Tom Steyer in Interviews during 2017-2019
On Social Security:
Great countries don't break their major promises
Details on where Tom Steyer stands on Social Security have not been as readily available to date, in part because he has never held public office. In an emailed statement, Steyer called Social Security "a promise that America has made to our seniors."
"American workers have put money into the system for their whole working lives and are depending on it to be there for them when they need it,"
Steyer said. "Great countries don't break their major promises to their citizens.
"Under all circumstances, my administration will live up to the promise to protect
Social Security, including by raising the income cap." More details on Steyer's plan, including how much he would raise the income cap subject to Social Security payroll taxes, were not available.
Source: CNBC's Personal Finance series on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 14, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
America's brand in the world our most important protection
America's brand in the world is the most important protection we have. That even when we are not getting along with an Iranian regime or we're not getting along with Vladimir Putin, the point is that the people around the world know that we stand for
what is right, and that was true when President Obama was the president, is that around the world it didn't matter if we were disagreeing with the Iranian regime, everybody in the world knew we stood for what is right.
Source: CNN SOTU 2020 interview of presidential hopefuls
Jan 12, 2020
On Principles & Values:
I have been a grassroots organizer for 10 years
I have been a grass roots organizer for 10 years, and that is exactly what I am doing in the early primary states. I am going. I'm listening to people. I spend all my time in the kinds of meetings that I love which is taking questions and
asking questions and listening and learning. And so in fact that's what I think has happened is that I have a presence on the ground personally and our organization is doing the kind of the grass roots organizing that I have been doing for a decade.
Source: CNN SOTU 2020 interview of presidential hopefuls
Jan 12, 2020
On Civil Rights:
African-Americans waited for centuries for civil rights
Steyer appealed to the exasperation and skepticism expressed by some people. "Most Democratic elected officials are saying, 'It's inconvenient at this point to bring up [impeachment]," Steyer said. "Looking at a room with a lot of
African-Americans in it, we all know that the history was that people did not bring up the human rights and the civil rights for African-Americans for centuries because it was 'inconvenient' and not politically expedient."
Source: S.Kleiner in PublicIntegrity.org: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 23, 2018
On Crime:
Backs bill to release accused criminals who can't pay bail
Liberal billionaire Tom Steyer, who has been pushing for President Donald Trump's impeachment and recently spent $3 million to register Latino voters, also is working hard this week to resuscitate a California state bill that would end the process
of demanding thousands of dollars in cash bail from suspected criminals. The measure is aimed at trying to ensure that accused criminals awaiting trial do not remain in jail solely because they cannot afford to pay bail.
Source: S.Crabtree in FreeBeacon.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 10, 2018
On Families & Children:
Republicans have traded their family values for power
For all their talk of "family values," establishment Republicans have shown they only truly value one thing: power. And they will do anything to maintain their grip on it. Why else would Mitch McConnell refuse to hold a hearing for Supreme Court
nominee Merrick Garland? Why else would state legislators sell their soul and pass laws designed to stop African American voter participation? The GOP has abandoned its moral compass, and it's up to us to do what's right. We have to raise our voices.
Source: Facebook posting by Tom Steyer, 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 26, 2018
On War & Peace:
Trump foreign policy strategy is to react, not think
There is no Trump foreign policy. There is no thinking.
There is only political posturing and impulsive reaction. Weak and dangerous.
Source: Twitter posting by Tom Steyer, 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 26, 2018
On Gun Control:
Targets youth voter registration for pro gun control votes
In the wake of the Parkland school shooting, a billionaire Democratic donor is pledging $1 million to help young people register to vote with the hope that they will help elect pro-gun control politicians in the midterm elections. "Over the last
week, we've all had a chance to hear the powerful, thoughtful, important appeals from the Floridian high school students about the need for meaningful gun control," Tom Steyer says in a video posted to Twitter Thursday.
Source: CNN coverage of Twitter posting on 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 23, 2018
On Budget & Economy:
Trump's $1T deficit is historic fiscal mismanagement
If you follow the money to understand priorities and values, Trump's budget plan will make your hair stand on end. First, his infrastructure scam neglects crucial environmental protections for our air, water, and wildlife, while allowing the
billionaires in his cabinet & corporate allies to build dirty fossil fuel pipelines and toxic waste dumps that harm our communities. Putting our country more than a trillion dollars in the red every year is fiscal mismanagement of historic proportions.
Source: Twitter posting by Tom Steyer, 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 12, 2018
On Government Reform:
Looking for old fashioned values, character and transparency
Q: Has President Trump made the whole prospect of successful business figures in public office more or less enticing?STEYER: When I look at America today, what I am looking for is people
who are willing to be transparent, who have real principles, who go back to what I think of as basic American values. I'm looking for people of character to stand up for the same values that have characterized our country for hundreds of years.
Source: Scott Simon, NPR host, on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 10, 2018
On Jobs:
Closed tax loophole on out of state business, creating jobs
Tom Steyer is a California business leader, philanthropist and advanced energy advocate. In 2010, Tom teamed up with former Secretary of State George Shultz to defeat Proposition 23, an effort by out-of-state oil companies to dismantle
California's groundbreaking clean energy law. In 2012, Tom served as co-chair with Shultz for Yes on Proposition 39, which closed a tax loophole for out-of-state corporations and created jobs in California.
Source: K.McIntosh, HamiltonProject.org: 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jan 1, 2018
On Immigration:
$2.3M to recruit and train immigrant advocates
Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer, is stepping up support of immigrant rights with a $2.3-million donation to the University of California Immigrant Legal Services Center and seven other organizations. The gift from Steyer's nonprofit,
NextGen America, will support a national legal services network to help recruit and train more advocates for immigrants. About $90,000 will help the UC center hire a full-time immigration attorney for a year at UC Riverside, where Steyer visited Friday.
Source: Teresa Watanabe in L.A. Times on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Oct 20, 2017
On Tax Reform:
Tax reform bill keeps the rich happy but hurts middle class
"It turned out that the system that had benefited people like me, was in fact stacked against everyone else. It's why I left my investment firm and resolved to use my savings for the public good," Steyer says. "But here we are, 9 years later, and this
President and a Republican Congress are making a bad situation even worse.""They won't tell you that their so-called tax reform plan is really for the wealthy and big corporations while hurting the middle class. It blows up the deficit," he says.
Source: CNN coverage, "$10M ad buy" on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Oct 16, 2017
On Abortion:
Pro-choice is a litmus test for all support
Democratic donor and activist Tom Steyer says he won't support pro-life candidates in the 2018 elections. "We're pro-choice," the hedge fund manager told Politico during the leftwing Netroots Nation conference in Atlanta over the weekend.
"We do not work for a single candidate who is not pro-choice," he added. "I think people like to have litmus tests. We are explicitly pro-choice. We work a lot with Planned Parenthood, we work a lot with NARAL. We are absolutely committed to it."
Source: Susan Berry in Breitbart.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Aug 15, 2017
On Corporations:
Trump puts corporate interests ahead of people's interests
Q: During the confirmation hearings for Rex Tillerson and others, you took out attack ads.Steyer: Those guys disagree with us on almost every point. One of the things we strongly believe is that the people Trump nominated put corporate interests
ahead of American interests. We feel it's important to get citizens to be reminded of this common thread: that the new administration doesn't hate working against climate change, they don't hate science--they just love oil and gas profits.
Source: Nick Stockton in Wired.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 23, 2017
On Energy & Oil:
NextGen Climate: $170 million to advance renewable energy
Tom Steyer isn't your average California tree hugger. His organization, NextGen Climate, has spent $170 million over the past four years advocating for policies and politicians
that help the environment and advance renewable energy.
Source: Nick Stockton in Wired.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 23, 2017
On Energy & Oil:
Fears current policies will subsidize fossil fuel extraction
The issue is going to be, to an extent, what the new administration will do to subsidize fossil fuels--how they can make dirtier fuel, which is more expensive, more attractive.
Maybe that means leasing public lands at low prices. But the only thing they can really do to ensure long-term drilling is put in infrastructure, like pipelines.
Source: Nick Stockton in Wired.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 23, 2017
On Energy & Oil:
Supports Paris agreement to develop renewable technology
Q: Given what you know about how policy moves markets, what will we give up when Trump pulls the US out of the Paris agreement?Steyer: OK, so look at the Paris agreement: It's going to force the developed world to change
its energy sources. That means the US could be the leader in developing renewable technology for more than a billion people--a huge incoming market--who don't have electricity at all.
Source: Nick Stockton in Wired.com on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Mar 23, 2017
On Health Care:
We need transparency on all drug prices
Drug price transparency is a
key piece of any equitable health care system.
Source: Twitter posting by Tom Steyer, 2020 presidential hopeful
Feb 27, 2017
On Tax Reform:
Implement 1 percent annual wealth tax on America's richest
Along with filling in the holes of our Swiss cheese tax code, Congress should institute a new type of tax altogether: a 1 percent annual wealth tax on the top .1 percent of Americans. Here's what that would look like. If you are worth more
than $20 million, you'll pay a single penny on every dollar you have above that level. No deductions, no exemptions, no loopholes at all. Every .1 percenter pays.
Source: Steyer Op-Ed in USA Today by 2020 presidential hopefuls
Oct 22, 2016
On Education:
Opportunity Institute: cradle to career approach
The Opportunity Institute will take a "cradle to career" approach to improving education outcomes. It is also backed by philanthropist Tom Steyer, who is the organization's board chair. "Every child needs access to a quality education,
clean air and water, and economic security in order to realize their full potential," he said. "Yet today too many children grow up in poverty and without the basic building blocks˙of opportunity and prosperity."
Source: L.Fredberg in edsource.org on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Feb 17, 2016
On Energy & Oil:
AdWatch: Do even more with endless supply of wind and sun
Tom Steyer jumpstarted his campaign with this ad, running during the Democratic debate, that makes a pitch for clean energy. Steyer himself stars in it and repeats NextGen's demand that 2016 candidates embrace an energy-use goal of 50 percent renewables
by 2030 (and all of the Democrats have). What's odd about the ad is how much it sounds like he's running his own campaign for office.
Steyer is widely rumored to be considering a run for California governor, after he decided not to run for Senate in 2016. "I'm Tom Steyer," he says. "With bold leadership and an endless supply of wind and sun, we can do even more.
The goal is 50 percent by 2030."
He concludes the ad by saying, "So what are we waiting for?"
We're waiting for Steyer to announce his run, apparently.
Source: The New Republic magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Jul 2, 2015
On Energy & Oil:
Proposed 10% on oil extraction to support university system
Tom Steyer wants to bail out California's troubled university system with a 10 percent oil extraction tax. The proposal is to place a 10% tax on oil extraction.
It is expected the tax would generate about $2 billion annually. The last attempt to enact such a tax, Proposition 87 in 2006, went down because opponents made the case the new tax would lead to higher gas prices.
Source: Human Events magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 26, 2015
On Energy & Oil:
Fought gutting state greenhouse gas reduction law
Steyer jumped into politics in a big way by funding a campaign against California Proposition 23. Had it passed, that ballot initiative would have gutted the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, California's greenhouse gas reduction plan.
Steyer told a Forbes reporter he "got pissed" that no one was "stepping up" to fight back, so he dropped a couple million to advertise against the out of state oil lobby. In the end Steyer's money helped. Prop 23 was defeated.
Source: Counterpunch magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Apr 9, 2013
Page last updated: Nov 01, 2021