State of the Union: Interview With Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, needs -- Dana, what needs to happen are two things.

First of all, everybody in Congress has got to understand the United States of America cannot default on its debt. And, by the way, a lot of that debt was accumulated under the Trump administration. You pay your bills, or else there will be cataclysmic economic problems in the United States and around the world, massive unemployment and a major recession.

Number two, the president is right. What we need is a clean debt ceiling bill. You pay your bills, and then you can sit down and negotiate what a sensible budget is.

What the Republicans are saying in their budget proposal is that, at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when the richest people are becoming much richer, while working-class people are struggling, what they want to do is to cut programs for nutrition, for education, for health care, throw hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people off the health care they need.

Our health care system today is dysfunctional enough. It is expensive enough. You don't throw people off of health care.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

You don't hold those people hostage to -- yes.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, I think we can start negotiating tomorrow, but you cannot be holding the American people or the world's economy hostage.

What the Republicans have got to say is, absolutely, we are going to make sure that we pay our debts. Let's sit down and negotiate a budget.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well...

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Dana, Dana, let me just say this. Let me just say this. That's what Donald Trump wanted when he was president. That's what he got.

That's what Ronald Reagan wanted when he was president. That's what he got. You don't hold the country and the world's economy hostage over the debt ceiling. You pay your bills.

This country now and what we're trying to do on our committee is address the severe problem them facing the working class in this country. And what I would hope the Republicans understand, there's something wrong with a health care system where we spend twice as much per capita on health care as the people of any other country. Let's deal with that, not throw people off health care.

Let's lower the cost of prescription drugs. Do they have the guts to take on the pharmaceutical industry? Let's raise the minimum wage in this country to a living wage. Let's make it easier for workers to join unions. Let's protect senior citizens by making sure we can expand Social Security and, by the way, demand that the wealthiest people in this country start paying their fair.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Yes, I think we can move toward cutting military spending. We're now spending 10 times more than the people -- than any other country on Earth, massive cost overruns in the Pentagon. I'm certainly open -- open to demanding that the largest corporations

in this country and the wealthiest people start paying their fair share of taxes. And I'm willing to look at any other proposals. There's a lot of waste within government. Let's go after it.

But don't go to war against the working class of this country, lower- income people. Don't tell kids that they can't afford to go to college or cut back on public education in America. We have already too much inequality in America. Let's not make it worse.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Yes.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

I think that it will.

But we will say, look, let's be clear. We pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, in some cases, 10 times more than the people of any other country. Pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars over a period of time on campaign contributions, on lobbying. They are very powerful.

So I would say to my Republican colleagues and some Democrats, do you have the guts to finally stand up to the pharmaceutical industry and make sure that all of our people can get the medicine that they need, and not have a situation where one out of four Americans, Dana, one out of four can't afford the medicine their doctors prescribe?

Now, by the way, this bill, to my mind, is only a start. The following week, we're going to bring the major -- three of the major CEOs of the pharmaceutical industry into the committee, and we are going to ask them, among other things, why is the price of insulin for diabetics so high?

They have lowered it. I want to make sure -- as a result of public pressure, they lowered insulin costs. I want to make sure that, in fact, translates into lower prices for ordinary people who need it. And I want to see substantially lower prescription drug prices across the board.

Cancer drugs out there, lifesaving drugs, cost over $100,000. Who can afford that?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Well, I think, when you look at a candidate, you consider a lot.

I think age is one thing. I think experience is another thing. I think your record that you have established is another thing. But, to my mind, Dana, when you put it all together, what you have to look at is, what does the candidate stand for? Which side are they on?

Are they on the side of the billionaire class, or are they on the side of working people? Look, it is no great secret -- I ran against Biden. No great secret that he and I have strong differences of opinion.

But when we live in a nation where you have a major political party, the Republican Party, where many, not all, but many of their leadership doesn't even believe in democracy, they maintain the myth that Trump won the last election, they're trying to keep people from voting, they're trying to deny women the right to control their own bodies, so that's a whole issue out there.

If you believe in democracy, you want to see more people vote, not fewer people vote, I think the choice is pretty clear, and that choice is Biden.

And, second of all, what I do believe is, the Democrats and the president have got to be stronger on working-class issues. They have got to make it clear that we believe in a government that represents all, not just the few, take on the greed of the insurance companies, the drug companies, Wall Street, all the big money interests, and start delivering for working-class people.

You do that, I think Biden is going to win in a landslide.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source