Sen. Warren Visits Pittsfield, Speaks on State of Nation
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren traveled to Pittsfield on Thursday to delivery nearly $1 million in federal funding and speak about health care and economic development.
She sat down with Volunteers in Medicine, the Berkshire Black Economic Council, and Soldier On to hear issues that challenge Berkshire County's gateway city — and beyond — the most.
"It is the honor of a lifetime to be the senator from the commonwealth of Massachusetts and I am grateful for the people who sent me down to Washington to fight and this is a part of what they have me fight for and that's money, resources, to be able to get back into our communities to make our communities stronger," Warren said.
"So today, I'll be talking to you about funding that I was able to get for health care, funding for small businesses, and funding for our veterans, funding to be spent right here in Pittsfield and in the surrounding area."
She said this is a way of saying as a nation "we want to invest local because local is helping build strong communities."
"What I see every time I come out here to Pittsfield reminds me that at the federal level, I don't want to be the government that tries to tell you what to do. That's not our job," Warren said.
"Our job is to say when you are doing the good things, when you're trying to support the small businesses, when you're trying to help our veterans, when you're trying to get health care for people — the federal government should be a good partner and being a good partner means let's get the resources down here to help you."
The senator responded to the reported assassination attempt of Replican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania last week that killed an audience member, critically injured two others, and wounded Trump's ear.
The gunman was also shot and killed by Secret Service members.
"Violence has no place in our democratic process," Warren said, and that democracy resolves conflicting views at the ballot box and does not engage in violence.
"I was very glad that former President Trump was all right, I am so sorry to hear that others were injured and, of course, one person died," she said.
"I also want to use this as a moment to say that Republicans say, 'Come together.' I'm all for that. Let's do something in a bipartisan way. The No. 1 thing we could do in a bipartisan way is ban the very weapon that Donald Trump was shot with. Let's get rid of these assault weapons. They do not belong in civilian hands."
She said Massachusetts does as much as it can in terms of firearms regulations but people buy these weapons elsewhere and bring them here.
"We want to keep our politics safer, we also want to keep our schoolchildren safer, we want to keep people who go to shopping malls and movies safer," Warren said.
"One of the best ways to do that is ban these assault weapons. I invite every Republican to join me now. Let's get this done."
The senator also offered her comments on the state of the nation during the 2024 presidential election, voicing her support for current president and Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
"He has been a terrific president who has delivered $35 insulin ... student loan cancellation for about $5 million people, getting rid of junk fees, and going after these giant corporate guys that are gouging people at the gas pump and grocery store," she said.
"He's running against Donald Trump, who has exactly two things to his name for his time as president. One of them is an extremist Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade and has since declared that Donald Trump or any president gets to be a king, and the other one is a $2 trillion tax break that's mostly been soaked up by millionaires, billionaires, and giant corporations."
Warren said this is a "huge contrast" and that is what Nov. 5, 2024, will be all about.
"Which side of that divide are you on?"
She said the Democratic Party is not in chaos and that its people are "very resilient" to what Trump stands for. This is a particular concern now that Ohio's Sen. J.D. Vance has been named Trump's pick for vice president, she said, citing Vance's stance against reproductive health care.
"Today, 30 percent of all women live in states that effectively ban abortion," she said. "Now, here in Massachusetts, we say 'Not us,' however, J.D. Vance and Donald Trump want to make abortion bans nationwide, so that means 100 percent of women would live in states with bans on abortion."
Warren added that for Vance, the abortion ban is not enough, making no exceptions for rape or incest.
"Also understand that these are people who in fact, just mean we can't do [in vitro fertilization] anywhere in the United States if Donald Trump and J.D. Vance get their way," she said.
"The reason I emphasize things like that is it's a reminder that the Republicans and the Democrats are about as far apart as we can get on that set of issues. Democrats believe that women and their health-care providers should be making decisions about their reproductive care and that it should not be some politician in Washington."
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