CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Mark Warner

Interview

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Well, joining me now is the Democratic senator from Virginia, also former governor of Virginia, Mark Warner.

Thank you so much for joining me, Senator.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Thank you, Dana.

BASH: So, you also have been calling for this bipartisan infrastructure bill to pass for months.

Had that happened, would Terry McAuliffe be the governor-elect of Virginia right now?

WARNER: Well, Dana, what a difference a week makes.

If we were having this show a week ago or two weeks ago -- and, remember, we have had two major things happen, one, a great jobs report, 531,000 new jobs, another couple hundred jobs added in preceding months.

If we could have had this bipartisan infrastructure bill, which -- Larry Hogan is right. The House could have passed it in August. We could have spent the last three months going around Virginia talking about clean water systems, improving our transportation system, making sure our airports didn't appear to be Third World, making sure every home in Virginia had high-speed broadband connectivity.

We have got a lot of coastal areas. Finally, the federal government is stepping in on resiliency. Or an issue like the country's going to buy 25,000 new school buses over the next five years. Chances are, they're going to be electric.

Wouldn't it be great if we actually made those buses in America or in Virginia? We have money for that in this infrastructure bill.

So, yes, I think, if we could have been talking about that win and showing the kind of job creation that actually has been taking place, things might have been different.

BASH: Different, in that you think Terry McAuliffe could have pulled off a win?

WARNER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

I mean, this was a -- the voters of Virginia and the voters of America gave us the presidency, the Senate and the House. They expected us to produce. They have been hearing about this bipartisan infrastructure bill for months.

And I'm very proud of the bill. I was one of the so-called gang of 10 that put it together. Is it perfect? No. But it is the first time in 50 years, 50 years, we have made this kind of investment.

BASH: So, the flip side of what you're saying is that the Democrats, who control Congress, the Democrat in the White House, by not getting this done, they're responsible for Terry McAuliffe's defeat.

WARNER: What I'm saying is, I wish the House would have moved earlier.

But all of us know, I know as well, we need to pass the second half of the president's agenda as well. I wish we would have spent less time talking about top-line numbers and more time talking about what's in it.

For example, we all know we want to see the economy come further back. We want to deal with the supply chain issues. Part of dealing with the supply chain is getting folks back to work.

One of the most important ways we can get people back to work is if we have child care that's affordable and universal preschool. That will get particularly women workers back into the workplace.

BASH: So, you mentioned the...

WARNER: We want to make sure we all get vaccinated, make sure that people feel safe.

Those are things, particularly at least -- the preschool and child care are part of the president's -- second part of his agenda. BASH: So, those are two of many provisions in the other bill that is

now waiting to get passed in the House.

Is there anything that you want to change? Because, as you well know, it takes every single Senate Democrat to vote yes for this second bill to ultimately pass.

WARNER: Well, I think things like child care, preschool make a lot of sense.

I think lowering price of prescription drugs. I talk a lot about insulin. I have got a type 1 diabetic daughter. I can afford to pay for that insulin. Many families cannot. This new bill will cap insulin for every family about $35 a month. That is an enormous benefit to many millions of families.

[09:35:07]

Making sure we take the appropriate moves towards making sure we have a cleaner energy, dealing with climate change. I think one of the things that's kind of thrown us all for a loop, I think most all of us, the vast majority of Democrats, thought that the way we would pay for most of this is by getting rid of some of the Trump tax cuts, going ahead and raising corporate rates, capital gains, and rates for folks that -- at the high end.

BASH: Yes. Senator...

WARNER: So, the fact that that is not the case means we got to get that -- the pay-fors right. And I think that will still take a little bit more time.

BASH: Senator, I just...

WARNER: But I'm prepared to vote for this bill once it gets out.

BASH: You're prepared to vote for it.

I just want to take it up to sort of 10,000 feet and ask you about something that your fellow Virginia Democrat Abigail Spanberger had to say. She said that President Biden and his agenda -- about this. She said: "Nobody elected him to be FDR. They elected him to be normal and stop the chaos."

So are you misreading what Americans wanted out of this president, out of the Democratic Caucus -- Democratic Congress that is now in control?

WARNER: I think what the American people wanted was to do rational, pragmatic things. That's what I tried to do when I got elected governor 20 years ago, when Virginia was a very red state.

I think the initial plan against COVID in March was what the economy needed and Americans wanted. I think the infrastructure investments were long overdue. But I do think, coming out of COVID, when virtually everybody's life

has been dramatically changed, thinking about and putting forward proposals about child care, about preschool to get folks back into the workplace, to recognize that we have been talking about bringing down the cost of prescription drugs for 30 years, and we're finally going to do it, and recognizing we have got to grapple with climate change, I actually think that is what the American public hired Joe Biden to do.

And I think, once we do it, I think you will see the president's numbers dramatically improve.

BASH: I want you to listen to what Democratic strategist James Carville had to say about what he thinks went wrong for Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, what went wrong is this stupid wokeness.

I mean, this defund the police lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln's name off of schools, that -- people see that.

And it's just -- really have a suppressive effect all across the country to Democrats. Some of these people need to go to a woke detox center or something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: Are Democrats too woke senator?

WARNER: Listen, I don't support defund the police.

Matter of fact, I think you saw Democrats all around who were successful -- the new mayor of New York, who you're going to have on, has talked about investing additionally in our police forces. Are there ways that we need to make that policing more community-based?

Absolutely. The notion of what happened in Virginia -- there is not a school in Virginia that teaches Critical Race Theory. But the governor-elect, Governor Youngkin, stirred up the cultural pot there.

BASH: That's true.

WARNER: I hope he governs in a different way. I want him to succeed.

BASH: Can I just stop you there for a second? Can I just stop you there for a second?

That is true that there -- that it's not in the Virginia curriculum at all. But did Democrats miss a chance to signal to parents, in particular, that they understand their anxieties? I have talked to Democratic candidates and others who say that they didn't really have a good answer to questions about children and what -- not only what they're being taught in schools, but the anxiety post -- or as we're coming out of the pandemic.

WARNER: Dana, I think Glenn Youngkin touched a nerve that was felt in Virginia, but, frankly, felt all over the country.

And I think, sometimes, our response, yes, we need to make sure that we increase teacher pay. Matter of fact, we have put -- the federal government has put more money into education both under Trump and under Biden in the last 18 months after -- through COVID than ever in our history.

I do think we need to acknowledge that it's been hell for every parent living through COVID, disrupting their life. I think we need to thank our teachers. I think we need to thank our school board members. And I think we needed to have acknowledged the challenge that parents have felt and that we need parents' involvement in their kids' education.

And, candidly, when we think about additional funding for school, I think one of the most important things we need to have talked about and should be talking about is, I think a lot of those kids and a lot of folks, frankly, that have been working in schools are going to need some mental health assistance.

I think the aftermath of COVID is not going to be simply solved as we get these schools reopened.

BASH: Yes.

WARNER: But getting schools reopened does require the kind of hard choices this president has made about vaccines.

BASH: Well said.

Senator, thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it.

[09:40:02]

WARNER: Thank you.

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