Barbara Boxer;
The economic crisis was caused by finance capital and the stimulus was too small. It was small because that is all they could get through the Republican resistance in the Senate. But, the stimulus was still the biggest jobs bill in U.S. history, and the biggest investment in public goods (schools, teachers, roads, bridges, clean energy, firefighters, cops, etc.). The health care bill has big flaws, including the lack of a public option. The nation should have gone for Single Payer to save money and to improve the system. But, Single Payer could not get through the Senate- it didn’t even pass the House. Remember, we were unable to establish Single Payer by a direct vote in California. How do you think it went in Tennessee, Nebraska, etc.? Obama, Barbara Boxer and the Democrats succeeded at extending health coverage to virtually everyone and reining in major insurance abuses (on pre-existing conditions, lifetime caps, etc.) . Every prior Democratic president for almost 60 years had tried and failed. Look at the history of social security. It started with much less.
Boxer worked with the Obama Administration political team to prevent a second Great Depression and put the country back on a halting
path to recovery. Boxer and the Democrats delivered record tax cuts to the middle class and slashed nearly $200 billion in
corporate welfare. The Obama team prevented the collapse of the Big Three automakers – over the objections of the Republicans and saved more than 1 million jobs. Imagine what Fiorina would do- off shore the auto industry.
