WEBVTT - Senator Amy Klobuchar Finds Joy in Perseverance 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:08.000 Hi everyone, I'm Katie Couric, and this is next question. 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.200 You know, the first time many Americans got a glimpse 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:16.159 of Senator Amy Klobachar's no nonsense confidence in action was 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.599 February twenty twenty at the Democratic presidential primary debate in 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:21.480 New Hampshire. 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.440 When we were in the last debate, Mayor, you basically 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.960 mocked the one hundred years of experience on the stage. 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:32.160 And what do I see on this stage? I see 0:00:32.159 --> 0:00:34.000 Elizabeth Work starting the consumer. 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:37.519 This is Senator Klobachar taking a then thirty eight year 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.840 old Pete Buddha judge to task on something he'd said 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.400 at the presidential debate in Iowa just weeks before. 0:00:44.200 --> 0:00:48.839 Sanders Work working to get the Veterans Bill passed across 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.479 the aisle. And I see what I've done, which is 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:55.240 to negotiate three farm bells and be someone that actually 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.200 had major provisions put in those bills. So what you 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.160 can dismiss committee hearings. I think this experience works. And 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.399 I have not denigrated your experience as a local official. 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:06.840 I have been one, you know. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:10.080 I just think you should respect our experience when you 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.960 look at how you evaluate someone who can get things done. 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:15.640 If you, Senator for to mayor, I'll give you a 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:19.200 chance to respond. And Amy Klobachar knows a thing or 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.640 two about getting things done. She was the first woman 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:26.319 elected to the US Senate from Minnesota, where since two 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.520 thousand and seven she has served on dozens of committees, 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:34.600 past major bipartisan legislation and fought hard for universal healthcare, 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:39.720 strong new environmental policies, gun control, and the regulation of 0:01:39.800 --> 0:01:43.120 big tech. But over the course of the pandemic, Senator 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.160 Clobchar was faced with some very personal challenges, and through 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:49.680 all of it she was inspired to write a book 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.800 in her spare time. I guess it's called The Joy 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:58.320 of Politics, Surviving cancer, a campaign, a pandemic, an insurrection, 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:02.960 and life's other expected curveballs. In it, she digs deep 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:05.960 into a well of resilience she didn't know she had, 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:11.519 and she finds up all things joy, I mean, really joy. 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:15.680 I spend a lot of this book answering that question 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.520 about what is the joy. There is joy in perseverance, 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:23.160 whether it's through an illness or whether it's through trying 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:24.880 to get a bill through Congress. 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.840 Senator Klobachar and I had a wide ranging conversation we 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:31.320 even got to geek out on policy, which is something 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:36.959 both of us love, including a fascinating dive into immigration reform. 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.160 So we're in a crisis, and no great nation has 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.520 ever expanded that I know of, into even greater nation 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.520 with a shrinking workforce. We can try to be the 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.920 first experiment, but I'd rather not do that. 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:49.720 So how do you do that? 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.360 But my first question to her was, how on earth 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:57.359 did you have time to write this book? Way? How 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:58.440 are you right? 0:02:58.680 --> 0:02:59.600 This is what I did? 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:00.360 I know? 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.480 How are you doing? I how are you? Did you 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:04.120 have fun writing? 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:04.440 Yeah? 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.359 I wondered, how did you have time to do this? 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.560 I just do it late at night and weekends, you 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:14.600 know so I always thought every time you're quarantined for COVID. 0:03:14.960 --> 0:03:16.080 Yeah, that's true. 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:18.560 So anyway, I enjoyed writing it. 0:03:19.160 --> 0:03:22.480 So given the state of the country, the state of 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:26.519 the world, the personal shit excuse me, that you have 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.800 been through in the last couple of years, how in 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.519 the world could you write a book called The Joy 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:35.080 of Politics? 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.400 Good question, and it is not a sarcastic title. It 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.480 is real And for me, I first look at what 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:47.160 America's been through, the pandemic, the isolation, of all that, 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:50.960 people have lost loved ones, they've lost their grandmas and grandpa's, 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:54.680 people have had to change their jobs or lose jobs. 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:58.280 There is the political divide, there's the violence that we're seeing. 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:02.240 And through all of it, yes, we can lament the setbacks. 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.520 And I go through my own from you know, not 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.560 winning the presidential campaign to losing my dad with leid 0:04:08.640 --> 0:04:13.320 onset Alzheimer's and being diagnosed with breast cancer, something I 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:16.360 know you can relate to, and all of this happening and. 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:19.320 Husband deal with the serious in COVID. 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:23.040 So we're now that is that's lamenting those setbacks, and 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:26.320 it's important to do and realize what you've been through, 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.320 but it is equally important to rejoice in the comebacks, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:33.480 to talk about how we get through things and how 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:36.160 we get on the other side and the joy. And 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.200 for me, it's joy in getting things done, joy in 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:43.320 stepping back, as I'm sure you did when you got 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:47.120 that breast cancer diagnosis or when you lost your husband. 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.080 You do step back and you have this gratefulness for 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.719 things that happen to you every day, total strangers helping 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:56.960 you out. So that's part of the joy as well. 0:04:57.520 --> 0:04:59.640 Have you always been a glass half full person. 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:05.640 Yes, or I wouldn't have decided to run for president today, right, 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:08.039 I haven't There the story of going to talk to 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:11.960 Barack Obama and he looked super cool in his leather jacket. 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.080 He was meeting with a number of the candidates. Didn't 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:17.479 really endorse anyone, but it was one of the best 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:20.279 meetings I had. I went over my chances and then 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:23.800 in that Barack Obama understated way it goes well. When 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.920 I was running, most people put it less than fifty 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:29.880 percent that I was going to win in the Democratic primary, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.200 and there were others that put it even less. And 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:36.160 then he went on to give me advice of just 0:05:36.920 --> 0:05:39.560 taking each day at a time, having a goal. If 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:41.800 you don't have a north star purpose, why do it? 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.520 So that conversation with him was really actually quite inspiring 0:05:45.600 --> 0:05:48.720 for me, because you when you go into these things, 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.320 you know your chances are not great, but then you remember, 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.360 you know, the winner of some of these last years, 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.800 I think Kentucky Derby was like one out of eighty odds, 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:00.719 so you think it can happen. 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:05.240 You know You've also found a lot of inspiration, I know, 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:10.120 Senator from your fellow Senator the late Paul Wellstone, who 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.040 went to my high school in Arlington. Really oh right. 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.400 He is part of the Yorktown Wall of Fame, of 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.240 which I am on as well, so we share this wall. 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:25.440 He was an extraordinary man who died way too young 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:29.120 in that prime crash. Tell me about your relationship with 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:34.480 him and how he has inspired your attitudes. 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:39.200 Sure so, no one ever thought he was going to win. 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:42.960 He was a college professor. He went around in this 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.640 green bus kind of ahead of his time, I would say, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:52.200 in focusing on economic justice and environmental issues. Yes, and it's 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:55.640 kind of like the little guy. And he would talk 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.240 about how we don't need another Rockefeller. I'm for the 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:03.200 little fella. And he had this buoyancy about him and joy, 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:08.200 and he taught me so much when he then surprisingly 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.840 comes from behind wins the Senate races in the Senate, 0:07:12.160 --> 0:07:14.360 and I remember learning so much from him. For one thing, 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.720 he taught me how to campaign on city buses. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:17.840 We would get on. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:20.080 A bus and we would meet everyone on the bus. 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.080 We go down what is called the Nickelet Mall, the 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.600 in Minneapolis, and we would get to the end and 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.040 we go buy everyone. Then we get off the bus 0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:29.480 and we just get a ticket and go on the 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:32.760 other way. So the joy story about him, he had 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:36.200 gone to the Senate floor and he had done lost 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.239 big time some amendment and he'd made this passionate speech 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.760 in his you know, five foot six frame, and he'd 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.240 like and then he just lost. And he got back 0:07:47.280 --> 0:07:50.160 to the office and everyone had their heads down. They'd 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.600 been watching it on the Senate TV. 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:53.640 They knew what happened. 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.640 And he walked in and it looks around at all 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:59.640 of them, and it would some I would say, self 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:02.240 reckoned ignition about the humor of this, because he. 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:05.280 Was so mad, and he goes, what's going on in 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:10.880 this room? Where is the joy? What happened to the joy? 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:14.520 And then there's that joy of getting things done and knowing, 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.120 like after working for years to pass a bill to 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.800 bring down the cost of pharmaceuticals, that it finally happened, 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:26.480 My bill finally got passed into law last summer. Or 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.720 it's the joy of just being part of something bigger 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.760 than yourself. That's what John McCain would always tell me. 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.600 In fact, when I visited him when he was dying 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.240 in Sidona, I tell the story, and he was still 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.679 irascible and hilarious, and at the very end of it, 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.440 when he can't talk, he points to some words that 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:46.720 he had written, and the words where there's nothing in 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:50.440 life more liberating than fighting for a cause larger than yourself. 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:53.360 And I think that's something we all have to remember 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:57.120 right now. So as people gather again, it is exhilarating 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.720 to go to events. It's also can be a scary thing, 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.559 but it's also a good thing because the only way 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.240 we're going to go back to having civic discussions of 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:09.440 views and differing views is if we actually talk to 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:10.240 each other again. 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:14.240 I know that's so true. At the same time, you know, 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.680 I have to say I'm a pretty optimistic person and 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:23.239 I would like to see people talk who disagree on issues. 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.760 But as you know, and as you write about, we 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.920 have created our own ecosystems based on our political beliefs. 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:38.400 I think bridging this divide and reducing polarization is the 0:09:38.440 --> 0:09:44.680 biggest existential threat our country faces. So I mean, it's 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.679 great to be optimistic and think we can talk to 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.960 one another, but it's not happening on Capitol Hill. 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:56.040 Well, so, Chris Som what you've said is just righteous, 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:59.480 But to me. Courage isn't just standing by yourself giving 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.480 some speech, yelling at everyone. Courage is whether or not 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:05.080 you're willing to stand next to someone you don't always 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:09.240 agree with for the betterment of this country. And in 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:13.280 this book, I actually recount how things have happened, and 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.800 it's not pretty. And I am never going to pretend 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.600 that this book will stop all the anger in our politics. 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.479 But when you look at what we've been through, the pandemic, 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.720 the aftermath with the economy, through all of that, some 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:31.000 incredible things happened last year, many of them bipartisan. So 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.080 after years of working on infrastructure and why you know, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.080 they have high speed broadband next of spewing volcanoes in 0:10:39.280 --> 0:10:43.440 Iceland and we don't have it in Lanesboro, Minnesota, you 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.480 do start wondering, maybe we can do better. And so 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.280 this infrastructure bill that was a product of a number 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:55.000 of Senators actually working together, including Center Portman and Center 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:59.400 Cinema and so many others. We got that passed. Then 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:02.280 you fast forward the gun safety bill. As we know 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:05.720 from the events of this last months, from what we 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.040 saw happen in Kentucky to Nashville to what just happened 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:13.720 in Texas that our work is so far not done. 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:16.040 There is so much more has to be done. But 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.120 finally a group took on the NRI and did something 0:11:19.160 --> 0:11:23.880 about background checks and something about mental health funding. Senator 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.880 Cornyn and I, in the middle of the pandemic, joined 0:11:26.880 --> 0:11:30.040 forces to save our stages, the biggest investment in the 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:34.040 arts in the history of America, and we enlisted everyone 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:38.079 from Pittbull to the Fargo Theater to help us get senators. 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.120 And before you knew it, we had Mitch McConnell on 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:43.840 the bill and Chuck Schumer on the bill and we 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:47.439 were able to move it. So those are legislative examples 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:49.839 of that. But time and time again in the book, 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:54.000 I recount how people Roy Blunt and I the insurrection 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.000 that was in our hands. 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:56.960 At the end of the day. 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:58.960 We were the ones that had to make that walk 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.960 with Vice President Pi over the broken glass, passed the 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.640 pillars filled with vulgarities, to finish the job and make 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:10.120 sure that democracy prevailed. We were the ones that had 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:13.600 to do the investigation of the security failures at the Capitol, 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:17.240 and then ultimately the ones who made sure when everyone 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.839 wanted to put the inauguration in a bunker, and many 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.280 did that. We stood up and said, no, we're going 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.480 to take back that platform that those insurrectionists tried to 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.240 strip down, and we're going to have people of both parties, 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:32.280 everyone from George Bush and Dan Quayle to Barack Obama 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.600 and Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton on that platform to 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:40.200 show that America peacefully passes on the torch of power. 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:42.400 That was bipartisan. 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.480 And so I don't think it's dead, and I certainly 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:49.160 think the American people don't think democracy is withering on 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.640 a vine when they turn out in record numbers to 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.760 defeat election deniers, which was a real I would say, 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.120 shot in the arm for those that believe in democracy, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.400 and that just in the last election. 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.640 When we come back, you'll hear how the demanding life 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:10.640 of a US senator doesn't stop even after a difficult diagnosis. 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:25.360 We're back with Senator Amy Klobuchar. Isn't it shocking when 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.440 you hear that sixty percent of Republicans still believe the 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.120 election was not fair? I mean it, you know, I 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.599 hear you, and I think eighty seven percent of Americans 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.520 consider themselves centrists or moderate and you have these extreme 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:44.200 factions on either side. But Wow, that number is shocking 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:48.520 to me. And yes, ultimately the election deniers didn't win, 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:54.000 but that view is still so prominent out in the 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:59.240 United States of America despite all evidence to the contrary. 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.920 Well, Ronald Trump's shadow is still out there. He is 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:06.280 still a force to be reckoned with within their party. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.440 But when you look again at the actual voting of 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:14.680 Americans in this last midterm, people were horrified Independence turned 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:18.720 out big time and actually voted democratic. I think Hakeem 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:22.080 Jeffries calls them team Normal, Team America. 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:24.760 And I want to get that t shirt Team Normal. 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:28.080 There you go, And they were making a sensible case 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:29.520 about our democracy. 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:30.600 So that's I mean. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:32.840 I know there's polls all over the place and like, 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.400 including the one you just cited, but I just can't 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.760 help but looking at the actual elections, Yeah. 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:38.920 What happens in the end, America. 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:43.440 They may be understandably grumbling about a politician or not 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.320 like a certain position or what's been happening, But in 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.040 the end, when faced with do I want to have 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:53.280 someone that actually is out there fomenting an insurrection or 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:57.280 fomenting divides, or do I want someone that sees the hope, 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:00.240 that wants to get things done that wants to work 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.920 across the aisle, many of them tend to go to 0:15:03.000 --> 0:15:04.200 that second candidate. 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.160 I can't help but ask you about gun violence, something 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.520 that I care deeply about, and I've been pretty outspoken 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.840 for years now, just because I couldn't understand after all 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:20.240 those first graders were mowed down in Sandy Hook and 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:23.080 the fact that I think at the time the vast 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:28.200 majority of Americans favored sensible gun laws, and seventy four 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:33.120 percent of the NRA actually favors sensible gun laws. Yeah, 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.640 so let's talk about the assault weapons ban, because I 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.119 know that Congress as it stands today, with the Republican 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:44.360 majority in the House, could never pass another assault weapons ban. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:50.000 But for crying out loud, what is the argument against it? 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:53.680 Well, I am from a strong hunting state. It's the 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:56.800 way the quality of life in Minnesota. And I always 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:00.040 look at these proposals and say, would this hurt my 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.880 uncle Dick in his deer stand. My uncle Dick loved hunting, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.400 And the answer is no, they don't need AR fifteen, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:09.960 they don't need assault weapons. So then you go to 0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:14.120 your next question, could it practically do anything if we 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:16.800 banned the purchase of these assault weapons. 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.080 And my answer is yes. And let me give you 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:20.120 some examples of this. 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.560 When you look at the two shootings in Uvalde, Texas 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:27.680 or in Buffalo, when you look at those, those were 0:16:27.680 --> 0:16:31.840 both eighteen year olds who were waiting to turn eighteen 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.520 and then bought an assault weapon on the internet twenty 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.040 five years ago or how many years ago we had 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.440 that assault weapon nine and ninety four. People weren't doing 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.600 things like that. So even Center Manson has favored banning 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.960 the future purchase of assault weapon bans for eighteen to 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:51.680 twenty one year olds, you know, So you look at that, 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:54.120 So that's one thing you can do, and then after 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.240 you ban them, you could do all kinds of things 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.720 with gun buybacks. There's just no reason we have to 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:03.640 accept this as it is. So I just I go 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:07.840 back to the fact that political movements start with individuals 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.920 and what you've seen in Nashville with people pushing back 0:17:11.960 --> 0:17:17.640 when those legislators were basically pushed out and expelled from 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.960 the legislature, and then their constituents said no way, and 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.800 it became a national issue. No one thought that in 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.520 the state of Kansas after the Dobbs decision came out, 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.399 and Roe V. Wade was pushed out that in this 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.840 middle of the prairie, that all these people would turn 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.080 out and say no, we want our reproductive rights in 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:41.560 more numbers than even had voted in the mid term before. 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:46.520 That's what happened in Kansas, so people turn out to vote. 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.200 Let me talk about another issue that I cared deeply about. 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.439 I wonder if you had the same experience. You and 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:56.280 I were both diagnosed with breast cancer. We were very 0:17:56.359 --> 0:18:01.199 lucky because you were stage one. I was just I 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:05.320 was an apartment unit when I frustrated, and we both 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:09.560 have lumpectomies and radiation. And I just want to ask 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.800 you about our healthcare system, Senator, because I couldn't help 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.760 but think I am so lucky. I have the best healthcare. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.919 I live in New York City, I have the best doctors. 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.879 I have good health insurance. And you know, when you 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:28.719 think that black women have a forty percent higher mortality 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:32.920 rate than white women from breast cancer, that so many 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:37.680 women can't afford or don't have access to preventative screening 0:18:37.800 --> 0:18:42.720 for all kinds of cancer, is our healthcare system as 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:44.280 screwed up as I think it is? 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.200 I think it has a lot of problems that need 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.800 to be fixed, and some of this is pharmaceutical crisis, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.280 which does affect everyone. So if you have less money 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.879 and not as good a plan, it affects you even more. 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:03.239 If you like someone in Minnesota, kid was on our 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.880 healthcare because the Affordable Care Act guaranteed that till twenty six. 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:11.880 He turns twenty six, he's diabetic, starts rationing his insulin, 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.960 which should have never been that expensive, and gets the 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:18.240 numbers wrong and died. That mom came out to Washington 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.359 as my guest to the State of the Union to 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:21.240 make that point. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:22.359 So that's part of it. 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.879 And you have seen major advancements on this in terms 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:29.400 of finally pushing medicare and negotiation because the prices were 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.520 locked in double what they are in so many countries. 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.960 We have the most expensive drugs of any industrialized nation, 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.880 yet our taxpayers are the ones that funded so much 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:41.080 of the research. So I would start with that it's 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.080 a total outrage, and that insurance company. 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:45.280 That's what I was going to get to next. 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:49.320 So we've finally done something on emergency medical bills so 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:51.640 they can't just shock you in their amounts that there's 0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:54.600 limits on it, but there is more we should be 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:59.000 doing in terms of transparency about how much things really cost, 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:04.840 and looking at expanding medicare to go down to possibly 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:08.720 fifty five. Those kinds of things would be a good step. 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.679 And that's one of the bills that I favor. 0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:14.879 Did the Affordable Care Act help? 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:15.639 Yes? 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.480 And I don't know, it just doesn't feel it feels 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:21.320 like we've gone backwards. 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:24.720 Well, the Affordable Care Act has made a major difference 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:27.399 for people. Millions and millions and millions and more people 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:30.639 got healthcare. There's absolutely no doubt about it. And if 0:20:30.640 --> 0:20:34.920 we're talking about breast cancer, millions of women now had 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:38.520 access to that kind of screening that wasn't available to 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:42.960 them before. That's a big, big deal. Trying to focus 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.320 and use our knowledge of medicine to get those people 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.880 tested more so that they have a chance to catch 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.800 it early, which we all know catching it early is 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:54.879 a key part of this. And yes, in my case, 0:20:55.720 --> 0:21:00.560 like yours, during the pandemic, I maybe wasn't quite as 0:21:00.680 --> 0:21:02.800 up to date on everything I was supposed to do, 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.600 and I had waited too long. And when they first 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.000 told me, oh, we just did this mammogram and it 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.560 looks like there's some problems here. I said, oh, I'm 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:14.520 sure it's fine. I promise you need to get this 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.080 checked again right away, right away. And I'm like, yeah, 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:20.040 but and I still remember the feeling as I took 0:21:20.080 --> 0:21:23.280 off that hospital gown, put on my suit, put my 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.400 lipstick on, and said, I am ready to go out 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.320 and do my press conference on vaccines. 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:30.480 That's what I did. I just go, I promise. 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:33.760 Well, Luckily a week later I did go back, and 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:35.600 that was when I found out that I had this 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:38.040 stage one A cancer and it got the call in 0:21:38.280 --> 0:21:41.600 Washington and had to go into the Senate Chamber and vote. 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:45.280 And I think then the experience and your experience gets 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:48.439 to be like a lot of people's experiences putting that 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.920 story out there as I did in finding Out, as 0:21:51.960 --> 0:21:54.719 I discuss in the book, that other people then go 0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:57.720 in and get their own exams, which right they're guaranteed 0:21:57.840 --> 0:22:02.000 with the Affordable Care Act, by the way. That's the 0:22:02.200 --> 0:22:06.639 joy of actually getting a story out that's hard and 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:11.400 not easy, and then other people listen, it resonates and 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.160 they take care of themselves. That's a pretty good thing 0:22:14.240 --> 0:22:18.120 about using what is a really bad experience for good, 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:21.000 and no one knows that better than you, Katie Kuric. 0:22:22.080 --> 0:22:25.399 You know, I think everyone has to shout it from 0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.960 the mountaintops because too few people are still getting screened 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:34.680 for so many diseases that it really is the difference 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:39.000 between life and death if these cancers are detected early. 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:43.080 And so thank you for being so public about your situation. 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.280 It makes a huge difference. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:48.200 Yes, And I tried to do it as horrible as 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:51.919 the whole thing is, with some humor of the situation 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:54.800