Laying out a platform that includes tackling the nation's housing crisis, expanding Medicare to all and addressing climate change, Massachusetts Senator and Democratic Presidential hopeful, Elizabeth Warren, made her second visit to Northern Nevada this week. To talk about those issues, she spoke with KUNR's Senior Political Reporter Paul Boger before the event.
"I hear a lot about housing, about how companies move in and, boy, that's great, but it also means more workers but not more housing. That puts a real squeeze on folks," Warren said. "I hear about health care. I hear about global warming. People are really worried about climate change and what that means, the existential threat that it poses. I hear about people saying, in one form or another, they just feel like Washington isn't working for them. It works for rich guys, works for those that can hire an army of lobbyists and lawyers, it's just not working for them."
Among the issues highlighted by Warren during her visit is a plan to address problems with housing.
"I have a plan for that, and it's to put over $500 billion--I've got it fully paid for--into housing, building about 1.2 million new housing units across the country over the next 10 years," she said. "Independent analysis from Moody's says it would reduce rents by about 10% across-the-board, and the money is also set aside to encourage localities, like Reno, like Vegas and in smaller towns to make their laws a little friendlier to density so that you can bring down the cost of housing and attract more private dollars.”
According to therecent polling, support for Warren has grown since the first Democratic debate. She says that because her message resonates with all voters, not just partisans.
"When I talk about corruption in Washington, it's not just Democrats that nod 'yes' and who get it," she said. "And when I talk about a wealth tax on the biggest fortunes in this country, the top 75,000 fortunes in this country, and with that we could pay for universal child care, universal pre-K for every three-year-old and four-year-old in this country. We could do free college. We could cancel student loan debt for 95 percent of the kids who've got it. It's not just Democrats who like that. It's Democrats and Independents and Republicans."
