Metro

Bill de Blasio tests his progressive agenda in Washington

WASHINGTON — Mayor Bill de Blasio roared against the government shutdown at a meeting with mayors in Washington, testing lines before a national audience to position himself as a national progressive spokesman.

De Blasio told the US Conference of Mayors that the shutdown really laid bare the predicament that missing a single paycheck could bring so many families down to their knees.

“We know the root of the problem,” he said. “For decades working people have gotten more and more productive, they work longer and longer hours and then at the same time they have gotten less and less of the wealth that they create.”

He said this was no accident, rather an agenda.

“An agenda that has dominated our country from Reaganomics to Trump’s tax giveaway to corporations and the wealthy,” the mayor said

De Blasio then shouted, “And I know where the money is!”

“This country has spent decades taking from working people and concentrating the wealth in the hands of the 1 percent. That’s where the money is,” he said, repeating a line he used earlier on his weekly WNYC radio show.

“It’s time for this country to recognize there’s plenty of money in this world … it’s just in the wrong hands.”