Episode 404 | Going Far Together

| “Poverty is 100% a policy choice.” - Fatima Goss Graves

This show opens with snippets of powerful speeches from two congresspeople who have a strong history of protecting and highlighting the invisible Americans who are the subject of this podcast and our nonprofit work. 

First, we highlight and honor the 25-hour filibuster from New Jersey Senator Cory Booker earlier this month. 

“Bedrock commitments are being broken. Unnecessary hardships are being borne by Americans of all backgrounds.”

Then we bring you words from friend of the podcast Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who reintroduced The American Family Act to the House of Representatives this week. She calls it “an antidote to child poverty” in a speech on April 9, urging her colleagues to pass this act and cement their commitment to ending child poverty. 

Discussions on the Hands Off Protests

Carol talks to Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, president of MomsRising (and the Spanish-speaking community MamásConPoder), and Fatima Goss Graves, CEO of the National Women's Law Center

Kristin talks about mobilizing her Nana and the other people at her senior living center, and Fatima seconds the amazing impact of these protests that took place in big cities and small towns all across the country.

Don’t Look Away

Fatima and Kristin want people to pay attention to: 

  1. The “slash and burn” across the federal government, particularly in agencies designed to support families and children
  2. Upcoming and ongoing efforts to secure trillions of dollars in tax cuts for billionaires

These two women on the front lines want to remind listeners that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that we must continue our actions: protesting, calling senators and representatives at the federal and state level, and keeping our focus on what is happening. 

Fatima talks about the work that the National Women’s Law Center is doing to track the government agency layoffs that have been happening over the last few months. 

The National Women’s Law Center has a variety of resources to help you reach out to your representatives and stay up to date on the work the court systems are doing during this chaotic time. They and their organizations are part of the Gender Equity Coalition

Kristin urges our listeners to “Take a news break, but don’t take a break from being active in organizations.” 

Fatima reminds us all of the old adage “You can go fast by yourself, but you can go far together.”

It’s not too early to plan for 2026

While there’s so much going on right now, we have to look ahead for the midterm elections

  • 15 seats in the House of Representatives had a five-point differential 
  • Winning just 3 seats in the House of Representatives would flip the House

Closing the show with Sen. Booker and a reminder to “Get in good trouble”

“Let's be bolder in America with a vision that inspires with hope that starts with the people of the United States of America. That's how this country started. We the People. Let's get in good trouble. My friend, Madam President, I yield the floor.”

Coming soon.

Senator Cory Booker

New Jersey Senator

Cory Booker believes that the American dream isn’t real for anyone unless it’s within reach of everyone. Booker has dedicated his life to fighting for those who have been left out, left behind, or left without a voice.

Booker grew up in northern New Jersey and received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University. At Stanford, Booker played varsity football, volunteered for the campus peer counseling center, and wrote for the student newspaper. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and went on to study at the University of Oxford, and then Yale Law School, where he graduated in 1997.

After graduating law school, Booker moved to Newark and started a nonprofit organization to provide legal services for low-income families, helping tenants take on slumlords. In 1998, Booker moved into the Brick Towers housing project in Newark, where he lived until its demolition in 2006. Booker still lives in Newark’s Central Ward today, where the median household income is less than $15,000.

At 29, Booker was elected to the Newark City Council, where he challenged the city’s entrenched political machine and fought to improve living conditions for city residents, increase public safety, and reduce crime.

Starting in 2006, Booker served as Newark’s mayor for more than seven years. During his tenure, the city entered its largest period of economic growth since the 1960s. In addition, overall crime declined and the quality of life for residents improved due to initiatives such as more affordable housing, new green spaces and parks, increased educational opportunities, and more efficient city services.

In October 2013, Booker won a special election to represent New Jersey in the United States Senate. In November 2014, Senator Booker was re-elected to a full six-year term.

As New Jersey’s senior Senator, Cory Booker has brought an innovative and consensus-building approach to tackling some of the most difficult problems facing New Jersey and our country. He has emerged as a national leader in the effort to fix our broken criminal justice system and end mass incarceration, helping craft the most sweeping set of criminal justice reforms in a generation, the First Step Act, which became law in December 2018. Booker has also worked to reform America’s broken food system, address our nation’s nutrition crisis, and end food insecurity.

Booker sits on the Judiciary Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro

Congresswoman, Connecticut’s Third Congressional District

Rosa DeLauro is the Congresswoman from Connecticut’s Third Congressional District, which stretches from the Long Island Sound and New Haven, to the Naugatuck Valley and Waterbury. Rosa serves as Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee and sits on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, and she is the Ranking Member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, where she oversees our nation’s investments in education, health, and employment.

At the core of Rosa’s work is her fight for America’s working families. Rosa believes that we must raise the nation’s minimum wage, give all employees access to paid sick days, allow employees to take paid family and medical leave, and ensure equal pay for equal work. Every day, Rosa fights for legislation that would give all working families an opportunity to succeed.

Rosa believes that our first priority must be to strengthen the economy and create good middle class jobs. She supports tax cuts for working and middle class families, fought to expand the Child Tax Credit to provide tax relief to millions of families, and introduced the Young Child Tax Credit to give families with young children an economic lift.

Rosa has also fought to stop trade agreements that lower wages and ships jobs overseas, while also protecting the rights of employees and unions. She believes that we need to grow our economy by making smart innovative investments in our infrastructure, which is why she introduced legislation to create a National Infrastructure bank.

Rosa is a leader in fighting to improve and expand federal support for child nutrition and for modernizing our food safety system. She believes that the U.S. should have one agency assigned the responsibility for food safety, rather than the 15 different agencies that lay claim to different parts of our food system. Rosa fights against special interests, like tobacco and e-cigarettes, which seek to skirt our public health and safety rules.

As the Ranking Member dealing with appropriations for Labor, Health, Human Services, and Education, Rosa is determined to increase support for education and make college more affordable for more American students and their families. She is also fighting to protect the Affordable Care Act so that all Americans have access to affordable care. Rosa strongly believes in the power of biomedical research and she is working to increase funding so that we can make lifesaving breakthroughs in science and medicine.

Rosa believes that we have a moral obligation to our nation’s veterans and their families, and her concern for these heroes extends to both their physical and mental well-being. Rosa supports a transformation in how the Department of Veterans Affairs is funded, including advanced appropriations for health services, to ensure its fiscal soundness; and she successfully championed legislation to guarantee that troops deploying to combat theaters get the mental health screening they need both before and after deployment, as well as championed legislation that now provides assistance to today’s Post-9/11 veterans choosing to pursue on-the-job training and apprenticeship programs.

Rosa belongs to 62 House caucus groups and is the co-chair of the Baby Caucus, the Long Island Sound Caucus, and the Food Safety Caucus.

Soon after earning degrees from Marymount College and Columbia University, Rosa followed her parents’ footsteps into public service, serving as the first Executive Director of EMILY's List, a national organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in elected office; Executive Director of Countdown '87, the national campaign that successfully stopped U.S. military aid to the Nicaraguan Contras; and as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd. In 1990, Rosa was elected to the House of Representatives, and she has served as the Congresswoman from Connecticut’s Third Congressional District ever since.

Rosa is married to Stanley Greenberg. Their children—Anna, Kathryn, and Jonathan Greenberg—all are grown and pursuing careers. Rosa and Stan have six grandchildren, Rigby, Teo, Sadie, Jasper, Paola and Gus.

Fatima Goss Graves

CEO of the National Women's Law Center

Fatima Goss Graves is president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center and president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund. She is also a co-founder of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund.

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner

Co-Founder of MomsRising

Kristin is the Executive Director/CEO and Co-Founder of MomsRising and Board President of the MomsRising Education Fund. She has been involved in public policy and grassroots engagement for more than two decades and has received numerous accolades for her work. She is also an award-winning author of books and articles, frequent public speaker, media contributor, and host of the radio program “Breaking Through (Powered by MomsRising).” Kristin is also a former political director, policy analyst, and political strategy consultant for non-profit organizations and foundations.