First Democretic Debates
First Democretic Debates
First Democretic Debates
The five major candidates are about to face off for the first time in a
primary race that is a lot more competitive than many people had
expected.
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RELATED COVERAGE
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Thank you very much, Governor.
(APPLAUSE)
Senator Webb, you have two minutes.
WEBB: Thank you. You know, people are disgusted with the way
that money has corrupted our political process, intimidating
incumbents and empowering Wall Street every day, the turnstile
government that we see, and also the power of the financial sector in
both parties.
WEBB: Theyre looking for a leader who understands how the
system works, who has not been coopted by it, and also has a proven
record of accomplishing different things. I have a record of working
across the political aisle. Ive also spent more than half of my
professional life away from politics in the independent world of being
better lives. There are some things that I have learned to do better in
life than others. And, after 15 years of executive experience, I have
learned how to be an effective leader. Whether it was raising the
minimum wage, making our public schools the best in America,
passing marriage equality, the DREAM Act, and comprehensive gun
safety legislation, I have learned how to get things done because I am
very clear about my principals. Thanks to President Obama, our
country has come a long way since the Wall Street crash of 2008. Our
countrys doing better, we are creating jobs again. But we elected a
president, not a magician, and there is urgent work that needs to be
done right now. For there is a deep injustice, an economic injustice
that threatens to tear our country apart, and it will not solve itself.
Injustice does not solve itself. What Im talking about is this, our
middle class is shrinking. Our poor families are becoming poorer,
and 70 percent of us are earning the same, or less than we were 12
years ago. We need new leadership, and we need action. The sort of
action that will actually make wages go up again for all American
families. Our economy isnt money, its people. Its all of our people,
and so we must invest in our country, and the potential of our kids to
make college a debt free option for all of our families, instead of
settling our kids with a lifetime of crushing debt. And, we must
square our shoulders to the great challenge of climate change and
make this threat our opportunity. The future is what we make of it.
We are all in this together. And, the question in this election is
whether you and I still have the ability to give our kids a better
future. I believe we do, that is why I am running for president, and I
need your help. Thank you.
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(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Governor OMalley, thank you very much. Senator
Sanders.
SANDERS: Anderson, thank you very much. I think most
Americans understand that our country today faces a series of
unprecedented crises. The middle class of this country for the last 40
years has been disappearing. Millions of Americans are working
longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new income
and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. As a result
of this disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision, our
campaign finance system is corrupt and is undermining American
democracy. Millionaires and billionaires are pouring unbelievable
sums of money into the political process in order to fund super PACs
and to elect candidates who represent their interests, not the
interests of working people. Today, the scientific community is
virtually unanimous: climate change is real, it is caused by human
activity, and we have a moral responsibility to transform our energy
system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable
energy and leave this planet a habitable planet for our children and
our grandchildren. Today in America, we have more people in jail
than any other country on Earth. African-American youth
unemployment is 51 percent. Hispanic youth unemployment is 36
percent. It seems to me that instead of building more jails and
providing more incarceration, maybe just maybe we should be
putting money into education and jobs for our kids.
(APPLAUSE) What this campaign is about is whether we can
mobilize our people to take back our government from a handful of
billionaires and create the vibrant democracy we know we can and
should have. Thank you.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Secretary Clinton?
CLINTON: Well, thank you, and thanks to everyone for hosting this
first of the Democratic debates. Im Hillary Clinton. I have been
proud and privileged to serve as first lady, as a senator from New
York, and as secretary of state. Im the granddaughter of a factory
worker and the grandmother of a wonderful one-year-old child. And
every day, I think about what we need to do to make sure that
opportunity is available not just for her, but for all of our children. I
have spent a very long time my entire adult life looking for ways
to even the odds to help people have a chance to get ahead, and, in
particular, to find the ways for each child to live up to his or her Godgiven potential. Ive traveled across our country over the last months
listening and learning, and Ive put forward specific plans about how
were going to create more good-paying jobs: by investing in
infrastructure and clean energy, by making it possible once again to
invest in science and research, and taking the opportunity posed by
climate change to grow our economy. At the center of my campaign
is how were going to raise wages. Yes, of course, raise the minimum
wage, but we have to do so much more, including finding ways so
that companies share profits with the workers who helped to make
them. And then we have to figure out how were going to make the
tax system a fairer one. Right now, the wealthy pay too little and the
middle class pays too much. So I have specific recommendations
about how were going to close those loopholes, make it clear that the
wealthy will have to pay their fair share, and have a series of tax cuts
for middle-class families. And I want to do more to help us balance
family and work. I believe in equal pay for equal work for women,
but I also believe its about time we had paid family leave for
American families and join the rest of the world. (APPLAUSE)
During the course of the evening tonight, Ill have a chance to lay out
all of my plans and the work that Ive done behind them. But for me,
this is about bringing our country together again. And I will do
everything I can to heal the divides the divides economically,
because theres too much inequality; the racial divides; the
continuing discrimination against the LGBT community so that we
work together and, yes, finally, fathers will be able to say to their
daughters, you, too, can grow up to be president.
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(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Thank you, all. It is time to start the debate.
COOPER: Are you all ready? (APPLAUSE) All right. Lets begin.
Were going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues,
important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with
concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this
stage that they have about each of you. Secretary Clinton, I want to
start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some
Democrats believe you change your positions based on political
expediency. You were against same-sex marriage. Now youre for it.
You defended President Obamas immigration policies. Now you say
theyre too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You
even called it the gold standard. Now, suddenly, last week, youre
against it. Will you say anything to get elected?
CLINTON: Well, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the
course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same values and
principles, but, like most human beings including those of us who
going to the top 1 percent. That when you look around the world, you
see every other major country providing health care to all people as a
right, except the United States. You see every other major country
saying to moms that, when you have a baby, were not gonna
separate you from your newborn baby, because we are going to have
we are gonna have medical and family paid leave, like every other
country on Earth. Those are some of the principles that I believe in,
and I think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Sweden
and Norway, and learn from what they have accomplished for their
working people.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Denmark is a country that has a population Denmark
is a country that has a population of 5.6 million people. The question
is really about electability here, and thats what Im trying to get at.
You the the Republican attack ad against you in a general
election it writes itself. You supported the Sandinistas in
Nicaragua. You honeymooned in the Soviet Union. And just this
weekend, you said youre not a capitalist. Doesnt doesnt that ad
write itself?
SANDERS: Well, first of all, lets look at the facts. The facts that are
very simple. Republicans win when there is a low voter turnout, and
that is what happened last November. Sixty-three percent of the
American people didnt vote, Anderson. Eighty percent of young
people didnt vote. We are bringing out huge turnouts, and creating
excitement all over this country. Democrats at the White House on
down will win, when there is excitement and a large voter turnout,
and that is what this campaign is doing.
COOPER: You dont consider yourself a capitalist, though?
for mayor of Baltimore back in 1999, it was not because our city was
doing well. It was because we allowed ourselves to become the most
violent, addicted, and abandoned city in America. And I ran and
promised people that together we could turn that around. And we
put our city on a path to reduce violent crime, or part one (ph) crime
by more than any other major city in America over the next 10 years.
I did not make our city immune to setbacks. But I attended a lot of
funerals, including one for a family of seven who were firebombed in
their sleep for picking up the phone in a poor African-American
neighborhood and calling the police because of drug dealers on their
corner. Weve saved over a thousand lives in Baltimore in the last 15
years of people working together. And the vast majority of them were
young and poor and black. It wasnt easy on any day. But we saved
lives and we gave our city a better future, improving police and
community relations every single day that I was in office.
COOPER: In one year alone, though, 100,000 arrests were made in
your city, a city of 640,000 people. The ACLU, the NAACP sued you,
sued the city, and the city actually settled, saying a lot of those arrests
were without probable cause.
OMALLEY: Well, I think the key word in your followup there was
the word settle. Thats true. It was settled. Arrests peaked in 2003,
Anderson, but they declined every year after that as we restored
peace in our poorer neighborhoods so that people could actually walk
and not have to worry about their kids or their loved ones of being
victims of violent crime. Look, none of this is easy. None of us has all
the answers. But together as a city, we saved a lot of lives. It was
about leadership. It was about principle. And it was about bringing
people together.
COOPER: Thank you, Governor.
WEBB: May I? People are going back and forth here for 10 minutes
here. There are people at high levels in this government who have
bodyguards 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average
American does not have that, and deserves the right to be able to
protect their family.
COOPER: Senator Governor Chafee, you have an F rating from
the NRA, what do you think about what Senator Webb just said?
CHAFEE: Yes, I have a good record of voting for gun commonsense
safety legislation, but the reality is, despite these tragedies that
happen time and time again, when legislators step up to pass
commonsense gun safety legislation, the gun lobby moves in and tells
the people theyre coming to take away your guns. And, theyre
successful at it, in Colorado and others states, the legislators that
vote for commonsense gun safety measures then get defeated. I even
saw in Rhode Island. So, I would bring the gun lobby in and say
weve got to change this. Where can we find common ground? Wayne
Lapierre from the NRA, whoever it is, the leaders. Come one, weve
go to change this. Were not coming to take away your guns, we
believe in the Second Amendment, but lets find common ground
here.
COOPER: I want to...
OMALLEY: ...Anderson, when the NRA wrote to everyone in our
state when the NRA wrote to members in our state and told people
with hunting traditions lies about what our comprehensive gun
safety legislation is, I wrote right back to them and laid out what it
actually did. And thats why, not only did we pass it, but the NRA
didnt...
SANDERS: ...Excuse me...
CLINTON: Well, first of all, we got a lot of business done with the
Russians when Medvedev was the president, and not Putin. We got a
nuclear arms deal, we got the Iranian sanctions, we got an ability to
bring important material and equipment to our soldiers in
Afghanistan. Theres no doubt that when Putin came back in and said
he was going to be President, that did change the relationship. We
have to stand up to his bullying, and specifically in Syria, it is
important and I applaud the administration because they are
engaged in talks right now with the Russians to make it clear that
theyve got to be part of the solution to try to end that bloody conflict.
And, to provide safe zones so that people are not going to have to
be flooding out of Syria at the rate they are. And, I think its
important too that the United States make it very clear to Putin that
its not acceptable for him to be in Syria creating more chaos,
bombing people on behalf of Assad, and we cant do that if we dont
take more of a leadership position, which is what Im advocating.
COOPER: Senator Sanders, what would you do differently.
SANDERS: Well, lets understand that when we talk about Syria,
youre talking about a quagmire in a quagmire. Youre talking about
groups of people trying to overthrow Assad, other groups of people
fighting ISIS. Youre talking about people who are fighting ISIS using
their guns to overthrow Assad, and vice versa. Im the former
chairman of the Senate Veterans Committee, and in that capacity I
learned a very powerful lesson about the cost of war, and I will do
everything that I can to make sure that the United States does not get
involved in another quagmire like we did in Iraq, the worst foreign
policy blunder in the history of this country. We should be putting
together a coalition of Arab countries who should be leading the
effort. We should be supportive, but I do not support American
ground troops in Syria.
ground in Syria. I never said that. What I said was we had to put
together a coalition in fact, something that I worked on before I
left the State Department to do, and yes, that it should include
Arabs, people in the region. Because what I worry about is what will
happen with ISIS gaining more territory, having more reach, and,
frankly, posing a threat to our friends and neighbors in the region
and far beyond. So I think while youre talking about the tough
decision that President Obama had to make about Osama bin Laden,
where I was one of his few advisers, or putting together that coalition
to impose sanctions on Iran I think I have a lot of evidence...
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: Senator Sanders Senator Sanders, I want to bring you in
here. My question for you is, as a congressman, you voted against the
Iraq War. You voted against the Gulf War. Youre just talking about
Syria, but under what circumstances would a President Sanders
actually use force?
SANDERS: Let me just respond to something the secretary said.
First of all, she is talking about, as I understand it, a no-fly zone in
Syria, which I think is a very dangerous situation. Could lead to real
problems. Second of all, I heard the same evidence from President
Bush and Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld about why we should
overthrow Saddam Hussein and get involved in the I would urge
people to go to berniesanders.com, hear what I said in 2002. And I
say, without any joy in my heart, that much of what I thought would
happen about the destabilization, in fact, did happen. So I think...
BASH: All right.
(APPLAUSE)
going to give him a message that maybe they should come home,
maybe they should start working with the United States to rectify the
situation now.
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, on the campaign trail, Governor Webb
has said that he would never have used military force in Libya and
that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was inevitable.
Should you have seen that attack coming?
CLINTON: Well, lets remember what was going on. We had a
murderous dictator, Gadhafi, who had American blood on his hands,
as Im sure you remember, threatening to massacre large numbers of
the Libyan people. We had our closest allies in Europe burning up
the phone lines begging us to help them try to prevent what they saw
as a mass genocide, in their words. And we had the Arabs standing
by our side saying, We want you to help us deal with Gadhafi. Our
response, which I think was smart power at its best, is that the
United States will not lead this. We will provide essential, unique
capabilities that we have, but the Europeans and the Arabs had to be
first over the line. We did not put one single American soldier on the
ground in Libya. And Ill say this for the Libyan people...
COOPER: But American citizens did lose their lives in Benghazi.
CLINTON: But let Ill get to that. But I think its important, since
I understand Senator Webbs very strong feelings about this, to
explain where we were then and to point out that I think President
Obama made the right decision at the time. And the Libyan people
had a free election the first time since 1951. And you know what, they
voted for moderates, they voted with the hope of democracy. Because
of the Arab Spring, because of a lot of other things, there was turmoil
to be followed. But unless you believe the United States should not
send diplomats to any place that is dangerous, which I do not, then
when we send them forth, there is always the potential for danger
and risk.
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(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: Jim and I, under Jims leadership, as he indicated,
passed the most significant veterans education bill in recent history.
We followed suit with a few years later passing, under my leadership,
the most significant veterans health care legislation in the modern
history of this country.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: When I was a young man Im not a young man today.
When I was a young man, I strongly opposed the war in Vietnam.
Not the brave men like Jim who fought in that war, but the policy
which got us involved in that war. That was my view then.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I supported the war in
Afghanistan. I supported President Clintons effort to deal with
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. I support air strikes in Syria and what the
president is trying to do. Yes, I happen to believe from the bottom of
my heart that war should be the last resort that we have got to
exercise diplomacy. But yes, I am prepared to take this country into
war if that is necessary.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Very quickly, 30 seconds for each of you. Governor
Chafee, who or what is the greatest national security threat to the
United States? I want to go down the line.
CHAFEE: OK. I just have to answer one thing that Senator Webb
said about the Iran deal, because Im a strong proponent of what
President Obama and he said that because of that the Iran deal
that enabled Russia to come in. No, thats not true, Senator Webb. I
respect your foreign policy chops. But Russia is aligned with Iran and
with Assad and the Alawite Shias in Syria. So that Iran deal did not
allow Russia to come in.
COOPER: OK. Senator, I can give you 30 seconds to respond.
WEBB: I believe that the signal that we sent to the region when the
Iran nuclear deal was concluded was that we are accepting Irans
greater position on this very important balance of power, among our
greatest ally Israel, and the Sunnis represented by the Saudi regime,
and Iran. It was a position of weakness and I think it encouraged the
acts that weve seen in the past several weeks.
COOPER: Thirty seconds for each of you. Governor Chafee, what is
the greatest national security threat to the United States?
CHAFEE: Its certainly the chaos in the Middle East. Theres no
doubt about it.
COOPER: OK.
CHAFEE: And it all started with the Iraq invasion.
COOPER: Governor OMalley?
OMALLEY: I believe that nuclear Iran remains the biggest threat,
along with the threat of ISIL; climate change, of course, makes
cascading threats even more (inaudible).
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, the greatest national security threat?
CLINTON: I I think it has to be continued threat from the spread
of nuclear weapons, nuclear material that can fall into the wrong
hands. I know the terrorists are constantly seeking it, and thats why
we have to stay vigilant, but also united around the world to prevent
that.
COOPER: Senator Sanders, greatest national security threat?
SANDERS: The scientific community is telling us that if we do not
address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy
system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that
were going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well
not be habitable. That is a major crisis.
COOPER: Senator Webb?
WEBB: Our greatest long-term strategic challenge is our relation
with China. Our greatest day-to-day threat is cyber warfare against
this country. Our greatest military-operational threat is resolving the
situations in the Middle East.
COOPER: All right. Were going to take a short break. Do these
candidates see eye to eye on an issue that is driving a big wedge
between Republicans? That is next. Well be right back.
(APPLAUSE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back. We are live in Nevada, in Las Vegas,
at the Wynn Resort for the first Democratic presidential debate. The
questions continue. We begin with Secretary Clinton. Secretary
Clinton, you are going to be testifying before Congress next week
about your e-mails. For the last eight months, you havent been able
to put this issue behind you. You dismissed it; you joked about it; you
called it a mistake. What does that say about your ability to handle
far more challenging crises as president?
CLINTON: Well, Ive taken responsibility for it. I did say it was a
mistake. What I did was allowed by the State Department, but it
wasnt the best choice. And I have been as transparent as I know to
be, turning over 55,000 pages of my e-mails, asking that they be
made public. And youre right. I am going to be testifying. Ive been
asking to testify for some time and to do it in public, which was not
originally agreed to. But lets just take a minute here and point out
that this committee is basically an arm of the Republican National
Committee. (APPLAUSE) It is a partisan vehicle, as admitted by the
House Republican majority leader, Mr. McCarthy, to drive down my
poll numbers. Big surprise. And thats what they have attempted to
do. I am still standing. I am happy to be part of this debate.
(APPLAUSE) And I intend to keep talking about the issues that
matter to the American people. You know, I believe strongly that we
need to be talking about what people talk to me about, like how are
we going to make college affordable? How are we going to pay down
student debt?
COOPER: Secretary...
CLINTON: How are we going to get health care for everybody...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, Secretary Clinton, with all due respect,
its a little hard I mean, isnt it a little bit hard to call this just a
partisan issue? Theres an FBI investigation, and President Obama
himself just two days ago said this is a legitimate issue.
CLINTON: Well, I never said it wasnt legitimate. I said that I have
answered all the questions and I will certainly be doing so again
before this committee. But I think it would be really unfair not to
look at the entire picture. This committee has spent $4.5 million of
taxpayer money, and they said that they were trying to figure out
what we could do better to protect our diplomats so that something
like Benghazi wouldnt happen again. There were already seven
committee reports about what to do. So I think its pretty clear what
their obvious goal is.
COOPER: Thank you.
CLINTON: But Ill be there. Ill answer their questions. But tonight,
I want to talk not about my e-mails, but about what the American
people want from the next president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Senator Sanders?
SANDERS: Let me say this. (APPLAUSE)
Let me say let me say something that may not be great politics. But
I think the secretary is right, and that is that the American people are
sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.
Continue reading the main story
(APPLAUSE)
Governor OMalley...
(APPLAUSE)
Governor, its popular in the room, but a lot of people do want to
know these answers. Governor OMalley, you expressed concern on
the campaign trail that the Democratic Party is, and I quote, being
defined by Hillary Clintons email scandal. You heard her answer,
do you still feel that way tonight?
OMALLEY: I believe that now that were finally having debates,
Anderson, that we dont have to be defined by the email scandal, and
how long what the FBIs asking about. Instead, we can talk about
affordable college, making college debt free, and all the issues. Which
is why and I see the chair of the DNC here, look how glad we are
actually to be talking about the issues that matter the most to people
around the kitchen table. We need to get wages to go up, college
more affordable...
COOPER: ...Thank you, governor.
OMALLEY: ...we need to make American 100 percent clean electric
by 2050.
COOPER: I want to talk about issues of race in America, for that I
want to start of with Don Lemon.
LEMON: Alright, Anderson, thank you very much. Im not sure how
to follow that, but this question is about something that has tripped
some of the candidates up out on the campaign trail. Can you hear
me? Cant hear me in the room. OK, here we go again, as I said...
percent. How can you credibly represent the views of the middle
class?
CLINTON: Well, you know, both Bill and I have been very blessed.
Neither of us came from wealthy families and weve worked really
hard our entire lives. And I want to make sure every single person in
this country has the same opportunities that he and I have had, to
make the most of their God-given potential and to have the chances
that they should have in America for a good education, good job
training, and then good jobs. I have a five point economic plan,
because this inequality challenge we face, we have faced it at other
points. Its absolutely right. It hasnt been this bad since the 1920s.
But if you look at the Republicans versus the Democrats when it
comes to economic policy, there is no comparison. The economy does
better when you have a Democrat in the White House and thats why
we need to have a Democrat in the White House in January 2017.
COOPER: Governor OMalley, (inaudible).
OMALLEY: Yes. Anderson, I want to associate myself with many of
the items that the senator from Vermont mentioned, and I actually
did them in our state. We raised the minimum wage, passed the
living wage, invested more in infrastructure, went four years in a row
without a pennys increase in college tuition. But theres another
piece that Senator Sanders left out tonight, but hes been excellent
about underscoring that. And that is that we need to separate the
casino, speculative, mega-bank gambling that we have to insure with
our money, from the commercial banking namely, reinstating
Glass-Steagall. Secretary Clinton mentioned my support eight years
ago. And Secretary, I was proud to support you eight years ago, but
something happened in between, and that is, Anderson, a Wall Street
crash that wiped out millions of jobs and millions of savings for
families. And we are still just as vulnerable Paul Volcker says today.
We need to reinstate Glass-Steagall and thats a huge difference on
this stage among us as candidates.
COOPER: Just for viewers at home who may not be reading up on
this, Glass-Steagall is the Depression-era banking law repealed in
1999 that prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment
banking and insurance activities. Secretary Clinton, he raises a
fundamental difference on this stage. Senator Sanders wants to break
up the big Wall Street banks. You dont. You say charge the banks
more, continue to monitor them. Why is your plan better?
CLINTON: Well, my plan is more comprehensive. And frankly, its
tougher because of course we have to deal with the problem that the
banks are still too big to fail. We can never let the American taxpayer
and middle class families ever have to bail out the kind of speculative
behavior that we saw. But we also have to worry about some of the
other players AIG, a big insurance company; Lehman Brothers, an
investment bank. Theres this whole area called shadow banking.
Thats where the experts tell me the next potential problem could
come from.
CLINTON: So Im with both Senator Sanders and Governor
OMalley in putting a lot of attention onto the banks. And the plan
that I have put forward would actually empower regulators to break
up big banks if we thought they posed a risk. But I want to make sure
were going to cover everybody, not what caused the problem last
time, but what could cause it next time.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Senator Sanders, Secretary Clinton just said that her
policy is tougher than yours.
CLINTON: So...
SANDERS: ...and saying, please, do the right thing...
CLINTON: ...no, thats not what... SANDERS: ...is kind of naive.
CLINTON: ...that I think Dodd-Frank was a
very... WEBB: Anderson, I need to jump in (inaudible).
CLINTON: ...good start, and I think that we have to implement it.
We have to prevent the Republicans from ripping it apart. We have
to save the Consumer Financial Protection board, which is finally
beginning to act to protect consumers. (APPLAUSE) We have work
to do. Youve got no argument from me. But I know, if we dont come
in with a very tough and comprehensive approach, like the plan Im
recommending, were gonna be behind instead of ahead...
COOPER: Governor OMalley? Where do you stand?
CLINTON: ...on what the next crisis could be.
OMALLEY: Anderson, look, this is the big banks I mean, once
we repealed Glass-Steagall back in the late 1999s (ph), the big banks,
the six of them, went from controlling, what, the equivalent of 15
percent of our GDP to now 65 percent of our GDP. And (inaudible)
right before this debate, Secretary Clintons campaign put out a lot of
reversals on positions on Keystone and many other things. But one of
them that we still have a great difference on, Madam Secretary, is
that you are not for Glass-Steagall. You are not for putting a firewall
between this speculative, risky shadow banking behavior. I am, and
the people of our country need a president whos on their side,
willing to protect the Main Street economy from recklessness on Wall
Street. We have to fulfill...
meltdown. Despite that, you still voted against it. As president, would
you stand by your principles if it risked the countrys financial
stability?
SANDERS: Well, I remember that meeting very well. I remember it
like it was yesterday. Hank Paulson, Bernanke came in, and they say,
guys, the economy is going to collapse because Wall Street is going
under. Its gonna take the economy with them. And you know what I
said to Hank Paulson? I said, Hank, your guys you come from
Goldman Sachs. Your millionaire and billionaire friends caused this
problem. How about your millionaire and billionaire friends paying
for the bailout, not working families in this country? So to answer
your question, no, I would not have let the economy collapse. But it
was wrong to ask the middle class to bail out Wall Street. And by the
way, I want Wall Street now to help kids in this country go to college,
public colleges and universities, free with a Wall Street speculation
tax.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Were going to talk about that in a minute. But, Senator
Webb, I want to get you in. You have said neither party has the guts
to take on Wall Street. Is the system rigged?
WEBB: There is a reality that I think we all need to recognize with
respect to the power of the financial sector. And let me just go back a
minute and say that on this TARP program, I introduced a piece of
legislation calling for a windfall profits tax on the executives of any of
these companies that got more than $5 billion, that it was time for
them, once they got their compensation and their bonus, to split the
rest of the money they made with the nurses and the truck drivers
and the soldiers who bailed them out. With respect to the financial
sector, I mean, I know that my time has run out but in speaking of
changing positions and the position on how this debate has occurred
is kind of frustrating because unless somebody mentions my name I
cant get into the discussion.
COOPER: You agreed to these rules and youre wasting time. So if
you would finish your answer, well move on.
WEBB: All right. Well, Im trying to set a mark here so maybe we
can get into a little more later on. This hasnt been equal time. But if
you want to look at what has happened, if we look at the facts in
terms of how were going to deal with this, since that crash, in the
last 10 years, the amount of the worlds capital economy that Wall
Street manages has gone from 44 percent to 55 percent. That means
the Wall Street money managers are not risking themselves as the
same way the American people are when theyre going to get their
compensation. Theyre managing money from all over the world. We
have to take that into consideration when were looking at ways to
regulate it.
COOPER: Governor Chafee, you have attacked Secretary Clinton for
being too close to Wall Street banks. In 1999 you voted for the very
bill that made banks bigger.
Continue reading the main story
INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC
History suggests that each partys eventual nominee will emerge from 2015 in one of the
top two or three positions, as measured by endorsements, fund-raising and polling.
SANDERS: Well, let me tell you, Donald Trump and his billionaire
friends under my policies are going to pay a hell of a lot more in taxes
today taxes in the future than theyre paying today.
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: But in terms of education, this is what I think. This is
the year 2015. A college degree today, Dana, is the equivalent of what
a high school degree was 50 years ago. And what we said 50 years
ago and a hundred years ago is that every kid in this country should
be able to get a high school education regardless of the income of
their family. I think we have to say that is true for everybody going to
college. I think we dont need a complicated system, which the
secretary is talking about, the income goes down, the income goes
down, if youre poor you have to work, and so forth and so on. I pay
for my program, by the way, through a tax on Wall Street
speculation, which will not only make public colleges and universities
tuition-free, it will substantially lower interest rates on college debt, a
major crisis in this country.
(APPLAUSE)
BASH: And, Secretary Clinton, its not just college tuition that
Senator Sanders is talking about, expanding Social Security and
giving all Americans Medicare. Whats wrong with that?
CLINTON: Well, let me address college affordability, because I have
a plan that I think will really zero in on what the problems are. First,
all the 40 million Americans who currently have student debt will be
able to refinance their debt to a low interest rate. That will save
thousands of dollars for people who are now struggling under this
cumbersome, burdensome college debt. As a young student in
Nevada said to me, the hardest thing about going to college should
not be paying for it. So then we have to make it more affordable. How
do we make it more affordable? My plan would enable anyone to go
to a public college or university tuition free. You would not have to
borrow money for tuition. But I do believe and maybe its because
I worked when I went through college; I worked when I went through
law school I think its important for everybody to have some part
of getting this accomplished. Thats why I call it a compact.
BASH: Secretary Clinton...
CLINTON: But, yes, I would like students to work 10 hours a week...
BASH: Can you answer the...
SANDERS: ... in order to make it possible for them to afford their
education. And I want colleges to get their costs down. They are
outrageously high in what theyre charging.
BASH: Secretary Clinton, the question was not just about tuition,
though. It was about Senator Sanders plan to expand Social Security,
to make Medicare available to all Americans. Is that something that
you would support? And if not, why not?
CLINTON: Well, I fully support Social Security. And the most
important fight were going to have is defending it against continuing
Republican efforts to privatize it.
BASH: Do you want to expand it?
CLINTON: I want to enhance the benefits for the poorest recipients
of Social Security. We have a lot of women on Social Security,
particularly widowed and single women who didnt make a lot of
money during their careers, and they are impoverished, and they
need more help from the Social Security system. And I will focus I
will focus on helping those people who need it the most. And of
course Im going to defend Social Security. Im going to look for ways
to try to make sure its solvent into the future. And we also need to
talk about health care at some time, because we agree on the goals,
we just disagree on the means.
SANDERS: When the Republicans when the Republicans in the
Congress and some Democrats were talking about cutting Social
Security and benefits for disabled veterans, for the so-called chained
CPI, I founded a caucus called the Defending Social Security Caucus.
My view is that when you have millions of seniors in this country
trying to get by and I dont know how they do on $11,000,
$12,000, $13,000 a year you dont cut Social Security, you expand
it. And the way you expand it is by lifting the cap on taxable incomes
so that you do away with the absurdity of a millionaire paying the
same amount into the system as somebody making $118,000. You do
that, Social Security is solvent until 2061 and you can expand
benefits.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Senator Sanders, I want to bring it over to Juan Carlos
Lopez from CNN en Espanol. Were obviously in Nevada. Its had the
highest percentage of undocumented immigrants of any state in the
country as of last year. Juan Carlos?
LOPEZ: Gracias, Anderson. Senator Sanders, in 2013, you voted for
immigration reform. But in 2007, when Democrats controlled
Congress and the Bush White House was onboard, you voted against
it. Why should Latino voters trust you now when you left them at the
altar at the moment when reform was very close?
COOPER: ...Secretary...
CLINTON: ...than even the executive orders that President Obama
has signed when Im president.
(CROSS TALK)
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, let me ask you. Two of your rivals from
your left, Governor OMalley, and Senator Sanders, want to provide
instate college tuition to undocumented immigrants. Where do you
stand on that?
CLINTON: My plan would support any state that takes that
position, and would work with those states and encourage more
states to do the same thing.
COOPER: So, on the record, you believe that undocumented
immigrants should get instate college tuition.
CLINTON: If their states agree, then we want more states to do the
same thing. COOPER: Governor OMalley? OMALLEY: Anderson,
we actually did this in my state of Maryland. We passed...
(APPLAUSE)
OMALLEY: We passed a state version of the DREAM Act...
(CHEERING)
OMALLEY: ...And a lot of the xenophobes, the immigrant haters
like some that weve heard like, Donald Trump, that carnival barker
in the Republican party...
(CHEERING) (APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: It was 99 to one and I was maybe the one. I dont know.
COOPER: ... and the reauthorization votes. Let me ask you, if
elected, would you shut down the NSA surveillance program?
SANDERS: Im sorry?
COOPER: Would you shut down the NSA surveillance program?
SANDERS: Absolutely. Of course. COOPER: You would, point
blank.
SANDERS: Well, I would shut down make Id shut down what
exists right now is that virtually every telephone call in this country
ends up in a file at the NSA. That is unacceptable to me. But its not
just government surveillance. I think the government is involved in
our e-mails; is involved in our websites. Corporate America is doing
it as well. If we are a free country, we have the right to be free. Yes,
we have to defend ourselves against terrorism, but there are ways to
do that without impinging on our constitutional rights and our
privacy rights.
OMALLEY (?): Anderson, the NSA...
COOPER: Governor Chafee, Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a
hero?
CHAFEE: No, I would bring him home. The courts have ruled that
what he did what he did was say the American...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Bring him home, no jail time?
SANDERS: He did he did break the law, and I think there should
be a penalty to that. But I think what he did in educating us should
be taken into consideration before he is (inaudible)
. COOPER: Senator Webb, Edward Snowden?
WEBB: I well, I I would leave his ultimate judgment to the
legal system. Heres what I do believe. We have a serious problem in
terms of the collection of personal information in this country. And
one of the things that I did during the FISA bill in 2007, the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, was introduce with Russ Feingold two
amendments basically saying, We understand the realities of how
you have to collect this broad information in the Internet age, but
after a certain period of time, you need to destroy the personal
information that you have if people have not been brought if
criminal justice proceedings have not been brought against them.
Weve got a vast data bank of information that is ripe for people with
bad intentions to be able to use. And they need to be destroyed.
COOPER: Another another question for each of you, starting with
Governor Chafee. Name the one thing the one way that your
administration would not be a third term of President Obama.
CHAFEE: Certainly, ending the wars. Weve got to stop these wars.
You have to have a new dynamic, a new paradigm. We just spent a
half-billion dollars arming and training soldiers, the rebel soldiers in
Syria. They quickly join the other side. We bombed the...
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: President Obamas generals right now are suggesting
keeping troops in Afghanistan after the time he wanted them pulled
out. Would you keep them there?
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with both parties in the Congress and working through them in the
traditional way that our Constitution sets (ph).
COOPER: Senator Sanders, he cited you. You dont hear a lot of
Democratic presidential candidates talking about revolution. What
do you mean?
SANDERS: What I mean is that we need to have one of the larger
voter turnouts in the world, not one of the lowest. We need to raise
public consciousness. We need the American people to know whats
going on in Washington in a way that today they do not know.
(APPLAUSE) And when people come together in a way that does not
exist now and are prepared to take on the big money interest, then
we could bring the kind of change we need.
OMALLEY: Anderson, I actually have talked about a revolution.
What we need is a green energy revolution. We need to move
America to a 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050 and create 5
million jobs along the way.
COOPER: And we want to and were going to talk more about
climate change and environmental issues coming up. Some of the
candidates have tried marijuana, as have pretty much probably
everybody in this room.
(LAUGHTER)
Others have not. Does that influence does it influence their views
on legalization? Find out that and others ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
job in this country since 1970. If you look at China and India, theyre
the greatest polluters in the world. Fifteen out of the 20 most
polluted cities in the world are in one of those two countries. We
need to solve this in a global way. Its a global problem and I have
been very strong on on doing that. The the agreements the socalled agreements that we have had with China are illusory in terms
of the immediate requirements of the of the Chinese government
itself. So lets solve this problem in an international way, and then we
really will have a a way to address climate change.
COOPER: Senator Sanders, are you tougher on on climate change
than Secretary Clinton?
SANDERS: Well, I will tell you this. I believe and Pope Francis
made this point. This is a moral issue. The scientists are telling us
that we need to move extremely boldly. I am proud that, along with
Senator Barbara Boxer, a few years ago, we introduced the first piece
of climate change legislation which called for a tax on carbon. And let
me also tell you that nothing is gonna happen unless we are prepared
to deal with campaign finance reform, because the fossil fuel industry
is funding the Republican Party, which denies the reality of climate
change...
(APPLAUSE)
...and certainly is not prepared to go forward aggressively. This is a
moral issue. We have got to be extremely aggressive in working with
China, India, Russia.
COOPER: Senator thank you, Senator.
SANDERS: The planet the future of the planet is at stake.
do you say not only to Carly Fiorina, but also a small-business owner
out there who says, you know, I like this idea, but I just cant afford
it?
CLINTON: Well, Im surprised she says that, because California has
had a paid leave program for a number of years. And its...
BASH: Its on the federal level.
CLINTON: Well, but all well, on a state level, a state as big as
many countries in the world. And it has not had the ill effects that the
Republicans are always saying it will have. And I think this is this
is typical Republican scare tactics. We can design a system and pay
for it that does not put the burden on small businesses. I remember
as a young mother, you know, having a baby wake up who was sick
and Im supposed to be in court, because I was practicing law. I know
what its like. And I think we need to recognize the incredible
challenges that so many parents face, particularly working moms. I
see my good friend, Senator Gillibrand, in the front row. Shes been a
champion of this. We need to get a consensus through this campaign,
which is why Im talking about it everywhere I go, and we need to
join the rest of the advanced world in having it.
BASH: But Secretary Secretary Clinton, even many people who
agree with you might say, look, this is very hard to do, especially in
todays day and age. There are so many people who say, Really?
Another government program? Is that what youre proposing? And at
the expense of taxpayer money?
CLINTON: Well, look, you know, when people say that its always
the Republicans or their sympathizers who say, You cant have paid
leave, you cant provide health care. They dont mind having big
government to interfere with a womans right to choose and to try to
(APPLAUSE)
LOPEZ: Secretary Clinton, you told Christiane Amanpour you didnt
smoke pot when you were young, and youre not going to start now.
(LAUGHTER)
LOPEZ: When asked about legalizing recreational marijuana, you
told her lets wait and see how it plays out in Colorado and
Washington. Its been more than a year since youve said that. Are
you ready to take a position tonight?
CLINTON: No. I think that we have the opportunity through the
states that are pursuing recreational marijuana to find out a lot more
than we know today. I do support the use of medical marijuana, and
I think even there we need to do a lot more research so that we know
exactly how were going to help people for whom medical marijuana
provides relief. So, I think were just at the beginning, but I agree
completely with the idea that we have got to stop imprisoning people
who use marijuana. Therefore, we need more states, cities, and the
federal government to begin to address this so that we dont have this
terrible result that Senator Sanders was talking about where we have
a huge population in our prisons for nonviolent, low-level offenses
that are primarily due to marijuana.
COOPER: Secretary Clinton, thank you. I want to go to Don Lemon
with another Facebook question.
LEMON: Alright, Anderson. This is for Senator Sanders, OK? This is
from Carrie (ph) Kang (ph) from Manassas, Virginia, would like
would like to ask the Senator, President Obama has had a difficult
time getting Republicans to compromise on just about every agenda.
How will you approach this going forward, and will it be any
different? Senator?
SANDERS: The Republican party, since Ive been in the Senate, and
since President Obama has been in office, has played a terrible,
terrible role of being total obstructionists. Every effort that he has
made, that some of us have made, they have said no, no, no. Now, in
my view, the only way we can take on the right wing republicans who
are, by the way, I hope will not continue to control the Senate and the
House when one of us elected President...
(APPLAUSE)
SANDERS: ...But the only way we can get things done is by having
millions of people coming together. If we want free tuition at public
colleges and universities, millions of young people are going to have
to demand it, and give the Republicans an offer they cant refuse. If
we want to raise the minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour, workers
are going to have to come together and look the Republicans in the
eye, and say, We know whats going on. You vote against us, you are
out of your job.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Were going to hear from all the candidates coming up.
Were going to take a short break. More from the candidates in a
moment.
(APPLAUSE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to the final round of the CNN
Democratic presidential debate. This is a question to each of you.
Each of you, by the way, are going to have closing statements to
make. Each of you will have 90 seconds. But a final question to each
WEBB: Id have to say the enemy soldier that threw the grenade
that wounded me, but hes not around right now to talk to.
COOPER: All right. Time for closing statements. Each of you will
have 90 seconds. Governor Chafee, lets begin with you.
CHAFEE: Thank you, Anderson. Thank you, CNN. And thank you,
Facebook, for sponsoring this debate. America has many challenges
confronting us ending the perpetual wars, addressing climate
change, addressing income inequality, funding education, funding
infrastructure, funding healthcare, helping black Americans, helping
Native Americans. We have many challenges. Who is best able to
confront these challenges? Ive served in government at many levels.
I know what its like to solve problems at the local level because I did
it as mayor. I know how to get legislation passed through Congress
because I did it as a senator. I know how to turn around a state
because I did as governor of Rhode Island. But what Im most proud
of is that in 30 years of public service, I have had no scandals. I have
high ethical standards. And what Im most proud of is my judgment,
particularly in the Iraq war vote. There was a lot of pressure
political pressure, public pressure. But I did my homework and I did
not believe that the evidence was there that Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction. And we live now with the
consequences.
CHAFEE: So that kind of judgment is what we want in a president
going forward. And Im running for president to end the wars. I want
to be the peacemaker. I am a proven peacemaker. Please go to Chafee
2016 to learn more about me. Thank you. (APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Governor Chafee, thank you very much. Senator Webb,
your final statement for 90 seconds.
family and parental leave to all of our families. Now, at the end of our
day, here is the truth that very few candidates will say, is that nobody
up here, certainly no Republican, can address the major crises facing
our country unless millions of people begin to stand up to the
billionaire class that has so much power over our economy and our
political life. Jim Webb is right: Money is pouring in to this campaign
through super PACs. We are doing it the old-fashioned way: 650,000
individual contributions. And if people want to help us out,
BernieSanders.com. We are averaging $30 bucks apiece. We would
appreciate your help.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Secretary Clinton?
CLINTON: Thank you very much, Anderson. And thanks to all the
viewers who tuned in tonight. I think what you did see is that, in this
debate, we tried to deal with some of the very tough issues facing our
country. Thats in stark contrast to the Republicans who are
currently running for president. What you have to ask yourself is:
Who amongst us has the vision for actually making the changes that
are going to improve the lives of the American people? Who has the
tenacity and the ability and the proven track record of getting that
done? Now, I revere my late mother, and she gave me a lot of good
advice. But one of the best pieces of advice she gave me was, you
know, the issue is not whether or not you get knocked down. Its
whether you get back up. Americas been knocked down. That Great
Recession, 9 million people lost their jobs, 5 million lost their homes,
$13 trillion in wealth disappeared. And although weve made
progress, were standing but not running the way America needs to.
My mission as president will be to raise incomes for hard-working
middle-class families and to make sure that we get back to the basic
bargain I was raised with: If you work hard and you do your part, you
should be able to get ahead and stay ahead. Please join me in this
campaign. Please come and make it clear that Americas best days
are still ahead. Thank you very much.
(APPLAUSE)
COOPER: Well, that does it for this Democratic presidential debate.
On behalf of everyone at CNN, we want to thank the candidates, our
debate partners at Facebook, the Wynn Resort, and the Democratic
National Committee. Thanks also to Dana Bash, Juan Carlos Lopez,
and Don Lemon. Well be back in Las Vegas December 15th, when
CNN hosts our next Republican presidential debate. That will be
moderated by my colleague, Wolf Blitzer. END