Telegraph photos by GRACE PECCI U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., visits Manchester Community College on Saturday for an organizing event, as she considers a run for U.S. president in 2020. Warren gave the audience her views on everything from the cost of education and the criminal justice system to environmental and health issues.

MANCHESTER – U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., stopped by Manchester Community College on Saturday afternoon for an organizing event after announcing her exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential elections.

Warren began the event by discussing how her background shaped her beliefs into what they are today. As a young child, Warren watched her parents struggle after her father had a heart attack and was unable to work for months. Her mother, who did not work, went out and got a minimum wage job at Sears to get back on track with paying the bills they had fallen behind on.

“At the time that my mother walked into Sears and got a minimum wage job, a minimum wage job would keep a family of three a float. Today’s minimum wage jobs in America will not a keep a momma and her baby out of poverty. Rules matter. Rules made in Washington matter. That’s why I’m in this fight,” Warren told the crowd.

Warren herself went on to attend a commuter college that cost her only $50 a semester. She said she has spent much of her life centered around the questions: What’s happening to working families in the country and why is the road so rocky?

“There’s one set of rules for the rich and one set of the rules for someone else. That’s not America, that’s not who we are. That’s not how we build our future,” Warren said.

She added, “For me, that’s what this is all about. This is about who the rules work for. Is it just going to be for the wealthy and well-connected, or is it going to be for everyone else?”

She advocated for a systematic change and to end corruption in the government.

“End lobbying as we know it, make the Supreme Court follow basic ethics rules and make everyone who runs for public federal office put their tax returns online, everyone,” Warren said. “… We need more power, more power in the hands of unions, more power in the hands of employee, more power in the hands of consumers to balance the power in Washington that’s there for the giant corporations.”

Warren concluded her speech, “I am in this fight of gratitude. My daddy, he ended up as a janitor, and I got a chance to become a public school teacher, to become a college professor, to become a U.S. senator. I am grateful to America. I am grateful, but I am also deeply determined. I believe in America where we build opportunities, not just for the children of the rich and the powerful, but that we build opportunities for all of our children. This is our moment in history, it is time to dream big, fight hard and make this country work for all of our families.”

After her speech, she took questions from audience members, which dealth with the cost of education, the superdelegates and changing mass incarcerations among people of color.

One question came from New Hampshire Rep. Wendy Thomas, of Merrimack. Thomas has been working to fight against the PFA’s (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances), which are chemicals associated with the production of plastics, foams and waxes, that have been found in the town’s water.

Thomas told Warren, “In New Hampshire, we have a significant contamination of PFAs in our water and land. The EPA has dropped the ball on it’s duty to protect our environment and health. What would you do to restore our environmental and health protections?”

Warren said, “I think over the past couple of the years, the EPA has not dropped the ball, that in this administration, the EPA has thrown the ball to the ground.”

She joked that she believes in science and climate change, unlike some other elected officials. For solutions regarding problems with PFAs, Warren said there needs to be a strong EPA, and they need to think about the investments they make.

“We have a moral and economic responsibility to make changes in this country starting right now,” Warren said.

Grace Pecci may be contacted at 594-1243 or gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com