Sen. Sanders good evening and thank you for joining us for sen. Sanders good evening and thank you for joining us for what i think is going to be a very interesting discussion. Let me think the workers that have participated in that video and our panelists. Youre going to hear from them in a few moments. I dont have to tell anybody we live in crazy times. We are in the midst of this terrible pandemic. So many people have lost their jobs and income. We are worried about climate change, systemic racism. We are worried about so many things. Tonight, we are going to be asking, how does this happen . In the richest country in the history of the world, half the people are living paychecktopaycheck. The billionaires are doing well. Does that make sense . How does it happen in our great country, we have millions of workers earning starvation wages. You just heard that on the video. You cant make it on 10 an hour. You cant pay your rent. You cant feed your kids or take care of yourself. How does it happen that the United States of america, our nation, is the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people as a human right . Were spending twice as much per capita on health care than any other nation. 90 million are uninsured or underinsured. How does it happen that today in the midst of a pandemic, becomes that because Republican Leadership in the senate refused to pass a covid emergency relief bill, that all across america families are struggling in america to put food on the table . They are worried about getting evicted from their homes. They dont go to the doctor when they get sick because they lost health insurance. What tonight is about is hearing from workers, from Kamala Harris about her plan and joe bidens plan about how we are going to go forward and improve the lives of tens of millions of working families that are hurting today. So again, in the midst of everything going on, we talked about trump and what crazy thing he may have said yesterday or today. But we are not talking enough about the specific policies we need to improve the lives of tens of millions of people in this country in desperate economic condition. I think what we will hear tonight is why we need to raise the minimum wage. To a living wage. We are going to be hearing about why we need to end the absurdity of women making . 80 on the dollar. Compared to men. Because they are not paid equally for the work they are doing. The absurdity of so many people who are working 40 hours a week and still cant afford health insurance. The absurdity of so many young kids not being able to go to leaving School Deeply in debt. Tonight we are going to focus on the economic pain so many people in our country are experiencing. Since we are going to talk about how in this great nation with a democratic president and Vice President , with a democratic senate, we are finally going to stand up to powerful special interests, deal with inequality, and create an economy that works for all. Not just the few. With that, it gives me pleasure to introduce a friend of mine. A fellow senator from california. One of the leading voices in the u. S. Senate and somebody i know whos going to be a great Vice President. Please welcome, Kamala Harris. Thank you for being with us. Sen. Harris it is great to see you. You are amazing. Bernie is an extraordinary leader. One mark of a great leader is someone who requires the country, to look in the mirror and ask, is it doing everything it is capable of . Bernie is someone that has challenged every premise and required people that are knowledgeable people to defend the premise which has been the basis of their opinions for a lifetime. In many ways when he does that, one sees the premise is flawed. Bernie has been someone, look at that mischievous grin. [laughter] he knows what hes doing. The thing about you, bernie, you decided to do it from inside the system. And to challenge everyone from inside. I do believe on that debate stage that you and i shared for almost a year in the primary, that the majority of those debates would not have been on the topic of health care in america if not for a discussion that you prompted and the way you challenged the status quo. And our thinking about what is possible and what the American People are prepared for and what they want. In front of all our friends come our friends, i want to thank you for what you have done and continue to do. You really are a treasure. Thank you. Sen. Sanders i dont want to make this a lovefest. Sen. Harris how often do i get in front of everyone to say these things . Im going to move on now. Sen. Sanders now for the tough questions. Are you ready . What i did want to say, when you are in the senate, we go behind closed doors and have private meetings. What i do want to say, i have seen kamala behind closed doors. Ive seen the passion and decency she expresses and a willingness to fight for people today that do not have a voice. I want to thank you for the great work you do. I think in this campaign, we talked about trumps craziness. We have not talked above enough about what our agenda is. If you and joe get elected, god willing, what are you going to do to help the tens of millions of working People Living in economic desperation . Whats the agenda . Sen. Harris i appreciate you framing it that way. Enough about that guy. Lets move on. First of all, we cannot overlook the big thing in front of us, the impact of the pandemic on the economy and working people. In so many ways, the pandemic has been an accelerator, meaning it has, for folks that are doing badly, they are doing worse. It has been a magnifier on the inequities that have long existed. For example, the inequity, the injustice and immorality of not paying all workers sick leave. Not giving paid sick leave or family leave to all workers. The injustice of that has been highlighted in a way that for the first time some people have realized, if that worker does not have sick leave, it will impact me. However we get there, we get there. Let this be a moment of reckoning. That is part of what has been fought. Been flawed. Joe and i are committed to paid sick leave and family leave. Sen. Sanders let me interrupt you. Let me ask you this one. How many major countries on earth do not provide paid family leave for their workers . Sen. Harris i dont know of one of the socalled advanced countries. Sen. Sanders we are it. I am hearing that you and joe are going to lead us to end the international embarrassment. Sen. Harris we have to. Its not only an embarrassment, its morally wrong. Heres the thing also. We talk about premises, you have to understand working people have ethics. They take their work seriously. They take pride in the work they do. They deserve to have dignity. That comes with working a hard day. That includes when they get sick being able to stay home. When they have a parent or child who needs attention, being able to care for them. Knowing they are going to do that because that is a necessity. They will get back to work when they can. Theres something about, we see this across the board, even when weve been fighting for snap benefits. Food stamps. Why do people need snap benefits . Because they are hungry. And then theres a suggestion weve heard that if you , theyed, extend it wont know what to do with the money. Theres also this ugly premise that people that are low income choose to be that way. Or dont have the same ethics as everyone else, or are irresponsible. This is part of what is wrong with the way we have crafted Economic Policy when it comes to what is right and morally right on a global scale. Within our hearts and minds about treating workers with dignity and respect. Minimum wage. Pay equity. It is still the case women are not paid the same amount as men for the same work. When you start looking at black women, native women, the numbers are even more stark. Lets look at when we increase minimum wage to 15 an hour, one in three women will benefit. One in three latinos will benefit. Four in 10 black workers will benefit. Raising the minimum wages about wage is about the floor, not the ceiling. It is what we need to do to move this thing forward and pay people the value of their work. Sen. Sanders what im hearing, and i want everyone to hear, you and joe are committed to fighting for it. 15 an hour. Sen. Harris absolutely yes. Sen. Sanders another area we need to talk about. Mom and dad go to work. They cant find decent , quality, affordable childcare. What are you proposing about that . Sen. Harris no family should pay more than 7 of their income in childcare. Period. Again, this is about addressing, the hypocrisy of it all. We say we care about families. Every person running for office will talk about, they are a family person. Families need assistance paying for child care, when we have seen the cost of living has gone up across the board. While wages have remained stagnant. When we see in many places, we are looking at childcare deserts or childcare being more expensive than college. These are the things we have to do. Everyone benefits. Everyone. When any family has the ability to provide for the essential need of the children in their home and, everybody that needs that kind of assistance. In addition, we are going to put in universal prek. For threeyearolds and fouryearolds. Again, the studies are clear. And Human Experience tells you, when the youngest have that. We are not just talking about day care but Education Programs for the youngest children, they have a leg up. People that come from wealthy families have resources to do that anyway. It should be available to all of our children. Knowing they all have equal capacity to achieve, whatever their dreams are. They dont have equal resources. That is the point of equity. Not just equality. Sen. Sanders i know you have heard in california on the campaign trail, young people that would love the opportunity to get a Higher Education. From a workingclass family, they cant afford it. What idea do you have to make it easier for anybody to get a Higher Education . How are you going to deal with the level of student debt today . Sen. Harris any student from a family making less than 125,000 a year can attend a public four year college or university for free, including a private h bcu. In addition, so many of our bright minds come out of college with student loan debt. They want to pursue a profession that is one of service, public service. And so we are committed for anyone that goes to a job that pays less than 125,000 a year, we will erase their debt. And by the way, this is not just about what is right to do to encourage students, encouraging bright minds to pursue and education to be productive and contribute. It is also what we have the capacity to do to create economic stimulus. We are looking at, when we get rid of that student loan debt, that gives those students the ability to take advantage of the fact we are going to give a tax credit to firsttime homebuyers for a down payment and closing costs. Can you imagine, the number of students out of college with debt, they dont know if they can buy a home. They are questioning if they can afford to have children. And what it would mean to create a more productive environment, if we relieve them of that debt if they go into jobs that dont pay more than 125,000. Sen. Sanders i know you have to run. Sen. Harris five days. [laughter] sen. Sanders youre counting, i suspect. En. Harris yes i am brother. Guest sen. Sanders youre counting, i suspect. Youre doing a great job. I just want to summarize for all of the viewers, i dont think we have discussed it enough. You heard kamala outline the Biden Economic proposal for working families. This is no small thing. Raising the minimum wage is an increase for 40 million workers. Equal pay for equal work. Creating millions of good paying jobs and improving infrastructure. Making public colleges and universities tuition free for families under 125,000 and canceling student debt. Universal childcare and prek for three and fouryearolds. This is a big step forward for the working families and little children of our country. When we go to vote, i know we will be talking about trump all the time. Thats fine. It is another thing to talk about what we have to do to improve the lives of tens of millions of people today that are hurting. I want to thank kamala for her Great Campaign shes running. And i look forward to working with her. I thank you. Sen. Harris take care. See you soon. Sen. Sanders all right. Let me now introduce somebody who, in my part of the world, does not need much of an introduction. Mary kay henry is the president of the Service Employees union. One of the large and great unions in this country. It is a union that has helped lead the way to fight for 15. It believes in medicare for all. It is a union that believes in criminal justice reform. Immigration reform. One of the great unions in this country. Thank you so much for being with us. The microphone is yours. Mary kay thank you. Im so proud to join you with the 2 million members fighting for 15 in the union. You made a difference in 2016 by taking up the 15 demand that we began with so many years ago. Here we are talking about passing the 15 minimum wage when we elect joe biden and Kamala Harris. It is great to be here with all the essential workers and their families who are listening today. You and i know essential workers have been putting their lives on the line to keep our country running. We treat the sick, we care for our elders, we teach our children, we clean and protect public spaces. And yet essential workers are completely fed up with the current administration. We have had it with Police Violence against black communities. The covid crisis and economic depression that followed. In each of these crises, together with the Climate Crisis has made it clear that we are not going to return to normal. It is no accident that people of color have been on the front of these crises and are being hit the hardest. And are risking their lives for less than 15 an hour. You and i see the very people fighting back every day with hope and determination. We have made a Crystal Clear decision that we refused to return to normal. Normal never worked for us. We are pulling out all the stops to elect joe biden, Kamala Harris, and progressive champions up and down the ballot that are going to fight alongside us for racial and economic justice. That is why we are thrilled five days out the joe biden and kamala support 15 and the right for all working people to join together in unions no matter what job they do. Sen. Sanders one thing i did not get into with kamala is the fact joe biden believe joe biden and Kamala Harris believe strongly in the need to grow the trade Union Movement to make it easier for workers to join unions. What will that mean for ordinary workers . Mary kay the proposal we are excited about is 3 million caregiving jobs. Some in eldercare, homecare worker jobs and childcare worker jobs, that we are proud to stand in solidarity with the National Domestic workers in making jobs that have never been valued. They were paid subminimum wages and excluded from overtime and Social Security because of a racist compromise in the 1930s. We are going to make sure black and brown and immigrant women get included for the first time in the history of the nation. That is a proposal from joe biden to invest in a caregiving economy. That will have impact for jobs like fast food and airport workers all across the Service Sector in the u. S. That is incredibly exciting in how we will imagine growing the economy for everyone. So underpaid nursing home workers, like someone who is going to speak later, will get the ppe they need because they would have the right to join in a union and bargain with their employers to make sure they were protected on the job. Airport workers and fast food workers like chris, who are we are going to hear from, will get a seat at the table to bargain a better life with the biggest corporations that are earning record profits, but paying poverty wages to their essential workers. I just think we are on the precipice of electing champions. We will need to stay in the streets and continue to press our movement to make the boldest change possible in this economy. Essential workers are all in to elect candidates like biden and harris. We are not stopping until we win 15 in a union for the 64 million service and care workers across the u. S. That deserve an equal shot at a better life. Senator sanders, i want to thank you for being such a champion in this movement. Sen. Sanders i want to thank you for the great work you when and your 2 million members, what youre doing for some of the hardest hit workers in america. Thank you very much. We are going to move forward aggressively after this election, once democrats control the senate and white house. We are going to move forward aggressively to protect working people. Thank you very much for all you do. It is now my pleasure to aijen poo, an awardwinning organizer and author and a leading voice in the womens movement. She holds many titles and is joining us as the Senior Advisor of care in action. Shes the author of the age of dignity, pushing for the change in america. Thank you for being with us. Aijen thank you so much, senator sanders, for hosting this important event. We are grateful for your voice and leadership on behalf of workers. We organize so women of color can be powerful in politics and we fight for policies that lift up our nation. Mostly black and brown women that works in our homes as nannies, housecleaners, and to all the Domestic Workers and caregivers that may be watching tonight, we see you and we honor the essential work you do to care for the families of this country, including your own. Before there was a pandemic, there was an epidemic of lowwage work in america. Millions of workers worked hard and could not pay the bills, as the senator said. Homecare workers like susie later, we will hear from are doing work that has always been essential and yet most earned poverty wages without job security or access to a safety net. When the pandemic hit, they did not have the ability to s