Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
John Edwards to Unveil Health Plan for Children
Aired July 28, 2003 - 08:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: To politics now.
This morning in New Hampshire, Senator John Edwards will try to step out from the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates. He's going to unveil his plan for the nation's health care system.
The North Carolina senator joins us from Manchester this morning.
Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for joining us.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: OK. First of all, two weeks ago in "The New York Times" you said that enormous failure could be looming in Iraq. With reports now of the noose tightening around Saddam's neck, as you have said, do you still think that?
EDWARDS: I do. I think finding Saddam Hussein is enormously important. And that effort is important.
But I said back in the fall, before the war began, that it was important for us to have a clear plan for what would come after the military action.
And second, that it was important under these circumstances for us to bring in NATO, our friends, our allies, to help provide security in Iraq and also to help shift some of the financial burden away from American taxpayers and to others in the world, so that we can re- engage with the international community.
So -- And I'm afraid the president and the administration did not have a clear plan for what would come after the war, and secondly, we're stubbornly refusing to bring in our friends.
O'BRIEN: I want to talk to you about health care this morning. But before I get to that I have a couple of questions about some of the things going on in the news.
You supported the war in Iraq, and last September you stood on the Senate floor and said this, quote, "Each day he inches closer to his long-term goal of nuclear capability... Capability that could be less than a year away."
That was on September 12. Was that intelligence that you got, that you based those words on, was that inaccurate? EDWARDS: No, I think it was accurate. I think it was not based on this whole issue about the 16 words and uranium in Africa that the Iraqis were alleged to be trying to get. I discounted that long ago.
There's a whole group, and a whole body of information indicating that the Iraqis, and Saddam Hussein, have been trying for an extended period of time to get nuclear capability. And I think that was still true.
O'BRIEN: Those 16 words, we've heard from Senator Bob Graham who says potentially President Bush could be impeached over this issue. Other Democrats have come forth and say they don't think it meets the level that would be demanded.
Do you think impeachment is a reasonable consideration at this point because of that?
EDWARDS: Oh, I think this is really very simple.
The president of the United States is responsible for what he says to the American people, and the world, in the State of the Union. It's not the responsibility of George Tenet. It is not the responsibility of the CIA. It's the responsibility of the president.
And I think the mistake he has made is being completely unwilling to accept his responsibility as president of the United States for what he said in the State of the Union.
O'BRIEN: Do you think...
EDWARDS: And he should accept that responsibility.
O'BRIEN: So he should...
EDWARDS: That's what I think is the appropriate thing to happen. Is the president of the United States is responsible for what he says, and he needs to accept that responsibility.
O'BRIEN: So are you saying you agree with Bob Graham or you disagree with Bob Graham?
EDWARDS: Oh, I'm not thinking about impeachment, if that's what you're asking. I think this president is responsible for what he says, and he needs to accept that responsibility to the American people.
O'BRIEN: Let's turn to talk about health care now. The centerpiece of your health care plan is to provide health insurance for children, the 9 to 12, I've heard different numbers, million kids who lack health insurance.
How exactly do you plan to do that? And how much is that going to cost?
EDWARS: Well, we're going to do two big things in this health care plan, Soledad. First, we're going to, for the first time in the history of the country, make sure that every child in America 100 percent, all children, have health care. The same way they have access to public education.
And second, do something about the soaring costs of health care and the rising health care premiums that everyone's facing, first by bringing down the costs of health care for all Americans and second, by helping families with these health insurance premiums that are making it so difficult, and put such a financial burden on them.
The way to answer your specific question, what we're going to do about the kids, is we're going to do what we believe most families and all parents in America want to do, which is make sure their kids are covered.
We cover them either in the Children's Health Insurance Program, which is a government program, or if they have employer-based insurance available to them, in other words if they already have coverage through their employer, then we provide tax credits to the parents so that to help them pay for the coverage for their kids.
O'BRIEN: I've read that there are plans to potentially lay off 10 percent of federal workers. Would that go to paying for this, as well? And if that's accurate, how many workers does that actually measure out to be?
EDWARDS: Actually, there are three sort of big things we want to do to pay for this. And I should say to begin with, this health care plan is completely responsibility, fiscally responsible, and I pay for every dime of it. It costs about $53 billion a year in place.
The way we pay for it is basically three big things. First, closing some of the corporate tax loop holes that exist, and therefore generating revenue for the federal government.
The second is the idea of the proposal that you just mentioned which is reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy in Washington, outside of essential areas, defense and homeland defense, by 10 percent over the next ten years. There have been a whole number of studies that indicate that that's completely achievable.
And third, stopping the tax cuts, the income tax cuts that the president's been pushing for the top 2 percent of income earning Americans.
So all those things together not only pay for this health care plan and pay for everything else that I'm proposing, including my college for everyone proposal and my education proposals, but also leave a fair amount of money left for -- significant amount of money left for deficit reduction.
O'BRIEN: Senator John Edwards, nice to talk to you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
EDWARDS: Thanks, Soledad. I enjoyed it. O'BRIEN: We should mention that we'll be talking to all the Democratic candidates as the campaign season progresses.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 28, 2003 - 08:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: To politics now.
This morning in New Hampshire, Senator John Edwards will try to step out from the crowded field of Democratic presidential candidates. He's going to unveil his plan for the nation's health care system.
The North Carolina senator joins us from Manchester this morning.
Good morning to you, sir. Thanks for joining us.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Good morning, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: OK. First of all, two weeks ago in "The New York Times" you said that enormous failure could be looming in Iraq. With reports now of the noose tightening around Saddam's neck, as you have said, do you still think that?
EDWARDS: I do. I think finding Saddam Hussein is enormously important. And that effort is important.
But I said back in the fall, before the war began, that it was important for us to have a clear plan for what would come after the military action.
And second, that it was important under these circumstances for us to bring in NATO, our friends, our allies, to help provide security in Iraq and also to help shift some of the financial burden away from American taxpayers and to others in the world, so that we can re- engage with the international community.
So -- And I'm afraid the president and the administration did not have a clear plan for what would come after the war, and secondly, we're stubbornly refusing to bring in our friends.
O'BRIEN: I want to talk to you about health care this morning. But before I get to that I have a couple of questions about some of the things going on in the news.
You supported the war in Iraq, and last September you stood on the Senate floor and said this, quote, "Each day he inches closer to his long-term goal of nuclear capability... Capability that could be less than a year away."
That was on September 12. Was that intelligence that you got, that you based those words on, was that inaccurate? EDWARDS: No, I think it was accurate. I think it was not based on this whole issue about the 16 words and uranium in Africa that the Iraqis were alleged to be trying to get. I discounted that long ago.
There's a whole group, and a whole body of information indicating that the Iraqis, and Saddam Hussein, have been trying for an extended period of time to get nuclear capability. And I think that was still true.
O'BRIEN: Those 16 words, we've heard from Senator Bob Graham who says potentially President Bush could be impeached over this issue. Other Democrats have come forth and say they don't think it meets the level that would be demanded.
Do you think impeachment is a reasonable consideration at this point because of that?
EDWARDS: Oh, I think this is really very simple.
The president of the United States is responsible for what he says to the American people, and the world, in the State of the Union. It's not the responsibility of George Tenet. It is not the responsibility of the CIA. It's the responsibility of the president.
And I think the mistake he has made is being completely unwilling to accept his responsibility as president of the United States for what he said in the State of the Union.
O'BRIEN: Do you think...
EDWARDS: And he should accept that responsibility.
O'BRIEN: So he should...
EDWARDS: That's what I think is the appropriate thing to happen. Is the president of the United States is responsible for what he says, and he needs to accept that responsibility.
O'BRIEN: So are you saying you agree with Bob Graham or you disagree with Bob Graham?
EDWARDS: Oh, I'm not thinking about impeachment, if that's what you're asking. I think this president is responsible for what he says, and he needs to accept that responsibility to the American people.
O'BRIEN: Let's turn to talk about health care now. The centerpiece of your health care plan is to provide health insurance for children, the 9 to 12, I've heard different numbers, million kids who lack health insurance.
How exactly do you plan to do that? And how much is that going to cost?
EDWARS: Well, we're going to do two big things in this health care plan, Soledad. First, we're going to, for the first time in the history of the country, make sure that every child in America 100 percent, all children, have health care. The same way they have access to public education.
And second, do something about the soaring costs of health care and the rising health care premiums that everyone's facing, first by bringing down the costs of health care for all Americans and second, by helping families with these health insurance premiums that are making it so difficult, and put such a financial burden on them.
The way to answer your specific question, what we're going to do about the kids, is we're going to do what we believe most families and all parents in America want to do, which is make sure their kids are covered.
We cover them either in the Children's Health Insurance Program, which is a government program, or if they have employer-based insurance available to them, in other words if they already have coverage through their employer, then we provide tax credits to the parents so that to help them pay for the coverage for their kids.
O'BRIEN: I've read that there are plans to potentially lay off 10 percent of federal workers. Would that go to paying for this, as well? And if that's accurate, how many workers does that actually measure out to be?
EDWARDS: Actually, there are three sort of big things we want to do to pay for this. And I should say to begin with, this health care plan is completely responsibility, fiscally responsible, and I pay for every dime of it. It costs about $53 billion a year in place.
The way we pay for it is basically three big things. First, closing some of the corporate tax loop holes that exist, and therefore generating revenue for the federal government.
The second is the idea of the proposal that you just mentioned which is reducing the size of the federal bureaucracy in Washington, outside of essential areas, defense and homeland defense, by 10 percent over the next ten years. There have been a whole number of studies that indicate that that's completely achievable.
And third, stopping the tax cuts, the income tax cuts that the president's been pushing for the top 2 percent of income earning Americans.
So all those things together not only pay for this health care plan and pay for everything else that I'm proposing, including my college for everyone proposal and my education proposals, but also leave a fair amount of money left for -- significant amount of money left for deficit reduction.
O'BRIEN: Senator John Edwards, nice to talk to you. Thanks for joining us this morning.
EDWARDS: Thanks, Soledad. I enjoyed it. O'BRIEN: We should mention that we'll be talking to all the Democratic candidates as the campaign season progresses.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
