Its medicare for all, free higher education, expanding Social Security, dismantling the big banks, that he is a true realist in the sense of understanding we cannot make the bold transformational changes this country demands at this time until we dismantle this rigged economic system. Inequality is the existental crisis of our time. Hes put it at the forefront of his agenda and its an inequality that pervades our system, pedro. If you think about how bernie sand certificates running, collecting some sanders is running, collecting some small donations from people around this country, hes also liberated and freed to advance a far bolder reform agenda. Can he make it happen on day one . Of course not. Hes a realist. He understands our system, political system is broken, but it is the ability and the attempt to repair that broken political system and advance these ideas, not tomorrow, but over a period of time with the power of people and movements as a wind at his back that animates us. What happens in this campaign, Bernie Sanders has transformed the politics of 2016. I believe hes pushed senator secretary of state clinton to be a bolder, more progressive candidate. Hes opened the space for a more powerful Progressive Movement and hes changed what we think is possible. And in that is something powerful about the possibilities of america, even with the croded political system can roded political system that we read about daytoday. Host and part of the endorsement, editors write voters can trust sanders because he doesnt owe his political career to the financial overloads of the status quo. Host is that Hillary Clinton, youre referring to . Guest so let me say the editorial makes clear that secretary of state clinton is certainly an experienced candidate, someone of grit, someone of character who has, you know, really spoken forcefully about some core issues close to her heart voting rights, womens rights, but she is someone who has had a hard time in these last debates, though it didnt happen last night at the iowa forum. For example, in explaining her speaking fees from golden seahawks and a slew of other Goldman Sachs and a slew of other investment banks and money thats gone fought clinton foundation. Its not illegal but conflicts of interest there that concerns us. She has said she will not unilaterally disarm in this money race, yet at the same time she has built an array of super pacs and brought in a lot of big money. I do think eyes glaze over sometimes when you talk about this, but the way one finances a campaign doesnt necessarily overdetermine how you lead, but it limits. It limits. Thats why in this city of new york city where we have a Public Financing system of 6 1 match weve seen a Security Council transformed. Passing paid sick leave. Something weve been fighting for for years. You have a very progressive mayor. You have women of color in the Security Council who could never have imagined running without Public Financing. So i think we need to think hard about what it means that politicians sit in these calling rooms for more hours a day than they sit in Conference Rooms or reading legislation. I think it really is corrosive and Bernie Sanders is running a campaign of integrity and authenticity that is electrifying young people. There was a poll out yesterday, pedro, cnn national poll. He has the support among 18 to 29yearolds. Hes 50 among independents, which is interesting. I think its this authenticity, this integrity, this ability to speak in truthtelling ways unincumbered by the big money, willing to take on the entrenched special interests that has so moved not only young people but millions of people in this country who by the way had done a great disservice by much of the Mainstream Media in these last months. Bernie sanders announced april 30 this past year, he had thousands of people in rallies across this country but media so lavished its attention on donald trump that it didnt Pay Attention to Bernie Sanders. I would argue it wasnt until Bernie Sanders essentially began to compete with Hillary Clinton in the fundraising area in this last quarter, i think he was break even or brought in more money through small donations that the media said, wait a minute. Maybe hes the real deal. Maybe there is a viability factor here. The fact that our media measures a candidates viability by how much money they raise i think is rotten. But if its small donations, someone isnt as mortgaged to the powerful interests that two dominate our country at this time of staggering inequality. Host our guest this morn katrina vanden heuvel editor and publisher of the nation magazine. If you want to ask her questions, 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488001 for republicans nd for independents, 2027488002. Of Hillary Clinton, you wrote this making deals to get things done in washington will not bring the change that is so desperately needed. To that point, wouldnt you expect president sanders to be able to make deals with congress in order to get his agenda done . Guest it wouldnt be the bottom line as to how he would lead, pedro. You know, he spoke forcefully last night at the iowa forum of how he led the Senate Veterans affairs committee. He worked effectively with senator john mccain, you know, leading member of the Republican Party, and hes worked across the aisle with house members, Republican House members. I think there are points of area where you cant make compromise. You dont lead with compromise, but you find areas of Common Ground, whether on criminal justice reform, on surveillance issues or, you know, theres some areas where youve seen republican and democrats make to lead that way in this time when i would argue that a Republican Party has become an obstructionist part, not a governing party, seems to me not the most effective way. Bernie sanders is saying he would find ways to work, of course, but he also would take it to the states and the cities and mobilize people, millions of people to be the wind at his back so you may not pass something tomorrow but youre building towards something. And i think, you know, president obama ran a very, yes we can, we the people campaign, all power to him. I dont know why he changed direction, changed tact and some may argue with that. When he went to the white house he essentially went inside the beltway. He for the most part dismantled organizing for america, which was could have been a kind of vehicle to continue mobilizing the people and the movements outside the beltway, having an insideoutside strategy which would have leveraged more effectively what he was trying to do. So i think Bernie Sanders is learning from that lesson. Its his nature. Hes someone who over the years has been part of movements and has understood the power of having people, people power, not money power, at his pact. Host is your endorsement any indictment of the Obama Administration . Guest you know, progressives are, you know, have a mixed set of views about the Obama Administration. I think of today when president obama so wisely and humanely used executive power to ban solitary confinement in federal prisons. In these last couple years, president obama has seem more liberated from his kind of mantra of finding Common Ground with republicans to wisely using executive power to i think enact a really set of progressive and independent and effective measures. The problem with president obama in the first couple years it seemed he went in trying to find Common Ground because he essentially was elevated as a Public National figure and the Democratic Convention in 2004 speaking about theres no blue, theres no red state, lets find Common Ground. Fine, lets find where we can. When you come in, give it a couple weeks. When Mitch Mcconnell says the day youre inaugurated that his republicans First Priority or second priority is to take you down, i think you give it upcal weeks and then you find a different governing strategy. I think the president in these last couple years has found his strong footing and he has, you know, there are areas where he hasnt been as bold and there are always theres always that. But its not that. Its essentially saying that Hillary Clinton is a candidate in many ways of continuity to time of extraordinary change and if i could, we talk too little about Foreign Policy. I was struck again at the cnn poll out on the eve of this forum with hillary leading in her command of Foreign Policy, national security. We have a few endorsements that tries to draw out something that is important. Experience is a mixed blessing when it leads to poor judgments, wrong lessons. We heard a lot about how president secretary of state Hillary Clinton voted for the war authorization in iraq. A vote, by the way, which secretary senator Edward Kennedy once said was the most important vote. He voted against the war. He had ever made in his time in the senate. But its not that just that shes now apologized for that vote, it doesnt seem like shes learned the lessons. She pushed for regime change in libya, leading now to a failed state in libya. Its become an area for isis staging grounds. She has pushed to topple assad in syria. Shes lobbied hard to arm the Syrian Rebels which i think is a counterproductive strategy as opposed to doubling down on diplomacy. And she has called for a nofly zone in syria which could well lead to serious cold conn flict with russia. Shes been a cold warrior with many of the candidates. Shes hawkish. I think at this time majorities of americans seek, i would argue, diplomacy first Foreign Policy. War is the last resort. She spoke of that last night in the iowa forum. I feel its sad to point out but her record has not shown that. Its been others in this administration, most admirably secretary of state john kerry who has truly pushed for diplomacy first when it comes to syria. Host got you. So lets hear from callers. First one is barbara from new york. Independent line. Youre on with our guest. Go ahead. Caller pedro. Good morning, ms. Vanden heuvel. I like the fact that bernie wants to focus on domestic policy. I think in this country we need to take care of americans right all these out of Foreign Affairs business. And ive heard bernie say he doesnt want an American Military stations in the middle east. I heard him say if theres going to be boots on the ground in the middle east they should be muslim boots. Would you tell us what you know about bernies Foreign Policy record, particularly regarding israel . I believe secretary clinton is owned by aipac. Is bernie owned by aipac . Thanks. Guest i think theyve moved toward one might call a j street position and i hope you would check out j street which is was formed a few years ago as an important counter to aipac which in essence does not represent the majority of American Jews in this country. J street is far more consistent with those views. I do believe Bernie Sanders would be a lesser interventionist president. Hes said forcefully, as you said, he doesnt believe americans should be deployed. No boots on the ground. Hillary clinton has not called for boots on the ground but hes less interventionist. Leading s we do best at home, leading by example. Hes not for, as he says, policing the world. We as america should not be policing the world. We should not be policing the world. Hes someone who fought against these corporate defined, corpped framed trade agreements, something Hillary Clinton has come to very late. And i think those trade agreements have also ravaged the working class in this country, exporting jobs overseas. Hes fought that consistently for his close to 30 years in the congress. He has adopted a different position towards syria, calling for diplomacy, postponing the decision about a transition away from assad. On iran, the Clinton Campaign in these last days have attacked Bernie Sanders for calling a more intensive normalization with iran, the iran nuclear deal, i believe, is one of the most important diplomatic achievements of the Obama Administration second term but it shouldnt be seen as an isolation but an opening to iran and a broader thing that would engage the region. Iran has to be part of the Syrian Diplomatic talks, for example. So i do think Bernie Sanders is a strong believer in rebuilding the middle class, rebuilding america and sees strengths in that, not strengths in military adventures abroad. Host keith from richmond, virginia, on our republican line. Go ahead. Caller good morning, katrina. I just wanted to say i think i believe that this is pretty much the general election. And you can see the rest of that conversation at cspan. Org. Again, we are live at a town hall meeting awaiting democratic president ial candidate Bernie Sanders. Hes in des moines for this town hall meeting to talk with steelworkers there. Should get under way in just a couple moments live here on cspan. [cheers and applause] crowd chanting bernie ] good morning, everybody. Welcome to local 310 steelworkers. Love to have you here today. Want to say a special thanks out to our Union Brothers and sisters. Im glad your ride was safe. Exciting times right now. Weve had quite a few visits here recently from all the different candidates and all their staffers. The staffers, not the candidates. We had a lot of visit fathers bernies folks, believe me. Theyve been very persistent which is really good. [cheers and applause] and weve asked every candidate staffer to bring their candidate, come talk to us. We want to sit down for a minute and talk about labor issues which is important to us, labor unions. Weve only had one taker, Bernie Sanders. [applause] and he looked right at home in labor union doesnt he in the labor hall . And theres a reason for that. Hes been on the side of organized labor and working men and women for his whole career and hes never waivered in the support for us. Hes never waivered on the issues that are important to us. One especially important to me is the bad trade deals. [applause] always been on our side on that. You dont have to look very far own the aisle when our may tag factory closed and affected those people and that was nafta. We know where that came from. He stood in opposition of those bad trade deals from the very beginning and now were trying to fight off t. P. P. [applause] im member of an industrial union, about 800,000 members. Every one of those jobs are at stake if we keep passing those bad trade deals and we cant have it anymore. Thats just within reason that im going to caucus for bernie. Theres many, many reasons, and i encourage you all to do the same if you could. I tell you, i was thinking about this the other day, and i cant remember in my lifetime and i think you really got to go back to f. D. R. To find a candidate, a Public Servant that truly cares as much about the poor, about the middle class, about working men and women and about america as Bernie Sanders cheers and applause] and it is truly my pleasure to introduce him here today. Please give a warm iowa welcome to Bernie Sanders cheers and applause] Bernie Bernie enator sanders thank you. Well, let me begin by thanking you for inviting me to be with you today. Thanking steve for his introduction, and most of all, thanking the steelworkers for their long, long support of what ive been trying to do throughout my entire political career. I dont get any money and i dont want any money from corporations. Never got a nickel. [applause] dont want any money from the billionaire class. [applause] but i am very grateful for the support that ive received from the steelworkers throughout my entire political career. Thank you, guys, very, very much. [applause] when i went to college i studied some economics, but the real economic lesson that i learned was when i was a kid. I grew up in a home where my dad had come from poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket. Never made much mother. Mother graduated high school. Room rent a 3 1 2 controlled apartment in brooklyn, new york, and we lived not poor, but our family lived on the Financial Stress as is the case with millions and millions of our families today. So the Major Economic lesson that i have had in my life was not in high school or college. It was as a kid understanding what Financial Stress does to a family, understanding that every decision that is made has got to be thought about, whether you can afford to do this or whether you can afford to do that. And that, brothers and sisters, is a lesson i have never forgotten and i never will forget. [applause] you know, one of the reasons i think our campaign is doing well is because we try to talk about the real issues impacting the very people. Dont necessarily do what the media wants us to do but talk about real issues. Just turned out yesterday, we were in iowa falls. Had a few hundred people out to a meeting and i kind of opened up the discussion to ask people what was going on in their lives, what was going on in their lives in terms of trying to make it on 12,000, 13,000 a year Social Security. And suddenly what was it like in their lives if you cant afford the prescription drugs that you need. I want to thank the nurses, our sisters and brothers that are nurses here. Cheers and applause] who know these issues. Who know what it means to be treating patients who cant afford prescriptions. And i opened it up, the discussion. One woman gets up there and says the medicine her family needed her husband needed shot way up. Shot way up to an outrageous price and we all know that tomorrow as you walk into a drugstore to refill your prescription, the price could be double or triple than what it was today. Ome of you have that experience, right . Because the pharmaceutical industry is ripping off the American People. [applause] so people say, we dont have a lot of money. The prescription drugs goes up. One woman was making the point, millions of people in this country we dont talk about it terribly much trying to get by on 12,000, 13,000 a year on Social Security. You do the arest ma particular. Tell me how you arithmetic. Tell me how you pay for prescription drugs, how do you heat your home, how do you buy the food you need on 12,000 or 13,000 a year . And the answer is exactly right, you dont. You dont. [applause] and then we got republicans going around the country lying, as they occasionally do [laughter] and theyre saying Social Security is going broke. We have to cut Social Security benefits. Now, just stop and think about it. Forget politics. Tell me how somebody can go around the country when we know that millions of people, seniors, disabled vets, people with disabilities, people who cant make it on 12,000, 13,000 a year and theyre talking about cutting Social Security benefits. Theres a thing that a lot of people have not heard of. Its called the chain c. P. I. Its a fancy term from washington to cut Social Security benefits, and it argues the theory behind it is that the colas, the costofliving adjustments that seniors are getting today are too generous. Does anybody here know what seniors got in their cola last year . Zero too generous. Got to cut it. Anyhow, at iowa falls we heard from people, im not getting 12,000, 13,000 a year. Im trying to live on 10,000 a year. Then we heard another woman talk about what it means to have minimum wage jobs and how difficult it is to survive. And that is the reality for millions and millions of people in this country. Its a reality we dont talk enough about, and its certainly a reality that we are not effectively addressing. Now, heres the story. If we were a poor country and there are poor countries around the world you have a certain type of discussion. And you say, you know, its unfortunate that we have to live in poverty but thats who we are. Were a poor country. We cant have good education, we cant have good health care, we cant have decent paying jobs. Were a poor country, but the truth is, as everybody here knows, the United States of america is not a poor country. We are the wealthiest country in the history of the world. But but most people dont know that because almost all of the new wealth and income is going to the top 1 . And brothers and sisters, what a Sanders Administration is about is a very radical idea. You ready for a radical idea . Were going to create an economy that works for working families, not just billionaires. Cheers and applause] and not only that, in the last 30 years, as everybody in this room knows, technology has exploded. Almost every worker in america is more productive than he or she was 20 years, 30 years ago, right . Youre producing more. Question if you are more productive, if we are producing more, why are millions of people working longer hours for lower wages . Greed senator sanders why is almost all income and wealth going to a small number of people . Greed senator sanders its a smart group here. And thats what were going to deal with. So we are going to tell billionaires who pay an effective tax rate lower than many of you do, were going to tell large multinational corporations who make billions of dollars a year in profit and stash their money in the Cayman Islands and bermuda and in a given year may pay zero in federal income taxes, were going to tell them that it is time for them to accept their responsibility as americans to start paying their fair share of taxes. Cheers and applause] and when we eliminate that Cayman Islands loophole and when we raise a trillion dollars in new revenue, you know what were going to do with that . Were going to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of decent paying jobs. [applause] this is the United States of america, the greatest country on the face of the earth. You tell me why our roads, our bridges, our water systems, our waste water plants, our levees, our dams, our airports, our rail system are deteriorating or crumbling . Republicans senator sanders all right. We need to invest in a 1 trillion investment, which i believe we should make, creates 13 million decent paying jobs. [applause] including a lot of good steelworker jobs. [applause] now, every person in this room because the steelworkers are one of the great unions in our country. You understand the history of the trade Union Movement. And you understand that change, real change never comes from the top on down. It always comes from the bottom on up. [applause] and you understand the way back when employers did not say, well, i think its a great idea for workers to have a union. Wed love to sit down and do some collective bargaining with you. Because we think thats fair and thats right. Thats not the way it happened. The way it happened is way back when workers went on strike, workers fought and workers died, workers were beaten, workers were fired from their jobs in order to make sure that working people could organize, could engage in collective bargaining, could sit down at a table and fight for decent wages and decent working conditions. Thats the history of the trade Union Movement. And we should be proud of that. But what all of you know is that over the last several decades, despite the fact that millions of workers want to join a union, it has become harder and harder for workers to in fact create unions, to become members of unions. You know and i know that employers have acted illegally with the support of the nlrb so that if workers tried to organize the organizers there would be fired and if by some miracle people actually did organize a union, employers would refuse to engage in a first contract, collective bargaining. And that is why i believe that the middle class does not grow nless the trade Union Movement grows. Cheers and applause] the middle class does not prosper unless workers are engaged in strong collective bargaining. People, what t of a lot of nonunion people dont understand is that to the degree they get anywhere near decent wages, it has a lot to do with the success of the trade Union Movement. Because youre driving wages up. In any case, after decades of illegal action on the part of employers, it seems to me we have got to make it easier, not harder, for workers to join unions. Thats why we have introduced a new piece of legislation and it says very simply that if 50 of workers in a unit plus one sign a card saying they want to be in a union, they will have a union. Plaws [applause] senator sanders heres the truth. Heres the truth. Not going to tell you that every worker in america wants to join a union, but what i will tell you is that millions of them do. Millions of them understand that workers who have a union get better wages, better working conditions and better benefits. And our job is to say that the American People must be able to exercise their constitutional right to organize unions without illegal impediments on the part of employers, and that is what i intend to do. [applause] i mentioned earlier that there are millions of seniors and disabled veterans in this country, and by the way, as the former chairman of the Senate Committee on veterans affairs, let me thank all of the men and women in this room and in this country for their service to our country. [applause] for their putting their lives on the line to defend this country. And heres a promise i make. Is that we will do our best, absolute best, and there should not be any debate about this if youre a progressive, democrat or republican. When people put their lives on the line to defend this country and they come home, they are going to get the best health care available, theyre going to get the benefits that they earned. [applause] but heres the difference that secretary clinton and i have on a very important issue. I believe that when millions of seniors and disabled vets are struggling to get by on 12,000 or 13,000 a year, it is not good enough to say and ive led the effort on this, that were not going to cut Social Security. That is an abomination. What we must do is say, of course were not going to cut Social Security, but we are going to expand Social Security benefits. [applause] and here is how we are going to do it. It is not complicated. Right now somebody makes 5 million a year, somebody makes 118,000 a year, they both contribute the same amount into the Social Security trust fund. If you lift that cap and you start at 250,000 and above, top 1. 5 of the American People, what we can do is increase Social Security benefits for those now living 1,300 ,000 a year by a year. Thats not insignificant for people who are struggling. [applause] and when we do that we also extend the life of Social Security from 19 years to 50 years. Now, that is my view. I think i think that at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when the wealthy are getting much wealthier, you know what, i think it is just appropriate, just right to lift that cap and ask the wealthiest people in this country to make sure that all seniors can live in dignity. [applause] that is my view, as secretary clinton drops in, ask ms. Herseth sandlin view. I dont think she agrees. We when we talk when talk about why it is that the great middle class of this country is disappearing, why it is that we have 47 Million People living in poverty, why it is that we have massive wealth and income inequality, one one of the Important Reasons is our disastrous trade policies. [applause] you are looking at a former United States congressman. I represented vermont in the congress for 16 years and a senator today. You are looking at a member of the senate who in his life voted against nafta, against cafta, against pntr with china. [applause] senator sanders and by the way, is helping to lead the opposition to the t. P. P. Now [applause] look, everybody in this room understands what these disastrous trade agreements are about. You all know who wrote these trade agreements. Not complicated. The steelworkers did not write these trade agreements. They are written by Corporate America to benefit Corporate America, people who could care less about what these trade agreement sds to working families. Agreements did to working families. Heres what theyve done. Since 2001 in america, we have lost 60,000 factories. Got that . In my state, in iowa, all across this country, 60,000 factories. Not all of that, to be fair, is attributable to trade. There are other reasons factories shut down, but a lot of it is attributable to trade. And when you lose 60,000 factories, many of them attributable to disastrous trade agreements, youre talking about the loss of millions of goodpaying american jobs. [applause] Everybody Knows what the purpose of these trade agreements were supposed to do. They did exactly what Corporate America wanted them to do, what they were designed to do is to say, why should we pay workers in the United States 20, 25, 30 an hour, provide decent benefits, negotiate with unions, protect the environment, why would any Corporation Want to do that when they could shut down in america, throw people out on the street, move to china, move to mexico, move to lowwage countries, pay people pennies an hour, not have to worry about the environment, not have to do deal with unions and they can bring their products right back in this country . Greed senator sanders the simple truth is, and its indisputable, these trade agreements have been a disaster for working families in this country. They have benefited the c. E. O. s of large multinational corporations. No one can deny that reality. I am proud to tell you that way back when i was on the picket line in opposition to nafta and helped lead the opposition against all these trade agreements. I got to tell you also. These trade agreements have been supported not just by republicans but by some democrats as well. E got to acknowledge that. Where we are today is to say when our country is deindustrializing do you know what i mean by that . When you tell me, how are we a great nation if were not purchasing the products that we need that are made in our country . Can you be a great country . Can you be a great country where everything you buy is made in china . I dont think so. I dont think so. And by the way this is another important point to be made. It is not only the loss of jobs, it is what we call the race to the bottom. So heres whats going on. People are saying and this is a good thing. People are saying, well, you know what, were seeing an uptick in manufacturing in america. Good. Take a look at the wages that those new manufacturing jobs are paying. There was once a time when manufacturing jobs, unionized manufacturing jobs were the Gold Standard for the working class of this country. You had a good job in a manufacturing plant, you had a union, you were making middleclass wages and middleclass benefits. But then i tell you a story. A couple years ago in louisville, kentucky, General Electric announced they were expanding their Manufacturing Capabilities creating a couple hundred jobs. Some people were very excited about it. And they asked this guy from g. E. Why are you doing this . He said, well, it turns out that if you add all of the these things together, transportation costs and the fact that wages in america have gone down, it is actually more competitive to do manufacturing in america now than in china because wages have gone down so much so theyre paying people in manufacturing 10, 12 an hour. Now, if manufacturing workers are getting paid 10, 12 an hour, what do you think other people are getting working . This is a race to the bottom. Not to bring chinese wages up to where we are, its to bring our wages down to where chinese ages were. [applause] so this t. P. P. , they want us to support the t. P. P. , they want our people to compete against workers in vietnam. I have nothing against workers in vietnam. I was there. They work very hard. Minimum wage in approximate vietnam is 65 cents an minimum wage in vietnam is 65 cents an hour. I do not want American Workers to have to compete against people who are making 65 cents an hour. [applause] so we have to take a deep breath. We have to understand that our trade policies have failed and we have to begin an entirely new set of policies. And the bottom line for me is that every Major Corporation in erica wants all of us to buy their products. Cant turn on the tv, buy this, buy that, buy that. Well, if they want us to buy their products, they damn well better start manufacturing those products back in the United States and not in china. [applause] senator sanders let me touch on another important issue, and im glad our brothers and sisters from the nurses union and we thank you so much for your support. [applause] reason that the nurses are supporting our campaign is that these are serious people who want to be able to do their job as well as they can. All right. Thank you job is to prevent disease. Their job is to take care of people who are sick, but right now they and many, many other people in the Health Care Profession are unable to do the job that they were trained to do. Now, i think the Affordable Care act has made some important steps forward and one important step forward that we are not going to allow to go forward is the socalled adillac tax. We will continue to push that back. Workers who gave up wage increases and other benefits for Decent Health care should not be penalized for those sacrifices. [applause] the Affordable Care act, which i voted for and strongly supported, did a couple number of good things. It did away with this obscenity called preexisting conditions. You all know what that is . Theres private insurance obscenity which said if you had a disease years ago they would not cover you for the disease that you needed coverage for. Like getting Fire Insurance except if you have a fire, then hey dont pay. Got rid of that. We have expanded Health Insurance to some 17 million americans. We have made it fairer for women who are forced to pay higher rates than they should have for the crime of being a woman. So we kind of eliminated that. But having said that, heres the reality of health care today, and what our campaign is about is asking the American People to think big, not small. Here we are. The United States of America Today is the only major country on earth the only one that doesnt guarantee health care to all people as a right. They do it in england. They do it in france, do it in germany, do it all over scandinavia. I live 50 miles away from the Canadian Border. Every major country does it. 29 Million People today have no Health Insurance at all. Millions more have high deductibles and high copayments. Sound familiar. Ok. And by the way, we pay by far the highest prices in the world or prescription drugs. Are at a time when one in five americans are unable to afford the prescription drugs their doctors are prescribing, at a time when seniors are cutting their pills in half because they cant afford to buy what they need, the three Major Drug Companies in america last year ade 45 billion in profit. Because they are so powerful, because they provide millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign contributions, because they have 1,400 lobbyists in washington, d. C. , there is no legislation on the books to prevent them from doubling, tripling, graduate rupeling the price quadrupling the price you pay for medicine. They are getting away with murder and in some cases they are committing murder. We are hearing from oncologists who are hearing from Cancer Patients and theyre telling us our Cancer Patients cant afford the medicine that they need. We are dealing in some cases with folks who have hepatitis c , new drug, very effective drug out, do you know what that costs . 1,000 a pill. What we have got to tell the pharmaceutical industry now, let me back up and tell you a story for a minute. Late 1990s, late 1990s, when i represented vermont in the congress, i took a bus load of women from northern vermont over the Canadian Border to montreal, and the reason we went is that i knew that prescription drugs in canada were much less expensive. Women who were dealing with Breast Cancer, working class women, walked into the pharmacy, they purchased the Breast Cancer medicine that they needed this is not generic. Brand name medicine for. 1 the price theyre paying in the United States. I was the first member of congress to do that. Others followed. Now millions of people, by the way, get their medicine from canada. We should not have to get medicine from canada. Pharmaceutical industry has got o stop ripping us off. [applause] now, when you got 29 million uninsured, even more underinsured, when were paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, it turns out that we are spending per person in health care almost three times more than they do in the United Kingdom where they guarantee health care to all of their people. We are spending 50 more than the french who guarantee health care to all of their people. Much more than the canadians who guarantee health care to all of their people. It seems to me that the time is now for us to say loudly and clearly that in the United States of america, health care is a right for all people. [applause] and we are going to pass a medicare for all single payer program. [applause] and when we do that, when we do that, not only do we make the nurses and the doctors jobs easier, because theyre going to be able to treat everybody in a comprehensive way, were going to save the middle class many millions of thousands a year on health care costs. [applause] we began our campaign for the presidency of the United States nine months ago, and when we began it i think we were at 3 , 4 in the polls. We didnt have any money. We didnt have any organization, and frankly not so many people outside of vermont knew who Bernie Sanders was. But the message that we have been bringing forth to the American People, a message which says that the Economy Today is rigged, that it benefits the wealthy and the powerful at the expense of everybody else, that the Campaign Finance system that exists today is corrupt and undermining american democracy [applause] that message is resonating all across this country. And here we are in iowa, and one week from yesterday there will be the first caucus in the country. I believe that we have an excellent chance to win that caucus if and here is the if. If we have a large voter turnout. [applause] it is going to be a very, very close election, but i believe that if working people want to be part of a campaign which says enough is enough, our government has got to represent all of us and not a handful of campaign contributors, if those people come out and vote, we will win and well win big. Cheers and applause] Bernie BernieBernie BernieBernie BernieBernie Bernie bernie senator sanders and let me also say this. Let me also say this. From ampaign is different other campaigns, not just because of the fact that i am perhaps the most progressive member of the senate and my agenda in this campaign is the most progressive. This campaign is more than that. And that is what i say every single day and i repeat to you now from the bottom of my heart. No president , not Bernie Sanders, not anybody else, can do it alone. All right. Now, i want to tell you a painful truth that you understand as proud trade unionists, but not all people in america understand, and that is the powers that be wall street, whose greed and recklessness and illegal behavior brought this country into the worst economic downturn since the great depression, they have endless supplies of money, endless. In fact, somebody on wall street now i think Just Announced is going to spend 600,000 in ads against me here in iowa twe