MSNBC "All In with Chris Hayes" - Transcript Interview with Bernie Sanders

Interview

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And here to talk about the

stakes and what the Senate should be doing, Senator Bernie Sanders,

independent of Vermont. Senator Bernie Sanders, it`s good to have you.

Let`s start with where things are right now. I mean, it really has seemed

like a kind of one party operation. You have got Democrats that you caucus

with in the Senate, Democrats in the House who passed that bill, saying we

need to do more. We`re not out of the woods yet. Things are bad.

And Republicans, when there was that initial goods job number saying, oh,

we think we might be good. We think we might be good. I feel like they`re

coming back from that now. How do you see the state of things right now?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I) VERMONT: Well, I mean, the Republicans may try to

ignore the horrific reality that is facing tens of millions of Americans

today, Chris. But you know what? They`re also smart politicians and they

understand they cannot tell the American people that there is no urgent

need in this country when, as you reporter just indicated, we`re looking at

millions of people being evicted from their homes. We`re looking at people

by the millions who have lost their health insurance, 30 million people

have lost their jobs.

So Republicans in their heart of hearts may not want to do anything, but

they do want to get re-elected to the House and Senate. They`re going to

have to act.

And our job is to put as much pressure as we can on them to start

addressing the awful needs of the American people right now.

HAYES: One key element it strikes me, and people have written about this,

is the duration of whatever you`re able to pass. And I agree with you. I

think it`s pretty clear they can`t just say we`re not going to do anything,

but there is a real concern that they pass something and then that`s it, no

more particularly should Joe Biden get elected president, and if they were

to keep the Senate that the next Democratic president would be basically

out of luck.

Is there talk among your caucus and among Democrats of some kind of

permanent structures in place until the crisis is over in this legislation?

SANDERS: Absolutely.

Look, the idea that extended unemployment and the $600 addition is going to

run out at the end of this month when so many of our people desperately

need that is unthinkable. Our position has got to be that we will protect

the American people economically in my view, that means providing another

check. It should be $2,000 every single month per person until the crisis

is over. It should be, and there is a lot of sentiment for this,

guaranteeing health care to all people during the course of this crisis

without out-of-pocket expenses. It certainly means extending that

unemployment benefit. And in my view we should pass the paycheck protection

act to make sure the workers continue to get their paychecks.

HAYES: Do you think -- Mitch McConnell has sort of set a strange bar here.

From the beginning, his negotiating position seems to be on this liability

protection. This is the thing he seems laser focused on, some kind of

protection in legislation to protect employers or maybe school districts or

others from being sued if they bring people back to work and they get

COVID. What do you think of that? What is the state of discussion about

that among Democrats?

SANDERS: You know, you stop and you think how ironic, how crazy this is.

You have got a president of the United States, go back to work. This

pandemic is really insignificant. It`s not going to hurt you. And then if

somebody goes back to work because an employer does not provide the safety

protection that worker needs, you can`t sue that employer for allowing

people to die or become unnecessarily sick.

So obviously we know that McConnell and his Republican friends are worried

about employers. Our job is to worry about workers. And our job is to pass

in this unprecedented moment the kinds of protections that the working

class, the middle class, low-income people need right now.

HAYES: Final question for you, senator. I know today there were these sort

of working groups, policy committees that some folks from your presidential

campaign staff had been engaged in with the Biden staff. They announced

some of the results of that.

I saw a poll today I thought was very interesting that showed I think it

was 87 percent of Sanders supporters supporting Joe Biden, only 4 percent

supporting Trump, and basically the picture it painted, and this is across

the various candidates who were in that very crowded primary field, was a

very unified Democratic Party, a very unified electorate in defeating

Trump. Is that your sense of where things are right now?

SANDERS: Absolutely.

Look, I think every person who voted for me, and I think for the other

Democratic candidates, fully understands that Donald Trump is the most

dangerous president, if not in the modern history of our country, than in

the overall history of our country, and that it is absolutely imperative

that we come together and defeat him, and defeat him badly.

I was glad to work with the vice president in forming six separate task

forces which had some of the most knowledgeable people in the country

coming together to deal with education and climate change and health care

and economy and criminal justice and immigration reform. And these folks,

needless to say, people who represented the progressive movement and a

different perspective on things than did Biden`s people.

But there was serious discussion, and I think a real honest effort, to come

up with a compromise. And I think the compromise that they came up with, if

implemented, will make Biden the most progressive president since FDR.

It did not happen -- needless to say, everything that I wanted did not,

everything that Biden wanted, but there is no question that on some of the

major issues facing this country, if that agenda is implemented, life will

improve for tens and tens of millions of working people. It will improve

for our environment and for climate change, criminal justice and for the

needs of low income people.

HAYES: Senator Bernie Sanders there in Burlington, Vermont. Great -- a

pleasure to have you tonight. Thank you very much.

SANDERS: Thank you very much, Chris.

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