Elizabeth Ann Warren

“ President, I rise today to honor one of the great leaders in the history of Boston. It might seem odd to describe a man who is still with us today – alive and well – as a figure in history. But in the almost 400 years since Boston was founded, a history that is filled with names known across this country – Winthrop, Adams, Lowell, Lodge – in this 400 year history, few have done more for Boston than our Mayor, Tom Menino. ”

“ A government that expands health care coverage - instead of ripping it away from grandparents and newborns. A government that tackles the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs - instead of selling out to giant drug companies that put profits ahead of patients. A government that ends the stranglehold that money has on Washington - instead of stacking the government with public officials who are more interested in lining their own pockets than serving the public. ”

“ There's no doubt that, if confirmed, Barr would continue the same broken system that protects the wealthy and well-connected but leaves everyone else behind.
The President doesn't hide what he wants from an Attorney General. Someone who will put protecting the President ahead of protecting our constitution. And someone who will help maintain America's two very different justice systems--one that protects and coddles the wealthy and the powerful, and another harsh, unjust system for everyone else. ”

“ The stock market is up as the giant companies pocket trillions in taxpayer money stolen from middle class families. The market is up as CEOs shut down plants and factories here in the United States and move them overseas. ”

“ Sessions has groveled, but Donald Trump will never forgive the sin of failing to serve Donald Trump personally.
Jeff Sessions, President Trump, and this Republican Congress seem to think they can stoke the fires of hatred and division without being consumed by them. And maybe they can, for a time. But people are resisting and persisting. States and cities are stepping up to defend civil rights under assault by the federal government. The American people are showing up - in the streets, in the airports, in the courtrooms, and even at the polls to hold this government accountable. ”

“ I came to the United States Senate six years ago to fight for working families and to tackle these problems head on. To end a rigged system that created two sets of rules: one that applies to the rich and the powerful and one for everybody else. ”

“ Unemployment is down, but wages have barely budged in a generation. Unemployment is down, but for millions of people the exploding costs for housing, for healthcare, for childcare mean that it now takes two jobs to do what one job covered a generation ago. And unemployment is down, but the numbers fail to count the millions living in rural and urban American communities alike that have given up the search for a job.
Corporate profits, the stock market, unemployment-These statistics tell us everything about the American economy. ”

“ Small businesses have gone under, never to reopen. Millions have lost their jobs, and too many families don’t know how they are going to pay the rent or put groceries on the table.
It is tough out there, but Americans are fighters, and despite all the challenges, in November they did what Americans do when they are unhappy with their leadership—they voted for change. They turned their backs on a sitting President who fans the flames of hatred while bodies pile up in the morgue. Instead, they elected a new President who wants to save lives, to save our economy, and to save our democracy. ”

“ We accepted the will of the voters.
And it is not just us; it is everyone who has run for President since the beginning of America. Only once in America’s history have the people who lost tried to burn down our democracy on the way out. ”

“ They know that this government works just great for the rich and the powerful - but not for everyone else. And across this country, people are insisting on a government that is not just open for business but a government that actually works for them. ”

“ Robert Kennedy lived his life with courage and conviction, never afraid to challenge a divided nation to face its moral failings. Bobby challenged us all to take a step back from the stale, cheap politics of the moment and to do better by each other. ”

“ He knew that we cannot simply run our economy for those at the top and assume that it will solve America's problems. In the intervening years since his speech, America ran that experiment anyway - and watched it fail miserably.
It's time to try something different. It's time to challenge each of us to do better by each other - to see the dignity in one another - to put our values first. ”

“ He's argued that children should be prosecuted as adults. And despite the fact that Black people are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and more harshly sentenced than their white counterparts, Barr has denied that racial disparities exist in the criminal justice system and has championed discriminatory sentencing policies.
On immigration, Barr supported the first--and harshest--iteration of President Trump's unconstitutional and immoral Muslim ban. In his stint as Attorney General in the 90s, he advocated for denying political asylum to Haitian asylum seekers who happened to be HIV-positive. ”

“ The same day that President Trump used Twitter to announce that he was banning transgender individuals from serving in the military, the Justice Department filed a legal brief reflecting Sessions' view that our great civil rights laws don't protect gay Americans from discrimination, despite rulings by other federal courts and guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reaching the opposite conclusion. ”

“ Over and over again, they try to pit white working people against black and brown people, gay people against straight people, young people against older people, people born in the United States against people who came here in search of a better life - pit them all against each other so they don't band together. ”

“ Our Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. ”

“ Sessions even rolled back efforts to take weapons of war off of our streets, lifting common-sense restrictions on the transfer of military-grade weapons to local police departments - weapons of war like grenade launchers and armored vehicles that belong on battlefields, not on the streets where our kids ride their bicycles and walk to school - weapons that even the Pentagon cannot justify handing over to local police. ”

“ As Attorney General, he's continued that crusade, targeting not only African Americans, but Latinos, the elderly, veterans and other marginalized groups.
Only weeks after Sessions took the reins, the Justice Department abandoned its legal challenge of a Texas voter ID law that intentionally discriminated against voters of color. Later, the Department argued that it should be easier for states to strike eligible voters from their voting rolls-a proven way of preventing eligible citizens from voting. ”

“ And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."
Consider three statistics: corporate profits, the stock market and unemployment.
Today, corporate profits are up - corporate profits that count gun sales from manufacturers whose weapons are used to massacre children in our schools and our streets. Corporate profits that count revenues from drug companies when they quadruple prices for the sick and the desperate. Corporate profits that count revenues of banks like Wells Fargo as they rip off millions of American consumers. ”

“ Instead, we are here because Donald Trump wants to overturn the results of that election. The Republicans objecting to the results of this election will be judged by history, but the rest of us will be judged as well. ”

“ The Justice Department is charged with defending our laws and standing up for all people, regardless of color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or ability. That night, I described Jeff Sessions' appalling record on nearly every major national issue handled by the Justice Department - including civil rights, immigration, and criminal justice reform. ”

“ Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. ”

“ A prolonged shutdown would be a major hardship for Janelle. But it could mean a health emergency - even life or death - for her clients.
Another constituent, Don, is helping Coast Guard families in Massachusetts make ends meet.
His organization, the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, has distributed over 52,000 pounds of food since the start of the shutdown.
He knows that if the shutdown continues, he'll have to start draining his organization's budget-and that could mean he won't be able to help military families afford school supplies come next September. ”

“ It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country.
"It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. ”

“ Coretta Scott King told us about Sessions' role in this broken system when she wrote that he "exhibited an eagerness to bring to trial and convict" black civil rights leaders "despite evidence clearly demonstrating their innocence of any wrongdoing." ”

“ It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. ”

“ They do not speak to the citizen who fears police violence or the police officer who fears gang violence, or the immigrant who cannot speak out about sexual assault at the hands of her boss, or the toxic rhetoric flowing through our politics and seeking to turn neighbor against neighbor. ”