DE BLASIO: The Garner family are waiting for justice and are going to get justice in the next 30 days, in New York. You know why? Because for the first time, we are not waiting on the federal Justice Department, which told the city of New York that we could not proceed because the Justice Department was pursuing their prosecution. And years went by, and a lot of the pain accrued. And in the meantime, what I'm working on is making sure--and I have for five years--there will never be another tragedy, there will never be another Eric Garner, because we're changing fundamentally how we police.
DE BLASIO: We have a huge problem, and it's decades old in New York. But here's what we've done about it. We've declared the eradication of all lead, as the goal of our administration. Lead poisoning has gone down 90% since 2005, and we're going to literally bring it down to zero, because we're going to go into every place--buildings, schools, public housing--and remediate that lead once and for all.
Now, the federal government for decades have been disinvesting in the public housing that was supposed to be a federal responsibility. That's part of why we have this lead crisis to begin with. In NYC, we are going to eradicate lead. And there should be a federal mandate to do the same for Flint, and for every place in this country.
Joe BIDEN: Harris' plan costs $3 trillion [annually]. Secondly, it will require middle-class taxes to go up, not down. Thirdly, it will eliminate employer-based insurance.
DE BLASIO: I don't know what the vice president and the senator are talking about. The folks I talk to say that their health insurance isn't working for them. There's tens of millions of Americans who don't even have health insurance, tens of millions more who have health insurance they can barely make work because of the co-pays, the deductibles, the premiums, the out-of-pocket expenses. There's this mythology that somehow all of these folks are in love with their insurance in America. What I hear is anger at private insurance companies that skim all the profits off the top and make it impossible for everyday people to get coverage like mental care, dental care, the things that would be full coverage for all Americans.
Sen. Michael Bennet: We need to be honest about what's in this plan. It bans employer based insurance.
De Blasio: If Democrats say we're done with private insurance, has only hurt the American people in so many ways, we're going to give them something that works for their family's full coverage that they can depend on. This should be the party that stands for universal health care and says we're not going to accept anything less. So many people don't have the health care they need. Tens of millions of people, including middle class people. Give them a chance to make that decision through an election.
When I became the mayor of the nation's largest city, I set us on a path of bold change. They said it couldn't be done, but we gave pre-K to every child for free. We got rid of stop-and-frisk and we lowered crime. We raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yes, it can be done.
For 40 years, working people have taken it on the chin in this country. For 40 years, the rich have gotten richer and they've paid less and less in taxes. It cannot go on this way. When I'm president, we will even up the score and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy to make this a fairer country and to make sure it's a country that puts working people first.
If you agree that we can stand up to Donald Trump and we can stand up to the wealthy, then go to TaxTheHell.com and join us, so we can build a country that puts working people first.
When I became the mayor of the nation's largest city, I set us on a path of bold change. They said it couldn't be done, but we gave pre-K to every child for free. We got rid of stop-and-frisk and we lowered crime. We raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yes, it can be done.
For 40 years, working people have taken it on the chin in this country. For 40 years, the rich have gotten richer and they've paid less and less in taxes. It cannot go on this way. When I'm president, we will even up the score and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy to make this a fairer country and to make sure it's a country that puts working people first.
If you agree that we can stand up to Donald Trump and we can stand up to the wealthy, then go to TaxTheHell.com and join us, so we can build a country that puts working people first.
We need more talk about working people and their lives. For example, are we really ready -- and I ask people on this stage this question -- are we ready to make sure that the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes? That's something every American wants to know about. That's something they want answers to right now.
So, yeah, move for impeachment, but don't forget to do the people's business and to stand up for working people, because that's how we're actually going to beat Donald Trump. The best impeachment is beating him in the election of 2020.
|
The above quotations are from Democratic candidates debate in Detroit Michigan, July 30-31, 2019.
Click here for main summary page. Click here for a profile of Bill de Blasio. Click here for Bill de Blasio on all issues.
Bill de Blasio on other issues: |
Abortion
|
Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families Foreign Policy Free Trade
Govt. Reform
| Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Jobs Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform Technology/Infrastructure War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty
Please consider a donation to OnTheIssues.org!
| Click for details -- or send donations to: 1770 Mass Ave. #630, Cambridge MA 02140 E-mail: submit@OnTheIssues.org (We rely on your support!) | |||||||