Pete Buttigieg in 2019-2021 Town Halls
On Civil Rights:
Federal funding should never be used to discriminate
I believe that federal funding should never be used to discriminate. It is a basic principle. I feel this way both as a citizen and as a person of faith. Of course, it is so important to the fabric of this country that people of every religion and of no
religion can practice their faith to the best of their conscience. We respect--and I will fiercely defend--religious liberty, but not past the point where it is being invoked as an excuse to harm other people through this kind of discrimination.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Don Lemon
Feb 24, 2020
On Families & Children:
Teens shouldn't worry that they will be killed at school
I got a letter from a 14-year-old saying that she's already written out a basic will. Because she's just that afraid that her next day at school might be her last. It's hard enough to be in high school without worrying about those kinds of things.
And I think everybody old enough to vote or hold a position of responsibility should be handling and taking care of those things so that--so that students don't have to even begin to worry about them. I mean, this is basic.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Don Lemon
Feb 24, 2020
On Health Care:
Make it OK to publicly talk about mental health struggles
We also have to build up a culture broadly for veterans, yes, but for the country as a whole, where it's OK to talk about mental health struggles before they become deadly. It has got to become as normal and as acceptable to
talk about a struggle with depression or bipolar disorder or addiction as it to talk about fighting cancer or having a knee surgery coming up. That's a cultural shift that the president can lead.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Don Lemon
Feb 24, 2020
On Principles & Values:
Nobody this side of paradise can fix anything alone
And it can't just be one person. To me, the biggest lie this president ever told was when he took that stage at the inauguration and he said, I alone can fix it. I think nobody this side of paradise can fix anything alone. And that will
be at the heart of my determination to include the voices of those whose experience I cannot understand from my own life, like the black women who are so systemically harmed by the inequities in this country.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Don Lemon
Feb 24, 2020
On Crime:
Country is shockingly over-incarcerated
Q: Who would be at the top of your pardon list for possible presidential pardons?
BUTTIGIEG: I would start with nonviolent drug offenders caught up in the racial disparities of the failed war on drugs. I actually think presidential clemency power can be an
important part of how we de-carcerate a country that is shockingly over-incarcerated. It's bad enough just by the numbers, but when you add to that the racial disparities of who has been incarcerated often for nonviolent offenses,
or those who have aged out of being any threat and could contribute in their communities.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett
Feb 18, 2020
On Education:
Schoolchildren shouldn't have to have active shooter drills
Q: What is your plan for remedying the terror that has become embedded in our schools?BUTTIGIEG: I'm thinking about terms like dispersion of targets and the difference between cover and concealment that are things that I learned as part of military
training. To see what we are accepting in terms of the expectation that this is just normal, that kids are going to have active shooter drills, sometimes before they're old enough to learn how to read, shows you that this country has its priorities
wrong.
You look at something like universal background checks. This is something that 80 or 90% support in America and we still can't get it through Washington. It shows you what has to change in our political system.
This should not be your problem, and it certainly shouldn't be the problem of the children that you serve.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett
Feb 18, 2020
On Education:
Triple Title I funding; create Education Access Corps
I'm proposing that we triple the funds going into Title I in particular. Those are dollars that go into low-income districts, which is where having a great teacher is especially impactful. I'm proposing that we create an Education Access Corps to link
up high-quality teaching programs across the country. If you participate in them, and then commit to teaching in one of those Title I programs, you have a portable teaching license you could take anywhere, and you get your student loans forgiven.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett
Feb 18, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Have to break idea that choice is between climate and jobs
Q: How do you protect our climate and economy simultaneously?BUTTIGIEG: There is no question there will be a transition. I'm proposing that we invest over $200 billion in supporting workers through that transition. But we also estimate that we will
create at least 3 million net new jobs by taking the action we must, to mobilize and fight climate change. We've got to break this idea that we're choosing between doing the right thing for our climate and doing the right thing for our economy.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett
Feb 18, 2020
On Immigration:
Biblical "welcoming the stranger" means immigrants
I find a message in scripture that is very different from what the political right seems to want to talk about all the time, a lot about poverty, a lot about compassion, a lot about humility that
I seek in my imperfect way to live up to, and that does have implications for how I will approach public office.
If you belong to a Christian tradition or any moral or religious tradition that emphasizes making yourself useful to the oppressed and standing with the prisoner, and welcoming the stranger, the stranger by the way is another word for immigrant.
Yes that has implications in public life and I won't be afraid to talk about how my positions are informed by my faith.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett
Feb 18, 2020
On Technology:
National data security policy, don't leave it to companies
We don't have a national policy on data security or on data privacy. Different states have them. We're relying on very outdated legal protections. We need to set a national standard, even when you give your data to a company, on what they
can and can't do with it, certain rights that we have over data, especially when companies are making money off of it. We can't just leave it to the companies to regulate themselves.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 with Erin Burnett
Feb 18, 2020
On Civil Rights:
I knew I was different long before I knew I was gay
Q: When did you first know you were gay? What was that initial teenage years like? BUTTIGIEG: What it was like was a civil war, because I knew I was different long before I was ready to say that I was gay and long before I was able to acknowledge
that that was something that I didn't have power over. I think you spend so much time as you grow up learning the things that you can control or trying to control things, and there are some things that you don't.
Learning to accept that and let alone learning that it didn't have to be a bad thing, that took me a long time. I so admire people who are coming out at young ages, but also recognize that there's no right age or right way or right time to come out.
I think people are ready when they're ready. And for me, I was well into my 20s before I was really ready to say even to myself that I was gay. But even [after coming out to friends] I wasn't ready to come out to the world.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Civil Rights:
An Equality Act will fight discrimination on many fronts
Q: What will you do to ensure people won't lose their livelihoods just because they're LGBT+? BUTTIGIEG: Even if the Supreme Court upholds the idea that the Civil Rights Act applies to discrimination against, for example, same-sex couples in the
workplace, we've still got a long way to go when it comes to other forms of discrimination, for housing, public accommodation. That is why we urgently need an Equality Act. I will fight for that, and I will sign it the moment that it hits my desk.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Health Care:
Good care for all and affordable prevention for all
Q: What is your plan for reducing HIV contractions among the African American population? BUTTIGIEG: I propose Medicare for all who want it. But whether you're on that public plan or on a private plan, we require that everyone be treated with equity.
That includes not just treatments for HIV, things that can be done to prevent the transmission of HIV. It's why we need a prescription drug plan like the one I'm putting forward that caps the amount that anybody would have to pay.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Principles & Values:
Invest in mental health and build community
I think that search for belonging and the exclusion from belonging is something that can lead to substance use disorder and to suicide attempts.
And it's one of the reasons why we need to make sure we send a message culturally that this is a time for building a sense of, as well as investing specifically in resources for mental health.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Principles & Values:
Religious freedom does not mean the right to hurt others
Religious liberty is an important principle in this country, and we honor that. It's also the case that any freedom that we honor in this country has limits when it comes to harming other people. We say that the right to free speech does not include the
right to yell "fire" in a crowded theater. A famous justice said my right to swing my fists ends where somebody else's nose begins. And the right to religious freedom ends where religion is being used as an excuse to harm other people.
Source: CNN LGBT Town Hall 2020
Oct 10, 2019
On Civil Rights:
If U.S. to address human rights, we need to be credible
Q: How would you cooperate with countries that view homosexuality as a crime punishable by death?A: I think it's wrong to harm or punish people because they're part of the LGBTQ community. I get that not every country is there.
In some dramatically milder respects, but still very bothersome ones, our own country is not there. I believe that this is an example of why the world needs an America that is strong, that's credible, and that people believe keeps its word.
Does anybody think right now that the U.S. has an awful lot of moral authority in the world? And whether it's LGBTQ rights or, frankly, any kind of human rights, it's really important for the
U.S. to be a credible messenger. I still believe that America can spread values related to freedom and democracy that'll benefit various minorities living in their home countries, but not if we're not credible.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Corporations:
Anti-trust law must go beyond pricing to deal with high tech
There's issues with the sheer glomeration of different business interests into single corporations. This is the basis of antitrust law. Antitrust law as we know it has begun to hit its limits with regulating tech companies. It was based around the idea
that the reason you got to stop monopolies from happening is that when they happen, they start to jack up prices. It's not designed to handle some of these tech companies where there's actually no price at all.
The product is made free, or at least it's free on its face. We've learned, in part because of the way our data are used by these companies, that nothing is actually free.
We need to empower the FTC to be able to intervene, including blocking or reversing mergers, in cases where there's anticompetitive behavior by tech companies, even if it can't directly be applied to pricing.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Crime:
Restore voting rights for ex-cons, but not those in prison
When you have served your sentence, then part of being restored to society is that you're part of the political life of this nation again. And one of the things that needs to be restored is your right to vote.
But part of the punishment when you're convicted of a crime and you're incarcerated is you lose certain rights. During that period, it does not make sense to have an exception for the right to vote.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Education:
States should take on more of cost of higher education
This is kind of a personal issue for us because Chasten and I live with six-figure student debt. There are several things that we've got to do. Through a combination of carrots and sticks, we've got to induce states to carry more of the burden,
instead of continuing to pass it on to students. Students are getting squeezed because states are less and less willing to appropriate the funds to make sure that in-state public college tuition is truly affordable.
We've also got to work on student loan debt. If, when interest rates change, I can refinance the debt on our house, then it stands to reason that you should be able to do with student debt, too.
I think those two steps, coupled with a significant
increase in Pell Grants, would make a big difference for college accessibility. And when we're increasing Pell Grants, let's peg it automatically to inflation.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Education:
Supports loan forgiveness but not across the board
Q: Would you support student loan cancellation, say, to households earning less than $200,000? A: I still want to do some math around it. I find it pretty appealing. I'm not as certain that I'm comfortable with people of that high an income
participating until we have completed the transition to a more progressive tax code, because if you're north of $200,000, maybe you're at the point where we could ask you to take care of that on yourself. But the theory of it makes a lot of sense.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Free Trade:
Free trade doesn't have to mean exporting jobs
We need to find a way to make sure that trade actually works for us. What we do need to make sure of is that there are enough measures, including adjustment assistance, including making sure that we make whole in some way the people who were made worse
off, that we're actually keeping the promise of trade. We can make trade work for our communities. One of my favorite examples, is a Union Autoworkers UAW facility that is making electric vehicles for a start-up based in
Silicon Valley where a lot of the investment came from China. Before that, there was a three-year contract where that facility was working for Mercedes making vehicles sold in the Asian market.
So you got American union autoworkers making German cars going to Chinese customers, and we're sending our products, not our jobs, to Asia. That's how I want it to work.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Immigration:
There's a consensus on immigration if we have the will
I think the reason that the Dreamer story is so powerful is that it reflects the experiences of people who are Americans. They're not U.S. citizens, but in many cases this is the only country they can even remember. There are over 10 million people
who are undocumented immigrants in this country who don't fall into that category. And the reality is, we can't have comprehensive immigration reform that works unless it addresses the status for those 11-some million undocumented immigrants.
What we need to do is make sure there's a pathway to citizenship for them, too. We know the outlines of a comprehensive immigration reform -- a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people in this country; a level of protection for
DREAMers; a set of reforms to clear up the bureaucracy and the backlogs in the lawful immigration system, which is how my father became a U.S. citizen; and reasonable measures on border security.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Principles & Values:
God does not have a political party
I believe strongly in the separation of church and state and I think anybody who steps into the public sphere needs to make it clear that they're here
to support people of any religion and people of no religion. God does not have a political party.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
On Technology:
Automation is changing the workplace; we need to adapt
We got to be honest about the fact that for every job and manufacturing that has been lost as a consequence of trade, there are several more that have been lost as a result of technology and automation.
And that's not going to change. Manufacturing can continue to grow stronger in this country, but it's going to be less labor intensive, less human beings on the floor per dollar of output.
And that's why we need policies that can get ahead of the economic shifts to come and recognize that our generation's not going to be able to count as our parents'
generation often did on the idea of a single relationship with a single employer or a couple employers across the course of your entire career.
Source: CNN Town Hall 2020 Democratic primary
Apr 22, 2019
Page last updated: Apr 07, 2021