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Sen. Kamala Harris Wants to Freeze Evictions and Foreclosures - YouTube
Channel: Late Night with Seth Meyers
[1]
-Senator,
welcome back to the show.
[2]
How are you?
[3]
-It's great
to be back with you, Seth.
[4]
You know, all things considered,
I'm well.
[7]
You know, when one in five
mothers in America
[9]
is describing her children
under the age of 12
[11]
as being hungry, I'm great.
[14]
-I feel the same way
when you put it in perspective.
[17]
I will say
it's a little strange.
[18]
This is the second time
you have been on the show
[20]
since we've left the studio.
[22]
Once, I talked to you
from my attic,
[24]
and now I join you
from my in-laws' house.
[26]
And I want to say, it seems
as though your colleagues
[31]
in the Capitol are getting
better about wearing masks.
[35]
-Yes.
-But do you still try
[36]
to avoid them as much as
possible, given the opportunity?
[40]
Now that you have
a good reason to avoid them.
[43]
-I will tell you that I am still
very vigilant about wearing --
[49]
I'm now actually, I've started
to sometimes wear double masks.
[52]
[ Laughs ]
-Mm-hmm.
[53]
-Like, the medical one,
you know, the blue one,
[57]
and then, you know, whatever
the cloth one is over.
[61]
Yeah, they're wearing --
since the President
[63]
started wearing a mask,
I've noticed many more people
[65]
are wearing masks.
[66]
So, that's interesting,
isn't it?
[68]
-Well, you know, it's more sad
than interesting because,
[71]
you know, President -- no matter
who the president is,
[74]
it's a reminder that they can
set a good example,
[77]
and it's a shame
it took this long.
[79]
But I think what everybody
was saying is,
[82]
when the person who is in charge
does the right thing,
[85]
it's amazing how many people
will follow that lead.
[89]
-Right.
And you're exactly right.
[90]
I mean, that is the power
of leadership, right?
[93]
And it is -- it is incumbent
on a person who has been
[98]
elected a leader
to actually understand
[99]
the responsibilities
of leadership.
[101]
And, of course, Donald Trump
does not understand
[105]
the responsibilities
of leadership.
[107]
A real leader understands
that their strength is in
[110]
how they lift people up and not
how they beat people down,
[113]
and that is something
Donald Trump has never seemed
[116]
to understand
since he took office.
[119]
So that's why
I'm supporting Joe Biden.
[122]
-Someone who I would imagine
you believed
[126]
did understand leadership was
your colleague John Lewis.
[130]
I know he's lying in state now
in the Capitol.
[132]
Can you speak about
the example he set
[135]
and your history with him?
-Yeah.
[138]
I remember having
many conversations with him,
[143]
but one in particular,
in his office,
[144]
which was like
a Civil Rights museum,
[147]
because he has just lived
a full life of service, right?
[151]
And from the time that he was
a student and a young man
[154]
through just,
you know, days ago.
[158]
And he was an American hero,
to be sure,
[163]
but one of the kindest people
that you could meet.
[166]
I mean, Seth, you know,
the type of person
[170]
who understands, again,
that there's strength,
[172]
that their power --
[173]
Because he was
a very powerful man.
[176]
But it wasn't that he
demanded or carried power.
[180]
He just was power.
He had powerful words.
[183]
He had a power that was born
out of a love of our country,
[189]
a kindness,
and that gave him power,
[193]
and I'm gonna miss him so.
[195]
And, you know, one of the things
that I don't think has come out
[197]
as much about him, but I want to
make a point of mentioning it,
[201]
he was very encouraging
of women,
[204]
and women in the professions
and women in leadership.
[209]
And so, you can, you know,
the stories of Diane Nash
[211]
or even the stories
that he would tell
[215]
about the other women
of the movement
[218]
that inspired him,
including Rosa Parks,
[221]
was one of the first people in
the movement who inspired him.
[224]
And I'm gonna miss him greatly.
[227]
And I guess in a short way
of saying it, it's this.
[231]
John Lewis was about not only
[233]
walking across
the Edmund Pettus Bridge
[235]
for the sake of voting rights
[237]
and the fight
for equality in America.
[240]
He was about building bridges.
[242]
You know,
he wasn't about building walls.
[243]
He was about building bridges.
[244]
He understood
the connection between people,
[246]
and he was a connecter.
[248]
He connected the fight
from the Civil Rights movement
[251]
in the '50s and '60s
to what he did standing
[253]
in the front of the line,
talking about what we need to do
[257]
around immigrants' rights,
that it's a civil-rights issue.
[260]
He was a huge advocate
and fighter for LGBTQ rights
[264]
and marriage equality.
[267]
He transcended all of these eras
and periods of time
[271]
but always consistently
fighting for equality
[274]
and dignity for all people.
[277]
-I know that you are now, as we
speak of dignity for all people,
[280]
oftentimes that is the case
of having the money
[283]
to support your family,
put food on the table.
[286]
You were debating the $600
that's about to expire.
[289]
-Can you speak to why
that number is both economically
[293]
and morally sound?
[294]
And also, can you speak
to the argument that,
[297]
by giving Americans money,
we are disincentivizing them
[300]
to return to a workforce,
even though those jobs,
[303]
in most cases, aren't there?
[305]
-So, we have had
over 40 million people,
[309]
at one time or another
in the last few months,
[311]
lose their jobs.
Currently, we have a number
[314]
of about 17 million people
are currently unemployed.
[317]
Interestingly enough,
50% of African-American workers
[321]
are now unemployed
since the pandemic.
[324]
In June, Seth, 1/3 of Americans
were not able to pay
[329]
their housing costs,
rent or mortgage.
[332]
One in five mothers,
like I said earlier,
[334]
is describing her children under
the age of 12 as being hungry.
[338]
People are hurting in America,
hurting deeply.
[341]
And so what I am proposing
is that during the course
[345]
of this pandemic, until we have
seen our way out of it,
[349]
there should be a moratorium
on evictions,
[351]
a moratorium on foreclosures,
[354]
that there should be
a moratorium --
[356]
which means, basically,
a pause --
[358]
on turning off
people's utilities,
[360]
including their water service.
[362]
'Cause, by the way, people
can't pay their water bills
[365]
when they are not working,
and you need to wash your hands
[368]
to protect your family
from the virus.
[371]
So that's what my
R.E.L.I.E.F. Act calls for,
[373]
just to give people relief
and let them just --
[377]
to the extent that we can,
survive through the course
[380]
of this pandemic so that,
at the end of it,
[383]
they can get back on their feet.
[384]
We don't want people
to fall further
[386]
and further through the cracks.
[388]
Because at some point,
we need to recover.
[391]
And so let's see people
and carry them
[393]
through these days and these
months to get on the other side
[396]
and with dignity.
[398]
-I do --
Because obviously this is
[400]
a very serious topic
we're talking about,
[402]
but on a lighter side,
I do want to compliment --
[406]
The R.E.L.I.E.F. Act
is an acronym.
[408]
I want to make sure
I get this right.
[410]
Rent Emergencies Leave Impacts
on Evicted Families Act.
[414]
Who comes up with
these acronyms, Senator?
[416]
-[ Laughs ]
There's, like, a whole group
[419]
of people
who work on those things.
[421]
It's really --
It's kind of part of
[425]
the funny art
of the United States Congress.
[428]
Like, there are people
who spend a lot of time
[431]
coming up with these acronyms,
and they're often very good.
[435]
-And, I mean, I guess the goal
of these acronyms is,
[437]
you want to make it so that,
you know --
[441]
And this is
either party would do this.
[443]
You try to name it something
that you would
[445]
shame your colleagues
into voting against,
[447]
something like
the R.E.L.I.E.F. Act
[448]
or the C.A.R.E.S. Act or --
I mean, it seems to me
[451]
like you should try to make --
-The H.E.R.O.E.S. Act.
[453]
-The K.I.T.T.E.N. Act.
Just anything.
[456]
-Right.
No, right.
[457]
Like, I don't know that we have
yet had the Santa Claus act,
[460]
but I think you're raising
a fair point.
[463]
-Yeah.
-I think -- but it is also about
[466]
speaking to the values
that are at play
[468]
in the legislation and certainly
with the R.E.L.I.E.F. Act,
[471]
it is --
that is a very important value.
[474]
-Yes, that is a fair one.
The acronym does line up
[477]
with the core principles
behind the act.
[478]
-Yeah.
Yeah.
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