I’ve always loved Elizabeth Warren’s “I Have A Plan For That Motto” because it rings so true. Today, she unveils three new plans that cover three big issues. First, the Coronavirus:
Warren’s plan has several provisions, starting with attempts to help people who need or will need medical attention.
She wants Congress to make coronavirus testing and treatment free by requiring that private insurers cover it with no out-of-pocket costs, having public insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid do the same, and then creating a new uncompensated care fund that would finance tests and treatments for people who have no insurance.
Warren also wants the federal government to provide emergency funding to safety net providers, such as community clinics, as well to state public health departments. This money could mean hiring additional health care workers or setting up new, temporary facilities ― perhaps including mobile or drive-through units so that people could get tests and treatments without infecting others.
As for a vaccine, Warren would like the government to guarantee bulk purchases in order to encourage mass production, and then to make sure vaccines are available at no charge.
If, after a vaccine is developed, a private manufacturer charges “an outrageous price,” Warren said, the government should consider granting a production license to other manufacturers. The government threatened something similar during the anthrax scare of 2001.
Health care is only one part of Warren’s strategy. She also wants to create an emergency paid leave program, under which anybody who has to miss work because they have coronavirus ― or because they have to care for somebody with coronavirus ― could get money to replace lost wages. Campaign officials said that the emergency paid leave initiative could operate through existing unemployment insurance programs.
The paid leave program has a public health rationale: Today, many workers don’t stay home when they are sick, potentially infecting others, because they can’t afford to lose the income. A paid leave program would change that, helping to keep them financially afloat while protecting their co-workers from coronavirus exposure.
Warren’s other big proposal involves the economy.
Coronavirus has already disrupted the supply chain from China, where the disease first appeared. And, as the virus spreads in the U.S. and elsewhere, economic activity is likely to slow down across the country ― with travel, entertainment, and in-person retail likely to take major hits.
Some forecasters are predicting the economy will go through at least one quarter of zero growth.
To avoid further contraction, Warren is calling a stimulus package that would include increased aid to states, infrastructure funding, and unemployment benefits.
In addition, Warren wants to make low- or no-interest loans available to companies “negatively affected by supply chain disruptions, reductions in tourism, or other temporary coronavirus-related impacts, and that will use the funds to avoid layoffs and hours reductions, not for additional executive compensation, dividends, or share buybacks.”
Second, farmworkers’ rights:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren unveiled a plan for farmworker and food chain employee rights Monday that would bolster federal safety protections and workers’ access to basic rights.
The Massachusetts senator’s proposal comes the day before Super Tuesday, when voters cast ballots in 14 states including California, home to about a third of the nation’s farmworkers, many of whom are in the country illegally. Warren also plans to appear Monday in East Los Angeles, where she is expected to speak about the Justice for Janitors movement.
“For decades, agricultural labor has been intentionally excluded from basic labor laws. ... This exclusion was justified with explicitly racist reasons, one of the many ways in which Americans of color were excluded from the opportunities that built America’s white middle class,” Warren notes in her plan.
She commits to including farmworkers in the fight for a $15 minimum wage and supports replacing the H2-A agricultural guest worker visa program, under which labor contractors and farms have been accused of housing law violations and wage theft, with an immigrant worker visa.
“A life as a farmworker should not be a poverty sentence, but instead a path to the middle class and a source of opportunity for their families,” Warren says in her plan.
Warren plans to push for heat and air quality safety standards, noting only California and Washington require that farmworkers be given access to water and shade. She would ban a nerve agent pesticide linked to developmental disorders that was saved from elimination by the Trump administration. The primary maker of that chemical has said it would halt production after a ban in California.
A federal crackdown on immigrants in the country illegally has worsened a labor shortage in states including California, and as a result, the state is recruiting a record number of seasonal foreign workers from Mexico under the H2-A visa program. The U.S. Department of Labor has recently charged millions in fines against contractors and growers over violations in wage laws, including those that cover agricultural guest workers.
The plight of farmworkers often escapes the national political conversation, and Warren’s plan highlights major gaps in labor laws that leave them unshielded from abuse, said author Miriam Pawel, who has written extensively about the farmworkers movement and agricultural labor in California.
And finally, climate change, but keeping in mind role banks play in this issue:
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released a plan over the weekend that would aim to fight climate change by increasing regulations on fossil fuel financing.
Her plan comes as some banks in recent months have said they will not directly finance oil and gas drilling in the arctic, as Democratic lawmakers step up the pressure on these institutions and as her campaign has lagged in the crowded Democratic nomination contest.
As president, Warren says she would require banks to report how much fossil fuel equity and debt they create, direct credit agencies to impose a climate standard and appoint financial regulators who will hold financial institutions accountable for climate risks.
The senator would also require major insurance companies to disclose the size of premiums they're getting from coal, oil and gas projects.
"I will act decisively and swiftly to manage the risk that climate change poses to our economy by reining in Wall Street and ensuring our banks, asset managers, and insurers pay the true cost of climate change instead of passing it on to millions of Americans," she said in a Medium post outlining the plan. "It’s time to stop Wall Street from financing the climate crisis."
I cannot emphasize how much we need Warren as our President because she is serious about having a plan for everything. If you live in Los Angeled and haven’t RSVP to her big rally tonight, please do so. Click here to RSVP if you can make it.
If you can’t make it, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is pushing hard to on GOTV efforts for Super Tuesday from this e-mail I received yesterday:
As a Warren supporter, there are just 3 things you need to know going into Super Tuesday -- now 48 hours away. Feel free to pass this to others...
1) Warren is top tier nationally. Your vote -- and volunteering -- matters to keeping her there.
The latest CBS News poll shows Warren second only to Bernie nationally. She's done the hard work. Built a strong campaign. And inspired.
Can you take an hour and make calls for Warren today? Or send text messages? You can also donate to her Get Out The Vote operation and our work to support her.
2) MSNBC'S Steve Kornacki points out a HUGE difference between a candidate winning 14% and 15%. Your vote (and volunteering) matters!
The DNC rules only award convention delegates to those who get 15% or higher in congressional districts and states. On MSNBC, Steve Kornacki showed the latest CNN poll showing Warren at 14% in California!
"To give you a sense of how crucial that 15% threshold is in California," he said as he typed numbers furiously into a computer. If the second place candidate gets 15%, the first place candidate went from a net 250 delegates to 146 delegates -- a difference of 104, precisely DOUBLE all the delegates Bernie Sanders has so far! Hitting 15% "is the single biggest variable" impacting Super Tuesday.
Can you take an hour and make calls for Warren today? Or send text messages? You can also donate to her Get Out The Vote operation and our work to support her.
3) You are right to be inspired by Elizabeth Warren. She will be the best president. Millions of people agree with you. She'll win if we all vote.
Below are some of the most inspiring moments of the campaign so far. Remind yourself how much you love her. And pass your favorites to friends or post on social media.
Elizabeth Warren can take on an arrogant billionaire on the debate stage -- and win!
Elizabeth Warren can unite Democrats across the country.
Warren's breakout moment in this campaign was at the She The People Forum where she was the only candidate to get a standing ovation.
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The Root just gave Elizabeth Warren's plans to address racism and inequality the highest score of all of candidates, adding:
"Perhaps no candidate in history ever had a more detailed, comprehensive plan than Elizabeth Warren’s."
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The Center for Urban and Racial Equity gave Elizabeth Warren the top spot in its 2020 presidential scorecard. Warren also won the top spot on Indivisible's scorecard!
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When this 2011 video surfaced, MSNBC reported: "Elizabeth Warren is about to become the new working class hero." It went viral, being viewed by millions of people.
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Warren excites the base -- and when Republicans and Independents hear her, they love her.
Click here to see an Iowan who voted for Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Bush, McCain, Romney, and Gary Johnson who will vote Democrat for president for the first time ever -- for Elizabeth Warren:
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Elizabeth Warren is the ONLY candidate who is a bold progressive, effective, and can defeat Trump.
Elizabeth Warren is the candidate who can get Medicare For All DONE.
Can you take an hour and make calls for Warren today? Or send text messages? You can also donate to her Get Out The Vote operation and our work to support her.
Thanks for being a bold progressive.
-- The PCCC Elections Team
Click here to make calls.
Click here to send Text Messages.
Click here to donate to the GOTV efforts.