CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: "Interview with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand"
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
COOPER: Well, this guy he's referring to, of course, is President Trump.
When Democrat's bizarre circular firing squad is now there's a critical crucible from which the strongest Democratic candidate will emerge.
Joining us right now is Democratic presidential candidate, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Senator, thanks so much for being with us.
CNN has new reporting that President Obama is privately questioning the wisdom of the Democratic presidential candidates attacking his record. Probably doesn't surprise anybody that he would be concerned about that. But he does have this 95 percent approval rating among Democrats.
Is there a danger in going down this road?
SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, President Obama was a great president, and I think for a lot of us we're looking to figure out how to build on his accomplishments and build on his records.
So, what we're trying to do with Obamacare specifically is, how do we get to universal coverage that's affordable, and that's why a lot of people like Medicare for all. I like the buy-in. I think it's exciting. I think it's an opportunity.
But I think for all of us, the purpose of a presidential primary is to share with the American people your vision for the country.
[20:05:01] And I do think there's a false debate going on right now that you either need a progressive who inspires the base or you need a moderate who wins back those Obama/Obama-Trump voters.
I think you need both. And that's who I am. I am somebody who wins in the red and purple places. I just won back a bunch of the places Trump won in the last election, my election. And I also bring people together to get stuff done, big stuff and small stuff. So, I think we need someone who is going to bring the party back together and the country back together and really heal this divide that President Trump has created.
COOPER: But as you know, what Senator Warren or Senator Sanders will say, is that, are saying, small steps, that's not going to excite huge numbers of people. Senator Sanders constantly talks about not only needing a revolution, but needing huge turnout among young voters, African-American voters. That is what it's going to take. Not just to get the White House back, but also Congress.
GILLIBRAND: Anderson, the issue with health care is people can't afford it. It's still too expensive.
You know, I met a family that the husband was diagnosed with cancer and the price of the medicine that he had to take was $5,000 a month. They only had $60,000 in savings. Because they were on fixed income, the husband decided not to take the medicine because he didn't want to leave his wife penniless. Fair enough, he didn't take the medicine. He died.
Those are the real issues that families are debating all across America. And I think it's a great sign that Democrats are just trying to come up with a better way to get universal coverage that covers the basic treatments and medicines and procedures that people need that's affordable.
And the Republicans and Trump, they are determined to take away people's health care, telling insurers they can drop anybody with a preexisting condition.
COOPER: But critics of Medicare-for-All, among Democrats, will say the message you just said, that President Trump is trying to take away your health care, that's a message Democrats can run on.
GILLIBRAND: Yes.
COOPER: The message, we Democrats are going to take away your private insurance for something that we say is better down the road, that's suddenly a message of Democrats taking something away from people, no?
GILLIBRAND: Yes. You don't need to because the truth is if you offer Medicare as something people can buy into at a price they can afford, it's going to create competition.
And I don't think a lot of those private insurance companies are even going to try to compete. They don't lower their rates. They raise their rates. They're for-profit companies. They have obligations to shareholders and to quarterly profits and they pay their CEOs millions of dollars.
So, God bless them if they want to compete. I don't think they will. And that's how you ultimately get more people to choose Medicare. And once you get a good amount of buy-in, you're stuck to universal coverage. Single payer is very short.
Ultimately, you want to make it an earned benefit like you have with Social Security.
COOPER: Last night, you went after Vice President Biden's record, bringing up an op-ed from 1981 that he wrote. In it, you said that Biden said, women working outside the home would lead to the deterioration of family.
We read the op-ed. That's not what he wrote. It's an op-ed about high income families receiving tax credits for child care. Isn't it fair --
GILLIBRAND: Anderson, did you read it?
COOPER: Yes.
GILLIBRAND: It said literally that he would not vote for making it easier for middle class families to get access to affordable day care because it would, quote, lead to the deterioration of the family. He said that he felt parents were, quote, avoiding their responsibilities.
My grandmother, my grandmother worked outside the home. She had help because she wanted to provide for her kids. She wanted to have an impact in her community. She organized women for two generations to get involved in politics.
My mother, she was only one of three women in her law school class. She was able to get affordable day care and have child care when she was a young mother, so she could be a lawyer.
She helped young gay couples --
COOPER: Right.
GILLIBRAND: -- be able to buy a home together, leave wills to each other. She had an impact on her community.
Myself, I had access to affordable day care for both my children. The second child Henry who was in the audience last night --
COOPER: But the question is, were you accurately portraying what the vice president --
GILLIBRAND: Yes, yes.
COOPER: -- because "The Washington Post", according to "The Washington Post," Biden said himself in 1981 to "The Indianapolis News" regarding the topic of child care, quote, I do not care whether in a modern marriage, you want the man or the woman to take away that responsibility --
(CROSSTALK)
GILLIBRAND: Anderson, give me a break. Anderson, give me a break.
COOPER: I'm just quoting here.
GILLIBRAND: Are you kidding me? In the 1980s, how many, if you had two working parents, how many of the men stayed at home while the women went to work? It was something like less than 4 percent.
COOPER: Right.
[20:10:00] GILLIBRAND: Even today, do you know what the number is? It's less than 5 percent. So, the implication of what he was saying is that if women choose to
work out side the home, they are, quote, deteriorating the family. So my question, a legitimate question for someone who is running for president -- because not only do we need a standard bearer who is going to fight for women, we need a champion.
I will be that champion for women because I've been leading the charge on affordable day care, universal pre-K, having a national leave pay --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: What the president said to you in response essentially was you have worked with the vice president for many times. You traveled with him apparently, and --
GILLIBRAND: Yes.
COOPER: -- you never raised this. If this was such a burning concern of yours that his belief, why not bring it up to him at some point earlier than when you're running for president on a debate stage?
GILLIBRAND: Frankly, I'm as shocked as you are that he authored that op-ed. I was shocked to read it. I just read it like literally weeks ago.
COOPER: So, you don't think it really represents what he thinks?
GILLIBRAND: I don't know. That's why I gave him an opportunity to tell the American people and Democrats and women who are on fire in this election what he meant. And I very directly asked him what did you mean when you said, making it possible for more middle class families to work out side the home would lead to, quote, the deterioration of the family.
And I asked him, do you still believe that? And these are his words, his op-ed, citing what he said in context. That is exactly the kind of issues you should be able to debate when you're running for president of the United States.
And we need a champion in the White House and a champion as our nominee who will fight for women, who will fight for paid leave, affordable day care, and those are things I have been championing not only my whole career, but the first presidential candidate to put out a Family Bill of Rights to do exactly that.
COOPER: Yes. Senator Gillibrand, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
GILLIBRAND: Thanks, Anderson.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source