Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2013-2015: on Environment

Evan McMullin: Don't require GMO labels for genetically-engineered food

Evan McMullin's answer: No

Mike Pence has not answered this question yet.

Tim Kaine's answer: No

Tim Kaine: Don't require GMO labels for genetically-engineered food

Tim Kaine's answer: No

Mike Pence has not answered this question yet.

Evan McMullin's answer: No

Bill Weld: 1996 River Protection Act: 9,000 miles of land use rules

Bernie Sanders: Climate change will lead to international security crises

SANDERS: Well, that's what the CIA and the Department of Defense tell us. If we are going to see an increase in drought and flooding and extreme weather as a result of climate change, what that means is that peoples all over the world are going to be fighting over limited natural resources. When you have drought, when people can't grow their crops, they're going to migrate into cities. And when people migrate into cities, and they don't have jobs, there's going to be a lot more instability, a lot more unemployment. And people will be subject to the types of propaganda that al Qaeda and ISIS are using right now. I think, when we talk about all of the possible ravages of climate change, which, to my mind, is just a huge planetary crisis, increased international conflict is one of the issues that we have got to appreciate will happen.

Donald Trump: Cut the EPA; what they do is a disgrace

TRUMP: Environmental Protection, what they do is a disgrace. Every week they come out with new regulations.

Q: Who's going to protect the environment?

TRUMP: We'll be fine with the environment. We can leave a little bit, but you can't destroy businesses.

Donald Trump: My sons love trophy hunting, but I'm not a believer

Marco Rubio: Co-sponsored bill to prevent "soring" of show horses

Carly Fiorina: New EPA regulations will destroy livelihoods & industries

Inside an agricultural equipment shop, Fiorina spoke to a crowd of around 250 people on the future of rural America. She says as the EPA controls more of the water in the United States, agriculture is being destroyed. By the end of August the EPA will control 95% of the water in Iowa, she said. Fiorina believes the EPA is standing in the way of affordable and reliable electricity.

Carly Fiorina: EPA thinks that a fish is more important than 1000's of jobs

To combat any "festering" problems, she said the economy will grow if regulations and power are lifted from the government. To help get the economy of the country on track, Fiorina reiterated two ways to get debt and deficit under control: grow the economy and cut spending.

Fiorina feels economy growth is being prevented by government spending. She is in favor of a zero-based budget, a "revenue-reducing tax reform," and would like tax codes simplified. "We need a government that's smaller. We need a government that's more responsive. We need a government that's not crushing the potential of this nation. But we also need a government that is competent, not inept."

Mike Huckabee: Climate change is questionable; address other issues instead

HUCKABEE: Whether it's man-made or not, I know that when I was in college I was being taught that if we didn't act very quickly, that we were going to entering a global freezing. Go back and look at the covers of Time and Newsweek from the early '70s. We were told that if we didn't do something by 1980, we'd be popsicles. Now we're told that we're all burning up. Science is not as settled on that as it is on some things. I find it interesting. The Left has completely embraced the Pope's message on climate change.

Q: So what should be done?

HUCKABEE: Climate change is the wrong question. We should instead focus on good, stable energy prices and making America an exporter of energy not just for economic reasons but quite frankly to disrupt the balance of power with Russia, Iran, and the Saudis. This is a game changer. And America needs to be using the resources that it has to empower Americans, help poverty, and also change the global balance.

Lindsey Graham: Climate change is real, but don't make a religion of it

I would like to clean up the air and water, become more energy independence, create jobs. I'm for offshore drilling. I'm for finding oil and gas that we own. I'm for coal, I'm for clean coal, I'm for natural gas but I would like a lower carbon economy over time. Clean up the air and create jobs in the process.

Donald Trump: Won't go to circuses that cut elephants due to animal rights

Here is our investigation into what those poor elephants were experiencing:

"The Cruelest Show on Earth": Bullhooks. Whippings. Electric shocks. Three-day train rides without breaks. Our yearlong investigation rips the big top off how Ringling Bros. treats its elephants.

Jeb Bush: 1990s: Compensate landowners; 2010s: state-run conservation

Bush insists that he will not contort himself to satisfy ideologues, but his views have already changed--in presentation, in tone, in language and, at times, in substance.

A useful case study: the environment. Before the 1994 election, Bush supported a state constitutional amendment, also backed by big corporations, to compensate landowners hurt by conservation efforts. He held out the prospect of cutting funds for a major program to purchase environmentally fragile lands and declared that "excessive regulation does not mean we are going to improve the quality of water, air or land-use planning."

But Bush met with conservation experts and toured important environmental sites across Florida. When he was elected four years later, "his heart changed," an adviser said.

Chris Christie: Vetoes regulation of animal confinement for gestating sows

The Senate bill (S998) would adopt regulations "prohibiting the confinement of any sow during gestation in a manner that prevents the sow from fully extending the limbs of the animal."

The bill, which Christie called "a solution in search of a problem," gained national notoriety not so much for the effect it would have on New Jersey's actual swine--there are only 9,000 in the state--but on Christie's political fortunes: Iowa is home to 20 million pigs.

Last year, Christie vetoed a similar bill (S1921) that would have banned the "cruel confinement" of a gestating sow.

Rahm Emanuel: Let every child have 10-minute walk to park or playground

EMANUEL: One you can actually run, and the other you don't have a chance.

Q: Is it easier to set goals as mayor than in Washington?

EMANUEL: Let me give an example. We are redoing every playground in the city of Chicago. It is all paid for. All new equipment. Done. [Claps hands.] I believe in parks as a dramatic improvement in the quality of life in the city. We are adding parks everywhere. We are trying to get the Interior Department to designate a local park to be a national designation, and it is like a 3-year process. They have interest in doing it, but my God. In Chicago, I wanted to make sure every child in four years time was a ten- minute walk from a new park or playground. It's done. We are going to get there one year ahead of time.

Q: You don't have a Congress that prohibits you from passing the smallest thing.

EMANUEL: We have 50 aldermen but we do have a...can-do spirit.

Rahm Emanuel: Gentrification can be done right, with active zooming laws

EMANUEL: There is an area called Fulton Market. You would think it was a typical area that is on fire. Google is moving in. But there are restaurants in that neighborhood. It has exploded. It is one of the hottest areas in the country from a real estate perspective. We designed it in a way to protect the manufacturing, too. I know there are a lot of bad connotations. High rents and people being forced out who have been there for years. And there is a reason it has that connotation. But if we are smarter about it, we can do things that allow improvements.

Q: What is the role for government in dealing with these issues? How active should the city be?

EMANUEL: Very active. Zoning laws, land use, all kinds of things. It can't be the Wild West.

Q: Are you putting any pressure on the president to move his library here?

EMANUEL: Chicago is where he started his career in public life, and I think it is only fitting that it should be here

Rand Paul: Hurricane Sandy relief ads were conflict of interest

Though Paul did not address Christie by name, he railed against funding campaigns in New Jersey that heavily featured political candidates: "Some of these ads, people who are running for office put their mug all over the ads while they're in the middle of a political campaign," Paul said, adding that this could create "a conflict of interest," upsetting taxpayers who expect their dollars to be spent otherwise.

Christie appeared with his family in an ad encouraging people to visit the Jersey Shore over the summer. Paul was among 36 Senate Republicans to vote against a $50.5 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill last year, later accusing Christie of "bankrupting the government."

Rick Perry: Unsuccessfully had rural agency rebuild after Hurricane Ike

A tiny agency, TDRA frittered away money on administrative costs and got little accomplished.

By 2011, Texas had spent less than 3% of the $1.7 billion earmarked for housing. Statewide, just 36 new homes had been built. By 2013, after much racially-charged political upheaval, not a single public housing unit has been rebuilt, despite legally binding agreements to replace all 569 units destroyed.

Rand Paul: Hurricane recovery money is bankrupting the government

"They're precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their 'Gimme, gimme, gimme--give me all my Sandy money now.'" Paul said, referring to federal funding after the hurricane last year. "Those are the people who are bankrupting the government and not letting enough money be left over for national defense."

Paul said he wasn't the one itching for a fight: "I didn't start this one, and I don't plan on starting things by criticizing other Republicans," he said. "But if they want to make me the target, they will get it back in spades."

Mike Bloomberg: Smoking ban has spread from NYC to every big city

A: No, we're not; we're not telling them at all. We're telling them what science says is in their interest or isn't in their interest. We allow you to smoke. We just don't let you smoke where other people have to breathe the smoke that you're exhaling or comes from your cigarette. And if you remember, when we put a smoking ban in, nobody thought that was going to work. Today, all of Latin America, all of Western Europe, and almost every big city in America and most of the states are smoke-free. This is another thing: Obesity is going to kill more people this year in the world than starvation. We have to do something about it.

Q: But where is the line?

A: I do not think we should ban most things. I do think there are certain times we should infringe on your freedom. If you want to smoke, I think you have a right to do so and I would protect that. But our job as government is to inform the public.

Hillary Clinton: FactCheck: No, Hillary didn't grant eminent domain to China

Conclusion: FALSE

Example: "The USA has tendered a written agreement which grants to the People's Republic of China, an option to exercise Eminent Domain within the USA, as collateral for China's continued purchase of US Treasury Notes! The US Embassy in Beijing CONFIRM the formal written agreement was delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent trip to China.

Fact Check: The idea of enacting eminent domain as a form of debt repayment isn't logical, because eminent domain requires payment. It's akin to a debtor's offering to settle a $5,000 debt by agreeing to sell his creditor $5,000 worth of jewelry for $5,000: the creditor still hasn't collected anything on his original loan amount. Also, the common sense test applies: this would be the biggest new story of the day. So who is reporting this news? Not any legitimate news outlet--only blogs.