Steyer joined FOX 11 to identify the main problems driving up costs and how he’ll fix them as governor
LOS ANGELES— In case you missed it, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and climate advocate Tom Steyer appeared on FOX 11 this week to lay out a comprehensive plan to tackle California’s affordability crisis, arguing that “Californians can’t afford to live in California.” In the interview, Steyer detailed a five-part strategy to lower costs across housing, energy, health care, and more, while taking on corporate special interests and delivering direct relief to working families.
On his plans to lower the cost of housing and energy bills:
“Housing is the biggest part of everybody's budget at the end of the month. And I have a plan to build a million houses. [I also have a plan detailing] how we're going to lower our electric costs that are twice as high as the average in the United States. I have a plan to introduce competition to our electric monopolies and drive down prices by at least 25 percent.”
On health care being a pain point for too many California families:
“Health care is eating everybody. It's eating every family. It's eating every business, and it's eating the budget of the state of California. I'm a strong believer in single payer.”
On making Donald Trump’s rich oil friends pay for high gas prices:
“We're talking about really high gas prices, where basically Donald Trump's war is taking money from the pockets of cash strapped Californians and sticking it in the pockets of very rich oil companies who absolutely didn't earn it. And my point is, let's have a windfall profits tax and take that money back and send it directly to the people of California, not through the government. Let's just cut a check so people can get paid back from the disastrous impact of Donald Trump's war.”
On sending the bill to corporate polluters for their environmental and economic damage:
“Let's let the polluters pay. Second of all, let's make sure we take environmental justice into account. Upfront, the bad placement of toxic roads and plants, has been in low income, Black and Brown communities for as long as there's been a California. We need to redress that.
“Let's deploy the heck out of all the clean technology. Wind and solar and batteries are much cheaper than fossil fuels. [...] The technology is here. Most of it is California technology. Let's build the companies to lead the world with our own technology.”
On standing up to Trump and fighting back against ICE:
“Clearly, ICE is a bad actor. I believe it should be abolished. [...] ICE is, in my mind, a criminal organization from top to bottom, that doesn't obey the law. [...] They're there to terrorize and break down our society, and we need to stand together against them, both legally and in terms of how we talk and being in the street. It's a movement. Saturday is No Kings. We have to be organized to show the world.”
On what sets him apart from the rest of the field:
“Our budget absolutely needs to be addressed, but so do so many of the problems that you're talking about, where there are chronic problems that are not being addressed, and we need a change agent from outside the system, like me, I've been working for 14 years as an advocate and pushing on the corporate special interest to change them. I've always beaten them, and that's what I intend to do as governor.”
You can watch his full interview here.
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