CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Elizabeth Warren

Interview

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SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): So, let me start with the fact that we know we need an infrastructure bill. Roads, bridges, now communications, and we need to add child care to that.

We want to have a 21st century economy. We want daddies and mamas to go back to work. We need all those things. And I think pretty much everybody acknowledges that.

I like what the president did on our rescue package. He said he wanted to go bipartisan. He invited the Republicans in. He laid out the plan.

But he said, we're going to have a solution that is big enough to solve the problem. And it was popular across the nation, and since it was going to help Democrats, Republicans and independents, and since Democrats, Republicans and independents liked it, we declared it bipartisan, we passed it, and we're done.

TAPPER: But it wasn't bipartisan in terms of how it passed, though, I guess, is the point. You know, it sounds to me like you're saying he needs to follow the same template.

WARREN: Uh-huh.

TAPPER: Say this is -- we need it to be big. Senator Capito has introduced a bill that's about I think $500 billion or $600 billion. Biden's transportation, infrastructure bill is about $2 trillion.

WARREN: Uh-huh.

TAPPER: Would you be opposed to any sort of compromise in between, $800 billion, $900 billion?

WARREN: I'm not going to start by negotiating against myself, but understand this -- what it's going take to repair the roads and bridges in America, what it's going to take to make sure that not just part of America has access to broadband, but all of America has access to broadband. And what it's going to take to make sure that we have universal child care, child care that is affordable, available, and high quality all across this nation.

That is a big ticket item, and we've got to make sure that we put enough resources in to make that happen. I think that the president's budget, quite frankly, doesn't go quite far enough.

TAPPER: Yeah, let's talk about that.

WARREN: I think we need to add more.

TAPPER: Because you write -- President Biden talked about child care today and you write quite a bit about it in your book "Persist". You wrote about your struggles to find child care when you were a working mom.

WARREN: Yeah.

TAPPER: Writing quote, I went on from this job to write 12 books, get tenure at Harvard, build a consumer agency, beat a Republican incumbent and to take a seat in the Senate and run for president of the United States. Woo-hoo! I'm quoting you.

And yet -- you probably say it differently. And yet child care -- child care nearly knocked me out. Child care or the lack of child care nearly sent me packing twice.

So, the Biden American Families Plan would invest $225 billion in child care. You've asked him to nearly triple that.

WARREN: Not quite. Let's do numbers for just a minute.

TAPPER: Okay.

WARREN: He has 225 for what he deems child care and 200 for what we deems early childhood education. My view is, those are the same thing. That is, they're a continuous line of having our children cared for and having our children in early childhood learning.

So, he's at about 425. I think the full ticket for child care and early childhood education is about $700 billion. That gives us universal coverage.

[16:30:03] It also means we can raise the wages of every childcare worker and preschool teacher in America. Those are predominantly women, predominantly women of color.

This bill is called the jobs bill.

TAPPER: Mm-hmm.

WARREN: And we're talking about putting a lot of money into roads and bridges. And let's face it. That builds a lot of construction jobs. And I'm happy for that, genuinely happy.

But how about we put some money into childcare that allows people to be productive? And that means lots of good jobs for women. We can raise those jobs up and make them true professional jobs that help millions of families across this country.

TAPPER: So, I had Senators Gillibrand and Ernst on the show a week or two ago. They were talking about a bill that they worked on together to combat sexual assault in the military.

WARREN: Yes, it's a good bill.

TAPPER: And one of the things that was kind of refreshing about it is the two of them compromising.

Have you talked to -- because there are a number of Republican women senators who I imagine have had the same personal experiences on this, not that it should only be women senators, but it tends to be that men senators don't care or pay attention to these issues.

WARREN: Yes. Can we stop and do a commercial for why we need more women in the Senate and the House?

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: Well, that's definitely true, especially when it comes to issues like these that men don't--

WARREN: Yes.

TAPPER: But have you talked to any -- Murkowski or Collins or Ernst or any of these other women senators to talk about these issues that you're talking about, the childcare and early education?

WARREN: So, the interesting part here is, we have been talking about this for a long time--

TAPPER: Right.

WARREN: -- I mean, long before Joe Biden came to the White House, actually, long before Donald Trump came to the White House. We have talked about this issue over and over and over, I suspect far more than the men have talked about this issue.

TAPPER: Yes, that's what I'm saying. Yes. WARREN: I get your point.

Now what we're down to is starting to negotiate over the numbers. I'm reaching out. We're talking about numbers, all of us. We're talking with the White House about numbers and talking across the Senate and across the House about numbers.

But the point -- let's not slip past this.

TAPPER: Mm-hmm.

WARREN: The president of the United States two weeks ago addressed the entire nation. And he said there are some things we just absolutely need.

And one of the words that came out of his mouth following that sentence was childcare, childcare across this nation, early childhood education.

And that is groundbreaking. Now we have got to negotiate to the right number. We have got to make it universal, available to all of our parents. We have got to make sure that we have made a commitment, so we don't just say, oh, yes, we're glad to help if you can find childcare.

Ron Wyden and I are working on something that puts more money into the infrastructure to actually help build childcare.

TAPPER: Mm-hmm.

WARREN: Half the places in America are what are called childcare deserts.

TAPPER: Right, nothing there at all.

WARREN: There's just nothing there.

TAPPER: Right.

WARREN: It doesn't make any difference how much you could spend. It's just not there.

So, this is the kind of thing we have to work on. And the way I see, it's got two parts. One is, this is how you boost productivity in our economy. But the other is, this is how we live our values. We want to have an America that truly is about opportunity for everyone, and that includes regardless of gender, regardless of race, regardless of the kind of family you were born into, this one is personal for so many of us who have lived through this experience.

That's what I talk about in "Persist," how personal policy is. And it starts with being a mother, with childcare.

TAPPER: Before you go, you recently said you plan to run for reelection in 2024.

WARREN: Yes.

TAPPER: According to Politico, that surprised some Massachusetts Democrats, who were looking at Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley or former Congressman Joe Kennedy to run for that seat.

What's your response to anybody being surprised by this? And would you possibly change your mind if Democrats lose control of the Senate in 2022? It's not fun being in the minority, as you know.

WARREN: I'm not in this job because it is fun. I am in this job to fight for the things I believe in.

I'm in this job to fight for an America where everybody gets some opportunity. And that's what persistence is all about, including running again in 2024.

TAPPER: The book is "Persist." The author is Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Thanks so much.

Don't be a stranger. We have two hours a day now every day.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: So, come here. Talk policy. We're happy to have you.

WARREN: You bet. Let's do it.

TAPPER: Good to see you.

WARREN: Good to see you in person, my first.

TAPPER: Yes. No, it's nice. It's nice.

WARREN: It is.

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