health care, cancel billions of dollars in student-loan debt, hold law enforcement accountable, make the wealthy pay their fair share, tackle climate change and provide for universal child care,” Warren, who is rumored to be vying for a Biden cabinet post, wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post.
Warren also listed what she described as progressive victories on ballot initiatives in states across the country.
“Florida became the eighth state to pass a $15 minimum wage,” she wrote. “Arizona voted to increase taxes on the wealthy to fund public schools. Multiple states – red and blue – passed ballot measures to legalize marijuana. And Colorado said yes to 12 weeks of paid family leave.”
The lesson is clear,” Warren added. “Bold policies to improve opportunity for all Americans are broadly popular. Voters recognize that these reforms are necessary to fix what is broken in our nation.”
After the election, however, other Democrats including moderate Reps. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Marc Veasy and Vicente Gonzalez, both of Texas, joined others in complaining about progressive colleagues’ calls to defund law enforcement.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is seen in Chicago in 2019 (Getty Images)
“We lost races we shouldn’t have lost,” Spanberger said last week during a call with the House Democratic Caucus. “‘Defund the police’ almost cost me my race because of an attack ad. Don’t say ‘socialism’ ever again. We need to get back to basics.”
One Democrat told Fox News that issues like the Green New Deal and a lack of accountability from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “killed” members and “no one’s taking responsibility for it.”
Progressives, in turn, have pushed back against their more moderate critics.
After former U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., blamed far-left positions for some Democratic losses on Election Day, progressive U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., responded on Twitter: “Why do we listen to people who lost elections as if they are experts in winning elections?”
In her Post op-ed, Warren advises Biden and Harris to take immediate action upon assuming office, including executive orders and actions by federal agencies – thus bypassing Congress.
She calls for them to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, lower drug prices, issue new OSHA health and safety standards for employers and raise the minimum wage for federal contractors, among other measures.
Warren is said to be eyeing the treasury secretary’s job in the Biden administration, provided President Trump is unsuccessful in court efforts to overturn election results.
