Recap on rural issues in Democratic primary debate - Entrepreneur Generations

Twelve of the top Democratic presidential candidates met last night at Otterbein University in central Ohio for a fourth major primary debate, which was moderated by CNN's Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett as well as New York Times national editor Mark Lacey. Here's a run-down of what they had to say about issues with rural resonance, taken from The Washington Post's transcript.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said she supports impeaching President Trump because she believes Trump "has not been standing up for the workers of Ohio. He’s not been standing up for the farmers in Iowa."

On the notion of Medicare for all, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts was pressed to say whether her plan to implement such a policy would result in higher taxes for the middle class. She did not directly answer the question, but said overall out of pocket expenses for middle-class families would not increase. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said his Medicare for all plan would cause tax increases, but, like Warren, stressed that almost everyone would be paying less out of pocket because they would no longer be paying for insurance.

Klobuchar noted that Baby Boomers are hitting retirement age and said that health insurance must better cover long-term health care. She also advocated expanding Medicaid and going after the pharmaceutical companies that she holds responsible for the opioid epidemic.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang said he wanted to decriminalize the possession and use of small amounts of opioids, including heroin, as a way of combatting the opioid epidemic. That would help keep addicts out of jail and instead encourage them to seek treatment, he said. 

Burnett noted that a recent study said about a quarter of American jobs could be lost to automation in the next 10 years, and asked Sanders if he could think of a way to employ the people who lost those jobs. Sanders said people could be put to work rebuilding America's crumbling infrastructure, including roads, bridges, water systems, and more. He also said renewable energy could create up to 20 million jobs, and noted the need for more teachers, childcare workers, tradesmen, and health care workers.

Warren said bad trade policy is a bigger threat to American jobs than automation, and said corporations move factories to other countries to save money without considering the harm they're doing to the workers and their community. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey agreed that America must not make it so easy for companies to move jobs overseas.

Yang said that automation is a major threat, and implied that self-driving vehicles will put long-haul truck drivers out of work. "What is that going to mean for the 3.5 million truckers or the 7 million Americans who work in truck stops, motels, and diners that rely upon the truckers getting out and having a meal?"

In the last debate, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas said "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47" in response to a question about gun control. Cooper asked him to elaborate on how he would force people to give up their weapons. O'Rourke said: "If someone does not turn in an AR-15 or an AK-47, one of these weapons of war, or brings it out in public and brandishes it in an attempt to intimidate, as we saw when we were at Kent State recently, then that weapon will be taken from them. If they persist, they will be other consequences from law enforcement. But the expectation is that Americans will follow the law. I believe in this country. I believe in my fellow Americans. I believe that they will do the right thing." O'Rourke and several other candidates said they support buyback programs.

Sanders criticized fossil fuel industries for making "huge profits" while hurting the environment. He also said that agribusiness mergers are "resulting in the decline of family-based farming in this country." 

Booker said that state anti-abortion laws infringe on women's liberty and punish people for poverty "because this is disproportionately affecting low-income women in this country, people in rural areas in this country." 

Klobuchar said she could beat Trump in the election because she has won in rural districts that usually vote Republican.

O'Rourke, when asked the same question, touted his record of improving mental health care access for veterans in El Paso and noted that he had done well in Texas, traditionally a red state, in his recent bid to claim Ted Cruz's Senate seat.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2MLhdvp Recap on rural issues in Democratic primary debate - Entrepreneur Generations

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