had to quit school because he was the oldest son, his parents were sick, and he literally went to work in the mines…when that is not what he wanted to do, but someone had to pitch in and raise his brothers and sisters. No one had ever gone to college in my family, my grandpa and grandma literally saved money in a coffee can in the basement and they sent my dad to a twoyear community college, then he finished up at the University of Minnesota. My mom grew up without money during the Great Depression in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), then she came to Minnesota because they had a strong teachers’ union, and she taught second grade until she was 70 years old. She started teaching in the city schools in Minneapolis and then finished up in the suburbs. So, I am literally the candidate that is the granddaughter of a miner…the daughter of a teacher and a newspaper man…the first woman elected as a United States Senator from the state of Minnesota, and a candidate for President. So much of what I am about…and the themes I focus on…are themes of opportunity. We live in a country of shared dreams, and that means that no matter where you come from, or how much money you have, or what the color of your skin is…you should be able to succeed in America. That means, to me, everything from reforming childcare and making it easier for people to work while they have kids…to overhauling our country’s housing policy when housing is getting more and more out of reach for people…to making sure that education is the great equalizer. Just one last thing I wanted to add is the work I’ve done on retirement savings…and this is a bill that has the support of SEIU (Service Employees International Union)…and that we introduced last month. It allows people who are not working in places that have 401Ks… it says that their employers have to pitch in 50 cents an hour for their retirement…and that adds up, over a lifetime, to about $600,000. It allows people to do this even if they’re working part-time…and can take it with them to different employers. It gives the employers a tax break and is paid for by rewinding some of that regressive Republican tax bill and it allows them to take the first - this is different than 401Ks - every year they can take the first $2,500 out for emergency room expenses, or for emergencies because right now you get penalized for doing this, so this takes account for the fact that 4 out of 10 Americans can’t pay for an emergency room bill, and it will especially be helpful to people of color. Finally, I would add that I am on the Judiciary Committee (in the United States Senate) as noted by the Kavanaugh (current United States Supreme Court Associate Justice, Brett Kavanaugh) hearings…and also the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee. That means I do a lot on elections…and I think we’ll do a bill for getting kids to register to vote when they turn 18, I think that would make a big difference and get rid of these suppressive voting laws that are developing in states by reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act, and by giving everyone a seat at the table…and the way you do that is by making it easier to vote, including getting the bad money, the special interest money, out of our
39 Publizr Home