NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Michael Bennet
Social Media
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
CHUCK TODD:
Thanks for coming on. Appreciate it. And joining me now is someone who may soon jump into the Democratic race for president, it's Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado. Senator Bennet, welcome back to Meet the Press.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Thank you for having me.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, let me start with this. Where do you fit in this field? You, you -- what kind of campaign do you want to run? We're hearing Elizabeth Warren yesterday very unapologetic, major change, transformational type of thing, saying, "I'm tired of waiting for Medicare for all." You have others that are talking about a more, "Hey, you've got to live in the real world," pragmatic approach. "This is a divided country, it's a divided Congress. You're not going to get that done, so don't over promise." Where are you?
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
So I'd say first of all, the country, and I don't mean this just as a political statement, I think it's true, I don't think the country is anywhere nearly as divided as Washington D.C. is. I think the country is sick and tired of Washington yapping about stuff and not actually doing anything. My state's a third Democratic, a third Republican, and a third Independent. And people notice that we've gotten nothing done over the last ten years, except, except for the Affordable Care Act when the Democrats were in charge, and this terrible tax cut, when Donald Trump has been in charge. That's a pretty sorry record when you think about what the Chinese are doing. And I think we need to judge people, candidates and elected officials, based on the outcomes, based on the results that they actually get, and not on what they, you know, the press conferences that they have.
CHUCK TODD:
Look, if you're running -- I want to play a clip from her speech, Senator Warren's speech yesterday. Because this is where I think the base of the party is right now. Take a listen.
[TAPE BEGINS]
SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN:
I am tired of hearing that we can't afford to make real investments in childcare, college, and Medicare for all. I'm tired of hearing that we can't afford to make investments in things that create economic opportunities for families. I'm tired of hearing what we can't afford because it's just not true.
CHUCK TODD:
Senator Bennet, that's -- the base of the party wants that. What are you going to tell a voter that wants that when you say, "It's not -- you're not going to be able to get that."
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Well, first of all, I'm tired of hearing all that stuff too, that Elizabeth said. I completely agree with her. Think about what we've done since 2001. We've cut taxes by $5 trillion. Almost all of that went to the wealthiest Americans. We've spent $5.6 trillion, the president says $7 trillion on wars in the Middle East. So that's $11 [trillion], $12 [trillion], $13 trillion that we did not spend to address the most important issue facing this country, which is our lack of economic mobility and the huge income inequality that we have. So I actually agree with all of that. And I think it is the guy that was in this chair right before me, who is now the president's chief of staff, who was one of the people in the Freedom Caucus who tortured President Obama over and over and over again, calling him a Bolshevik and a socialist and all this stuff, couldn't lift a finger to help when we were in the worst recession since the Great Depression. They now have given us the biggest deficit that we have ever had in a period of economic growth. A Republican president, a Republican Senate, a Republican House. The fiscal hypocrisy is unbelievable. And I think that's what Elizabeth Warren was responding to. And I totally agree with her on that. The question is, how are we going to make these investments in a way that the solutions will actually endure?
CHUCK TODD:
Let me ask about healthcare, Medicare for all.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Yeah.
CHUCK TODD:
I'm curious, is it time for the Democrats to push for that when Obamacare has never been implemented as it was intended to be?
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Well, first of all, there are two big projects for America, I think, on healthcare. One is covering everybody. It is a disgrace that we are the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't cover everybody. And the other thing we need to figure out how to do is not spend twice as much on healthcare as we spend -- as any other industrialized country spends on healthcare to get worse results. That's what we're doing as a country. We've got to figure out how to do those two things. And I actually would give the Nobel Prize to whoever can figure out how to do those two things. But just speaking personally, I think the idea that we're going to go out and offer to take insurance away from 180 million people, you mentioned the Affordable Care Act.
CHUCK TODD:
Right.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Remember when President Obama said, "If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance." And then, you know, a few people in America actually lost their insurance because of the way that the plan worked. Now what Democrats are saying is, "If you like your insurance, we're going to take it away from you," from 180 million people that get their insurance from their employer and like it, where 20 million Americans who are on Medicare advantage, and love it. That seems like a bad opening offer for me. I think we'd be much better off with a bill like the one I have with Tim Kaine called Medicare X, that creates a public option. It, it helps finish the work of Obamacare. And it says to America, "If you want to be in a public plan, you can choose to be in a public plan. If you want to keep your insurance, you can keep your insurance."
CHUCK TODD:
There's a lot of people thinking about running for president. Why you? What do you, what do you offer, do you think, that says, "You know what, this -- I want to present this answer for the public"?
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
I think that I've got a different set of experiences than the other folks in the race, many of whom are my friends and people that I like. But I spent time in business and time as a school superintendent before I was in the, in the job that I'm in now. As I sit, or when I sit on the Senate floor, I often think about what I'm hearing through the lens of the kids that I used to work for in the Denver public schools. And the agenda that I hear has very little to do with them, very little to do with their future, very little to do with the next generation's future in America. So I think we have an opportunity to have a presidential campaign, you know, we've got a million people that are going to run, which I think is great, we have to do it. And I think having one more voice in that conversation that's focused on America's future I don't think would hurt.
CHUCK TODD:
I want to ask you about Virginia. You were one of the first people to call in Governor Northam to resign. Obviously the whole situation has turned into this -- a much larger problem for Democrats in the state of Virginia. A new poll out today shows Virginians are divided on this issue of should Governor Northam resign, 47, 47. It's the first time we've heard from voters on this. Does that at all mitigate where your head is at on whether he should go now?
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
It doesn't change it for me. I think that, I think that he should go. But I do think that we have to find a way as a country beyond these daily conflicts and begin this work together to try to get things done for the American people and for America's place in the world. We are --
CHUCK TODD:
Are we too quick to call for resignation sometimes?
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
I think it depends. It all depends on what the facts actually are. Sometimes, we cannot, we obviously need due process in this country. We need to know what the truth is. I think in the case of, the case of the governor of Virginia, his handling of this creates a situation where probably the best thing for him to do would be to resign.
CHUCK TODD:
Still more troubling to you, in some ways, the way he's handling?
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
I think that's the, I think that's the main -- that is a big issue.
CHUCK TODD:
All right, Senator Michael Bennet, I'm going to leave it there. I hope you come back here if you make your final decision about running.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Thanks for having me. Good to see you.
CHUCK TODD:
Good to see you.
SENATOR MICHAEL BENNET:
Thanks, Chuck.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source