The Leslie Marshall Show

Renowned Economist Proposes Free Retraining for Higher Paying Jobs; Harris-Trump Debate Preview

Leslie is first joined by Dr. Robert Shapiro, Chairman of Sonecon, an economic advisory firm and a Senior Fellow of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

The two discuss his latest piece for 'Washington Monthly' titled, "Kamala Harris Still Has Time for a Big New Idea in Economic Policy."

Dr. Shapiro explains how the fading prospect of upward mobility for Americans without college degrees is a major issue that concerns millions of voters.

He proposes that one way to help people raise their incomes is by offering free retraining for higher-paying jobs.

He also details how the plan would work, and how much it would cost (which may surprise you!).

The full article is available at www.sonecon.com/blog, along with all of Dr. Shapiro's other writing.

Then, Leslie is joined by Brad Bannon, who runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. 

The two preview tonight's presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

This includes discussions about whether V.P. Harris will deliver the policy message voters say they want to hear, which version of Trump shows up onstage, abortion, the Economy, and more.

Dr. Shapiro brings broad knowledge and experience in economics and politics based on his government service and decades of conducting analysis and providing advice to U.S. presidents, senators, representatives and governors, as well as foreign leaders and senior executives at numerous Fortune 100 companies. His views are respected in the United States and around the world, and he has helped develop numerous policies that affect investment, taxation, regulation, trade and government spending here and abroad.

His website is www.Sonecon.comm and his handle on X is @RobShapiro.

You can hear Brad guest host for Leslie each Monday from 3-4pm ET with his own program, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon.'
Brad also writes a political column each week for 'The Hill.'
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His handle on X is @BradBannon and on Facebook is at @DeadlineDCWithBradBannon.

Challenges to SAVE Student Loan Plan, Latest on Student Debt Cancellation

The Student Debt Crisis Center takes over the airwaves of 'the Leslie Marshall Show,' where they detail the latest challenges to the SAVE plan, why millions of folks don't have to make monthly payments right now, and what's going on with the latest student debt cancellation plan. 
They also alert folks of upcoming deadlines and who benefits from taking action.

This episode's SDCC hosts are President and Founder, Natalia Abrams, Managing Director, Sabrina Calazans, and Special Projects & 'Free the Degree' Director, Sabrina Ashley Cereceres.

The Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that centers the needs and voices of borrowers, and partners with allies, to impact public policy and end the student debt crisis.
The SDCC website is StudentDebtCrisis.org and their handle on X, Instagram and Facebook is @DebtCrisisOrg. 

Children on the Front Lines of Justice: Report Sexual Abuse and Survive the Criminal Trial

Leslie is joined by Author Eliza Sultan and District Attorney of New Mexico's 13th Judicial District, Barbara Romo.
The pair are here to talk about Eliza's book, "Children on the Front Lines of Justice: Report Sexual Abuse and Survive the Criminal Trial," which D.A. Romo wrote the foreword in.

"Children On the Front Lines of Justice” is the story of a brave brother and sister, May and Charlie, who testify against a family member at his criminal trial. They must be brave and tell the truth about sexual abuse. The story is narrated from the children’s perspective. The objective of the book is to help children, parents, caregivers, guardians and anyone working with these survivors to have an idea of what to expect- when faced with having to testify. Any child from age 2-18 faced with having to testify at a criminal trial could benefit from this story of valiance and justice.
The book is also a resource that prosecutors, advocates, and anyone who is touched by the justice system could share with families facing this experience. Eliza and her kids hope that the book will help children and their families know that they are not alone in their experience. 
The book is available on Amazon at this link:https://a.co/d/0eCnTSW

Eliza Sultan is an author, writer of op-eds, legislative advocate, self-described pain-in-the-activist, and mother of two children. She became active on issues of child testimony reform and child welfare after her family experienced first-hand the toll that participating in the criminal justice process takes on a family, particularly the issue of children testifying in open-court in front of someone who harmed them.
Inspired by the courage of her children, Eliza began advocating to bring awareness to these issues and push for legislative and policy change that reflects the reality of the trauma that the judicial process itself exacts on families.
In addition to her book, Eliza continues her advocacy through speaking engagements and consultation with policy leaders across the country, and she anticipates expanding her advocacy into other areas of the justice system that impact children.
You can follow her on Instagram where her handle is @ESultanAdvocacy.

Barbara Romo is District Attorney of New Mexico's 13th Judicial District. She’s been practicing law in New Mexico for over 24 years, having worked for eight years in the 1st Judicial District Attorney’s Office prosecuting a variety of felonies and heading up the Felony Crimes Against Children Unit, exclusively prosecuting felony crimes against children and homicides.
As a prosecutor, Barbara has prosecuted every type of felony and has tried over 100 cases before juries specializing in crimes against children, sexual assault and homicides. She has worked for the New Mexico Victim's Rights Project as a victims' rights attorney, providing legal representation to crime victims as well as providing training and assistance to prosecutors, law enforcement, and other agencies who assist victims of crime.
Barbara has been much lauded receiving the Community Service Prosecutor  of the year award in 2018,  Prosecutor of the Year in 2016, Rookie Prosecutor of the Year in 1997 all from the New Mexico District Attorney Association.

Teamsters President Talks Unionizing Workers at Amazon, United Airlines and Costco

Leslie is joined by Sean O'Brien, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The two discuss the Teamsters winning a groundbreaking joint employer decision against Amazon, United Airlines Teamsters rallying nationwide for a strong new contract, and Costco fleet drivers overwhelmingly authorizing a strike.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit www.Teamster.org for more information. Follow them on X and Instagram, where their handle is @Teamsters, and “like” them on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/Teamsters.
Sean's handle on X is @TeamsterSOB.

Project 2025: The Plan To Seize Power by Gutting America’s System of Checks and Balances

Leslie is joined by Joe Radosevich.  He is the Vice President for Campaigns and Outreach in the Advocacy and Outreach Department at the Center for American Progress. He works across teams to advance the organization’s priorities with external partners and elected leaders.

Leslie and Joe discuss the extensive piece he co-wrote with Will Ragland, titled, "Project 2025: The Plan To Seize Power by Gutting America’s System of Checks and Balances."

Here is the beginning of the eye-opening guide:

"The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is a road map for how a new far-right presidential administration can take over the country. The project contains four components: a 920-page book with far-right policy proposals, a personnel database of loyalists ready to replace tens of thousands of civil servants, a private online training center, and an unpublished plan for the first 180 days of a new administration.

Many of the proposals in Project 2025 are sweeping and would eliminate fundamental personal freedoms while cutting the take-home pay of millions of Americans. Unsurprisingly, Project 2025’s policies to increase taxes on the middle class, allow corporations to stop paying workers overtime, implement a national abortion ban, and raise the retirement age for Social Security are wildly unpopular.

That is why the most striking aspect of Project 2025 is a new strategy to gut the system of checks and balances that has long protected Americans’ personal freedoms. This strategy would concentrate power in the hands of the president—and set in motion a plan to flood the civil service with far-right loyalists to seize control of independent agencies. It is a playbook written for an authoritarian administration. This new vision would make it even harder for the American people to have a say in their government or oppose policies they disagree with.

The scope of Project 2025 is extensive. An ongoing series from the Center for American Progress unpacks specific proposals in Project 2025, from raising the cost of prescription drugs and restricting access to contraception, to slashing funding for early childhood and K-12 education. There are proposals to end civil rights protections, exploit the most vulnerable Americans, stop safeguards that protect clean drinking water, halt action to combat the climate crisis, and open the door to an unprecedented level of corruption at the expense of the public. Taken together, Project 2025 is a plan for a presidency focused on consolidating and holding on to power.

Many of the policies listed in the public 920-page agenda can be grouped into three core areas:
    - Gut the U.S. system of checks and balances to consolidate power.
    - Take away Americans’ fundamental personal freedoms.
   -  Raise costs on the middle class to give the wealthy billions."

Read the rest at this link: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025-the-plan-to-seize-power-by-gutting-americas-system-of-checks-and-balances/

Before joining American Progress, Joe served in a variety of senior roles for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. As Governor Shapiro’s Chief of Staff, Joe led the combined legal and communications strategy that successfully defended Pennsylvania’s election results in 2020, and expanded the role of the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office into labor and environmental crimes.
The website for The Center for American Progress Action Fund is www.AmericanProgressAction.org.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Talks Presidential Election

Leslie is joined by Fred Redmond, Secretary-Treasurer of the 60 unions and 12.5 million members of the AFL-CIO. On June 13, 2022, he was unanimously elected to the position as the highest ranking African American officer in the history of America’s labor movement.

He first discusses with Leslie why, as President, Donald Trump was a disaster for workers and their unions.
Then, Fred details that the AFL-CIO supports Kamala Harris and Tim Walz because they are fighting every day to lift up working people.
Next, he explains how the 'Blue Wall' has been built by organized labor.
Finally, Fred recaps how he and his fellow Union leaders championed Vice President Kamala Harris as the choice for working class folks in a series of speeches on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention last week.

The website for the AFL-CIO is www.AFLCIO.org and their handle on Facebook, Instagram and X is @AFLCIO.  Fred's handle on X is @STRedmond.

Expert Analysis of Harris' Plan to Make Housing More Affordable

Leslie is joined by Jim Parrott, a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute, where he is part of their Housing Finance Policy Center.  Jim is also owner of Parrott Ryan Advisors, which provides strategic advice on housing finance issues to financial institutions active in the primary and secondary mortgage market.

The two discuss the Opinion piece he co-wrote for the Washington Post with Moody Analytics' Chief Economist Mark Zandi.  It's titled, "Harris Plan Could Solve the Longtime Affordable Housing Crisis."
(Link here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/21/harris-affordable-housing/)

Before joining Urban in 2013, Jim Parrott spent several years in the Obama White House as a senior adviser at the National Economic Council, where he led the team of advisers charged with counseling the cabinet and president on housing issues. Before his time in the White House, Parrott was counsel to Secretary Donovan at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The website for the Urban Institute is www.Urban.org.

Harris and Walz Deliver Wins for Workers

Leslie is joined by Roxanne Brown, the USW’s International Vice President at Large, who oversees the union’s public policy and legislative agenda as well as its political work. She has spent more than two decades advancing policies on Capitol Hill and with regulatory agencies on behalf of USW members. She has extensive experience in manufacturing, environmental and energy policy.

The two discuss how Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate Tim Walz, have been delivering wins for workers throughout their public service lives. It comes down to values:

• Working people need a candidate who will fight for them.
• USW members told their leadership that they most value retirement security, affordable health care, labor laws that support their ability to form Unions and negotiate strong contracts, alongside safe, healthy workplaces, worker-centered trade, and a strong industrial policy that supports American manufacturing.
• Vice President Kamala Harris, and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have a strong record delivering on all these issues.

Vice President Kamala Harris serves as a crucial part of the most pro-labor administration of our lifetimes, which breathed new life into domestic manufacturing and established the nation’s first industrial policy in decades. 

• This includes infrastructure and other investments rooted in strong 'Buy America' provisions.
• Policies to build stronger, more resilient supply chains.
• She took charge of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, breaking down barriers for workers forming Unions.
• She also walked the picket line with striking UAW workers.

Harris was also the tie breaker on a number of key votes that advanced the interests of working families.

• The USW worked for years to pass the Butch-Lewis Act and protect the pensions of more than a million workers whose retirements hung in the balance through no fault of their own. Not a single Republican voted for the American Rescue Plan, which included Butch-Lewis, but thanks to VP Harris, it passed.
• Her work as a tie-breaker also enabled the administration’s efforts to return the National Labor Relations Board to its mission of empowering working people, rather than serving the interests of wealthy corporations.

Even before she was the Vice President, Harris fought for workers.

• As a Senator, Harris fought for legislation to address workplace violence in health care and social service settings.
• As California's Attorney General, she cracked down on corporate creed, took on the big banks, and defended vulnerable workers against wage theft.
• She fought for labor protections and fair wages for agricultural and domestic workers.

Harris’ choice of running mate also shows that she prioritizes workers and shares their values. Tim Walz was himself a Union educator, who over his career:

• Paved the way for more workers to have access to paid sick and family leave;
• Made major strides in protecting workers’ health and safety on the job;
• Improved standards for patients and workers at Minnesota’s nursing homes;
• Strengthened Union organizing and collective bargaining rights;
• Expanded unemployment benefits and took steps to protect workers from wage theft and other abuses.

The choice is clear. Workers need elected officials who will fight on their side, and both Harris and Walz have clear, pro-worker records.

You can follow Roxanne on X, where her handle is @BrownRox. Follow the USW on X, Facebook and Instagram, using the handle @steelworkers, and visit their website at USW.org.

'Made in USA' Shines at the Olympics with Team USA's Opening and Closing Ceremony Uniforms!

Leslie is joined by Scott Paul, President of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), a partnership established by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union. 

The two discuss how Team USA athletes at this year's Olympic Games in Paris came to wear opening and closing ceremony uniforms that have been 100% exclusively made in America, with 100% domestically sourced materials.

During this conversation, the pair also talked about a recent episode of AAM's "The Manufacturing Report" podcast, hosted by Scott, where he interviewed family-run shoe manufacturer Rancourt & Co.Co-owner and President Mike Rancourt. Mike shared the process of creating these iconic, American-made shoes, how they came to work with Ralph Lauren for the designer's Team USA Olympic uniform, and the pride Rancourt & Co. shoes bring to the Lewiston, Maine community.You can listen to the episode, and all of the other episodes of "The Manufacturing Report," at SoundCloud.com/Keep-It-Made-In-America.

Scott also shared his first hand experience attending a recent event with Congressman Ro Khanna. Rep. Khanna laid out new legislation called the Modern Steel Act, which would see a robust steel industry that’s environmentally friendly, union-represented, and state-of-the-art. And Khanna wants to do it in America’s old steel towns, bringing new life to the communities who built our nation. So Khanna came to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kicking off his new initiative inside the long-shuttered Bethlehem Steel railcar wheel plant.

For over 17 years, Mr. Paul and AAM have worked to make American manufacturing a top-of-mind issue for voters and our national leaders through effective advocacy, innovative research, and a savvy public relations strategy.

Their website is www.AmericanManufacturing.org and their handle on X is @KeepItMadeInUSA.
Scott's handle is @ScottPaulAAM. 

Kamala Harris Quickly Unites Democratic Party, Leaving Trump-Vance Campaign Reeling

The guest host for today's show is Brad Bannon. Brad runs Bannon Communications Research, a polling, message development and media firm which helps labor unions, progressive issue groups and Democratic candidates win public affairs and political campaigns. His show, 'Deadline D.C. with Brad Bannon,' airs every Monday from 3-4pm ET.

Brad is first joined by Bloomberg Government's Kate Ackley to discuss Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, which launched just a week ago, but has already hit some impressive metrics with voter enthusiasm and fundraising totals.

Then, Sarah Jones, Editor-In-Chief of Politicus USA, analyzes how the Trump-Vance campaign has been reeling since President Biden announced he would not be seeking re-election a week ago.
They also discuss the phone calls that volunteers are organizing for different groups of constituents on behalf of the new Democratic presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Kate Ackley's handle on X is @kackleyZ and the website for Bloomberg Government is bgov.com.Sarah Jones' handle on X is PoliticusSarah and the website for Politicus USA is PoliticusUSA.com.
Brad writes a political column every Sunday for 'The Hill.' He's on the National Journal's panel of political insiders and is a national political analyst for WGN TV and Radio in Chicago and KNX Radio in Los Angeles.
You can read Brad's columns at www.MuckRack.com/Brad-Bannon. His handle on X is @BradBannon.