93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
The top two Democratic campaigns remaining stumped in Missouri on Monday.
Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, made four stops, including one at the ARC in Columbia. She says they’re connecting with a variety of voters.
“…that actually looks like America. Rural and urban. Asians, Latinos, whites, and African-Americans. People of all generations. Democrats, independents, and yes Republicans,” Jill Biden said.
More from Missourinet:
Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made his way to St. Louis today to tell Missouri voters why they should pick him in tomorrow’s presidential preference primary. Sanders and fellow Democrat Joe Biden are the two remaining viable party candidates trying to gather the most delegates in Tuesday’s election.
During his appearance at the Stifel Theatre in downtown St. Louis, Sanders spoke for about 45 minutes and was full of promises. He spent several minutes discussing better pay for workers and laid it on thick about taxing America’s wealthiest at a higher rate. He pledged to boost the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
“Here in Missouri and my own state of Vermont, you’ve got a lot of working people working two or three jobs. You’ve got workers who are worried that they can’t afford to send their kids to college,” says Sanders. “You’ve got half of the older workers in America, people 55 or older, you know how much they have in the bank saved for retirement? Nothing! Now think about it – you’re a 60-year-old worker in St. Louis or Kansas City, you worked your whole life and you’ve got nothing in the bank. Maybe you’ll have $15,000 in social security a year, if they don’t cut it.”
He discussed healthcare for all Americans and bashed companies for alleged price gouging of healthcare and medication costs. Sanders vowed to make a coronavirus vaccine free under his administration.
Other pledges he made were to rebuild America’s “crumbling” infrastructure, make public colleges and universities tuition-free and triple funding for the country’s low-income Title I schools.
“We’ve got school buildings all across this country that are crumbling,” says Sanders. “Kids can’t even drink the water in some school buildings. We know that there is nothing more important than educating our kids for the future of this country. What’s important is not giving tax breaks to billionaires is to making sure that teachers get adequate compensation. Instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires and spending more than the next eleven countries on the military, we will pay our teachers at least $60,000 a year.”
Sanders briefly hit on topics about gun violence, fixing America’s “broken” immigration and criminal justice systems and tackling the war on drugs. He wants to put an end to private companies detaining people.
Sanders also took some jabs at Biden. He says the former vice president supported the War in Iraq and the 2008 bailout of Wall Street.
“Joe voted for disastrous trade agreements which have been horrific for the Midwest – agreements like NAFTA and PNTR with China. I helped to lead the effort against those terrible trade agreements. Over the years, for a variety of reasons, Joe Biden has been on the floor of the U.S. Senate talking about the need to cut social security benefits. I have been leading the fight to expand social security benefits,” says Sanders.
President Donald Trump is expected to overwhelmingly win the Republican vote in tomorrow’s election.
Polls will be open statewide from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
