Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Ro Khanna
Interview
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For more reaction, let get to Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California. He's also the co-chairman of the Bernie Sanders campaign.
And, Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
REP. RO KHANNA, D-CALIF.: Maria, great to see you again.
BARTIROMO: Your reaction to the president's meeting with Kim Jong-un overnight?
KHANNA: I support the president's initiative. And, as a Democrat in the United States Congress, I will do everything I can to see it succeed.
Chung-in Moon, one of President Moon's senior advisers, was in my office two weeks ago, and he thinks there's a three-part framework to get a deal. First, the United States and North Korea should have a permanent peace agreement. We still have an armistice. We should move towards permanent peace.
If we do that, then I think North Korea will engage in massive denuclearization, 90 percent denuclearization.
BARTIROMO: Right.
KHANNA: And then, after that, we can talk about more flexible sanctions. So, I think the moment is there to have peace.
BARTIROMO: Well, would a potentially President Bernie Sanders, would he have met with Kim Jong-un? Would he be dealing with these issues regarding China?
KHANNA: Yes, he would have.
He said as much this morning, that he had no problem with President Trump meeting with Kim Jong-un. This shouldn't be a partisan issue. This should be an American issue. It is a dangerous situation. We need to engage in diplomacy to resolve it.
And President Carter, who I had met with a few months ago, had actually met with Kim Jong-un's grandfather and had been working towards a framework to get to denuclearization.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
KHANNA: I think there's a clear road map there. And I think we should applaud President Trump for taking that effort.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
Look, I have got to switch gears, ask you about the ideological divide within the Democratic Party...
KHANNA: Sure.
BARTIROMO: ... and Bernie Sanders, your guy's health care plan, Medicare for all.
We know that there's an enormous amount of pushback on Medicare for all. Not only is it going to cost upwards of $32 trillion, but it's also going to knock out 180 million people who currently get their insurance from the private sector.
How do you justify that, sir?
KHANNA: Well, two things.
First of all, the current system costs $49 trillion. So you have to look at it in comparison. What Medicare for all will do will reduce a lot of the pharmaceutical costs, a lot of the hospital costs, a lot of the insurance costs.
Second, if you read actually the bill, it allows for supplemental insurance. So, here's what it does. Medicare for all, you get health care. You get dental. You get vision.
BARTIROMO: No, I did read the bill. I did read the bill. I did read the bill, Congressman.
And it makes the private insurance industry unlawful. It's unlawful to have private insurance.
KHANNA: No, it doesn't.
BARTIROMO: In Bernie's plan.
KHANNA: It is like Britain's bill. You can have -- you can have supplemental insurance after Medicare.
And that is something that many people support, that you have strong Medicare. But if you still -- after you get everything, and you still want private insurance, you can have it under the bill in the House that I'm a co-sponsor of.
BARTIROMO: But you have got the -- you have got the bureaucrats running your life. The government is going to tell you if you can get that MRI or not. This is one of the issues with this plan.
KHANNA: No.
I mean, I think, look, if you -- if people who are on Medicare, if you ask them...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
KHANNA: ... most of them are very, very happy with it.
And what this will do is, it will strengthen Medicare. It will increase, by the way...
BARTIROMO: All right, we have got to jump.
KHANNA: OK.
BARTIROMO: Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
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