Transcripts For KQED PBS Newshour Politico Democratic Debate 20240713

Correspondent amna nawaz. applause and pbs newshour White House Correspondent yamiche alcindor. applause and, now, please greet tonights candidates. They are businessman andrew yang. cheers and applause south bend, indiana mayor pete buttigieg. cheers and applause massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren. cheers and applause former Vice President joe biden. cheers and applause havmover senator bernie sanders. cheers and applause minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar. cheers and applause and businessman tomo t steyer. cheers and applause welcome to all, and we will be right back to begin the debate. Look whats uphag to the american workers, theyre being stifled. Itas to end. We are the only major cou eny rth not to guarantee healthcare to all people. They want what it takes to bf part americas middle class. Everybody deserves a living wage in this country. The proposals im puttingd forward woulmake me the most progressive president in my if people are tired to have the extremes in our politics, theyve got a home wi me. We have a broken government in washington, d. C. What we need a new voice and a new set of solutions. A quick reminder to have rules for this debate. Each candidate has one minute and 15 seconds to answer direct eratorons from the mod and 45 seconds to answer rebuttal and followup questions. Tonights podium order on the stage was determin by an average of recenpolls. And lets beg. To the candidates, la night, at this hour, the house of representatives voted for only history to impeach a president. Every one of youas invor of this action, but unlike 1974 and president nixon, Congressional Democrats have, so far, not convinced a Strong Majority of americans to spport impeachment of President Trump. Why do you think that is, and what can you say or do differently in the coming weeks to persuade re americans tat this is the right thing to do . I want to ask all of you to respond, but to begin with Vice President biden. Ou now, judy, it was a constitutional necessity for the house to act as it di. And, you know, trumps response to suggest that only half of the fmerican people want to see him thrown out of oice now is dumbing down the presidency beyond what i even thought he would do. Is it any wonder if you look at the International Polling that the been donet that thes ch leader is rated above the american president or that Vladimir Putin congratulated him saying, stand fast and, in fact, it was mistake to impeach him. You know, we need to resto the integrity of the presidency, of the office of the presidency, and its about time we get that underway. H my job and i ink the job of all of us up here is to, in fact well thats noue, some will actually be voting in the senate but my job is tano go oumake the case of why president of the United States for another four years. Senator sanders, why do you ithink more people are non support of impeachment and what else can you do . Well, judy, what i would y is that we have a president who is aathological liar, we have a president swho i running the most corrupt administration in thmoern history of the country, and we have a predent who is a fraud, as during his campaign, he told working people one thing, and he ended up doing i believe, and i will personally be doing this in the c weeks and months, is making the case that we have paesident ho has sold out the working families of this country, who wants to cut Social Security medicare and medicaid after hed promised he wot do that, and who has documentedly lied thousands of times since he was president , and the case is to be made, certainly i disagree with trump on almost all his policies, but what conservaves, i think, understand, is that we can anot haresident with that temperament who is dishonoring the presidency of the United States. applause senator warren, why do you think more americans dont agree that thiis the right thingo do, and what more can you say . So i see this as a constitutional moment. Last night, the president was impeached, ande vryw in the senate who has taken a constituuponal oath tohold our constitutio and that doesnt mean loyalty to an individual, it doesnt mean loyalty to a political party, it means loyay to our country and that vote will play out over the next several weeks. But the way i see this is weve now seen the impact of corruption, and thats whas clearly on the stage in 2020 is how we areoi to run against the most corrupt pnesident living history. You know, this preside has argument that he would drain the swamp, and, yet, he came to washington, broke that promise, and has do everything he can for the wealthy and the well connected, from tax breaks to ambassadorships. Weave to prosecute the ce against him, and that means we need a canda for president who can draw the sharpestn distincttween the corruption of the Trump Administration and a democrat who is willing to get out andno figh for the wealthy and well coected but to fight for everyone else. Thats why im in this race. appuse senator klobuchar, whatme ar can you make to persuade more amecans this is the riht thing . Let me make the case to the American People. As a wise judge said, the president is not king in america, the law is king, and what James Madison once said when he was speaking ou at the Constitutional Convention and, by the way, i think hes a pretty good size for a president , he was fivefootfour. What he said, he said the reason we have these impeachmentco articles in thstitution, that the provisions are in a president would betray thethat trust of the American People for a foreign power. E. At is what happened her watergate, this is a global watergate. In the case of waterte a paranoid president facing election looked for dirt on a political opponent, he dd it by getting people to break in. This president did it by calling a foreign leader to ok for dirt on a political opponent, and i would make this case as we face this trial in the senate, if the president claims that he is so innocent, then why doesnt he have all the president s m testify . Richard nixon had his top people testify. applause a he should be hng from mulvaney, who is the one under oath. Witnesses have saned mulis the one that said, okay, were going to withhold this aid to a fldgling democracy to get dirt on a political opponent. We should hear from bolten who told his own staff to get aft lawyer he met with the president. That is the case. If President Trump thinks he shld not be impeached, he should not be scared to put forward his ow. N witness applause mayor buttigieg, what additional argument can you make to the American People . At the end of the day, this iseyond public opinions, this is beyond polls, this is beyond politics. The president left the house with no choice, and i think a lot of us are watching this process, watching wasn hing through the motions, and not expecting much but a foregone conclusion when it gets to the senate. We cannot give ino that sense of helplessness, because thats what they want. T they w to be taken in by that cynicism to where we give up on e process altogether. Meanwhile, their allies are laughing all the way to the bank. As wesees polic th let giant corporations, some of which made billions in profits, y not just zero, but as weve recently learned negative taxes, all the while they block policies that actually boost wages for working americans. D heres the goews its up to us, no matter what happens in the senate, it is u u tos in 2020, this is our chance, to refuse to be taken in by the helplessness, to refuse and that is what this president ial election is about. It is what my campaign is about. Our opportunity in 2020, no matter what happens in washington, as a country, to change the course of this nation for the better. applause t mr. I cant think, w more im over here. Mr. I can yag, what more im sorry, mr. Steyer. Let me remind everyone,i started the need to Impeach Movement over two years ago because i applause because i believe what counts here is actually the American Peoples opinion. Over 8 and a half million signed that petition and dragged twashington into the idt, actually, the most corrupt president in amrican history, its not a question of polical expediency, its not a question of political tactics, its a questiontf righ and wrong. So, now, when we look at whats going on, i actually agree with the question here is if we want the American People to understand whats going on, we need to have the Administration Officials testify on tv so we can judge. Ha the court counts here is the court of public opinion. Er the aan people deserve to see the truth of these Administration Officials testifying under oath so we can make up our mind. We want republican senators to do the right thing, we need their constituents to see the truth on tv and tell them, get rid of this guy orell get ri of you. Thats what i believe in. Im a believer in the grassroots as an outsider, getting the American Peoples voice to count, thats who i trust and thats who i trustow. Mr. Yang. Its clear why americans cant agree on impeachment, were getting news from different sources aneth magk it hard to agree on basic facts. Congressional approval, last time ill cecked, was Something Like 17 , and americans dont trust the Media Networks to tell them the truth. The meia networks didnt do us favors by missing why donald trump became president inthe rst place. If your turn on cable networky, news toou would think hes our president bec oaurussia, facebook, racism and hilla clinton and all mixed together. We blasted away 4 million nufacturing jobs primarily based in ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, missouri. I just left iowa. We blasted 40,000 manufacturing jobs there. The more we act like donald trump ishe cause of all our problems, the more americans lose trusthat we can actlly see whats going on in our communities and solve those problems. What we have t do is we have to stop being obsessed over impeachment, which, unfortunately, strikes many you know what the score is going to be, and actually startnd digging inolving the problems that got donald trump eelected in the first place. We have to take every opportunity to present a new a new way forward to help beat him in 2020 because, make no mistak he will be there at the ballot box for us to defeat. Tnk you, mr. Yang. applause lets turn now to an issue that is on the minds of all americs, and that is the ecomy. Senator sanders, today, the house of representatives voted for a new bipartisan traen agreamong the United States canada and mexico. It was supported by unionfriendly leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and big labor groups like the aflcio. They say it is going to be a big job creator. Setor, my question is will youe support this and, if not why not . Judy, youre talking tody someho, unlike some of my colleagues here, voted against nafta, voted against pncr with china, t agreements that cos us over 4 million decent paying bs. Now, i dont agree with your statement that people think this is going to be a great job creator. This is a modest improvement over what we have right now. It would allow, hopefully, mexican workers to organize into unions, independent unions and be able to negotiate decent contracts, but, at the end of the day, in my view, it o nt going to stop outsourcing, it io nog to stop corporations from moving to mexico where manufacturing workers make less than 2 an hour. What wneed is a ade policy that stands up for workers, stds up for farmers and, by the way, the word Climate Change, to the best of my knowledg is not discussed in this new nafta agreement at all, which is an ourage. So, no, i will not be voting for this areement, alhough it makes some modest rovements. Senator klobuchar. I have a different view. I will go with my friend Sherrod Brown who has voted against every trade agreement thats come in front of him and hevos ng for this and i am, too, and the reason i am voting for is i believe that we have a change with this agreement. I teuld not have vofor the agreement that President Trump put forward, but weve goter beabor standards, better environmentastandards, and a better deal when it comes to the pharmaceutical provision, which i also opposed. 95 of our customers are outside our borders, and we have to make sure the t we havade agreements that are more fair because, if we can encourage work made in america, every time you hold something in your hand that says made in amrica, it is the ingenuity of our workers, it is the quality of ,a produ it is equality of our workers and the hopes and dreams of the American People. I think this agreement, while senator sanders is correct, there are some issues with it, is much better than the one originally proposed, and for those farmers in the midwest and for those people that have been hurt by the fact that we will not have a trade segment with mexico and with canada and the United States, think tt this is a much better deal. All right, ie se some other hands up. I want to move to the next question, and you can bring t there,nk, your points with this. This i initially address to Vice President biden ae d that s erall u. S. Economy right now looks strong. The unemployment te is at historic lows, unemployment among africanamericans is down, the markets are booming, wages, while not growing as much as many would like, theyre still doing about as well as they were in the obamabiden era. My question to you, mr. Vice psident, is what is your argument to the voter watching this debate tonight who may not like everything President Trump does, but they they dont know hey shouldand make a change . I dont think they really do like the economy. Go back and talk to told neighbors in the middle class neighborhoods you grew up in. The middle class is getting kied, the middle class is getting crushed. The working class has no way up, as a consequence of that. You have, for example, farmers in the midwest, 40 of them couldnt pay their bills last year. You have most america, if theye received a billor 400 or more, th would have to sell something or borrow the money. The middle class is not as behind the eight ball. We have to make sure that theyen have an evhot. We have to eliminate a significant number of ese godawful tax cuts that were given to the very wealthy, we have to invest dinucation, we have to invest in healthcare, we have to invest in those things that make a difference in the lives of ddle class people so they can maintain their standard of liing. Thats not being done, and the idea that were growing, were not growg. The very wealthy are growing. Ordinary people ar not growin they are not happy with where they are, and thats why we must ge this presidency now. Or muttigieg, is that your assessment . Yes, where i live, folks arent measuring the econo by how the dow jones is looking, theyre measuring the ecbynomy how theyre doing. When youre doing the bills at the end of the month at your Kitchen Table and you find that even if your waghaesve gone up, its not nearly going as fast as the cost ofhealth and housing. This economy is not working for most of us, for theiddle class and, i know youre only ever supposed to say middle class and not poor in politics, but weve got to talk about povertyu in this ry. There is not one county in the United States of america where someone working full time at the minimum wage can afford a places not even a oneapbedroom tment. The biggest rob in our economy is simple, people are not getting paid enough. That is t the result of some mysterious cosmic force, its the result of bad policy,dn weve got to change it by raising wages and empowering workers. applause mr. Yan g. D. P. And corporate profits are at record highs in America Today. Also at record highs, depression, financial insecurity, student loan det applause even suicides and drug aoverdoses. Itgotten so bad that our Life Expectancy as a country has declined forthe last three years because suicides and drug overdoses have oertaken vehicle aths for the first time in american history. The fact is this Unemployment Rate and g. D. P. Have very littli relationshiph peoples lived experience on the ground. You are a recencollege graduate, you have a 40 chance of doing a job thadoesnt require a college degree. That doesnt show up in the headline Unemployment Rate, nr does all the families working two or three jobs to get by. applause senator warren, you have your hand up. I do. And i have a question for you. Well, i want to ask this question. Is go ahead. S the problem, im proud to stand on a stage with democrats who undstand that a rising g. D. P. , rising corporate profits is not being felt millions of families across this country. Im proud to stand on a stage with people who see that americas middle class is being hollowed out and that working families and poor people are beng left behind. Wh we need to talk aout, though, is why that has happened, and the answer is weve got a government that works great for those with mone and doesnt work for much of anyone else. We have a government that works great for giant Drug Companies, justot for someone trying to fill a prescription, works great for people who want to mae money in private prisons and private Detention Centers at our border, just not for the people whe lives are torn apart. Works great for giant Oil Companies that want to drill everywhere but not for the rest of us who see Climate Change applause and when you see a got that works great for the wealthy and the well connected and for no one else, that is corruption pure and simple, and we need to call it out for what it is. cheerand applause i want senator sanders, if you would, aief response, and then i have another question. Look, heres the response trump goes around saying the economy is doing great. You know what . Real inflation accounted for wages wentsup t year 1. 1 that aint great tonight while thee people own more wealth than the bottom half of america, 500,000 americans, cluding 30,000 veterans, are sleeping out on the streets. Today, in america, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth, more in wealth and inequality since the 1920s. We need an economy that works for working fams,ilot just the 1 . That is what our caispaig about. Senator warren, i have a you. Ion f every candidate on the stage has proposed tax increases on the wealthy, but you hapecially ambitious plans that, apart from healthcare, would hike taxes an addition 8 trillion over the decade. The biggest tax increase since world war ii. How dooou answer top ecnomists who say taxes of this magnitude wod stifle growth and investment . Oh, theyre just wrong cheers and plause lets start with the wealth tax. The idea of a 2cent tax on the great fortunes in this country, 50 million and above. For 2 cents, what can we . Do we can invest in the rest of america, wcan provide universal childcare, Early Childhood educatn for every baby in this country age zero to five. Universal prek for every 3yearold and 4yearold and childcare worker preschool teacher. We can do more forge colrad wants and Cancel School loan debt. Thk of the economic impact. 2 cents with the billionaires, theyre not buying more cars. We invest that 2 in Early Childhood education and childcare, that ans those babies get topnotch care, it their education, means theirh mommas and daddies can take on real jbs, harder jobs, longer hours, we can increas productivity in is country and we can Start Building this economy from the groupun. Thats how we build it in small towns, thats how we build it in Rural America and thats how we build it in urban america, an economy that woks brief answers. Not the wall street answers. Brief responses from mr. Stey and mr. Buttigieg. Let me say that i agree with senator warren, much of what she says. I have been for a wealth tax for over a year. F im vor of undoing all the tax brakes for people in rich corporations that this administration has put through and ive talked about equal celebrating the taxes on Investment Income to allows to cut taxes for 95 of americans by 10 . But theres somethie going on that i think is really important and thats this, weow r. Trump is going to run on economy. I built a business over 30 years from scratch. Were going to have to take him on on the economy in terms of growth as well as economic justice. Well have to be able to talk about growth, peres pert acros the board for everyone in america. Pe my eence, bailgd business, understand hough to make that happen means i can go toe to toe with mr. Trump and take him down a fraud and a failure, and im as think thats different from the other people on this stage. E i think wed a different, unconventional way of attacki president , who atually went after m or best prepared candidate in history and beat her. Mayor buttigieg. Right now i think were offered false choice. U either have to go all the way to the extreme or its business as usual. Yes, w must deliver bi ideas and, yes, taxes on wealthy individuals and on corporations are going to have to go up. We can also be smart about the promises were maing. Make sure theyre promises we can keep without the kind of taxation that economists tell us could hurt the economy. s why, for example, i propose we make college free for 80 of americans, but it doesnt have to be free for the top. If youe in that top ten percent, how about you pay your own tuition and we save those dollars for Something Else that we could spend them on that could make a big difference, whetheinfrastructure, childcare, housing health, on issue after issue, weve got to break the washington mindset that measures e bigness of an idea byhow many trillions of dolla adds to the budget, or the boldness of an idea by how many fellow americans it can antagonize. Well take a shorbreak and be back in two minutes with questions from my fellow moderators. cheers and applause welcome back, everyone. Im joined by our fantastic panel of analysts and journalists. I want to ask you stephanie sy and amy walter, we hit the two big topics right off the top, President Trump and the economy. Lets start with the economy. Voters here. Umber one issue for all of these candidates want 15 ano hur minimum wage at least eventually. But what differences did we hear . Anything significant . The difference is at the end with pete pet buttigieg saying,u know, we have to make sure there are promises we can keep and going back, this sense ofw breakingy from elabeth warren by saying we can be big, bold, we can have really progressive ideas, but if we look like we are measuring our boldness just in how high how much tax we are putting on americans, how big the programs are going to be, thats just going to come back and hurt the democratic nominee. O, first of all, Elizabeth Warrens answer to judys question, she didnt answer it directly. Right. She just said, no, those models are wrong. There are ifferent economic models of what impact what about economic doubts about your plans, she said theyre just wrong. Yeah, the fact that the university of pennsylvania came out with a budget model just last week and did say her model in the next ten years could constrain g. D. P. Growth. So there are different models outthe. Shes going to have to continue to explain that question if she makes it into the general election. She has to also have details. Thats right. Looks like candidates might have gotten their drinks of water. Hope you did, too, and well go back to the stenage momrily again for the pbs newshour politico debate, many more big issues to come, stay tuned. Welcome back to the p pbs newshoitico democratic debate. The next question is from tim alberta of politico. Thanks, jy. Candidates, good evening. Climate now. To talk about senator klobuchar, many cientists say that even if the u. S. Reduced itrbon footprint to zero by the year 2050, the damage will have been none, the Climate Change will have made certplaces in the u. S. Unlivable. So, owing this, would you support a new federal program to subsidiziothe relocof American Families and businesses away from places like miami or paradise, california, perhaps, davenport, iowa, because we know these places are going to be hit time and timinaga well, i very much hope were not going to have to relocate entire cities, but we are will probably have to relocate some individual residents, and the problem right now is that this Climate Change is as existential crisis and youre seeing it here in california with the fires that you just had, you saw it in northern california, as s mentioned, with paradise, and the most moving video from that, to me, was nda 30seideo of that dad driving his little girl through the lapping fires, with his neighborhood burning behind him tod singing to her alm her down. We cannot wait to act. Theres a saying that great leaders make decisions not for this generation but seven generations from now. P thesident doesnt keep his decisions for seven minutes. So what i think we need to do, get back into thet inernational Climate Change agreement. I will do that on day one. applause on day two, bring back the clean on day three, the gas mileage standards. I see the governor of californiawho has been work so hard to get those done, defied every step of the way by the Trump Administration, and then introduce sweeping legislation to put a price on carbon and build a fridge to the next century, which means we must upgrade our buildings and our building standards. Thank you, senator klobuchar. Mr. Steyer, would you support such a new federal program, again,to help subsidize the relocation of tthewns. Im hoping we will do what im suggesting which isclare a state of emergency on day one of my presidency. I believe im the only person here who will say unquivocally this is my number one priority. I know that we have to deal with is crie s, i know thatve to deal with it from the standpoint of environmental justice, i have been working on this for more than a decade, ive taken on oilmpanies and beaten them on Vice President i laws, ive pushed clean energy across the country, ive prevented pipelines and ive prevented fossil fuel plants. But we know not only can we clean up air and water in the black and brown comermunities population is concentrated, this is the opportunity to create literally millions o middle cass union jobs, well paid across the United States of america. Our bigge crisis isur biggest opportunity, and if we dont declare a state ofer ncy on day one, i dont understand how we go to the people arounthe world to lead the coalition that has to happen and that only america can lead. Look, this is a generational question. I have a lot of respect for the people on this stage. I sow everybody worried about this, but, for instance, i would call on mayor buttigieg to prioritize this higher because the people in his geration understand that this is a crisis that we have to go onright now thank you, mr. Steyer. But its the greatest opportunity to rebuild america. Mr. Buttigieg, 45 seconds to r spond. Ive made clis will be a topic of dayone action. This is not theoretical for me. I live in one of those river cities that youre talking about. Not only that, i live right by the river. My neoghborhood ed, in the wecond of two once in a millennium floodad in two years. Do the math on that. I know whats at stake, and its why i insist that we act, with a carbon tax and dividend, with massive increases in renewableon researchenumerable energy, Energy Storage and carbon n orage, but, bigger than that, we have to sume energies of the enti country to deal with this. P ive seoliticians in washington saying the rightou thing Climate Change as long as i have been alive. All these plans we have to get Carbon Neutral by 2050, and i think most or all of us have one, their impact is multiplied by zero unless something actually gets done. And that is why i want to mak sure that our vision for climate includes people from the auto worker down the bloom me in south cobsouth bend to a farmers away so theyre part of the solutions not beating them over the head. Switching gears, Vice President biden, three president s enyed stints in Economic Growth due to oil and gas production. Willing to sacrifice some of that growth knowing potentiallyc it could dismaybe hundreds of thousands of blue collar work, in interest to transitioning to the greecener omy . The answer is yes because the opportunity for those workers to ansition to highpaying jobs, as tom said, is real. Wre the only counto has ever taken great, great crises and turned them into enormous opportunities. Ive met with the union leaders. For example, we should, in fact, be making sure, rig now, that every new building built is energy contained, that it doesnt leak energt it, in fact, we should be providing tax credits for people tobe able to make their homes turn to solar power where theres all kinds of folks out here in california, were on the verge of havieing battabout the size of the top of this podium that you can store energy whe in fact, the wind isnt blowing and the sun isnt shini. We have enormous opportunities. For example, you talk about would we relocate people who, in sition wherin a po they lost their home, we have to not rebuild to the standard that existed before when we talk about when we come in and help people, we have to rebuild to the standard that exists today. For example, we shouldnt rebuild another highway in america that doesnt have charging stations on it. We have an opportunity to put 550,000 charging stations, creating millions of jobs for as making sure we them as well electric vehicle market. There are so mny things we can do and we have to make sure wepl n it to the people that are displaced that their skills are going to be ed for the new opportuties. Thank you, Vice President biden. Senator sanders. Request misses the mark. Ct, your it is not an issue of relocating people in towns. The issue now is whether we save the planet for our children and our grandchildren. applause the issue, as you should know what the scientists are telling , is they have underestimated s the threat averity of Climate Change. Youre talking about the parist, agreemhats fine, aint enough. We have got to, and ive introduced legislation to do this, deare a national emergency. The United States has got to lead the world, and maybe, jus maybe, instead of spending 1. 8 trillion a year globally on weapons of destructaybe a president , i. E. Bernie sanders, can lead the wold, and insteaof spending money to kill each other, we pol our resources and fight a common enemy, which is Climate Change. K tyou, senator sanders. cheers and applause senator warren, a ne y question , senator warren. Many of our western allies relye avily on Nuclear Energy because its efficient, free and many climate expertson believe its possible to realize your net goal of emissionings by 2050 without utilizing nucenlear gy. So cuff it both case on this issue . So i see it right now as we have to stop putting more carbon into the air, weve got to get the carbon out of the air tnd the water and that means we nee to kme of our nuclear in place. Ly not build more nuclear. I want to put the energy, lithrally, and the money an sources behind clean energyan by increasing by tenfold what we put into scence, what we put into research and development. We need to do what we do best, and that is innovate our way out leader. Problem and be a world but understand, the biggest clate problem we face is the politicians in washington who continue to take money from the oil indusy, continue to bow lawyers, to the think tanks, to the bought and paid for experts. America understands that weve got tomake change that were running out of time, that Climate Change threatens every living thing on this planet, but Getting Congress to act, you know, they just dont want ar it, and if we dont attack the corruption first, if we dont attack the corruption head on, then were not gog to be chle to make thanges we need to make on cimate, on gun safety, on drug pricing, on all of the big problems that fac us. Thank you. We need a washington that doesnt just work for the rich and powerful. We need one that works for our families. Thank you, senator. cheers and applause senator klobuchar, and then id mr. Steyer with followups. And h the way we tackle tis corruption is by winning big in this election, and the way wen takeimate change in a big way is by, yes, talking about whats happening on the coast, as i just did, but also talng about wats happening in the midwest where im from. Its not flyover country to me, i live there, and what we are seeing there is unprecedented flooding. Were seeing a 50 increase in Homeowners Insurance over the last few years, and ewe whe make theschanges, we have to make clear to people that when weut a prce on carbon, that that money is going to come back to those areas where people are going to be hurt, where jos e going to change and to make them whole with their ener bills when you make the case like that, you bring in the midwestern vot, you win big, and i think the best way to do it is by putting someone at the top of the ticket ws from the midwest. applause mr. Yang, 45 seconds, on tissue of Nuclear Energy. Well, first, we should obviously be paying to relocate americans away from plas hitly Climate Change. Were already doing it. We relocated a town in louisiana that became uni because sea levels rose. We knowt that town is not alone. Thats playing out in coaal areas around the country. The question is do you live the town on its oewn to fnd for itself or come together as a country and say we need tor protect ople from Climate Change. Part of my plans literally called move people to Higher Ground, thats what we need to do. Its literal and figurative. In california its forest fires and fore management. On nuclear pwer, i agree with the research. We need to have everything on the table in a crisis situati which this is. Other countries have had success with Nuclear Power and the next generation reactors have a wealth of potential. Thoreum isnt radio active the way uraums, doesnt last as long and you cant make a weapon out of it. Thank you. If we are going to innovate our way out of it, we have to have nuclear on the table. The last on Climate Change, mr. Steyer. The point about Nuclear Power is its not at tgeis stn the United States where its competitive on price. It has a lot of ris t it in terms of disasters and we have no ability to store the toxins that come out of it and last 100,000 years. Y we actuave the technology we need. Its called wind and solar and batteries. So, in fact, what we need to do cn do. Weve got to stop taking a look at this as something that we cant do because we can do this and we can do it in a way that creates, rebuilds this country on an accelerated basis, creates millions ofnion joband we come at it from the standpoint of environmental justice. This is our greatest opportunity to reinvent this country. Thank you. O actually take one biggest challenge in history and succeed together. You want to pull the countryit togetherall this partisanship . Lets taken to the biggest together as a natory and succeed thats what pulls people together. Thank you, mr. Steyer. Amna. Thank you, tim. Yes. Esident biden. Have been reassuring voters things will return to normal once President Trump leaves office, that republicans will have what you call an epiphany and come tota tableo work with the biden administration. But given everything that you have seen from currentbl reans, what evidence is there that things will change . Look, i didnt say return to normal. Normal is not enough. Normal, in fct, we would hae to move beyond normal, whether healthcare, the enveronment, whatt is, we have to build on what we had started in our administration, and thas been interrupted very badly, number one. Number two, with trump out of the way, its not going tos change thi a fundamental will mean that weall do is it position where hes not going to be able to intimidate the ba his base isot going to be able to intimidate the half a dozen republicans we may need in other things. I refuse to accept the notion, as some on this stage do that we can never, never get to a place where we have cooperation again. If thats the case, wre dead as a country. We need to be able to reach consensus, and if anyone has reason to be angryith the republicans and not want to cooperate, its me, the way theyve attacked me my son and my family, i have no applause no lve. But the fact is, we have to we have to be able to get things done, and when we cant convince them, we go out and beat them, like we did in the 2018 election in red states and in purple states. applause thank you, mr. Biden. Mr. Yang, i want a quick topic,s a new quon. The d. J. Party relies on black, hispan v and asianoters, but you are the only candidate of color on the stage tonight, and the entire field remains overwhelmingly white. What message do you think this its both an hor andr . Disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage tonight. I miss kamala and cory, though i think cory will be back. cheers and applause i grew up the son of immigrants and many racial epithets used against me as a kid, but black and latinos have something much more powerful worng against them than words, they have numbers. The average net worth of a black household is only 10 of that of a white how yells, ifoue a black woman, youre 23 more likelycoo die froplications in childbirth. These are the numbers that define race in our couesntry. The on is why am i the lone candidate of color on this stage . Fewer than 5 of amricans donate to political campaigns. You know what you need to done to political campaigns . Disposable income. La ae the way we fix this is we take Martin Luther kings message of a guaranteed minimum ince, a freedom dividend of 1,000 a month for lmericans, i guarantee if we had a freedom dividend of 1,000 a monthb would nothe only candidate of color on this stage tonight. Thank you, mr. Yang. Senator sarntiondz i want to put the same question to you. Ill answer that questn, but i wanted to get back to the issue of Climate Change for a moment, because i do believe ethis is th existential issue. Senator, with all respect, this question is abut race. Can you answer the question as was asked . S ched applause i certainly can. Becae people of color, in fact, are going to be the peoplf suffering mostwe do not deal with Climate Change. applause and, by the way, we have an obligation up here, if there are not any of our africanamerican brothers and sisters up here, to speak about an econnomy which africanamericans are exploited, where black women dhree times at higher rates tha white women, where we have a criminal justicsystem which is racist and broken, disproportionately made up of africanamericans and latinos and native americans who ail. In so we need an economy that focuses on the needs oppressed, exploited people, and that is the africanamerican thank you, senator. Yamiche. Thank you, amna. Senator klobuchar, here in california people who identify as hispanic, black or moment racial represent a majority of the population outnumbering white americans, the majority of the population is expected to be nonwhite in the coming generations. What do you say to people who are uncomfortable with becoming a racialinity. This is america and youre looking at it. We are not going to be able to succeed in the world if we do not incite everyone to be part of our economy. Our constitution says that we strive for a mopee rfect union. Well, thats what we are doing right now, and, to me, that means, one,er that everyone can vote, and that includes our communities of coloris. Ction thats been taken by this predent and his people and his governors all over the country is wrong. They have made it harder forri namericans to vote, as e court said discriminated with surgical precision. At would i do as one of the leaders on voting in the u. S. Se te . One, stop the purging. Ac abrams said, you know, you do not stop having your right to assem fbl yout don go to a meeting for a year. Because you dont go to a church or synagogue or mosque for thrnt , you dont lose your right to worship, you shouldnt lose your right to vote. appuse i would pass as president my bill to register every kidn this country, whenhey turn 18, to voe. That wld make all these discriminatory actions in these states go aw and i wou stop the gerrymandering. In addition to the agenda of Economic Opportunity because, as Martin Luther king said, what good is it to integrate a lunch counter if you cant afford aur har . Thank you, senator. Lets turn to the issue of Foreign Policy in the. Iddle ea senator sanders, secretary of state mike pompeo recently declared tt the United States believes israeli settlements in the west bank do not violate international law. That broke decadeslong. S. Precedent. How would you respond to israelii expansion of settlements . Would you link that to foreign aid to israel . Israel has and i say this as somebodyho lived in israel as a kid, proudly jewish, israel has the right not only to exist bueato exist in ce and security, but what u. S. Foreign policy must be about is not jusn pro israel, we must best propaian as well. applause and whether, in my view, we must understand that, right now in israelwe have leadership under netanyahu who has recently, as you kow, been indicted for bribery, who, in my view, is a racist. What we need is v leelplaying field in the terms of the middle east which adsses the terrible crisis in gaza, whereor 600 of the young people are unemployed. So what myn forelicy will be about is human rights, is democracy, is bringing people together in a peacel way, trying to negotiate agreements, not endless wars with trillions of dollars of expenses. Expenses. Thank you, seator. Mayor buttigieg. What we are seeing in the middle east and around the world are the consequences of this president s fairly, this president s refusal to lead. Eth particularly disturbing in the case of israel because has infused domestic politics, making u. S. Foreign policy choices in order to effectively interfere in israeli domestic politics, acting as that somehow projewish while welcoming white nationalists into the white house. But its not only in the middle east that we se the consequences of the disappearance of u. S. Leadership. We see among our allies and among oucar adversariee after case where the world is making plans on what to, ignoring the United States, because were no longer considered reliable. Its not just the mockery at a cocktailparty on the sidelines of a conference, its the looks on the faces of thede lea at the u. N. As they looked at the United States president with a mixture of contempt and pity. As an american, i never again want to see the amecan president looked at that way by the leaders of the world. The world needs america right now but it cant be just any erica, it has to be one that is actually living up to the values that make us who we are, supporting peace, supportingac demo supporting human rights, and supporting stability around the world. applause thank you, mayor buttigieg. Senator warren, president obao pledged to cse the Detention Camp at Guantanamo Bay but could not. 40 prisoners remain there. Last year u. S. Taxpayers paid 540 million to keep guantanamo open. Would you pledge to finally close a detention facility and if elected how will you dot . Yes, its time to close this detention facility. Is an internationals mon embarrassment. We have to be an america that lives our values eve single day. We cant be an america that stands up and asks pee to fight alongside us, as we did with the kurds in fighting i. S. I. S. , and then turn around in the blink of a tweet and say that were turning our bac on the people who stood beside us. After that, who wants to be ally of the United States . We have to ben ameca that ups the difference and that undersdnds the difference recognizes the difference between our allies, the people who will work aldongside us an the dictators who would do us harm, and we need to treat our allies better than we treat the dictators. That needs to be our job as an america. applause we have the finest military on earth. All three of my brothers serve. We have people on this stage who have served, and i am deeply grateful for that. Our military is strong d important, but we need to be an america that relies on ourtate department, that relies on diplomasy, that relies on our economic power and relies on working with the rest of the world to build world tha is sustainable environmentally and economically for everyone. U, thank yenator warren. Vice president biden, whyo couldntu clo guantanamowh bay . Couldnt the Obama Administration close it. We attempted but you have to have nail authority to do it to have Congressional Authority to do it. It is an advertisement for creating terror. What we have done arounthe world in terms of keeping guantanamo open or what trump has done by no longer being an anonymous broker in israel, theres no solution for israel other than a twostate solution. Its not possible, and he ha played to all the same fears and all the prejudices tht exist in this country and in israel. Bibi netanyahu and i know one anothes well. He knthink what hes doing is outrageous. What we do is we have to put pressure constantly on the israelis to move to a twostate soluti, not withdraw physical aid from them in terms ofheir security and, lastly, i think senator warren is correct, we have led by not an example of our power but the pow of our example, and the example were demonstrating is horrible, its hurting us badly. Thank you, Vice President n. Bi judy. I want to turn to another part of the world, and thats china. Mayor buttigieg, you have said that you think china presents more of a challenge than do your narrowly candidates believe. The u. S. Clearly wants chinas on terrorism, an yet,rth korea, americans are appalled bya chrecord on human rights, including the detention of over a million Muslim Uighurs. Should the u. S. , is my queion, do more than protest and issue sanctions . Should the us. , for example, boycott the 2022 beijing olympics . I think that any tool oughtto e on the table, especially diplomatic, economic and social tools like what youre describing. Look, for the president to let it be known that his silence, whether on the rounding upof Muslim Uighurs in x xinjiang, putting them in camps, his silence is trashing american alvalues. The y is theres a lot more to the relionship with china than whos selling more dishwashers. Yes, we need a much smarter trade poli, we also have to acknowledge whats going on over there, the use of technology for the rfection of dictatorship. That is going to require a stronger than ever repoe from the u. S. In defense of democracy. But when folks standing up for democracy hear not a peep from the president of the United States, what messa is that sending to the Chinese Communist party . The message i will sd is if they perpetrate a repeat anything like tin minimum square when it comes to hong kong they will be isolated from the free world and we will lead that isolation diplomatically and economically. applause mr. Steyer, Many Americans have been moved in the lat months by the protests of the it is chinese territory, but could you, would you do as president if the Chinese Government moved in militarily . Look, there is a temptation, paicularly for this president , to try and answer that on biteral in a bilateral way. The way the united st be reacting in hong kong is by gathering our coalition of democracy and freedomloving partners and allies to push back. In fact, when were making moral statements around the world, it should not be us threatening and trying to be the worlds policeman, it should be us leading on a valuedriven basis with the othepeople who share our values and want tong cha the world. We actually cant isolate ourselins from china. Act, we have to work with them as a frenemy, people who disturb us, who we disagree with but who, in effect, we are linked to in a world that is ever getting closer and, in fact, if we are going to treat climate as the threat that it is, we are going to have to paner with the chinese, they are ing to have to comeong with us, trust us and, together, this problem, so to solve thank you, mr. Steyer. Relationship with and were going to have to work with them Going Forward under allan circums. Thank you, mr. Steyer. Vice president biden, on china, we now know that china is engaged in annprecedented military buildup. Ey have launched a new aircraft carrier. Nesigns of as diturbing Espionage Campaign here inside the United States, there are a nuer of disturbing signs from sce chine. National securitolars long warned about the historical precedent that when theres a ruling power and rising power, theres likely to be a war. Is the u. S. On a collision course with china . What steps would you take as president. Its on a clie ngs couth china but not for war. What we have to make clear is we in fact are not to abide by what theyve done. Ll a n uighurs, as you poind out, muslims are in concentration camps, tha where they are now, being abused in concentration camps. What we started in or administration, trump stopped, wevhould be moing 60 of our sea power to that area of the world to lt, in fac the chinese understand that theyre not going to go any further, we are going to be there to protect other folcoks. Ly, we, in fact, should make sure that we begin toou rebuilalliances which trump has demoshed with japan, south korea, australia and indonesia. We, fact, need to have allies who understand that westre goig to the chinese from their actions. We should have go the u. N. Middle east and sought sanctions against them in the United Nations r what they di we have to be firm. We dont have to go to war, but e it cle, this is as far as you go, china. And in terms of their military buildup, its real, but it would take them about 17 years to build up to where which are. Were not looking for a war, but weve got to make clear we are a Pacific Power d we are not away. Mr. Yang, and then senator klobuchar. I havne familyhong kong. I spent four months there, and seeing whats happeningn the streets, its shocking. They banned face masks in hong ng. Why . Because they have a. I. Technology now using facial recognition to identify protesters if theso much as do anythi on the street, so they can follow up with them and detain them later. This is the rivalry that we have to win where chionasncerned. Theyre in the process of leapfrogging us in a. Because ey have more data than we do, and their government is subsidizing it to t tunesf tens of billions of dollarss. I have sat with our leading technologists and they say they cannot match the chinese resources. China just produced the first major smartphone that does not have google apps and is trying to export their thnology to the rest of the world. What we have to do is build a International Coalition to set technology standards, and then you can bring the chinese to the table in a very real wa, because this is their top priority and this is where we need tooutcompete them and win. Senator klobuchar. T applause . When it com Foreign Policy, i think we need to keep threats. Ises and keep our this president has done neither. And a country like china, their leaders, they watch that, and they know. He has stood with dictators over innocence. He has stood with tyrants over free leaders. He does it all the time. And i have a little different take than some of my colleagues when it comes to at happened at that conference with nato. Ye, they were making fun him, some of theoreign leaders. Athave heard senators make more fun of other ss than that. The point of it was that he uldnt even tolerate it. He is so thininned, that he walked. He quit. America doest quit. So if we want to send a message ho the chinese, we stand wit our allies. We stand with them firmly. We he a very clear and herent Foreign Policy when it comes to human rights. Check out my website ami lobuchar. Com. Ve the fire rs of our foren policy, out reasserting our values, rejoining the internatioikl agreementsthe Iranian Nuclear agreement. But it all comes down to one r returning to sanity. applause major buttigieg, and then were going to take a break. Im honestly not worried about the president s bad sense of humor when it comes to beideg un of. Im worried about fact that he is echoing the vocabula of dictators around the world. Whenhe american president refers t unfavorable press coverage as the product of the enemy of the people, democracy around the world gets weaker. Freedom of the press not just here a home but around the world gets weaker. Ats one more reminder of what is take not just here at home but for world history, and the imperative that we win this election. Can i respond . This is our chance. V y brief, very brief. I just want to make it very clear, mayor, that the freheedom ofress is deep in my heart. My dad was a newspaperman, and im the one tt asked evry attorney general candidate weve had under donald trump, both whom i opposed, about their respect for the First Amendmenta and theye refused they have refused to follow the rules at attorney general holder put in place when it came to protecting our journalists. C they would nmmit that they wouldnt put a journalist in jail for doing their job. So this is nost talking points to me. This is the real world. And i think that experience that i wilbring to the white house with protecting the First Amendment isth worore than anys. Talking point we are going to take a short break, and we will be w will be right back with more questions. applause welcome back, everyone. This is lisa desjardins, of the pbs newshour. Again, im here with the gang for this democratic debate tonight in los angeles, california. Before we come to you, i want to show viewers something theyreto goinee a little bit later ol well, which is the other major facility id in this debate. Its the spin room. This is in another building here on the campus of Loyola Marymount. You can look at the spin room right now. Its completely empty. Thats because reporters are at their desks. What youre seeing right now is actually the debate hall. Buththere is a spin room i next building over. Anyway, the point i was trying to mak guys, you know, the point is that we have about 500 members of the media here, some 450. And as membe of the media, what stood out so far . What were the key moments that weve had in tis debate . I think its been fairly interesting. Who hashi som . Ryan lizza of politico. I think its substantive,a t of issues we have not seen in other debates, really interesting discussion on nuclear big question about the differences between their climate plans, which really hasnt been addressedin previous debates. Ilizabeth warren and yang disagreed on ths. Elizabeth warren would not add new Nuclear Capacity to address climate chnge. A lot of scientists suggest that perhaps you cant reach the carbonreduction targets that she has put forwathout nuclear. Johandrew yang who likes to thnk of himself as a man of science, is okay with nuclear. He is not worried about safety issues. I like that you start with the nuclear difference. Its because we havent hadba s where the climate most people theyre the same on climate. We drew some interesting issues there. On relocation, which is, you know, in a climate future is going to be a serious issue biden said, yes, hed spend money on relocating the only definitive answer i heard on that. Yes. Be ie sanders just objected to the premise. Yang also said his plan lirally is mo to Higher Ground and he did answer that question directly as well. U i want to ask about Elizabeth Warren. She she took two kind of detailed questions that i didn hear answrom her on. One about howephanie brought up earlier during a break, how she answers economists who sahey tax plan could actually mean a very large loss of jobs. She said simply, theyre wrong. The other was on Guantanamo Bay. She said right away, t finitively, she wants to close it. E question was how . There i ceend of thought, shes so prepared, she haso any details, but he she went to larger talk on Foreign Policy. Does it matter whether a candidate supplies direct and details to these questions . Or do votaers, amy walter,nt this big vision and sort of lofty rhetoric . Voters wt to understand the value system of the candidates. They arent getting into the weeds on these issues in the way that these candidates do. They want to feel like those candidatesave thought through this. That they do understand the elements of the issue in front of them. But, really what they need to deliver and this is the challenge for candidates at thi st the processbut this sort of optimtic, forwardlooking, a vision, a narrative, who we are as a country, who we can be as a country, and that the rest of the policies fit into that. H elizabrren has a very clear narrative. Thrunderlying challenge in country, she says, is the corruption. Its the money tha ot fuer politics, that comes from big corporations and other wealthy individuals, that keep u in this cycle that weren right now. Thats thats her bigger, broader narrative, that she has been making now since the verygi ing of the campaign. Laura barronlopez. And i think warren, also, has been very effective in past debates and this debate, as you said, amy, circling her questions back to her core message, whi is about corruption. And so and, also, her direct answer, i think, is what voters are looking for, whether its about guantanamo or the other issues that are comup. They want ton exactly where that candidate stands. And then they understand tht matter later on theyll figure outhe plan for i i think that, also, weve been diving more into Foreign Policyt in this debaan we have in the past. It gives candidates like biden an opportunity to showcase some of his strengths, which is something that hes been doing all along on the campaign trail. He talks about Foreign Policy a lot there. He also talks about how he being attacked by trump, and that, like trump, putin also doesnt want him to be president. So this is givopg him an rtunity to talk about that a lot more. Id also say that tom steyer seems to be having mewhat of a strong night so far. This is one of my questions. To me this is one of the differencein the debate. With fewer candidates i feel like ive gotten more of a presence of tom steyer an andrew yang. Theyre getting more epportunities to speak. Tom steyer saidy clearly he thought Climate Change is what he would prioritize wi,th china essentially over hong kong. What do you make of those two candidates on either side of the stage . Rian. S it shows if you carvive to the final round of this kind of debate process, which really is about winnowing the field, m right, eveth. You have an opportunity. Now, stes,r haou know, in the early states, steyer has struggd to build a momentum. But a candidate like amy robuchar, who entered thce as a real underdog but is still on that stage cking up in iowa, this smaller stage gives someone like that an oortunity to get a second, third, fourth look from a big chunk of voters. Shes had her hand raised several times. Viewers cant always see that. Her nd goes up at. Stephanie, what stood out to you . Id say the midwestn view of Climate Change from buttigieg and klobuchar felt fresh to me within that debate. When we talk about biden, i agree with whataura sai he was able to play to some of his strengths, when it comes, especially to china, talking about obamas policy of the asia pivot. He talked about moving 60 of the u. S. Military projected force into the asia pacific. Thats a continuation of an ama policy. I think well see that as a theme for biden throughout this campaign is that continuation. Also with biden, at that moment, when he talked about the epiphany, and he said i cantpl imagine e where we dont have cooperation again. I think that will also come up again. All right, youre getting a lot of substance and a lot of Foreign Policy. And were going to now turn back to the pb newshour politico democr debate. L e from los angeles, the pbs newshour politico democratic debate continues. Once agin, judy woodruff. Welcome back to the pbs newshour politico democratic president ial date. Im judy woodruff. Joined by my pbs newshour colleagues, amna nawaz, and yamiche alcindor. By tim alberta of politico. Now, lets turn to the next question from tim. Thank you, judy. Candidates, lets make things interesting. Former president obama said this week when asked, who should be running countries . That if women were ine, cha youd see a significant improvement on just about erything. applause he also said if you look at the world and look at the problems, its usually old people, usually old men, not getng out of the way. pplause senator sanders, you are the oldest candidate on stage this evening. And im white as well yes. How do you respond to what the former president has to say. Well, i have a lot of respect for barack obama. I think i disagree with him on th one. laughter maybe a little selfserving, but i do disagree. Here is the issue the isue is where power resides in america. And it not white or black or male or female. We are living in a nation increasingly becoming an oligarchy, where you have a hand full of billionaires who spent hundreds of millions of dolrs buying elections and politicians. You have more income and wealth inequality than at any time since the 1920 pps we are the only major country on earth not toaluarantee health care fo people, which is why we need. Edicare for all we are facing an existential crisis of Climate Change. The issue is not old or young; male or female. The issue is working people standing up, taking on the billionaire class, and creatingn a government economy that works for all, not justhe 1. Thank you, senator sanders. applause si vice pnt biden, im going to guess that president obama did not clear that remark through your campaign ahead of time. And im going to guess he wasnt talking about me, either. Ok laughter number one. Look, im running im running because ive been around, my experience. With experience hopefully comes judgment and a little bit of wisdom. The fact is, were in a position now, the next president of the United States is going to inherit two things an economy that is out of kilter and a p domesticy that we have to unite america, and a Foreign Policy that requires somebody to be able on da one stand up, look out at the entire wo,r know who that person is, know what they stand for, and know they know them. Thats reason im running. I have more experience doing that than anybody onthis stage. S to follow up, if elected you would be turning2. You would be the oldest president in american history. President churchill. American history. Oh, american. That was a joke. Oh, okay. laughter i appreciate it. Politico doesnt have much of a sense of humor. Oh, weve got agreat sense of humor. They wouldnt have put me on stage otherwise. Are you willingo commit tonight to running for a second term if youre elected next november . No, im not willing to commit one way or another. Heres the deal im not even elected one term yet, and lets see where we are. Lets see what happens. applause its a nice thought. Senator kloadbuchar, you h your hand raised. Thank you for asking a woman this question. Th nk applause first of all, we have not had enough women in our government. When i was on trevor noahs show once, i explained how in the history of the senate, there was Something Like 2,000 men and only 50 women in theole history. And he said if a nightclub had numbers that bad, they would shut it down. laughter however, it is not just about numbers. Bout what you get done. And that is my argument. If you look at the poll, the taate that knows me best, and that is the of minnesota, it showed in the state that hilary had her lowest margin of victory, it showed that i at donald trump by 18 points. I beat him with men more than anyo on this stage. So i think what matters in this election is can you bring inth e rural and suburban areas, particularly in the midwest. And, number two, what will you do when you get there . I am someone that has passed over 100 bills, with men and women, with republicans and witc democrats,ding changing the Sexual Harassment laws for the United States congress, a bill i led so taxpayers are no longer going to have to pay for people that harass othereople. Senator warrens i d the law for drug shortages. I have done work in our rural areas. I think thats what most matters to people. I would be so proud to be the first woman president. But mostly, i want to be a president that gets things done and improves peoes lives. Thank you, klobuchar. applause senator warren, you would be the oldest president ever inaugurated. Id like to you weigh in as well. Id also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated. applause cheers i believe that president obama was talking about who has power s geterica, whose voi heard. I believe hes talking about women and people of color and trans people anwhd peoplose out. Es just so often get shoved anme, the best way to understand that is to look at how people are running their mpaigns in 2020. You know, i made the decision when i decided to run not to do business as usual. D nowim crowding in on00 10selfies. Thats 100,000 hugs and a handshak stories, stories from people who are struggling with stunt loan debt, stories from people who cant payeir medical bills, stories from people who cant find child care. Now, most of the p on this stage run a traditional campaign. And that means going back and forth from coast to coast to richople, and people who can put up 5,000 bcks or more in order to have a picture taken, in order to have a conversation, and in order maybe to be considered to be an ambassador. Thank you, senaor warren. Those selfies no, i want to finish this. Es those selcost nobody anything. And i get it. In a democracywe all hava lot of different points of view and everody gets one vote. But heres the thing people who can put down 5,000 to have a picture taken dont have the same priorities as people who are struggling with student loag debt or stng to pay off medical debt. I want im running a campaign where people whose voices get heard. We cant have thank you, senator warren, were we cant have people who can put down 5,000 for a check, drown out the voices ofon eve else. Thank you, senator warren. They dont in my campaign, whitehey wont in my hous mayor buttigieg, you had your hand raised. applause well,e cantlp but feel that might have been directed at me. And heres the thing were in the feist our lives rigowht. Donald trump and his allies have made it abundantly clear tt they will stop at nothing, not even foreign interference, to hold on to power. They have already put together more than 300 million. This is our chanr. This is oly chance to defeat donald trump. And we shouldnt tryo do it with one hand tied behind our back. The way were going tn is to bring everybody to our side in this fight. And if that mens that youre a gradtudent digging deep to go online to pteforamerica. Com and chip in 10 bucks, thats great. And if you can drop 1,000 without blinking, thats great, too. We need everybodys help in this fight. Im not going to turn away anyone who wants to hep us defeat donald trump. We need democrats who have been with us all along, yes, but we also need independents worried about the direction of they. Coun if you are a republican disgusted with whats going on in your own party, were not going to agree on everything, t we need you in ths fight, and i will welcome you to our side. Thank you, mr. Mor. applause senator warren, 45 seconds to respond. So the mayor just recently had an fudraiser that was held in a one cave full of crystals and served capitol hill 900abottle wine. Think about who comes to that. He had promisedvery fundraiser he would do would be open door, but this one was closed door. We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smokefilled rooms would not pick the nxt president of the United States. I applause billionaire in caves should not pick the next president of the United States. Mr. Mayor, your response. You know, according to Forbes Magazine im literally the only person on this stage who is not a millionaire or a billionaire. applause so if this is important. This is the problem with issuing purity tests you cannot yourself pass. applause if pledge if i pledge never to be in the company of are prive democratic donor, i couldnt be up here. Senator, your net worth is 100 times mine. Now, supposing you went home feeling the holiday spirit i know this isnt likely but stay with me and decided to go on to peteforamerica. Com, and give the maximum alowable by law, 2,8o. Would thatute my campaign because it came from a wealthy person . No, i would be dplald to have that support. We need the support from everybody who is committed to defeating donald trump. applause we would we wod like to bring in everyone, but, obviously, senator warren, i would like thgive you a cance to respond. I do not sell access to my time. I dont do call time hold on a second. With millionaires and billionaires. As of when, senator. Y dont meet behind closed doors withigdonor donors. Look, im taking one that ought to be an easy step for everyone here. Ive said to anyone who wants to donate to me, if you want to t doname, thats fine. But dont come around later expecting to be namedor ambassbecause thats what goes on in these highdollar fundraisers. I said no,nd i asked everybody on this stage to join me. Blis ought to be an easy ste and heres the p if you cant stand up and take the steps that are relatively easy, cant stand up to the wealthyct and wellcon when its relatively easy when youre a American People believe youre going to stand up to the wealthn and wellted when youre president and its really hard . applause . Senator, ive got to respond. First of all, were going to respond. One more chance to. Then you have no business running for office in the first place. But, also,enator, your president ial campaign right now, ded in part, is fun by money you transferred, having raised it at those ect same bigticket fundraisers you now nounce. Did it corrupt you, senator . Of course not. So to denounce the same kind of fundraising guidelines that president obama went by, that Speaker Pelosi goes by, that you, yourself, went by until not long ago, in order to build the Democratic Party and build a Campaign Ready for the fight of our lives, these purity ts shrink the stakes of the most impoant election judy wed like to bring everyone in. No re aded me directly. I did not senator klobuchar had her hand up first. I would lion to cal you. Come here to listen to this agent. I came here to make a case for progress. And i have nev even been to a wine cave. Ive been to the wind cave in south dakota, which i suggest guto. So what is making a case for progress about . That is what unites us up here instead of what divides us, which is Campaign Finance reform. That means passing a constitutional amendment to overturn citizens united. It means king the fir bill we pass when i am preildent be hr 1, which is the ethfoics passed in the house, which is currently sitting onc mitchonnells desk, along with 400 bills. And if you dont think we can get thisone, well, we can. But only if we win this election big, not by arguing with each other, but by finding what unites us an getting it done. I came to make a case for progress applae thank you, senator klobuchar. I am rather proud, maybe i up here that doeave anyandidate billionaire contributions. But you know what i do have . We have received mo eontributions from mor individuals than any candidate in the history of the United States of america at this point in an eleion, averaging 18 apiece. Now, theres a real competition going on up her my good friend joe and he is a good friend hes received contributions from 44 billionaires. Trailing, pete. Her hand, is you only got 39 bilrelion contributing so, pete, we look forward to you. I know youre an eneetic guy, and a competitive guy, to see if you can takon joe ont issue. But what is not what is not a ughing matter, my friends, this is why three people own re wealth than the bottom half. This is why amazon and other major corporations pay zero in federal taxes. We nd to get money out of politics. We should run our campaigns on that basis. Thank you senator. Vice president biden. 45 seconds to respond. My average contribution is 43. Number one thats number one. Were that theator that suggested that i am in the pocket of billionaires en in fact, i they oppose everything that i have ever done and i have made sure from the very begiing everyone of my fundraisers is open to the press, every single solitary one. Not one single time. Period. And i have made sure that you largest contribution ives accepted is 2800, which is allowed under law. And i am the first person to introduce the constitutional amendmt to make sure that there is no all public funding of elections. End all private funding. And we all should take a commitment make a comt tment to tght now on this stage. In the meantime, youve got to fund a campaign. And we, in fact, have fund campaign, average contribution 43. Thank you, Vice President. Mr. Steyer, i woulylike it brinu. Can i listen, im running because this government is broken, because its purchased by corporations. And ive sient 10 yearsghting ose corporations and beating them and building grassroots organizations to push power down to the people. Thats what ive been doing for a decade. But let me say this theres someone who is loving this conversation, and his name is donald trump. Thats right. We ow how hes going to run. Hes told us last week, he looked at a group of ameancans said, i dont like you. You dont like me. It doet matoir. Youre to support me because the democrats will minutes. He economy in we need to go after this guy. Hes a different breed of cat, and we ne to beahim. And we need ttalk about prosperity. And i spent 25 years building a busig ss. Were go have to take him on, on the economy, not have these kinds s of conversatid tear each other down, but actually go after this corruptd president at him on the economy where he thinks hes king and where, in fact, hes a fraud and a failure. Thank you, mr. Steyer. Were going to end it there. I want to turn now to an issue thats been in the headlines quite bit, and that is immigration. Mr. Yang, we have a question here froa professor right her at Loyola Marymount. There are nearly 200,000 daa snaift calirnia, more than any other state, including several students right here at lmu if you win and rinsta daca,es another ent could overturn it again. Will you move on a permaneiv legislfix for dreamers in your first 100 days if elected . Of course, i would. Im the son of immigrants myself, and i know that dreamers essentially americans in everything but this legal classification. applause i just want to return this conversation, because i thinkr its our country is deeply misogynist, and most all of us know that. Money and men are tied together. Thati where i thought elzabeth was taking the conversation. The fact is strong societies would elect more female leaders. Strong men treatomen well for the same reasons. Im on the record saying that you need both strong men and female leaders in government because the fact is if you get too many men alone ad leave us alone for a while, we kind of become morons. laughter applause so its related to our Campaign Finance rues, because right now, the fact is we run in a fundamentally antiwoman marketplace, and that includes the marketplace for politicians. If we were to put 100 democracy dollars in the hands of every american voter, instead of 5 contributing you would see thete ciecting to 50 or stict , and you would have many, many more women running for office because they dont have to go shake the money tree in the wine cave. Id like to follow upthe question, again, mr. Yang, was about dreamers. You pledge to move on a permanent legislative fix in your first 100 days. Dreamers say that they are frustrated by democrats failure to priitize their status in deal after deal. Why srshould drearust democrats now . I believe everyone on this stage would do the right thing by dreamers in the first 100 ys. I would make it a top priority. Im the son of immigrants myself. Th, is almost half of fortune 500 companies were ildren of immigrants. Or immigrants make our country stronger and more dynamic. And immigrants are being scapegoated r issues they have absolutely nothing to do with. You go to the factory in michigan, its not wall to wall immigrants. Its wall to wall robot arms d machines. We have to send the opposite message of this administration. And as your present, i think i could send a very clear message, if youre considering immigrating to this country, and realize my son aughter could become president of the United States. Thats the opposite of theen cuadministration, and thats message i would love to send to the world. Thank you, m. Yang. Senator sanders, a related question for you. Senatorrs sani have a new question. I cant respond tthe migration question. This is related, sir. But there are estimated to be as many as 12 milli udocumented immigrants in the u. S. , more than two million right here in california. If you have a chance to forge a bipartisan imgraiks reform plan, would you insist on a path to citizenship for all 1 million, or just a segment of that population . This is what i would do. Day one, executive order restore the legal status of 1. 8 million young peoplen the daca program. applause theday one, we change border poy never snatch bafrom thewill arms of their mothers. applause day one, day one, we introduce bipaisan legislation which will in fact be comprehensive, which will result in a path toward citizenship for all of the 11 million who are undocumented. At is what the people of our country want. Trump thinks, mistakenly, that he is going to win reeltion by dividing us up. We are going to win this election by bringing ou people together, black and white and latino, native american, asian american. About. What this campaign is thats what america must be about. Sen katbuchar. applause i started my day today with a group of immigrants who were there talking to me abo housing. And i thought about this president and what hes done. He has used our immigrants poas tical pawns. Every single day, he tries to draw a wedge. I will be a difeferent prsident. My view on this comes from experience. When i got to the senate, senator kennedy asked me to be one of the two new senatorshat was in the group to, with on the Immigration Reform packa. We got so close to pasng that. Not everyone did, ost of the democrats did. Then i was on the Judiciary Committee when president obama was president , and we worked very hard on that immigrati reform. We actually passed that with then i was in thell group that worked on the compromise on the dreamers that would havelv that problem. We didnt get that done because this president go punched u. Thank you, senator. I will take my views. I will take this experience. I will get this done. Because immigrants dont diminish america. They are america. Nk tyou, senator. Mr. Steyer, quickly, a response. Listen, i thi its important to note that this president is not again immigration. Hes against immigration by nonwhite people. Yes. applause this is his attempt to divide us, as senator sanders said, on race. And thats what hes been doing since the very first day hete strunning for president. Hes been vilifying nonwhite n ople. Hes bying to inflame his base and scare them that if in fact, ite people lose control of this country, that theyre going to lose trol of their lives. And as somebody who lives in a majorityminority state, wrnich is cali, what hes doing is so wrong on so many different levels, i agree with senator sanders. We have to rephrase reframe this argument completely. We have to go back to the idea that every american is worth being a full human being on every right. This is a racial argument by a racist president whos tryin divide us, and who is vilifying people. Its absolutely wrong, and its led him to break the laws of humanity in our e. Thank you, mr. Steyer. apyoplause buttigieg, a new question to you, mr. Mayor. You said last month that the u. S. Owes compensation to children separated from their famies at the souern border. The consensus among Child Welfare experts is that those thousands of children will likely suffer lifelong traa as a result of that separation. Are you committing, as president , to financial compensation for thosehousands of children . Yes, and they should have ara fast to citizenship, because what the United States did under this president to them was ong. We have a moral obligation to make rig what was broken. And on the larger issue of diimmigration, my underst of this issue its theorical. Its not something i formed in Committee Rooms in washington. It begins with the facthat my household, my family, came from abroad. My father immd to this country and became a u. S. Citizen. It comes from the fact that m e mayor of a city where neighborhoods that were left for dying are now coming back to life, largely because of the contriutions, mainly of latino immigrants. And ive seen those same neighborhoods shut down,dd families hng in church, panicking just because of the rumor of an ice raid. That drs not make ou country safe. I can respond. To look intohe eyes of an eightyearold boy whose father was deported, even though he had nothing so much as a traffic to thi something to tell and try that boy because i couldnt telm him what hst wanted to hear, which is just that he was going to have his dad back. How could harming that young man possibly make america safe . Mr. Mayor when im psident, based on those expiences, i will make sure that this is a country of laws and of values, and that unspeakable, cruel practices at the border but finally and truly fixing the immigration system that has need a full overhaul since the 1980s. We cannot wait four years, 10 years. We cannot wait anyore to do something about this. Thank you, mr. Mayor, just to follow up, since you do support compensation for those families, should the u. S. Also compensate descendants of enslaved people . Do you support rearations of African Americans. I support hr40, the bill proposed in congress to establish a commission to look at reparation. But we shouldnt wait for tt commission to do its work, to do things that are imperative. Remember, were not talking about a gift to anybody. Were tking about mending what was broken. Were talking about the generational theft of the wealth of generations of africans. Americ and just crossing out a racist policy and replacing it with a neutral one is not enough to deliver equality. Harms compound. Just like a dollar saved in its value coounds over time, so does the value of a dollar stolen. And that is why the united stes must act immediately, with investments in mitrityowned businesses, Wh Investments in health equity,n withestments in the hpcus, and on the longer term, look at reparations so we can mend what has be boken. Vice president biden, do youu ort reparations. Number worn the reason were the country we are is because of immigration. We have been able to cherry pick coptinent. Rom every sin the people who come hereave determination, resilience. Thd are ready to stand up a work like the devil. We have one of eve 100 children in our schools tday is hispanic. The idea that we will walk away and not provide every opportunity for them t only stupid and immoral, but its bad for america. Theyre the future oerica. And we should invest in them. Everybody will benefit from it, every single american. And you should getsed to it. N this is a natf immigrants. Thats what makes us different, and we should invest in them. Thank you, mr. Biden. Senator klochar, you had your hand up. I was harkening back, my made my case on immigration to what the myor said about washington, way. Ook at this a different when we were in the last debate, mayor, you basically mocked the 100 years of experience on the stage. And what do i see on this stage . I see elibeths work starting the Consumer Financial protection bureau, and helping 29 Million People. I see the Vice President s work in getting 2 billion for his cancer moonshot. I see senator sanders work, working to get the vetllerans passed across the aisle. And i see what ive done, which is to neg totiaee farm bills and be someone that actually had major provisns put in those bills. So while you can dismissit coe hearings, i think this experience works. And i have not denigrated your experience as a local official. I have been one. I just think you should respect our experience when you look at how you evaluate someone who can get thgs done. Thank you, senator. Mr. Mayor, ill give you a chance to respond. applae you actually did denigra my experience, senator, and it was before the break, and i was going to let it go because weve got biggefish to fry here. But i dont think we have bigger fish to frthan pick a president of the United States. applause . Youre right. And before the break, you seemed to imply that my relionship to the First Amendment was a talking point, as if anyone up re has any more or less commitment to the constitution than anybody else up here. Out me tell you abmy relationship to the first ament ent. It is pa the constitution that i raised my righthand and swer to defend with my life. That is my experience. And it may not be the same as yours, but it counts, senator, it counts. Thank yomau yor. Senator klobuchar, you have 45 seconds to respond. I certainly respect your military experience. Thats not what this is about. This is about choosing a president. And i know my view of thiis know you ran to be chair of the Democratic National committee. Thats not something i wanted to do. I want to be president of the United States. And the point is we should have someone heading up this ticket that has actually won and been able to sh that they ca gather the support that you talk about of moderate republicans and independents, as well as a fired up democratic base. And not just done it once. Have done it three times. I think winning matters. I think a track record ofin gethings done matters. And i also think showing our party that we can actually brpeg le with us, have a wider tent, have a bigger coalition, and, yes, longer coattails, that matters. Thank you, senator. Yamiche. I have to respond to that. I have to respond to tha senator, i know that if you just go by vote totals, maybe whatgo on in my city seems small to yu. If you wt to talk about the capacity to win, try putting together a coalition to bring u back to office with 80 of the vote as a gay dde in mie pences indiana. applause again, i would mayor, if you if you had won in indiana, that would be one thing. You tried, and you lost by points. Lets talk about excuse me, lets talk about how we win an election, which is something everybody here wants to do in terms of defeating the most dangerous president in american history. So let me tell you w how yin it. You have the largest voter turnout in the history of amerusa. app and you dont have you dont have the large voter turnout unless you create energy and excitement. And you dont create energy and excitement, unless you are prepared to take on the people who own america and ae pepared to speak to the people who are working in america. Medicare for all. Sive agenda raising the minimum wage to a living wage. Leading the world in combating Climate Change. Making Public Colleges and universities available to all because we have free tuition. And cancelling all student debt in thicountry. Thank you, senator sanders. Subject and that is, of course, education. Senator warren, you propose Free College Tuition and student loan forgiveness forie most fam why should wealthy families be able to send their kids to Public College for free . Why not concentrate thatnt governelp on those most in need . So as ive talked abou fore, i have a twocent wealth tax proposed for millionaires and billionaires, and that giveo ush money to invest in all of our babies, age 05, to put an historic 800 billion investment in plic schools k12. And that will permit us to offer technical school, twoyear college, fouyear college for every Single Person who wants an oaucation, cancel student debt for 50 put a 50 billion investment in our historically black colleges and universities, and cancel Student Loan Debt r 43 million americans. Look, this is about money, but i th also about values. We need to make an investment in our future, and the best way to do that is lets invest in th Public Education of our taildren. Thats when theyre babies, and it goes long after high school. We want to have families i mey families evy in the selfie lines who talk about what it means to be crufn by Student Loan Debt. Thats why i have a proposal, popular among democrats, popular among republicans, popular among independents, to ask those at the top to pay a little moe so somebody can get rid of that Student Loan Debt so they can maken investment in business, buy a car, create a future for themselves and for this count,. Thank yenator. I see some hands, but i want to go to mayor buttigieg. Mayor buttigieg, your plan offers free or discounted Public College only to families making up to 150,000 a year. If you think senator warrens plan offers fre te colle too many families . I do think if youre in tht i lucky top 10 still wsh you well, dont get m weong. I just want you to go ahead and pay your owtuition. Now we castl have Public Service loan forgiveness for those who int lower income fields. But if youre not top 10 , i think youre going to be for the and there is a very real choice on where every one of these tax dollars go. I very much agree with senator war own raising more tax revenue from millionaires and bistionaires. I ont agree on the part about spending it on millionaires and billionaires when it comes to their college education. He mentioned m name. Respond. Look, the mayor wants billionaires to pay oe tuition for their own kids. I want a billionaire to pay enough tov coer tuition for all of our kids. Because thats how we buld a future. The other part is weve got to deal with studenloan debt. And right now, most of the people on this stage are nibbling around the edges of a huge student loan det burden that disproportionately affects people of color. African americans are more t likely to hao borrow money to go to school, more likely to borrow more money while theyre school, and have a harder time paying it off. We want to make an investment the future, then open up education for all of or kid hs. That we build a future. Thank you, senator. Senator sanders. Could i respond . We believe i believe in the concept of universality. And one of the crises in America Today is people are sick and tired of filling out forms. So you are not eligible for ther ram today because youre at 150, but you lost your job youre eligible, you get a better job youre eligible. I think wh we have to do is what we do with Social Security, education Donald Trumps kids can go to a public school. They should be able to go to a public school. What we need right now is a revolution in education. We have got to end the dysfunctional child care system and make sure every working class person in this country can find highquali, affordable child care. We need to make Public Colleges and universities tuitionfree. And by taxing bilalionaire by taxing wall street, we will country. Ll student debt in this hank you, senator sanders. Tim. Switching gears here, mr. Steyer, earlier this year, in iowa, i met a father, and his son, kyle. Kyle is a young adult with significant disabilities. Though he has been employed for fiveeears, th future is bleak for his future. Im wondering as president , are there specific steps that youta woulke to help people like kyle become more integrated into the workforce, and into their local communities . T ook, the United States has made a commitm treat everybody equally, and that means supporting people wi disabilities, both in terms of education and later when theyre part of the workforce. That means bringinghe resources to bear to make sure that were treating them fairly in school and after school to try and inrat them fully, and to make them have as full a life as possible. The question weve get here across the board is can we afford to do the kinds of things that senator sanders and senator warren are pushing . S. D the answer is y in fact, what we need to do is to undo the tax brehaaks tha been given for two generations to rich americans and big corporations. Last year, the top 400 corporations paid an 11 tax. That is abutely ludicrous. Could i answer the question. So the answer on disabilities say question of focus and money, as so many of these questions are. We have a country where the government is broken because corporations have bought it, theyre getting their way, and for us to get back to government of, by, and for the people that serves americans, including americans with disabilities, were going to have to take tht back. Mr. Yang, i didnt hear a specific answer from mr. Steye can you outline specific steps that the government should take to help integrate these young people into the workforce and into their local communities . I would love it. Eds. Ve a son with special ne and to me, special needs is want new normal in this country. Yo how many oall have a Family Member or a friend or a neighbor with special eds or autism . applause if you look around, most hands went up. The fact is right now we have to do more for kyle. Special Needs Children are going to become special needs adus in many cases. And heres the challenge we go to employers ansay thi special needs person can be a contributor in your workplace. Which may be corect, but thats not the point. We have to be able to say to our kids and kyle, that you have ineinsic value because you an american and youre a human being. Were going to put a freedom dividend of 1,000 in everyones hands, which is going to help families around the country adapt. And then were going to takeof this burde of the communities and off of the hools who do not have thep resources to srt kids like my son, and make it a fedal priority, not a local one, so theyre not robbing peter to pay paul. To move on judy. Yang, we have no, no, come on. R senator n, 45 seconds, please. So i was a speal education teacher, and i loved that work. Because it gave me a chance to work straight ot with pople to recognize the work of every human being. Were in special ed. Yearolds who what do we need to do . Thats have why ive a plan to fully fund idea. So every chidi cansabilities will get the full education they need. My housing plan is about investing in more housing across this country, in Rural America, alltoan america nsm america. But its also about making sure that people who want tive independently, people who have disabilities will havhousing available to them. I make a part of my jobs bill that we are going to make sur i presidenill make sure that the people who want to bid on federal contracts are treating peirle with disabilities f and paying them fairly. Youve got to go at it at every part of what we do. Because as a nation, this is truly a measure of who we are. We belve in treating these, the least of thy brethren, as people of value, and that is how we make a better america. Thank you, senator warren. Thank you, senator warren. Judy. I know we have a lot of hands up. We have so many portant topickics to discuss. I wanted to come to you, senator klobuchar, on the question of judges. President trump as we know has supported two Supreme Court justices, but he ao s confirmed nearly 200 federal judges, most w ofom are young and could shape american law for decadeto come. Some of them you voted for in the senate, including one who just yesterday joined a ruling to strike down a key part of the Affordable Care act. Tr would presidenmps appointees my question is make it harder for you as president , for any of you on this stage, to enactour agenda . Of course. And i want to make it clear, that i have opposedany, many judges. And i think everyone will remember what happened at the Kavanaugh Hearing when that nominee went after me. I stood my ground, and he had to apologize. So i have been very strong on these judges. As for the judge you just referred to, there was actually the judge that wrote the opinion was a judge that went throu the senate unanimously, with support by senator sanders, with support by president obama, with pport by thensenator kennedy. So i think it is very important when we look at these judges to acknowledge that there are some of these judges that you think are going to be okay, and they arent. But what would i do as president . I wou aldpoint judges that area in then ofeople like elena kagan, and justice bryer, and forget the notorious r. G. B. Not thatshat i would do. If you look at my record as a lawyer and a member of thear judicommittee, look at the judges i recommended to president obama, people like mimi writing, who sisuperstar. Susan richarhonelson. Look put in as the first openly gay marshal in they hist the United States. I did that because i knew they were qualified people to take those jobs. And you need to do it not only withhe right juges and have that knowhow, but you also have to do it right away. At is one thing that we all learned from when president a obs in. And that was that he was dealing with an economic crisis, and it was hard to do it right away. Putting judges one bench tostart fill vacancies so that we canth revershorrific nature of these trump judges. applause . A followup to mayor nottigieg. Beyond a pledg to overturn roe versus wade which i believe all of you have said would be part of your decision ominee tod choosing a n the court, are there other litmus tests that you would apply in choosing federal judges . The Supreme Court is verpey onal for me. Because my household, moi marriage exists bey the grf a single vote on that body. And, yes, it is cril tiat we have justices who understand that American Freedom includes reproductive rights and but thats not all. M. I expect an know understanding anat vting rights are hum rights. I expect an understandint equality is required of us all. And i expect a level ofespect for the rule of lw that prevents this body from com to be viewed as just one more partisan battlefield, which is why i will not only appoint judges and justices who reflect this world view, but also begin mong to reform the body itself. As our country has don at least half a dozen times in its history. So that its n one more political battlefield every single time a vacancy compromise up. applause yamiche. Senator sanders, at least 22 transgender people were killed in the United States this year. Most of them transgender women of color. Each of you has saiyou would push for the passage of the equality act, a exprensive ll. B. T. Q. Civil rights bi if elected, what more would do you to stop violence against transgender people . We need moral leadership in the white house. Everything humanly possible too end all formed ofs dicrimination against the transgender community, against the African American community, against the latino community, and against all minorities in this country. But above anyd beond proviegd the moral leadership of tryg to bring our peoe together, what we also need for the transgendero community is t make sure that health care is available to every person in this country, regardlesof their Sexual Orientation or their needs and that is why i strongly support and have helped lead the effort for a medicare for all singlepayer program, which wild prcomprehensive health care to all people, including, certainly, the transgender community. applause thank you, senator sanders. Senator warren. The terransgeommunity has been marginalized in every way e ssible. And ing that the president of the United States can do is lift up atttion, lift up tir voices, lift up their lives. Heres a promise i make will go to the rose garden once every year to read the names of transgender women, of people ofz of color, wh have been killed in the past year. I will make sure that we read their names so that as a nation we are forced to address the particular vulnerability on homelessness. I will change the rules now that put people in prison basedn heir birth sex identification rather than their current identification. Make suhat we are in i can to america, that leaves no one behind. Thank you, senator warren. Amna. Vice president biden, lettu now to afghanistan. Confidentialal documents published last week by the Washington Post reveal that for public about the war in av tbane what did you know. As Vice President , what did you know about the state of then wado you believe that you were honest with the American People about it . The it is wellknown that followhis, my view, i was sent by the president before we got sworn into afghanistan, i dai there was no comprehensive policy available and then i got in a big fit for a long time with the pntagon because i strongly oppose the nation building notreion. Ilding that country as a whole nation is resnd i argued from the very beginning that we should have a policy that was based on an antiterrorism policy with a small footprint that only had t potential from that territory to the United States of america. The firs thing i would do as ent of the united stat of america is make sure that we brought all combat troops home, entered into a negotiation with the taliban, but i would leave behind spcial forces in small numbers to be able to deal with a potential threat unless we got a real good negotiation accomplished to deal with terrorism that has been my positionrom the beginning. Thats why i gates and somere members t happy with me. My question was your time in the white house. In that report there a Senior Security official who said there was constant pressure from the Obama White House to produce figures showing the troop surge was working and im quoting from evidence to the contrary. Hard what do you say to that. In 20the, go back and look. N was on the opposie side of that, with the pgon. The only way i can speak to it now is because it has been pubed luhoroughly. Im the guy, from the beginning who argued that it was big, big pis take to surge forces to afghanistan. Period. We should not have done it and i argued it against it constantly. Senat sanders you have your hand up. With all due respect to my, joe, you are also the guy who helped lead us into the sastrous war in iraq. What we need to do is, i think, upon Washington Post piece was very educational. But what need to rethink is the entire war on terror. We have lost thousands of our own men and women, brave soldiers, hundreds of thousandst ifillions of people have been killedo broad, whe forced to leave their country. It is time right nowhat we bring this world together to try to end these endless wars and address the root causes which are causing thesears. Senator sanders, you do often point to your vote against the war in iraq as evidence of your judgment on Foreign Policy but you did vote for the war in afghanistan and as recently as 2015, you said you supported a continued u. S. Troop presence there. Only one person, pie good friend barbara lee was right on lhat. She was the ony person in e house to vote against the war in afghanistan. She was right, i was wng. So was everybody else in the house. But to answer your question, nei hink you do what trump does and mae foence policy decisions based on a tweet at three a. M. In the morning, and desert your long time allies like the kurds. Think you work with the inteational community. You remove all troops over a period of time, a short period of time, within one year. Tnk you, senator. Mayor buttigieg you served in this war you about i want to ask about your Decision Making if you were elected commander in chief. Afu have pledged to withdraw all u. S. Troops frohanistan within your first year as president. But the talan today control or contest more than half the country. So should you as president still withdraw all those u. S. Troops if the contry could once again become a haven por terrorists. Were going to leave one wayr or the o the question is to make sure we do it well and not poorly. An of cour that has to respond to the conditions on the ground and a need for a polical settle am. But you know, the other day i was reunited with somebody that i served with over there. D the thing we were marveling at is how long it has been since eft. I thought i was one of the last troops turning out theghts. When i left years ago. And were still there. There may need to be some kind of limitpecial operations d intelligence capacity. The exact same kind of thing, by the way, that we actually had in Syria Holding the line before the president yanked it out leading to the road to chaos. K but what ww is that we cannot go on with these endless wars. D and im glaat the name of barbara lee was mentioned. Not only because of what shet talked abears ago, i believe that we have no choice but to go to afghanistan after 9 11 but right now, she is one of the leaders of the effort to repeal and replace the authorizeation for the use of military force and the folks that i serve wierth des that. They deserve the clarity of members of congress being abel to summon the courage to take an up or down vote on whether they ought to bthere in the first place. An when i am president , any time, if i am forced to deployoo into war, any time we seek an authorizeation, it will have a threeear sunset, so that if there really does have about a conversatio extending it, it has to be brought to congress, brought to the american peopl and those members of congress have to take that tough up or down vote. Thank yu, mr. Mayor. Tim . Oving to health care,an issue that voters tell us every day is still the number one priority for them, senator sanders, you spent plenty ofsc time dsi and de fending e merits of your medicare for all, plan. But the ality is republicans retain control of the u. S. Senate or even if democrats win back a nar low Senate Majority your plaif constituted would not have the votes to pass krong. So the question senator is, ifec congress re your plan and the American People are looking to you fleadership on th issue, are there smaller, sp wific measures that youuld take immediately to expand coverage and de crease costs. Well, tim, at time when we are spending twice as much per are capi cta on healre as any other nation, when 87 Million People are uninsured or under insured, when 30,000 people area dyin yeaif they dont get to a doctor when they should, and when half a Million People are going bankrupt because of the disfunctional and cruel system that we currently have, you know what, i thiwink e pass a medicare for all single payor system. And i will introduce that legislation in my first week in now to answer your question, i think when we go out to the American People and tell them r thght now we have got to take on the greed and corruption of the pharmaceutical industry, for example, which in some cases charges us ten times more for the same exact drugs as is charged in this country, when erstandrican people und medicare t cover home healths care, dental care, eyeglasses and hearing aids and does it at a cost far, far lower than what some of my opponents are tal about, you know what, were going to have the American People behind us. We wl have congress behind us. Thank you, senator saders. Vice president biden, i wouldu like to bring. You spent an awful lot of time ten years ago trying to pass a bill a lot less ambitious than what sator sanders is talki about here, is he being realistic. I done think it is realistic. Let me explain why. I introduced a plan to buld on obama care. Lets remind everybody. 20 million ople got isurance that didnt have it before. All people with preexisting nditions were covered, i could go on. We didnt get all that we wanted. But now that it is exposed, that taking it away is such direeq conces, i have added to the o bma care plan, the biden option, medicare if you want to have medicare, but reducing the significantly the price of ugs, the deductibles, et cetera, made by underwriting the plan to a tune of about 50n. Bill and making sure that we are able to cover everyone who is, in fact, able tbe covered. Put your hand down for a second, bernie, okay. Jo just waving to youe. I know, i know. Saying hello. Look, it covers everybody. It isealistic. And most importantly it lets you choose what you want. Here you have 160 Million People negotiated their hlthcare plan with theiremploye like many of you have. You may or may not like it. If you dont like it, you can move in to the publioption that i propose in pie plan but if you like it, you souldnt have, you shouldnt have , youngton dictating to you cannot keep the plan you have. Thank you, Vice President biden. Senator sanders, 45 seconds to respond. Under joes plan essentially we retain the status qo. Thats not true. No, thats not right. Thais exactly right. Thank you, and by the way, joe, on yan you ask how are we going to pay for t under your plan i tell how we pay it right now. The average worker in arica, their family makes 60,000 a year, that family is now paying 12,000 a year for health care, 20 of their income. Under medicare for all, that family will be paying 1200 a year because welre eiminating the profiteering of the drug company and the Insurance Companies and ending this biz an teen and complex administration of thousands of separate healthcare plans. My name was mentioned. I will come to you for 45 seconds. Im the only guy that is not interrupting. And i will interrupt now. It cost 30t trillion, l get that straight, 30 trillion ove ears. Some say it costs 20 trillion. Some say it costs 40. The idea that you are going to be able to save that person making 60,000 a year on medicare for all, is absolutely prepos us. 16 of the american puc is caon me now and everybody has a llx taken out of thr paycheck now. E, are you going to add 84 more and it is not going to be higher taxes . At least before he was honest about it, it has been increased personal taxes. Thats right, we are going to increase personal taxes but we are eliminating premiums. Were eliminating copayments. Were eliminating deductibles. Were eliminating all outofpocket expenses and no faly in america wilspe more than 200 a year onip preson drug. Senator klobuchar. We will save the average worker senator klobuchar, we would like to hear from you. Senator klobuchar. Yo, guys, hey. I first timd this. Oka thats true. I will say this. First of all, bernie, i promise when i am your president , i will get our pharmaceutical bills done. And we have worked together onm this time and e again. And i agree with you on that. But where i disagree i jut dont think anyone has the monopoly on bold ideas. I think you can be progressive and practical at the same time. That is whyi favor a public option which is a nonprofit and yes, it does bring the costs down immediately for 13 millione le. And then will expand coverage to 12 Million People. But heres the political prob this fielt that you guys are having isnt real. Your fight, berni w is notih me or with vice presient biden. It is with all those bunch of those ew house members, not everyone, by any means, that get d in that last election in the Democratic Party stvmt with the new governor disatem c governor of kentucky that wants to build on obama care. And the way i look at it, if you want to bridge, if you want to cross a river, over some troubled waters, you build a bridge, you dont blow one up. Oka and i think we should build senator warren,would like to bring you in. She took my name is vein. She hurt my feelings. I would neer do that. 45 seconds. All right, my fight, amy is not with the governor of kentucky. My fight and all of our fights mustebe with the gred and corruption of the pharmaceutical industry, with the greed anchor ruption of the insurance industry. The guys last year made 100 billion in profit and tens of millions of americans cnnoto afford to a doctor tonight. The day has got to come and joe is not talking about it, amya is notlking about it, the day has got to come, and i will bring that day about when we finally say that the Drug Companies and the Insurance Companies, the function of health care, is to provide it for all of our people in a costeffective way, not to make massive profits for the Drug Companies and the insurance hacompanies. You, senator, senator warren, we would like to bring yointo this discussion. The same question to you that i posed to senator sanders. If Congress Rejects a medicare for medicare for alproposal and you are the president , are there smaller significant measures that you could pursue with bipartisanson and de creased cost. This is about cost, about costs on middle classamies. Last year 36 million americans lddnt have prescriptions filled because they cot afford it. Those are people with health insurance, as well. People who cant do the cpaysk people without cant do the deductibles. T people find at the drug is not covered. So here is my approach to this. I want to do the most that i can for the most people as qickly as possible. On day one, i am going to attthk prices on commonly used drugs like epi pens and insulin and bring down those prices. The president cano that. While im saying this, all byel he and i will do it. That is going to save families hundreds of millns of dollars. And then in the first hundred days, because i found a way to pay for full healthcare coverage for everyone without raising taxes on middle class families, i am going to make available to people for a full healthcare coverage, for 135 Million People it will be at nol cost at. And they can opt into that system. Thank you, senator. For others it wilat a w cost. We have got to start movek and move fast. We can do that. O we haveve on. We can do that on 50 votes. Thank you, senator. Judies. We are come together end of our time, a lot of hands up. We apologize for that. But inpirit of the season i would like to ask each one of you, is will soeone else among these candidates that you would you have two options, one, a candidate from whm you uld ask forgiveness for something maybe that was said tonight or another time, or, or, a cndidate who to whom you would like to give a gift and i will start with you, mr. Yang. Wow. laughter cheers and applause we can do a labor acion and just all go on strike on this one, andrew. I dont think have i much to ask forgiveness for. You all ca trust me onhis. In terms of a gift, elizabeth has done me the honor of starting to read my book. I would love to giveach of you a copy of my book. alause is about how were going through the greatest economic transformati in our countrys history, the Fourth Industrial Revolution stvnt grinding up our communities. And d. C. Is out to lunch on this, our media oranizations i wrote a book on it. Quately. And if youikdata, this book is for you, this is for the iople at home too, if youe data and books. Mayor buttigieg mayor buttigieg, ask forgiveness or give a gift. First of all i love data and books so i think we should all be excited about this. Me and o think of it, i should probably send my book around more too. Look, i think all of us want the same thing at the end of the day. Now what a gift it would be to the future and to the country fo literally anybody up here to become president of the United States compared to what we have got. a lause and we got to remember i dont know how many now, we are up to 25 something have run for president in the demtioc party. The moment we got a nomination, the 24 who arent that nominee around the one without does. Lets make sure there is not too much to ask for forgiveness for by the time that day comes. applae senator warren. I will ask for rgiveness. I know that sometimes i get really worked up. And sometimes i get a little hot. I dont reay an to. What happens is when you dole 100,000 peoou hear enough stories about the peoplwho arehe really down toirast moment. You know, i met someoneust last week in nevada who said that she has diabetes. And that he has access to a prescription because he is a veteranment but his sister has diabetes and his daughter has diabetes and they simply cant nsulin. Sohe three of them spend all of their time figuring out how to stretch one insulin prescription among three people. When i think about what we could do, if we get majority in the house, a majority in the senate and get back the white house, we could make th country work for people like that man. Nand thats why i am i this fight. applause Vice President biden. Ionhink eveup here on the stage knows they are not on the stage to they are are you not the only one that goes to have i done thousands of ewem. And the hat follows me can tell you there is not one line i go through that dont have atha leas a dozen people come up an hug me anday you can help me. Just lost my daughter ten days ago, you can help me, tell me im going to be okay can you help me. I get lost the. They lay out, my wife and have i a call somewhere between 20 and least every week ory monthall at to tell them im here. I give them my privas. Phone numb they keep in touch with me. The little kid who says i cat talk, what do i do. I have scores of thse yng women and men who i keep in contact with. Annethe reason i give ever here a gift is they want to do Something Like i do, in making eseir letter, because there is a lot of people who are hurting very, very, very badly. Senator senator sanders forgiveness or a gift. Well, i can give out any onef r books that i wrote. But i think the gift tht al of us need to give to the American People is a very, very different vision of the reality of the Trump Administration. And the vision that we need to bring forth is to cree a government and a nation based on love compassion, not greed and hatred. We need a vision that says that in our great country, all of our people should be able to earn a decent standard of living, have health care, have the ability to send thes ir kidto college regardless of their income. So we need a new vision which brings our people together, around an agenda that works for all, not the trump vision of dividing us upto benefit the billionaire class. Thats my vision. Senator klobuchar. Well, i would ask for forgiveness any time any of you t mad at me. I can be blunt. But i am doing this because i think it is so important to pick the right candidate here. I do. I think when you see what is going on around the country, yes, its the economic check that elizabeth and bernie so wellpointed out on this stage. T there is something ele going on here. And it is a dcency check. St a values check. It is a patriotism check. When you see people and weve all had this happen, that come to our meetings and say youi know, yeah voted for donald trump but i dont want to do it again because i want my kids to be able to watchhe preside on tv and not mute the tv. We have to remember as democrats, and if i get worked i up about thiis because i believe it so much in my heart, that we have to bring peone with usd not shut them out. That is the gift that we can gi america in this election. Mr. Steyer. So look, this is the holiday season. Rand what i am hearingm every single one of these candidates is that theyve gone around the United States and what they have seen from this administration and what they have seen from the Republican Party is cruelty towards the people of the Unitied States for money. So when i think about the gift that iould like togive, and i have seen that too, i mean i thinit srts with crelty when children are born and it goes right through life into prek, education, health care, a living wge. There is kreelt to working people, and so the gift that i would like to give everyonon there stage, was the original question, is the gift of teamwork. Because the question up here is how are we together going to change this framework. How are we together going to beat this cptornd criminal president. How are we going to stand up for the people of the United States together. Not by tearing each other down but by supporting each other and by realizing that what we stand for isth true value of america. And as a team, thats how were going t do it as americans were going to come together to stand for the orinal values, freedom, equality, justice, teamwor that we are going toake a very short break, that does conclude our qhtestions ton here at Loyola Marymount university. Well be back in just two minutes to hear the candidates closing statements. Welcome bckk im here with r peanl and the moderators just gave everyone the gift of a water break. But we hae a lo to talk about, ryan lizza, laura barronlopez. I ant to talk about two majorat confrons we saw one between Amy Klobuchar and pete buttigieg, not really about issues and one that was aut issues between former Vice President biden and senator sanders. What did you make of either one of those. So the one between klobuchar and buttigieg is very interesting. She called him out for pretty much mocking and saying that he was an outsider and that the e collectierience of all of thsenators on the stage as well as joe biden was something that washington didnt need any more. And so she said that she thought he should respect their experience. I thought it was interesting that she drew that contrast. Kind of dtiawing more att to his young age, hes 37 years old, i believe t youngest in youngest in the race and something i think increasingly these candidates might try to pot to. Ryan . Yeah, i think too big vulle in atomobiles for peteie buttwere tested on that stage tonight. One was the clash earlier when Elizabeth Warren really wt at him quite aggressively on the issue of the wine wave. He hathis fundraiser recently, some kind of photos came out of it. So he is going to have to answer that, i notice, some e maima dhain chains tthe Warren Campaign is stengd out is even more and his experience is the biggest liability. Can this young mayor, no statewide office become president. So buttigieg in the crosshairs tonight. Ll stee what they say afr this debate. I will be stepping out to the spin room and handing it over to my colleague staffee sy. Stay with us afterwards but now lets stay with the pbs politico debate for closing stements. The pbs newcoshour poli debate conties live from Loyola Marymount university. Once again, judy odruff. Welcome back to the pbs thwshour democratic debate wi politico and now it is time for closing statements you each have 60 seconds, beginning with mr. Steyer. Dymifferent from every else on this stage. And heres why. I am running because corporations have bought our government and we need to return to tower to the people. And for the last ten yrs that is exactly what i have been doing, taking on unchecked coorate power. That is why i am for term limite becausill have bold change, then we need new people in charge and new ideas. Pe mi the onlon on this stage who has built a large multibillion Dollar International business. I know how to grow prosperity. I can ke onr. Trump on the economy, and beat him. I am the only one on this stage who said climate is my nurm one priority. It is a crisis we have to deal with but it is also our greatest opportunity to create millions of good paying union jobthacross country, and clean up the air and water in the black andow communities where it is so essential. So if you want to break thee corporrangeel hold, beat mr. Trump on the economy and solve our climate crisis, can i deliver. And i ask you for your vote. R. Yang, sorry for interrupting. Mr. Yang. I know what you are thinking, amerow am i still on the stage with them. laughter our campaignsrowing all the time because we are laisesser focused on solving the realgo problems tha donald trump elected in the first placement i spent seven years helping create thousands of jobs in detroit, baltimore, new orleans and other cities, serving as aanmbassador of entrepreneurship under president obama and i saw fir w haat many of you already know, our country is falling apart. Our seior citizens ar working until the day they die. R kids are addicted to smartphones or drugs. Were seeing record high levels of depssion, suicide, overdoses, our companies are recording record profits while our people are literally dying younger. Our way of life is changing faster than ever ande the sim fact is this. Our politiciansin d. C. Succeedwe whethehe people succeed or washington d. C. Today is the richest city in our country. What do they produce . Bad deisions . We need to get the money out of d. C. And into your hands, the hands of the American People. Join us at yang 2020. Com and help us he write the rules of the 20th century enoco to work for us. Thank you, seator. applause senator klobuchar. We have had quite a debate tonight. But i want to debate dond trump. This primary comes down to some simple questions. Who has the best ideasthe best experience, mostly who can beat donald trump and how will she do it. So donald trump built his fortune on over time er 413 million that he got from his dad. My grandpa was an ironore minor, a union member, worked 1500 feet unerground and saved money in a coffee can in the basement to send my dad to a community college. That is my family trst. And i figure if you are given opportunity, you donwo go into thd with a sense of entitlement, you go into it with a sense of obigation. And obligations to lift people up instead of hoarding what you have for your ef. Yourself. Oupolitics right now bause of