Another high-profile politician made a stop in Michigan to energize people to the polls as we near the final two weeks of the campaign for the White House.
Massachusetts Democratic U-S Senator Elizabeth Warren stopped by the WCMU studios while on the campus of Central Michigan University to rally support of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Warren says Harris is the right candidate on housing policy, abortion and will be a good president for unions.
She spoke with WCMU's AJ Jones.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
AJ Jones: So, I want to start out in the Middle East: Progressive, Arab and Muslim voters here in Michigan are expressing concern over Joe Biden's handling of the War in Gaza. Do you think the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is an off ramp to end the war, as Kamala Harris and other Biden administration officials have suggested?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: I've been pushing for a long time now, that we need to spend our energy, as the United States of America, pushing all the parties in the region toward a peaceful solution. We know what we need, we need to stop the bombing. We need to get those hostages home. We need a whole lot more humanitarian relief in the area. But ultimately what we need most of all is to push the parties to negotiate with each other. It's not up to us to come in and dictate terms. It's that the parties need to be treated with respect, with dignity, self-determination and work out a peaceful solution. And I want to see us…I want our role to be to push for that.
AJ: And you think that Sinwar's killing could be?
EW: I don't know. I mean, I just genuinely don't. I'll look for anything that we need to move in that direction. And if the parties can tell themselves a story about this, to say Israel can declare that it is now-feels like it's done what it needs to do, good. Then let's use that as this moment, but ultimately. That's what…that's what we have to do. We need to be pushing the parties, negotiate for a peaceful solution here.
AJ: Final question on that, in terms of what that negotiation might look like, the Biden administration is said to be considering placing an arms embargo on Israel.
EW: Yeah.
AJ: Is that something they should potentially move forward with yeah.
EW: Yeah. In fact, you know that they've already started the clock running on this. And they announced five days ago that if at the end of 30 days, so I keep my own countdown on this, if Israel has not opened up humanitarian relief, access to medical care, access to food, then the United States will stop all arms to Israel. And I think that's the right thing to do. You know, we have laws here in the United States. That we do not support any country in a conflict who is in violation of international law and blocking access to humanitarian relief, that is a violation of international law.
AJ: So, let's move on to an…
EW: You know, can I just say one more thing on this just? While you're there, just because I just want to add.
You know, we're in the middle of an election, as you know. This is part of the reason I am here. Keep in mind right now that Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel, has an interest in what happens in our election, and he's very much hoping that it will be Donald Trump.
Because he believes that Donald Trump is going to be the guy who will care only for Israel and treat everyone else in the region in a way that will support only Israel's interests.
AJ: Thank you. Senator, voters in this state want immigration reform. Kamala Harris has touted the bipartisan border bill on the campaign trail. You voted against that bill in August, but at the Massachusetts Senate debate, you said you'd consider supporting it. I want to talk substance, was the bill as it was given to you strong, and will it solve the border crunch? And if not, what's wrong with it?
EW: OK, so let's start with. By the time I voted on the bill, the bill was dead because Donald Trump had already killed it. And why had he killed it? Because he wanted immigration as an election issue and was quite open about saying that. And by the way, it shouldn't come as any surprise to us. It's exactly what happened in 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and now it's happening in 2024. The Republicans want to talk, talk, talk, immigration, but they don't actually want to fix the problem.
So, I walk in on a bill that's already dead. And I say, look, I get that there were two pieces to what we need in immigration reform. There was border security in this bill and there were work permits, which I'd worked hard on. But there was not enough money to reimburse the states for what they're spending to help support migrants. And I believe that since immigration is a federal policy determined at the federal level, the federal government should support the migrants who are here until they're able to become self-sustaining. And the fourth part, it didn't have a pathway to citizenship.
I believe we should have a pathway to citizenship for our DREAMers, for our essential workers, for people who want to be here and help build a strong United States. So, my view on this is that I don't want to just say, ‘ohh what was negotiated at that point is the end and we're done.’
I think that should be the beginning of our negotiations and there is more we need to get into it and that's what I'm going to keep pushing for.
AJ: So briefly, you would reconsider it?
EW: Absolutely. Look, if the bill is alive, let's figure out what we've got. But let's also talk about what more we need. I want to say to the folks who want to get that across the line. Work for my vote, show me what you're willing to add to this so that I'm somebody who can comfortably come on board and vote for this. A pathway to citizenship for our DREAMers would be a big step forward for me.
AJ: Let's move on to housing. So, this states in a housing crisis. Trump and Harris both think building housing on federal land is a solution. Michigan is three and a half million acres of federal forest land. Do you think building houses on federal forest land is a good policy to help the housing crisis?
EW: So, look, I think that building on federal lands may be able to the one part of the solution. But here's the deal, we need housing everywhere and of every kind. We can't just like, build a new city out in the middle of a forest. What we need is more housing of every kind. Housing for first time homebuyers, housing for seniors, housing for veterans, housing for people who have no housing at all.
Housing for people with disabilities, housing for people who are renting, and how are we going to do that? Donald Trump and the Republicans say, “Oh, the private market will fix it.” No, it won't. It hasn't. Prices have just gone up.
I have a plan, Kamala Harris and I overlap enormously on this, to build 3 million new housing units in America. And how do we do that? We make the federal government a partner with our local communities to say, if you want more money, more housing in your local community and you will lower the cost of building.
And you could do that with changes in zoning, with changes in inspection, with giving some land to developers. However, you will do it to lower costs, the federal government will come in as a good partner and put in additional money. So, if you have to build a new elementary school or build a new water treatment plant in order to support the new housing, we will help you do that. That's how we'll get more housing. That's how more young people will be able to buy their first home.
AJ: Thank you, Senator. As you know, energy costs are high and AG workers say that fuel is their priciest input cost and contributes to higher food costs at the market. So, you and Harris want to hold big companies accountable. How will holding those companies accountable lower cost given the risk of lengthy court battles and litigation?
EW: So, look, we've had antitrust laws on the books forever. You know, dating back some of them over 100 years. Basically, since the 1980s, they've largely been unenforced. And that's given us a lot more concentration in the grocery store industry, for example, in meat processing industry, in the oil industry, and the consequences of that concentration is it's driven up prices.
Let me give you an example of that. You know, here we were in the middle of the pandemic and supply chains get tangled up, the War in Ukraine starts at the same time. And that means we have trouble with access to certain commodity products. So, we hit inflation, right?
What did these giants do in food areas, in oil; They look around and say, “Wow, well, everybody's talking about prices going up with inflation, this is a time for us to rise, raise prices beyond our increased costs. Let's just lard on the price increases and build up our profits." And here's what happened.
Two-year period coming out of the pandemic, inflation went up 14%, Damn, that hurts.
Corporate profits in these concentrated industries went up 75%. So, look, we really want to bring prices down. Kamala Harris has a plan for this and that is enforce our antitrust laws. And here's the good news: Lina Khan and the FTC, they're already out there doing it.
Jonathan Kanter at the Department of Justice, already out there doing it. Breaking up those giants, good for competition. That's good for consumers, good for the American economy.
AJ: Well, I know we're running on time here Senator, so let's talk stakes.
EW: Okay.
AJ: There's a reason you've come to Michigan. What will happen in your view to Michigan's voters if Trump wins?
EW: So, look, I'm here partly because I know what happened in Michigan two years ago. You all looked at the abortion question and said, “We're going to fight so that everyone in our state has access to healthcare. And we're not going to discriminate against women.” But right now, 30% of all women in this country live in a state that effectively bans access to abortion. And understand this, if Donald Trump and JD Vance take the White House, it won't be 30%. It will be 100%. They have already laid out the plan, they don't even have to go to Congress to ban abortion right here in Michigan, in my home state of Massachusetts, and all across the country.
The only way we stop that is we put Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the White House. And if we do that and, I got to put in a plug here, if we managed to get Elissa Slotkin in the Senate and we get Democrats in the House and we have both houses of Congress literally in the first week after we're sworn in, we're going to make Roe vs Wade law of the land for all of America. So, part of what's on the line here is literally life and death for young women today, for our daughters and for our granddaughters. And that's a big part of why I'm in this fight.
AJ: I believe that's our time. Thanks for talking to me, Senator.
EW: Thank you for having me, AJ.
