CBS "Face the Nation" interviews during 2018: on Homeland Security

Bernie Sanders: Don't privatize the Veterans Administration

SANDERS: Well, we know nothing about Dr. Jackson's vision for the VA. But what concerns me is that, right now in Washington, we have a family called the Koch brothers--with a few of their other billionaire friends--their view has been we have got to privatize, privatize, and privatize. And Dr. Shulkin [the previous DVA chief], who Trump fired this week, said the reason for his firing is that he resisted privatization of the Veterans Administration. I work very closely with the major veterans organizations, and what they say is they want to strengthen the VA, not dismember it, not privatize it.

Q: Well, the White House says, at this time, they have no intent to privatize the VA.

SANDERS: They have been putting more money into the private sector with VA money. I do not believe them on that issue. I think they are listening to the Koch brothers. And I think that that is a very, very bad idea.

Rand Paul: Fiscal conservatives must oppose unlimited military spending

PAUL: One of the questions Republicans are not willing to ask themselves is, "Can you be fiscally conservative and be for unlimited military spending?" There's sort of this question, "is the military budget too small?", or maybe "is our mission too large around the world?" And because Republicans are unwilling to confront that, they want more and more and more for military spending. And to get that, they have to give Democrats what they want, which is more for domestic spending.

Q: Is the current level of defense spending, or the mission, reckless?

PAUL: I think the mission is beyond what we need to be. We're actively in war in about seven countries, and yet the Congress hasn't voted on declaring or authorizing the use of military force in over 15 years now.