-One of the ways that you have spoken about paying
for this bill is, of course, taxing billionaires more.
-Yes. -Are you worried --
[ Cheers and applause ]
Bear with me here. Are you worried,
if you tax them too much, they will stop going to space?
[ Laughter ]
-You know, it is something
that I've never even once worried about.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, okay.
-I can't even make up a good lie about that.
Are you kidding me? I mean, for these guys
to shoot off into space, people who are paying
less in taxes -- right? -- than public schoolteachers,
than firefighters,
than folks who are working hard every day,
and then to say, "Thank y'all, because the way
I was able to do this was by not paying taxes,"
I mean, could we be more overt
about what is broken in this country?
-It does strike me... [ Cheers and applause ]
...it is very overt.
It's not much -- They make it real --
-This is, like, not subtle. -No, it's true.
-This is like when -- a cowboy hat on Lex Luthor.
-Here's how not-subtle it is. They count it down.
They want you to see it so bad, they count it down.
-Exactly. -They're like, "10! 9!"
They're like, "Look!" -Right, right, right, uh-huh.
-This is very exciting. You wrote a book.
-I did. -You have, obviously --
You've written books for adults.
-Yeah. -And I'm curious,
is it just a super breeze when you're writing for kids?
Be honest. -It's just different.
-Yeah. That's a very good -- I mean, again, these kids,
they can't vote. You can...
[ Laughter ]
...say what you want about them. They can't vote.
-No, no. It's just different.
I actually -- since I'd never written a book for children,
I actually took photocopy paper.
And I knew what the story line was.
I had the plot down... -That's good.
...and what I wanted to say,
and so I'd write it and tape it on pages,
because you need the pages to turn.
It's got to be a real page-turner, you know?
[ Laughter ] And it was fun, and I loved it.
I wrote this because I did it
about a zillion thousand pinkie promises
with little girls and big girls and senior girls
and brothers and daddies and dogs.
[ Laughter ]
-This, we should note -- all pre-COVID, right?
-All pre-COVID. -If you came at me
with a pinkie right now, I would...
-Yeah, exactly. [ Laughter ]
But I really wanted to think about
what all those pinkie promises were about.
And I wrote this -- You know, I ran for president
and I lost. And I wrote this
right after that, because I really wanted
to say, the most important thing is,
girls hear a lot about what they can't do.
Sometimes it's said out loud.
Most of the time anymore, it's said quietly, but there.
And what I really wanted to do
is say, "What matters is. you get in the fight."
Yeah, I ran for president. I lost.
But ask me how sorry I am that I ran.
Not one bit, not one bit. [ Cheers and applause ]
And that's what this is about.
-I, um... -It's true.
-So, I want to play a little quiz with you,
see how well you know your own writing.
-Okay. [ Light laughter ]
-I'm gonna read lines from your writing.
It's either gonna be some lines from the book...
-This book? -This book.
-"Pinkie Promises." -...or some of your
academic writings on bankruptcy. [ Laughter ]
-Okay. Don't make this too hard.
And I just have to pick? -You just have to say,
"That's from 'Pinkie Promises,"
or, "That's from my bankruptcy writing."
[ Laughter ] -Okay. Okay, I'm ready.
-"For every party helped by recognition of a claim
that a debtor would have delayed long enough under state law
to escape payment entirely,
and for every noncontract claim,
it was able to collect a pro rata share
that would have been otherwise
practically impossible to collect,
there is some other party who lost the benefits
enjoyed in the hierarchical system of state law."
[ Laughter ]
-Okay. Like, I'm really embarrassed.
That came from my not-"Pinkie Promises" writing.
-That's right. -Okay.
-Do you want to try one more? -Oh, yeah. Sure.
[ Light laughter ]
-"Monday was Polly's first day at a new school."
[ Laughter ]
[ cheers and applause ]
Even I knew that one. Oh, no, no, no.
Did you get tested? Did you pass?
-I did. -Okay, I'll do one.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Senator Elizabeth Warren, everybody!
"Pinkie promises" is available now.