Colorado. My family is with me. Today, susie, caroline, helena, and ann. This is where we are spending our vacation. Thank you for having us. I want to say a few words by way of introduction. Im happy to open it up for any comments or questions or criticisms anybody has on any topic. Before i was in the senate, i had not really been in politics. I was the School Superintendent. A Large Urban School District in america where most of the kids live in poverty. What i learned about the kids there was that may have exactly the same dreams that i had as a kid. Their parents have exactly the same dreams for them that my parents had for me. And that susan and i have for our three daughters. They face enormous challenges like school kids all over this country when they are living in a time when we have got the worst income inequality we have had in 100 years, and an Education System that is reinforcing the income inequality rather than liberating people from it. There is a reason for that, which is the best predictor of the quality of your education is the amount of money your parents make. I think that is deeply unfair in a country where we describe ourselves as the land of opportunity, as we should. And that is why im running for president. We need to fix that again in the United States. It is my view that the divisive politics that donald trump pursued to get elected, and that he is now pursuing to stay in the white house is not going to serve the kids that i used to work for in the Denver Public schools. And it is not going to serve their families well either. And that is true for kids all over america, rural school districts, urban school districts, who want this country to work for them. Who want the country to work for their families and who believe that if they go to school and work hard, that we will do the work we. Are supposed to do for them they have we are supposed to do for them. They do not have time to fix their own schools. Four fix the immigration or fix the immigration system. Or make sure we have an economy that works for everybody in this country once again when it grows. They have a reasonable expectation that other generations of americans have had, that we will do the work we are supposed to do while we have the opportunity to do it. If we pursue the same politics we pursued the last 10 years in washington, for the next 10 years, i will be part of the first generation of americans to leave less opportunity, not more to the people coming after us. We cannot allow that to happen, iowa. We cannot allow that to happen, america. [applause] sen. Bennet i think from my point of view, we certainly need to make donald trump a one term president. [applause] [cheering] sen. Bennet but that is just the necessary step in the direction of where we need to head. We have got to figure out how to govern this country again. And we have to unify ourselves over the issues where there is vast agreement in america. I come from a state that is exactly a third of democratic, a third republican, and a third independent. I have learned something running for office. You do not say one thing in a primary and another in a general election. You do not say one thing in rural iowa, and Something Else in des moines. People in this country need Something Better than that. The other thing is this is not just about who is in the white house. That is important, i would like to be your president , i would like to be in the white house to help us lead this country back to the prosperity that we all deserve. But what it is really about is all of us taking control of this democracy again. This country was this government was immobilized before donald trump showed up. There are a lot of people i know in colorado that tell me they voted for donald trump because they wanted to blow the place up. And i say, well, congratulations, you achieved your objective. Now what are we going to do for our kids and grandkids . What are we going to do for americas place in the world . That comes down to all of us. It means we have to get the money out of our politics by overturning Citizens United and get the people back into our politics. [cheering] sen. Bennet it means we have to end political gerrymandering in this country as iowa has done. [cheering] sen. Bennet it means we need a lifetime ban on members of congress who have the privilege to be in the senate or house, a lifetime ban from ever becoming lobbyists in washington, d. C. [cheering] sen. Bennet half the people who leave the congress and do not retire become lobbyists in washington, d. C. What kind of signal does it send . I want to close just by saying i have no doubt that we can do this. Im optimistic about it. There is no reason to worry or to get up in the morning thinking i cant believe the country is headed in the direction that it is headed. This is in your hands. The work that you do between now and election day will decide whether we are going to preserve this democracy, this experiment in selfgovernment for another 230 years, or whether we are going to let it fail. If we stand on the example that our parents and grandparents set for us, people who disagreed with each other on all kinds of things, but still found a way to Work Together for the benefit of the next generation, we cannot fail. We will succeed. Thanks for being here today. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk to you. Who would like to ask a question . Bring your criticism. Yes . This is the first time in 25 years i have been to the iowa state year without my dad. I would like to know what you are going to do to help sen. Bennet this is the first time ive been to the iowa state fair in 25 without my father because of alzheimers. What are you going to do for that crisis . I lost my father this year as well. Im very sorry. I understand. I believe we need to fully fund Alzheimers Research in this country. If we dont do that, we will end up bankrupting the country because we have to find a cure and treatment. If we dont, the demographics and changes to our Health Care System will overcome the United States. Thank you for your advocacy. Yes, sir . 230 years, [indiscernible] sen. Bennet i did not call on you, but go ahead. You are expressing about what will happen to enter 30 years from now. The only ones im getting is this country will be gone in 10 years. What is it . Sen. Bennet im not sure i understand, but thank you. Programs for health care and Public Education when universal programs are stronger. Everyone pays taxes and i think they are entitled to health care. Sen. Bennet thank you. I do not a public option thank you for the opportunity to explain it. Since we passed Affordable Care act 10 years ago, and i was one of the 60 votes that voted for that. And i was up for election in the swing state of colorado. That is a tough way to win an election voting for the Affordable Care act. I was asked on tv whether i would was willing to lose my seat over it. My answer was yes. I went out to rural parts of my stay to explain why voted for the Affordable Care act and why we needed a public option to finish the job. 10 years later, we have not passed a public option. I believe the fastest way to universal health care in this country is to give every family in america the opportunity to make a choice for their family, whether they want to stay on the private insurance they have, or whether they would like a public option. I just believe it. And i know bernie is coming up here after me. [cheering] sen. Bennet but i just not do not believe the American People are ready to take away insurance and the choice for insurance from 180 million americans and charge the middle class in america 33 trillion in taxes. I dont believe it. And im so sick and tired of this country not having universal health care that we cant let bernies ideology stand in the way of our making progress. I gave Bernie Sanders all the credit in the world. I respect him for his ideological commitments. I respect him because he tells the truth about what is in his plan. But i disagree that that is going to get Us Universal Health Care in america. [cheering] sen. Bennet yes, sir . You want to expand government. Sen. Bennet the question is what i want to expand government or reduce the size of government . Having been a School Superintendent which i mentioned earlier, i know that in many ways, the government in the 21st century does not work as well as it needs to. In many ways, it is still running as though we are living in the 19th century. I believe we should have a much smarter government than we have today. And i do not have any commitment to it as it exists the way it does now. We need to drag it into the 21st century. But i want to tell you this. Mitch mcconnell and trump are growing government more than barack obama ever did. Ever did the amount of debt, the amount of debt that donald trump and Mitch Mcconnell have put on this government, have put on the next generation of americans is more than any other living politician. They have increased the rate of growth of the government more than barack obama did when he passed the recovery act. And next year, when unemployment is probably still going to be down, we are going to have a 2 trillion deficit thanks to trump. It is crazy. For those of you that voted for the republicans they because they told you they were fiscally responsible, they are the biggest fiscal hypocrites that have ever walked the capital floor. [cheering] [applause] sen. Bennet i want to find a nonmale person next. First of all, we have seen a massive failure on the part of the Trump Administration. We have seen a massive failure on the part of the Trump Administration to address the Opioid Crisis like he said he would. 70,000 people died last year of preventable overdoses, including a friend of mine. There is legislation in the senate right now. It is called the care act. What it would do is offer funding over the course of 10 years to state and local organizations to address the Opioid Crisis by using reduction techniques versus criminalization, which we have seen in the past does not work. Right now, every other senator running for president is a cosponsor of that bill. Im asking if you will add your name to that list and cosponsor the care act because it is the best way that we are going to address the overdose crisis in this country. Sen. Bennet i will add my name to that list. Thank you for asking. Thank you. Sen. Bennet i want to mention it because my friend bernard is coming here right behind me, that he and i introduced a bill several weeks ago that would create a 20 billion fund, that would be created by finding fining the pharmaceutical companies that created the crisis to begin with and use that money to help support recovery in this country. We have we should have done it a long time ago thank you. I appreciate it. [cheering] sen. Bennet yes . How will you and political you end political corruption in washington . This battle is for all of us, not just for me. We all need to end it. The system is a corrupt system. The system has been bankrupted by a lousy Supreme Court decision called Citizens United. And it has been corrupted by the political gerrymandering and by the special interest. The Freedom Caucus has told you a story about how government is somehow separate from all of you, and that it is bankrupt and you should turn away from it. And they have told that story for the last 20 years. It is not separate from you. It is your government. And it is screwed up. The only way we are actually going to be able to govern ourselves again as americans, i do not care what part you are in, to clean up the corruption and washington, d. C. We have to overturn Citizens United with a constitutional amendment. I strongly support that. [applause] how are you planning to address the gun violence crisis . Sen. Bennet thank you. I should have repeated your opioid question. I apologize for not doing that. But i was saying yes. The question is, the Mass Shootings we have been having, what is my plan to address that . Thank you for asking the question. I think enough is enough. Enough is enough is enough is enough. I come from a Western State. The state of colorado. We are a Second Amendment state. The shooting in columbine which was one of the first School Shootings in our country happened in my state. My daughters who are standing right there have grown up in the shadow of columbine, just like kids all across the america across america have grown up with a fear that something could happen to them when they are at school and the knowledge that for 20 years, the congress has done nothing to respond. Almost 20 years ago, in my Western State, we passed the same background check law that is waiting for Mitch Mcconnell to allow it on the floor of the United States senate. And every single year, there are about 2 or 3 of the people that want to buy guns in colorado who do not get to buy guns because they are murderers and they are rapists and they are domestic abusers. And there is nobody that can tell me that our state would be safer if they had weapons. If we can do that in colorado, we can do that in washington. If we can limit the size of magazines, that guy in dayton 100 rounds in his magazine. Nobody needs 100 round magazine in this country. And if we can do that in colorado, we can do that in washington. And you should call Mitch Mcconnell and tell him to put this bill on the floor of the senate in september when we get back. And if you call him today, call him tomorrow. Call him next week. In the week after that. Let him know that you are watching what he is doing. With his dad and his inability to deal with gun violence and his inability to deal with health care or climate. Yes or . Yes sir . What is your plan to address the growing debt crisis . Sen. Bennet we need to address the growing student debt crisis by making it easier for people to pay back their student loans, reduce the amount of money you have to pay back every year, i want to say honestly, i do not support bernies plan to get rid of student that in this country. [booing] well, i dont. You have to make choices. I would rather have free school in this country than free college in this country. That is my feeling. You know what . You know why politicians dont talk about free preschool and do talk about free college . Because preschool kids can cant vote. Thats why. As democrats and republicans and independents, as americans, the way we should be running our political system is based on whether how these preschool kids are looking at us. That is how we should evaluate our work. Not whether we can have one more nonsense fight on the cabletelevision at night. Not whether we can have one more nonsense fight with our neighbor. But are we doing the work that this generation of preschool kids needs us to be doing for them . And on a whole host of issues, we are not doing it. The whole government is totally fiscally irresponsible. To go to your point, we are not dealing with the climate issue that has to be confronted. We have an economy that for 40 years has not allowed 90 of the American People to have a pay raise. And an Education System that is reinforcing that income inequality rather than liberating. Doesnt it seem like we have enough work to do to not play the political game and do Something Different . That is what people in my state want. That is the people i met in iowa want. That is what people in new hampshire, South Carolina say they want. And that is up to all of us. The politicians will not fix themselves. You need to fix washington, d. C. [applause] sen. Bennet yes . Im a cancer survivor. And a transplant recipient. The Court Challenge to the aca is very scary. I know the Heritage Foundation in federal society have pushed as far to the right. Im curious what you could do to right that so we have a balance . Are you open at all to expanding the Supreme Court or term limits on judges . Sen. Bennet the question is, from a cancer survivor, very worried about what the courts are doing to the Affordable Care act and what the Trump Administration is doing to the Affordable Care act and preexisting conditions. Worried about the courts changing it and how do we change the courts and mi am i open to changing the number of people on the Supreme Court . For term limits. Sen. Bennet for term limits. If i am open to anything, it is term limits, not changing the configuration on the Supreme Court. I also am a cancer survivor. I got into this race late because i discovered i had prostate cancer. Let me just say, this is my Public Service for the day, anybody in this crowd that has a prostate, and you know who you are [laughter] sen. Bennet get it checked and if you do not have a prostate, get Something Else checked. [laughter] sen. Bennet that is the only way i would have known is if i had gotten tested. I had no symptoms. And i would be standing here with cancer if i had not been screened. We are the only country in the world where millions of people are having to contend with that. The only industrial to industrialized country in the world. My time is up. I will fight to make sure that we do everything we can to protect the preexisting conditions. I apologize for using up all my time. Thank you for having me today. Wonderful to see you. [cheering] sen. Bennet thank you [applause] can i get an autograph coming over here . Very nice to see you. That was fun. Thank you. It is so good to see you. Is it true you could buy an automatic weapon . . Not that i am aware of. I brought the whole family. Good. How are you doing . Doing good. Thank you, senator. Good luck. Thank you. Congratulations. Sen. Bennet hi. A little sweaty. You mentioned Mitch Mcconnell. Do you view him as an equal threat . Sen. Bennet i would say equal. I say donald trump got elected because a lot of people wanted to close the system up. The reason a lot of people wanted to blow the system up is because it was not afflicting reflecting their priorities. I think a big reason for that was the Freedom Caucus and Mitch Mcconnell had immobilize the federal government. I think it is important for people to understand that because there are people in this race who are saying we should just get rid of donald trump and it will go back to normal and we will be able to work constructively with each other. That has not been the record over the last six years of the Obama Administration before trump got there, and it will not be the record Going Forward unless we find a way to close over this very toxic politics that Mitch Mcconnell and the Freedom Caucus represent. Donald trump is just the latest manifestation of that. I think he is very much a symptom of our problems, less than a cause of our problems. You and other Democratic Candidates say this is a time for a new generation of people in the party. [indiscernible] sen. Bennet im not surprised by that. He has the greatest name id of any candidate in this race for good reason. For his Public Service which has been tremendous, his work as Vice President , in the senate for many years. I still believe it is time for a new generation of leadership. I think his poll numbers will change. If history is any guide in iowa, the folks leading today are not the ones that will be leading the race at the end of the iowa caucus. My sense, talking to people throughout iowa, is that peoples minds are made wide open. And that is good news for a candidate like me who has run race after race in a tough swing state in the middle of the country. Im always im almost always behind and i dont think as because i have a lousy personality. I think it is because this state is a tough state to win. Im always comfortable running behind and that is what im doing now. Senator Bernie Sanders called trump an idiot. Do you have problems without rhetoric . Sen. Bennet i have huge problems with the way donald trump has divided our country. I think it is absolutely shameful. I was talking to people yesterday about this. In 2013, i was part of the gang that wrote the immigration bill that got 68 votes but could never get out of the house of representatives because of the idiotic posture rule, that requires a majority. As i was talking about it, i started thinking, how is it possible that we elected a president who made this big case out of mocking john mccain, a guy who had been locked up for five years in solitary confinement . How is it possible . How is it possible that fox news could repeat that stuff and they would laugh about a guy, an American Hero who was locked up for five years . That is coming from a guy who avoided the roar because he said the war because he said he had brittle bones. I think that is what we have to reject. The democrats, republicans, and independents, we have to rejected. We need a president who sees it as their job to unify their country. He gets up every single day wanting to divide us. When your opponents are using rhetoric like that, that is not rejecting divisive rhetoric. Sen. Bennet im responsible for my rhetoric. So you would not choose to use those same words to describe a sitting president . Sen. Bennet i will reserve the right to use whatever words i want. But i want to do is assert that america is a home of is a whole lot better than what we are getting out of donald trump. I do not know how republicans can listen to fox news hosts making fun of mccain either. And repeating lies about the russians involvement in our election in 2016. How can people take the word of Vladimir Putin over their fellow citizens . How do you take the word of of Vladimir Putin over our intelligence agencies . Its crazy. We have to stop. And we have to take a deep breath. And we have to start governing this country again for the interest of our kids and our grandkids. That is so much more important than the political partisan battle that has been occupying us since before donald trump it became our president. What if you been hearing have you been hearing [indiscernible] sen. Bennet i have been hearing a lot from voters in iowa who are frustrated that there has been no action by the congress in 20 years on these gun issues. I think people generally support the background checks that Mitch Mcconnell has not allowed to come forward but that colorado passed 20 years ago. I think that is what we need to be focused on, those background checks between now and the election. This is not a matter of a moment coming and going. This is a matter of all of us are doing the hard work we need to do between now and then to actually change america and get this vote passed. In light of jeffrey epstein, President Trump retweeted [indiscernible] what does it mean for a sitting president , sharing and promoting [indiscernible] sen. Bennet this is what i said the other day. If you elect me president , you can count on there being few weeks to go by when you do not to think need to think about what im doing. I will be taking seriously my response ability with respect to north korea. I wont be taking seriously my responsibility i will be taking seriously our responsibility with respect to the middle east. Rather than living in a Reality Tv Show every single day, that a lot of people in america would like to get out from under and turn off. The fact that he has time to do this is a further reflection that instead of doing his job, he has spent his time watching cable tv and waiting on social media. That is not going to help this country. That has not helped this country. And it will not help this country. We need something a lot better. By the way, you know what he should be spending his time focused on . The suicides of veterans in this country. Maybe he should spend his time focused on that. [inaudible] where do you stand on that debate and how do you feel about sen. Bennet where i stand on the debate is im sick and tired of President Trump dividing this country, and whatever you call it, what we have to do is beat him. What we have to do is beat him. He knows what hes doing. I say this to Trump Supporters as much as i say it to democrats. He got elected dividing america. Thats why he won. Thats an unusual way for a president to get elected. It is not unheard of in other countries, but its very unusual here. Now hes trying to cling to power by dividing america again. I think what we need to do is overcome that by unifying this country, bringing people together around an agenda that is popular in the u. S. And beat donald trump in states like iowa and colorado and maine. I think thats where the voters in iowa are focused. Coming from a Western State like colorado and back to guns, do you support federal buyback programs . Sen. Bennet i would support a voluntary program. I think our focus should be on the background checks. Some of your competitors want to federally mandated that. I am sure that some do. You and governor hickenlooper are both yesterday, the government noted you had supported him for many years. Sen. Bennet he and i had very different experiences. He had been a phenomenal going governor for the state. I think i have a different set of experience. I have been a School Superintendent. That brings you facetoface with america in a way that most of these politicians have never been and what we need to do to move the country forward. I have represented colorado for the last 10 years in the senate. I know government is broken and i know how to fix it. I think its important to have had the experience i have had over the last 10 years to lead the effort we need to have to end this age and return our democracy back to the people who we represent. Thats what i intend to do. Thank you very much. You guys have spent the entire weekend here. Sen. Bennet you look as hot as i feel. Yes. You spent the entire weekend [indiscernible] sen. Bennet i dont think we can let it go away. I dont think the moms against gun violence are going to let it go away. I dont think the parkland kids are going to let it get away. I dont think my own kids are going to let it go away. The contrast here is extremely stark. The issue is extremely starkly placed. We had the shooting in dayton and the shooting in el paso. We have a bill that is a background check log law that the house has passed identical to one that was passed in colorado. We should have a vote in the senate. If you want to vote against it, vote against it. I dont think you should and 90 of the American People support it, but lets have a vote. Mitch mcconnell should have a vote. This senate, if you go back and look at history, we have the least productive senate in the history, and you cant even find time to put a vote on the floor for this. The schedule is not his enemy. He controls it. Dont let him tell you it is because he is spending time protecting the American People from russian interference, because hes not doing that either. We should have a vote on that, too. I would like to see people vote against the Election Protection bill that donald trump and Mitch Mcconnell are not allowing on the floor of the senate. Its ridiculous. The least you could do would be to pass legislation or have a vote on legislation meant to protect the American People from further meddling. He has not been willing to do that either. I have to go. Thank you. Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks to voters at the iowa state fair. Live coverage begins at 2 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan. Campaign 2020, watch our live coverage of the president ial candidates on the campaign trail and make up your own mind. Campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Night on the communicators, people come up to me and say sir, i can follow you, the make it impossible. These are people that are really good at what they do. Absolutelyey make it impossible privy we will talk about the recent president ial social media summit for President Trump discussed social Media Censorship by big tech firms and what should be done about it. I think as consumers we can certainly demand that abusers of facebook and twitter and google, if were going to be on that platform, we expect that they will respect our ability to communicate. If we dont like it, we can quit. Levy me, it seems hard to an accusation that big tech is a net negative to conservative speech when someone like Dennis Prager is now getting a billion views on the products and videos that he is putting out. Communicators, monday night at 8 00 p. M. 2. Stern on cspan president ial candidates talk to voters at the i was state fair after q a. Brian professor allison stanger, what is the now Fairly Famous middle barry protest middle barry middlebury protest . Prof. Stanger what happened do you mean . The story has been retold many times. A Student Group invited charles murray, rather controversial figure, libertarian scholar, to campus. And because they knew he was controversial,