe and affordable and secure housing for millions of americans, and we all owe him a big debt of gratitude for this work. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren he was one of the First National figures to truly lift up the fight for true equality for people in the disability community. Thank you, julian. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren and while other candidates for president were nibbling around the edges of, oh, yeah, we need to do something for our families, it was julian who put out a plan for serious childcare for every kid in this country. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren julian is a man of commitment, and his commitment is about making sure that the people who have been ignored and the people who have been deliberately left out forever get a voice in our democracy and get a voice in our country. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren and it is a great honor to be in this fight alongside julian castro. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren we are going to have some fun tonight. I am sorry about the delay. I like to start things on time. You would expect that of a woman with plans. [laughter] sen. Warren but the good news is, and the bad news, a lot of people could not make it in. So julian and i wanted to go outside and say hello to everybody. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren so heres what were going to do tonight. Im going to talk a little bit. For any of you who dont know me, tell you a little bit about myself. Tell you im going to do this. [laughs] sen. Warren im going to tell you a little bit about why im in this fight. And then were going to do something historic, right at the center of democracy. Julian and i, for the first time in history, were going to stand here and do double selfies, and everybody is welcome. [cheers and applause] yes. Warren yeah i love that. My gosh. So i want you to know a little about me. I was born and raised in oklahoma. [cheers and applause] sen. Warren really . That many okies in the room . Yes sen. Warren a few . Ok, i believe you, i believe you. I am what used to be called a late in life baby. My mother always just called me the surprise. I have three older brothers. They are all back in oklahoma now. They are all retired. And they are to this day referred to collectively as the boys. Thats to distinguish them from the surprise. Now, when my three brothers and i were growing up, our daddy had a lot of different jobs. He sold paint, he sold carpet, he sold fencing. He sold housewares. Ultimately he ended up as a janitor. My mom worked minimum wage job at sears. All three of my brothers, as i mentioned earlier, went off to the military. It was their chance to serve and a path to americas middle class. Now, me, i have had the same dream for what i wanted to be since second grade. You may laugh in the back, you didnt decide until like, what, fourth grade . Fifth grade up in the balcony . I can tell. I can tell. Ive known what i wanted to be since second grade and never varied from this. I wanted to be a Public Schoolteacher. Can we hear it for our Public School teachers . [cheers and applause] yes yes and i want you to know, i invested early. I used to line my dollies up and teach school. I had a reputation for being tough but fair. [laughter] but all during my growing up, any time anything came up, i want to be a teacher. I want to be a teacher. By the time i graduated from high school, my family did not have the money for college. Much less to send me off to four years at university. So like a lot of americans, i dont have a Straight Path story. I got a story thats got a lot of twists and turns. Heres how my twists and turns go. I was a high school debater and i got a scholarship to college. [applause] yeah. Lets hear it for the nerds. [applause] yeah. You bet. You bet. So scholarship to college. At 19, i fell in love, got married, and dropped out. Woohoo. Now look, a good life. Its one i chose. But i thought it meant i couldnt have the dream. That i was never going to have the chance to be a Public Schoolteacher. And so were living outside houston. Then i found it. A commuter college, 45 minutes away, that cost 50 a semester. [applause] and for a price i could pay for on a parttime waitressing job, i finished my fouryear diploma, i became a special education teacher, i lived my dream job. Cheers and applause] so have we got any Public School teachers in here . [cheers and applause] oh yes any more Public School eachers . Oh, yes whoa [cheers and applause] so im going to need you to back me up on this. I need you to back me up on this. It is not a job, it is a calling. [applause] i had 4 to 6yearolds in special ed and i loved my abies. I loved the work. I still remember things we worked on together. You know, i probably would still be doing that work today, but like i said, my story has some twists and turns. Heres the next one. By the end of the first year, i was visibly pregnant. And the principal did what principals did in those days. Wished me luck and hired someone else for the job. Great. So here i am, now were up in new jersey. [applause] yeah. I got a baby. Cant get a job. And i just got to tell you, i got to do something. I got to do something. I know, i will go to law school. [applause] yeah. Found a state law school, cost 450 a semester. Baby on hip, i went off, did three years in law school, graduated, visibly pregnant. You will discover a pattern to these stories. Took the bar, passed the bar, and practiced law for 45 minutes. [applause] and then i went back to my first love, teaching. I traded little ones, for big ones. And i have spent pretty much my whole grownup life teaching in law school. Other big changes in my life around this time, husband number one, hint, its never good when you have to number your husbands. [laughter] yeah. I heard that sound. Uhhuh. Husband number one and i parted ways. But, i found bruce, hes a good one and i held on to him. Still got him. [applause] bruce, yes. Ill tell him you sent love. So here i am. Im teaching in law school. And, look, i dont know if its because i grew up in a family that was kind of watching every nickel, but boy, i taught the money courses. Contract law, commercial law, transaction payment system, corporate finance, partnership finance, law and economics, if it was about money, count me in. [applause] but there was always one central question that i worked on. And that is, whats happening to working families in america . Why is it that americas middle class is being hollowed out . And why is it that people who work every bit as hard as my mom and dad worked two generations ago, today find the path so much rockier and so much steeper. And for people of color, even rockier and even steeper. [applause] why . And the answer is about who our Government Works for. Our government in washington, i ant you to think about it this way. We have a government that works great for giant drug companies. Its just not working for people trying to get a prescription filled. [applause] we have a government that works great for people who want to make money. By investing in private prisons and private Detention Centers at our borders. Just not for the human beings whose lives are torn apart by those places. [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] and when you see a government that works great for those with money and doesnt work so great or much of anyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple, and we need to call it out for what it is. [applause] yeah. Corruption. Think of it this way. Money, money, money, in washington. Campaign contributions, oh yeah. But also, the lobbyist the lawyer the p. R. Firms, the bought and paid for experts, the tilted think tanks. All to try to influence the decisionmakers. Money, money, money that flows through that place. And understand this. Whatever is the issue, the real issue, that brought you here today, whether its Climate Change, whether its gun safety, whether its health care. Whether its Student Loans, if there is a decision to be made in washington, i guarantee it has been touched by money. [applause] its been influenced by money, its been shaped by money, it has had exceptions created by money. Heres the thing. If we want to fix this, you cant just nibble around the edges a little. You cant make little tiny bits. We need big, structural change in this country. [applause] big, structural change, and i got a plan for that. [applause] oh, yeah. And you know where it starts . It starts by attacking the corruption head on. [applause] you know, thats what weve got to do. I have, youre going to like this. Heres the good news. I have the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. [applause] heres the bad news. We need the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. So its a big plan. So let me just give you some samples. Just a little sample out of it. Ok. Lets start with end lobbying as we know it. Heres one close to home. Lets block the revolving door between wall street and washington. [applause] heres one you may never have thought about but boy, it matters. Lets make the United StatesSupreme Court follow basic rules of ethics. [applause] ok. I could do these all night long. I really could. Its like greatest hits here. Ill do just one more. You really want to hose out some of the corruption in washington, make every Single Person who runs for federal office put their tax returns online. Cheers and applause] eah. Ok. So thats part one. Attack the corruption head on. Because heres the thing. If you could just disrupt the influence of money. If you can break it up. If you can just change it. Just knock it back. Just a little. Now weve got a chance to make some more change. Some more big, structural change. I want to start with our economy. Weve got a real problem in this economy. Its the giant corporations. These are the guys, think about this. Theyve swallowed up the little businesses. Theyve swallowed up the medium sized businesses. Theyve swallowed what used to be big businesses. Heres whats wrong with it. It gives them so much power. So much power. Power over their employees. Power over their customers. Power over their communities. And power in washington, d. C. Lets be blunt. It is time for a president with the courage to enforce our antitrust laws and break these guys up. [applause] reak them up, i like this. [crowd chanting break them up] ll right, great, fabulous. K. Thats an important starting place. But all by itself its not going to get it done. Because that helps us break up the power of the big corporations, but you want real balance in an economic system, you got to have more power in the hands of workers, that means make it easier to join a union and give union more power when they negotiate. [cheers and applause] yes. Unions built americas middle class and unions will rebuild mericas middle class. All right. So thats part of the structural change in this economy. Lets do one more. It is time for a wealth tax in america. [applause] i see yao heard of the idea of a wealth tax in america. So let me talk about this for a inute. Heres the basic idea. The basic idea, its going to be a tax on Great Fortunes in this country. Those of 50 million and above. Or to say this another way, your first 50 million is free and clear. The guy in the back going, woo, which woman is not totally unreasonable. First 50 million is free and three. Your 50,000,001, you pay two cents. After that, a few pennies ore. Anybody in here own a home or grow up in a house where they were home owners . Yeah. Youve been paying a wealth tax forever. Its just called a property tax. And all i want to do thats different is i just want to say that the top one tenth of one percent, the property tax, the wealth tax, should be the real estate but also the stock portfolio, the diamonds, the rem brant and the yacht. [applause] you may have heard, there are some billionaire who was taken exception to this. Go on tv and cry. So sad. So sad. Other billionaires have been oved to run for president. I guess he figured it was cheaper than paying a two cent ealth tax. But heres the argument from these guys. They say, we got out there and we worked hard. Not like everybody else . We worked hard, we earned this money, this is what a market economy is all about. Heres my answer to that. You worked hard, you had a great idea you hit the big moment. You made it big. Good for you. Good for you. Im glad to hear it. But understand this. You built a Great Fortune here in america. I guarantee you built it at least in part using workers, all of us help pay to educate. [applause] yeah. You built it at least in part getting your goods to market on roads and bridges all of us help pay to build. [applause] you built that fortune at least in part protected by police and firefighters all of us help pay heir salaries. And heres the thing. Were glad to do it. Were americans. We want to invest in opportunity for everybody. All were saying is if you make it big, i mean really big, i mean, top one tenth of one percent big, pitch in two cents so everybody else gets a chance in this country. Cheers and applause] oh, because here comes the fun part. What can we do with two cents . [applause] i tell you where were going to start. And that is universal child care, every baby in this country, age 0 to 5. All of them. [cheers and applause] universal prek for every 3yearold and 4yearold in america. Cheers and applause] and lets stop exploiting the people, largely women, largely black and brown women, who do this work, raise the wages of every Child Care Worker and preschool teacher in this country. Cheers and applause] two cents and we can make certain that every baby in this country has access to Early Childhood education, that every mama and daddy can finish their own education, can take a job, can build a real future. Thats what we can do. [cheers and applause] two cents. Two cents. And im not through yet. What else can we do on that same two cents . And the answer is we can make an historic federal investment of 800 billion in our public 12 schools. [cheers and applause] yes. And i tell where you im going to start on that. Were going to quadruple the funding for title 1 schools that teach our children from ow income backgrounds. And this one wont surprise you. From a special ed teacher, were going to do for the first time in america, fully fund idea so every child with a disability gets the education they deserve. Cheers and applause] one more thing were going to do with that money. There is enough money from this two cents that we can do a milliondollar excellence grant to every single Public School in america. [cheers and applause] let them be excellent schools. Raise those schools up. Think what that would mean. So two cents. We can do all of that for our babies. We can do all of that for k12. And we can provide universal tuitionfree Technical School twoyear edge college, Fouryear College for everyone ho wants an education. Cheers and applause] we can raise our pell grants so Educational Opportunity is truly equal for all of our kids. Cheers and applause] we can level the Playing Field and put 50 billion into our historically black colleges and universities. Cheers and applause] all that for our babies, all that for k12, all that for people who are trying to get an education after high school. Plus we can cancel Student Loan Debt for 43 million americans. [cheers and applause] yes. We can do this. H, yeah. Ok. So thats part two. Part one, part one was attack the corruption headon. Thats what opens up the possibility. Opens up the possibility. Fight back on Climate Change. Fight back on gun safety. And make real structural change in this economy. Part two. Lets make that structural change in this economy. Part three, we got to protect our democracy. [cheers and applause] i tell you what i want. I want to see a constitutional amendment to protect the right of every american citizen to vote and to get that vote counted. Cheers and applause] and i want to fight for a federal law to ban all political gerrymandering in this country. Cheers and applause] and another federal law to roll back every racist Voter Suppression law in america. Cheers and applause] and just one more thing. Overturn citizens united, democracy is not for sale. Cheers and applause] Warren WarrenWarren Warren warren ms. Warren ok, ok. So i just want three things. Attack the corruption headon so we can make the changes we need to make. Make some structural change in this economy. And protect our democracy. Because this is how, this is how we make certain that this government isnt just working for a handful at the top. This is about how we make certain that this government hears every voice and counts every vote. Thats the america were going to be. [cheers and applause] thats the america were going to be. So i tell you, im in this fight all the way. Im in this fight from the heart. Who else is in this fight from the heart . Because this is the kind of people we are. And when i think about this fight, i want you to know what i think about. I think about toasters. [laughter] you arent surprised by this . No. I want to tell you a story about toasters. So, yeah, you didnt see that coming, did you . You said, kind of know how this goes. No, toasters. Because heres the deal. Back when i was a young mom, toasters could actually burn down houses. They could cause fires that were bad enough to burn down houses. And here was basically how it worked. You know the little toaster ovens with the slideout trays . They didnt have automatic shutoff switches. So you could pull out the tray, put four slices of bread on it, slide it in, flip it on, hear the baby cry, run down to the other end of the house, stay down there just a little longer than you thought, and when you came back, the flames would be leaping off the toast six to eight inches. And if you had really not planned ahead, your toaster might be near your window, catch your curtains on fire that would then catch your cabinets on fire. Ask me how i know. m saying nothing. But i will tell you along about this time, my daddy for christmas bought me a fire extinguisher. Hung it in the kitchen. Man knows how to party. [laughter] and then along came a federal agency, Consumer Product safety commission, and they said, enough. Were done. No more toaster fires burning down houses. And that was it. The manufacturers put Safety Switches on them so they click off after a couple of minutes. And there were no more toaster fires to burn down houses. By the early 2000s, mortgages, home mortgages in this country had become so complex and so dangerous they had a one in five chance of costing a family their home. Not through fire, but through foreclosure. Only this time, the federal government was not on the side of the people, it was deep in the pocket of the banks. And it told them to just keep selling those mortgages, breaking those profits, prey on communities of color, prey on young family, prey on seniors until they crash the whole economy in 2008. So i had this idea. I had this idea that we could have an agency like the toaster agency. [cheers and applause] and this agency would basically say, hey, look, banks, you dont get to boost your profits by cheating people on mortgages, credit cards, payday loans and Student Loans. So, thats the idea. I am not an elected official at this point. So i go down to washington and basically knock on doors. I go talk to anybody who will talk to me. Democrat, republican. And make my pitch for this agency. And what i began to discover over time is that as people listened to it, im getting the same two answers from almost everybody. First answer is, huh. Thats actually a good dea. You could actually make a real difference, structural change. And second, dont even try. Youll be up against wall street, youll be up against the big banks, youll be up against all the republicans, youll be up against half the democrats. You cant get it done. I get it. Big structural change is hard. But it was the right thing to do. Cheers and applause] so we got in that fight and we took on wall street and we took on the big donors and we took on the republicans and in 2010 president barack obama signed that agency into law. Cheers and applause] we won cfpb, the nerd squad, i love this. Yes because heres the thing. You know what that Little Agency has done . They have forced the banks in this country to return more than 12 billion directly to people they cheated. [cheers and applause] we can make government work for the people. So, what did i learn from this . Heres what i learned. I learned that even if the big money is against it, even if the big donors are against it, even if powerful people are against it, we need big ideas to solve the big problems in this country. Cheers and applause] we need big ideas to inspire people, to get out and vote and bring their families and friends to get out and vote. [cheers and applause] we need big ideas to tell the world who and what democrats will fight for. Cheers and applause] we need big ideas to take back the senate and put Mitch Mcconnell out of a job. Cheers and applause] e need big ideas and we need to be willing to fight for them. You know, i get it. You can look oh, so sophisticated, oh, so smart, by backing off from a big idea. Not now, too hard, cant do this. But think about this. [laughter] didnt hear that. Heres the thing. You can back off from big ideas, but when we give up on big ideas, we give up on the people whose lives would have been touched by those ideas. [applause] and those people are already in a fight. People struggling to pay their medical bills are already in a fight. People getting crushed by Student Loans are already in a fight. People getting stopped by the police or denied their right to vote because of the color of their skin are already in a fight. [cheers and applause] and those fights are our ights. [cheers and applause] america is in a crisis. And washington insiders, media pundits, even a lot of people in our own party dont want to admit it. They think that running some big campaign that nibbles around the edges of big problems is somehow the safe strategy. They are wrong. If all democrats can offer is business as usual after donald rump, democrats will lose. We win when we offer the big ideas that match the problems in peoples lives. Cheers and applause] so heres the thing. I am not running a campaign that has been shaped by consultants. I am not putting forward proposals that have been carefully crafted not to offend big donors. I passed that stop sign a long ime ago. Im running a Campaign Based on a lifetime of fighting for working families. I am running a campaign from the heart. And heres the reason why. I believe that 2020 is our moment in history. Cheers and applause] 2020 is our moment to win the fight for a Green New Deal and save our planet. Cheers and applause] 2020 is our moment to win the fight for medicare for all and save our families. Cheers and applause] and 2020 is our moment to win the fight for a wealth tax and invest in an entire generation. Cheers and applause] if you believe that 2020 is our moment in history, then im asking you this, get in this fight. Go to elizabethwarren. Com, pitch in 5, volunteer an hour, take on some phone banking or door knocking, but get in this fight. Because this moment in history will not come back again. Cheers and applause] this is our moment, our moment o dream big [cheers and applause] to fight hard [cheers and applause] and to win [cheers and applause] [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. 2020] shas her thoughts on strengthening government in fragile states. [indiscernible voices] ok