>> ron: welcome to this week's edition of the steele report. republican lieutenant governor kim reynolds, someone i've been trying to get on the though for quite some time. she's been a former iowa state senator from osceola, a republican in iowa's 47th lieutenant governor, having served in that position since 2011 as she was on the ticket with governor terry branstad 2010. so you're the running mate, you still are. you're doing -- someone who's actually probably been the post active lieutenant governor that i can ever remember in iowa. you have been going around the state the last few days trumping the agenda -- >> lt. gov. reynolds: the condition of the state, yes. >> ron: and some of the things going on. what do you see as the centerpiece because this budget this year is a tight one and it centers around education. >> lt. gov. reynolds: first of all, thank you for giving neat opportunity to sit down with you.

i'm glad we were finally able to make that happen. it is an honor to serve and when the governor asked if i would run with him, he said we're going to run as a team and serve as a team, and he's been true to his word and it's an honor to serve iowans in this capacity. it is a tight budget. when the governor did the condition of the state, he talked about how together we've been able to accomplish some great things. we have a very fiscal discipline, we're ranked third, the best -- third best managed state in the nation and with the bird flu and with commodity prices under production and really epa and the rfs and the uncertainty and the impact that that's had, the revenue estimating conference reduced available revenue in december by about $149 million, and so it's a tight budget, and so we're determined to work on some important issues that we believe reflect iowans' priorities and that's water quality and school

really making sure that we have -- iowans have the skills they need to be successful, so workforce is front and center. we want to continue to remain competitive as a state, to make sure that we have -- we continue to build out our renew fuel industry as well as looking at energy foils to make sure that -- policies to make sure we can continue to have that be a competitive strange for iowa and have a fair -- advantage for aand have a fair and equitable justice system. the governor presented the condition of the state on tuesday, presented the budget on that point, and now we're talking about the condition of the state to iowans. >> ron: iowans should know the budget is 7.4 billion. not much, but a little bit higher than the previous one. that's an awful lot of money and what do you see as far as education? the 4% democrats proposed, republicans a little bit lower, at one point zero, and the compromise is somewhere around 2.4, right? >> lt. gov. reynolds: well, last

budget and we do every year, and so each two years of the legislative session, but we wanted to put two years in for education, 1.25 and the second year at 2.45, so we wanted to work hard to get there again this year. it was not easy to do that. that's $145 million of new money and what's also a key factor in the budget is the increasing cost of medicaid and we need to make sure if we follow through with the managed care and the modernizing managed care, then the increase is already 40 million, but if we don't do anything and continue on the same path with the existing medicaid, increased cost is about 151 million and that eats up almost all the new revenue that's available. and so we really believe if we can follow through with coordinating healthcare, working on outcomes, making sure we get the population healthier through a managed care system, we can provide stability to the budget from a medicaid perspective and then be able to honor what we put in the budget for education and that's $145 million.

this medicaid privatization. you know that, and then there's been a delay on the implementation, so does that concern you, and where do you stand on that about why are you so in favor of the privatization as it's going forward, even though there is a delay? all, there's 39 other states something new. we had a segment of our medicaid population that was managed care, so we've already participated in a small manner. the bottom line is medicaid as it is today is not sustainable. it just isn't. over the last ten years, the costs have increased 95%. that's not sustainable. we kanet continue to do what -- can't continue to do what we want to do with be increasing costs like that. this is a way to modernize the system, coordinate the care, get a vulnerable population healthy and bring stability to the medicaid budget. i'm happy tuesday we received a conditional approval in december and we already implemented a

individuals to go in and out of network and would provide those providers at 100% reimbursement, so we had already taken steps to really aleve some of the anxiety that was -- that you're going into a new system that exists, but we do have 93% of the providers are signed up today. they held over 350 meetings over the state of iowa, so we're continuing to do the outreach, we're continuing to provide the education, we're continuing to work with the medicaid population as well as the providers. we had all four major hospitals that have signed up in december. we were making significant progress. we had really, i think, tripled the number of providers, and we can say today we're at 93% of the providers signed up. we're on the right track. >> ron: do you think it will continue to be a contentious session? >> lt. gov. reynolds: they have to figure out then how they're going to balance the budget. if they want to fund education, if that is a priority and we need to take care of the medicaid population, there's

and so we've put forth a budget that we felt it balanced, it meant the -- met what iowans are looking for and it also honors the commitments that we made and that's funding education, teacher leadership and compensation, that's $150 million of new money, three-year phase-in, as well as honoring our commitment to local governments for the backfill for the commercial and industrial property tax ee relief, so we want topped do that also. >> ron: the legislature is almost a year behind its own deadlines for funding schools, as far as deadlines they put on the schools. they crush the schools in the spring sometime because the schools have to come up with temporary layoffs or issue pink slips and it's unfair to the school districts. >> lt. gov. reynolds: and that was one of the things that the governor addressed in the condition of the state. he said what we're putting in our budget, he said it was $145 million and just really encouraged the legislature to come to some consensus sooner rather than later and we're meeting with superintendents, talking about the save our future proposal.

they continue to bring up to us is that they need to know, they need the certainty, they need to know what the amount is so they can put their budget together gaseed on what they'll -- based on they'll actually get. >> ron: a register headline i said a year ago said political future bright for kim reynolds. the governor was quoted as saying she's a full partner, taken the lead on stem and she's very involved on economic development, we can cover twice as much territory. that's the kind of partnership you were referring to earlier. no one knows what the governor is going to do, but is running for governor something in your future? >> lt. gov. reynolds: right now i'm running to be the best lieutenant governor i can be and be a true partner. >> ron: oh no. >> lt. gov. reynolds: really, we're just starting the second year of our second term, and the governor has not decided what he's going to do, so we're focused on continuing to grow the economy -- >> ron: i always like to ask though. >> lt. gov. reynolds: that's okay. i love what i'm doing and i

administration. >> ron: the caucus is now just a few days away. is the republican party in a way -- even nicki hailey and her speech a few days ago, didn't mention names, but she was not trump or cruz. what is the republican party going to do about those things? can you say who you favor? haven't. we're so fortunate to be the first state in the country, and we want the candidates to go to all 99 counties, a great opportunity to test your organization and see what's weighing on the minds of iowans. we're very reflective of the nation, so it's a small state, you can cover it fairly easy. it's inexpensive with the media market we have and we want to make sure that they feel they have a fair chance in iowa, so neither one of us are endorsing

to go to iowa, go to all 99 counties and let iowans tell you what's on their minds and ask you where you stand on pollses. i said really as -- on positions. i said really as iowans, we have a responsibility to hold them accountable and so when we ask them the question and they tell us where they stand, we need to make sure that they stay true to their word and it's not something we hear in iowa and something different in other states. >> ron: the governor was saying last june that he didn't think donald trump would get the nomination, but i don't think anyone would have predicted that trump would be dukeoing as well as he is doing. >> lt. gov. reynolds: it's interesting -- >> ron: what does that say? >> lt. gov. reynolds: this is an interesting cycle, so different than it normally is, but it shows the frustration of not only iowans, but americans, and they don't like the dysfunction that's happening in washington, d.c., they don't like the fact that we're $18 trillion in debt and they're fearful of what's going on around the world in foreign policy and they feel that america's leadership is on

know, the leader in the world. and they really are concerned. they're concern about their safety, they're concerned about their children. i have seven grandchildren, one more on the way, i want to make sure that they have every up. no guarantees, there's no guarantees for anything, but an opportunity to be successful and thrive, and so there's a lot of concern that i think they're frustrated that nothing ever gets done and so i think that's reflected in what we're seeing on the campaign trail. so it's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out, but i would say that on both sides. both sides, there's some interesting things going on. it appears that sanders has narrowed the margin with secretary clinton, so it's interesting year in politics. >> ron: we're going to get you back on the show sometime in the near future. lieutenant governor kim reynolds, thank you for taking

steele report. >> ron: welcome back to this week's edition of the steele report. our next guest is democratic presidential candidate bernie sanders and i began our questioning by asking him a little bit about his personal background and how it shaped his views. you know, you have an interesting background. you're father immigrated from follow land, you had jewish members who died in the holocaust. that gives you a powerful perspective about how you view life. >> sen. sanders: it truly does.

country at the age of 17 from a very small town in poland. he came to the united states with no money, not speaking english, and a couple of years ago, my brother and i had the opportunity to go back to that small town and it kind of blew me away, the kind of courage. 17 years of age, to leave your family to come to this country. we grew up in grook lynn, new york, -- brooklyn, new york, in a three and a half room rented apartment. my mother's dream in life was to get out of the apartment and own a home of her own. she died young, never achieved that dream. to me, one of the lessons that i learned as a child is what it's like to grow up in a family where we didn't have a lot of money and financial stress played a significant role in our life. it's not just my message. it's the story of my political life.

independent in the history of the united states congress. i've taken on democrats, i've taken on republicans, i've taken on every special interest that you can name, whether it's wall street or the pharmaceutical industry or the insurance industry. i have taken them on on behalf of working people in the middle class. that's what my life, political life has been about. and i'm running for president because i honestly believe at a time when the middle class has been disappearing for 40 years, when many in iowa and vermont are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of the new incoming wealth is going to the top one percent. that old-fashioned economics just is not going to work. we need leadership now, frankly, that is prepared to take on the billionaire class, take on wall street, take on corporate america, and say, you know what? our government belongs to all of

very very wealthy people. i think of all the candidates out there, my life work and political background is best suited to do that. >> ron: so you're talking about -- i've seen your ads saying the rigged economy. i get a lot of my questions from friends who are both democrats and republicans or viewers who always have ideas about what we should ask the politicians that i have the privilege of interviewing. >> sen. sanders: sure. >> ron: one of them said to me today, the rigged economy that senator sanders is talking about, isn't he a part of that? didn't he help create that, he's been in congress to long? how do you answer that? >> sen. sanders: sometimes you get -- you know, i'm one out of 100 members of the united states senate. i was one out of 435 members of the house of representatives and not the president of the united states. so you can spread the blame around. but i think if you look at my record, i am somebody who has voted against all of these disastrous trade agreements, somebody who is trying to raise

wage, $15 an hour over the next several years. i'm somebody who has fought to bring about healthcare for every man, woman and child in this country as a right. somebody who has fought very, very hard to end a campaign finance system which now allows billionaires to buy elections. i kind of don't think it's fair to lump all members of congress together and say, well, you're all the same. you got to look at what each of us are trying to do. i'm proud of the record that i've established. >> ron: you spent a lot of time in iowa already by the time we air this. i think you'll have been here 15 times and with a huge schedule on the most recent visit to iowa, so getting your people to the caucus is absolutely vital to have any chance of winning. what is your plan to do that? hillary clinton for the nomination? >> sen. sanders: look, we started this campaign at about 3% of the polls nationally. my guess is when we began, 80, 85% of the people in iowa did not even know who i was, let

we have come a long, long way. and i think we have narrowed the gap between secretary clinton and myself, so if your question is do i think we can win, yes, i do believe we can win. and i believe we can win because what i am trying to do and what i have done for months is go around this state to small towns, to the larger cities. we've had town meetings where just huge turnouts, so what we're doing is pretty old-fashioned politics. we're doing meetings. people are asking me questions, i'm responding. we have put together a really strong organization. we have a lot of volunteers. we're knocking on doors, making phone calls. but your point is right. if we're going to win this, we theed to bring our people -- we need to bring our people out, we need a large voter turnout and that's what we're working to do. >> ron: socialism, a lot of socialist. my friend phil wanted me to ask you, why do you think that kind of socialistic philosophy would work in the united states when it doesn't work in countries like russia? >> sen. sanders: well, i have

in russia or the old soviet union and that's the first point that has to be made. the soviet union was an authoritarian communist country. the democratic socialism that i talk about is similar to what goes on in countries like denmark, sweden, norway, and other countries around europe and what those countries have accomplished, and i don't think we really know enough about it, if you take a country like deny mark or finland or norway, nerve that country has healthcare as a right and they do it in much more cost effective way than we do. do you know how much college education costs in those countries? it is free. seniors get very strong retirement benefits and by and large, you have a government in those countries that try to develop policies that represent ordinary people rather than the wealthy and the powerful. further, in our country, you have programs that are socialistic. one is called social security. i don't know too many people,

security is a pretty important and good program. they think medicare, which is a single payor health insurance program for the elderly, they think that's a pretty good program. i don't want to get people too nervous, but the local public library and police department and fire department are socialist institutions. the point being, bottom line, i want to see a government that represents all of us and not as is currently the case, a very small number of wealthy campaign contributors. in the year 2016 when we talk about public education -- and by the way, iowa, as you know, is one of the states that has historically been a leader in public education. what we were saying 100 years ago, 120 years ago, what working people were saying, our kids are entitled to a free public education. up to 12th grade, okay? well, the world has changed and today in many respects, a college degree is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 years ago, right? so i happen to believe that we

situation where all of our kids who have the ability and the desire, not everybody, but who have the ability and the desire, the qualifications, they should be able to get a college education because we're going to make public colleges and universities tuition free, so everybody has the ability to go to college regardless of the income in their family and we're also working to substantially lower student debt in this country, which is a huge problem. how do we pay for it? we pay for through a tax on wall street speculation because wall street, when in their greed and behavior, crashed this economy, the middle class bailed them out and now it's time for wall street to help the middle class in this country. >> ron: how would you describe the center fees of what you want iowa and the rest of the country to know about your campaign and why you feel you're the best candidate on the democratic side?

have the strongest agency to represent the middle class and working families, and that means free tuition to public colleges and universities, raising the minimum wage, rebuilding a crumbling infrastructure and creating millions of decent-paying jobs, pay equity for women workers, but what i have said over and over again is that no president, not bernie sanders or anybody else, will be effective in taking on the big money that controls our country, wall street, corporate america, the corporate media, the large campaign donors, unless we have what i call a political revolution, unless millions of people, including many who have given up on the political process -- we have one of the lowest voter turnout of any major country. i want people to jump back in and say loudly and clearly, you know, in our great country, this government has to work for all of us and not just an install number of people. i am calling for a political revolution and what gratifies me

and this country is we're seeing a lot of working class people and young people kind of standing up and saying, you know what? you have got me excited. i want to get involved in the political process. that's what i want to see happen in this country and that's what we need. >> ron: you may or may not have to worry about it, but donald trump has hinted at a third party run if he doesn't get the flom nation. if you don't get the nomination, is that something you consider? >> sen. sanders: no. i made a promise. i am the longest serving the congress. when i got into this, i said we're going to compete for the democratic nomination. if i lose that, i won't run as an independent. i happen to believe -- and i know not everybody necessarily agrees with me. i happen to believe that climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, it is already causing very, very significant damage in our country and around the world, and what the scientists tell me, and i'm on both the environmental and energy committees. what they tell me is if we do

that means breaking our dependency on fossil fuel, moving to energy efficiency and sustainable fuel, and by the way, iowa is one of the leaders in this country in terms of biofuel and wind. >> ron: we have a lot of wind. >> sen. sanders: you have a lot and congratulations to the people of iowa. we need to do more of that all over the country and if we do not do that, what i have to say to you is the planet we're going to be leaving our children and our grandchildren, will be a much less habitable and healthy planet and we can't allow that to lap. we have to work with china, russia, india, countries around the world, and we can do it and in the process we'll create millions of jobs. so count me in as somebody who be believes, along with pope francis, for example, he talks about us moving in a suicidal direction, we have to transform our energy system and that's why i opposed the bakken pipeline because it just encourages the skaf administration and transportation of fossil fuel. >> ron: just briefly, i have a