Was running for president. Afterwards, she took questions from the audience. [cheers and applause] hey, good afternoon. Im chair of the Johnson County democrats. Im not here to make an endorsement im here to welcome you and i know the reason youre here. And that reason is you want to make the change in the way our state and our government in washington is being run. [applause] absolutely. And really whats the best way th do that . Get involved. You can get involved with the Johnson County democrats and what to do is go to jcdems. Org. Thats jcdems. Org, get out your phones right now and had their, and sign up for our weekly email. On the email there is a newsletter that will give you the latest of the important political events going on in our area as well as you can have details about the caucasus, where youre going to caucus, information about training on what, and also in person online. So please go to that site, join the Johnson County democrats and help us take back the state, the country, and support our local democrats. Thank you. [applause] next, please join me in welcoming state senator joe bolkcom to the stage. [applause] good afternoon. Happy holidays. Im state senator joe bolkcom. Thank you for coming to see Elizabeth Warren this afternoon. If you are already a committed war and supported, thank you for your support. We have a lot of work to do in the next 63 days. Are still undecided about who youre going to support in iowa caucus, thank you for taking time to come and hear senator warren share her patience for the country. The 2020 election is about three things. Stopping the crazy. [laughing] [applause] thats right. Breaking the grip of corporate special interests on our democracy. [applause] and bringing positive improvements to the American People. [applause] im here today because i enthusiastically support Elizabeth Warren forid president because she can win, and she best suited to transfer our politics once she is in office. [applause] she has the experience, the energy and the guts to take on powerful and special interests in washington to solve the daunting problems facing the American People and our planet. The 2016 election was a loud wakeup call driven by profound, unhappiness with business as usual, powerful special interest politics. People are tired of this corruption. Americans want our political leaders to Work Together to solve their problems. That is really what this election is about. Will we have government of, by, and for the people again . [applause] we all want a more hopeful unified country. The best way to unify the country is forme our leaders and our government to actually solve problems facing our families and improve their everyday lives. That is why we will thats what would unify us, solving problems that improve peoples lives. Sounds simple. Its not. Powerful special interest or stand in the way. Powerful special interest that vikings like things just the way they are. Our next president needs to have the guts to take on these powerful interests. Elizabeth warren has a proven record of taking on Washington Special interests and winning. Thats what will actually bring people together, winning for the American People. [applause] i have heard from some of my friends that say we need a moderate approach before going to beat trump. Now, i appreciate that viewpoint. I understand that people have added with theof chaos, the corruption, and the noise of the trump presidency. They just want calm and stability. Unfortunately, the world today is anything but call or stable. We face complex issues here at home and around the globe. What we need is a steady, thoughtful, smart leader that is going to set high but realistic and achievable goals. We need a leader whos going to tackle income inequality, Climate Change, college affordability, and are broken Healthcare System and on. [applause] headon. Elizabeth warren is going to challenge us to be the best we can be here that is what great leaders do. Did anyone see the hawks beat nebraska on friday fax go hawks. [applause] well, it came down to a 48yard field goal with one second left on the clock. The coach didnt tell the kicker keith duncan to get in there and get it close. Give it a good kick. No, the coach and the team wanted to win the game. Make the field goal. Expect a result, get results. That is what we need in our next president. Someone who will challenge us to be the best, someone that will expect and get results for the American People. Elizabeth warren is that leader. As ive watched the Iowa Caucuses unfold over the last several months, i have seen elizabeth organize a Grassroots Campaign rooted in big ideas and persontoperson connections. She is campaigning and smalls, towns, Rural Communities ande g cities across our country. That time she spent listening and learning about the lives of Everyday Americans makes her a better candidate and will make her a great president. Shes proving she knows how to win. She will campaign hard in every state. She will stand tough against trump. She can beat donald trump. [applause] i have been doing politics for almost 30 years. Thats a long time. Ive seen thank you for your support. [laughing] wouldnt be here without you. Ive seen a lot of candidates and a lot of politicians. The best ones have always set the bar high and encouraged us to be our best. [applause] ive also worked on many, many tough issues, health care, Climate Change, predatory lending, tax issues. Old school, business as usual politics hasnt fixed these problems. Only a courageous, relentless fighter like Elizabeth Warren wheel. [applause] will. Finally, a powerful woman president is our best hope for the positive change we need right now. [cheers and applause] please join me in caucus for Elizabeth Warren on february 3. Thank you very much. [applause] hi, everybody. So my name is page on the field organizer here, and before i give a little speech, some of you wanted to ask questions, and so what were going to do, im going to draw five tickets and edwin get your tickets now. Im going to read the last four digits, and that is how we will do it. Youll go up to stockton over here. Shes lovely. Shes holding up the sign. Okay, so the first number is hoops. We got two. 1019. Second number is, second number is 1020. Amazing. Yeah, i think im going to shop of them a bit more. With it. The next one is 1069. 1069, anyone . Okay, cool. So that one. The next one is 1079. 1079 . Is that her . Do have 1079 is here. Do. Do we also have 1069 . No, cool. And then we have 1008. 1008. Anyone . Okay, so we are missing two. So then were going to do 1024. Persist. Yes. [applause] okay. And then the last round for this round is 1016. Yes. [applause] amazing. So my name is page, again. I am an organizer on thed northeast side of iowa city. Ei figured since were on a College Campus i would kill all a little bit about my experience in college. So there are going to be trigger warnings in your for gun violence and Sexual Assault, just for your awareness. So i went to a Small Liberal Arts College in allentown pennsylvania called Muhlenberg College and my time there was looking to buy the catalyst of two major social movements and protest. The first of many sleepless nights on my normal subdued campus happened during the fall of my freshman year. Michael brand was gunned down in ferguson, missouri, in august. In november of the grand jury decision to not contact the Police Officer who took his life came up the night before thanksgiving break. Throughout the course of that year as we fought with school administers to the black lights m Matter Movement emerged into the national spotlight. For three years. In 2017 i remember scrolling through facebook one day and seeing the words me too scrawled like happy birthday post alln over my timeline. I cant member if it took me three hours or three days but eventually i decided to. As for a couple of months again and it is valentines day. We got word that been yet another shooting a yet another high school and then we saw use clips of these incredible kids calling out elected officials for inaction and sharing their stories. Fastforward another couple months. Too much out of college working in cedar rapids to elect fred hubbell as governor and the great state of iowa. I wake up one day to a massive kidney stone, 12 on body mass and got saddled with 7200 in medical bills. 0. Had i not had insurance i wouldve owed upwards of 42,000. Yes, everyones decision to get involved in politics or Movement Comes from a deeply personal place. I was annoyed another campaign, and then Elizabeth Warren has been fighting for medicare for all four years, jumped into the president ial race. How could you say no to this queen . I joined this campaign for my friends up to work three jobs just to get food on the table to pay the rent and hope that money left over for their medication. I joined this campaign because when i started college my tuition was 42,000 and thousand dollars and when i graduated it was 66,000. I joined this can be because as a survivor of childhood Sexual Assault i cant sit idly by with some of the queues of Sexual Assault in the white house. I joined this campaign because as a nonbinary person im kind of tired of my i joined this campaign because the number one cause of death for black men between the ages of 1835 inse this country is gun violence. I joined this campaign because being a Student Activist has taught me anything, its taught me that the best leaders are the ones who listen to people affected most by the issues, give credit where credit is due and know how to get from point a to point b. Elizabeth warren embodies all of that and more. She does it rely on anticonsultants for policy plans to ask when she was writing her lgbtq policy she turned to work were endorsers and staff and asked what we want. She listens more than she speaks. She never shies away from a good idea, and that she ever have a plan for everything. This is a moment and we can elect it was with one at president of the United States but we need your help to do it. This is a movement, and a promise theres a place in it for you. Theres too much at stake for anyone to sit by the sidelines with 63 days left before the caucus. Find an organizer of volunteer at the event to find out how you can help elect the first president of the United States. Thank you. [applause] [cheers and applause] a lot of people here. Hello. My name is cesar perez and a student here at the university of iowa. Go hawks, right . [cheers and applause] so before even start to begin to tell you guys why its a ice were Elizabeth Warren and why she gives me hope, i want to start by telling you guys who i am and how did he get to this point in my life. As a mexican firstgeneration student i always saw college something reserved exclusively for my wealthy peers. Growing up it was a struggle to keep up with my grades and for a long time college did not even seem like an option for me. Both my parents came from mexico and never attended college. So was never mention in my home. But dont take this as a sob story because i dont really take it as a sob story. Im actually really proud where i came from and how i came from there. [applause] is bright guy wasnt always hopeful about anything and also i didnt think is going to college anything. So when i got accepted to the university of bible i knew this was a turning point for me. I seized it. This was my chance to make a difference in the world. And more importantly to make my mom proud of me. To be completely honest, though it was hard when i i started ad it is still hard right now, its hard because exams are hard, its hard because studying until 4 a. M. Is hard. And also balancing 30 things on your plate is pretty hard. But its also hard because for low income students like me, every day can feel struggle just to afford tuition. Like so many others, i took out loans to afford iowa but in doing so i did know what is getting myself into. Right now like many students in the United States im thousands in debt. This is devlin a struggle and i stressed about it all the time and how im going to pay for it. College was in made for me to succeed, especially as a son f two immigrants but i know i will continue to work hard and will continue to have hope. I want every person of the opportunity to go to college, if you want to or not, and not havn to worry about this. No one should be defined on their past struggles. Edwin should have opportunities to live out their dreams. This is why i support Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth has appointed notches cancel Student Loan Debt but also to make tuition free college. This is what big structural change is. Her plan will a race every cent of my thousands of dollars of debt. It will help so may people like me to be successful in college but not even just in college but in life. Think about it Elizabeth Warren is giving every american the opportunity to attend aiv twoyear, a Fouryear College without paying a dime intuition. This is truly amazing and it will be transformational for our generation, our economy and our country. So something i really did learn about this through all of my Life Experience, is my Life Experience hasnt been easy but you cant choose your life. You could only choose how you respond to it. I will continue to work hard for me, my friends, my siblings and my parents. T elizabeth has genuinely give me hope aboutha the future and has inspired me more than she could ever know. W. She wants to fight for me and the people i love. So please help me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Elizabeth Warren. [cheers and applause] hello, iowa city. [cheers and applause] and great job, caesar. That was fabulous. Lets give caesar a hand. Way to go. Good to see you all here. Gosh, its good to be here. Just want you all to know, its good to be back in iowa city. This time i brought family. I brought my son, alex. Where are you . That guy in the blue shirt. [applause] now, actually you were here with me when we were here before at iowa city and you had on a blue shirt. And i told everybody in the crowd, alex has been my tech support since a second grade. [laughing] true story. He now runs his own business, small business, and ps picked u a new sideline, support your mother when she run for president of the United States. Way to go, al. [applause] i thought what we would doa to o is i would to give you just a kind of real short version of who iy am and why im in this fight. And then we just take as many questions as we can get in. So let me start by just saying, i was born and raised in oklahoma. One. [laughing] way to go. There are not that many of us. We have to stick together. Born and raised in oklahoma. I have threehe much older brothers. I am the baby in the family. I and what used to be called a late in life baby. Is my mother always just called me the surprise. Er [laughing] my three older brothers back in oklahoma now lived there. They are collectively referred to as the boys, even today. Thats to distinguish them from the surprise. Growing up, our daddy had a lot of different jobs. He sold paint. He sold hardware. He sold fencing. And all three of my brothers went off and joined the military. It was their path to the middle class, their chance to serve america. Me, i had a different dream. I have known what i wanted to be since second grade. You didnt decide to what, fourth grade . Fifthgrade . I can tell in the back, okay. Ive never wavered from it. Ol i want to be a Public School teacher. Can we hear it for americas Public School teachers . [applause] yeah, yeah. Oh, man. This is what i wanted. I want you to know, i invested early. I used to line my dollies up and teach school. Had a reputation for being tough but fair. I loved it. By the time i graduated from high school though, my family didnt have the money for college application, much less to send me off to a fouryear university. Like a lot of americans i did not have a Straight Path story. I have a lot of twists and turns in my story, and heres how it goes. So i was in high school debater and i got a scholarship to college. Go debaters. And then at 19 i fell in love, got married and dropped out of school. Woo hoo. [laughing] its what i picked. Good life, but i thought i lost the dream. I thought that it, i will never get to teach. And were living down in houston, and then i found it. A commuter college 45 minutes away that cost 50 a semester. And for for a price i could par on a parttime waitressing job, i finished my fouryear diploma. I became a special education teacher. I live my dreamit job. There it is. [applause] now, how we get any teachers in here or teachers to be . [cheers and applause] good, good. Im going to need you to back me up on this. It is not a job. It is a calling. I love this work. I had the truth is, i probably would still be doing that work today, but more twists and turns in the story. By the end of t the first year,i was visibly pregnant, and the principal did what principles did in those days. Wish to me like an hired someone else for the job. So here i am. I was home, had a baby. I cant get a job. Ive got to do something. What have i got to do . Ill go to law school. Thats how it ended up there. So by this time we are living in new jersey. I found a public law school, cost 450 a semester, and baby on hip. Aye ofcom finished three years of law school, i graduate visibly pregnant. You will discover a pattern to these stories. Took the bar, past the bar and practice law for 45 minutes. And then went back to my first love, which is teaching. I traded little ones for big ones and spent almost my whole grownup life teaching in law school. Now, i dont know if everybody does this who grew up like i did, but we watched every nickel. When i taught in law school, i always thought the money courses. Learned about them, talk about them, right . Contract law, commercial law, secured transaction, payment system, corporate finance, partnership finance, law and economics, bankruptcy law. It was about money, i was right there in the thick of it. But there was one central question that all of my work was always about, and that is, whats happening to working families in america . What is americas middle class being hollowed out . Why is it that people who work every bit as hard as my mother and daddy worked to make generations ago, today, find the path so much rockier and so much steeper . And for people of color, even rockier and even steeper. And answer is about whome Government Works for. Think of it this way. We have a government that works great, fabulously for giant Drug Companies, just not for people trying to get a prescription filled. It works great for people who want to make money, investing in prisons, in private detention centers. Not just for the people who slice haveman destroyed by those places. It works great for giant Oil Companies that want to drill everywhere. Just not for the restyw of us wo see Climate Change bearing down upon us. And we see a government that works great t for those at the top, for those who have money, and its not working for much of anyone else, that is corruption, pure and simple, and we need to call it out for what it is. [cheers and applause] so thats why im in this fight. I want an america that doesnt just work for those at the topic i want an america that is not just business as usual. I want an america that works for every Single Person. I want an america that is expanding opportunity. Thats the america i believe in. Thats why im in this fight and thats what im here today, so thank you. Thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you. Thank you. Weve got two questioners. Do it. Can pitch my universal Childcare Program . Whats your name . [inaudible] we are thrilled about your universal childcare but i study aging and here and im with a lot of older adults, and just move out of rural towns. So im wondering, once weve taken care of the universe childcare how are we going to take care of our older adults and if you have a plan for that . Thank you for the question. [applause] so the questioner ultimately asking, i think, is how do we make this country work for everyone whatever their age and whatever their zip code, whatever their race, we just want a country that kind of works for everybody, has a lot of opportunity in it, right . Let me see if i can take a couple of ways to think about this question. Lets start with just plain old security. All right . Heres my view on this. After a lifetime of hard work, people are entitled to retire with dignity. That means protecting and expanding Social Security. [applause] and i got a plan for that. And here it is. We can ask the top 2 to pay a little more, and with that money we can do a couple of things. The first is we can expand the decades by decades the viability of Social Security, plus we can increase the monthly Social Security check and the monthly disability check by 200 for every Single Person who gets Social Security. Thats going to lift nearly 5,000,000 people out of poverty. Think about that. [applause] these are budgets. So thats one part of the problem. Second part of the problem, i did want to mention around healthcare. We will talk more i hope about it today, but one part of my transition plan for healthcare, from medicare for all, is to lower the age of eligibility for medicare down to 50. And then to expand the benefits for everybody who gets it to include hearing, dental and vision, and longterm care. [applause] and again we can do that by making sure that we just ask those at the top to pay. This is not something we will need to raise taxes on middleclass families by one single penny. So we can do this. Let me know tv though a third way to look at this problem. You identified part of it, and that is how young families move out of small towns. How many folks leave iowa and dont come back, right . And think about some of the reasons behind that. A big part, Student Loan Debt. Right . Youve got Student Loan Debt, they dont adjust what zip code you live in and what kind of wages you are paid. Student loan debt can folks who have to meet that not everything a among all a lot more likely to head out to the coast. I heard this from families all over i would. We canceled Student Loan Debt for 40 familiar americans can we make it a lot easier for people to decide they want to live their lives right here in small it i would. I think thats important. [applause] right here in small towns and i would. Another part of my Healthcare Plan is to make sure that we support all of our hospitals but particularly to support our rural hospitals. You want to keep a kindred alive, you have to have a world hospital, you have to have a community hospital. [applause] and just one more. It, just keep think that how all these pieces fit together. But its so important throughout a huge part of our country, and that is the role that farmers play both in our economy and in the Climate Crisis we face. [applause]. So they can do these things. That is good for the environment and its good for the local economy. So these are ones where we can build together and build a future and thats what i want to do. Future for everybody. So, thank you. Thank you. [applaus [applause] and look how all of these pieces intersect because they do. Go ahead. Hi, my name is jasmine. Hi, jasmine. I love what youre doing to help the under represented in society and i wonder what youll do with productive status no matter their background. Thats fabulous. Okay. Can i do a small pitch to start. I made the decision when donald trump was elected, i decided i would go to the inauguration. I know there were people who didnt. I respect that, but i come from a witnessing tradition and i thought, this is a part of the transfer of power in our government. Im a sitting United States senator, senior senator, im going to go. But it was important to me what i wore. Black. No, no. I know youre shocked. Ill tell you what i wore. I wore my scarf that has in big letters on it embroidered planned parenthood. [applaus [applause] and then the next day, i showed up at that little rally that was held around the country also known as the womens march, also known as the largest protest rally in the history of the world, i spoke and i wore my pink planned parenthood scarf. Thats two. Here is my plan for number three. Im going to be wearing that scarf when im sworn in as president of the United States. [applaus [applause] so, yeah, this is partly about supporting planned parenthood. This is partly about supporting access of full range of health care to women, including access to abortion. Thats part of what we do as a country, but its also about making sure that health care is available to everyone. This is about supporting our Community Health centers, about making sure that health care is available in many of our high schools, right, that we get people access to health care. Its not enough to say its there if you can track it down and find it. The way we make Health Care Accessible is that we actually put it into communities. I strongly support this. One way we will do this is when we have Better Health care plans, when were including more people in our coverage, now we can really afford to get those Community Health centers everywhere, to get those counselors out there. Thats what i want to see because every Single Person should have access to the health care they need, health care is a basic human right and we fight for basic human rights. Thank you. [applaus [applause] hello, im emmerson clark. Emmerson . Wanted to make sure i heard you. Nice. Whats the biggest thing you want to change in america whats the whats the number one thing you want to change in america when you become president. It starts with corruption. [applause] and let me tell you why, emerson, even though youve sat down already. Okay. But i want to tell you why i start there. Theres a lot thats been broke in america for a long, long time. This country just kind of an inch at a time has for those who can hire the lobbyists, the lawyers, right, make the big campaign contributions, a lot of them you dont see them move just slightly, right, just a little and then the world works better for big banks, a little better for big pharma, a little better for the gun manufacturers, a little better for the big polluters, just a piece at a time. And now, with donald trump as president , what had had been bad had just skyrocketed, has just taken off like crazy, right . Are you kidding me . A coal lobbyist as the head of the Environmental Protection agency . A former lobbyist for the Defense Industry is now the secretary of defense . Oh, and betsy devos, secretary of education . No. So the way i think about this is our democracy a broken. I get it. Rich people, shoot, they may own more shoes than you do, they may own more cars than you do, they may own more houses than you do, but theyre not supposed to own a bigger share of our democracy than you do. [applause] we take that on. We fight that fight. We knock back the influence of money and the lobbyists and the bought and paid for experts. We disrupt it. We get off our back foot and get on our front foot and then the whole world changes because now what is possible is that actually, you could ask the billionaires that they have two cent tax, hello, right . We can beat back the big polluters. We can beat back the influence of the gun industry, but its got to start with not a nibble around the edge, not a, oh, lets be polite to the rich folks, it starts with big structural change, thats how were going to get this done. Thank you. Great. I love that. Hi. Im connor. Hi, connor. The senate map is increasingly biased with republicans not to mention gerrymandering and threats to voting rights. Whats your planning working with Mitch Mcconnell and republicans to deal with these structural changes. I have a plan for this and here is how the plan goes. We fight for big ideas because thats how well take back the senate and put Mitch Mcconnell out of a job. [applaus [applause]. Im serious about this. We have to get out there and show people what democrats are willing to fight for, the changes that will affect peoples lives. Things that matter where they live. And when we do. Its about getting elected, you bet it is. This is about november of 2020, but its about january of 2021. Yeah. So here is the thing, for everybody that im asking to be part of this, and im going to ask all of you to be part of this. I want you to be in this in the primaries, i want you to be in this for the generals. Nobody gets to go home when we win. You have to be as strong the day after the election as the day before. [applause] so when im ready to fight for that anticorruption bill, when im ready to fight to roll back the filibuster so we can get something done, ill do it from the biggest and best platform in the world and that is the white house and youll be doing it across america, were going to push this government and hold it accountable. Thats how well do it together. Thank you. I love that. [applause] yes. Come up and do some more. Im just going through these. Im ready. I thought there was one more and there wasnt, but now theres going to be. Weve got one more, theyll be coming in. So at 10 58 whoa, we have come on over here. Woo hoo. For the big one. Come on over here, sweetie, right over here. Who else have we got. 1063. 1063. Is there a 1063 in the house . Weve got a 1063 . Or you were just stretching your legs. Stretching your legs, okay. 1063. Do we have a 1063 . Is there could be a stuffed animal in it for you. Okay, all right. Moving along. Moving along weve got 1048. Do you have a woo hoo, all right, come on ove over and then well do two more. Yeah. Okay. I can do this. All right. 1060. 1060. Weve got a 1060 . 1060. 1060. She has it and doesnt want to do it. She put her gum in. Okay. Is it 10 1060, really, under the gum . Weve got it, okay. Woo hoo okay. Okay. How many have we got. Weve got four. How about one more. 1065. Oh, gosh. Okay. Man you were right in a row here. Fabulous. Okay. All right. Thank you, page. Of course. Thank you. All right. So who have we got . Hi. Hi, my name is ann. Hi, ann, thats my middle name. What is your plan for protecting the rights of atheists and other nonbelievers . Oh, thank you, ann. [applause] so it starts with the constitution of the United States. Right . It protects anyone to worship the way they want or not to worship at all. He think thats powerfully important. You know, the way i see this, i am a person of faith. I grew up in the methodist church, its part of who i am, i was a sunday school teacher, but i see it as a fundamental question about what it means to be an american. And i think what it means to be an american is that at core, we recognize the worth of every single human being. Thats part one. And part two, were called to act on that. That we are responsible for our actio actions consistent with that. That we dont take advantage of people. We dont cheat people. We dont hurt other people and we do what we can to support other people and to build opportunity for other people. If those are the core values right down at the heart that make us americans, i think that leaves us all the room in the world for worshipping differently, or for not worshipping at all. And thats the kind of america i want us to be. Does that work . Good. Thank you. [applause]. Thank you. Hi, whats your name . I am elinore and my nickname is bear. Its nice to see you elinore. My question, when you become president are you going to stop Global Warming . Oh. [applause] yes. [cheers and applaus [cheers and applause] now, elinore, that is a big commitment because were in real trouble, you know this, right, that committee change threatens every living thing on this planet and for me, the scariest thing that happens now is every time the scientists go back and recalculate the data, put in more information, its worse than we thought it was. The problem is bigger, its moving faster, and we have less time to respond. So this one is going to be big, all right . And were going to have to work really hard and were going to have to Work Together. So my basic approach is we do everything we can. Not a part, not a your plan versus mine, we do everything we can because thats how urgent this problem is. So let me start with this part. I will do everything that oh, and i love saying this, that a president can do all by herself, okay . [applause] now, stay there, stay, elinore, dont leave i saw you get that finger up, and im not through yet. Let me say what that means. For example, on day one, im going to look through everything we do, but on day one, i will issue orders, there will be no new drilling, no new mining on federal lands. Done. [applause] we are to respect the decisions of native american tribes to protect their own lands and federal adjacent lands. [applause] oh, and i wont put a coal lobbyist as head of the epa. I want somebody who believes in science, yeah. You like that, elinore . Okay. Okay, so ill do everything i can do, but let me talk about a few of the other things we need to get done. Another piece is that we have to make Racial Justice right at the heart of our climate plan, right at the heart. [applause] for decades and decades now the government has permitted all of the most polluting industries to look locate right at communities of color, and the consequence has been disaster, both for Peoples Health who live in those communities and for the economic values in those communities. I predict that from the beginning, commit that a trillion dollars we are going to spend to clean up the communities on health and economic redevelopment for these communities. [applause] and im not through yet, ive got to mention a couple more because theyre so important. Weve got to be able to pick up the regulatory tool. Nobody likes to hear regulation, excuse me, weve got to do this right now, this is where we are. And i picked this up from jay inslee, spent a lot of time talking with governor inslee about this because its good stuff. By 2028 all New Buildings in the United States have to be carbonfree. No more Carbon Emissions from these buildings. By 2030 all new cars and light duty trucks have to be zero carbon emission. Yep. [applause] and by 2035 all production of electricity has to be zero carbon emission. [applause] three things, three regulations that youre willing to get out there and fight for, three regulations well cut carbon in the United States by 70 . Now weve got to do the other 30, but 70 is a good place, right . One more thing i want to mention around this. We clean up, we get to zero Carbon Emissions, right . Were only 20 of the problem. Its a big fraction, but still just a fraction. We have to be world leaders. In fact, we are world leaders. Were just leading the world in the wrong direction right now with donald trump, right . Were giving a lot of cover to places that dont want to make economically or politically difficult decisions. Weve got to change that and its not enough to simply say paris climate accord. Yes, im in, but we need so much more. So think of it this way. There is an upcoming 17 trillion dollar market around the world to buy clean, clean energy, things to clean up the air, things to clean up the water. Desal des desalinization. Our research and development around clean, thats what were going to do. [applause] and then and then we are going to do something with that and that is to say that anybody can use that research to build anything you want to build so long as you build it right here in the United States of america. Good jobs here. [applause] that estimate, its about 1. 2 million new manufacturing jobs here in america, Good Union Jobs here in america. We can do this. And then we sell it or if we need to, give it away. All around the world because weve got to clean up all around the world. Thats the heart of it. Thats right. Weve got to make this happen. So its a real commitment. Last ng this i want to say though is a lot of folks are going to talk to you about climate and theyre going to say ive got this plan and that plan and another plan and i want to spend so much money or i want to help in this way and im all for it, thats great, but if theyre not willing to talk about corruption, if youre not willing to talk about rog back the filibuster, were not going to get anything. Well have things that have nice names. Save the world. World now safe for unicorns, whatever people want to put it on it, but the truth is, if its still the Petroleum Industry lobbyists who are writing this legislation, if its still the big polluters who dont want to have to spend the money to clean up, who are the ones putting this stuff together, its all going to have loopholes big enough to drive trucks through. Dirty trucks diesel trucks right, no bio added to them. All of this intersects with who we make government work for. When i say im going to do this im going to start trying to make this government work for you, we make this government work for you, our next step is to clean up the rest of the world. Thank you. [applaus [applause]. Hi, my name is cassidy. Hi, cassidy. Im a First Year Student at the university here. Im from a Rural Farming Community and a lot of people the opportunity to go to school, and because of the tariffs, a lot of them are bad well not all bad, but wanted to go to college and university of iowa and my brother went here, too, its so much more expensive and look at my rewards compared to my brothers, were about the same academically and i was awarded 5,000 less in just the span of four years and its just crazy to me so im wondering how can you fix this and how can you make it so much easier to afford university . Ive got a plan for that. Okay. So here is where i want to start this conversation. It is time for a wealth tax in ameri america. [applause] i always start with how were going to pay for this stuff and here is where we start. So, here is the basic idea. Its a tax on fortunes above 50 million dollars. In other words, your first 50 million is free and clear, right . But your 50 millionth and first dollar of accumulated wealth youve got to pay two cents and two cents on every dollar after that. When you hit a billion you put in another penny and thats the basic idea. Just so everybody is tracking with me on this, anybody in here own a home or grow up in a family that owned a home . Yeah, okay. Youve been paying a wealth tax forever, its just called a property tax and what i want is to say for the top 1 10 of 1 the property tax, sure, its about your real estate, but it includes your stock portfolio, the diamonds, the rembrandt and the yacht. Right . Now, you may have heard there are some billionaires who do not like this plan. [laughter] yes, in fact, i heard theyve been burning up the phone lines, ooh, will you run for president . Yeah, theyre out there. Other billionaires have gone on tv and cried because its so sad, so sad. And look, they say, i worked hard for my money, to which i always want to say unlike anybody else, but okay. You had a great idea, good for you. You followed it through, you made it into something, you worked late, good for you, absolutely, thats great. But keep in mind, if you built a Great Fortune here in america, you built it at least in part using workers all of us helped pay to educate, yeah. [applause] you built it at least in part getting your goods to market on roads and bridges all of us helped pay to build. You built it at least in part protected by police and firefighters all of us helped pay the salaries for. [applause] and were happy to do it. Were americans. We want to make these investments so people get opportunity. All were seeing saying is when you make it big, top of 1 big, about itch pitch in two cents so everybody else has a chance to make it. [applause] oh, because here comes the fun part. What can you do for two cents . Two cents and the answer, we can do universal child care for every baby in this country age zero to five. Thank you about that. Universal prek for every threeyearold and fouryearold in america. And we can stop exploiting the mostly women, mostly black and brown women who do this work, we can raise the wages of every Child Care Worker and preschool teacher in america. [applause] two cents, two cents. We can do all of that for our babies, plus we can put a new investment, 800 billion new federal dollars into our Public Schools, every Public School in america should be. [applause] amazing. Two cents. We can do all of that for the babies, all of that for k12, plus we can make tuitionfree public technical school, twoyear college and Fouryear College for every kid in america. Everybody wants it. [applause] plus not through yet. We can help level the playing field. We can put 50 billion into our historically black colleges and universities. [applause] and just one more, we can cancel Student Loan Debt for 43 million americans. Two cents. So theres the answer is that, think about this, this is the fundamental issue for us as a country. How do we build a future as a country . How do we invest in opportunity . Is it that we believe that its more important for the top 1 10 of 1 not to have to pitch in two cents. If they grow these Great Fortune they should grow them at the fastest possible rate or do we believe, good for you that you built this fortune, but pitch in two cents so we can invest in an entire generation of americans. [applause] good, good. Hi. My name is maureen. Hi maureen. Hi. Id like to know what youre going to do when you become president about the immigration process. Oh. And how do we get our brothers and sisters out of the cages . [applaus [applause] i just want to start where maureen ended this question and that is when word first began to drift out, whats it been about a year and a half ago now that our federal government, our federal government was taking children away from their families down at the border, i went down, went down to mcallen, texas and this is before they started locking senators out of that place. And i went down to bear witness, what this place was like. And i want you all just to envision a giant amazon warehouse, its dirty and it smells bad. I walked in and on the left were cages, just one after another after another jammed against each other, maybe 10 feet wide, 40 feet deep with one toilet back in the corner crammed full of men. On the right same thing except crammed full of women. People are just standing there. There wasnt enough room for all of them to lie down and then i thought, this is the worst thing ive ever seen, open it up and there were the freestanding cages of little girls. About the size of just this group of folks sitting here. Freestanding cage of just little girls. They had no toys, they had no tv, and theyre all they sat, just sad little girls. Most of them didnt seem to know where they were, where their families were, what happened to them and then theres another cage of little girls and then another one and over that way a cage of little boys and beyond that a cage of another little boy cages of little boys, back in the corner, as i came through, there was a cage of nursing mothers. The ones with little tiny babies, and i stopped and talked to as many as i could and i talked to one young Woman Holding her little baby and she said, shed come from Central America, she said that she had given a drink of water to a Police Officer and the word had come down that night that the gangs believed she was working with the police, and she knew what that meant. She and her baby would be killed. So she never had any notion of immigrating to the United States. She wrapped up her baby and ran, and she ran all the way to our border. A great nation lives its values every day and that means we treat people who come to our borders with humanity and respect. That is who we are, and that is who we must be. [applause] so let me just layout the central part of an immigration plan. One is we all have to recognize in this country, immigration does not make this country weaker, immigration makes this country stronger. [applause] stronger economy, stronger connections around the world so part one, we need to expand Legal Immigration in this country. Country. [applause] part two, we need a path to citizenship for the people who are here. The dreamers, yes, but also their grandparents, their parents, their friends, people who came here to work agriculture, people who overstayed student visas, we need a path. These are our friends, our neighbors. We need a path and part three is we need to stop this trumpmade crisis at our bord border. [applause] how do we do that . Well, the first part is, we restore aid. In fact, we expand aid to Central America so that they can establish rule of law again, so its not the gangs running things. [applause] help them. And the second is that we say to the entire world, we are a country that lives its values and that recognizes the worth of every human being. You come to our borders begging for help, then we will welcome you in and give you a hearing. That is who we are. So, you bet. [applause] thank you. Good. Oh, weve got paige back, come on, paige, were going to do more . Yeah, were going to do three more. Im good. Im good. Do you want to draw the first one . Uhuh, i never not even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Im staying away from that. Thats my president. Okay. So the next one we have is 1047. Oh, good. Come on over here. Good, come on over. Cool. And then going to mix them up a little bit. Okay. Now we have 1042. 1042. Here we go. Fabulous. Yes, amazing. Make the last one a good one. Okay, do you want to do the honors . No, no. Okay. And now we have 1070. 1070. 1070. 1070, youve got it . All right. Weve got it. Fabulous, thank you, paige. Thank you. Okay. [applause] hi. Come on up. Hi elizabeth, my name is mary. Hi mary. Before i ask you a question i want to thank you very much for being such a strong role model for everyone, but especially for women and girls. Oh, thank you, mary. [applause] so one issue thats very important to me is the environment so im going to ask you another specific question about that. What are your specific plans to undo the damage that our Current Administration has done rolling back Environmental Policies . Yeah, so oh, you know, its like this is worse than we think it is because theyre just doing it every place they can. Even deals that had been cut, so cleaning up the river, and finally after years of foot dragging finally get the corporation, says theyll go along, donald trump gets elected and they say, whoa, wait a minute, we want to think about that one more time. Its everywhere they can. Environmental standards in california, thats the bad news, how much damage theyre doing and how fast theyre doing it. Here is the good news. Most of that is true agency, i with means we get the right person at the head of the Environmental Protection agency and i dont just mean somebody who says, gee, you know, i want to work on this. Somebody who says, i get it, the world is on fire and we need to make change fast, and do keep in mind, the good folks working at the Environmental Protection agency, theyre there because they believe in the work. So, you get them a leader and you turn them loose and you bring the scientists back in. Im going to Say Something shocking, i believe in science. [applause] thats how we both get back in place and understand, back in place is not good enough. We cannot say our goal is business as usual. Lets get us back to where we were. The problem is bigger. The problem is getting worse. We have got to be more aggressive and more innovative. So for me, you asked me since youre on this narrow part of it, i just want to tell you a little about the kind of person i want to have at the head of the Environmental Protection agency. I want someone who has lots of ideas. I want someone whos willing to try a lot of Different Things and i want someone who is really committed to data, collect the data on what it means, right . And do more of the things that work and less of the things that dont work. Can we get this government op our side . Thats the idea behind it and then what i want, i want a fighter. I want someone who is so committed to this that they really will take on the oil industry, that they will take on the big polluters, that theyre not afraid. I think the best way that this happens, i get a person like that and then i back them up 110 because thats the only way were going to make the changes we need to make. So thank you, its a great question. Thank you. Thank you. [applaus [applause]. Hi ms. Warren. Hi, whats your name. Beth. Is that an elizabeth . Yes. Whoa, double elizabeths. Feel the power. First thing, im happy the first time i get to vote is for a woman. Good. [applause] im happy about that, too, beth. Im really happy about that. Good. I grew up in a generation terrified to go to school for gun threats and seen that stuff and its really scary and so i want to know what youre going to do about that. Okay, i know. So lets lets talk about the problem, okay . Are you going to be okay . You want to come over closer . Are you going to be okay . All right. Okay. We have a gun violence problem in america. And thats how we need to think of it. Its about Mass Shootings and thats really, really scary, but its also about what happens on sidewalks and playgrounds and in communities, particularly communities of color all around our nation every day. They dont get the headlines, but children are dying. Its also about suicide and the lethality of suicide attempts because the presence of guns and it is about domestic violence, about the fact that and its women largely, who are much more likely to die if there is an abuser and a gun in the house. So we have to think of this all together as a gun violence problem and the way i like to think about this, the way i approach it is to think about we had, have an auto violence problem decades ago, people dying on the highways, stories written over and over about carnage on the highways, entire families that are wiped out. Five people died for every million miles traveled on the roads back in the 1960s. And we decided as a nation, thats just not acceptable. We want to do a better job of protecting our people. So we treated it as a problem of auto violence, and we said were going to reduce that violence, were going to reduce the deaths and here is how were going to go about it, some of the things that we needed were obvious and easy. Seat belts, safety glass, some hadnt even been invented like air bags automatic braking systems, but the approach of the u. S. Government was to say lets do what we can quickly, get those in, what seems obvious, collect the data and then come back again, what else do we need to do. The second year, the third year, the fourth year, until we bring down the death rate, until we bring down the risk, until we make our children safe. We need to treat gun violence not as a your plan versus my plain, we need to treat it like the Public Health emergency that it is. Im in this for you, beth. Yeah. [applause] okay. Hi. Hi. Im derrick. Hi derrick. Its nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Welcome back to iowa. Thank you, its good to be back in iowa. We hear a lot of president ial candidates talk about bringing the country together. I think about the other side, the republicans who basically believe government is evil, every dollar you pay in taxes is theft, and that government is an oppressive force in our lives, whereas i see government, i see my neighbors, my friends, my family working. Why cant we highlight the good work of all the people in government who are doing things for us, protecting our food, our air, our water, this is our government. These are our laws. Yeah, im with you on this one, derrick. Im just inviting you to comment on that. So you know, its interesting you say this. Look, im there. I strongly support the people who work for government, theyre good people. Its called Public Service for a reason. Right . Because theyre there. Theyre serving the public. If i can, i want to pull this back just a little where you started this on this question of division in this country, two very different views of whats going on and i want to ask you to think about this maybe a little differently and that is i tell you where this comes from. Remember i mentioned the boys, three older brothers, one is a democrat. Do the math. Okay . Yes, our thanksgivings are like that, too. But here is the thing. There are a lot of things we disagree on, but my brothers are furious over amazon making 11 billion in profits and paying zero in taxes. They are really angry and i mean all three of them. Not just the democrat. I mean the democrats and the republicans are really unhappy about this. They are furious over Drug Companies that take all of the research that you and i pay for as taxpayers through the National Institutes of health and so on, take that research and turn around, turn it into drugs that theyve had, theyve marketed, theyve made their money back and then they up the price on it, i dont mean a little bit. They ups it true the roof and this makes my brothers furious. They use different words to describe it, but they are all very angry about the corruption in washington. They get that theyre being cheated. They get that this Government Works for those at the top. The government isnt working for anybody, its working great for those at the top. The next time somebody says to you, government never works in washington, its just gridlock, whoa, remind them of two things. When the republicans donors wanted that tax break, took five weeks for the republicans to go behind closed doors and write a tax bill of trillion and a half dollars to these guys. They know how to move when they want to move. The next time it never passed and nothing went through, wait a minute, it worked well for Drug Companies, for Oil Companies, for gun manufacturers, it works well for everyone its working for right now. Washington is working. Its working great for those at the top. So, here is my pitch on this, where you talk about bringing the country together. Its, instead of fighting with each other, lets try middle, whatever, how about we focus on the guys who keep sucking more and more wealth out of this economy, more and more power out of this economy . How about we focus on them and say in a democracy, youve got to pay a fair share and give everybody else some opportunity in this nation. [applause] you walked away before i finished, but one more thing about this, we really want to pete donald trump. Anybody want to do that . [applause] then lets talk about the difference between him and us. Lets talk about the difference between his party and where we want our party to be and that is right at this question of corruption. He is the most corrupt president in living memory and we need to call that out, but weve got to be in this fight all the way. We can do this. Good. Thank you. Good. Last question. Is this the last one . Im gary. Okay, make it a good one. Make it a good one. Im ready. Im a vietnam veteran. [applause] i know what automatic weapons can do. In less than five seconds hit everybody in that group and keep going. Yep. What can we do to get rid of the automatic weapons that no one should have . I agree. [applaus [applause] so we need the automatic weapons off our streets. I agree. Can we rewind in history people used to have machine guns, no, im serious. And the nation said, whoa, we need to get rid of these things. Its not good to have anybody in an argument with his neighbor to have a machine gun. Not a good thing. And he so what we did, youve got to register them and pay a fat tax on them and if you dont want to do that, youve got to turn them back in and by golly, thats what people did. They turned them in and we got rid of the problem of having a lot of people with machine guns. We can do the same thing with weapons of war. They should not be on our streets and in our homes. We need to get rid of them. Thank you. [applaus [applause] so i want to thank you all for terrific questions. This is fabulous, and i want to do obviously the most part of democracy, that is selfies. Yes. But before we do, i just want to talk a little bit, as we wrap this up i want to tell you a story about a toaster. You did not see that coming. Right . This woman is going to tell a story about a toaster. Here is how the story goes. When i was a young mom, toasters used to cause house fires. Here is how it worked. Those toaster ovens with the slide out trays, they didnt have the automatic shutoff switch so you put four slices on the tray, slide it in, flip it on. Hear the baby cry, run to the other end of the house. Spend longer than you thought you had, when you came back, the flames off the bread between six, eight inches, maybe 10 inches, if youre not lucky you catch the kitchen curtains on fire and maybe the cabinets. Ask me how i know. All im willing to tell you when i was a young mom my daddy actually give me a fire extinguisher for christmas. Then along came a federal agency, Consumer Product safety commission, said enough, were done, were done and that was it. Couldnt sell toaster without a safety switch, and house fires in houses go to zero. Not bad. By the early 2000s in america, mortgages had become so complex and so dangerous they had a one in five chance of costing a family their home. Not from fire, but from foreclosure and this time the federal government was not on the side of the people. It was so deep in the pocket of the banks, they let them keep selling those things and that was the crash of 2008. So after the crash i had an idea. How about if we have a Consumer Agency like the one for toasters only we have one for Financial Products for mortgages, credit cards, student loans, pay day loans, right . So i called to washington, im not in elected office. I go to washington and i talk to anybody who will talk to me about the thought of an agency. And knock on as many doors as i can, basically the same two answers. The first answer, that is a great idea. You could actually make a real change. This is structural change, right . An agency that just, you cant do that stuff, right . And the second thing everybody would say was, dont even try. Dont try because youll be up against big money, youll be up against the big banks, youll be up against the republicans, shoot, youre going to be up against half the democrats. You cant get it done. I get it. Big structural change is hard. But it is the right thing to do. So we got in that fight and we took on the big banks and we took on the big money and in 2010 barack obama signed that agency into law. We won. [applause] yep. We won and here is the thing. That Little Agency has already forced the banks to return more than 12 billion directly to people they cheated. Not bad. Not bad. We know how to make government work for the people. Weve got an example of it. So here is what i learned from that experience, even if the big donors are against it, the big money is against it, if wall street is against it. We need big ideas to match the big problems of our time. We need big ideas to inspire people, to get out and caucus and get out and vote. We need big ideas, so that everyone in this world will know who and what democrats are actually willing to fight for. We need big ideas to take back the senate and put Mitch Mcconnell out of a job. [applause] we need big ideas and we need to be willing to fight for them. Look, i get it, it is easy just to give up on big ideas, to sound oh, so sophisticated why we shouldnt try, but understand this, when we give up on big ideas, we give up on the people whose lives would have been touched by those ideas. People who are struggling to pay their medical bills, theyre already in a fight. People who are crushed by Student Loan Debt. Theyre already in a fight. People who are stopped by the police because of the color of their skin, they are already in a fight and those fights are our fights. [applaus [applause] this country is in a crisis and media pundits, washington insiders, even people in our own party dont want to admit it. They think that running a vague campaign that nibbles around the edges of the big problems is how the safe strategy. If all democrats can offer is business as usual after donald trump, then democrats will lose. [applause] we win when we have answers big enough to meet the problems that touch peoples lives. Look. I am not running a campaign that is shaped by a bunch of consultants with plans that are designed not to offend big donors. I passed that stop sign a long time ago. No. Im running a Campaign Based on a lifetime of fighting for working families. I am running a campaign from the heart because i believe that 2020 is our moment in history, that 2020 is our moment to win the fight for a Green New Deal and save our planet. [applause] 2020 is our moment to win the fight for medicare for all and save our people. [applause] 2020 is our moment to win the fight for a two cent wealth tax and invest in an entire generation. [applause] and if you think that 2020 is our moment, if you think 2020 is the time when the door has opened just a little, a door has opened for big structural change, nen im asking you, here today, commit to caucus for me. Be part of this fight because this is our time in history. 2020 is when were going to dream big, fight hard and win . [applause] the house will be in order. For 40 years cspan has been providing america unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events. Washington d. C. And around the country so you can make up your own mind. Created by cable in 1979, cspan is brought to you by your local cable or satellite provider, cspan, your unfiltered view of government. And the senate is about to gavel in and will continue work on judicial nominations today and this morning at 11 45 eastern time theyll vote on whether to confirm comity to be a judge for the Eastern District of new york and georges senator johnnie isaacson, and were expecting to break this afternoon so they can attend their caucus meetings. Now live here on the floor of the senate on cspan2. The president pro tempore the senate will come to order. The chaplain, dr. Black, will open the senate in prayer. The chaplain let us pray. Our father, be with us not only in great moments of experience but also during mundane and