Transcripts For CSPAN3 Campaign 2020 Sen. Elizabeth Warren H

Thank you all for being here tonight. We are very happy to be joined by senator warren tonight. We are looking to deliver the unions for all messages for all candidates. Longor warren has been a advocate for working people and unions. Senator warren and her teams have been eager to engage, tweeting statements of support for our rocking ham county workers as well as voters to unionize back in october, recording a video for our conversation and submitting responses to our president ial candidate questionnaire. Last week her oped published talked about our own rocking him unionized efforts. Now she is here in person. I will turn it over to her for some opening remarks and thoughts. Then we will open it up to you for questions to ask senator warren. For that, i would like to introduce senator warren. [applause] thank you very much. Hello, hello sciu. It is good to see everyone. I am so glad to be here. Im going to talk a little bit at the top and take as many questions as we can possibly do. Let med start start by saying what i think the election of 2020 is all about. We have government that works great. We have a government that really works fabulously. For giant drug companies. Not for people trying to get a prescription filled. We have a government that works great for people who want to make money investing in private prisons. And private detention centers. Not to the people whose lives are destroyed by those places. We have a government that works companiesgiant oil that drill everywhere. It is not working for the rest of us who see Climate Change bearing down upon us. When you see a government that works great for those who have money, and doesnt work so well for much of anyone else, that is corruption pure and simple and we need to call it out for what it is. It is corruption. If you have an issue that brought you here tonight. Whether it is how we strengthen our unions, how we raise pay, how we pay for health care. How you pay for Prescription Drugs, housing, whatever issues brought you here tonight, i guarantee if there is a decision to be made in washington, it has been influenced by money. It has been shaped by money. It has been nudged by money. Money, money, money is influencing every decision that happens in washington. Here is the good news. 2020 we have the chance to turn that around. That is how i see this. Look at it this way, its about how we run our elections. How we make the decisions. Way that you can get the president of the United States is to be a billionaire and reach in own pocket or suck up to a bunch of billionaires. You know it kind of government we will have . It will keep working great for billionaires. Understand what is wrong in this country. How to fix what is wrong in this country. And then build a Movement Together to make that change. What movements are about. That is what big structural changes all about. [applause] race because i have lived it. Understand this, when i was a had a really serious heart attack. My family went a long time with no money. Our last chance before losing the house and tumbling down the was when mycially mother got a minimum wage job. Was 50 years old, never worked outside the home, she was terrified. She saved our house and saved our family. Think about that story. It was a story about my mother, how strong she is. She taught her daughters, no matter how scared you are, no matter how hard it looks, it is also a story about government. , a minimuma girl wage job in america would support a family of three. Mortgage, itr the would put food on the table. Today a minimum wage job in america will not keep a mama and baby out of poverty. That is wrong and that is why i am in this flight. It goes back to the central question i raised at the top. Why hasnt minimum wage kept up . Why hasnt gone up . Every year all the way your other costs have gone up every year. The answer is who Government Works for. , the questionirl asked in washington is what does it take a family of three to survive . What does it take a family of to get to the american middle class . What does it take a family of three to have something solid that they can build on . Today the question asked in washington, where do we set the minimum wage to maximize the profits of giant multinational corporations. I dont want a government that works for giant multinational corporations. I want one that works for our families. [applause] im in this fight and im honored to be here with you tonight because i truly believe that americas best chance to rebuild our democracy, to rebuild our country, to be the country where every kid gets an opportunity is through our unions. We need more power in the hands of workers. That means making it easier to join a union and gives unions more power when they negotiate. [applause] unions built americas middle class and unions will rebuild americas middle class. We have to do this together. Im going to stop talking, that is really hard for someone like me to do. There is so much i want to tell you about. Why dont i stop and i will take as many questions as i has time for here tonight. Two microphone monitors and one microphone. We will try to get through this as best as we can. Members, i will try to point out a second person so they will both be one and queue. Please stand up, state your name keep yourwork, questions concise, to the point, and we will try to get to as many people as we can. I will take the liberty of taking the first question. You published an oped on senate bill 148, a bipartisan bill that would support the rights for us to be in worksites and engaged nonunion members. Governor sununu vetoed that bill. What will your Administration Due to counteract that . Sen. Warren let me do two halves. Give me a democratic majority in the senate and the house. Im willing to roll back the filibuster. Giantred of the corporations effectively having the veto power over everything we do in the United States senate. Give me a democratic majority in the house, i will rollback every law in thisht to work nation. Federal law to preempt. The second part of this i love saying this. What can a president do all by herself . Departmentis a labor that is actually on the side of labor. When i say on the side of labor, i dont just mean more likely to be with labor, i mean actively and aggressively is on the side of labor. I mean a Labor Department that enforces the labor rules. When you enforced, you have more opportunities under current law. A Labor Department that is willing to work for more aggressive regulations. Laborere on the side of to make sure labor is protected, when labor is trying to organize , labor is protected throughout the process. I think it is both halves. There is a lot you can do by ourselves. Lets get a majority. Lets actually change the laws and make them work for workers. [applause] thank you for coming tonight. Sen. Warren im so glad to be here, tell me your name. Im garrett, i work for the New Hampshire fish and game department. I have a question about state Pension Funds obligations and underfunded programs. According to the u. S. Bureau of labor statistics in 2018, 7. 2 million employees in the Public Sector belong to a union. The unionization rate was about 34 of available jobs. Statesnately, only two have fully funded the union plans and the average shortfall is about 45 . New Hampshire State pension fund has a shortfall of 37 . This is not an issue that can be negotiated on a statebystate basis. Assuming the senate can be returned to control by the democratic party, described the federal legislation you would propose to require states to fully fund state pension plans. The warren thank you for question and the answer is basically in your final sentence. We get a majority and we will require the states to fully Fund Pensions and to put the kind of protections in place that their funding is going forward. Had insurance. The problem is, it does not cover everything. For one minute, just stop and think about where we will be if we dont do anything. Where will we be if we dont do anything in the answer is, we are going to pay collectively outofpocket about 11 trillion over the next 10 years, so that is what it will cost. For the average person who has employersponsored health care, by the time they finish the deductible and the copay and the premiums and the doctor they have got to see that isnt in network and the specialist they have to see, but is it covered and the Prescription Drugs, the one the doctor wants them to have, the average family is out over 1000 a month, about 12,000, 300 year. Daytoday folks. Dr. Bid dr. Bid a couple like the other night who says the best insurance on earth, Wonderful Health insurance, he said at least i thought it was right up until he had an aneurysm and his wife was diagnosed with cancer and he 100,000ow have about in outofpocket medical bills. Across the country, people are making decisions not to have prescriptions filled, they get their drugs, try to cut them in half. This is happening to folks. There are four sources right now for paying for health care in america. Andis medicaid, medicare two, state health care and three, employers with more than 50 employees who are required to four ishealth care and you. Here is what medicare for all as i put together the financing plan proposes. Part one is the federal contribution stays the same. Part two, the state contribution stays the same, forestry three, the employer contribution stays the same. The part that changes is part four, the part you are paying. B trillion dollars over the next 10 years and i propose we do this through progressive taxation. , the giantin america corporations in america and my personal favorite, the tax cheats at the top. You squeeze on them, they will give us 11 trillion over the next 10 years and that means the cost of your health care goes to zero. Think about that for just a minute. I want you to inc. About it when you think about the great plan you have right now. Covered. Tor is the specialist you need to see, they are covered. The drugs you need, they are covered, so whatever your health care is, you got it. What should your health care be about . It should be about you and your doctor, you and your kid in your doctor. Todays about you and your Health Care Company Health Insurance company and your Health Insurance company and your doctor. How much hospitals have to spend filling out insurance forms and arguing with Insurance Companies when they say no, he cannot have an mri. How much hospitals are having to spend on billing people who have Health Insurance, but it turns another 5,500s that did not get covered by insurance. Families cannot afford it and hospitals are suing people because people with insurance are not able to pay their health care costs. All of that goes away. We suck a lot of cost out of the system and you have full Health Care Coverage because to me, that is the heart of it. Health care is a basic human weht and as a country, should be fighting for basic that is what we can do for dachshund do with medicare for all. Keep this in mind. If we dont do anything, you see how costs have gone up. The next 10 years to not look better than the last 10. Youre reaching in pocket and reaching in pocket and the Insurance Company is shrinking up what you can get to and trekking up what you can get to. This is not good for you and it is not good for america. Is running for president , medicare for all is the cheapest possible way to provide Health Care Coverage to all of our people and i figure out a way to do it that does not one a middleclass family dime. Billionaires are not going to like it, but the rest of us will. Thank you for coming to New Hampshire. Ofork for the Department Human Health Services here. My question is building on the basic human rights you are talking about just now, but it really goes to the immigration and border issue down in mexico. My concern is those individuals that are fleeing violence and oppression from various states. Mexico is looking at that from the perspective of people wanting to sleep in her situation, but we had statesponsored terrorism iran how korea, does your approach to this picture address those issues of people fleeing oppression from those states as well and will you be able to provide more serviceso provide more that are needed and also to increase the number of Immigration Judges so badly needed at this time at this point . Let me just start with the statement of values. Immigration does not make our country weaker, it makes our country stronger. That means i have an immigration plan. Look at it on mine for lots more details. Part one, we need to expand legal immigration. The Current Administration has shrunk it up and we need to expand it up. Two, we need a path of citizenship for the people who are here. We need to bring them out of the shadows and im not just talking daca. The day after the Supreme Court has heard the case, im talking about grandmas who have been here for years and years and talking about much younger siblings, people who came here to work agriculture and have stayed overstayed student visas. They are our neighbors, our friends and contribute to our economy and contribute to our country and we need to get a fair and achievable path to citizenship to bring the men. It will strengthen the labor protection overall. People working for labor and cash under the table, they are exploited every day and it undercuts every working person in this country. Part three is the crisis at her border is, made and we have to acknowledge that up front. Let me to you a little bit about this. Leakedrst when word out that this administration was separating children from their families, i went down to the border immediately and it was before they started locking out senators. I want all of you to picture this. It was like a giant amazon warehouse, only a was dirty and it smelled bad, and when i first walked in on my left were cages, bars maybe 10 of d deep. 40 k just occasion of men on the right, kate advocate of women and cage after cage of women and and i walked into the main room and saw the cages of little girls. Toys didhave any not have any toys, they were all just sat sad. In theas a guard tower and in a cage of little girls and a cage of little boys and back in the corner, a cage of nursing mothers. I stopped and spoke with some of the mothers. When mother told me a story that sticks in my head. She said she gave a drink of water to a Police Officer and the next day the work came back. The word came back with not much more than a blanket, she ran all the way to the border where she got picked up. The United States has cut our citizens in Central America that has undermined the government, made the gang stronger and it has made women like this who are not looking to emigrate, but who suddenly are caught in the crossfire and caught in a crisis come here running for their lives, so the first step is we need to restore aid in Central America and eight around the world in the hotspots where places in places where people are fleeing for their lives. Policies rade change policies in yemen, so that is the first part, try to reduce the pressure, but the second part is when people come to us in fear, people come to us that are terrified and asking for asylum, when people are coming for temporary protected status, we are a country that should say yes. We should share that with our allies and say let us help, we will do our best to try to help because no great nation tears children away from their parents, from their families, no great nation does that. No great nation lets Companies Profit from locking up little children at the border. We want to get our immigration policy right, we need to live our values every day, spend the money we need to spend, but lives are values every day and i believe we can do that. That is the kind of people we need to the. Thank you very much for being here. That when funding processes change in an agency, the values automatically follow, even if the leaders do their best to keep that from happening, so in this country, you have to raise ridiculous amounts of money to run for office. I have heard that. Is, what ideas do you have for Campaign Finance reform so people are no longer beholden to the billionaires so that the values can return to the people and all that . Theres a whole bunch of things we can do like overturn citizens united. Democracy is not for sale. I also have a plan for public funding, so somebody could raise 10 from an individual donor and then we put in another 60 so that individual donors really matter in the system and the the lessf the nation, on how it works out. Here is the basic thing we should be looking for. Billionaires are going to own more shoes then you do. They can own more cars than you do. They may even own more houses than you do, but they should not own a bigger share of democracy than you do. And our current funding system is tilted way over to the side of billionaires. Way, you may have noticed that i heard some billionaires feelings recently. Heres the thing that really gets me. How many billionaires have you seen talking about my wealth tax . Ons is a two cents tax fortunes above 59. Just so you can relax, your first 50 million is free and clear. But, your 50 million and first dollar, you have to pitch in two cents and two cents for every dollar after that. Anybody here own a home . You have been paying a wealth tax. It is called a property tax. Yourm saying is that property tax should not be limited to real estate. It should include the stock portfolio, and the hot the yacht. Eight two cents wealth tax on everything above 50 million and by the way, im not someone who is cranky about millionaires. Heres how i see it