Gillibrand 2020 Announcement: ‘We Can Definitely Achieve Universal Health Care ... Pass a Green New Deal’
EXCERPT:
GILLIBRAND: “Our anthem calls America 'the home of the brave' but we don’t realize that the lyrics first pose it as a question. 'Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?' It asks, will brave win? Well, it hasn’t always. And it isn’t right now. Brave doesn’t pit people against each other. Brave doesn’t put money over lives. Brave doesn’t spread hate, cloud truth, build a wall. That’s what fear does. We need to remember what it feels like to be brave. We launched ourselves into space and landed on the Moon. If we can do that, we can definitely achieve universal health care. We can provide paid family leave for all, end gun violence, pass the Green New Deal, get money out of politics and take back our democracy. None of this is impossible. Americans are brave every day. The father risking his job to fight for his family, the mom taking on 6 a.m. shifts and 6 p.m. classes, the formerly well-behaved women speaking up, the neighbors linking arms. They're making a choice, and it's these brave choices that inspire me to take on the fights others won't. When I voted against the Wall Street bailout while both parties threw billions at the banks, when I took on the Pentagon to end sexual assault in the military, when I turned a red district blue against all odds, when I challenged Congress by making my meeting, finances and taxes public so people could see I was working for them. I took your lead. I chose brave, too."
