Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at Arizona Reproductive Freedom Event
VP Kamala Harris’ first public event this week was her participation in a roundtable discussion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Mon. Apr. 8) announcing the Biden-Harris’ latest initiative to cancel student loan debt, hearing from a group of public service workers about the impact of the administration’s student loan debt relief on their lives. Already planning on visiting Tucson, Arizona (Fri. Apr. 12) to address the administration’s further path to cancel student loan debt, anticipating a ruling from the Arizona Supreme Court on whether to uphold its 160 year old law outlawing abortions, when it ruled in favor (Tues. Apr. 9), VP Harris directed her team to make the event focused on abortion.
Monday (Apr. 8) was a full solar eclipse, and of course, VP Harris took time to celebrate the occasion with young students before making her way to the roundtable discussion:
Samples of remarks from participants in Vice President Kamala Harris’ roundtable discussion on student debt relief, held at Cramp Elementary School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Mon. Apr. 8.) Please watch the full video to see the life changing impact for these women who have been serving their communities for years at high personal costs.:
Tonya Cabeza (school-based teacher leader at Cramp Elementary School): I was doing what moms do in the kitchen: making dinner, checking emails. And I open up an email that said, “Congratulations, your loans have been forgiven.”
It was 40,000-plus dollars in student loans just gone - zero. My life had changed, and what I was able to give to my children had changed.
I am the first in may family to go to college. There wasn’t a time that I didn’t want to be a teacher. I needed to go to college and graduate in order to do this.
I was 22 years old — graduated from college. I had to take out a loan for my entire amount of my undergrad. And then to continue teaching and get that permanent certification, I had to do more schooling, in which I had to take out more loans.
But, despite that, I did press on. I get to come here every day and work with these students, and this is my work home. I love working here, and the loans gave me the opportunity to do that.
But now that they’re forgiven, my eldest daughter is now in college — also going down the education path — I’m able to assist her in a way that my parents weren’t able to assist me.
Beth Whelan (school nurse at Richmond Elementary School): I’m a school nurse at Richmond Elementary School in the Port Richmond section of the city. It’s an underserved community that I work in.
I was hired under an emergency school nurse certification, so I needed to pursue further coursework in order to be able to continue practice.
Unfortunately, I accrued a lot of student loan debt at this time, coupled with my undergrad debt that I still had, I was paying hundreds of dollars a month, barely making ends meet.
I knew I could make more money if I returned to hospital nursing, but I really believed in the importance of school nursing, so I stuck with it.
Recently, I lost my father. I remember a conversation that I had with him shortly before he died. He asked me if was okay financially, as he would help me from time to time. I had just gotten word that all of my $65,000 of student loan debt had been forgiven. And I told him that. I saw a lot of relief in his face, as I was not going to have that burden on me anymore.
Kelli Gray (social work services manager at the Philadelphia Department of Human Services): My student debt story is like everybody else’s. I knew I wanted a better life for myself and my two wonderful twin daughters, one of whom, Monique, is here with me today. And I knew education was that path. So, I took a risk, and I took out debt. I got associate’s, a bachelor’s, a master’s, and I wanted a PhD. But, ultimately, I had to stop taking my PhD classes because I couldn’t afford any more debt.
Giving direct care to children is beyond important to me. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, I know that children need an advocate and someone who sees them, and I can recognize what they are going through when they don’t have a voice.
My daughter graduated from Spelman. I had to ask help for a parent PLUS loan.
My loans were $350,000.
On February 23rd of this year, I took my work — my papers, because I take it to work to shred. I opened up my letter. I was going to shred it. It was from MOHELA. And it said, “Congratulations. Thank you for being in public service. Your loans have been forgiven.”
After the roundtable discussion, VP Harris made a special appearance at the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee Dinner:
Here’s the full video of her speech, which is well worth watching. I just could not stand the preview picture from YouTube, featuring the fg — won’t post his face here.
Tuesday (Apr. 9) “Madam Vice President”, VP Harris’ previously recorded podcast with Jen and Pumps of “I’ve Had It” was aired. It’s a great interview. Check it out:
Also on Tuesday, VP Harris met with families of Americans taken hostage by Hamas:
Wednesday (Apr. 10) Vice President Harris held a press call announcing new action by the Biden-Harris administration to implement Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and expanding firearm background checks and closing the “gun-show loophole”. This is the largest and most significant expansion of the background check requirement for gun purchases since the passage of the Brady Bill in 1993. Both Wednesday and Thursday, VP Harris participated in events honoring the State visit of Rime Minister Kishida of Japan (more in the comments).
April 11-18 is Black Maternal Health Week and Vice President Harris did a telephone interview with Willie Moore, Jr. on his radio show, not only about Black Maternal Heath Week but a range of subjects including reproductive freedoms and student loan forgiveness. Here’s a good article from Essence Here's What The Biden Harris Administration Is Doing To Combat The Black Maternal Heath Crisis.
And for this week’s grand finale, Vice President Kamala Harris, in rapid response mode, held a campaign rally in Tucson Arizona (Friday, Apr.12), blasting the fg and the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate an 1864 abortion ban. She was on fire and her whole speech was packed full of punches.
Here’s the entire speech. Savor it!:
VP Harris’s remarks start at 3:50 minutes.
Reminder: VP Kamala Harris Roundup is a weekly series, published on Tuesdays at 8 AM ET. For daily updates, see my MVP Kamala Harris comments in the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup.
VOTE and GOTV! “When we fight, we win!” — VP Kamala Harris
