CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Interview

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KEILAR: Arlette Saenz in Des Moines, thank you so much.

And stay tune for CNN's exclusive interview with former Vice President Joe Biden. The Democratic frontrunner talks with Chris Cuomo and they cover a lot of ground. You will see that here in the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM.

Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is among the Democratic presidential candidates at that NEA forum where you have just unveiled your education plan. You're joining us from Houston. Thanks for being with us, Senator.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Brianna. It is great to be here. My mom actually taught second grade until she was 70 years old and she would go to the union meetings and stand up on back of chairs to hear the speakers and I wish she could be here. She's no longer with us but I was able to tell that story here in Houston and talk about my belief that education should be a right and not a privilege.

And that we should respect our teachers. They have become not just our teachers but our social workers. They have a huge burden on their shoulders. And so, there is a lot of discussion today about how we make sure their paid right and how we make sure, which my plan is, to create incentives for the states to do even more.

KEILAR: And we just showed a photo of your mother as a teacher surrounded by children. I want to let you know. I don't know if you could see that. But you're there at this forum and you have unveiled an education plan. Tell us what you want to do.

KLOBUCHAR: Sure. Well, first of all, we need to fully fund education and that means things like paying our teachers right. And one way you could do that by the way is bringing the estate tax exemption down to where it was during the Obama years. That alone would be a huge boost for teacher pay. The second thing we need to do is to incentivize the states to do more.

And that's what my plan is about. To match them for dollars when they do things like prepare our kids for the jobs that are going to be available when they graduate and that is working with community colleges and apprenticeships, when they do things when it comes to pay increases, when they do more when it comes to making sure that they're working with our communities and treat our school districts so we make sure that kids that are in schools like my daughter was in for years, she was in a school that was nearly 90 percent free and reduced lunch.

So I saw the different situations when you have 30 some kids in a classroom, how hard it is to teach when they're speaking different languages that you want to make sure those kids have a chance, too. Because it is the only way we're going to move our economy forward as a country.

KEILAR: Do you want a teacher as secretary of Education?

KLOBUCHAR: Sure. But I would think anyone that has a substantial education background would be very good in that job. Our current Governor Tim Walls was a teacher and he's doing a great job in the State of Minnesota. So I think it is important to have someone with a policy background in education. A teacher is a great idea. But I could tell you what I won't have and that is I won't have Betsy DeVos. You know this is someone that didn't have that kind of background. She's someone that has caused all kinds of issues, including with the disability community.

And one of the stories I told today that picture of my mom, was that my mom's favorite unit she taught was a Monarch Butterfly unit. She dressed up as a teacher with a tunic and antennas and she'd hold a sign that said to Mexico or bust and I found out after she died, that she would always go grocery shopping in that outfit and this mom was crying at her visitation and she said this is my son, he's got severe disabilities and your mom would come every year after he graduated because he loved that unit on butterflies that she taught. And she was his favorite teacher. She would stand in the grocery line and give him a big hug in that Monarch Butterfly outfit.

That was my mom and that's what so many of these teachers do, they are buying supplies out of their own pockets. They're caring about their kids and having to do so much work that we're not doing as a community. So the reason I put this ideas forward today is that I see this really incredible inequity for so many of our kids. Schools that are crumbling, Baltimore schools without heat and we need to be investing more in education.

KEILAR: My mom was a teacher. She would buy reading glasses for kids who couldn't afford it.

KLOBUCHAR: Oh, I know that.

KEILAR: She was - no, that was not the exception. A lot of teachers do that. I do want -- it is just something that they're sort of stuck doing. So we're very interested in your proposal here. I do want to talk to you about your reaction to the former Vice President Joe Biden who says the vast majority of Democrats are with him on the issues. You two are operating in similar sort of moderate lanes. But can any Democrat, you or Joe Biden, make it through the primary process with the message of moderation and talk about working with Republicans?

[17:15:06] KLOBUCHAR: You know, I consider myself a proven progressive and that means I make progress. I passed over 100 bills where I was the lead Democrat in that gridlock of Washington, D.C. And I think people are looking for someone who can unite our party, and I can do that as well as someone that can win. And I'm the one that's won repeatedly in very red counties and congressional districts that Donald Trump won in by over 20 points. And I do that by looking straight with people and telling them the truth. I talked about that at that last debate. And think it is very important that we have someone that can unite people.

Can they win? Look at 2018, Brianna, look at what happened. People like Laura Kelly beat Kris Kobach in the state of Kansas. I always tell people, if you think we can't unite behind the candidate, I'd forward it for you, former Governor Scott Walker in the state of Wisconsin. So Democrats united across the country electing more women, more people of color because we put up candidates that reflected the districts in the states that they serve.

And that is when I talk to people all over our country and in Iowa. We were just in New Hampshire for the parades that is really what matters to them. And I think there is so much more that unites us than divides us and I figure given my history of bringing people together, that is one of my jobs, to take it to Donald Trump, we put a video out on our website today and our Twitter feed showing my moments in the debate.

I think that debate is an opportunity and will be when we have our CNN debates to show the difference between myself and Donald Trump. Because we've got independents watching, we've got moderate Republicans watching. We not only have to make the case for our own party, we need to make the case to the nation that a guy that you know holds a military parade to try to look tough and puts out his tanks when he's the same time getting us dangerously close to war with Iran by getting out of the agreement, all the stuff that he's been saying about cozying up to Vladimir Putin and making jokes about it, that is not what America is. As we look at this 4th of July week. We are about strength as a country.

KEILAR: It was more of an airshow. He wanted the military parade. It was more of an airshow. I just want to be clear about that. I think your objection stands despite that. I want to ask you about the census because the president is vowing to include this citizenship question. Are you worried that the president will defy the Supreme Court? Do you see him as already doing that?

KLOBUCHAR: I am worried about it. The Supreme Court with Justice Roberts on board basically said your rationale here is not correct. It doesn't make any sense. We're sending it back to the lower court. If you want to come up with some different one you do it but time is ticking. That is basically what they said and made it very clear when you read that opinion that they didn't believe this rationale, that they were somehow doing it for voting rights. Give me a break.

This census is so important for America. It is not just about our government, it is about every part of our economy, using the census. It is about where benefits go, and how people vote, where they vote. It is critical to our country. And he is messing around with this right now simply because he wants to make a deal with his base. Ironically, at his own Commerce secretary, and the Department of Justice ready to start issuing that census and getting those papers out and then he rolls it back in a tweet just like he does every day.

But I think in the end it will be just like I said about his economic plans when it comes to the middle class, it is going to be all foam and no beer. You're going to hear a lot of talk about this and in the end they're going to have to issue the census and if they don't the courts are going to have to get involved.

KEILAR: All right, Senator, thank you so much.

KLOBUCHAR: The citizenship question was put on there for bad reasons and we know it. Thank you very much, Brianna.

KEILAR: Thank you, Senator Amy Klobuchar. We really appreciate you joining us from Houston.

KLOBUCHAR: OK.

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