00:00Some of the SEI-UHW members that I've talked to are tired of Democratic politicians like Gavin Newsom taking their
00:09marching orders for the donors who would fund a future presidential campaign.
00:15Thank you. What a turnout. Wow.
00:19All right.
00:23Wow.
00:26Please, please.
00:30What an incredible turnout.
00:32Look, I'm really happy to be the warm-up act for the greatest moral voice in American politics, Bernie Sanders.
00:51I was coming down the street, and Drew on my team sees this line of folks, and he turns to
01:01me and says, you realize, bro, they're not here for you.
01:05And I said, I said, I said, I love that people are turning out for Bernie Sanders in San Francisco.
01:16They're turning out for Bernie in Bakersfield with Randy Villegas and Bernie Sanders.
01:23They're turning out for Bernie in Michigan with Abdul Saeed.
01:27They're turning out for Bernie in Maine with Troy Jackson.
01:32They're turning out for Bernie in New York with Darylisa Chevalier and Brad Lander and Claire Valdez.
01:44They're turning out everywhere.
01:51But we're here to do something very important.
01:56It is the first time.
01:59It's the first time.
02:02It's the first time in the history of the world that there is a billionaire tax on the ballot.
02:18And I just want to give SEIU, UHW, David Regan, Gustavo a round of applause for Defying the Odds.
02:33And the whole world, the whole nation is watching.
02:37And you know what they're asking us?
02:39They're asking us, will the Democratic Party stand with the donor class?
02:47Or are they going to stand with the working class?
02:56We're here today to say we're going to stand with the working class.
03:20We're here today to say we're going to stand for poor kids to get health care over those billionaires.
03:31We're here to stand for 3.5 million Californians who would lose their health care.
03:38This is not a game.
03:40And 150,000 health care providers who would lose their jobs.
03:47They call them a special interest.
03:50I call them nurses, doctors, health care providers, technicians, people who work in rural hospitals.
04:01You know, I want you to think about something.
04:04Because, you know, I know you're supposed to give sort of rousing speeches, but I want to give some facts.
04:12250 Californians, 250 people, less than, like, just this middle row, basically, right?
04:19They're worth $2.2 trillion, half the California economy.
04:26Half the California economy, 250 people.
04:30Now, their wealth rose 144% in the last three years.
04:40If they pay a 5% tax, they're still going to be worth $2.2 trillion.
04:52The tax does not make them any less rich.
04:56It simply keeps health care clinics open and covers all Californians.
05:07I really don't understand, because I've tried to reason with them before they went all against me.
05:13And I finally understood it explained by Kerry Washington.
05:17You know Kerry Washington, the scandal.
05:21Olivia Pope.
05:23And she says, I don't understand people who have everything but still want more.
05:31That really sums up the situation we're in.
05:36Look, the moral path of this is so self-evident.
05:40Are you going to have kids covered, working families covered?
05:44Or are you going to have 250 people pay a 5% tax that they're not even going to miss?
05:50So why do we need the rally?
05:53Like, why is this not the most obvious choice?
05:56Why do we need this rally?
05:58I'll tell you why we need it.
05:59Because these billionaires are putting in $200 million to try to kill Proposition 40.
06:13All the while funding the coffers of the Democratic Party machine that runs some of the state in Sacramento.
06:23That's the truth.
06:26Now look, I'm just going to speak bluntly.
06:30I'm going to speak bluntly.
06:32Some of the SEI UHW members that I've talked to are tired of Democratic politicians like Gavin Newsom taking their
06:42marching orders
06:42for the donors who will fund a future presidential campaign.
06:54We are tired of a governor defying grassroots delegates of the California Democratic Party.
07:01Defying California labor with Lorena Gonzalez and others endorsing this.
07:07All because he's on the side of Trump allies like Peter Thiel and Sergey Brin.
07:19Now let me just say something.
07:21You can't pretend to be anti-Trump if you're doing the bidding of Trump donors.
07:30It doesn't make sense.
07:37The governor, the folks in this hall will debate you anytime, anywhere, anyplace in the state
07:44on why we must stand against the obscene money these billionaires are throwing around
07:49and stand with working families to get the health care they deserve.
07:59Look, I'm not going to speak longer until we bring the main act here,
08:03but I want to say this, passing this bill is about what kind of Democratic Party we want to be.
08:12I'm a New Deal Democrat, not a donor class Democrat.
08:23I'm a New Deal Democrat, not a corporate Democrat.
08:31I'm a New Deal Democrat, not a Chuck Schumer Democrat.
08:44FDR said that the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who
08:50have much,
08:51it's whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
08:57That is what we believe.
09:00It was true 90 years ago, and it is even more true today.
09:04Billionaire spending in our elections have gone from 0.3 percent 20 years ago to 20 percent.
09:11And the money is corroding our politics.
09:15It's not allowing us to see clearly.
09:18Because if we would see clearly, there should be no doubt that politicians can say simply,
09:23there is genocide that took place in Gaza.
09:45There should be no doubt that money wasn't corrupting our politics,
09:50that we could say that we should zero out the aid to Israel and stop giving them military weapons
09:55that are killing our children in Palestine.
10:04And there would be no doubt that we would have not only this billionaire tax pass,
10:09but Bernie Sanders and my 5 percent billionaire tax pass that would raise $4 trillion
10:15and allow us to have a down payment on Medicare for all, on free child care,
10:25on free college,
10:27on fully funding the IDEA Act,
10:32on paying teachers a $60,000 wage,
10:35a new social contract in this country.
10:41There's one man
10:43who had the resolve to have that dream.
10:47And he had that dream
10:4940 years ago when they used to say
10:51he was fringe.
10:52And I want to share this
10:54with you in a very sincere way.
10:56Look, there are a lot of people,
10:57you see Ash Kala right here,
10:59a lot of us,
10:59we go into politics,
11:01you get elected to the assembly,
11:03Congress,
11:05governor seat,
11:06senators,
11:07and most people who go into politics
11:09don't care about
11:10doing the right thing most times,
11:13when they start out at least.
11:14And they try to make a difference.
11:17And you know,
11:18we usually end our careers,
11:19we think,
11:20okay,
11:20what legislation did we get done?
11:23What people did we help?
11:24But every few generations,
11:29there comes someone
11:31who literally
11:32bends the arc
11:35of American history.
11:42We have with us
11:45someone
11:46who historians will say,
11:50when we recover
11:51from the ashes
11:53of what Trump has created.
11:55When this nation
11:57one day,
11:57and I don't know
11:58when it'll come,
11:59but one day
11:59when we see
12:00a new progressive movement,
12:03a new progressive era,
12:04bolder than any
12:05that we've seen before,
12:07historians will write
12:08that that happened
12:10because of a movement
12:11spawned
12:12by this one man,
12:15our senator,
12:16Bernie Sanders.
12:17Thank you very much.
