CNN "State of the Union" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Michael Bennet
Interview
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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.
My next guest says he was about to announce his 2020 presidential run, until he got some unexpected bad news, prostate cancer. But he says the diagnosis has only made him more determined to run.
Joining me now from New Hampshire, the first primary state, Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.
Senator, thanks for joining us.
You have just revealed that you have been diagnosed with prostate cancer this week. And we have all been thinking about you. How you feeling?
SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D), COLORADO: I'm feeling great, Jake.
And thanks a lot for having me on the show.
I guess that's one point I would like to make, is that I don't have any symptoms. I feel as good this week as I did last week and the week before that. And there's no way I would know I had prostate cancer if I hadn't had the screening. So, my advice to everybody who's watching is to please go get screened.
TAPPER: You said that, if you are healthy enough, you're going to run for president in 2020. When are you hoping you're going to be able to announce your run?
BENNET: Well, as soon as I can.
I have got to go through a procedure at the beginning of the upcoming recess. That starts later this week. And then it's going to be a couple of weeks for recovery. But I would like to get on with this.
I have -- I'm looking forward to running in 2020. This obviously was unexpected. But we caught it early. It's something that I think we're going to be able to treat. And I don't think it should keep me off the trail.
TAPPER: Well, let's talk about some issues, specifically health care.
You have gone after Medicare for all, which a lot of Democrats running for president are embracing. You have said Medicare for all is a move that would take away private health insurance from millions of Americans who like that health insurance.
You have proposed what you call a more practical alternative. Is that what Democratic voters want right now, moderation, practicality? Or do they want bold, even audacious progressive policies?
BENNET: Well, they may -- they may want both, depending on who you're talking to.
What -- I think about it in terms of what Colorado families want. And what Colorado families want is maximal choice for themselves and their families. They want to have a robust, strong public option, because not all of them want to be subject to private insurance.
There are many counties in my state where there's only one insurance company or sometimes zero insurance companies, so there's no competition.
But if you sat in a neighborhood in some of the most progressive areas of my state and said, look, here are our objectives, we want to come everybody in America, we want universal health care for everybody, we want to reduce the cost for families and, frankly, for America, because we're spending a ridiculous amount of health care, even though we don't cover everybody, and we want to keep quality high, and we said, OK, our first plan for doing that is to take insurance away from 180 million people who get it from their employer, 80 percent of whom like it, people in a conversation around that table would say, do you have any other plan? Because they know their friends and neighbors aren't going to give up insurance that they like. And that's why I developed Medicare X with Tim Kaine, because I think it does create the robust public option we should have passed as part of the Affordable Care Act, and we didn't.
And I think it will wear well on the primary campaign for the Democratic nomination. And I think it's going to be the obvious place for us to go to as we continue to work toward universal coverage in the United States of America.
TAPPER: It does seem as though, however, your party has moved significantly to the left on policy issues, especially the presidential candidates.
[09:35:03]
Former President Barack Obama spoke at a town hall in Berlin, Germany, yesterday. He said he was worried about -- quote -- "rigidity" among progressive Democrats. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Then we start sometimes creating what's called a circular firing squad, where you start shooting at your allies because one of them is straying from purity on the issues.
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TAPPER: Do you agree?
BENNET: To me, purity on the issues in this case is covering every single American with high-quality health care. That should be the purity test. And that is what the Democrats are for.
The Republicans are for, for reasons that I do not understand, taking away health care for tens of millions of Americans. That is what Donald Trump has been for. So, to me, that's the relevant dividing line.
If somebody can come up with a better plan than my plan, and it solves the issue of universal health care, it solves the issue spending less on health care, so we can spend more investing on the next generation of Americans, and it promotes quality in our health care system, not only would I be for that plan. I would give that person the Nobel Prize, if I could do it.
So I think it's the question of where you see the dividing line. And I see it between a bunch of people of good will that want to make sure that America is not the only country in the world where people go bankrupt because they don't have health insurance and a party led by a president who has over and over again done every single thing he could do to take insurance away from people with a preexisting condition and take it away from tens of millions of Americans.
Sometimes, people don't believe that's what he's done. It is what he's done, Jake. TAPPER: Senator, let me -- go ahead.
BENNET: Jake, he promised when he -- go ahead.
TAPPER: No, no.
BENNET: Go ahead. It's your show. No, I will stop. No, no.
TAPPER: Well, I just -- we only have a little bit of time. I just want to get to a couple more issues.
BENNET: Go ahead.
TAPPER: Let's talk about another issue dividing your party right now, the Democratic Party.
Vice President Biden has been under scrutiny after a half-dozen or so allegations that he touched women inappropriately, making them feel uncomfortable, not sexually, not violently, but getting in their space.
He seemed to joke about it on stage in an event on Friday. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just want you to know, I had permission to hug Lonnie.
By the way, he gave me permission to touch him. I...
(LAUGHTER)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Now, Biden said afterward it wasn't his intention to make light of anyone's discomfort.
Do you have any issue with him making jokes about this? And, more largely, do you see these allegations as disqualifying?
BENNET: Well, I don't think anybody should make jokes about it. I think this is a really important time in our country's history, when women are coming forward and able to say when they have been made to feel uncomfortable, whether in a sexual way or a non-sexual way. And people's voices should be heard on that.
I think, on the question of whether it's disqualifying or not, that's up for the voters in a Democratic primary and in a general election to decide. But I do think people shouldn't make jokes or make light of it.
TAPPER: Senator Bennet, we'd love to have you back on the show, especially to talk about your past support for charter schools. So, please come back.
And have fun in New Hampshire. It's a beautiful state.
BENNET: It is a beautiful state on a very beautiful day.
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