Funding for To the Contrary provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation the Park Foundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation This week on To the Contrary.

I believe that progress in this country has never been linear.

It is often two steps forward and one step back.

And there is no question that on issues like reproductive rights, on LGBTQ equality, we're in that one step back.

(MUSIC) Hello, I'm Bonnie Erbe' Welcome to To the Contrary, a discussion of views and social trends from diverse perspectives.

This week, Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride.

As the first openly transgender state senator in the country, Sarah McBride has broken barriers and championed progressive causes throughout her career.

Now she aims to break yet another barrier and become the first only transgender member of Congress with a dedication to social justice, workers rights and the LGBTQ plus community.

She has inspired individuals across the nation.

Today, we have the honor of introducing you to or interest introducing you to again, Sarah McBride.

Welcome, Sarah.

Thanks so much for having me again.

Bonnie, It's great to see you.

So I was just talking about overcoming obstacles and recently with the successes statewide and otherwise of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party.

Which of your newest obstacles you kind of go after first?

As you mentioned, this is a critical moment for our country and for so many communities that I'm a part of.

As a trans person.

We are facing an unprecedented attack on trans equals rights as a Delawareans, the lowest lying state in the country.

The existential threat of climate change pose a unique poses a unique risk to Delaware as an American.

The threats we're facing against our democracy here at home and unfortunately around the world create real challenges.

So there's a lot of work to do.

But that's one of the reasons why I'm running for Congress, because I believe at this moment, too much is on the line for us to sit back and to not not really put forward those who are thoughtful and effective in delivering real progress and meeting the scope and the scale of the challenges we face.

Well, but seriously, where do you start first?

Assuming you win, assuming you win your seat, what is going to be your number one priority?

Is it reversing setbacks for the LGBTQ community?

Is it getting more funding for Ukraine so that Putin doesn't start taking all of the former Soviet republics back under his dictatorship?

You tell me.

Well, as you mentioned, there are a lot of challenges that we're facing.

But for me, one of the reasons why I ran for the state Senate, one of the reasons why I'm running for Congress, is because as someone who served as a caregiver to my husband, Andy, during his battle with terminal cancer, I saw that government has to work better for workers and families when hard times hit.

So while we're facing the existential threat of climate change and that certainly needs to be a priority, I was actually just at a bill signing this week for legislation that I introduced helping to move Delaware toward greener technologies.

While that's an existential threat, while the threats to democracy are very real and present, and while the threats to the LGBTQ community persist around the country, I think for me, the number one reason why I'm running is to build out the kind of support system that people need in their everyday lives.

So that means affordable early childhood education.

It means paid family and medical leave.

It means home care and elder care.

It means the kinds of policies that while they don't stop all loss or eliminate all pain, they do make life a little bit easier for people through the inevitable joys and hardships of life.

Those policies were part of what was called the Build Back Better Act.

Unfortunately, as that legislation moved forward and negotiations occurred for what became the Inflation Reduction Act, those investments in our care economy, those policies that fill holes in our social safety net, they were left on the negotiating room floor.

Those will be the priorities that I have when I go to Congress, just as they've been my priorities in the Delaware State Senate.

And tell me how you do that in a time of record debt.

You know, debt and the deficit, of course, which contributes to the debt.

But at a time when a lot of people, not just Republicans, but some Democrats, too, are worried about fiscal responsibility and trimming back on government programs as opposed to expanding them.

First off, I don't want to take lectures from anyone who's voting for the largest tax cut for wealthy Americans in modern history when the Republicans voted for the Trump tax cuts.

Of course, we've got defense spending that spends in a day what we might spend in a year.

to afford people paid family and medical leave.

And so I'm tired of people only getting concerned about the costs of policies when they actually help workers and families and everyday people.

And we also know that these policies we're talking about affordable early childhood education, paid family and medical leave, home care and elder care.

They're investments.

They actually save costs in the long run by investing in children, by investing in families, by investing in opportunity, by investing in care at people's homes.

We know that when we make these investments, they don't just leave people better off and healthier.

They actually lower costs in the long run.

That's why government needs to do not just spend on these policies.

We need to invest smarter, and that's what these policies would represent.

Where would you cut if you, you know, to to balance?

I mean, there is a there Nancy Pelosi started something in the House about, you know, no cuts with no additions to the budget without cuts somewhere else.

Where would you cut?

You know, the build back better act that the president was putting forward would have paid for the types of policies that I've just articulated by, you know, closing loopholes in the tax system, by repealing elements of of tax cuts that have favored the wealthy in recent years.

There are ways where we can make smart investments while also cutting costs in ways that favor the wealthy and those who don't need a break from government.

And if we do that, then we'll be able to put forward and implement these policies without adding to the debt.

The president was proposing that with Build Back Better, we had that in front of us.

We can once again bring that forward and do it on these policies come 2025.

And tell me you're from Delaware, the president's from Delaware.

You've known him for an awfully long time.

Tell me about your relationship with him and how that will help you get elected to the House.

Sure.

Well, I'm proud to be a "Delawarean" and one of the many blessings of being a "Delawarean" is I grew up with Joe Biden as my senator, I got a chance to meet him at a very young age because Delaware so small.

But then also I got to know him through working for his son, Beau, our late attorney general.

I worked for Beau in 2006 and 2010 and developed not just a great working relationship with Beau, but really a friendship.

And he became a mentor to me, as I'm sure people who are watching know, Beau passed away from cancer in 2015, and my relationship with President Biden deepened after the loss of his son and and the loss of a good friend of mine.

In many ways, Joe Biden's carried on Beau's legacy, a legacy that included leadership on LGBTQ equality policies that I worked with Beau to push forward in Delaware.

The president has picked up that legacy and carried it forward, and I've had the opportunity to collaborate with the president on issues of equality and basic human rights over the last several years, including when he wrote the foreword to my book.

Tomorrow will be different.

And so I am really eager to continue to work with this president on all of the issues that matter to Delawareans, not just LGBTQ equality, but the issues we've mentioned early childhood education, gun safety, reproductive rights, you name it.

I think the president's focused on running for reelection right now, but I'm certainly proud to be running as a Biden Democrat here in Delaware.

Do you think he is getting too much criticism about his age?

I think that you only need to look at this president's first three years in office to see the the energy, the creativity, the determination he brings to the job.

When he ran for president in 2020, people thought it was impossible for any president to be able to deliver bold change in a way that brings people together.

People thought it was just too difficult.

The odds were stacked against any kind of meaningful progress, particularly meaningful progress that was brought in a bipartisan way.

But in this president's first term, we've seen the largest investment in infrastructure since the 1950s passed on a bipartisan basis.

We saw the most significant gun safety package since the 1990s, passed on a bipartisan basis.

Yes.

He's also gotten some things done with just the votes of Democrats, like the most significant investment in combating climate change in our nation's history.

He's gotten a lot done.

And he's only gotten that done because he has an energy and a creativity that we need in a president.

And that's why I'm really excited to vote for him in 2024 and to watch him win reelection and continue to lead with that kind of energy.

And are you going to be singing from the rafters, as they say, his praises because this president is a statesman.

He's not Donald Trump.

You know, a guy who got rich by screaming on television at people and being angry and dictatorial.

Do you think his personality sometimes keeps him from getting the credit that he deserves for everything he has done?

I read somewhere this has been the most productive presidency.

Maybe going back to FDR, certainly LBJ, with major new legislation having been passed.

And who knows that in this country, nobody.

Look, this president is a workhorse.

This president's been focused on delivering results.

But I think people are already starting to experience the benefits of these policies.

We're seeing jobs come back to the United States due to legislation like the PACT Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

We're seeing inflation come down after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

We're seeing crime drop after passage of policies like the gun safety measures that he put forward and signed into law.

We're seeing jobs grow.

We're seeing costs decrease.

And I think that people are starting to feel that in their everyday lives.

And I think over the course of the next year, as we lead into November 2024, people are only going to feel that more deeply.

And I don't think that there is any better sales pitch for this president's reelection than people continuing to feel the benefits of the policies that he's championed and delivered.

And I think that will grow in the next year or two.

But do you sometimes wish that he would get out there and be more aggressive about touting his accomplishments?

Well, I.

Think this president's been been very aggressive in touting his accomplishments, sharing his accomplishments.

Look, I think there is time for an election and this president's busy governing.

But come 2024, this president will be running for reelection.

There's gonna be plenty of time for him to share the story of this administration, to talk about his record and again, that much more time for people to feel it in their everyday lives, which they're already feeling and will only continue to increasingly feel in the months ahead.

What do you think about Kamala Harris as a running mate?

Is she?

There was a lot of criticism of her after she they were first elected that she didn't have the chops, the ability, the experience to be an effective VP.

And of course, throughout at least the last century of American history, the VP's job has been to shut up and stand back and wait till when and if the president's heart stops beating, as they say, a heartbeat away in a tragic situation like that, or to go ahead and run when the person who is the president fills out two terms and retires.

Do you think she she as his running mate, especially with people, you know, whether it's merited or not, a lot of Americans worry about his age, especially with people having that worry.

Do you think she will help bolster confidence that even if something did happen to him?

Well, I was proud to cast my vote for the history making ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020.

I'll be just as proud, if not prouder, to cast my ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2024.

First off, Joe Biden is in excellent health.

Joe Biden has the energy to run into his second term and continue to deliver the kind of change he's delivered in his first term.

What I would say about Kamala Harris is she was the attorney.

She was she was a prosecutor in San Francisco.

She was the attorney general of the largest state in our country, population wise.

She was a senator representing that state, which has an economy larger than most countries around the world, I think.

I think it's the fifth largest in the.

Fifth largest economy in the world.

That is experience that that few have ever brought to the vice presidency, let alone the presidency itself.

And I think, as you mentioned, the vice presidency is a role where increasingly now you're the last person in the room providing advice to the president.

You're there to champion the policies and agenda of the administration.

But it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't.

And she's being held to an impossible standard, one that previous vice presidents haven't been held to, because if she was out there putting herself center stage, she'd get criticism for that.

And when she's performing the functions of the vice presidency with loyalty, with diligence, with determination, she's getting criticized for that because she's then not out there enough for for people to see her center stage.

And so she's really held to just an impossible standard, which unfortunately shouldn't be surprising in our society.

But she's been an excellent vice president, a hardworking, loyal, thoughtful vice president who's cast more tiebreaking votes than I think any vice president ever, at least in the last 150 years.

And she's she's tackled issues from reproductive rights to international relations that have really, really, really, really increased in stakes.

And she's done it with a level of thoughtfulness and grace that I think is is reflective of her entire career.

And I'm looking forward to voting for her again.

And I think she was the right choice in 2020.

She certainly the right choice again.

And I think that our administration will not just win at the ballot box, but continue to collaboratively lead this nation forward.

One of the demographics that she has been asked to pursue and help the president win the votes is of young people.

Their biggest issue, according to pollsters, is climate change.

What do you think she needs to do to get young Americans out there and to the polls?

A lot of them are discouraged.

They don't tend to understand politics as much as people a decade or two out of school do.

They haven't followed it as long.

So what's the message to young people?

And this president has, quite frankly, done a lot more on the environment than any other president, including, of course, Bill Clinton in the nineties, who didn't even sign the I believe it was the Paris Accords that would have made the U.S. part of a global effort to control climate change.

How did what has he done that she should be touting that people don't know enough about?

It's an excellent point that this president has done more to advance green jobs, green technologies and renewable energy to combat climate change than any president in history.

And there is no better example of that than the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the largest investment in combating climate change in our country's history.

We know that the existential threat of climate change is real and that time is of the essence, and we've got to think big and deliver big on this issue, which is exactly what this president's done.

And I think as the Inflation Reduction Act continues to get implemented, as we start to see the kinds of investments with our own eyes in renewable energy and electric vehicles and green technologies that that Bill invests in, we will be able to have a story to tell and and a record to celebrate that will mobilize young people.

In addition to climate change, this president's led on other issues that are passionate, that young people are passionate about, like gun safety.

He's, of course, sought to lower the cost of college by forgiving the first several thousand dollars in student loan debt this president has led has listened to young people and led on the issues that matter to young people.

And he's delivered.

And when he's when and when he's delivered, yes, he's faced obstacles by the right wing stacked Supreme Court by Congress.

But he is doing everything within his power and has got a lot more done than anyone anticipated three years ago.

Do you believe that we've passed the point of no return, as many scientists internationally do, that all of this foot dragging for now, some would say 20, some would say 40 years has gotten the earth to the point where Antarctica is melting, the North Pole is melting there.

The sea levels are rising, the water's getting warmer.

There's more water land underwater now, and the United Nations says that there are more than a million people around the globe who are so-called climate refugees who have to leave their homes because their homes don't exist anymore.

They're underwater or they've been destroyed by floods or mountains.

You know, rock slides down mountains, etc., etc.. Do you think we can come back from this?

There's no question that we have lost valuable time.

And with the loss of valuable time, as we've seen climate change continue to increase as as a problem.

We are seeing effects of climate change that if we had acted earlier and acted more meaningfully earlier, we would not have seen.

But we can't let the failures of the past result in a nihilism that prevents us from taking action now or in the future.

This isn't a switch, and we know that we have within our power the ability to pass policies, including some that we've already passed and more hopefully that we will pass that stifle the kinds of growth and temperatures kind of climate change that will only worsen the problems we're facing if we can prevent temperatures rising, you know, a fraction of a degree that reflects millions of people who aren't forced out of their homes and out of their communities and forced into migration that represents millions of acres of habitable land that people will continue to be able to live in and cultivate.

We can't lose sight.

We can't let the failures of the past and a sense of defeatism and nihilism keep us from saving the homes and ultimately the lives of millions of people.

Just because people in the past failed to act.

And there are consequences today.

20 plus states have enacted anything from outright bans to serious restrictions on abortion rights.

As we mentioned earlier, Kamala Harris is going to be out there campaigning on those issues about which she is passionate.

President Biden, who's done more, I think, for women than, you know, in terms of women in his cabinet, etc., etc.. Women on the Supreme Court than any predecessor.

What should their message be?

One, we have seen that the Dobbs decision woke a giant and we know that the public is on our side, that the public is pro-choice, that this country is pro-choice.

And we've seen and in referenda and in elections in both blue states and deep red states are pro-choice candidates.

When and of course, pro-choice ballot measures win or anti-choice ballot measures be defeated.

And we also know that elections have consequences.

Unfortunately, the 2016 election had a consequence, and that was that the Republicans continued to steal and pack, steal seats and pack the Supreme Court.

We have the opportunity in 2024 to reelect a pro-choice administration, to retain a pro-choice majority in the Senate and to elect a pro-choice majority in the House.

And I believe we're close to the votes necessary to remove the filibuster and potentially have the capacity to pass pro-choice laws at the federal level, including legislation codifying the right to choose under federal law, much like we've done here in Delaware.

We in 2017, the Delaware General Assembly passed when the governor signed legislation codifying the right to choose in our state, even before Dobbs because we saw what was on the horizon here in our state.

But what I would also say is when we vote in 2024, we're not just voting for a president.

We're not just voting for senators and members of Congress.

We're voting for governors and state legislators.

We're voting for city council members and mayors.

We're voting for elected officials who, even if the federal government fails to act, can and already are stepping up to act.

We're voting for in some states, Supreme Court justices that can protect the right to choose.

So even if we don't see progress at the federal level, we are seeing progress at the state level to codify the right to choose, to protect the right to choose to expand access to abortion care.

That's something we've done in the Delaware General Assembly over the last year.

And so your vote matters.

Your vote has consequence.

But, you know, overturning the filibuster requires a 60 vote majority.

It's now 51-49 in the Senate.

Do you really think the Democrats will pick up eight or nine more seats in the U.S. Senate?

You don't need 60 votes to take away the filibuster.

The filibuster is adopted by the rules package at the beginning of Congress that only has to pass with a simple majority.

And so when we passed by the Senate passes that rules package, including the filibuster, yes, that creates a 60 vote threshold moving forward.

But they can amend the rules of the Senate by a simple majority.

And there is a growing number of senators who recognize that the filibuster is an anachronistic policy that has become abused over the last several decades.

And that, frankly, let me just say this the filibuster poses a risk to our democracy because democracy falters when government can no longer efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the people.

And when policy isn't able to be adopted, that the overwhelming majority of Americans want because of a single rule in a single body.

People become frustrated or they give up hope.

And when people give up hope, then that's when authoritarians can rise.

And so I truly believe that making government work more efficiently and effectively for people is a critical part of protecting our democracy, in addition to protecting our rights like reproductive rights.

And I think the filibuster, unfortunately, is a is a is a holdover from a bygone era that's ready for the dustbin of history.

It took the Republicans 50 years, just about to the day or to the year to overturn Roe v Wade.

Do you see a day in your lifetime when it will the Supreme Court will affirm a federal right to abortion again?

I was just going to say again, Yes, Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

I believe that progress in this country has never been linear.

It is often two steps forward and one step back.

And there is no question that on issues like reproductive rights, on LGBTQ equality, we're in that one step back.

I believe that if we continue to work for it, if we continue to fight for it, if we continue to summon hope, while right now we might not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I believe that if we continue to walk forward together, we'll find that light and we'll deliver the change that we still so desperately need.

And that includes restoring the right to choose.

We have the capacity to do it.

I believe in my lifetime.

we'll do it.

Thank you so much for joining us, Sarah McBride.

That's it for this edition.

Please join us on our various platforms for social media.

At.

To the contrary, please visit our website, which is on the screen.

And thank you so much for joining us.

And if you agree or if you don't agree.

Next time.

Think to the contrary and we'll see you then.

Funding for To the contrary provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation The Park Foundation.

And the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation Funding for To the Contrary provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation the Park Foundation and the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation This week on To the Contrary.

I believe that progress in this country has never been linear.

It is often two steps forward and one step back.

And there is no question that on issues like reproductive rights, on LGBTQ equality, we're in that one step back.

(MUSIC) Hello, I'm Bonnie Erbe' Welcome to To the Contrary, a discussion of views and social trends from diverse perspectives.

This week, Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride.

As the first openly transgender state senator in the country, Sarah McBride has broken barriers and championed progressive causes throughout her career.

Now she aims to break yet another barrier and become the first only transgender member of Congress with a dedication to social justice, workers rights and the LGBTQ plus community.

She has inspired individuals across the nation.

Today, we have the honor of introducing you to or interest introducing you to again, Sarah McBride.

Welcome, Sarah.

Thanks so much for having me again.

Bonnie, It's great to see you.

So I was just talking about overcoming obstacles and recently with the successes statewide and otherwise of the extreme right wing of the Republican Party.

Which of your newest obstacles you kind of go after first?

As you mentioned, this is a critical moment for our country and for so many communities that I'm a part of.

As a trans person.

We are facing an unprecedented attack on trans equals rights as a Delawareans, the lowest lying state in the country.

The existential threat of climate change pose a unique poses a unique risk to Delaware as an American.

The threats we're facing against our democracy here at home and unfortunately around the world create real challenges.

So there's a lot of work to do.

But that's one of the reasons why I'm running for Congress, because I believe at this moment, too much is on the line for us to sit back and to not not really put forward those who are thoughtful and effective in delivering real progress and meeting the scope and the scale of the challenges we face.

Well, but seriously, where do you start first?

Assuming you win, assuming you win your seat, what is going to be your number one priority?

Is it reversing setbacks for the LGBTQ community?

Is it getting more funding for Ukraine so that Putin doesn't start taking all of the former Soviet republics back under his dictatorship?

You tell me.

Well, as you mentioned, there are a lot of challenges that we're facing.

But for me, one of the reasons why I ran for the state Senate, one of the reasons why I'm running for Congress, is because as someone who served as a caregiver to my husband, Andy, during his battle with terminal cancer, I saw that government has to work better for workers and families when hard times hit.

So while we're facing the existential threat of climate change and that certainly needs to be a priority, I was actually just at a bill signing this week for legislation that I introduced helping to move Delaware toward greener technologies.

While that's an existential threat, while the threats to democracy are very real and present, and while the threats to the LGBTQ community persist around the country, I think for me, the number one reason why I'm running is to build out the kind of support system that people need in their everyday lives.

So that means affordable early childhood education.

It means paid family and medical leave.

It means home care and elder care.

It means the kinds of policies that while they don't stop all loss or eliminate all pain, they do make life a little bit easier for people through the inevitable joys and hardships of life.

Those policies were part of what was called the Build Back Better Act.

Unfortunately, as that legislation moved forward and negotiations occurred for what became the Inflation Reduction Act, those investments in our care economy, those policies that fill holes in our social safety net, they were left on the negotiating room floor.

Those will be the priorities that I have when I go to Congress, just as they've been my priorities in the Delaware State Senate.

And tell me how you do that in a time of record debt.

You know, debt and the deficit, of course, which contributes to the debt.

But at a time when a lot of people, not just Republicans, but some Democrats, too, are worried about fiscal responsibility and trimming back on government programs as opposed to expanding them.

First off, I don't want to take lectures from anyone who's voting for the largest tax cut for wealthy Americans in modern history when the Republicans voted for the Trump tax cuts.

Of course, we've got defense spending that spends in a day what we might spend in a year.

to afford people paid family and medical leave.

And so I'm tired of people only getting concerned about the costs of policies when they actually help workers and families and everyday people.

And we also know that these policies we're talking about affordable early childhood education, paid family and medical leave, home care and elder care.

They're investments.

They actually save costs in the long run by investing in children, by investing in families, by investing in opportunity, by investing in care at people's homes.

We know that when we make these investments, they don't just leave people better off and healthier.

They actually lower costs in the long run.

That's why government needs to do not just spend on these policies.

We need to invest smarter, and that's what these policies would represent.

Where would you cut if you, you know, to to balance?

I mean, there is a there Nancy Pelosi started something in the House about, you know, no cuts with no additions to the budget without cuts somewhere else.

Where would you cut?

You know, the build back better act that the president was putting forward would have paid for the types of policies that I've just articulated by, you know, closing loopholes in the tax system, by repealing elements of of tax cuts that have favored the wealthy in recent years.

There are ways where we can make smart investments while also cutting costs in ways that favor the wealthy and those who don't need a break from government.

And if we do that, then we'll be able to put forward and implement these policies without adding to the debt.

The president was proposing that with Build Back Better, we had that in front of us.

We can once again bring that forward and do it on these policies come 2025.

And tell me you're from Delaware, the president's from Delaware.

You've known him for an awfully long time.

Tell me about your relationship with him and how that will help you get elected to the House.

Sure.

Well, I'm proud to be a "Delawarean" and one of the many blessings of being a "Delawarean" is I grew up with Joe Biden as my senator, I got a chance to meet him at a very young age because Delaware so small.

But then also I got to know him through working for his son, Beau, our late attorney general.

I worked for Beau in 2006 and 2010 and developed not just a great working relationship with Beau, but really a friendship.

And he became a mentor to me, as I'm sure people who are watching know, Beau passed away from cancer in 2015, and my relationship with President Biden deepened after the loss of his son and and the loss of a good friend of mine.

In many ways, Joe Biden's carried on Beau's legacy, a legacy that included leadership on LGBTQ equality policies that I worked with Beau to push forward in Delaware.

The president has picked up that legacy and carried it forward, and I've had the opportunity to collaborate with the president on issues of equality and basic human rights over the last several years, including when he wrote the foreword to my book.

Tomorrow will be different.

And so I am really eager to continue to work with this president on all of the issues that matter to Delawareans, not just LGBTQ equality, but the issues we've mentioned early childhood education, gun safety, reproductive rights, you name it.

I think the president's focused on running for reelection right now, but I'm certainly proud to be running as a Biden Democrat here in Delaware.

Do you think he is getting too much criticism about his age?

I think that you only need to look at this president's first three years in office to see the the energy, the creativity, the determination he brings to the job.

When he ran for president in 2020, people thought it was impossible for any president to be able to deliver bold change in a way that brings people together.

People thought it was just too difficult.

The odds were stacked against any kind of meaningful progress, particularly meaningful progress that was brought in a bipartisan way.

But in this president's first term, we've seen the largest investment in infrastructure since the 1950s passed on a bipartisan basis.

We saw the most significant gun safety package since the 1990s, passed on a bipartisan basis.

Yes.

He's also gotten some things done with just the votes of Democrats, like the most significant investment in combating climate change in our nation's history.

He's gotten a lot done.

And he's only gotten that done because he has an energy and a creativity that we need in a president.

And that's why I'm really excited to vote for him in 2024 and to watch him win reelection and continue to lead with that kind of energy.

And are you going to be singing from the rafters, as they say, his praises because this president is a statesman.

He's not Donald Trump.

You know, a guy who got rich by screaming on television at people and being angry and dictatorial.

Do you think his personality sometimes keeps him from getting the credit that he deserves for everything he has done?

I read somewhere this has been the most productive presidency.

Maybe going back to FDR, certainly LBJ, with major new legislation having been passed.

And who knows that in this country, nobody.

Look, this president is a workhorse.

This president's been focused on delivering results.

But I think people are already starting to experience the benefits of these policies.

We're seeing jobs come back to the United States due to legislation like the PACT Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

We're seeing inflation come down after passage of the Inflation Reduction Act.

We're seeing crime drop after passage of policies like the gun safety measures that he put forward and signed into law.

We're seeing jobs grow.

We're seeing costs decrease.

And I think that people are starting to feel that in their everyday lives.

And I think over the course of the next year, as we lead into November 2024, people are only going to feel that more deeply.

And I don't think that there is any better sales pitch for this president's reelection than people continuing to feel the benefits of the policies that he's championed and delivered.

And I think that will grow in the next year or two.

But do you sometimes wish that he would get out there and be more aggressive about touting his accomplishments?

Well, I.

Think this president's been been very aggressive in touting his accomplishments, sharing his accomplishments.

Look, I think there is time for an election and this president's busy governing.

But come 2024, this president will be running for reelection.

There's gonna be plenty of time for him to share the story of this administration, to talk about his record and again, that much more time for people to feel it in their everyday lives, which they're already feeling and will only continue to increasingly feel in the months ahead.

What do you think about Kamala Harris as a running mate?

Is she?

There was a lot of criticism of her after she they were first elected that she didn't have the chops, the ability, the experience to be an effective VP.

And of course, throughout at least the last century of American history, the VP's job has been to shut up and stand back and wait till when and if the president's heart stops beating, as they say, a heartbeat away in a tragic situation like that, or to go ahead and run when the person who is the president fills out two terms and retires.

Do you think she she as his running mate, especially with people, you know, whether it's merited or not, a lot of Americans worry about his age, especially with people having that worry.

Do you think she will help bolster confidence that even if something did happen to him?

Well, I was proud to cast my vote for the history making ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020.

I'll be just as proud, if not prouder, to cast my ballot for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2024.

First off, Joe Biden is in excellent health.

Joe Biden has the energy to run into his second term and continue to deliver the kind of change he's delivered in his first term.

What I would say about Kamala Harris is she was the attorney.

She was she was a prosecutor in San Francisco.

She was the attorney general of the largest state in our country, population wise.

She was a senator representing that state, which has an economy larger than most countries around the world, I think.

I think it's the fifth largest in the.

Fifth largest economy in the world.

That is experience that that few have ever brought to the vice presidency, let alone the presidency itself.

And I think, as you mentioned, the vice presidency is a role where increasingly now you're the last person in the room providing advice to the president.

You're there to champion the policies and agenda of the administration.

But it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't.

And she's being held to an impossible standard, one that previous vice presidents haven't been held to, because if she was out there putting herself center stage, she'd get criticism for that.

And when she's performing the functions of the vice presidency with loyalty, with diligence, with determination, she's getting criticized for that because she's then not out there enough for for people to see her center stage.

And so she's really held to just an impossible standard, which unfortunately shouldn't be surprising in our society.

But she's been an excellent vice president, a hardworking, loyal, thoughtful vice president who's cast more tiebreaking votes than I think any vice president ever, at least in the last 150 years.

And she's she's tackled issues from reproductive rights to international relations that have really, really, really, really increased in stakes.

And she's done it with a level of thoughtfulness and grace that I think is is reflective of her entire career.

And I'm looking forward to voting for her again.

And I think she was the right choice in 2020.

She certainly the right choice again.

And I think that our administration will not just win at the ballot box, but continue to collaboratively lead this nation forward.

One of the demographics that she has been asked to pursue and help the president win the votes is of young people.

Their biggest issue, according to pollsters, is climate change.

What do you think she needs to do to get young Americans out there and to the polls?

A lot of them are discouraged.

They don't tend to understand politics as much as people a decade or two out of school do.

They haven't followed it as long.

So what's the message to young people?

And this president has, quite frankly, done a lot more on the environment than any other president, including, of course, Bill Clinton in the nineties, who didn't even sign the I believe it was the Paris Accords that would have made the U.S. part of a global effort to control climate change.

How did what has he done that she should be touting that people don't know enough about?

It's an excellent point that this president has done more to advance green jobs, green technologies and renewable energy to combat climate change than any president in history.

And there is no better example of that than the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the largest investment in combating climate change in our country's history.

We know that the existential threat of climate change is real and that time is of the essence, and we've got to think big and deliver big on this issue, which is exactly what this president's done.

And I think as the Inflation Reduction Act continues to get implemented, as we start to see the kinds of investments with our own eyes in renewable energy and electric vehicles and green technologies that that Bill invests in, we will be able to have a story to tell and and a record to celebrate that will mobilize young people.

In addition to climate change, this president's led on other issues that are passionate, that young people are passionate about, like gun safety.

He's, of course, sought to lower the cost of college by forgiving the first several thousand dollars in student loan debt this president has led has listened to young people and led on the issues that matter to young people.

And he's delivered.

And when he's when and when he's delivered, yes, he's faced obstacles by the right wing stacked Supreme Court by Congress.

But he is doing everything within his power and has got a lot more done than anyone anticipated three years ago.

Do you believe that we've passed the point of no return, as many scientists internationally do, that all of this foot dragging for now, some would say 20, some would say 40 years has gotten the earth to the point where Antarctica is melting, the North Pole is melting there.

The sea levels are rising, the water's getting warmer.

There's more water land underwater now, and the United Nations says that there are more than a million people around the globe who are so-called climate refugees who have to leave their homes because their homes don't exist anymore.

They're underwater or they've been destroyed by floods or mountains.

You know, rock slides down mountains, etc., etc.. Do you think we can come back from this?

There's no question that we have lost valuable time.

And with the loss of valuable time, as we've seen climate change continue to increase as as a problem.

We are seeing effects of climate change that if we had acted earlier and acted more meaningfully earlier, we would not have seen.

But we can't let the failures of the past result in a nihilism that prevents us from taking action now or in the future.

This isn't a switch, and we know that we have within our power the ability to pass policies, including some that we've already passed and more hopefully that we will pass that stifle the kinds of growth and temperatures kind of climate change that will only worsen the problems we're facing if we can prevent temperatures rising, you know, a fraction of a degree that reflects millions of people who aren't forced out of their homes and out of their communities and forced into migration that represents millions of acres of habitable land that people will continue to be able to live in and cultivate.

We can't lose sight.

We can't let the failures of the past and a sense of defeatism and nihilism keep us from saving the homes and ultimately the lives of millions of people.

Just because people in the past failed to act.

And there are consequences today.

20 plus states have enacted anything from outright bans to serious restrictions on abortion rights.

As we mentioned earlier, Kamala Harris is going to be out there campaigning on those issues about which she is passionate.

President Biden, who's done more, I think, for women than, you know, in terms of women in his cabinet, etc., etc.. Women on the Supreme Court than any predecessor.

What should their message be?

One, we have seen that the Dobbs decision woke a giant and we know that the public is on our side, that the public is pro-choice, that this country is pro-choice.

And we've seen and in referenda and in elections in both blue states and deep red states are pro-choice candidates.

When and of course, pro-choice ballot measures win or anti-choice ballot measures be defeated.

And we also know that elections have consequences.

Unfortunately, the 2016 election had a consequence, and that was that the Republicans continued to steal and pack, steal seats and pack the Supreme Court.

We have the opportunity in 2024 to reelect a pro-choice administration, to retain a pro-choice majority in the Senate and to elect a pro-choice majority in the House.

And I believe we're close to the votes necessary to remove the filibuster and potentially have the capacity to pass pro-choice laws at the federal level, including legislation codifying the right to choose under federal law, much like we've done here in Delaware.

We in 2017, the Delaware General Assembly passed when the governor signed legislation codifying the right to choose in our state, even before Dobbs because we saw what was on the horizon here in our state.

But what I would also say is when we vote in 2024, we're not just voting for a president.

We're not just voting for senators and members of Congress.

We're voting for governors and state legislators.

We're voting for city council members and mayors.

We're voting for elected officials who, even if the federal government fails to act, can and already are stepping up to act.

We're voting for in some states, Supreme Court justices that can protect the right to choose.

So even if we don't see progress at the federal level, we are seeing progress at the state level to codify the right to choose, to protect the right to choose to expand access to abortion care.

That's something we've done in the Delaware General Assembly over the last year.

And so your vote matters.

Your vote has consequence.

But, you know, overturning the filibuster requires a 60 vote majority.

It's now 51-49 in the Senate.

Do you really think the Democrats will pick up eight or nine more seats in the U.S. Senate?

You don't need 60 votes to take away the filibuster.

The filibuster is adopted by the rules package at the beginning of Congress that only has to pass with a simple majority.

And so when we passed by the Senate passes that rules package, including the filibuster, yes, that creates a 60 vote threshold moving forward.

But they can amend the rules of the Senate by a simple majority.

And there is a growing number of senators who recognize that the filibuster is an anachronistic policy that has become abused over the last several decades.

And that, frankly, let me just say this the filibuster poses a risk to our democracy because democracy falters when government can no longer efficiently and effectively meet the needs of the people.

And when policy isn't able to be adopted, that the overwhelming majority of Americans want because of a single rule in a single body.

People become frustrated or they give up hope.

And when people give up hope, then that's when authoritarians can rise.

And so I truly believe that making government work more efficiently and effectively for people is a critical part of protecting our democracy, in addition to protecting our rights like reproductive rights.

And I think the filibuster, unfortunately, is a is a is a holdover from a bygone era that's ready for the dustbin of history.

It took the Republicans 50 years, just about to the day or to the year to overturn Roe v Wade.

Do you see a day in your lifetime when it will the Supreme Court will affirm a federal right to abortion again?

I was just going to say again, Yes, Yes, I do.

Yes, I do.

I believe that progress in this country has never been linear.

It is often two steps forward and one step back.

And there is no question that on issues like reproductive rights, on LGBTQ equality, we're in that one step back.

I believe that if we continue to work for it, if we continue to fight for it, if we continue to summon hope, while right now we might not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I believe that if we continue to walk forward together, we'll find that light and we'll deliver the change that we still so desperately need.

And that includes restoring the right to choose.

We have the capacity to do it.

I believe in my lifetime.

we'll do it.

Thank you so much for joining us, Sarah McBride.

That's it for this edition.

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