Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Tim Ryan
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Joining me right now is Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential candidate Tim Ryan.
Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
REP. TIM RYAN, D-OH, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Your reaction to the president's move to the DMZ?
RYAN: I have a much different opinion than Kevin McCarthy has.
I think this has been the President Trump appeasement tour. I have no idea why he's shaking hands with a dictator who just in May was sending missiles into the Sea of Japan.
I mean, you don't reward that kind of behavior with a visit to your country from the president of the United States. There's been no progress at all. They have done nothing, talking about -- it is historic, but what has been done? Nothing.
And the whole deal with China, backing down on Huawei? Are you kidding me? What China has been doing with cybersecurity, what Huawei has been doing all over the world, and we're going to back down? I thought that was the one piece that we could count on President Trump to hold the line on for national security purposes.
And he's loosening what he did. I think this is very, very dangerous. I'm very disappointed in the president. Even those of us who really disagree with him on so much thought that, on the national security piece, he would at least hold the line, and he folded like a cheap suit.
BARTIROMO: Well, I think we -- let's walk through this, because the national security issue, certainly, this is a serious issue. I agree that this is something that we need to really focus on as it relates to China.
But, first, on North Korea, isn't it true that, before you can actually get denuclearization, you need to start with diplomacy? This is the first sitting president to ever step foot in North Korea. This is a historic moment.
RYAN: It is historic, no question, but for what?
I mean, you do these meetings, especially with a dictator, what progress has been made?
BARTIROMO: Right.
RYAN: What good faith has been shown? He hasn't sent a missile in the Sea of Japan in five weeks? I mean, really?
I just cannot believe -- I'm stunned that this president, who is supposed to be Mr. Tough Guy, tough business guy, has absolutely no progress made.
And it points to, he wants to be on TV. He wants the historic moment. He wants the theater of it all. But nobody's more safe in that region now. And now what's the incentive?
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: You are literally praising a dictator who was responsible for the death of an American not too long ago...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: ... for the way they held this young -- this young boy.
And you reward that with a visit from the president? I mean, what -- I just -- I'm stunned.
BARTIROMO: Wow.
RYAN: I'm stunned by the whole thing. And I just -- I hope that -- I don't know what to say about it.
BARTIROMO: On Huawei, the formal ban has not -- a formal announcement has not been made in terms of formally lifting the ban on Huawei.
But could it be that the president is also taking into account the technology companies that complained that they were not going to be able to sell to Huawei anymore?
RYAN: Well, they can complain all they want.
The number one role, the number one responsibility of the president of the United States is to keep us safe. And Huawei has a history of accessing and allowing the Chinese government to access -- and we're just finding out too that Huawei is the Chinese government.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: They're propping this up like it's some kind of private company.
BARTIROMO: The president told us that.
RYAN: The reality of it is...
BARTIROMO: The president has been very clear about that. And he's right. You know, there are backdoors in Huawei equipment, that the data goes right back to Beijing.
RYAN: Yes. So, why are we loosening anything? Hold the line on that. That shouldn't be something you take off the table.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: And you are seeing Huawei technologies in rural America. You're seeing Germany making deals.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: It is going all over Europe.
This is something that we just can't back down on.
BARTIROMO: Well, you make a...
RYAN: And I'm very disappointed that the president would do this.
BARTIROMO: You make a lot of good points.
Congressman, I want you to stay with me, because I got to ask you about what's going on in your party, the ideological fight within the Democratic Party, the deep progressives vs. the centrists, as you are.
Also, much more ahead on the breaking developments out of Asia on two huge fronts, denuclearization talks with North Korea, the trade talks with China.
Trump administration China adviser Mike Pillsbury is coming up next.
We will also hear from House Armed Services Committee member as well Ro Khanna.
We will be back with Tim Ryan.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
And we are back with Ohio Congressman Democratic presidential hopeful Tim Ryan.
And, Congressman, I want to ask you about the debates last week.
First off, the night that the moderators asked all of the candidates, would you agree to give health care to illegal immigrants, they all raised their hand. You were not on the stage.
Would you have raised your hand to answer yes to that?
RYAN: Well, if we have undocumented people in the country, I think we do have a responsibility to make sure they have some basic care, yes.
I mean, they're -- but being a part of the Medicare program or something like that, that's a whole other conversation that we need to have.
BARTIROMO: Well, you are from Ohio. You are representing the working class.
RYAN: I mean, and it speaks to the...
BARTIROMO: And you're going to give illegals health care. What about American citizens, Congressman? What about your constituents?
RYAN: Well, that's what I was just going to say. The focus has got to be on getting health care to people in the United States.
And, right now, the Republicans had two plans they pushed, Maria. Both of them kicked 22 million people off of their health care. Thank God it didn't get far enough.
But they are getting rid of preexisting conditions. So what's coming out of the Republican Party right now is taking health care away from American citizens. That needs to be the focus. How do we make sure that people in America can have accessible, affordable health care?
And I support a public option for people to be able to do that. I think that's entirely appropriate.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
You talk about 20 million. Your colleagues want to take 180 million people off of private insurance. Let's face it. When you were there, the question was, do you -- are you OK with getting rid of private insurance?
One hundred and eighty million people are getting their health care from the private insurance industry. You didn't raise your hand on this one, correct?
RYAN: No, I didn't. I'm not for taking private insurance away.
I'm for some kind of public option. I think we have got to move to some type of Medicare for all system at some point, but the natural next step is a public option for people to buy into right now. And I don't believe we should be taking people's private insurance away.
But, look, when you see what the pharmaceutical industry are doing, I was just at my mom's a few weeks ago. She's paying 1,000 bucks a month in prescription drug costs. She's a working-class person, and just outside of Youngstown, Ohio.
BARTIROMO: Well...
RYAN: I mean, that's so unfair...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: ... when these pharmaceutical industries are taking so much publicly funded research, and then turning around and gouging the consumer.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: We have got to address this. So, the question is going to be...
BARTIROMO: Let me ask you this, real quick, Congressman.
Kamala Harris...
RYAN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: ... a lot of people think she stole the show that second night. She said -- first , she raised her hand and she said, yes, I'm for Medicare for all. That means eliminating 180 million people with private health insurance.
Then, later, she changed her stance on that. She says, oh, I didn't understand the question.
Do you believe she didn't understand the question or is she now realizing Medicare for all is a loser?
(LAUGHTER)
RYAN: You will have to ask her that.
But I think we cannot be a party that goes into a general election taking private health insurance away from union members in some of these states that negotiated pretty good health care plans for themselves, sacrificed wages during the negotiations to get a good health care plan.
I just don't think -- we need to make sure that people have an option, and if they want to then go leave their private voluntarily, and go into the public option, they can do that.
BARTIROMO: The point is, is, how are you going to stand out?
The point is, Congressman, how are you going to stand out? Much of your party has gone severely to the left. You know that. Medicare for all is what we're talking about, because Bernie Sanders has that plan. We're going to talk with Ro Khanna coming up, the co-chairman of his campaign.
But you have got to do something to actually pass go with your party, who are massive progressives who want things like these socialist policies.
RYAN: Well, I tell you what.
My focus the other night in the debate was getting the focus back on the economic anxiety that people are facing, whether they're white, black, brown, gay, straight, man, woman -- 75 percent of the American people now are living paycheck to paycheck. They can't withstand a $400 emergency, or they economically unravel.
That's my focus. And I will tell you that my phone has been ringing off the hook, not just after our debate on Wednesday, but also the debate on Thursday, as President -- Vice President Biden was slipping a little bit.
My phone's been ring off the hook, because people are seeing me as the person who can emerge about a working-class agenda in the industrial Midwest, be able to be the top of the ticket, to go in to places like Kentucky, to beat McConnell, to go into places like South Carolina to beat Lindsey Graham.
(CROSSTALK)
RYAN: We have to got to win the Senate back too. And you got to win North Carolina, Kansas, Iowa, these states.
BARTIROMO: Well, you're going to have to come up with an answer on the border.
RYAN: A Tim Ryan at the top of the ticket...
BARTIROMO: You're going to have to come up with an answer on the border.
I mean, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez headed to the border. Why didn't you just -- why didn't you just take the Senate bill?
So, there's that as well.
RYAN: Well, no one is going to secure the border better than I am.
But the reality is, Maria, the problem is in Central...
BARTIROMO: Why? Why are you going to secure the border so well?
RYAN: Because you have got to put some resources there. Ninety percent of the drugs coming in are...
BARTIROMO: Your colleagues don't even want to put resources there. Your colleagues don't want that.
RYAN: That's not true. That's -- well, that's not true.
We want -- I want to put resources -- and I can't speak for everybody, but I want to make sure we have enough personnel down there, enough people to process people...
BARTIROMO: OK.
RYAN: ... that these people who are seeking asylum get some basic care...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: ... so human beings aren't laying in their own snot for three weeks and diapers aren't getting changed.
But here's leadership, Maria. Going to Central America and getting to the root of the problem. Why are these people migrating to the United States?
BARTIROMO: Exactly.
RYAN: Because gangs are running Honduras and Guatemala and El Salvador.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: So, a real president would say, let's get to the root of the problem. Let's fix it, so these people can stay in their own homes in Central America.
BARTIROMO: Or a real Congress would get to work and overturn those loopholes, Congressman, right?
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: A real Congress is going to get together and say, look, you have got the asylum standards. You have got the Flores agreement.
Let's fix this, so that everybody -- we're not going to talk about a million apprehensions in 2019.
Real quick. We have got to jump.
RYAN: But that still doesn't get to the root of the problem of why people are leaving the country.
It's still going to be a destabilizing factor for Central America, for North America if gangs are running three key countries in Central America.
BARTIROMO: Right.
RYAN: Go down there and fix the problem. The president hasn't talked one lick about this at all. Play some offense. Go down there and fix the problem.
BARTIROMO: I think this is -- he has campaigned on this. He's been talking about not much else away from the border. He's trying to get Congress to...
RYAN: He's not talking about Central America.
BARTIROMO: He's talking about America.
RYAN: He's not talking -- in fact, he's cutting the State Department...
BARTIROMO: Yes, he's talking about North America.
RYAN: He's -- he's cutting the State Department funding that would be the very solution to go down to Central America and stop and secure that area.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: I'm not saying we have got to, you know, prop up the entire country, but make it secure enough, where people don't want to come to our country, where it costs us billions of dollars.
It's time for us to be smart. He likes this as a TV show.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: Same with North Korea. And he's acting like Chamberlain when he's going to North Korea.
BARTIROMO: Congressman -- yes.
RYAN: Same with China. He's backing down there.
He wants the TV show. He wants to win the 24-hour news cycle. He's not solving any of these problems.
BARTIROMO: Well, I think a lot of problems have been solved on the economy, Congressman.
But, listen, let's keep -- continue this conversation. I so appropriate...
RYAN: Not from where I come from, Maria.
BARTIROMO: Not -- not in Ohio, huh? I'm going to -- I want to take a look at some of those metrics.
RYAN: Seventy-five percent of the American...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
RYAN: Seventy-five percent of the American people still living paycheck to paycheck.
BARTIROMO: All right, Congressman, it's good to have you on the program.
RYAN: And that -- the work...
BARTIROMO: Yes, we will talk more.
RYAN: Thanks, Maria.
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