All right.
We're continuing our coverage at South by Southwest in Austin,
Texas with our own Michele Castelli O on the ground.
Michelle catching up with Texas Democratic Congressman
Greg Kassar at the politics stage at South
by and a working families party events
asking about important issues facing his community,
including the lack of access to abortion.
Take a look.
We're standing right now in Austin,
Texas where abortion is completely banned for folks from my district.
They might have to drive 500 miles to Wichita
Kansas to get to the closest open abortion clinic.
There's also a law,
a bounty hunter law that has now allowed people to sue folks for helping
their friends get access to things like abortion medication from out of state.
So we're in a really terrible position and Texas right now shows how
this myth that with time everything gets better in this country isn't true.
In fact, things have gotten worse.
But there's also real reason for hope here in Texas
because abortion rights for the country started in Texas.
In fact, an Austinite
Sarah Weddington when she was in her twenties,
sued District attorney Henry Wade
and won the case
Roe V Wade here in Texas and brought abortion rights to the whole country.
So people organizing against this abortion ban across the country are
doing such important work.
But here in Texas,
it's up to us who brought abort rights to this
country in the first place to bring them back.
Now, we're seeing we're in the,
we're hearing about layoffs every day in every sector of what you
think can be done here in America to protect American jobs.
We finally have a revival of the trade union movement and the
union rights movement here in Austin where South by Southwest is happening.
We have the first new nurses union
in generations in Texas,
the first hotel workers union
in Austin's history.
Unionizing many of these hotels that folks are coming and staying in so that
money doesn't just go to big hotel corporations or big hospital corporations,
but back to everyday workers.
We have the first strike ever in Google's history happening
right here with the youtube music workers who are demanding
fair pay and to be able to keep their jobs and not be pushed out of their jobs.
The only thing that has been able to balance inequality
in this country's history in a really powerful way has been
the union movement.
And it's so important that now whether you're black, white or brown young or old,
the union moving is researching
and that can change our economy for the
better regardless of who's in the White House,
regardless of who controls Congress.
That's why I as a member of Congress and working to be there
on the picket line alongside my constituents that are striking for better wages.
Because that way,
this huge economic growth that we see in Texas doesn't Just go to the top 1% of 1%,
but actually goes to the people that are building this economy.
Now, we're also seeing the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
A lot of people are concerned about their money at this time.
What do you think Congress's role should be in protecting American dollars?
We need to make sure we protect the people
that are most vulnerable from this bank collapse.
Make sure folks aren't losing their jobs and get
their paycheck and then holding responsible those executives that
lobbied for the deregulation of banks that we saw
in 2018 under Donald Trump when he was president.
So we need to take a really hard look at what executives at SVB Bank were lobbying for.
We need to hold those corporations accountable and make sure that people's dollars
are safe when they deposit in the bank and make sure that the payroll
is safe for people because we know that a lot of folks that work in tech companies,
for example, aren't actually making the big bucks.
We want to make sure that those folks that are working class and middle
class employees are able to pay their mortgage and able to pay their rent.
And if somebody is making millions of dollars a year, that should be our big concern.
We should be focused on regulating those banks and taking care of everyday people.
Now, you are endorsed by Working Families Party.
What does this endorsement mean to you?
W F P?
The Working Families Party is this incredible organization
that makes sure that we prioritize people running for
the Democratic Party nominations to be a part
of Democratic Party that are for working people.
Because the Democratic Party um has, you know, we want to turn Texas blue,
but we don't want to turn Texas blue just for the sake of turning it blue.
We want to change Texas for the better for working people for too long.
This state has functioned
for the top 1% of 1%. We want to make sure that it functions for the other 99%.
We want to flip Texas not to have power,
but to actually make things better for everyday people.
We want to pull folks out of poverty, create more justice in our communities,
tackle the climate crisis, restore voting rights and civil rights.
And the Working Families Party is committed to doing that by
making sure we take back power from the right wing Republicans,
but make sure a new Democratic majority is an actual working families majority.
Our thanks to Congressman Greg Cassar with our own Michelle Castillo Leo in Austin,
Texas at South by Southwest.