Getting ready for @cantbuypaul’s press conference here in Little Rockpic.twitter.com/HVEFVIMu99
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28% of Americans are pre-diabetic. 305k people in Arkansas would become eligible for Medicare reimbursement under Spencer’s proposed fresh fruit and veggie program. Basically, local farmers would deliver fruits and veggies as a medical supply(!)
End result is-you help local farmers, save $200 per person over status quo (due to reduced medical costs)
Andrew LeMay on affordable housing. Arkansas only state without guarantee of habitability, one of 10 states that allows retaliatory eviction. Proposes expanding Section 8 housing to all eligible renters automatically. Federal government needs to step in where Arkansas won’tpic.twitter.com/9t3jNzUPHM
Ferrari Scroggins on restoring black wealth. 2008 financial crisis-black and Hispanic households lost 70%, white 30%. Have to recognize historical barriers to building wealth rooted in racismpic.twitter.com/WGAhN6cl2u
Need to create quality jobs, not just jobs at big box stores. Low interest loans from local banks. Put locally owned storefronts back in communities of color. Stimulate via federally funded urban beautification (not gentrification!) programs
Need universal after school care so kids can get their third meal. Also need to fight voter suppression-allow felons to vote after serving their time, auto-register high school seniors.
Back to Reed, on student debt. He has 80k in loans from just undergrad; federal portion of this is at 6% interest. Average Arkansan has 31k in student debt, not enough earnings to escape debt trap.
Political establishment says loan forbearance is not feasible. Same establishment bails out banks, wall street, AIG. Crippling debt is holding back economic advancement and stunting young lives
Paul wrapping up. They’ve been criticized for not coddling donors, for going out into the counties. We can’t ignore people in rural communities, unless we want the national political system to ignore Arkansas by the same logic
Questions: Medicare for all and after school; how do you pay for they? A: where did we find money for $80B to military, for corporate tax cut, for afghan war. What should we invest in if not in people? And the Medicare reforms will save money
Stephanie Spencer: 1/3 of US medical spending is waste. We could almost fund single payer with what we already spend now. Reference: physicians for a national health plan. ACA had a lot of stuff to decrease wasteful practices. But that’s just 10% of the waste. 90% is for-profit
Another question on the price of these policies. Housing program-estimated cost is 40B, less than cost of SNAP. Reed: When your house is on fire, you don’t start by looking at the bill. Many of these policies are already funded or revenue positive
We need to start talking about these policies like we talk about the war in Afghanistan: as a necessity that we then find the way to pay for
Spencer: you have to invest in people and communities. Need to give people with deep roots here a way to stay. Multinationals come in to Arkansas as economic imperialists. Negotiate tax breaks, leave after they expire
Current social policy is endless cycle of burning money. Bite the bullet and subsidize housing, create real jobs, ways for young people to stay in community. Fight the precariousness of life in the 2nd district
(Spencer) we are hemorrhaging money in one direction: up. We have to break the cycle of addiction and stop reinvesting in plutocracy. We don’t need safety nets, we need a floor below which no American should be.
Q: is campaign finance reform still a goal A: will be my first priority in Congress. Need people in Congress to step up and set an example
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