Latest / Pod Save America / 2020: Kirsten Gillibrand on Medicare for All and speaking truths (From Jan. 22)

Transcript

2020: Kirsten Gillibrand on Medicare for All and speaking truths (From Jan. 22) · Pod Save America

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Pod Save America. I'm Jon Favreau. We are
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: re-releasing as a standalone podcast the interview I did with
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. who's running for the Democratic
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: nomination for president. We had a fantastic conversation. We talked
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: about what she would do as president. We talked about
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: health care. We talked about her record as a senator
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and congresswoman from New York. It's a great chat. Check
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it out. Here it is. On the pod today, we
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: have right here in studio, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Presidential candidate. Yes. Thanks for coming by.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: I'm delighted to be here.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Congrats on the announcement.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Congrats on a great first trip to Iowa.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: It was amazing. I had more fun than you can
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: possibly imagine.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: We love Iowa. So I'm always fascinated by the process
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: of making a decision as momentous as running for president.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: When did you first seriously consider running and why did
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: you ultimately decide that this particular moment in history was
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the right moment for you to run?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Well, I've been feeling.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Very called at this moment to do what is necessary
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: to right the ship. I really believe in right versus wrong.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: And up until the last election, wrong was winning. And
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: I have been feeling that I need to fight for
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: this country, for families, for children as hard as I
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: would fight for my own children. And it's why I
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: believe we have to fight for the causes that so
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: many of us have been fighting for. Health care is
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: a right, better public schools, making sure people can earn
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: their way into the middle class and live the American dream.
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: But I think it's going to take a kind of
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: conviction and a courage that understands we have to take
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: on the status quo in a way that perhaps we
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: never have. Because Washington's run on corruption and special interests.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Every legislation gets written in the dead of night. And
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: someone's making sure that the corporate interest and the corporate
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: greed is constantly protected. And that's what I feel I
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: really have to challenge. Because you're never going to get
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: any of that stuff done if you're unwilling to. And
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: so over the last couple of months, I really wanted
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: to spend time with my family to talk to them personally.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Is this a sacrifice you're willing to make? Are we
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: willing as a family? to do everything we can to
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: change what's happening in this country and restore, in my mind,
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: what's been lost.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: And we just need a time together to really think
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: about it and understand. I mean, I have a 10-year-old.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Henry's going to give a lot to this country in
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the next year or two.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: He's used to mommy making breakfast every morning, lunch, dinner
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: every night, picking him up from school.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: How does he feel about the decision? Spending weekends together.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: I think he was a little concerned, but he also
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: feels called to this moment in a way that I
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: think any parent who's listening to this will understand.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: President Trump's created a lot of anxiety in the world
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: and a lot of hate and division.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: And I think people are feeling that this is the
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: moment they have to do whatever it takes. And even Henry,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: who's 10, feels, no, mom, you might be the only
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: one who could beat him.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: You should do this. My 15-year-old saying, you know, mom,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I think you should do it. He's terrible.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: He's, you know, doing all these terrible things around the
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: country and the world, and you should do this. And
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: so I just needed time with them. So over the
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: last few months, I made the decision to actually do this.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: And I just.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: Feel like all of us have to just use whatever time, talent, courage,
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: passion we have to change what's happening.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: So it's shaping up to be a very crowded field.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of talent. There's a lot of diversity.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of experience. There's also a lot of
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: consensus around sort of a very big, bold, progressive policy agenda.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: What makes you different? How do you stand out in
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the field of Democratic candidates?
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Well, we all have our own stories, of course, and
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: I am a mother with young kids. And what drives
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: me to public service is that I do want to
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: fight for other people's kids as hard as I fight
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: for my own. And I have been working over the
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: last 12 years in public service to bring people together
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: to find solutions for really hard problems. And I do
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: that by listening to all my constituents, whether they're in
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: red parts or blue parts or purple parts in my state.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: I serve all of them. And because I listen and
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: then find common ground and build from there, I get
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: a lot done. I passed the 9-11 health bill twice
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: for first responders all across this country, people who ran
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: up the towers on 9-11.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: Everybody else was coming down.
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: And unfortunately, because they've been breathing in all these toxins
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: for now, you know, decades, they're dying. And so I
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: had to lift up their voices and carry their stories
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: with the 9-11 responders knocking on doors with me, all
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: those senators, and got it passed. I also was able
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: to bring people together on Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal.
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: Even Democrats at the time and advocates at the time
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: were saying, you can't do this, and this is not
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: a convenient time, or this isn't the right strategy. And
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: I just was very clear that When is civil rights convenient?
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: You have to fight for it for the right reasons
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: because you have to fight for it because it's necessary.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: These are men and women who will die for this
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: country and they're being denied the ability to serve based
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: on who they love.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: And then transparency and accountability.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I passed the Stock Act telling members of Congress they
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: can't engage in insider trading.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Surprise, surprise.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: And doing things about transparency and accountability, posting my schedule,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: went back when we had earmarks, my taxes online. So
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: I get things done and I bring people together. And last,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: I fight. I do not back down from a fight,
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: especially if it's the right fight for the right reasons.
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: And it doesn't matter if it's hard. I will fight,
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: especially if it's hard. And I've shown that I could
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: do that by taking on the generals in the Pentagon
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: over sexual harassment in the military, being willing to take
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: on special interests on all hosts of ideas and and
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: making sure that we do the right thing, even when
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: it's hard, and especially when it's hard.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: So one of the most difficult decisions that a president
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: makes is how to prioritize keeping all the different campaign
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: promises made, right? So you remember this, Obama comes into
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: office and spends much of the first two years, aside
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: from trying to fix the financial crisis, passing the Affordable
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Care Act. And that meant that some big ticket priorities
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: like immigration reform, voting rights reform sort of took a
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: back seat. You've proposed quite a few very big, bold
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: progressive policies, Medicare for all, universal family leave, publicly funded elections,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: a federal job guarantee. Which of those do you tackle
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: first as president?
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Well, the thing that I hear most about, to be
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: perfectly honest, no matter where I've traveled over the last
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: year for the candidates, because I was working really hard
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: to flip the House, of course, and hold our Senate seats.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: And the victories in Nevada and Arizona are amazing.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: I talk to voters everywhere, and the number one thing
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: still on their minds is health care. And I can't
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: explain to you how important this is, because if you
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: don't have access to health care because you can't afford
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: it or because you're being denied because of an insurer,
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: you might not think you'll survive to be able to
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: provide for your kids. You might think, my child has
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: a pre-existing condition and he'll die if I can't get
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: The treatment or the medicine that he needs.
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: So this is an issue of life or death.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: So I would really like to bring people together and
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: focus on health care as a right to not a privilege.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: I think Medicare for all is the right solution. I
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: campaigned on Medicare for all in 2006 in my two
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: to one Republican district. And I made it really simple
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: for folks back then. They just said our insurance charges
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: too much money. Copays are too high. Deductibles are too high.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Keeps going up. I said, well, how would you feel
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: if you could.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: Just buy into Medicare at a percentage of your income,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: something like 5%?
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Would that be something you're interested in?
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: And they said, of course, because they knew, number one,
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: it creates competition because you're having a not-for-profit public option
• 8:29
  Speaker 3: that will drive competition with the for-profit insurers. And number two,
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: they knew Medicare is good. It covers most things, the
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: things they want. And even after this last presidential election,
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: I would talk to voters in upstate New York, and
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: the thing I'd hear is, I'm angry that my My
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: neighbor earns $ 5, 000 less than me and he gets access
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: to Medicaid and I don't and it's unfair. So folks
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: want access to basic health care. So I would really
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: focus on that. I would focus on education, making sure
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: our public schools aren't crumbling and people actually have a
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: chance to get a good education and have.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: A hope for a future.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: And I would focus on the economy, particularly jobs, making
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: sure we can get anyone who wants to work full time,
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: who wants to work hard, the training they need to
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: get a job and get this country to full employment.
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: Those are the kinds of common sense things I think
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: you can bring people together on those issues so they
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: feel like this is certainly about them and their community
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: no matter where they live.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: So it's interesting, and you referenced your 2006 campaign, and
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: you were for a Medicare buy-in there, and Medicare is
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: a public option that lets you buy into Medicare. You've
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: recently signed on to Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: which is much more sweeping, right? It was sort of
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: transition out of private insurance altogether. What made you decide
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: that Bernie's bill was a better bet than just a
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Medicare buy-in, which some other senators are offering as well?
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: So the part of Senator Sanders' bill that I got
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: to write was the transition, which is the part that
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: I think is really important for people to understand. It's
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: a four-year transition where anybody can buy in at 4%
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: of their income to create competition in the market and
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: let people begin to choose what works for you. I
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: promise you, if you have a choice of paying your
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: insurers endless amounts of money and not great coverage and
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: actually buying into Medicare, people are going to choose that
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: because it is Affordable medicine, affordable health care, quality service.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: And I want people to look at this as something
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: that is theirs, like an earned benefit. Because what we
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: have with Social Security, it's really clear. You buy in
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: across your lifetime at 6% of your income up to
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: a certain amount. I would blow that cap, by the way,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: as a way to have more people invest into our
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: social safety net through all incomes.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: And then let people.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Buy at 4%. So if you bought at a 4%
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: and for your earned benefit of healthcare, people can understand that.
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: If you're committing 10% of your income overall to make
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: sure that you have access to healthcare as a right,
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: not a privilege, to make sure that you will not
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: die in poverty, that you will have a safety net
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: when you're a senior. I think that's the kind of
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: thing that makes sense to people. And so that's the
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: part of the bill I wrote that I really like.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: And that's how you get to single payer. That's how
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: you get to true Medicare for all because you're letting
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: people participate in a way that makes sense to them.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Are you worried at all that even with the transition period,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: you know, there's going to be people who say, because
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: we know there's a lot of people in this country
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: who like the insurance they have, they like getting their
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: employer-sponsored insurance.
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: I think you've got to try.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: It's the only way we're going to get there because
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: if you just keep fixing the current system, the current
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: system's built on for-profit insurance industry. Like, it's built on
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: a for-profit industry that has obligations to their shareholders. and
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: they pay their CEOs millions of dollars. So if you're
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: putting all that fat into another industry, it's not going
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: directly to the doctors and the nurses and the hospitals
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: that are doing the work. And so I want our money,
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: my money, your money, to go for the things we
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: want to buy, which is better healthcare. And so I
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: don't want my money to go to.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: An insurance company.
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: You don't need to have insurance to have healthcare in
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: this country.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Let's just buy into healthcare.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: So it's an unnecessary layer of fat that I would
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: like to remove. And that's why if you explain to
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: the American people, this is going to be your earned
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: benefit in the same way that social security is, I
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: think they're going to vote for it.
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: I think they're actually going to say this is something.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: And again, when I ran in 2006 in a two
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: to one Republican district, this was my solution for healthcare.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: People liked it. They felt comfortable with it and they
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: voted for me for those reasons.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: No, I've talked to Obama Trump voters who Like, I
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: love Medicare for all. And you're like, you voted for
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump? Yeah.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Well, he ran on, if you remember, we need universal
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: health care that's cheaper and better. Well, that's Medicare for all.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Didn't really happen.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: And it's not going to happen because he didn't mean it.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: He never meant it.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: Do you support a Green New Deal?
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: I think the platform, there's not a lot of details
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: yet behind the Green New Deal, but the platform of
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: it is really exciting because... It recognizes, and the way
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: I see a green economy is this.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: I think we need a moonshot. We need to tell the.
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: American people we are going to have a green economy
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: in the next 10 years, not because.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: It's easy, but because it's hard, because it's a measure
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: of our innovation and effectiveness.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Like that JFK moment where he says, this is what
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: we're going to do in 10 years, not because it's easy,
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: but because it is hard. And I think if you
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: lay out a large agenda that really transforms the economy
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: in a lot of places, And I'll explain the places
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: where I've been working for a long time, which are
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: very much part of that platform.
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: So the simple thing, jobs.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: You can create more economic growth if you invest in
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: entrepreneurialism and innovation. If you actually invest in wind turbines,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: in solar panels, in geothermal, in hydropower, in biofuels. If
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: you use our ability to innovate and invent, you will
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: solve the problem of moving into a green energy economy.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: And by doing that, you're going to create a lot
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: of jobs.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: You also can use the investment of investing in efficiencies.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: So there's a school in upstate New York where they
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: teach green energy, and it's what they do. And so
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: the kids learn how to build a home that's LED certified.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: They learn how to install solar panels and wind turbines.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: And they learned how to do energy-efficient appliances, everything.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: And what I was told when I toured that school,
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: they said 98% of our graduating seniors have three or more.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: Job offers before graduation. Now, that's a true statistic. That's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: pretty amazing.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: But that's what the green economy can look like. You're
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: just actually creating the vision for how to create a
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: faster-growing economy. And we've made a mistake in the last
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: 10 years because, you know, Congress always hems and haws
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: and doesn't provide these tax benefits for innovation.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: We've let the tax credits elapse and expire.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: And so industries that would normally be investing over and
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: over again chose not to. And you know what happened?
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: All that innovation, all that manufacturing went to China. So
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: now China is in a better position to innovate than
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: America is because they took on the goal of making
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: green energy a real part of their economy. So make
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: it a real part of the economy.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Let me just do two more things.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: The platform is so big. There's a lot of stuff
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: I've been working on for a long time.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: It's very complicated.
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: So the other part of the platform that I've been
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: working on for the last 10 years is clean air,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: clean water, because clean air and clean water should be
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: a right and not a privilege.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: It should be a right for every community. And so.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: You take any part of this country, they have brownfield sites,
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: they have dirty water from eras of pollution by different manufacturers.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: New York State, we have the largest Superfund site called
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: the Hudson River because of PCBs. The county I live in,
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: in Rensselaer County, has been polluted by companies that have
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: been manufacturing with plastics. And so now we have PFOA
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: in our water. So you need to focus on clean
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: air and clean water. as a major goal for addressing
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: global climate change and for addressing a green economy. Because
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: if you don't have it, communities can't thrive or survive.
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: It's really important. I think you should put a price
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: on carbon. If you really want to attack global climate
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: change effectively, you should put a price on carbon because
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: what you're doing is you're incentivizing good behavior. You're saying,
• 16:21
  Speaker 3: if you want to be a polluter, fair enough, but
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: you're going to have to pay a lot more because
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: you're harming the rest of us and we're going to
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: have to pay all those hospital bills. That's going to
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: come to the taxpayer eventually. So you don't get the
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: benefit of being a big polluter unless you're going to
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: pay for it. But if you're going to be the
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: inventor and the innovator who's going to create the new
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: energy efficient processes, you get the benefit. And so I
• 16:41
  Speaker 3: love putting that price on carbon as well.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Do you worry that, you know, some folks on the
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: left have said that a carbon tax is regressive? Obviously,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Macron had some problems with that in France, to say
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the least. There was, you know, a referendum in Washington
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: state that Jay Inslee tried. That carbon tax didn't pass. Obviously,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: I think everyone agrees like on the polluter, the polluter
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: should pay, but it sometimes goes down to.
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: No, it doesn't. It doesn't have to be regressive. That's
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: a different tax. That's like putting a price on gasoline.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: That's a different approach. Putting a price on carbon is
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: much more about incentivizing good behavior. And disincentivizing bad behavior.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: It's all how you structure.
• 17:19
  Speaker 3: It, right?
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: It's a market. Yes, it's a market. And it works.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: It's worked in other places. There's been places where it
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: didn't work because of fraud and corruption. But it is
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: using market dynamics to help you. So I think it's
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: a good thing that we should be talking about as well.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: And I just believe that global climate change is one
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: of the greatest threats to humanity. It is a life
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: or death threat that we have to face right now.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: And it's been a life or death threat for a
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: long time. across this country. I mean, we lost so
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: many lives during super storm Sandy and tropical storm Lee,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: Irene and Lee. It really, I mean, I met parents
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: who lost their babies because when a mom got out
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: of a car to get her kids to safety, the
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: water swelled to 10 feet and literally.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Took them out of her arms.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: People die and you cannot turn a blind eye and
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: anybody who does, I don't think should be in public
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: service because it's not, they're not making the differences that
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: need to be made.
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: Do you think that a federal job guarantee should be
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: part of a Green New Deal? It's in some of
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the drafts of the plan, and I know you've been
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: for a federal job guarantee separately.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: So I believe in full employment, and I think you
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: should get to a full employment. And the way you
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: do that, in my mind, is you make sure that
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: anybody who wants to be working full-time can get whatever
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: job training it takes to get a full-time job. And
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: we've been doing that in New York and a couple
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: places effectively. And the way I think you could do
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: it is you partner with With the community colleges and
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: the state schools and the apprenticeship programs and the not-for-profits
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: that do this today, do the really good hands-on job
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: training to get the skills you need for the.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Job that is available.
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: In upstate New York, one of our local manufacturers, Bombardier,
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: needed advanced welders. And so they said, we couldn't find
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: anybody in 500-mile radius of our manufacturing plant. So they
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: went to the community college and said, will you offer
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: this coursework?
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: We'll hire everyone. It's a $ 70, 000- a- year job.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Sure enough, it works perfectly. So now they have all
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: the welders they need. A great not-for-profit I just toured
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: in the Bronx called Perscola.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: And it's a not-for-profit. It's fully funded.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: It's free training for anybody who wants to learn something
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: in cyber or in computer technology. So they've taught young
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: adults how to code, how to build computers, how to
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: fix computers, how to do cybersecurity.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: And they've already paired... of.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: 800 students directly into the employment market by giving the
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: right job training for the jobs that are available. So
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: my vision for full employment is making job training really
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: accessible and funding that because that's what our community colleges
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: and state schools and these not-for-profits do so well.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: They're already doing it.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: So amplify their work, investing in that directly so you
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: know if you're underemployed or unemployed and you want a
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: better job or want higher wages, you have someplace you
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: can go and know that there's a path for you.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: But should government be an employer of last resort?
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: Sure can be, particularly public service. And that's another idea
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: I have. So I believe that public service is life-changing
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: for people. I believe that if you give someone a
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: chance to put others before themselves, it changes their hearts.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: It changes who they are. It changes what they care about.
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: And I think if you told every young person in
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: America that if you do a year of public service,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: we're going to give you two years of community college free.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: If you do.
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: Two years of public service, we'll give you four years
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: free for community college or state schools or any not-for-profit
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: training program. And so I would combine that with your
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: full employment goal so that young people can also get
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: good training. And then encouraging them in those public service jobs,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: you know, go into healthcare for a year. We used
• 21:00
  Speaker 3: to have candy stripers in upstate New York. I don't
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: know if you ever had them where you are, but
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: you could go work in a hospital just as an
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: intern to just help. You could create a not-for-profit training
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: for people in healthcare. Because our baby boomers are retiring,
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: we're going to have an onslaught of Alzheimer's like you've
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: never seen before. We don't have enough home health aides
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: to meet that need. And so really giving young people,
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: go into healthcare, go into first responders. If you want
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: to be a firefighter, a police officer, military. education, amplify
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: what we're already doing in Teach for America, extend that.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: One of the things that Ted Kennedy did right when
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: I was first part of the Senate was trying to
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: create more slots for public service.
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: I was very excited about that bill.
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: I think it was still only maybe 50,000, but imagine
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: if any kid could say, I'm going to dedicate at
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: least a year or two of my life to public
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: service before they decide what they want to be. I
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: think it would change everything. So I'd combine those things
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: together to get to full employment.
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Okay. So At best, you as president would have a
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Democratic majority in the House and a narrow Senate majority.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Certainly not 60 votes, right, after this election. So there
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: are no Senate Republicans in favor of Medicare for all.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Probably very few in favor of a big program like
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Green New Deal or something like that. As president, would
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: you push, hopefully, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to get rid
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: of the filibuster so you can pass something like Medicare
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: for all or a Green New Deal?
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: Well, the filibuster is mostly gone now. So it barely exists.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: No, I think.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, that's why I'm sort of thinking like.
• 22:38
  Speaker 3: It barely exists. It barely exists. There's pretty much a
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: 51 vote threshold now for everything. The only part we
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: had left in place was for Supreme Court justices and.
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: Mitch just took that away.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: So I think it's useful to bring people together. And
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: I don't mind that you have to get 60 votes
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: for cloture because you're trying to get people to a
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: point where, and that's a term of art for your listeners,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: it just means that you're done with debate.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: And so you will urge people to have at least
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: 60 votes to say we're done with debate.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: That's not an unreasonable goal because if people don't feel
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: like you're done with debate and that they haven't been
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: heard enough, maybe you should debate a little more. And
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: I think government only works when people who care deeply
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: stand up and fight for what they believe in and.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: And know how important their voices are.
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: And so if you're not able to get 60 votes
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: on something, it just means you haven't worked hard enough
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: talking to enough people and trying to listen to their
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: concerns and then coming up with a solution that they
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: can support. So I'm not afraid of it one way
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: or the other.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: But you'd be open to getting rid of it for
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: something big like Medicare for All?
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: I don't think we should have gotten rid of it
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: for the Supreme Court justices because they're lifetime appointments.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And I do think you should be able to earn
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: at least 60 votes.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: But you know, I'll think about it. I, I, you know, I,
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: I can, I believe I can work well under either
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: system because if you don't have 60 votes yet, it
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: just means you haven't done enough advocacy and you need.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: To work a lot harder.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Um, so another potential impediment to your agenda would be
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: a fairly conservative, fairly partisan Supreme court. Um, some folks
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: on the left are saying, you know what, after what
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: McConnell did to Garland, after ramming through, uh, Kavanaugh, who
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: was openly partisan at his hearings, um, The next Democratic
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: president needs to consider reforming the Supreme Court, potentially adding seats,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: potentially instituting term limits. What do you think of those ideas?
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Either of those appealing to you?
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Well, they're interesting ideas that I would need to think
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: more about. But I do think what President Trump has
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: done with the judiciary is shocking and is so destructive.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: I thought both Kavanaugh and Gorsuch were... disqualified in my
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: mind because of their records, because of their previous statements,
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: because their belief that money is speech and that corporations
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: have same free speech rights as you and I.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: I think that's outrageous. I think we need to get
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: money out of politics.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: I think that the special interests, the moneyed interests, the
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: levers of power that exist in Washington are so powerful.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: They don't need more power. They need far less. And
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: we need to restore direct democracy. We need to actually
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: put the power of this country back in the hands
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: of the people. And so you need to undermine those
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: special interests. And these two justices, they just want to
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: glorify those special interests.
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Do you think the Supreme Court needs reform? Do you
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: think it's broken? It does.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: Well, I can give you one example that I desperately believe.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: The fact that a Supreme Court justice can be wined
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: and dined by a special interest, have, you know, junkets
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: paid for, where they can be lobbied incessantly by special interests,
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: by the wealthy special interests.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: I think we have to make that illegal.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: I think it is absolutely essential that we take away
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: the ability for them to.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Be wined and dined. We need transparency and accountability.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: It's something I've been working on since I was first
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: elected in 2006. We need to make sure that the
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: public knows what's happening and how it's happening. And I
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: don't think we should have a system where legislation is
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: written in the dead of night, by the most powerful
• 26:16
  Speaker 3: people in the land.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: We really have to restore that to the people.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: So I'd be very interested in looking at a very
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: significant transparency agenda for the Supreme Court, because I do
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: not think they are held accountable. And I think way
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: back when we used to say, oh, they're above the partisanship. Well,
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: I have not believed that since Bush v. Gore, when
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: I saw extreme partisanship come out of our justices. And
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: certainly with Judge Kavanaugh, or now Justice Kavanaugh, and the
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: way he spoke in his last hearing, creating a screed
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: saying this was some conspiracy of the Clintons and a
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: screed against Democrats.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: And it was so inappropriate.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: For a justice of the Supreme Court that I do
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: believe we need a full transparency agenda put in place
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: for them because they are no longer public servants in
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: the way that we have always imagined them to be.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about immigration, which is Seemingly Trump's only political
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: issue and one where your thinking has evolved over the years.
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: Oh, but I will just say one thing.
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: That stuff that I just talked about is why we're
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: not taking corporate PAC monies in my campaign. It's also
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: why we're not taking federal lobbyist money. It's also why
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: I don't think individuals should have super PACs because you
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: have to start somewhere. And if you are unwilling to
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: take on the special interests in a way that that
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: shows I value your voice as an individual more than
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: a corporate interest or a billionaire's interest or people who
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: can manipulate politics with their money, you will never get
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: to health care as a right, not a privilege, because
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: you need to take on the insurance companies and the
• 27:49
  Speaker 3: drug manufacturers. You will never get to any of the issues.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: You will never end gun violence if you won't take
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: on the NRA.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: So this is the stuff that's necessary in this moment
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: we're in. You really need a direct democracy and you
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: need to restore that power back to the hands of
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: the people, not the powerful interests that just control everything.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: Yes. So on immigration, you're in favor of a path
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. You've talked about splitting ICE,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, into two agencies, one that handles
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: crime and terrorism, one that handles immigration. What would enforcement do?
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: look like under a Gillibrand presidency? What would you do
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: about immigrants who come across the border or overstay their visas? Right.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: So let me answer the first part of your question
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: first and the second part second. So Democrats believe in
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: border security. Democrats believe in national security. And the initial
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: mission of ICE was to do anti-terrorism. That was founded
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: in 2003 to do anti-terrorism. So we need to fund anti-terrorism.
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: And unfortunately, under this president, he's taken a lot of
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: the money that would normally go for anti-human trafficking, anti-drug trafficking,
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: anti-gun trafficking, and cross-border terrorism, and taken all that to
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: put moms and babies in for-profit prisons and pay for
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: those for-profit prisons.
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: So, it gets me so angry.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: So, I believe that we should be funding the anti-terrorism work,
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: keeping our country safe, making sure people know that law
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: enforcement have the tools they need and the support they
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: need to do hard work of arresting criminals and finding
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: terrorists and arresting terrorists. That has to continue. Immigration in
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: our country has always been a strength. We thrive on
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: our diversity. Our diversity has always been a strength. It
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: helps to increase the economy. It helps to create entrepreneurialism
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: and innovation. It's the American story. The Statue of Liberty
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: stands in New York Harbor with a beacon of light
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: and hope saying to the world, come, we will help you.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: For anyone, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: are here, that beacon of light. We've never been afraid
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: of refugees. We've never been afraid of immigration. We've always
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: seen it as something that is part of our story.
• 30:05
  Speaker 3: And so we need to build that, and it should
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: be under the Department of Justice. It should be part
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: of a humanitarian issue, certainly for asylum seekers, that has
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: humanitarian issues. And immigration is an issue of families, making
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: sure families who desperately want to be reunited can be reunited,
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: and those communities can be strong and economic, and making
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: sure that we ultimately right-size immigration. And so that's why
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: you need a comprehensive immigration approach.
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: And you're going to do all of it.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: So you're not going to sacrifice national security and anti-terrorism work.
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: That needs to be fully funded as part of homeland security.
• 30:42
  Speaker 3: But immigration is about so much more. It's not a
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: criminal issue. It's not a national security issue. It's about
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: who we are as a nation and what makes us strong.
• 30:51
  Speaker 3: And immigration is going to be part of that. And
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: so you've got to make it work. You have to
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: have a pathway to citizenship for the 11 or 12
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: million folks that are here. You have to let people
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: who are here start buying into Social Security and buying
• 31:03
  Speaker 3: into paying their taxes and making sure they're investing in
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: our schools. So you have to create a pathway for
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: that to happen. And then you have to look at
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: asylum very differently because we have a lot of reasons
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: why asylum seekers are coming here. You've got things happening
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: in South America and Central America that, frankly, we're turning
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: a blind eye to that we should be actually addressing.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: working with the international community with political solutions and diplomatic
• 31:28
  Speaker 3: solutions to try to end the gun violence, gang violence,
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: and terrorism that's happening in these communities that are making
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: mothers send their young boys to travel by themselves to
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: America so they just don't get recruited into a gang.
• 31:39
  Speaker 3: Think about the problem that these people are facing. How
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: many women are seeking refuge because of gang violence and
• 31:47
  Speaker 3: rape and being raped just treated so horribly that they
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: can't survive. So if you don't start with the human
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: story about what's actually happening in these families, you're not
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: going to create the right solution. I promise you, locking
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: them up in a for-profit prison or sticking lots of
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: young boys in a Walmart with no windows is not
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: the solution to the horror their lives are facing or
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: our immigration challenges. And so I would do comprehensive and
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: I would try to solve each problem based on what
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: is the actual problem and get at it from the root.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess my question is, so say we do comprehensive, right?
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: And we provide a path to citizenship for all the
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: undocumented immigrants who are here. And then we, you know,
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: Democrats beef up border security. Not like, not with the wall,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: but maybe the border security we have. You're still going
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: to have people who come across the border. You're still
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: going to have after that people who overstay.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you can then deal with them humanely. You
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: have visa overstays, which happens all the time. And those
• 32:46
  Speaker 3: folks are coming from countries that we have visas with.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: These are people we have coming as tourist visas. So
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: I think you just have to have a more humane
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: system created so people know there's a real process. So
• 32:58
  Speaker 3: they don't feel like they have to go around the
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: law because the law is fair and just. They can
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: feel like they can work with the law. And that
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: is possible. We've done that for many decades in this country,
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: had a proper immigration process that worked for people. It's
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: when it lacks compassion and when it lacks empathy and
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: when it lacks justice that people feel they can't trust
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: the system.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: So let's build a system that they can trust.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: And do it in the way that's healthy for our economy,
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: our country, our families, and our communities with the recognition
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: that this only.
• 33:27
  Speaker 2: Makes us stronger.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: So you spent your career as a senator working to
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: reduce sexual assault in the workplace, in the military, in Congress.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: You've been called the political face of the Me Too movement.
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: You tweeted about how the future is female and intersectional.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: I saw that tweet and I thought, that is a
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: brave thing to tweet. Just from a political perspective, someone's
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: going to run for president saying that. I could also
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: hear some, you know, cynical D.C. consultant, probably a guy
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: in my head saying, OK, that's a great thing to
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: tweet for a presidential primary, Democratic primary campaign. How do
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: you deliver that message? Can you deliver that message in
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: some of these redder states that Trump won that we
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: know we need to win back?
• 34:10
  Speaker 3: I definitely can and I have been because in my state,
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: most people look at New York and say, oh, it's
• 34:15
  Speaker 3: a blue state and it's New York City. But what
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: they don't realize is upstate New York is a lot
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: of red.
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: It's a rural area. There's a lot of agriculture. There's
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: a lot of manufacturing.
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: There is a lot of the rural challenges we have
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: in other parts of the country. The manufacturing tradition is
• 34:32
  Speaker 3: a lot like Michigan. It's a lot like Ohio. It's
• 34:35
  Speaker 3: a lot like Wisconsin. Agriculture is a lot like Wisconsin
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: and Michigan, too. So there's just a lot of similarities
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: with the rest of the country. Our suburbs in Westchester
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: and in Long Island are purple. It's a lot of
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: those white middle class moms who didn't vote with Democrats
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: last time. They are in my state. And I do
• 34:54
  Speaker 3: well with all of them talking about what I believe in.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: And not everybody necessarily knows what the tweet meant, but
• 34:59
  Speaker 3: I certainly can explain it to them.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: How would you explain.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: It to people who don't know?
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: So when you say the future's female, I'm not saying
• 35:05
  Speaker 3: the future's only female. I'm saying please include the ladies
• 35:08
  Speaker 3: in the future because we have a lot to offer,
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: which is why I created Off the Sidelines. It was
• 35:14
  Speaker 3: a political action committee I created seven years ago, a
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: call to action asking America's women to vote, to become advocates,
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: to participate, to run, to find a woman candidate to support.
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: because we want 51% of women at the table. Why
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: would you exclude half of our US population from the
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: decision-making table?
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: And that's going to resonate in.
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: Any community, because they know that their mom or their
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: sister or their aunt or their daughter have important things
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: to say that they listen to in their own families.
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: And so when you elevate men and women at the
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: same table, you're going to have a diversity of opinion
• 35:46
  Speaker 3: about what are the biggest problems, but also what are
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: the best solutions. And the diversity of that really works.
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: And I'll give you one example. So when I first
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: got elected in 2006, I was put on the Armed
• 35:55
  Speaker 3: Services Committee. And I'm sitting next to Gabby Giffords and
• 35:58
  Speaker 3: a bunch of new freshman women. And we were having
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: a hearing on military readiness. And a lot of the
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: men were talking about equipment. They wanted to know how
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: many guns, how many ships, how many aircraft. It was
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: all about the function of military readiness from an equipment perspective,
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: from what are we going to buy.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: And what are we going to build?
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: But the women just instinctively were looking at other data
• 36:19
  Speaker 3: and saying, well, why is the divorce rate as high
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: as it is right now?
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: Why is the suicide rate as high as it is?
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: Domestic violence rate as high as it is.
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: And we realize that military readiness also has to do
• 36:32
  Speaker 3: with the troops and the service members.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: To say each one of these service members, they're.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: Being pulled to the thinnest. They're not having rotations at home.
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: Their deployment times are longer than they've been in other conflicts.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: And there's no rest time and no dwell time, and
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: they're struggling. And so the military readiness that we're talking
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: about is both equipment and personnel. And so for America,
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: that was a better answer for them because the combination
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: of our voices was strong.
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: And so when I say the future is female, I'm.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: Talking about the fact that 120 women just ran for
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: Congress and won. And what allowed them to win was
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: all these women who came out and were activists and
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: voted for And we have been marching since President Trump
• 37:10
  Speaker 3: got elected to say, we don't agree with you. We
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: don't agree with your vision for this country. We don't
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: agree with how you talk about people. We don't agree
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: with the hatred. And we see a different future. And
• 37:20
  Speaker 3: so it's a call to action saying we want to
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: all be part of this discussion.
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: And so what about intersectionality?
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: Let me finish this one and then I'll go to
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: your longer question. So I've been talking about this for
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: seven years in New York State, about why I want
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: more women's voices at the table. I have the highest
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: vote margin in the history of the state, a 72%
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: vote margin. And the reason why I have the highest
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: vote margin in the history of the state against anyone
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: who's ever run statewide, including the presidentials, outperforming President Obama,
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: outperforming Secretary Clinton, because when I'm talking to folks in
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: red and purple places, I have time to tell them
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: what I'm for and why, and they can see my
• 37:56
  Speaker 3: heart and they understand it. And they also know how
• 37:58
  Speaker 3: important women in leadership is.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: So that's all it takes.
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: You just have to talk to people about their lives
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: and what they care about and tell them why you
• 38:05
  Speaker 3: care and why you want more women, more female leadership.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: So I've never hid that.
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: And I talk about it all the time and people
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: are okay with that. And they know when I'm trying
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: to get rid of sexual harassment and sexual assault on
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: a I bring people together on those issues. My co-sponsor
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: in working on sexual harassment in Congress was Ted Cruz.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: My co-sponsor in ending sexual harassment or sexual assault in
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: the military was Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: worked with me on sexual assault on college campuses. So
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: you can cross party lines. You can talk to people
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: from red and purple places if you just care about,
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: if you talk about what you care about and why.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: And I've done it.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: So I know that I can talk to people in
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: all parts of the country about what they care about
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: because I listen first. I find where the common ground
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: is and then I build from there. And that's how
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: I bring people together. It's how I pass laws. It's
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: how I get things done. And it's how New Yorkers
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: see me. So I'd like to introduce that to everyone.
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: So intersectionality, what that means to me is that if
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: you are discriminated against in more than one way, it's intersectional.
• 39:08
  Speaker 3: And for example, if you are a woman, you're going
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: to be discriminated against because of gender bias and sexism.
• 39:14
  Speaker 3: If you're a black woman, you might be discriminated against
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: because of racism. And the burden on that black woman
• 39:19
  Speaker 3: is so much harder because she has to deal with
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: racism and sexism at the very same time. And if
• 39:25
  Speaker 3: you explain that to someone who might not know what
• 39:27
  Speaker 3: that word means, they're going to say, that's right, that
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: is right. And then you give them a few facts like, well,
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: you know, if you're a black woman in New York
• 39:34
  Speaker 3: City and you went to go have a baby, you
• 39:37
  Speaker 3: are 12 times more likely to die in childbirth because
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: of institutional racism. If you explain to someone that Law
• 39:44
  Speaker 3: enforcement really isn't that fair. And if you are a
• 39:48
  Speaker 3: black or brown man in my city of New York
• 39:51
  Speaker 3: City and in the country, you are 10 times more
• 39:55
  Speaker 3: likely to be arrested than a white man in New
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: York City and four times more likely in the rest
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: of the country for marijuana possession. So that's why I'm
• 40:03
  Speaker 3: for decriminalization because how people are treated is unacceptable. And
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: when someone's been arrested and put in jail... for possession
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: of marijuana, you know how their lives change? They might
• 40:15
  Speaker 3: have missed work that day.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: They might be fired.
• 40:17
  Speaker 3: They might have just lost the one job it took
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: them a really long time to get. If their mom
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: lives in one of the housing authorities in New York
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: City and they want to go visit her on Thanksgiving,
• 40:28
  Speaker 3: they can't. If that somehow gets in their record and
• 40:32
  Speaker 3: they go for a job interview and this employer says,
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: have you ever been arrested? And he has to say, well, yeah,
• 40:37
  Speaker 3: when I was 18, the.
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: Job interview's over.
• 40:40
  Speaker 3: And so criminal justice has to be important. And in
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: the economy, you'll see one of the issues you guys
• 40:49
  Speaker 3: have talked.
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: About is postal banking. 30% of our country doesn't have
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: access to a savings account. Do you know what?
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: It's very expensive to be poor in this country. It
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: means that if you have to wire some money to
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: your mother who's in Puerto Rico, they're going to charge
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: you maybe 20% of what you just sent her. Or
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: if you want to buy a couch for your house, well,
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: your only option is layaway in the predatory Lending aspect
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: of that you're gonna pay $ 500 for a couch that
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: was $ 200 because you had to you couldn't pay it
• 41:15
  Speaker 3: all in one go So I think as a white
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: woman it is my responsibility to take on these these
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: issues of institutional racism As if they were my own
• 41:25
  Speaker 3: because that's my job and it is not Should not
• 41:27
  Speaker 3: be left as a burden for black and brown people
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: to fight these their own on their own it should
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: be me who can lift up their voices and can
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: make sure their voices are heard and so that we
• 41:37
  Speaker 3: could end it. And so those are my responsibilities as
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: a woman who seeks to serve. And so I will
• 41:44
  Speaker 3: talk about that in red, purple, and blue places. And
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: I promise you, if I told any mom in America
• 41:50
  Speaker 3: that if you're a black lady and you go to
• 41:52
  Speaker 3: have a baby, you're going to more likely die, they're
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: going to be as mad as I am because it's
• 41:56
  Speaker 3: not okay.
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: It's not okay. So you just have to take time.
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: Well, somewhat related to that, I mean, you know, You've
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: talked about, last question, you talked about working with Republicans
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: and you obviously have this record in the Senate where
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: you were able to reach out to the other side
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: and get stuff done. You talked about bringing people together.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: You know, there's some people on the left who often say, like,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: it's naive to think we're going to go after those
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: Trump voters. It's a waste of our time and energy.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: We should be only going after non-voters because, you know,
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: these Trump voters, even if they themselves aren't racist, they
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: have supported, right, this man that, you know, you yourself
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: have called a racist, a misogynist. are they wrong? Are
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: those Democrats wrong?
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: Yes, I do.
• 42:38
  Speaker 3: I think you should ask everyone for their vote. And
• 42:41
  Speaker 3: I think you should ask Americans to put this country
• 42:44
  Speaker 3: first and our values first. We, despite all our flaws,
• 42:47
  Speaker 3: have always believed in a more perfect union. We have
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: fought as a nation to end discrimination over and over again,
• 42:54
  Speaker 3: whether we're trying to abolish slavery or fighting for suffrage
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: or fighting for basic civil rights for black Americans or
• 43:00
  Speaker 3: fighting for LGBTQ equality or clean air and clean water
• 43:04
  Speaker 3: so that if you're poor, you're not being poisoned to death.
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: These are issues that we have chosen as a country
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: to bring people together towards a more perfect union, despite
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: all our flaws. And we do it because we believe
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: that we should care about one another. This country believes
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: in the golden rule that we should treat others the
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: way we want to be treated. We should protect and
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: fight for the least among us. We have to remind
• 43:26
  Speaker 3: America that's who we are. We have to heal this
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: division and this hatred and this darkness that President Trump
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: has created. I believe that only light can defeat darkness.
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: We just had MLK Day. We're reminded of his amazing
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: statements and amazing preaching and everything he's ever said. We
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: celebrate his legacy once a year for that reason. And
• 43:48
  Speaker 3: he's not wrong. So only light can drive out darkness.
• 43:50
  Speaker 3: And that is what I'm called to do, to be
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: able to bring and fight for what's right, what's good
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: against what's bad and what's harmful.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: In all forms.
• 44:00
  Speaker 3: And so I want to inspire all voters and not enough.
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: You know, last election we lost for a lot of reasons,
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: but you need to inspire all voters. You need to
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: inspire folks in red places, blue places and purple places.
• 44:12
  Speaker 3: And you're only going to do that if your vision
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: actually reaches the people who you intend to serve. and
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: you should intend to serve everyone. And you'll bring them
• 44:23
  Speaker 3: with you. It doesn't mean you're going to... I don't
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: think triangulating and running as a conservative is the way
• 44:29
  Speaker 3: to go. Run as the person you are. Run on
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: the values that you want. You will bring people along.
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: When I started running my.
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: Two-to-one Republican district in upstate, I ran on getting out
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: of Iraq, which would have been perceived by some as
• 44:41
  Speaker 3: a very liberal issue. But I explained to folks, listen,
• 44:46
  Speaker 3: we need to defeat terrorism. And We are not going
• 44:48
  Speaker 3: to do that effectively with troops in Iraq if the
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: Iraqis themselves won't push out terrorists. There's not enough military
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: might in the world to defeat terrorism in a country
• 44:57
  Speaker 3: that won't fight for it for themselves. I said we
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: should redeploy out. We should invest in other anti-terrorism methods.
• 45:03
  Speaker 3: But being in Iraq is the wrong way to keep
• 45:04
  Speaker 3: us safe. By Election Day, from 30%, it went to
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: 70% were for getting out of Iraq. So I would
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: just urge Democrats, speak your truth, speak your values, be
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: for what you're for. If everyone doesn't agree with you
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: on day one, you can bring them along. We don't
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: have to accept the racism and division and the hatred
• 45:22
  Speaker 3: that President Trump has created. I believe you can call
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: on people to be better than that, to actually care
• 45:28
  Speaker 3: about one another and speak to their better angels, not
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: their worst demons.
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: Kirsten Gillibrand, thank you so much for joining us.
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: And come back again and good luck on the campaign.
• 45:37
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: Thanks.
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you.