Subject: Audio: Senator Boxer Responds to Cruz’s Selection of Carly Fiorina as VP
From: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
To: DNC Press <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2016 22:31:41 +0000

Audio <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpcTQrdXsiA&feature=youtu.be> HERE<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpcTQrdXsiA&feature=youtu.be>: Senator Barbara Boxer and DNC Communications Director on Carly Fiorina being selected as Cruz's VP

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpcTQrdXsiA&feature=youtu.be>

Senator Boxer: “Well I think that the most accurate description of that team would be mean and meaner. He wants to ship immigrants out of America, and she's already shipped jobs out of America. And they’re the perfect duo. Seriously. I would predict, actually, that this Fiorina merger will be just as successful as her last one at HP. The people in California rejected Carly Fiorina.”

DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda: “And I think it’s also important to point out  that this is a desperate move from a desperate and dying campaign. Ted Cruz is mathematically out of this thing. His only hope is to try to blow up their convention.”

For Immediate Release
April 27, 2016

Contact: DNC Press – 202-863-8148

Excerpts from the DNC Press Call to Discuss the GOP’s Dangerous Ideas Ahead of the California GOP Convention
Today, United States Senator Barbara Boxer, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra, and DNC Communications Director Luis Miranda held a press call ahead of the California GOP Convention taking place this weekend, where the three remaining Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to speak. The fact of the matter is that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich are all completely out-of-touch with Californians. They oppose increasing the minimum wage, ensuring paid sick leave for workers, reforming our country’s broken immigration system, a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, and they want to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which has allowed more than 4 million Californians to gain quality, affordable health care coverage they previously didn’t have. Simply put, we cannot afford to give any one of them the keys to the White House.
Below find excerpts from the call as prepared for delivery:

Senator Barbara Boxer
As most of you know, I’ll be leaving the United States Senate this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to take after my Republican colleagues and stop doing my job – because, as they’ve shown time and again with Chief Judge Merrick Garland, they have absolutely zero interest in fulfilling their constitutional obligations. No, instead, I’m going to continue doing the job that I was elected to do and advocate on the behalf of Californians.

On that note, let’s talk about what’s happening this weekend. Folks, this weekend, the three remaining Republican presidential candidates will be making their way to California for the GOP Convention. And let’s face it: they have no business coming to our great state. The fact of the matter is that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and John Kasich are completely out-of-touch with Californians on issue after issue.

Let’s start off with the economy. When President Bush left office, our economy was in terrible shape. We were losing 800,000 jobs a month; foreclosure signs littered the streets of communities across our country; and thousands upon thousands of Americans had to decide between illness and bankruptcy from medical bills. This, of course, was a reality that far too many Californians had to deal with. Fortunately enough, we’ve made strides of progress since those dark days: 73 consecutive months of private-sector job growth, over 14 million new jobs, and unemployment at or below five percent.

California, in particular, has done a remarkable job<https://www.gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=19280> of climbing out of the Great Recession. We’ve gone from having a state deficit of $27 billion, an unemployment rate of 12%, and the worst credit rating in the country, to now having a budget surplus, creating a Rainy Day Fund to offset the next economy downturn, and we’ve even had our credit rating raised three times by Standard and Poor’s. But that’s not all: earlier this month, California also raised the state minimum wage, expanded paid sick leave, and expanded paid family leave. All this progress didn’t just happen out of the blue; it’s been the result of Democratic leadership – both at the White House and at the Governor’s Mansion in California. And that’s precisely why we can’t afford to give Trump, Cruz, or Kasich the keys to the White House. They would undo all of this, and go back to giving huge tax cuts to those at the very top and huge corporations, while blowing a huge hole in our budget and leaving hard-working Americans footing the bill.
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Finally, let’s talk about climate change. Every single Republican presidential candidate refuses to believe the overwhelming majority of scientists who have repeatedly warned of the growing threat from climate change. It’s as if they’re living in a different world! For instance, Trump has said<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hLI1UdBhGQ> “no, I’m not a believer in climate change,” while Cruz has said that “there has been no warming whatsoever,”  John Kasich dismissed it as “some theory that’s not proven.” They don’t realize how serious of an issue climate change is, but we know all about it here in California. After all, we’ve had to deal with a major drought, rising sea levels, and record temperatures. But we haven’t just stood by idly; we’ve taken action, and now California is the leader on clean energy.

And so, it’s crystal clear that Republicans’ values and beliefs do not align at all with the people of California. In California, we are everything that the Republican Party is not: we are tolerant, we are inclusive, and we believe in an economy that works for everyone.

Chairman Xavier Becerra
As a representative of Los Angeles for nearly 24 years, I share the Senator's concern: these Republican presidential candidates just don’t have what it takes to be our next Commander-in-Chief. And, in particular, as California's Republican Convention approaches, I'm afraid Republicans seem to have forgotten about the Pete Wilson effect – that is, what happens when someone scapegoats and alienates large portions of the population by proposing extreme positions on immigration that divide families and hurt our economy.

Governor Pete Wilson, who pushed hard in 1996 for an anti-immigrant ballot initiative known as Proposition 187, helped turn our state from red to blue because of his offensive rhetoric and divisive policies. It was unconscionable then, and it’s unacceptable now as Trump campaigns on the an even more offensive platform and even uglier tone.

California thankfully didn't take the bait then, and we’re not going to fall for the Republican candidate's extremism now. The Republican candidates have offended women, Hispanics, Muslim-Americans, Asian Americans and just about everybody else with the tone they’ve embraced that frankly runs counter to the values of opportunity and equality our country was founded on. Unfortunately, all signs point to a 2016 Republican presidential field that has a short memory and I expect we'll hear more of the same hateful rhetoric from Republicans this weekend at the Convention. We’re going to continue to see a field of Republicans that clearly doesn’t have the judgment or temperament to serve as our President and Commander in Chief.

And let’s be clear, while Donald Trump is securing his grip on the Republican nomination, the other candidates who are trying to do everything they can to put their convention into turmoil haven’t been any better. We’ve seen them use extreme language and childish name-calling, we’ve seen them embrace the politics of fear on everything from refugees to the thinly veiled but discriminatory bathroom bills they’re pushing around the country to deny the rights of LGBT Americans. And we’ve seen it in how they talk about immigrants.
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Simply put, they have not heeded the lessons from their very own autopsy report, which clearly stated that Republicans needed to be more inclusive if they wanted to have a real shot at winning a presidential election again.

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Now, our country is stronger when we work together, and we expand opportunities for everyone in America. With Republicans, we’ll have the opposite. Ours is a country where no matter where you come from, or your last name, you can work hard and get ahead. Just as my dad, who never made it past the sixth grade and my mother, who both instilled in me the values and work ethic that have gotten me so far. That’s precisely what’s at stake, folks: the lives of real people who want nothing but the chance to live the American dream. Because of all of this, I’ve never been more sure about the fact that we need to elect a Democrat as the 45th President of the United States.
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