8th Democratic Primary Debate: on Welfare & Poverty
Amy Klobuchar:
Eradicate child poverty in a generation
In answering the final question about child poverty, Klobuchar pointed to a plan she created to cut child poverty in half over 10 years and "eradicate it in a generation."Then she pivoted to an anecdote about President Franklin
Roosevelt and a man who sobbed when the dead president's funeral train passed by. The man was asked if he knew the Roosevelt, Klobuchar said. "The guy says: 'No, I didn't know the president, but he knew me. He knew me,' " Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar, who referenced her humble roots several times during the debate, said that she too would govern in a way that the poor will feel known.
"If you have trouble, stretching your paycheck to pay for that rent,
I know you and I will fight for you," Klobuchar said. "If you have trouble deciding if you're going to pay for your childcare, or your long-term care, I know you and I will fight for you."
Source: Washington Post excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
Andrew Yang:
Disentangle economic value and human value
All of the candidates were asked to answer a question that hasn't been asked on a debate stage since 1999: What would you do about childhood poverty? Then 1 in 4 children were in poverty. Now it's 1 in 5.Yang went first. He has centered his campaign
on providing Americans a freedom dividend of $1,000 per month per person and has gained a loyal following for talking about how the post-industrial economy has left much of America behind.
"We're in the midst of the most extreme winner-take-all
economy in the history of our country," Yang said. "We have fallen into this trap, where we've allowed the market to tell us what we are all worth."
Stay-at-home moms, he said, are "worth" nothing. Neither are caregivers.
Or local journalists. "Most artists, sorry, artists, but it's true" he said, are seen by as being worth "zero." Yang concluded: "The mission in this campaign has to be for us to disentangle economic value and human value."
Source: Washington Post excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
Elizabeth Warren:
Need race-conscious laws to overcome housing discrimination
Mayor Pete Buttigieg sidestepped a question about why the number of marijuana possession arrests among black residents in South Bend increased under his leadership. Rather than answer the question directly, Buttigieg instead said that that category of
arrests was lower in his city than the national average. He then pivoted to discussing racism more broadly, before being called out by the moderator for deflecting.When asked if Buttigieg's response was substantial, Warren replied simply, "No."
"It's important to own up to the facts about how race has totally permeated our criminal justice system," she said. Warren referenced her housing plan, saying that the United States needs to "start having race-conscious laws."
"It was the policy of the United States of America to discriminate against African Americans and any other people of color for buying homes until 1965," she said. "You can't just repeal that and say, 'Okay, now everything is even.' It's not."
Source: CNBC.com excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
Pete Buttigieg:
Dow Jones doesn't measure performance of economy
Buttigieg made a case for an administration that takes a broader view of the country's economic health, making a reference to Trump's measures of the state of the economy. "Now we have a president who says the economy is fantastic because the Dow Jones
is looking good," Buttigieg said. "And I'm sure if you've got a building with your name on it close to Wall Street, then that really is the same thing as the economy to you. But the problem is we've had an economy grow and not be able to lift up those
most in need or even so many in the middle."Buttigieg said that if elected president, he would measure the performance of the economy "not by the Dow Jones, but by the income growth of the 90 percent, because a good economy is one where
children are being lifted out of poverty."
"We need to recognize that the time has arrived for a different kind of politics to turn the page--leave the politics of the past in the past and deliver a better future before it is too late," he said.
Source: Washington Post excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
Tom Steyer:
Think much more ambitiously about poverty and how to end it
Steyer, the sole billionaire on stage, said Americans need to think much more ambitiously about poverty and how to end it. "What we need to do is have a new conception,
a new dream of America," Steyer said. "Dream it, and make it happen. Imagine the mountain and then we climb it together."
Source: Washington Post excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
Andrew Yang:
If no action taken, minority wealth will be zer0 by 2053
The median African American household net worth is projected to be zero by 2053. Things are not getting better for people of color. If anything, they're getting worse, because we're in the process of eliminating the most common jobs in our economy.
There is no way we can prevent this tsunami from wiping out African American net worth unless we put straight cash into their hands sometime between now and 2053.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
Bernie Sanders:
Whites should not do so much better than blacks
What we need in terms of the African American community is to understand that we have got to start investing big time in education, in healthcare. There is no excuse why white families in America have 10 times more wealth than black families.
No excuse that disproportionately, African Americans are in jail compared to whites. No excuse for black women dying in childbirth three times the rate that white women are doing as well.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
Joe Biden:
I first got involved in politics to fight red-lining
If you own a house in an all black neighborhood, same exact house in all white neighborhood, exact same shape, the house valued in the black neighborhood would be valued as worth less,
making it difficult for you to accumulate wealth. That's what got me involved in politics, redlining, to stop it.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
Pete Buttigieg:
Measure economy by poverty levels, not by Dow Jones
We have a president who says the economy is fantastic because the Dow Jones is looking good. The problem is, we've had an economy grow and not be able to lift up those most in need, or even so many in the middle.
When I'm president, we're going to measure the performance of our economy, not by the Dow Jones but by the income growth of the 90%, because a good economy is one where children are being lifted out of poverty.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
Tom Steyer:
Racism is not in the past so we need reparations to fix it
I'm for reparations. Something wrong happened. I am for reparations to African Americans in this country, and anyone who thinks that racism is a thing of the past and not an ongoing problem is not dealing with reality. In fact, three days ago, one of
the leaders of Joe Biden's South Carolina campaign made racist remarks about someone associated with our campaign, and the Legislative Black Caucus went out en masse to stand up for that man and for our campaign.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
Page last updated: Mar 23, 2020