The massachusetts senator held a town hall event in arlington, virginia, yesterday. This is 50 minutes. [cheers and applause] hello, virginia hello and thank you, kathy, thank you, strong women help get it done. [cheers and applause] wow. So, here we are, virginia. The primaries are really started. We heard from two states. We got 55 states and territories ready to go. [cheering] you all are super cute. Thank you, and that means the road to the white house runs right through virginia. [cheering] so im here today to ask you two things. The first one is to ask you, get in this fight with me to help build an america that doesnt just work for the and if the powerful but that works for everyone [cheering] and second im their ask for your vote. Heres the deal. I got your back, you can count on me. Im going to count on you. [cheers and applause] now, this has been some president ial primary already. We have been going at this for about a year. Some people got in a little later than others. Michael bloomberg came in on the [booing] on the billionaire plan, just buy yourself a nomination. I want to point out that video just came out yesterday, in which Michael Bloomberg is saying in effect that the 2008 financial crash was caused because the banks werent permitted to discriminate against black and brun people. Black and brown people. I want to be clear about this. That crisis would not have been averted if the banks had been able to be bigger racists, and anyone who thinks that should not be the leader of our party. [cheering] now, ive been in this fight for a long time. In a sense ive been in this fight since i was a little girl. My daddy had a lot of different jobs. Ended up as a janitor. My mom worked a minimum wage job at sears. Three older brothers went off to the military. Me, had a dream to be a Public School teacher. Can we hear it for our Public School teachers. [cheering] you bet. Right there. Yes. I love it. Now, my shot at making it to be a Public School teacher my family didnt have any money it was a commuter college that cost 50 a semester. I believe in opportunity. Thats what america is about. Now, i was lucky enough, i spent pretty much all me life as a teacher, first as a special education teacher, dream job. [cheering] and second, in law school. [cheering] nerd contingent. Love it. All said with love. Heres the thing. I spent most of my life studying one central question and chat it what is happening to working families in america . Why is americas middle class being hollowed out . Why is it that working people are just getting crushed and why poor people are getting dirt kicks in their face . Why is it that people who work every bit as hard as my folks worked two generations ago, today find the path so much rockier and so moustacheer and for people of color, even rockier and even steeper. The answer is whose side is government on. When i was a girl my daddy had a heart attack and my mom had to go to work to save our house, she and sid. She walked over the sears and got herself a minimum wage job at a time when a minimum wage job would support a family of three, would pay a mortgage, cover utilities and would put food on the table. Today a minimum wage job in america will not keep a mama and a baby out of poverty. That is wrong and that is why im in this fight. [cheering] you bet. And that kind of difference, that kind of difference, didnt just happen because of gravity. Ill tell you why that difference is in the minimum wage. Its because when i was a girl the question asked in washington, what does it take a family of three to survive in america . What does it take family of three to get a toe hold in americas middle class . What does it take a family of three to have something solid they can build on. Today the question asked in washington is where we sit the minimum wage to maximize profits for giant multinational corporations. I dont want a government that work tore giant multinational corporations. I want one that works for our families. And that has been the fight of my life. I have watched year after year as families incomes have flattened out, as people work harder and harder. Everybody at work, people working two jobs, on and on and on while expenses shoot through the roof. Housing, health care, childcare, the cost of getting an education. We have an america that its working better and better and better if youre born into privilege, but it is not working for the rest of us in 2020 is our time to change that. [cheering] you bet. You bet. So ive been in this fight for a long, long time but i got to tell you think real shocker for me was when i actually got called into the government end of this. This isnt something i ever planned on. Figured ill stay in here, deresearch and talk about what is happening. What is happening to our families to people of color, whats happening to seniors, whats happening to young people. But during the financial crash, i got called to come in and try to put some accountability in place. Yeah. So all those banks accountable that got the big bailout and while i was there i thought we tooth ought to be fighting for a government agency. A Consumer Agency that would actually be there to make sure that this never happens again, that giant banks dont boost their profits by cheating people on mortgages and credit cards and payday loans and student loans. Now, people said, great idea but youll never get it done. Never in a million years will you get this done. I heard that and i thought what they were saying is try harder. Get in the fight. Get more people in the fight. So, a whole bunch of us got in the fight, and in 2010 president obama signed the cfpb into law. [cheering] and it goes to show that when we fight, we can win. [cheering] it also shows, it also shows not just we can win, we can actually make government work not just for the rich and powerful. We can make it work for everyone [cheering] and that as plain and simple is why a. In this fight. Am in this fight because i believe we have this special opportunity in 2020. We have this unique chance to be able to come in and not to look backwards, not to nibble around the edges of our problems but to attack our problems head on and make america the nation of our best values, one that works for all our children. So thats why im here. [cheering] so we are, we are, we get a rowdy crowd here. Lets do some questions. Lets do some questions. Woohoo. Hi. Hi. My name is lynn. Hi, lynn. Mice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too, i you and me and a few thousand of your closest friends. I apologize we were late. The reason we were late is i had to start with the overflow crowd from the overflow crowd. Thats good problem. Hi, lynn. I have a question about your medicare for all plan. Uhhuh. Im ready. This is for my friend who is a chiropractor. She owns her own Small Business, person of color, hard working, still paying off her student loans. Talk about Student Loan Debt part two. Well come to that in season two. She has concerns about the plan because when she is working with medicare patients right now, she is being paid pennies for overwhelming amount of paperwork, and if she says she had to do that for every single patient of hers, she cant do it. Shes probably right. Right. So, i need to hear from you what you would do to expand coverage but also make sure those providers thrive as well. Okay. So, a great question. Let me do this if i can. Let do the narrower question and then a bigger question for everyone. On the separate question you have here, look, we need to make sure we get the reimbursement rates right because twee need to have Health Care Practitioners survive. Its true for doctors and Mental Health providers. Its true for physical therapists therapists and choir practice temperatures. We have to make sure we get these dialed in right. The second part when you talk about the paperwork and all, this is actually going to be one of the big savings. Ever go to your doctor and see two doctors and six people filling out Health Insurance forms . Yeah. Well, the whole idea is this all gets down to one kind of form because you have one kind of provider. If you ever wondered why theres so many different Health Insurance forms and why they change every year . Bit increases the opportunity for Health Insurance companies to deny coverage. Somebody filled it out wrong. No. Not and its driving up its one of the reason not the only one but one reason that drives up Health Care Costs overall. So i think well get health care friend in both directions and one more. As a mall business owner, when everyone has access to health care through medicare for all, that means Small Business owners for their employees, everybody gets covered. Thats going to help a lot of Small Businesses. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Come on over. Hi. Hi. Tell me your name. Im julie. Hi, julie. Nice to meet you. Im a huge fan. Oh, good. I work in transportation. Its a cost families dont have control over. Gas tax has not been raised sit 1993. Hitch trust fund went interrupt virginia is one of many states turning to private tolling of public roads. [booing] to pay for our crumbling infrastructure. And working families who cant afford to live downtown often pay more than 50 one way to get to work in the morning. One day. Single day cost. I want to understand how we can help at the federal level create a sustainable Funding Source for transportation and specifically prioritize transit improvements that the Koch Brothers have lobbied against. [cheering] so, julie, the question im going to just just want to reframe your question. The question we should ask is how did this happen . Think about it. In a democracy, what would you expect to see happen . Youd expect to see the services that lots of people use be the services that we invest in. And that do very well. Right . And that in turn help grow our economy. Got a Good Transportation system, more people can get to jobs to an education, they have more opportunities. So youd expect to see an america. Thats how it works. Doesnt work that way. Why not . Because we have an america that works for rich people who dont want to pay taxes. They dont want to pay taxes. Now, by itself thats not quite a full answer, because you should be saying to yourself, yeah, they dont pay taxes but this is a democracy and theres more of us than there is of them. So, how is it that riff rich people who dont want to pay taxes and the consequence of pick taxes this trust fun runs out. Youre notin yes. Why is it works that way . Think this way. Its because of the influence of money. Money on the decisions that get made in washington. Let me say it bluntly. When you city a government that works great for rich people, for giant corporations, works great for those who can hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers, can make giant campaign contributions, and bundle donations. When it works great for them, and doesnt for much of anyone else, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. [applause] so, heres the good news. I have the biggest anticorruption plan sent watergate. [cheering] heres the bad news. We need the biggest anticorruption plan since watergate. Its get a lot of moving parts to it, so because money is felt in a lot of places. So let me just describe two or three of the pieces from this. What can we do to beat back the influence of money in washington . How about this one. End lobbying as we know it. [cheers and applause] how about end the resolving door between wall street and washington. [cheers and applause] or the revolving door between big pharma and the fda. [cheers and applause] heres one you may never have thought about but it matters. How about we make the United StatesSupreme Court follow basic rules of ethics yep. Okay. I could do these all night long. Its a big bill. No surprise. One more. Want to holes out some of the corruption in washington . Make every Single Person who runs for federal office put their tax returns online. [cheers and applause] we flush out some of the corruption. Get it. Were not going to be able to get out all of the influence money but identity really to get on my front foot and attack the corruption, ready to qualify it out for what it is. We do that and now we got money to invest, money for transportation, we got money for our kids, weve got money for Student Loan Debt cancellation. We got money because heres the thing. I want everybody to leave here remembering this core part. Whatever decision, whatever issue, really gets you going, Climate Change, immigration, criminal justice reform, gun safety, price of prescription drugs. Whatever is the issue that matters to you, that really is the one that pulls you into this fight, if theres a decision to be made in washington, it has been influenced by money. It has been shaped by money. It has had exceptions created by money, and not just one. Not just twice. It is over and over and over. Most of is never makes the headlines. Over and over and over. So that the rules, the regulations, the laws, are just reshaped over time to accommodate those with money and leave everyone else behind. So whenever someone talks to you about any other issue, how theyre going to fix this and going to fix that and care about this, always ask yourself, what are you going to do but the influence of money . Because if you dont attack the corruption head on, you cant do anything else. So, for me, were starting by going after the corruption. Thats how well build the america that works for everybody. [cheers and applause] thank you. Him wes from fairfax. Hi, wes from fairfax good, to see you. Great to be here. I had trouble coming up with a question because you are known for the person who has a plan for everything and between your comprehensive website and the thing youre saying on the campaign trail you have pretty much end all my questions. [cheers and applause] i hope thats a good thing, wes. Thats a good thing. I kind of feel like if you actually want to get something done, you ought to have a plan for that. But ill take advantage to ask you to step back and bill it down for me. If you had to pick one single thing to improve our nations security what would that be beside removing the current incumbent . [cheers and applause] its to protect this democracy. Its if we can get this democracy working when if say get this democracy working, i mean where everybodys vote matters, everybodys voice gets lifted up. Make this democracy work. Heres the thing. Understand this. I get it. Rich people are going to own more shoes, going to own more cars, more houses, but they shouldnt own a bigger share of our democracy. [cheers and applause] so i get a plan for that. And heres hough it starts. First, if you let me do it, i want to a constitutional amendment to protect the right of every american citizen to vote and to get that vote counted. Everyone. [cheers and applause] i want a federal law to outlaw all political gerrymanders anywhere in this country. [cheers and applause] how about another federal law. One that overturns every racist Voter Suppression law in america [cheers and applause] okay. Just one more. Just one more. Overturn citizen united. Democracy is not for sale. Thats what id. Do protect our democracy. Thank you. Im phil and i work [cheers and applause] im going to ask you please to speak cant her. Peek to these fierce student that inspire me so much. Hello and what they want to know is how your plan to sorry pathway to citizenship is different from anybody elses and what you would do about the role back of the epa. Wait. Just having trouble hearing you because theyre so excited. They want to know citizenship. How your pathway to citizenship would be different from anybody elses, and how you would fix rollbacks of the epa. The students dont always do what you tell them. Thats fair. First, lets do just a little bit more on immigration because i think its important we talk about immigration. Just toe start with our values. Immigration does not make america weaker. Immigration makes america stronger. [cheers and applause] yep. Yep. And i got a plan for that. So let talk about it. First, we need to expand legal immigration. Its wrong. We need to be able to bring families back together, including mamas and daddies who have been deported. We need a pathway to citizenship not just for dreamers. Dreamers are great but dreamers have moms and dads and aunties and grandparents. We need a pathway to citizenship for the 11 Million People who are here to stay. [cheers and applause] thats the difference. Theyre achievable. No more mixed status families. Everybody gets on the pathway to citizenship. And one more, even though you didnt ask, we need to stop this trumpmade crisis at our border. [cheers and applause] we do that in part by expanding, not taking away support for the governments in central america, treating our neighbors with respect, so people dont have to flee for their lives. We also, i will, close all forprofit Detention Centers and prisons in this country. [cheers and applause] a Strong America is an america that lives its values every single day. [cheers and applause] now, you also asked me about the epa rollbacks. I got a really creative idea for this and that is, how about we get rid of the coal lobbyist who is running the epa. [cheers and applause] Climate Change threatens every living thing on the planet. What trumanly scares me the most is every single time the scientists collect more data and do more analysis, the problem is worth than we thought and we have less time than we thought. Im contributing to environmental justice. Theyre a whole lot more at Elizabeth Warren. Com. One more. Im all for a green new deal. But its not enough. We got have a blue new deal to save our oceans as well. Ing this our last question tonight. No. This is so fun. It is and unfortunately were unable to stay for selfies because off our late start and how many virginians turn out but that being said our Wonderful Team will be here to tell us all the ways to volunteer and join the fight before march 3rd. Okay. Lets make promise. We bring this home march 3rd 3rd ill come back for a selfie with everybody one of you. Okay. Hello, senator, soon to be president warren. Thank you. Im rick, im a proud labor Union Activists for many years. Thank you no my Teamster Union brothers and sisters who print all the sign is. Were union all the way. Were a union campaign. Thank you very much. I know that. And thank you to my wife who is a proud sciu organizer. Woohoo. Waited here for a long time, willow. My question is, touch on it briefly but corruption. Were all held accountable to the laws of the land here. All except one. Paid a ticket yesterday as i had to do before i doubled, and so i comp from labor, teamsters. If i ran my union the way the white house is run i would be in jail. It would be a criminal process. But now hes part of the criminal enterprise. My question is, what will president warren do to make sure that everybody is held to the same standards and accountable for criminal activities and if they are criminals will they end up paying the price just like any one of us would good this room if we did criminal activities like putins boy the white house, the originalhaired baboon. The on the shelf. Already unindicted coconspiracy are so so should be doing a stretch out of the gate. We want an assurance from you that every criminal doing that no matter how high and imperial the think they are . Will they by held accountable . In the past president s have begin a pass to people hip them. Ford pardoned nixon. So, the answer is, yes. No one is above the law. Everybody is held accountable. [cheers and applause] let me say this. Just so nobody misunderstands here. This is not about political prosecutions. This is not about political retribution, this is an independent Justice Department and an independent justice depth that people in any administration should know if they break the law, even if they have a president who is willing to look the other way, that Elizabeth Warren as president will not look the other way. You will be held accountable. [cheers and applause] i just want to say one more thing because its a great question, but since you mention that you are here from a union, i want to Say Something but what structural changes about when were talking about building an economy that works for our families woman we have real problem in this economy right now. We have giant corporations that gobble up little businesses, gobble up medium size businesses and gobble it what used to be big beens and the problem is not just what it does economically, its how much power it gives them. Power over their employees, power over their customers, power over the communes where theyre located and power in washington. It is time for a president who is willing to stand up and enforce the antitrust laws and break these guys up and, yes, big tech, im looking at you. [cheers and applause] that is how we begin to restructure the economy. Part two on restructuring the economy, have to get more power into the hands of workers, meaning make it easier to join a union. Unions built americas middle class. Give them a chance and theyll rebuild americas middle class. [cheers and applause] and one more thing. Its time for a wealth tax in america. [cheers and applause] we want to get a little structural change. Lets ask the top win tenth of one persons to pay a 2cent wealth tax. Just so you know. Two cents. Your first 50 billion, free and clear. But your 50 millionnt and first dollar you have to pitch in two cents cents and two cent on every dollar after that. You may hey heard some billionaires dont like that. Some have gone on tv and cried. Others have run for president. They argue but i worked hard for this money. Hey had a great idea. Youre just trying to punish success. No. No. Youve made it. I say, thats great. Good for you. Thats how this economy should work. But understand this. You built a Great Fortune in america, you built it at least in part using workers, all of us helped pay to educate. 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 fire firefighters all of us help pay the salaries for. And we are happy to do it. We believe in investing in opportunity. Thats how you grow an economy. We are just saying 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 to make it. [cheers and applause] heres what we can do. With two cents, two cents universal childcare for every baby is in country. Universal Early Education and prek for every threeyearold and fouryearold. [cheers and applause] we can stop exploiting the largely black and brown women who do this work, raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher in america. [cheers and applause] two crepts and we can put 800 billion new federal dollars into our Public Schools. [cheers and applause] for the first time in history, we can fully fund idea so children with disabilities get a full education. And not just that for our babies, not just that for k through 12. We can make Post High School education available tuitionfree, technical school, twoyear college, fouryear collegefor everybody who wants an education. And we can actually help level the playing field. We can put 50 billion into our historically black colleges and universities. And just one more thing. One more thing. We can do all of that on two cents, two cents. All of that and we can cancel Student Loan Debt for 43 million americans. I just want you to think about it because this is the heart of what ive been working on all my life. About americas working families and year by year by year it gets tougher and tougher for them. We can just change the law. Just ask those at the top, pitch in two cents and we can be an america that invests in an entire generation. Are you up for that . [cheers and applause] you guys are great. So heres the thing. Heres the thing. We need to talk but this before we wrap up tonight and that is, we have now had three years of donald trump. [booing] but we got be serious. Its beyond boo. Its the people who are afraid. There are lot of people who are afraid. Theyre afraid for their families. Afraid for their neighbors, afraid for children locked in cages at our border. Theyre afraid for children on lockdown in our Public Schools. Theyre afraid for women. Theyre afraid for people of color. Theyre afraid for immigrants. Theyre afraid for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender q people. Theyre afraid for trans people, all of whose rights are up for grabs in this United StatesSupreme Court. They afraid or our nation and afraid for our planet and the danger is real. Our democracy hangs in the balance in this election. So, heres the decision. Youre going to have to make, virginia. When you face this kind of fear, do you back up, get timid, crouch or do you fight back . Me, im fighting back. Im fighting back. Im fighting back [cheers and applause] you bet. Fighting back. Who is ready to fight . Yes fighting back is an act of patriotism. [cheers and applause] we fought back against a king to build this country. We fought back against the scourge of slavery to save this union. We fought back against a Great Depression to rebuild this economy. We fought back against fascism to protect our democracy. Americans are at our best when we see a big problem and we fight back [cheers and applause] this is no time for small ideas. This is no time to be looking backward, this is no time to nibble around the edges of the big problems that face our country. This is the time to meet those problems head on with big structural change. [cheers and applause] [chanting] dream big. Fight hard, dream big. Fight hard. Now, understand this. Understand this. I am not running a campaign that has been designed by a bunch of consultants. I am not putting forward proposals that have been carefully crafted, not to offend the donor class. I passed that stop sign a long time ago. Im running a Campaign Based on a lifetime of fighting for middle class families, fork working families, for the working poor, for the poor poor. Im running a campaign from the heart because i believe in you. I believe in the america that we can build together. I believe that together we can build an america in which every person has value, in which every child is worth investing in, in which people, not money, are the most important part of our democracy. [cheers and applause] and if you can imagine that america, just imagine that america, if you can imagine it, and you think it is worth fighting for, then im asking you, get in this fight with me. Vote with me. Go to lizwarren. Com. Pitch in five bucks, volunteer an hour. But get in this fight. Because this moment in history is the moment that we have been called to. This moment in history will not come our way again. This is our moment to choose hope over fear. This is our moment to choose courage. This is our moment to dream big, fight hard, and win. [cheers and applause] im not going to try to dance. All right, yall. I know you heard that last line of dream big and fight hard. Dont forget the fight hard part of it. So, were getting ready to move into gotv here in virginia, and if you really believe in big structural change, we got to put our money, we got put our money where our mouth is and support the lovely senator warren. Make some calls. Knock some doors. And sign up for every shift that you can. Okay . Are you signing up . Signed up. You signing up . Yes. Are you signing up . [cheers and applause] great. Promise. Promise. [cheers and applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] follow campaign 2020 to nevada thats weekend. Saturday night, live at 11 00 p. M. Eastern, democratic president ial candidates joe biden, pete buttigieg, senator Amy Klobuchar, tom steyer, senator Bernie Sanders and center Elizabeth Warren speak before clark county democrats and on sunday, joe biden, pete buttigieg, senator Amy Klobuchar and tom sti speak at a forum on infrastructure. Live coverage on cspan. Watch on canned at. Org and listen on the good on the cspan radio app. A member of the Natural Resources committee in the house is also a supporter of what is being called the trillion trees act. An effort that was made more public by president trumps support of that at the davos World Economic forum. What does that it act propose . Well, this is an act to do just what it says to plant a trillion trees across the globe in 2050 for the u. S. To do our fair share and dos a whole lot more. Foris are our biggest tool we have and as far as mitigating climate issues some when we utilize the forests and