By Paul Cobler AUSTIN BUREAU
Almost half of the Democratic field for president came to Houston for Wednesday’s She The People forum. Here are some of their stands on climate change, immigration, health care and social justice.
Cory Booker
Booker has made criminal justice reform a central tenet of his political career, introducing bills to legalize marijuana, reduce mandatory minimum sentences and reinstate the voting rights of felons. In 2017, he co-sponsored Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All bill that would do away with private insurance. Last year, he helped introduce a bill that would require the Department of Homeland Security to stop separating migrant families at the border and refused to vote for a funding bill that didn’t include protections for “Dreamers,” immigrants brought to the country illegally as children.
Julián Castro
Castro, of San Antonio, unveiled a plan on immigration, calling for border crossings to be treated as a civil offense rather than a crime, and creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Castro supports a Medicare-for-All system, free tuition for the first two years of college and rejoining the Paris climate change accord.
Tulsi Gabbard
Gabbard introduced a bill in Congress that would mandate an end to the use of fossil fuels for electricity by 2050 and ban hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques known as fracking. She supports Medicare for All and Sanders’ plan to eliminate higher education tuition for most Americans. She has introduced bills to end family separation and protect Dreamers.
Kamala Harris
Harris was a co-sponsor of Sanders’ Medicare-for-All bill and is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal to address climate change. Harris has voiced support for making illegal immigration a civil penalty rather than a crime. In her presidential announcement speech, Harris supported universal pre-kindergarten education and “debt-free” college education.
Amy Klobuchar
Klobuchar doesn’t support Medicare for All, but has called for reducing the Medicare eligibility age to
55. She has supported the Green New Deal as a “framework to jump-start a discussion” on climate change. She favors creating a pathway to citizenship for most immigrants in the country illegally and reforming ICE — but not abolishing the agency. Klobuchar supports tuition-free community college but not “four-year college for all.”
Beto O’Rourke
O’Rourke, of El Paso, has made immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. He supports the Dream Act and a path to citizenship for immigrants who stay in the country illegally. He doesn’t support Medicare for All but has backed an expansion of Medicare that would not eliminate private insurance. He has voiced support for the Green New Deal. Like Klobuchar, O’Rourke supports free community college, and has called for colleges and universities to become more affordable, but not tuition-free.
Bernie Sanders
Sanders introduced the Medicare-for-All bill in 2017 that was co-sponsored by several other Democratic candidates. He also cosponsored the Green New Deal and introduced the College for All Act that would eliminate undergraduate tuition and fees at all public colleges and universities. He hasn’t released an immigration plan, but he previously voiced support for creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers.
Elizabeth Warren
Warren has made news in recent days with the announcement of her plan to eliminate undergraduate tuition and cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with a household income of less than $100,000. She also supports the Green New Deal and Medicare for All. Warren called for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be abolished last year and has voiced support for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.