Joe Biden in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019

On Energy & Oil: Start on climate change now; do more as things change

Q: Your climate plan calls for net zero emissions by 2050. Others are talking 10 years. Your climate change plan talks about spending $1.7 trillion. Other candidates are talking about spending $16 trillion. Is your plan aggressive enough?

BIDEN: Yes, I think it is aggressive enough. It has gotten good reviews from most of the environmental community. But science and technology are going to change. We learn more, we can do more. We have to start and do things we know can be done immedia keep moving. There's a lot we have to do by 2030 just to set in place a set of institutional structures that mean you can't turn it around, like this president has done. It is an existential threat. There is no doubt about that. We make up 15% of the problem. The rest of the world makes up 80%, 85% of the problem. We still have to get the rest of the world to come along. I have great experience in leading coalitions both at home and internationally. I think I can do that better than an

Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

On Energy & Oil: Credits Green New Deal, but it lacks specifics

Q: You don't support everything in the original Green New Deal. Is it unrealistic, promising too much?

BIDEN: No, it's not. But it doesn't have a lot of specifics about exactly what we'll do with regard to greenhouse gases. It doesn't have specifics of what programs are you going to initiate to be able to deal with getting a net zero emission. I think the Green New Deal deserves an enormous amount of credit for bringing this to a head in a way that it hasn't been before.

Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

On Free Trade: Use tariffs to get China to pay the price for pollution

Q: How would you try to get China to lower its emissions?

BIDEN: We have to bring around the rest of the world. When we did the Paris accord that they signed onto, it was agreed that we would constantly up the ante. China is exporting coal technology. They're making the environment much, much worse. There has to be a price that they pay if they do that. That's why I would talk about dealing with them in terms of tariffs. But you've got to get the rest of the world in on the deal to do i

Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

On Jobs: Working on climate change can create 10 million jobs

This is an enormous opportunity. We can create over 10 million jobs that are making $25 bucks an hour. If we are able to move in a direction that we have 500,000 charging stations for electric vehicles, what does that do? Well, that gives us a corner on the electric vehicle market. That will create thousands of good jobs in the automobile industry. We will own the market. Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary) Sep 4, 2019

On Health Care: Would bring back the individual mandate

BIDEN: I think there should be health care for everyone. I have a plan how to do that that's rational and will cost a hell of a lot less and will work.

Q: Would you bring back the individual mandate?

BIDEN: Yes. Yes, I would bring back the individual mandate.

Q: You think that will be popular?

BIDEN: Well, it's not -- yes, now it would be, compared to what's being offered.

Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 on 2020 candidates Jul 7, 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 Joe Biden. Click here for a profile of Joe Biden.
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Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020