We’re a big state with big challenges. Each morning we explain the top issues and how Californians are trying to solve them.One weekly email, all the Golden State newsGet the news that matters to all Californians. Start every week informed.U.S. Senate candidates Rep. Barbara Lee, Steve Garvey, Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Katie Porter during a televised debate at KRON4 studio in San Francisco on Feb. 12, 2024.
Unlike the three Democrats, Garvey, again, did not come to the “spin room” after the debate to answer questions from reporters. Lee, lagging in fundraising and polling, was largely unscathed and did not trade any blows with other candidates. “The problem is that the workers who are creating the value, who are hard at work, are not receiving enough to live on while Washington insiders continue to give huge tax breaks to the wealthy,” Porter said.All Democrats have vowed to ban members of Congress from trading stocks and to overturn Citizens United — the landmark Supreme Court decision in 2010 that prohibits the government from regulating labor union and corporation spending on politics.
Also today, End Citizens United — the advocacy group championing the pledge — released its 2024 legislative scorecard and gave all three Democrats an A+. In last year’s scorecard, Porter was the only one fully aligned with the group’s policy positions,What did not come up at the debate was on the issue of earmarks — a process members of Congress use to request federal funding for home districts. Porter, who has vowed to eliminate earmarks, argues the process breeds corruption.
“Mr. Garvey, you can say the minimum wage is fine where it is, but you want to know why people are living on the street? It’s because we are paying the poverty wages,” Schiff said.“These are three career politicians who have failed the people,” he said. “You keep talking about ‘It should be higher.’ Why haven’t you done something about it?”The candidates also continue to split on the Gaza War, as casualties rise and calls for a permanent ceasefire grow in recent months.