Medium - Sen Kirsten Gillibrand: Taking the fight to Trump

Op-Ed

By Kirsten Gillibrand

American families deserve better. It's as simple as that.
Not only has Donald Trump lied to them, but he's used his Administration to punch down on the people and places he promised he would help. My Trump Broken Promises Tour was a chance to share with voters how I'll accomplish what Donald Trump said he'd do, and didn't. It was also a chance for me to hear the stories of families hurt by Trump's lies and failures firsthand.
In Pittsburgh, PA, I met Nila Patterson, a mom who is thousands of dollars in debt after two trips to the ER and the birth of her child. Millions of Americans like Nila are already underpaid and can't make ends meet as is, let alone with the crushing weight of medical debt. We have to do more to support families like Nila's.

When Nila told me her story, I was proud to tell her about my plan to help reduce health care costs. First, I'll pass Medicare for All, like I've been advocating for since 2005, to ensure that health care is a right and not a privilege. Then I shared a new plan to reduce pharmaceutical drug prices by appointing a Pharmaceutical Czar to stop predatory industry practices while penalizing and prosecuting companies for price gouging.
When you ask voters what they care about most, if health care isn't their first answer, it's usually jobs. Too many workers are underpaid and overworked. And when companies move jobs overseas and close factories, it doesn't just mean lost paychecks -- it's whole communities and local economies that get hollowed out. Families in Youngstown, OH are deeply concerned about the future of their community after GM closed a nearby manufacturing plant, costing the area over 3,000 jobs and $3 billion in economic output.

Donald Trump promised to stop the outsourcing of American jobs, but has failed. I have a plan to hold corporations who ship jobs overseas accountable and help communities that face major job loss get back on their feet. I'll always put working families first -- not corporations.
Trump hasn't just lied to Americans on economic issues like jobs and health care. Each day 100 Americans are killed by guns -- and that devastating reality is what's inspired countless people to step up and fight for gun safety. Donald Trump promised he would strengthen background checks, then threatened to veto the bill on sight. That's not just a broken promise -- it's a moral failure.

I joined Fems for Dems in Oakland County, MI to talk about how I'll combat gun violence as president. I'll ban military-style weapons, combat gun trafficking, pass universal background checks, and close loopholes on gun sales. Too many lives are at stake for us not to get this done.
In every city we visited on this tour we tackled a different promise that Trump broke -- protecting Social Security in Cleveland, expanding water infrastructure in Flint, defending reproductive rights in Lansing. But the problem isn't just Trump. His broken promises addressed issues that existed long before he walked onto the scene. There are systematic obstacles that American families face that are keeping them from reaching the American dream. We need a president who is brave enough to tackle those problems and knows how to solve them.
I will be that president.
In this primary, a lot of people are asking the question: In order to win, do we build up our base, or try to win back the voters we lost to Donald Trump? I can do both. I know how to bring people together -- I've done it for years in my campaigns and in Congress -- and I can beat Donald Trump. And once I'm in the Oval Office, I'll enact the transformative change American families need, because I'm going to fight for your family the same way I would fight for my own: with everything I've got.

Source