Bernie Sanders in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Would reinstate LED lightbulb rule, encourage use
Q,: The Trump administration is overturning requirements on energy-saving lightbulbs. Would you reinstate those requirements?SANDERS: Duh! Actually, I follow this issue of LED lightbulbs. We use much less electricity, these lightbulbs last a lot
longer, and it is a major, major breakthrough. It's not just moving to sustainable energies. It is also being much more efficient in terms of the energy that we use. If you can get lightbulb that utilizes one-tenth of the power an old inca
lightbulb used, of course you're going to encourage that technology.
Q: How do you get people to relinquish the car they love for an electric car that may be less powerful and more expensive?
SANDERS: You do it with financial incentives. You make
it worth people's while by heavily subsidizing the industry. We can create a whole lot of jobs by moving away from internal combustion engine cars to electric cars. Every day, these cars are developing a longer range and they're more power
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Government loans to help people erect solar panels
My goal is to see a massive increase in the use of wind and solar, and we will help people be able to afford to pay for it. We're going to make it possible to lend those people that money to put the solar up on their roofs. They will not be paying a
nickel more than they're currently paying for electricity, and then they're going to have free electric after that. That is a sane approach which also creates jobs. Those are the kinds of things that we want to do for small business and ho
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Jobs:
Help transition for miners: income for 5 years, & education
Q: How would you help workers of the fossil fuel industry transition to other respectable fields of work in a future green economy?SANDERS: The coal miners in this country, the men and women who work on the oil rigs, they are not my enemy.
My enemy is climate change. We have built into our $16 trillion plan, tens of billions of dollars for a just transition.
If some worker loses their job because we're moving away from fossil fuel, we're going to guarantee them an income for five years, the education they need, because those workers are not our enemies.
They should not be punished because we're trying to save the planet.
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Free Trade:
Trump's actions on trade destabilizing world economy
What the president is doing is totally irrational, and it is destabilizing the entire world economy. You do not make trade policy by announcing today that you're going to raise tariffs by X-%, and the next day by Y-%, by attacking the person you
appointed as head of the Federal Reserve as an enemy of the American people, by denouncing the president of China, who last year you really loved as a great leader. This kind of instability causing very serious harm to the entire world economy.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 25, 2019
On Health Care:
Cap annual costs for prescription drugs at $200
Under Medicare for all, we'll cap what any American pays for prescription drugs at $200 a year. We're going to take on the pharmaceutical industry.
The function of health care is not to allow the health care industry, as they did last year, to make $100 billion in profit, while so many of our people are uninsured, underinsured, and paying more than they can afford to pay.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 25, 2019
On Education:
Save millennials by cancelling student debt
The overwhelming majority of people who have student debt are working-class people who are lower-income people. They were told, go to college. They took out huge loans. If Congress could bail out the crooks on Wall Street who destroyed this economy, if
we can give a trillion-and-a-half dollars in tax breaks to the top 1% and large profitable, you know what? We can help save a generation, the millennial generation, and cancel those debts.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 on 2020 candidates
Jul 28, 2019
On Health Care:
Medicare for All: higher taxes but lower healthcare costs
Under Medicare for all, similar to what Canada has, people are not going to pay any premiums. They're not going to pay any deductibles. They are not going to pay any co-payments. I do believe that, in a progressive way, people will have to pay taxes.
The wealthy will obviously pay the lion's share of those taxes. People will be paying, in some cases, more in taxes, but, overall, because they're not going to pay premiums, deductibles, co-payments, they will be paying less for their health care.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 on 2020 candidates
Jul 28, 2019
On Abortion:
Voted for spending bills with Hyde Amendment, but pro-choice
Q: You said that you "always voted against the Hyde Amendment." But you have voted to support large spending bills that include the Hyde Amendment. Is it misleading?SANDERS: Sometimes, in a large bill, you have to vote for things you don't like.
But I think my record as being literally 100 percent pro-choice is absolutely correct.
If you believe, as I do, that a woman's right to control her own body is a constitutional right, then that must apply to all women, including low-income women.
That is what I have always believed, and that is what I believe right now.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 9, 2019
On Free Trade:
Trade policies should focus on U.S. jobs & lifting the poor
You can't have a trade policy based on tweets. What you need is comprehensive trade policies which represents the working people of this country, and not just the CEOs of large corporations. Do we need to change our trade policies,
so that we protect jobs in America? Yes. Do we need to work with other countries to lift up the poorest people around the world? Yes, we do. But Trump's erratic threats and trade policies are not the way to go.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 9, 2019
On Health Care:
Legalization of assisted suicide should be left to states
Q: Would you support federal legislation to legalize assisted suicide? SANDERS: That's a very difficult issue. I think that is an issue right now that I am comfortable seeing in the hands of the state. It's a controversial issue.
And the fear is, obviously, that it could be taken too far. But I think, probably, it is best dealt with at this point at the state level which is where it is right now.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 9, 2019
On Abortion:
Right to abortion applies to low income women as well
Q: You have voted to support large spending bills that include the Hyde Amendment.A: Sometimes, in a large bill, you have to vote for things you don't like.
If you believe that a woman's right to control her own body is a constitutional right, then that must apply to all women, including low-income women.
That is what I have always believed. I don't have a whole lot of litmus tests regarding Supreme Court nominees, but I do have one on this issue, and that
I will never, never nominate somebody to the Supreme Court who is not 100% defending Roe vs. Wade.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
On Education:
Forgive student loans for both higher ed and trade school
Q: Elizabeth Warren unveiled her college plan that cancels up to $50,000 in student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans. What's your plan?
Sanders: Our plan forgives massive amounts of student debt. Every place I go, you ask people about student debt, they're paying $50,000.
If you go to graduate school, medical school, could be $300,000, $400,000. That is insane. Our plan will cancel a substantial amount of student debt and in some ways probably go further than Senator Warren's.
And when we talk about higher education, not just college. There are a lot of young people who are not academically inclined who need to get trade skills.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
On Immigration:
Comprehensive immigration reform; stop attacking allies
The issue here requires us finally to do what should have been done years ago, and that is pass comprehensive immigration reform to make sure that our young people in this country who are in the DACA program get immediate legal protection,
and that we have a humane border policy. We need a decent relationship with Mexico. They are our allies, as is the case with Canada. We should not be confronting them every other day.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
On Immigration:
We need humane immigration policy, not demonization
What we need is a border policy that is humane that, among other things, expedites the asylum process by bringing in a lot more legal staff and judges, so that people do not have to wait.It is a serious problem, but it is not the
kind of crisis that requires demonization of desperate people who in some cases have walked 1,000 miles with their children. So, it is an issue, but you don't demonize desperate people. We deal with it in a rational and humane way.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
On Principles & Values:
Democratic socialism opposes concentration of wealth & power
I have spent my whole life fighting against authoritarianism. What I believe, when we talk about Democratic socialism, is we have to deal with the massive levels of income and wealth inequality in this country.
Is it acceptable that three families in America now own more wealth than the bottom half of the American people? Is it acceptable that the top 1% owns more wealth than the bottom 92%, or that 49% of all new income goes to the top 1%?
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
On War & Peace:
US shouldn't favor Saudis or Iran; broker diplomatic answer
The function of the president is not simply to side with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is a totalitarian, despotic, murderous regime. They are not our friends. They do not share any of our values. Iran also has played a very bad role in that region,
supporting terrorist organizations. The role of the United States is to bring Saudi Arabia and Iran together and help work out some kind of diplomatic agreement. I do not want to see perpetual warfare in that region.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 2, 2019
Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020