Interview With Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
BASH: Welcome back. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, yet they were still unable to muster enough votes to repeal and replace Obamacare. On Friday, President Trump publicly took the easy route: blaming Democrats.</s>TRUMP: I think the losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, because now they own Obamacare. They own it, 100 percent own it.</s>BASH: But might he actually be more inclined now to strike deals with Democrats? A senior administration official tells me that the president is extremely frustrated with the conservative House Freedom Caucus, who they say moved the goalposts on the president as he tried to negotiate the repeal of Obamacare. And with the president looking for a win, he needs to build different coalitions. And that may just have to include Democrats.</s>TRUMP: If we had bipartisan, I really think we could have a health care bill that would be the ultimate. And I think the Democrats know that also. And some day in the not-too-distant future, that will happen.</s>BASH: But the question is, will Democrats actually come to the table? Joining me now is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Senator, thank you so much for joining me. Now, the president, as you heard, is trying to blame Democrats for the GOP failure to repeal and replace Obamacare. But he also said that he'd be willing to work with you and Democrats in the Senate and House on a solution. So, given that, and given the fact that you have long said that there are problems with Obamacare, and the president wants to work with you, but obviously doesn't want to go as far as you do, insurance for everyone, do you think that you can take your position and take his position, and you can actually pick up the phone and reach out to him and say, at least let's fix what's happening now?</s>SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Well, Dana -- Dana, let me just begin by saying this. The bill that was defeated should have been defeated. It was a disastrous piece of legislation primarily designed to provide $300 billion in tax breaks to the top 2 percent, throwing 24 million people off of health insurance, raising premiums for older workers in a very, very significant way. It was defeated. The American people wanted it defeated. And I'm glad that we were able to accomplish that. Now, as you indicated, of course, Obamacare has serious problems. Deductibles are too high. Premiums are too high. The cost of health care is going up at a much faster rate than it should. Ideally, what -- where we should be going is to join the rest of the industrialized the world and guarantee health care to all people as a right.</s>BASH: OK.</s>SANDERS: And that's why I'm going to introduce a Medicare-for-all single-payer program. Short term, this is what we can do. John Kasich was talking about chatting with the president about the high cost of prescription drugs. Well, you know what? I have introduced legislation that would allow pharmacists and distributors to buy lower-cost medicine from around the world. The American...</s>BASH: OK, so let's start -- so, let's start there. Is that something that you will not just introduce on the Democratic side of the aisle, but actually pick up the phone and call the White House and say, hey, this is something I know the president cares about, too; can we work together?</s>SANDERS: Absolutely.</s>BASH: You're going to do that?</s>SANDERS: Well, here -- President -- well, let me right now. President Trump said a whole lot of stuff on the campaign trail. One of the things he talked about was lowering the cost of prescription drugs. There is wonderful legislation right now in the Senate to do that. President Trump, come on board. Let's work together. Let's end the absurdity of Americans paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, and enormously important that...</s>BASH: And what about -- what about the idea -- what about the idea of broadly fixing Obamacare? I know you want to have insurance for all.</s>SANDERS: Sure.</s>BASH: And that's what you campaigned on.</s>SANDERS: Right.</s>BASH: But living in the Republican-led Washington world that you're living in, the idea of at least fixing what exists now, will you also tell your fellow Democrats, stop being intransigent, let's get together, and work with the president to do it?</s>SANDERS: Oh, well, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Well, Dana, Dana, Dana, these guys, Republicans have the majority.</s>BASH: Absolutely. But they clearly need...</s>SANDERS: They did not include -- they did not in...</s>BASH: I'm with you.</s>SANDERS: Oh, one second. I mean...</s>BASH: They didn't include you. They didn't include you. But they need you now, so let's look forward.</s>SANDERS: Fine. So, look, what rational people would do is say, what are the problems? How do we fix it? Are deductibles too high? Of course they are. Are there some parts of the country where people don't have a choice? Yes, that's true. Let us do, among other things, a public option. Let us give people in every state in this country a public option from which they can choose. Let's talk about lowering the age of Medicare eligibility from 65 to 55. Let's deal with the greed of the pharmaceutical industry.</s>BASH: Yes.</s>SANDERS: Those are areas that we can work together on.</s>BASH: OK. I mean, I just want to say -- want to move on -- that the Democratic-led Senate and White House couldn't even and wouldn't even do a public option. So -- but I want to move on to a different -- a different issue, which, of course, is Russia, and that has been also enveloping Washington this week. We learned that the FBI has been investigating the Trump campaign's potential coordination with Russia. They have been doing that since July. And yet it wasn't made public during the election. Back in December, former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said that James Comey should be investigated for the way he selectively interfered in the 2016 election. Do you think Comey should be investigated?</s>SANDERS: Well, what I think the issue right now is, and what the American people want to know, is what relationship, if any, what kind of collusion, if any, there was between the Trump campaign and Russia. I think the American people are scratching their head and wondering how it is that you have an authoritarian leader in Russia who gets nothing but very positive statements from the president of the United States. That is the issue that needs to be investigated.</s>BASH: Right. But, Senator, I'm asking about James Comey.</s>SANDERS: The answer is, I don't know. The answer is, where we are right now is that the FBI has got to do a thorough investigation of that issue. And, by the way, we need an independent commission. If the Intelligence Committees are unable to do the right thing, we need to go to an independent commission.</s>BASH: I want to talk about something else that's on the Senate's plate right now. And that, of course, is the Supreme Court nomination. Your -- the leader of the party you caucus with, Chuck Schumer, said that the Senate Democrats will filibuster Neil Gorsuch's nomination to the Supreme Court. Republicans are already saying that they're going to go nuclear, which means that the Supreme Court nominees would only need 51 votes, not 60, which is required now, if necessary, and that, if that happens, not only would Gorsuch get on the court, but you are going to be giving President Trump a wide opening to nominate the most conservative person he can if and when another vacancy opens up. Is that something that concerns you, the long-term implications of the filibuster?</s>SANDERS: Well, first of all, what concerns me is that, right now, we have a rule that says, appropriately, I think, that for a Supreme Court justice, a lifetime term, one of the most important positions in the United States government, that it should require 60 votes, because that would make it bipartisan. And I think that that's where we are right now. And I certainly hope that the Republicans do not change the rules in order to push Gorsuch through. I chatted with Gorsuch for about 45 minutes. And, frankly, it was a very pleasant conversation. But on the most important issues facing our country, the issues of billionaires able to buy elections because of Citizens United, the issue of taking away a woman's right to choose, the issues of voter suppression, I was not impressed by his response.</s>BASH: But we know...</s>SANDERS: Right now, you have got Republicans governors all over this country trying to make it harder for poor people to vote. He had nothing significant to say on that.</s>BASH: We know you're not going to vote -- we know you're not going to vote for Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. But do you think that the Democrats should actually filibuster his nomination?</s>SANDERS: What I think is, if he does not get 60 votes, the Republicans owe the American people the obligation of bringing forward somebody who is more moderate, who is not an extremist.</s>BASH: It sounds like a yes. You're for a filibuster.</s>SANDERS: And that's what the American -- it's not a question of filibuster. I am for a -- I am for the Republicans obeying the rules that currently exist, and not changing those rules. That's -- and the rules right now, for good reasons, are 60 votes.</s>BASH: Well, OK. The rules do allow for a filibuster for the Supreme Court nomination, but it certainly doesn't require Democrats to use that.</s>SANDERS: You're -- you're using the word filibuster.</s>BASH: Because that's what it is.</s>SANDERS: All it is, is there will be -- no, it is not. There will be a vote. If he doesn't get 60 votes, he does not become Supreme Court justice. That's the rule right now. It's not like people are going to be there standing for months and months, bringing down the government.</s>BASH: OK.</s>SANDERS: That is what the current rule is. And I think it's important that it be maintained.</s>BASH: OK, Senator, thank you so much for your time this morning. I really appreciate it.</s>SANDERS: Thank you.</s>BASH: And coming up: A senior administration official tells me that the president was a captive in an internal House Republican fight. President Trump gets schooled in intraparty warfare. How does he govern now? That's next.