“I Have a Plan for That.” Elizabeth Warren’s Quest to Tackle America’s Challenges
Candidate: Elizabeth Warren
State of Residence: Massachusetts
Campaign Website: https://elizabethwarren.com
Short Bio: Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts like to say she’s made her life’s work the fight for middle class families.
Before becoming the first woman ever elected to the Senate from Massachusetts in 2012 (she was re-elected to the Senate for a second term on November 6, 2018), Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) — the oversight board set up in the aftermath of the financial crisis to protect taxpayers, hold Wall Street accountable, and help homeowners get back on their feet.
She is widely credited for the original thinking, political courage, and relentless persistence that led to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which she helped stand up and has successfully protected millions of consumers from financial tricks and traps often hidden in mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products.
As a law professor for more than 30 years, Warren taught courses on commercial law, contracts, and bankruptcy. She has written more than a hundred articles and eleven books, including four national best-sellers, This Fight Is Our Fight, A Fighting Chance, The Two-Income Trap, and All Your Worth.
Warren learned first-hand about the economic pressures facing working families, growing up in a family she says was “on the ragged edge of the middle class.” She got married at 19, and after graduating from college, started teaching in elementary school. Her first child, a daughter Amelia, was born when Warren was 22. When Amelia was two, Warren started law school. Shortly after she graduated, her son Alex was born. Warren hung out a shingle and practiced law out of her living room, but she soon returned to teaching.
Warren is a graduate of the University of Houston and Rutgers School of Law. She and her husband Bruce Mann have been married for 39 years and live in Cambridge, Massachusetts with their golden retriever, Bailey. They have three grandchildren. [Official Senate Bio]
Fun Fact: She was a state debate champion in Oklahoma and graduated high school at 16. [Axios]
On the Issues
Health Care: Supports the “Medicare for All” bill led by Bernie Sanders. Warren, a staunch supporter of the Affordable Care Act, has also advocated for further action to ease health care costs and slash drug prices. In 2018, she proposed limiting insurer profits while expanding health care subsidies and tax credits. She also supported the “Medicare for All” bill spearheaded by Sanders, a potential 2020 rival, and called that approach “a goal worth fighting for.” [PBS]
Trade & Agriculture: Supports renegotiating NAFTA. Opposes President Donald Trump’s trade policies. Warren is a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and blames U.S. trade policy more generally for widening economic inequality in the country.
While she favors renegotiating NAFTA, she argues the deal Trump struck with Canada and Mexico in 2018 will have few benefits for American workers. The new agreement has yet to be ratified by Congress. Warren has called Trump’s economic policies “beyond inept,” and has argued that the Trump administration’s tariffs are hurting U.S. farms and businesses. [PBS]
Jobs/Economy/Taxes:
- Wealth tax: Proposed a 2% tax on wealth exceeding $50 million and a 3% tax on wealth above $1 billion.
- Green New Deal: Signed on as a co-sponsor.
- College debt: Proposed a plan to eliminate $640 billion in student debt, funded by her wealth tax proposal, which includes universal free public college.
- “Economic patriotism:” Her plan for “creating and defending good American jobs” leans on green manufacturing and industrial policy for clean energy.
- Capitalism: Said she identifies as a “Democrat capitalist,” rather than a “democratic socialist.” She told Pod Save America she sees “the value of markets … if they have rules.”
- Big Tech: Proposed in March to break up Google, Facebook and Amazon, prohibiting companies with over $25 billion in revenue to act as operators and users of a platform and would install regulators to break-up already-closed mergers.
- Corporate tax: Proposed a 7% tax on companies’ profits over $100 million. [Axios]