WASHINGTON — In a speech that wouldn’t have been out of place on the campaign trail, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock outlined the areas where he thinks Congress could be doing a better job addressing the rising cost of goods and concerns about the economy he hears from Georgians all the time.
The Atlanta Democrat said during a speech Thursday at the headquarters for the liberal Center for American Progress that he worries these concerns are leading to something darker: anger and frustration that he equated to a chronic illness in the American people.
“Decades of this low-grade fever left untreated has brought us to where we are today,” he said. “A nation in crisis. A nation that has become disconnected from the values that make us who we are. A nation where we no longer see our neighbors as crucial to our own success, but as competitors in a competition for scarce resources.”
Warnock, who also serves as senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, has often spoken about how his work in ministry and in politics are intertwined. He said he believes voters’ angst and worries have been made worse under President Donald Trump. Lawmakers should be willing to consider unorthodox ideas to ease the “spiritual crisis,” he said.
Examples floated by Warnock included requiring large corporations to share profits with their employees in the form of bonuses or pay increases. He also suggested the federal government manufacture generic prescription medicines in-house or build affordable housing to lower costs and increase accessibility.
“We can also apply the same logic to child care, to elder care and the things that machines can’t do,” the senator said. “I believe that public policy is a letter we write to our children about the kind of nation we want to be.”
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