from the nevada caucuses at tonight's town hall, we saud two fired up intense democratic candidates. if you missed any of their town hall, good news, you can see all of it again here in just a moment and before we leave you tonight from the beautiful union depot in st. paul, minnesota, you should also know we've but the all of my exclusive interview, vice president joe biden up at maddow blog.com. that does it for us tonight. tonight's town hall starts right now. >>. the middle class needs a raise and we're going to give it to you. >> this is not an american economy. it is a rigged economy. >> i voted for comprehensive immigration reform, senator sanders voted against it. >> i voted against it because the guest worker programs were akinton slavery. >> the kind of criticism that we've heard from senator sanders about our president i do not expect from someone running for the democratic nomination.

>> madame secretary, that is a low blow. one of us ran against barack obama. i was not that candidate. >> i is work my heart out to make progress in our country. give us all the opportunity that we should have you. >> it is just too late for the same old establishment politics. the people want real change. >> the clinton, sanders fwoun hall live from las vegas, nevada. here now chuck todd and jose diaz-balart. good evening, and welcome to the msnbc telemundo clinton-sanders town hall. >> we're live from las vegas at this unique space designed by renowned architect frank gehry. [ speaking spanish ] >> thank you to the nevada democratic party for helping us put this together tonight. >> absolutely. what a great space. >> we canvassed the state and talked to many people about what they want to ask and chose this

audience of about 350 people. and many of them will get a chance to have their say with the candidates. >> we will spend time focusing on topics that resonate with latino voters. first chance to do that during this campaign. but first, jose and i will have a couple of questions that we'd like to ask both of the candidates. we'll be starting with senator bernie sanders tonight. he won a coin toss, which means he will be coming out here first. so please join us in welcoming senator bernie sanders. [ applause ] >> senator, a pleasure to see you. >> good to see you. >> have a seat. >> senator, it's great to see you. how you doing? >> i am great. >> good. we're happy you're here with us. senator, let me start by telling you a little bit about secretary

clinton who has been describing you recently as a single issue candidate. you disagree with that characterization. there week you told my colleague that you're one litmus test for supreme court nominee is overturning citizens united. why doesn't that prove an what she says but? you didn't say you have a roe versus wade litmus test. a marriage equality litmus test. >> i don't think what's that secretary clinton is actually talking about. if she happened to come to one of my rallies, which she has not yet, but i welcome her, she would hear me speaking for about an hour and a half for an hour and 15 minutes. and we would cover 15 or 20 separate issues. i'm not quite sure where she comes up with this single issue idea. but do i believe that there has to be a major focus on the economy when the middle class is disappearing, when people in nevada and all over this country are working longer hours for

lower wages and almost all new income is going to the top 1%? yes, i'm going to focus on that. to answer your question about citizens unites, why is that a test for me? because if we continue going the way we are going, jose, in terms of a corrupt campaign finance system, you know what's going to end up happening? a handful of billionaires will control the political life of this country and undermine american democracy and what men and women have fought to defend. so to me, there is an underlying enormous issue. >> but that is the priority. it is the litmus test. not one of them, it's the litmus test. that's not what we is talking about. i think she's talking about my focus on wall street. if you are asking me do i think we have got to overturn this disastrous citizens united supreme court decision, so that billionaires will not be able to pump unlimited sums of money into super pacs and buy elections, i do believe that is

an enormously important issue. >> talk about a judge this week in california that ordered apple to help the fbi unlock an iphone belonging to one of the two terrorists that killed 14 people and injured 22 others in san bernardino, california. in response, tim cook wrote an open letter to call attention to what he calls the chilling implications of complying with the court's order. he wrote among other things ultimately we fear this demand would undermine the vet freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect. i know you've talked a lot about big brother. wlos side are you on, apple or the fbi's? >> i'm on both. this is a very complicated issue. here's what the issue is. cook has a very important point to be made. i am very fearful in america about big brother. and that means not only the federal government getting into the -- into your e-mails or knowing what books you're taking out of the library, or private corporations knowing everything there also to know about you in

terms of your health records, your banking records, your consumer practices, i worry about that very, very much. on the other hand, what i also worry about is the possibility of another terrorist attack against our country. and frankly. >> reporter: think there is a middle ground that can be reached. clearly, all of us would be very dismayed if we learned that we could have picked up information about a potential terrorist act and we didn't do that. people would not feel good about this. i think there has got to be a balance. count me in as somebody who is a very strong civil lish ariane who believes that we can fight terrorism without undermining our constitutional right and our privacy rights institute senator, a couple more before we get to the audience. last week you said it was a lo blow for secretary clinton to bring up past criticisms you had for president obama. you said you had every right to disagree with him. this is you calling for a primary challenge and it was on a radio show. i'm going to play it and get you

to react to it on the other side. >> one of the reasons the president has been able to be move so far are to the right, there is no primary opposition to him. i think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what obama is doing. >> that was you in 2011. i understand that. >> but that was in response to a question on a radio show. >> and i get that. but there are some democrats who want to continue the president's policies. why should they trust you as somebody who wanted him appeared? you said it would have been a good idea if he would have been primaried. >> by the way, there is one of the two democratic candidates here who actually ran against barack obama. it wasn't me. all right. second of all, you know, i have worked very closely with president obama over the last seven years. he is a friend of mine.

and we have gone a long way together to move this country forward from the disastrous position we were in when bush left office. when bush left office, we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. and the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse. and applaud president obama and vice president biden for the work they did and i worked with them. but to answer your question, do we have a right to have differences of opinion with president obama? i have had a number. for example, i have disagreed with him very strongly on his views on trade. he is for the tpp, i am against the tpp. he has several years ago continued bush's tax breaks for the very wealthiest people in this country. i was on the floor for 8 1/2 hours in disagreement with him. overall, i think the president has done an outstanding job. and the idea that there can be a primary where different ideas

get floated and debated, i don't think that that is terrible. >> you still think he should have been primaried. >> this is a media issue. this is one thing i said on one radio show many, many years ago. media likes that issue. bottom line is, i happen to think that the president has done an extraordinarily good job. have i worked with him on issue of an issue. >> now, quickly, i this happened earlier today on your plane during a quick press gaggle. you were pretty tough on bill clinton's record and you said you hit his record on wall street and said he wanted to deregulate wall street, for welfare reform, the welfare reform act you didn't like and got nafta like. it didn't sound like a presidency you were very pleased with. >> i was asked to comment on bill clinton's very, very strong criticisms of me. chuck, put it into context. i didn't go around attacking bill clinton. it was bill clinton has been on the campaign trail making some very nasty comments about me. i was asked about that.

so i happen to think bill clinton did a pretty good job as president. let's be clear. i happen to think trade agreements from nafta through tpp have been a disaster. nafta was pushed through by president clinton. i fought very hard against the deregulation of wall street. wall street put billions of dollars in order to get deregulated sewed that large insurance companies, and investor banks and commercial banks could be merged together. i thought that was a bad idea. that was whart of what the clinton administration was pushing. in terms of so-called welfare reform, that legislation ended up increasing extreme poverty in america. the poorest children in this country. i spoke out against that. i thought that was scapegoating some of the most vulnerable people in this country. overall, do i think clinton did a good job, i do. but those are three areas where i disagree with him. let me be very clear. if anybody thinks that a member of the united states senate or the united states house has to agree with somebody in his own

party who is president, well, you know, all of the time, that is not my understanding of the democracy. >> given that we harry reid in the audience, i think he knows how hard it is to herd people in your own party. i will grant you. it is time to get questions from the audience. so let's get started there. >> let me just if i might, just say there as i see harry reid, the people of nevada i believe are going to miss him for all of lis enormous accomplishments. [ applause ] as will the people of the united states. it is tough to be a democratic leader. we are progressives. you've got more conservative people. he's kept that coalition going. this country owes harry reid a real debt of gratitude. >> thank you. now, as we said, we have a about 350 people here.

full disclosure, each campaign got about 30 seats. there were about 40 people from the nevada democratic party. but mostly we went out and found people who were interested in the campaign and want to know more about each candidate. we're starting tonight with the topic of immigration. this is an undocumented 20-year-old who can legally stay in this country because of the president's executive action that holds kids available to stay in this country even though they were brought herer illegally to stay as long as they're working in or in school. they call themselves dreamers. he says he superiors clinton. what is your question? [ speaking foreign language ] >> senator bernie sanders, you stated in the past that the reason why you voted against immigration reform in 2007 was because it wasn't perfect. as president, would you veto our shot at immigration reform if it wasn't deemed perfect by you? >> well, i voted for immigration

reform in 2013 because it was a much better piece of legislation. i voted against the legislationing in 2007 in ingredient with groups like lulac, one of the large latino organizations in agreement with the aflcio for a number of reasons. i'll tell you one of them. included in that legislation was a guest worker provision which organizations saw as almost akinton slavery. guest workers came in. and if they didn't do what their bosses wanted them to do, if they didn't accept exploitation and cheating, then they're going to be thrown out of this country. and many of those workers were terribly, terribly exploited. and that was the major reason that i voted against that. i don't want to see workers in this country exploited. but i did vote for the 2013 -- and let me say this more importantly. i want to take 11 million undocumented people in this country out of the shadows.

out of the fear that they are experiencing every single day. i want congress to do its job under senator reid, we did pass comprehensive immigration reform. unfortunately, the house did not. as president, i will do everything that i can to pass immigration reform and a path toward citizenship for those who today are undocumented. >> even if it's not to your best liking. >> of course. look, it's not that i didn't think it was perfect. you know, it's not a question of being perfect. nothing is perfect. that was had particular egregious provisions in it. >> [ speaking foreign language ] >> and now i'd like to say hello to aurora. like so many millions of others, be she is part of a mixed status family that lives with the fear of deportation of a loved one. >> yes, my question to you, sir, if you become the president of the united states, what would you do about the bars?

my husband, i'm an american citizen. my girs are american citizens. my husband was here 18 years. i tried to bring him out of the shadows and i petitioned him and they gave him a ten-year bar. he's been in mexico doing his ten years, six years now we've been separated. my little girl was in kindergarten when he left. the one in the pink right there. >> how are you? >> and the other one was in middle school and now she's going to graduate high school this year and her dad is not here to see that. what would you do to bring my husband home. >> what you just described is unacceptable and should not be happening. my immigration policy is to unite families, not to divide families. when i was here in las vegas a couple of months ago, i heard a story, a young man who was in the united states military while he was in the united states military, his wife was deported. can you believe that.

>> yes. >> all right. clearly those are not the policies -- clearly those are not the pols that i want to see and i will change those policies. >> when you change, when you get there, how long would it take to change those policies? because i've been waiting six years out of my life. >> well, i can't -- we will use our executive office and power as much as we can hopefully we'll have the cooperation of the united states congress. >> thank you. >> he all right, we'll stick with the topic of immigration. wayne smith has another question on immigration. he happens to be a veteran. come on up. >> yeah, senator sanders. i'm here both as the vice chairman of the nevada democratic veterans and military families and as an undecided voter. we have become aware that you in the last 20 years there have been hundreds of veterans who have served honorably as legal u.s. residents in the military. after discharge, they ran afoul

of the law for possession of illegal drugs or another nonviolent crime. as a result, their legal status was revoked and they were deported. in many cases these veterans ended up in countries they left when small children often of unable to even speak the language. remember we're talking about veterans here who served our country and people that are comrades of mine in arms. is this policy fair and what would you do about it if you're elected president? >> well, i was the former chairman of the u.s. senate committee on veterans affairs. and in that capacity, i did all that i could to expand health care and provide the benefits that our veterans are entitled to. what you are describing to me seems to me to be an outrage. if people put their lives on the line to defend this country are willing to die for this country, i don't think you deport those people. >> senator, what is your line when it comes to who gets deported and who is not? >> i didn't hear that.

>> president obama has deported more folks than any president. >> yes. >> what is your criteria for deportation for folks here in this country undocumented and what is criminal? because some people think just being here undocumented. >> not for nonviolent type crimes. if somebody's a violent criminal, they should be deported. as i said, my own view is that our policy as a nation and what i believe is we should unite families not divide families. we should not be sending people back to a country that they could barely remember and a language they may not even be able to speak. >> how quickly will you get immigration reform done. >> it is a priority. it has to do with a little bit of cooperation from the congress. but it is a major priority. when you have 11 million people living in the shadows, i think we owe it to them to move as expeditiously as we can. if congress does not act, i will continue president obama's

efforts to use executive powers. >> senator, we're going to change the subject. my next question comes from taylor. he tells us he is supporting clinton but he has a question regarding your economic. >> anybody here supporting me? [ applause ] >> senator, don't worry. >> just wanted to make sure, chuck. you know. >> don't worry. we're just doing full disclosure here. >> go ahead. >> oftentimes you treat racial concerns as if they were economic ones saying reducing income inequality is the solution. how is creating jobs for low income earn ares going to stop a system of police brutality toward black americans a system of mass incarceration for black men or a poor education for the predominantly black cities across america. >> i would suggest you go to my website, bernie sanders.com which has a very, very extensive program regarding the issues that you talked about. let's talk about it. all right. we've got more people in jail

today in the united states of america than any other country on earth. 2.2 million people largely african-american and hispanic we're spending $80 billion a year to lock people up. make any sense to anybody? not to me. what do we have to do. >> a lot of things. is there a connection between economics and people ending up in jail? let me tell you something, today, do you know what the youth unemployment for african-american kids is? it is 51%. and sometimes kids get into trouble when they don't have jobs. we're going to invest in education and jobs, not more jails incarceration. number two -- [ applause ] >> number two, every person in this country i hope, black, white, latino,ing is disgusted when we turn on the television and we see videos of unarmed people often african-americans being shot. [ applause ]

>> okay? we need real police reform in this country. police departments are run by local departments. federal government can play a major role. so what we have got to do is make it clear throughout this country that if a police officer breaks the law like any other public official, that police officer will be held accountable. [ applause ] we very got to demilitarize local police departments so that he of they do not look like occupying armies. we have got to the make police departments look like the diversity of the communities that they are be. there is a whole lot that has to be done and i would love to continue the discussion. but please, we're in a campaign. and the secretary will say what they'll say. i was arrested when i was 22 years old at the university of chicago. you know what i was arrested for? fighting segregation.

so i have this issue. [ applause ] and i know nay date myself when i tell you that in 1963, i was there in washington for the march on washington for the march on washington for jobs and freedom with dr. martin luth are king. this has been something that i have felt strongly about my entire life. >> i want to follow up something you said last week. you said race relations would be better under a president sanders than they've been under president obama. why do you believe that. >> what i believe is president obama has made significant progress and we're going to build on that progress. we can always do better. the progress we can build on is to understand that we should not have the 35% of african-american kids in this country living in poverty. we should not have -- [ applause ] >> we need real police reform. we need to make sure that when

people are in jail, often african-american and latino, there is a path back, back to civil society. so that we don't have the race of recidivism that we do right now. we have got to do away with mandatory minimum sentences. and i'll give you one example where we can make huge progress. right now, it turns out that the african-american community and the white community smoke marijuana at about equal levels. okay? but it also turns out that blacks are four times more likely to be arrested than whites for possession of marijuana. okay? and that is why i believe that we should take marijuana out of the federal controlled substance act. too many lives have been destroyed, too many young people have incurred police records for possession of marijuana. >> all right, senator. thank you. we have a question now. go ahead from, sandra jimenez on the issue of feminism.

>> good evening, senator bernie sanders. my question is, do you consider yourself a feminist? if so, how do you as a white male understand the identities that people of colored face especially whether he entering high positions of power within business or government. >> i consider myself a strong feminist. and in fact, gloria steinem, everybody knows gloria is one of the leading feminists in america made me an honor woman many, many years ago. i don't know exactly what ha meant but i accepted it when she came to campaign for me. look, right now in this country, women are making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. minority women, women of color are making substantially less. african-american women are making 54 cents on the dollar. this is absurd. this has nothing to do with economics. it has everything to do with

sexism. i will fight as hard as i can. i work with harry reid. we have tried desperately to pass pay equity for women. i will continue that fight. [ applause ] >> senator, up next is cameron miller. he is a filmmaker who has a question about minimum wage. cameron, good to see you. >> thank you, thank you. i'm all about everyone making as much money as they possibly can. however, if we increase the minimum wage, how do we ensure that that cost isn't passed onto the consumer? >> okay. here's where we are right now. we have a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. that's where we are at. you could do the an ritmatic as well as i do. multiple that number by nine bucks an hour, 10 bucks an hour, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. you know what? you come up with a sum with an

incoming that nobody can live on and certainly cannot bring up a family on. all right? so here is my radical idea. are you ready for a radical idea? all right. [ applause ] my radical idea is that in america, if somebody works 40 hours a week that, person should not live in poverty. all right? that's the radical idea. i believe we should raise the minimum wage to a living wage and that is 15 bucks an hour over the next several years. [ applause ] and i am proud to tell you have i been on picket lines with fast food workers in washington, d.c. and elsewhere, and these people deserve an enormous amount of credit for their courage and we are making real progress. cities now like seattle, los angeles, san francisco, are beginning, have passed legislation to raise the minimum wage over a period of years to 15 bucks an lawyer. bottom line is in america today, we have massive levels of income

and wealth inequality. rich are getting much, much richer. top 20 wealthiest people in america now own more wealth than the bottom 508% of america, 150 million people. what my campaign is about is saying we are going og having an economy that works for working families and not just the top 1%. one part of that is to raise the minimum wage to a living wage, 15 bucks an hour. [ applause ] >> how do we ensure that once we increase that is to $15 an hour that, we're not creating a situation where those same people are now below the poverty line because prices are going to -- i would assume prices are going to increase. >> the truth is, yes, you may end up paying a few cents more for a hamburger at mcdonald's. but you will be, if you're that worker going from $8 or $10 to $15 an hour, you'll be a lot better off. i'll tell you something else.

we have 47 million people living in poverty today. we have people go to emergency food shelves who work 40 hours a week but are not earning enough money to provide for their family. when we put money into the hands of working people, you know what, they can go out and buy products. they can go shopping. when they do that, they create jobs. so instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires and thinking that's going to trickle on down, my view is you put money into the hands of working people who spend it and then create more jobs. >> thank you very much. [ applause ] senator, one question consequence from high schooler jess kaes who will be voting for ot first time this year. [ applause ] >> jessica? >> so my question to you is i'm a student. so i like how you want free education. but what is your plan top

possibly achieve this being that it would cost about $70 billion per year more than twice what the federal government spends on pel grants. >> excellent. >> wait, i'm not finished. >> oh. >> so would free college make higher education more efficient, more innovative and higher quality. >> i'm sorry, i didn't get the point of the last. >> so would free college make higher education more efficient, more innovative and higher quality? >> let me answer it in this way. okay, and this is something i feel very strongly about. 00, 150 years ago, very brave americans fought for the concept of free public education. and what they were saying is you know, working class kids, low income people, their kids have a

right to get free education, it shouldn't just be available to wealthy families. their kids shouldn't have to work in factories or on farms. huge achievement. what public education has been in this country from day one is saying free education for the first grade through grade 12. that's great. but you know what? the world has changed. today in 2016, in many respects, a college degree is the equivalent of what a high school degree was 50 or 60 years ago in terms of going out and getting a good job. i believe that today, when we talk about public education, it should include free tuition at public colleges and universities. that's what i believe. [ applause ] and why that is a revolutionary idea, my parents my dad came to this country from poland immigrated here, dropped out of

high school. mom never went to college. there are millions from kids in this country who today because of their economic circumstances never believed they're going to be able to make it to college. wla want is for every child in america regardless of the income of his or her family to know that if they study hard, take school seriously, yes, they will be able to get a college education. [ applause ] now, to answer you raised a very good question and your number was exactly right. the other thing that i want to the do is lower student debt in this country. millions of people are being crushed with high student debt. every place i go, $50,000, $100,000, $300,000 going to medical school. we are fighting for both of those provisions. now, you're right. it will cost $70 billion a year. that's a lot of money. a lot of money. how am i going to pay for it? tell you how i'm going to pay for it. when wall street's illegal

activities helped destroy this economy and lit the state of nevada probably harder than any other state in this country, you know what happened? congress bailed out the illegal behavior on wall street. well, you know what? wall street's doing okay now. i think we should impose a tax on wall street speculation. it is wall street's time to help the middle class of this country. that will raise all the money that we need. >> thank you. we are going to take a short break. whether he we come back, we're going to be talking about affordable health care and a whole lot more. [ speaking foreign language ] you show up. you stay up. you listen. you laugh. you worry. you do whatever it takes to take care of your family.

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this is a state, of course, where the unemployment rate for veterans is more than a third higher than the rate for veterans nationwide. i want to bring up vanessa. she served in iraq and is a member of the army reserves. she has a question for you. >> good evening, senator. now, veterans are always thanked for their service and all of the candidates say that they support veterans. but unfortunately, that support has not translated into jobs, and i would like to know how youal ensure that support translates into getting veterans hired and not only hired but getting them jobs that are commensurate with their skills and abilities. >> well, thank you very much. [ applause ] >> your point is well taken. everybody thanks the veterans but sometimes after they come home, we have a tendency to forget about them. and the struggles that they go through.

i was chairman of the veterans committee for two years. and in that capacity, passed in a bipartisan way the most comprehensive veterans health care legislation passed in the modern history of this country. and we also did some other things in that legislation. to answer your question, we've got to do a number of things. in other words, we have to give a priority in terms of federal employment. and second of all what we have to do which we don't do enough is people in the military develop a lot of really good skills. you know, whether it's driving a truck or being a paramedic. we have got to make sure that the skills that they have acquired in the military are transferable to the civil society. so when they walk in -- and that is not often the case. so in other words, in the civil society, you work three years, you know, and then you go to another job, you get credit for

those three years. often that's not the case in the military. so we've got to the prioritize making sure that the federal government and the private sector hire veterans who often, by the way are, very, very good workers. very good workers because of the discipline they have incurred in the military. there's a lot to be done, but the bottom line is when people put their lives on the line to defend us, we have got to protect them in every way that athletic. -- that we can. >> i want to stick with veterans issues here. it's a less than 10% of the population. here's veterans about half of them are enrolled in the va system. he has a question for you and we just learned today that he's a volunteer for the clinton campaign but i think the question is still relevant. >> thanks. thank you. senator sanders, your chairmanship of veterans affair committee in charge of oversight for va is arguably the most

important position and highest ranking you held in government. you were a major defender of va care despite seven plus ig reports of mismanagement. and my veterans on weight list. you went to call it a scandal by the koch brothers. we need someone who would fix the issue, now the ascribe the blame. if elected as president, how will you fix the va to insure me and my fellow veterans that we'll receive the care that we need. [ applause ] >> well, guess what, the koch brothers and many of their allies do precisely want to privatize the va. that's what they want to do. i believe along with the american legion, the vfq, the dav, vietnam vets and virtually all of the veterans organization that is a pretty bad idea because veterans have their own special health care needs based

on their service to this country. i will fight to protect and preserve the veterans administration. as it happened as i just mentioned, under my leadership, with the support of senator r d reid, we managed to pass the largest and most comprehensive can va health care legislation in the modern history of this country. approximately $17 billion. what we did is put billions of dollars into the va to precisely address the issue of waiting lists. now, it's good for some people to say well, there's a problem but we address the problem. why was there a waiting list. >> there was a waiting list in phoenix and many other parts of this country because there were not enough doctors and nurses, not enough medical personnel. and we addressed that issue when we addressed a flub of other educational issues. we brought many, many new health care facilities community-based outreach clinics around this country. so i apologize to nobody for my

work as chairman of the va. we made significant progress in improving health care and expediting benefits for the veterans of our country who deserve, by the way, the highest quality health care we can provide. >> thank you, senator. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> senator sanders, i want to turn top faisal suba, a doctor from there area who is here with his wife. he is kind enough, because he speaks five languages fluently which makes us bilinguals feel bad all of a sudden, he's kind enough to agree to do this in english mostly. how are you? >> that's good. that's very good. >> senator sanders, i'm a physician in town. and my wife does a lot of volunteer work in town. we try tirelessly to be humanity everyday. >> thank you. >> we are also proud peace loving american muslims. we're the parents of two

children. and we're very concerned about the safety of our children with the islamaphobia that's rampant right now, as you know. >> yes, i do. >> as president, how would you address isla ma poebia? >> bluntly and directly. you know, there country, this country's greatness relies on the reality that throughout our history, we have welcomed people into this country. as i mentioned my dad came from poland at the age of 17. people can disagree about immigration and immigration reform. i believe we need comprehensive immigration reform. taking people out of the shadows. but it is absolutely unacceptable to me that he in the year 2016, we have people

like donald trump and others who are trying to gain votes by scapegoating people ho may be muslims or people who may be latinos. that is unacceptable. [ applause ] this country -- this country has struggled too much for too many years. and by the way, i am appalled, you know, people can agree with barack obama. you can disagree with barack obama. but anybody who doesn't understand that the kind of obstructionism and hatred thrown at there man, the idea of making him a delegitimate president by suggesting he was not born in america because his dad came from kenya, no one asked me whether aim i citizen or not. my father came from poland. gee, what's the difference? maybe the color of our skin.

[ applause ] a ameso i promise you, you know, what moat have as me is what dr. martin luther king said. he said paraphrasing, we've got to judge people based on their character, not the color of the skin, not the country that they came from. that's the america we have got to fight for and all of us together have got to say no to zen know phobia and to racism and to bigotry of all forms. and by the way, thank you so much for being in our country, for practicing medicine. and for helping your fellow human beings. [ applause ] >> i want to, senator, i want to bring aiden tarr here. she's got a question about the two-party system. >> about the what? >> she's a high school student. is this your first time voting? >>. >> yes, it will be.

>> there you go. another first time voter. >> go ahead. >> seeing as it is nearly impossible for a third party candidate to be elected and the fact you had to switch from an independent to democratic to be considered as a legitimate candidate, since reformation of our party system has never been addressed by a presidential candidate, how would you suggest to reform our system and allow for other parties and ideas to be represented? >> well, i probably know more about that issue than any human being in the united states of america. [ applause ] >> you know, when i became mayor of the city of burlington, i will to take on democrats and republicans and so forth. your point is well taken. i chose to run proudly in the democratic primary and caucus process. and i look forward to winning that process. but clearly, as a nation, i think we flourish when there are

different ideas out there, when there are more differences of opinions. if you go to europe, for example, there are.many political parties. and what happens in this country is sometimes the two-party system makes it very, very difficult to get on the ballot. if you are a third party. and i think that that's wrong. i think we should welcome competition, welcome different ideas. and i think the two parties should be open to making sure that people have a fair shake if they want to run on another party. >> by the way, senator, i just want to show you, she really worked on this. she wrote it on a piece of paper. i was very impressed. >> let me just answer you if i might. as a nation when we talk about the political process, nobody in this room no matter who you're supporting should be proud that we have one of the lowest voter turnouts of any major nation on earth. nobody should be proud that we have republican governors and

legislatures who are working overtime trying to suppress the vote. we want to make it easier for people to vote, not harder for people to vote. which is what many republican governors are doing. [ applause ] >> thank you, senator. >> senator, if i could, kind of to piggy back off that question, by the way, i agree with you, chuck. a millenial using pen and paper is usual. >> old school. well done. >> senator, you have often talked of the need for a political revolution in the united states. >> yes. >> you're a democratic socialist. when some latinos hear those words, they think venezuela and cuba, chavez and castro brothers, 57 years of dictatorship. talk to the people who escaped those regimes today and hear you use those words and wonder exactly what you have in mind. >> sure. when i talk about democratic socialism, you know what i'm

talking about? social security. one of the most popular and important programs in this country developed by fdr to give dignity and security to seniors. and it has been enormously successful at reducing poverty among seniors. when i talk about democratic socialism, i am talking about medicare, a single pair health care system for the elderly. and in my view, we should expand that concept to all people. i believe that everybody in this country should be entitled to health care as a right and the most effective way to do it is through a medicare for all single pair program. when i talk about democratic socialism, i'm not looking at venezuela. i'm not looking at cuba. i'm looking at countries like denmark and sweden. and you know what goes on in those countries? all of the kids who have the ability and the desire go to college. and you know how much it coughs? it is free. they have child care systems which are outstanding.

they have public educational systems which are extremely strong. the retirement benefit inferiorer that elderly much better than they are in the united states. bottom line is, when i talk about democratic socialism what i mean is moving away from where we are right now. as a member of the senate, let me break the bad news to all of you. we have a congress right now the which is dominated by wall street and big money interests. the members of congress are not worried about the people making 9 bucks an hour. they're not worrying about the kids who can't conferred to go to college. they're not worrying about people who have no health insurance. that's not their worry. their worry is getting campaign contributions from very, very wealthy people and providing tax breaks for those who don't need it. [ applause ] so? one sense, jose, we're not talking about venezuela, we're not talking about cuba. we are talking about the concept

which i don't think is it a radical idea. of having a government which worksing to represent the needs of the middle class and working families rather than just the top 1%. >> senator, thank you. i want to introduce you to someone who speaks english and spanish but more comfortable in spanish. stheel ask the question in that language and i'll translate it into english for you. [ speaking foreign language ] >> you have expressed support for affordable child care but have you talked little about how

quality care is dependent on a strong workforce. what do you plan to do to strengthen the child care workforce with the wages they need to stay in the field and provide affordable care for parents and familieser from. >> wonderful. very important question which is very rarely discussed. every psychologist who studies the issue understands and has told us that the most important years of human development intellectually and emotionally is 0 through 4. in this country today, we have millions of working families, mom goes to work, dad goes to work. they don't make a whole lot of money. they are desperately searching for quality affordable child care and all over this country including my own state of vermont, it is hard to find. so to answer your question, number one, when we look at the

instructors, the educators who work with the little ones, you know what? their work is as important or more important than college professors. we have got to rethink how we deal and treat the youngest and most vulnerable among us. the idea that today, and i have talked to these workers, we have chald care worker who are making $8, 9 bucks an hour who have no health insurance who are not making a career of the important work they are doing. what other countries are doing and what we must do is say taking care confident littlest ones is one of our major priorities to do that, we need a well trained, well educated, and well paid workforce. and this means changing our national priorities. my republican colleagues want to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top .2 of 1%.

not me. i'm going to tax the wealthiest people and the largest corporations an we're going to use some of that money to provide quality child care for all working families and make sure that those who is work with the little kids are well paid and well trained. [ applause ] >> thank you. >> quick before i get to the next question, senator, i wanted to follow up on something. you were talking about the ingle pair, referred to single pair let care and talking about some of the european systems. a common complaint in those european systems has to do with wait times for treatment and for seeing specialists. how do you propose in your medicare for all system to not have americans have to deal with rationing of care? this is a common critique in canada and the uk in particular. >> whoa. let mens answer your question. you know, the insurance companies and the drug companies and their mouthpieces they go around and telling us how terrible health care is all over

the world. all these terrible waiting lines. and yet, when they do international studies, and they ask people how they think and how they feel about their health care system, you know what? the united states is often down below many of these countries are much higher levels. we are the only country in the industrialized world that doesn't guarantee health care to all people. i have been criticized for saying that let me say it again. i believe health care is a right of all people. i will fight for medicare for all single pair system. second of all, you want to talk about rationing? you got 29 million people in this country who have no health insurance. how is that for rationing? they can't go to the doctor. and then you've got even more who are under insured with high deductibles and high copayments. i have talked to doctors who have told me that people walk in the door extremely sick and the doctors say, why didn't you come in here six months ago when you

first felt your symptoms? and people said, i will no health insurance. or i had a high deductible. chuck, some of those people die or they end up in the hospital. you want to talk about rationing, that's rationing. to answer your question, we spend almost three times more per person than the people in the uk, 50% more than the people in france. we can't have a world class health care system without waiting lines spending the same amount of money we're spending right now. >> with all due respect, the va which is a system. >> the va which is a system that is designed to essentially be universal health care for veterans had wait times. had a rationing situation. i know you tried to correct that. we just had an experiment which we got, how do you guarantee that your plan isn't going to experience the same problem. >> i've just indicated to you, if for example, there are systems, you're right, where if you needed a knee replace the or

something like that, you might have to wait for that. but when you're sick, you go into the doctor when you need to go. my point is, chuck, there's massive rationing in america. it is rationing based on money. if you don't have money and you don't have insurance and you don't have -- you have a high deductible and you don't go to the doctor when you should, one out of five americans today cannot afford the prescription drugs their doctors write. what do you define that as? other countries around the world make sure that the people have the medicine they need. when one out of five people can't afford those prescriptions, man i call that rationing. we can do a lot better than we're currently doing. >> thank you, senator. let me introduce you, i'm going to introduce you to mr. anderson. talk about an issue that's pretty important to a lot of people out west, land issues. mr. anderson. >> first of all, very honored to be here and go ahead and present

this question to you. but under obama, there has been areas here that's been designated as national monuments and at this point, my people the southern pie you'ds we're trying to work to get gold beauty as a national monument, too. >> okay. >> and there's a lot of recent issues that came up here and what i want to ask is that there are those who is oppose the american people's ownership of public lands. and would see those lands sold to private interests. as president, how would you ensure that our public lands remain in public hands and preserve our heritage and lives by stopping corporations from destroying mother earth? >> absolutely. [ applause ] >> i don't have to explain to you or i hope anybody in this room or anybody watching the outrageous way and unfair way that governments have treated native americans from day one.

it is a disgrace. number two, i will, you know, you're raising issues in terms of extraction of fos till fuels for example, i believe that climate change is one of the great challenges facing this planet. and wla have introduced legislation to do by the way, is to say that we will not extract fossil fuels in the future from any public lands. number three, i understand that it is absolutely important that the federal government do much more than it is now doing to work with the native american he community in preserving their heritage and their way of life. and i will do everything i can do bringing that about. thank you. [ applause ] >> jose. >> senator, say hello to alex turner. >> hello, sir. >> i got this alex. go ahead. >> the u.s. visa program are currently in the spotlight as a possible hope land security risk and before that it was a concern

it was being used to traffic young women from foreign countries. what measures do you intend to take to ensure that this program isn't used to attack the >> human trafficking, taking girls or young boys and doing something horrible with them is something we have to do everything we can to stop and i will do everything i can to stop it. in terms of making sure as i understand your question that people do not come into this country -- let me back up and say that i believe given the humanitarian crisis in syria and the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan that the united states and the rest of the world have got to make sure that refugees can get their lives together and that we should welcome those people in the united states, along with other countries around the world, but