Julian Castro in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019

On Education: School curriculum should include climate change

CASTRO: I believe that it should. In fact, it's essential if we want to raise a generation of Americans that will do right by our planet, make the little decisions in life that are going to help ensure that we can get where we need to get to get to net zero. We need to end the system of people that get elected and then sit on a state-wide board that determines what is in curriculum. Too often right wing conservatives have taken over thes

On Energy & Oil: Carbon-free America by 2045, clean electricity by 2035

CASTRO: I am in favor of a carbon-free America. I believe that we can get to net zero by 2045 and that we can achieve, in our electricity sector, for instance, relying on clean, renewable and zero emissions energy by 2035.

Q: Would you end oil and gas drilling on public lands?

CASTRO: Yes, I would prohibit the permitting of oil and gas leasing on public lands. I don't believe that that should happen on our public lands. I think that that goes contrary to the purpose of preserving public lands, and this is consistent with moving to sources of clean renewable energy instead of dirty fossil fuel energy.

On Environment: Don't wait for natural disaster to move to sustainability

CASTRO: My plan calls for investing in national disaster resilience investment and also, very importantly, in pre-disaster mitigation. We don't want to wait until there's a natural disaster to actually make our communities more sustainable. I would invest in that. Most importantly, we have to tackle the issue of the climate crisis so that these storms are less likely to happen in the first place.

Q: Flood insurance rises in cost 18% every year. What about families who can't afford the insurance?

CASTRO: We need to make sure that more people are protected by our national flood insurance program. I would subsidize the cost for folks because I want to make sure that people are protected. And where, because of a natural disaster, they have to rebuild, that they're able to do that. Oftentimes the first folks to get flooded out are the poorest communities. They're often communities of color.

On Environment: Will appoint EPA administrator to crack down on polluters

We're also going to set a clean energy standard and ensure that we're able to get to net zero because we have a strong clean energy standard across the United States. And we're going to crack down on corporations that violate our laws. I'm going to appoint an EPA administrator that actually believes in environmental protection and then goes and enforces those laws in the next administrati

On Environment: Injustice that 70% of HUD housing is near Superfund site

On Civil Rights: Leaders should unite us, not feed bigotry and division

On Gun Control: Whole slew of gun measures most Americans support

On Gun Control: Yes on gun licensing, but also red flag laws

CASTRO: I do think that we have to strengthen our laws when it comes to knowing who has these guns, when they're sold, who do they change hands into. But we also have to combine that with things like red flag laws that give courts the ability to take guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them in the first place, people who represent a danger to themselves or to somebody else.

On Foreign Policy: No preparation is why North Korea talks have done little

On Immigration: Supports L.A. & Chicago in non-cooperation with ICE

CASTRO: Yes, I would, because I believe that local law enforcement should do its job, and federal law enforcement has its own job to do. So, I'm glad to see that Los Angeles and Chicago are doing that.

On Immigration: Decriminalizing border crossings won't apply to smuggling

Rep. Beto O'ROURKE: I don't know if it should be repealed, but I think that we should acknowledge that most of those who are arriving at our border right now pose no threat or harm to this country. But if somebody is attempting to smuggle human beings or illegal drugs into this country, I want to make sure that we have the legal mechanism necessary to detain them.

CASTRO: We already have another legal mechanism to do that. I'm talking about repealing Section 1325 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which simply refers to people who cross the border. Between 1929 and the early 2000s, we actually treated it as a civil violation. This is not something radical. If somebody comes here, and they are doing human trafficking or drug trafficking, we have laws that we can charge them with. I'm not suggesting that we let those people off the hook.

On Immigration: Decriminalizing illegal crossings is way we used to do this

Castro: We already have another legal mechanism to do that. I'm talking about repealing Section 1325 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which simply refers to people who cross the border. Between 1929 and the early 2000s, we actually treated it as a civil violation. This is not something radical. If somebody comes here, and they are doing human trafficking or drug trafficking, we have laws that we can charge them with.

I'm disappointed in Congressman O'Rourke's stance, because the only way that we're going to effectively make sure that we're not separating little children from their families is to repeal Section 1325. I would absolutely go back to the way that we used to treat this. That would be more effective, smarter and more humane.

On Tax Reform: Raise the top marginal tax rate; negotiate the numbers

A: I absolutely would look at undoing the tax cuts that benefited the super wealthy and benefited corporations.

Q: Would you raise the top marginal tax rate?

A: I support raising it. We would have to negotiate on where that goes. They did a poll: 45% of Republicans said that they believe the idea of that kind of top marginal tax rate was a good idea. So, I believe that we should increase it. Now, where it goes to, I think that would be a subject of negotiation.