Bill de Blasio in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019


On Free Trade: Democrats should stand for workers not corporations

If Democrats are complicit with Republicans in passing a NAFTA treaty -- it's got a different name, but it's still NAFTA. It's even worse in some ways. It gives even more power to corporations this time. A lot of people in this country are going to look at that and say, I can't tell one party from the other. And they're not going to buy into a Democratic Party that seems to be once again just caving to the big corporations, rather than standing up for working people.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 on 2020 candidates Jul 14, 2019

On Immigration: Undocumented folks core to our economy

Let's have a path to citizenship for 11 or 12 million people who have been here decades. This is the greatest don't ask/don't tell in American history. For decades, we have had millions and millions of undocumented folks. And they're core to our economy at this point. And they're part of our communities. We could have a rational immigration system. We could have clear border security, and it could be done in a way that actually helps our economy function and creates fairness.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 on 2020 candidates Jul 14, 2019

On Crime: Federal policies responsible for mass incarceration crisis

We have a mass incarceration crisis. In our city, we have reduced our jail population about 30%. We're going to close the infamous Rikers Island jail. We are ending the era of mass incarceration in New York City. It's taking a lot of work to finally break free from that. Federal policies were a big part of why untold thousands of people and families had their lives entirely disrupted and in many ways destroyed, because folks who had done very little were sent to very long sentences.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls May 26, 2019

On Jobs: Put working people first, not wealthy corporations

I talk about putting working people first. Federal government has been on the side of the wealthy and the corporations for a long time. We saw that with that huge tax giveaway just a few years ago. In New York, we have put working people first. We have put money back in the hands of working people with things like paid sick leave, full-day, high- quality pre-K for all our kids, guaranteed health care for folks who don't have insurance.
Source: CNN SOTU 2019 interview of presidential hopefuls May 26, 2019

The above quotations are from CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019
(Jake Tapper and Dana Bash interviewing candidates for 2019-2020 races).
Click here for other excerpts from CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019
(Jake Tapper and Dana Bash interviewing candidates for 2019-2020 races).
Click here for other excerpts by Bill de Blasio.
Click here for a profile of Bill de Blasio.
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Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020