Pete Buttigieg in CNN "State of the Union" interviews during 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Federal investment in renewable tech for farms
Q: How will you help farmers meet environmental regulations?BUTTIGIEG: Uncertainty is one of the biggest enemies that a farmer has, and we're adding an awful lot of it with what's happening with climate change. Rural Americans can be a huge part of
the solution. To me, the quest for the net zero emissions cattle farm is one of the most exciting things we might undertake as a country. It can be done right now, scientifically, but it's completely unaffordable. We need to change the eco
And, yes, that means federal investment.
Q: You support a carbon tax?
BUTTIGIEG: We need balance in all of our consumption patterns and part of what a carbon tax and dividend does is it resets the price signals in the market to help make that happen
without ordering Americans to abandon something. Instead we change the economic signals. We bring it into balance, which is what we have lost when it comes to our relationship with creation, with the earth that sustains our ability to live
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Military can play huge role in solving climate change
Q: What is your plan to ensure that the military helps to solve the climate crisis instead of contributing to it?
BUTTIGIEG: The exciting thing is that the military can be a huge part of the solution. The military's got an amazing capacity to rally to achieve what is being asked of them.
By making sure, for example, fleet and future uses of fuel are relying on biofuels, by making sure the installed base of the American military footprint is carbon neutral or negative.
The purchasing power of the U.S. military and the resolve of our service members to get stuff done could help lead the way for the rest of society.
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Government Reform:
Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United
It's going to require Democratic reform so that dollars can't outvote people. If the only way that we can establish as a matter of American Constitutional law that a corporation is different than a person and that spending money to influence an
election is different than speech, the only way we can clear that up is with a Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United, than that's what we're going to have to do.
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Jobs:
Lots of job opportunity in green economy; not all high tech
Q: What would you do to ensure a just transition for displaced workers in the new renewable energy economy?BUTTIGIEG: A lot of the jobs that are being created in the green economy are also good paying union jobs. A lot of them are good old-fashioned
building trades jobs to do the retrofits to get the energy efficiency that we need. We can create tremendous economic opportunity but let's be honest about the fact that this also means transition for a lot of people. My climate plan inclu
will support everything from retirement to healthcare to transition assistance.
Q.: How would you use the Green New Deal to bring Americans together and address racial, gender, and socioeconomic disparities?
BUTTIGIEG: This is not only a question
of generational justice. It is a question of social, racial, and gender justice. I'm proposing that we fund communities, developing community solutions including issues that are exacerbated or caused by environmental problems.
Source: Climate Crisis Town Hall (CNN 2019 Democratic primary)
Sep 4, 2019
On Civil Rights:
Black voters more interested in issues than his being gay
Q: Do you think the fact that you're gay is part of what might be holding you back with some black voters?BUTTIGIEG: I think most black voters, like most voters in general, want to know what the candidates are actually going to do to
improve their lives. When I talk to black voters, there's a sense of having been taken for granted in politics and a sense that candidates haven't always been speaking to them or earning their trust.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 18, 2019
On Free Trade:
Americans pay the price for Trump's trade war with China
It's also a fool's errand to think you're going to be able to get China to change the fundamentals of their economic model by poking them in the eye with some tariffs. The president has failed to deliver a deal. In the meantime, we're paying the cost
of these tariffs. We're going to see even more in the prices of consumer goods. There is clearly no strategy for dealing with the trade war in a way that will actually lead to results for American farmers or American consumers.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 18, 2019
On Gun Control:
Much work to enact measures that vast majority supports
Q: Why wouldn't you support mandatory buybacks of assault weapons? BUTTIGIEG: I think we have got a lot of work to do right now on the basics, universal background checks, red flag laws, a ban on new sales of these assault weapons and
high-capacity magazines, things that the majority, in many cases, the vast majority, of Americans support, that still haven't got done. I think we have got some fundamentals we have got to take care of. And
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 18, 2019
On War & Peace:
Make sure we have right kind of settlement in Afghanistan
Are we going to leave well, or are we going to leave poorly? To do it right, we need to make sure we get basic assurances about counterterrorism, and that the Afghan government is on the table, so that there's a formula for stability.
We have leverage in this conversation. It is in the interest of even the Taliban to make sure that we have the right kind of political settlement. But there has to be an actual strategy. It has to be driven by our ability to get a deal that makes sense.
Source: CNN State of the Union interview for 2019 Democratic primary
Aug 18, 2019
On Crime:
Cut federal prison population, encourage states to follow
Q: You rolled out a proposal cutting the number of incarcerated individuals in United States in half. The vast majority of prisoners are not under federal jurisdiction. How would you make that happen?
Buttigieg: The federal government can lead by example with what we're doing in the federal system.
We should also be engaging states, pressing them, and helping them get resources to do this the right way.
At the federal level, it's going to take a commission gauging how we can best use clemency power to help unwind incarceration that's not meeting the intended goal and doing more harm than good.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 16, 2019
On Families & Children:
Open to gay parenthood if elected president
Q: Do you think, if you are elected president, hypothetically, that you will plan to start a family in the White House?
BUTTIGIEG: I don't see why not. I think it wouldn't be the first time that children have arrived to a first couple. But, obviously, that's a conversation I had better have with Chasten before I go into it too much on television.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 16, 2019
On Foreign Policy:
Isolationism is not right way for us to go
Ever since the Iraq War, it's been difficult for the Democratic Party to feel out what we believe the limits, the boundaries and the basis of foreign policy can be. We were so horrified by the wrong steps taken toward Iraq some felt pushed in the
direction of isolationism, which I don't think is the right way for us to go. Now is a moment that we establish a new set of foundations for how American values, American interests, and American relationships are going to interact with each other.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 16, 2019
On Government Reform:
Offer of foreign electoral help should lead to call to FBI
Q: Trump's remarkable comment saying that he would theoretically be willing to accept help from foreign governments in the 2020 election, wouldn't necessarily go to the FBI. Your response? Buttigieg: It is both unbelievable and all too believable.
It is morally wrong, legally wrong, politically wrong. You don't accept help from foreign governments, especially at a moment when
America is reeling from the fact that our democracy was successfully attacked and interfered with in the last election by a hostile foreign power.
If you get an offer of material help from a foreign government, you call the FBI. This shouldn't be difficult. This shouldn't be complicated.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 16, 2019
On Immigration:
Should help stabilize Central America nations, not cut aid
The one thing that would really help the issue of increased migration flows from Central America -- one migrant said: "I'm not here to seek the American dream. I'm here because I'm fleeing the nightmare in Honduras."
We're actually, under this president, seeing a threat to take funds away from stabilizing those Central American countries. We have got this completely upside down.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 16, 2019
On Immigration:
Policies make things worse instead of solving problems
We have got a president who got elected on a promise to fix immigration. And issues at the border, including a humanitarian crisis, created by this president through cruel policies, like family separation, are only getting worse.
Meanwhile, the one thing that would really help the issue of increased migration flows. under this president, seeing a threat to take funds away from stabilizing those Central American countries. We have got this completely upside down.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 16, 2019
On War & Peace:
We've learned how hard it is to end a war
I think we have learned as a country in my lifetime just how hard it is to end a war. We'd better be working very hard to make sure we don't start one. When you look at the destabilizing chain reaction
that appears to have been initiated when this president withdrew us from the Iran nuclear deal, I'm very concerned about the stability of the region and the possibility that this is a dynamic that even the president won't be able to control.
Source: CNN "SOTU" 2019 interview series
Jun 16, 2019
On War & Peace:
Deal with Iran; consult with intelligence
When you look at the destabilizing chain reaction when this president withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, I'm concerned about the stability of the region. I would consult with the intelligence community, and not politicize their findings.
There's no question that the U.S. has an interest in maintaining security and freedom of movement in those shipping lanes. There's no question that we need to make sure that we're not contributing to a dynamic that could become more unstable.
Source: CNN State of the Union 2019 interview
Jun 16, 2019
On Principles & Values:
Yes, young, but more government experience than Pres. Trump
Buttigieg rebutted questions about his age by saying he has the experience to be president. Buttigieg appeared at the town hall without a jacket, the decision that made him look even younger than he does, a fact he often jokes about on the campaign
trail.When asked why he thinks, at 37 years old, he is qualified to be President, Buttigieg replied he had the experience, another answer that hit the
Trump administration. "I have more years of government experience under my belt than the President. That's a low bar. I know that.
I also have had more years of executive government experience than the vice president," he said.
"I get I'm the young guy in the conversation, but experience is what qualifies me to have a seat at this table," he concluded.
Source: CNN KFile on 2019 SXSW conference in Austin
Mar 11, 2019
On War & Peace:
Don't let Iraq war supporters plan Venezuela invasion
Buttigieg fired on Trump foreign policy official John Bolton, who has long advocated and defended the invasion of Iraq. (Buttigieg served during the war in Afghanistan.). "I don't understand how somebody leading us into the
Iraq war is allowed that near the situation room to begin with," Buttigieg said in an answer about conflict in Venezuela, where
Bolton has suggested military force could be an option.Bolton was an early supporter of the Iraq War and pushed for the initial invasion during his time, after the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as President George W. Bush's undersecretary of State for arms control and international security.
Source: CNN KFile on 2019 SXSW conference in Austin
Mar 11, 2019
On Welfare & Poverty:
Scripture is about protecting the stranger and the poor
Buttigieg played to the Democratic crowd at South-by-Southwest, answering questions with a series of attacks on Vice President Mike Pence, a man he worked with when the VP was the governor of Indiana. "How would he allow himself to become the
cheerleader for the porn star presidency? Is it that he stopped believing in scripture when he started believing Donald Trump?" Buttigieg asked.
The comment was direct and combative for the mayor, but his calm delivery seemed to blunt the attack. "His interpretation of scripture is pretty different than mine to begin with," Buttigieg said. "My understanding of scripture is that it's about
protecting the stranger and the prisoner and the poor person and that idea. That's what I get in the gospel when I'm at church and his has a lot more to do with sexuality."
Source: CNN KFile on 2019 SXSW conference in Austin
Mar 11, 2019
On Energy & Oil:
Green New Deal is a framework addressing climate & jobs
I think the elegance from a policy perspective of the concept of the
Green New Deal is, it matches a sense of urgency about that problem of climate change with a sense of opportunity around what the solutions might represent.
Obviously, the Green New Deal is more of a plan than it is a fully articulated set of policies. But the idea that we need to race toward that goal and that we
should do it in a way that enhances the economic justice and the level of economic opportunity in our country, I believe that's exactly the right direction to be going in.
Source: CNN 2019 "State of the Union" on 2020 Presidential hopefuls
Feb 10, 2019
Page last updated: Jan 12, 2020