Four of the U.S. Senators who’re running for president held a total of 29 public events in Iowa over the past three days.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand kicked things off Friday afternoon in West Des Moines with a forum focused on what she calls her “Family Bill of Rights.” It includes a federal law requiring paid family leave and a series of steps to expand access to day care.
“I was the sixth woman, ever, to give birth as a member of Congress…Shocking,” Gillibrand told reporters after the event, “but it shows that people who are in these decision-making roles tend to be male, they tend to be white and they tend to be affluent and so they don’t understand, necessarily, that access to affordable day care is make-or-break for any family,” Gillibrand said.
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is on a four-day tour of the state in an RV this holiday weekend. During a stop in Burlington Saturday, Booker focused on the closure of the local Planned Parenthood clinic and promised to create an Office of Reproductive Rights and Freedom if he’s elected president.
“Codify Roe v Wade,” Booker said to open the event, “…fully funding organizations like Planned Parenthood which in some counties are the only provider of contraceptive care.”
On Sunday in Oskaloosa, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said Republicans are trying to get “a tilted court” that will nullify constitutional protections.
“It’s partly around issues like Roe…but a big part of it, it’s about corporations,” Warren said. “It’s about a court that, over and over, when it’s a corporation versus an employee, is with the corporation.”
Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar told Iowans this weekend that as president she’d end the loopholes oil companies use to get around federal policies promoting ethanol. Klobuchar also emphasized changes she’d make to help farmers facing bankruptcy. At events in Decorah, Charles City, Iowa Falls and Des Moines, Klobuchar heard a familiar song. Klobuchar turned 59 Saturday and crowds sang “Happy Birthday” to the senator at each stop.