Bernie Sanders in 8th Democratic Primary Debate
On Government Reform:
Wealthy donors turn their backs on working families
Sanders said of his views of the current state of the country, "Our priorities are determined by the 1 percent and by wealthy campaign contributors. Our priorities are determined by those who want to see the rich get richer and are
turning their backs on the working families of this country."Sanders then touted his campaign platforms: "And what is unique about our campaign is we say unashamedly we
are raising our campaign contributions not from billionaires but from working-class people, that our campaign is about the working families of this country for the working class of this country.
And that is the administration that we will run. It is time to take on the big money interest. It is time to change our national priorities."
Source: Washington Post excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
On Gun Control:
2005: Allow suing gun manufacturers for negligence
Joe Biden said Sanders voted to allow gun manufactures to not be sued. But the law that Sanders originally supported does allow lawsuits in some cases.Biden said, "The biggest mistake that Sen. Sanders made, he voted to give the gun manufacturers a
loophole that does not allow them to be sued for the crimes they have created."
Sanders voted in favor of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005, which largely protects licensed manufacturers & firearms dealers from civil lawsuits over
the misuse of guns or ammunition. But the legislation included six exceptions where civil suits could still be brought. The exceptions include cases in which a firearm seller acted with negligence, cases involving the transfer of a firearm with the
knowledge that it would be used to commit a crime, and cases of sales in violation of state or federal law.
A decade later, Sanders switched positions and signed on as a cosponsor of an unsuccessful bill that sought to repeal the law he helped enact.
Source: FactCheck.org on 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
On Health Care:
Health care industry last year made $100 billion in profit
Referring to Sanders' universal health care bill in the Senate, Joe Biden said that Bernie "says he wrote the damn thing [but] he's unwilling to tell us what the damn thing's going to cost," Biden said. "How much is it going to cost? Who's going to pay
for it? The idea [that] middle class taxes aren't going to go up is just crazy," Biden added.Sanders responded that the "status quo" offered by Biden will cost even more. "We are spending twice as much per capita as the people of any other country,"
Sanders told Biden, who was vice president during the passage of the Affordable Care Act championed by President Barack Obama. "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the health care industry last year made $100 billion in profit."
Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren favor Medicare for All--a plan that would eliminate private insurers--while the other candidates favor building on the Obama-passed plan with features like a public option.
Source: CNBC.com excerpts of 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
On Health Care:
FactCheck: US pays twice OECD average, but not every country
Citing high health care costs, Sanders said, "We are spending twice as much per capita on health care as do the people of any other country." He has made some version of this claim since at least 2015. It's still not true.
According to the most recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development data, which is for 2018, US per capita spending on health care totaled $10,586. That's twice as much as every country, except for six.
Sanders is correct that the U.S. spends a lot more than other nations. It spends more than double the $3,992 average for OECD countries
["OECD counties" means "the developed world," excluding developing countries -- ed.]. But Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Denmark all pay a little more than half of what the U.S. does.
Source: FactCheck.org on 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
On Homeland Security:
FactCheck: $1.8 trillion on all military, not just weapons
In discussing his hope to galvanize international support to collectively combat climate change, Sanders inaccurately characterized a statistic on global military spending. "Here is my dream--maybe it's a radical dream," Sanders said. "But maybe, just
maybe, given the crisis of climate change, the world can understand that instead of spending $1.8 trillion a year, collectively, on weapons of destruction, designed to kill each other, maybe we pool our resources and fight our common enemy, which is
climate change."That $1.8 trillion represents spending on more than just weapons. The figure is the 2018 total world military expenditure, as calculated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. "Military expenditure" refers to all
government spending on current military forces and activities, including salaries and benefits, operational expenses, arms and equipment purchases, military construction, research and development, and central administration, command and support.
Source: FactCheck.org on 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate
Feb 8, 2020
On Abortion:
Appoint only justices who support Roe & Planned Parenthood
Look, you asked the simple question, is there a litmus test for those of us up here? For me there is. I will never nominate any person to the Supreme Court or the federal courts in general who was not 100% pro Roe v. Wade.
Number two, we have got a codify Roe v. Wade into legislation. Number three, we have to significantly expand funding for Planned Parenthood.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Civil Rights:
We have a racist society from top to bottom
We have a racist society from top to bottom impacting healthcare, housing, criminal justice, education, you name it. But in terms of criminal justice, what we have got to do is understand the system is broken, is racist. We invest in jobs and education,
not more jails and incarceration. We end the war on drugs, which has disproportionately impacted African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. We end private prisons and detention centers in America.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Crime:
End cash bail; unfair to poor
Tonight in America, 200,000 people are in jail without having been convicted of anything. 200,000 people, because they can't afford the
$500 for bail they need to get out of jail. That is outrageous, we're going to end cash bail in America.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Families & Children:
My priority is working class families, not the rich
What is unique about our campaign, is we say, unashamedly, we are raising our campaign contributions, not from billionaires but from working class people. That our campaign is about the working families of
this country for the working class of this country and that is the administration that we will run. It is time to take on the big money interests. It is time to change our national priorities. Thank you.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Free Trade:
Not one word in USMCA that deals with climate change
What the environmental groups are saying, we're simply exporting fossil fuel emissions to Mexico. There is not one word in that trade agreement that deals with climate change and I don't know how in 2020 you can do that. Second of all, there is, in
terms of outsourcing of jobs, a major crisis in this country. Nobody believes that under this Trump trade agreement that they will not be continued and significant outsourcing of jobs into low wage Mexico.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Gun Control:
Changed views on gun control due to epidemic of gun violence
I lost a race for Congress, because in 1988 I said we should ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons. I am proud that today I have a D- voting record from the NRA. Under my administration it will be the American people doing gun policy, not the
NRA. In Vermont until the last two years ago, we had no gun control legislation and I represented that perspective. The world has changed. People are sickened by mass shootings and gun violence. The world has changed, and my views have changed.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Bring America together:end international shame of healthcare
The way you bring people together is by ending the international disgrace of this country being the only major nation on Earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people. You bring people together by telling the pharmaceutical industry they're not going
to charge us 10 times more for the same prescription drugs as the people in Canada that borders on New Hampshire. That's how you bring people together and you defeat Donald Trump.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Health Care:
Bring America together:end international shame of healthcare
The way you bring people together is by ending the international disgrace of this country being the only major nation on Earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people. You bring people together by telling the pharmaceutical industry they're not going
to charge us 10 times more for the same prescription drugs as the people in Canada that borders on New Hampshire. That's how you bring people together and you defeat Donald Trump.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Homeland Security:
We spend $1.8T on collective military; spend it on climate
Here is my dream, maybe it's a radical dream, but maybe just may be given the crisis of climate change, the world can understand that instead of spending $1.8 trillion dollars a year collectively on weapons of destruction designed
to kill each other, maybe we pool our resources and fight our common enemy, which is climate change.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Principles & Values:
Trump acquittal will lead to more abuse of power
The horror what happened was not only the acquittal of Trump, who committed impeachable offenses, and obstructed Congress. It is the precedent that it set. In the future, you're going to have presidents who say, "Hey, governor, you want highway money?
You better support me, or you're not going to get it." cares about the separation of powers? I'm the President of the United States. I have all of the power, and I'm able to intimidate members of my own party.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On War & Peace:
Killing bad leaders leads to international anarchy
There are bad leaders all over the world. Kim Jong-un in North Korea is probably responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of his people. We cannot go around saying you're a bad guy, we're going to assassinate you.
If that happens, you're opening the door to international anarchy that every government in the world will then be subjected to attacks and assassination. What we have got to do is strengthen the State Department and our diplomatic capabilities.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On War & Peace:
I listened about Iraq; they were lying thru their teeth
I also heard the arguments in terms of the war in Iraq from Bush, from Cheney, from John Bolton. If you hear what I said, it's on YouTube, my fears about all the destabilization that would take place by the US invading Iraq. That is what happened.
Trump wants to build a wall around America. The problem is if we are going to deal with issues like climate change, not only do we in America have to take on the greed of the fossil fuel industry, we have to lead the entire world. It's a global issue.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
On Welfare & Poverty:
Whites should not do so much better than blacks
What we need in terms of the African American community is to understand that we have got to start investing big time in education, in healthcare. There is no excuse why white families in America have 10 times more wealth than black families.
No excuse that disproportionately, African Americans are in jail compared to whites. No excuse for black women dying in childbirth three times the rate that white women are doing as well.
Source: 8th Democrat 2020 primary debate, St. Anselm College in NH
Feb 7, 2020
Page last updated: Mar 23, 2020