Sen Elizabeth Warren speaks to the media and overflow crowd at the town hall event in Concord (click to enlarge).
By Gary Davis
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren criticized the failed health care bills as well as growing income inequality in the U.S. at a town hall event that drew an overflow crowd of more than 1,500 area residents to Concord-Carlisle High School on August 25.
Preceding Warren were state Rep. Cory Atkins (D–14th Middlesex) and State Sen. Michael Barrett (D–3rd Middlesex), who opened by discussing some of the critical legislative issues facing Massachusetts residents. He mentioned two pending state bills he authored, one to counteract the effects of carbon dioxide and climate change and another to require presidential candidates to submit their tax returns to qualify for the ballots in the primary and general elections.
Click here to see a video of the August 25 town hall
When Barrett introduced Warren, the audience greeted her with a standing ovation. She began by thanking grassroots organizations and individuals for saving the Affordable Care Act by speaking up at Town Hall meetings, and visiting legislators’ offices as well as calling and emailing to express their opposition.
The health care bills presented in the House and Senate would have created tax benefits for the wealthy and health insurance companies that would come from cuts to Medicaid and reduction of essential services for millions of Americans, Warren said. “Those bills did not represent our values,” she said. “They were not who we are as a country. We believe that health care is a basic human right, and we will get out there and fight for it.”
State Rep. Michael Barrett and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Addressing income inequality, Warren said that from 1935 to 1980, the GDP rose 70 percent, with 90 percent of the benefits going to the middle class through basic income growth, new protective financial regulations, a new progressive income tax, investment in education to provide an equal and better future, and investment in infrastructure. However, starting in the 1980s, the economy focused on tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations; between 1979 and 2012, the income of the top 10 percent of earners grew about 76 percent, while income of the bottom 90 percent decreased by about 9 percent even though the GDP rose, according to the World Wealth and Income Database, she said.
Answering questions from the audience for over an hour, Warren spoke of the need to respect and honor our transgender troops, strongly condemned neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and encouraged the audience to make a commitment to work for a Democratic and accountable government based on shared prosperity and equal opportunity.