Massachusetts’ Congressional delegation is applauding the Department of Agriculture’s decision to issue disaster declarations for seven counties, a move that includes all of the state’s largely rural Western region. Heavy rain in July led to flooding that devastated agricultural communities, with dire implications for this year’s crop harvest. Senator Elizabeth Warren – along with fellow Democrats Senator Ed Markey and Congressmen Richard Neal and Jim McGovern – sent a letter to the USDA on July 21st urging the agency to make the disaster declaration official to speed aid to the impacted communities. But urban cities impacted by the extreme weather – like North Adams – are still waiting on news of state or federal relief with upwards of $5 million in repairs to address. WAMC spoke with Senator Warren today.
WARREN: [The disaster declaration] will help unlock some resources for our farmers who have been so devastated. It's going to give them access to low-cost loans, which at a time when interest rates are really high, can be one more way to try to help them. You know, I was out that way, waded through the fields with some of the farmers, and really saw for some of them- They'd done it all. They'd plowed the fields, they’d planted the crops, they'd nursed the crops along, and some of them were just days away from harvest when they got completely wiped out by the flood. Other ones, I stood there next to the rotting potato plants. You know, just awful what had happened to them. Truly, truly wipes out a bunch of these farmers. They talked about losses of $10,000, measured in the tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars, some even more. And so, I want to draw on whatever federal dollars we can. I know the state is going to put in what they can. We want these farmers not just to survive, but to thrive. They are an important part of our economy, and they are an important part of our food chain. And so, we’ve got to make sure they're on their feet and doing well.
WAMC: Now, a year ago this month, you were in North Adams, Massachusetts, touring their crumbling flood control system. North Adams says it's experienced upwards of $5 million of damages from those same heavy rains and flooding that that struck the agricultural community. I've spoken with Mayor Jennifer Mackey of North Adams, and she's trying to amplify calls for state and federal aid for the city to repair its storm infrastructure. Any comment on what this means for not just rural Western Mass, but urban Western Mass?
So, you put the question exactly right. And I think the mayor is doing a terrific job. That's part of what I was there, was to see the crumbling infrastructure. But you know, I'm going to underscore- We’ve got to stop doing this as one-off emergency relief. And that's not to say you don't get relief when there's an emergency, but we need to go back and build the right kind of infrastructure to deal with this flooding and other extreme weather events. Look, when this stuff was built, a lot of it was built more than 100 years ago. There was no notion for the kinds of floods we're getting now, and the kind of density of population we get in places, in pockets, in the cities. And so, I think it's just crucial that we not only use the infrastructure dollars that we've gotten in this big infrastructure package that passed Congress last year, but that we do it again, and again, and again. We have got to build 21st century infrastructure, and that takes money. North Adams can't do it on its own. It needs help, and the right place for that help to come, a big part of it, is from the federal government. You know, for me, Josh, this is like the federal government at its best, when it partners up with localities like North Adams and says, you describe what you need and what your plan is to be able to fix the problems you face, and then the federal government will help with the funding. We're not going to come in and Big Foot and tell you what to do, but you work out a plan, and let's get the federal government in there to help with the money it's going to take and the resources it's going to take to get it done. And that's what I want to do for North Adams, but it's what I want to do all around Western Mass. We've got a lot of infrastructure that needs to be replaced.
Now speaking of Berkshire County, urban centers, and infrastructure, you've sent out letters to the Mass Municipal Association, including communities like Pittsfield, about this new program, the EPA’s “Solar for All” program. What is this? And why are you encouraging communities in Massachusetts to take advantage of it?
Okay, so this is- I'm so glad you gave me a chance to talk about this. Last year, when exactly this month a year ago, we passed the Inflation Reduction Act. And we put all this money, made all this money available to help fight climate change- By the way, paid for by my 15% minimum corporate tax. So, we got the whole thing paid for, we put the money out there. But the money doesn't just automatically get pushed into the hands of the people who are doing anything. It's that you've got to apply for it. You’ve got to come in and say here's our plan, here's what we're going to do. So, this particular plan is to say to communities, come in and tell us, tell the federal government, what you could do to get more solar on the roofs of people's homes in your community. And there are a lot of different ways that could be structured, different communities could do it differently. They could say, we want the federal government to pay for all of it, but that's going to give you a narrower number of houses that are going to get covered, right? We want the federal government to partner up with us and pay for a portion of it. But the idea is, how are we going to get all the solar panels on roofs. And I've asked all 351 of our towns and cities across Massachusetts, here's this money, please put together a proposal and come apply for the money. Because once it's gone, it's gone. So, I want every town in Massachusetts, every community in Massachusetts to access this money, because think what it will mean for homeowners. They get those solar panels up on the roof, it's not only good for the climate, heck, it's good for their pocketbooks, because it will reduce their utility costs. You get that solar up there, and there are a lot of folks who can go some months of the year where they pay no electric bill at all, and that- Boy, talk about a long-term benefit for a homeowner. Same is true, by the way, for renters. They're trying to get them on the roofs of rental buildings. But all of this starts with every one of our towns and cities and local community organizations have got to put together a plan, raise their hands, and say, we're ready to use some of those federal dollars here. So that's what my letter was all about, trying to urge everybody to do that.
Pivoting from infrastructure to larger political headlines, Senator Warren, what was your reaction to the most recent indictment faced by former President Donald Trump?
No one is above the law, not even a former president of the United States. This was an independent investigation. I don't think there's any politics in this. And the person who did the investigation brought it in front of 23 average citizens who are just drawn out of the jury pool, and they comprised the grand jury. They listened to the evidence, they heard the witnesses, and at the end, those average citizens said, we think there's enough evidence here to indict Donald Trump, and that's what they voted for. And I think the part that is really, we’ve got to pay special attention to is exactly what it is he got indicted for. He got indicted for trying to take away the votes of American citizens who voted. Think about the heart of our democracy- It's that a citizen gets to vote and get that vote counted. And he is indicted for saying, no, throw out the valid ballots, don't pay attention to those, and put in a bunch of fake votes, fake ballots, in effect, you know, claim that this other group of electors was chosen. And that's something that- Boy, that strikes right at the beating heart of our democracy. So, I think that this is a trial that is important for it to go forward. Donald Trump will have the same rights than any other defendant does to put on his defense, to challenge any of the witnesses or any of the evidence. But this is independent. 23 citizens said it's time to bring an indictment here, and that's what happened. And I think the system has to go forward, because we are a country that believes in rule of law, and no one is above the law, not even a former president of the United States.
Lastly, Senator, I wanted to ask you about your bipartisan effort to create the Digital Consumer Protection Commission Act. You wrote an op-ed with Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, calling for this. I wanted to just pitch it to you as the right-wing media has framed it- National Review describes it as an effort to “infringe on economic and personal freedom.” Talk to me about that. Do you think that's a fair framing of what you're trying to accomplish?
No. There is no industry in America that is able to escape regulation and lawsuits. And because of Section 2-3 under federal law right now, if a tech company hosts someone, and they know what this person is up to, there's been testimony about this, and a child is targeted, a child is targeted and a child ends her life, there is no legal responsibility. Tech runs one of the most powerful industries in our country with literally no rules. They can't be sued, and there is no fundamental government oversight here. So, at the end of the day, I think of this like America did back in the 1890s, when the railroads ran the country, and they not only had this powerful way of moving things around, they engaged in discrimination. They would cut off towns and individual farmers, they would self-preference, they would engage in fraud. And it really was a problem for our whole economy, and for individual farmers, individual communities that just got wiped out by the railroads. We said no, enough of this, and put the ICC in place. And you wouldn't be surprised that the guys who were making millions and millions, billions and billions of dollars off it liked things the way they were, and complained and said, oh, you're taking away innovation in America or freedom. No. What we're doing is, we're saying is, you’ve got to have some basic rules of the road, just basic rules of the road. Privacy, for example. You can't just steal people's data and information about them personally and sell it for profit to others. You can't just put out there how it is to make a bomb, or how it is to hurt other people. And it's got to be just some basic rules of the road. And the giants don't get to crush all the competition. So, I've worked on this for a couple of years. It’s bipartisan. This is not just Democrats or just Republicans who say that we've got a tech industry that has delivered a lot of wonderful things, but it also is out of control and it puts too many of our children at risk. It puts small businesses at risk. It puts us in our own personal data at risk. And so, we’ve got to have some curbs on that. And I get it- Tech industry is going to fight us every inch of the way. But to me, this is a fight worth having.
