For his 2020 presidential run, Mayor Bill de Blasio is borrowing a lot from his time at City Hall, including his latest campaign announcement.
De Blasio went to the nation's capital Tuesday to announce a new proposal in his run for the White House. He released an op-ed on the website Buzzfeed earlier in the day and then detailed the proposal at the headquarters of a union.
"We need a bill of rights for working people, because our rights have been stripped away enough times," the mayor said. "It's time we make it something that can never be taken from us."
The "Workers' Bill of Rights" proposal calls for the same policies that de Blasio proposed in New York City: paid vacation, paid sick days, and a $15 minimum wage.
The rest reads like a wish-list for any labor union: make it easier to join a union, restore worker and union power, abolish anti-worker laws and practices, protect workers' rights to organize, and ban the permanent replacement of striking workers.
"I am running for president because I know these things can happen," de Blasio said.
The mayor's D.C. trip was centered on his workers' rights announcement, even as many other New York officials were in the nation's capital for arguably bigger news: the Senate passing a bill to permanently fund the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
NY1 was told that de Blasio wanted to attend the press conference celebrating the vote but was told no by New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's office. The Democrat is also running for president.
In a statement, the mayor's press secretary Freddi Goldstein said, "We asked to participate and were told the event was about the first responders and attendance was limited to sponsors of the bill and advocates."
A Gillibrand aide said the event was focused on the first responders who fought for the bill for 15 years.
De Blasio tussled with another New Yorker on Tuesday:
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani was responding to viral video of NYPD officers getting attacked with water, claiming on Twitter that it was the result of a "(Retrogressive)-Socialist Mayor."
De Blasio responded: saying his administration is bridging the divide between police and communities, a divide that Giuliani helped create.
Drama aside, de Blasio was expected to return to New York City on Tuesday evening.
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FURTHER DE BLASIO 2020 COVERAGE
What Could Help and Hurt De Blasio on the Presidential Campaign Trail
De Blasio Adds Additional Staff to Presidential Campaign
Manhattan Blackout Exposes Political Vulnerabilities of de Blasio's White House Run