00:00Yesterday, Trump told us to vote as if he were on the ballot.
00:06Vote as if he were on the ballot. That's what he said.
00:09And that is exactly what the American people did.
00:13Together, we stood up to authoritarianism and a president who does not believe in the Constitution or the rule of
00:21law.
00:22And we won.
00:24Hello, everybody. Let me begin by thanking the millions of Americans who were actively involved in the election yesterday.
00:32The people who knocked on doors, the people who made phone calls, and all the things that a winning campaign
00:38requires.
00:39Thank you for what you did.
00:41And let me also congratulate the great candidates who won in U.S. Senate races, in House races, and in
00:47state elections all across America.
00:50On a personal note, I look forward to working with all of the newly elected senators, and I thank them
00:56very much for their hard work in this campaign and for giving the Democrats a strong majority.
01:04Yesterday, Trump told us to vote as if he were on the ballot.
01:10Vote as if he were on the ballot. That's what he said.
01:13And that is exactly what the American people did.
01:17Together, we stood up to authoritarianism and a president who does not believe in the Constitution or the rule of
01:25law, and we won.
01:29With Democratic control over the Senate and the House, we will now finally be able to hold Donald Trump accountable.
01:37That is a big deal.
01:40But as important as it is, it is not enough.
01:45We have got to do more.
01:48Whether we like it or not, we are living in an unprecedented moment in American history where our country faces
01:57extraordinary crises.
01:59We cannot and must not run away from them when Democrats assume power in January.
02:06These crises must be dealt with.
02:10It is no secret that in the United States and all over the world, people are giving up on democracy.
02:17Now, why is that?
02:19And the answer is that all over the world, not just in America, working families are struggling to put food
02:26on the table and pay for basic necessities,
02:29while the very richest people become much richer.
02:33In America and throughout our country and many other countries, ordinary people are saying,
02:38does their government, does their government even know that they exist?
02:45Or are elected officials too busy worrying about the needs of the rich and the powerful?
02:51This is an American issue, but in fact, an international issue.
02:56And in my view, the American people have had enough.
03:01They are demanding real change and bold policies that will dramatically improve their lives.
03:08In the richest country on earth, the American people want a government that stands for working families,
03:16not billionaire campaign contributors.
03:20And that is not just Bernie Sanders talking.
03:24According to a recent AP poll, 80% of registered voters want either, quote,
03:31complete and total upheaval or substantial change in how this country is run.
03:38And that includes 97% of Democrats, 90% of independents, and 58% of Republicans.
03:47In other words, the American people understand that the economy today is rigged
03:54and that we cannot continue the same old, same old establishment politics and establishment policies.
04:04The American people want change, real change.
04:14Let me give you some examples of what I mean and the issues that we have got to deal with.
04:19In our country today, income and wealth inequality has reached unprecedented levels.
04:28The top 1% now owns more wealth than the bottom 93%.
04:33One man, Elon Musk, owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households.
04:40In my view, that is insane, and I think that's how most Americans feel.
04:47Democrats, when they gain control in January of the House and the Senate, cannot ignore this grotesque inequality.
04:56We must take on the greed of the very, very rich and their incredible wealth.
05:03And that means a Democratic Congress must pass a wealth tax on billionaires.
05:08At a time when billionaires pay a lower effective tax rate than truck drivers or nurses,
05:15we must enact a 5% wealth tax on billionaires so that we can provide every working class family in
05:24the country,
05:26a family of four, with a $12,000 direct payment.
05:30In other words, if you're a working class family of four, that's $3,000 for every man, woman, and child,
05:38$12,000.
05:39Furthermore, with that tax on billionaires, we can build 7 million units of low-income and affordable housing.
05:48We can make public colleges and universities tuition-free,
05:52and we can provide universal free child care for 13 million children.
05:59That is what a wealth tax on billionaires can do.
06:04But taxing the oligarchs means more than just taking on their wealth.
06:10It means ending their stranglehold over our political system.
06:16Elon Musk and his billionaire friends have poured a record-breaking $2 billion into the recent election.
06:25That is absurd.
06:26The American people want Congress to overturn Citizens United, abolish super PACs, and establish public funding of elections.
06:36Democracy must mean one person, one vote, not billionaires buying elections.
06:43But it's not just massive income and wealth inequality that we have to deal with, or a corrupt campaign finance
06:51system.
06:52In America today, as everybody knows, and I get the same response wherever I go in this country,
06:58everybody understands that our health care system is broken, it is dysfunctional, and it is wildly expensive.
07:08We spend twice as much per person on health care as any other major country.
07:15Almost twice as much.
07:17Yet, despite that huge expenditure, more than 90 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured.
07:26Over half a million people go bankrupt each year because of medical debt.
07:30We pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world, and tragically, more than 60,000 Americans die unnecessarily every
07:41year because they cannot afford medical care.
07:45How cruel is that?
07:47Yes, we must repeal the trillion dollars in cuts Trump made to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to prevent
07:5515 million Americans from losing their health care.
07:59Yes, we must restore ACA tax credits to stop the outrageous premium spikes for 20 million Americans.
08:06But that is nowhere near enough.
08:10Health care must be considered as a human right, not a privilege.
08:14That means passing Medicare for all, legislation now supported by 66% of the American people.
08:23As an immediate first step, Democrats must lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 down to 55,
08:32expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing,
08:36and guarantee universal health care coverage for every child from birth to age 19.
08:42All of this can be accomplished with 51 votes in the Senate through the reconciliation process.
08:49But it's not just income and wealth inequality that we have to deal with,
08:54or a corrupt campaign finance system, or a dysfunctional health care system.
08:59We must deal with artificial intelligence, the most transformational technology in the history of humanity.
09:08In America today, big tech oligarchs are spending trillions of dollars on artificial intelligence and robotics with virtually no regulation.
09:20This revolutionary technology will transform the lives of every man, woman, and child in our country and around the world.
09:30Left unchecked, AI and robotics will destroy tens of millions of jobs,
09:36devastate our children's mental health, eviscerate our privacy rights,
09:41drive up electricity rates, strain water supplies, and transform warfare.
09:47If AI becomes smarter than human beings and escapes human control,
09:53it will also pose an existential threat to the very existence of humanity.
09:59We cannot allow a handful of big tech billionaires to become even richer and more powerful
10:07by ramming this dangerous technology down our throats.
10:12Democrats must enact a national moratorium on AI data centers,
10:17must pause advanced AI development, and ban superintelligence.
10:23And, by the way, I might mention that yesterday, in the election,
10:29in dozens of communities throughout our country,
10:33citizens voted for a moratorium on the construction of data centers.
10:38In other words, a moratorium on data centers is exactly what the American people want.
10:45But, my friends, it is not just oligarchy, a corrupt campaign finance system,
10:50a broken health care system, and uncontrolled AI.
10:55In America today, while the very rich get richer,
10:5960%, 6-0% of our people live paycheck to paycheck,
11:04and millions work long, long hours for incredibly low wages.
11:11That must change.
11:12The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage.
11:20Democrats must raise it to a living wage of at least $20 an hour,
11:24and make it easier for workers to form unions by passing the PRO Act.
11:30A job must lift people out of poverty, not keep them in it.
11:36Further, in our country today,
11:38one-third of our seniors are struggling economically,
11:41and more than 20% survive, are trying to survive,
11:45on less than $15,000 a year.
11:48Nearly half of older Americans have no retirement savings,
11:53and no idea how they will retire with a shred of dignity.
11:57Meanwhile, Elon Musk pays the same amount into Social Security
12:03as someone earning $184,600 a year.
12:08That is absurd.
12:10By applying the Social Security payroll tax to all income above $250,000,
12:17including capital gains and dividends,
12:20we can increase benefits by $2,400 a year,
12:25lift millions of seniors out of poverty,
12:27improve cost-of-living adjustments,
12:30and keep Social Security solvent for generations,
12:34without raising taxes on the bottom 91% of Americans.
12:38We must also restore the traditional pension plans corporate America took away
12:44so that every worker can count on a guaranteed income in retirement.
12:49That is what a Democratic Congress must do.
12:52Let me be clear.
12:56In America today, we spend more on the military than the next six nations combined.
13:03Despite massive waste, fraud, and abuse,
13:07the Pentagon has repeatedly failed independent audits
13:11and cannot account for trillions of dollars in spending.
13:15Adding insult to injury,
13:17Trump has dragged us into an illegal and unconstitutional war in Iran
13:23that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars.
13:27We must end this disastrous war.
13:31We must cut off all funding for the genocidal government in Israel,
13:36and we must substantially reduce military spending.
13:40Instead of pouring $1.1 trillion into a bloated Pentagon
13:46and never-ending wars,
13:48a Democratic Congress must build the best public education system in the world
13:54with no teacher earning less than $60,000 a year.
14:00And let me touch on one more subject that Democrats must deal with.
14:05Since Trump took office,
14:07ICE agents have shot American citizens in cold blood,
14:11have broken down doors to arrest people,
14:13and have sent five-year-old children to detention centers.
14:18These actions are not only immoral and disgraceful,
14:22they are unconstitutional.
14:25Democrats must immediately rescind
14:27the $75 billion Republicans gave Trump
14:32to fund his domestic army.
14:35Instead of ICE agents terrorizing communities
14:38throughout the country,
14:40we must finally move to comprehensive immigration reform
14:44and a path toward citizenship for the undocumented.
14:49Let's be clear.
14:50All of the policies I have just discussed
14:54and more that I have not mentioned
14:56are not radical.
14:59They are precisely what a strong majority
15:03of the American people want.
15:05So we are in a moment in American history
15:08where a lot of folks are losing faith in democracy.
15:13They are struggling every day
15:16just to stay alive
15:18while at the same time billionaires
15:21have more money than they can spend
15:23than a thousand lifetimes
15:25and are getting richer and richer all of the time.
15:29So what we are talking about now
15:31is not only the need
15:32to fight for economic justice,
15:35we are fighting to give hope
15:37to the American people
15:39to allow them to understand
15:41that in fact their government
15:43can work for them,
15:45can address the crises that they face,
15:48and will pay attention to the needs
15:51of the men, women, and children in our country
15:53who are struggling
15:54and not just the very, very wealthy
15:57campaign contributors.
16:00That is, in my view,
16:02what Democrats have got to do
16:03when they assume power in January.
16:06We can do it.
16:08We must do it.
16:09And I look forward to working with all of you
16:11to make sure that it happens.
16:13Thank you all very much.
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