Oct. 30 Democratic debate transcript

Kucinich: I'm the co-author of the bill, H.R. 676, that establishes Medicare for all. As long as you have the private insurance companies in involved in providing health services, people aren't going to get care. Doctors know that the insurance companies want to substitute their judgment for their practice. Everyone knows that the insurance companies make money not providing health care.

I'm standing for Medicare for all. There is no one else on this stage who is ready to take on the insurance companies directly by saying we should join every other industrialized nation in the world by caring for our people by having a not-for-profit health care system.

Just because you say it's universal doesn't mean it's not-for- profit. Even the insurance companies want a universal health care system.

Williams: Thank you, Congressman.

Governor Richardson?

Richardson: Well, I have a specific proposal -- here it is: In exchange for two years of tuition paid by the government or loans, you give one year of national service to the country. This will attract more doctors and will enable students to afford a college education when it's taking them seven years to pay for this.

Get rid of the student loan and bank agencies that are ripping off the system. Re-establish, on a general basis, the doctor-patient relationship. Deal with Medicare reimbursement. Deal with ways that we also not forget health professionals, and that's nurses, that's -- others that...

Williams: Governor?

Richardson: ... in our health care system are not given the same opportunity.

Williams: Governor, thank you.

Senator Obama, a question to you. More than one columnist covering the field of transportation has compared our current commercial aviation business to Aeroflot in the old Soviet Union. One writer said, "Hold on, that's insulting to Aeroflot. They have raised their service."

The question to you is, how did this country get into a state where point-to-point air travel is no longer truly dependable, but more important, what would you be truly willing to do as president to fix it?

Obama: Well, this is a problem that's been building for a long time. The airlines got into trouble after deregulation, and it has continued and compounded. And they have now tried to make more money. And they're seeing better solvency, but they've done it on the backs of consumers. And anybody who's flying commercial knows that service has gone down and deteriorated further and further and further.

So, as president of the United States, we have to look at making sure that there's enough airport capacity. We've got to place, potentially, restrictions on some flights and encourage airlines to deal with the problems of remote areas that are having difficulty in terms of making connections.

But this is going to require the kind of leadership that we have not seen from this president, not just on transportation in the airlines industry, but in transportation generally.

We haven't seen that kind of commitment on Amtrak...

Williams: Time.

Obama: I'm sorry. I didn't realize this was a lightning round.

Williams: Yes. Yes, sorry. The rules are...

Obama: But, generally speaking, this president has failed on this issue. We've got to keep on -- we have to make much bigger progress than we've done.

Williams: We should probably repeat. The lightning round continues with my colleague, Tim Russert.

Russert: Thank you, Brian.

Senator Clinton, Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer has proposed giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. He told the Nashua, New Hampshire, Editorial Board it makes a lot of sense.

Why does it make a lot of sense to give an illegal immigrant a driver's license?

Clinton: Well, what Governor Spitzer is trying to do is fill the vacuum left by the failure of this administration to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. We know in New York we have several million at any one time who are in New York illegally. They are undocumented workers. They are driving on our roads. The possibility of them having an accident that harms themselves or others is just a matter of the odds. It's probability.

So what Governor Spitzer is trying to do is to fill the vacuum. I believe we need to get back to comprehensive immigration reform because no state, no matter how well intentioned, can fill this gap. There needs to be federal action on immigration reform.

Russert: Does anyone here believe an illegal immigrant should not have a driver's license?

(Unknown): Believe what?

Russert: An illegal immigrant should not have a driver's license.

Dodd: This is a privilege. And, look, I'm as forthright and progressive on immigration policy as anyone here. But we're dealing with a serious problem here, we need to have people come forward. The idea that we're going to extend this privilege here of a driver's license I think is troublesome, and I think the American people are reacting to it.

We need to deal with security on our borders. We need to deal with the attraction that draws people here. We need to deal fairly with those who are here.

But this is a privilege. Talk about health care, I have a different opinion. That affects the public health of all of us.

But a license is a privilege, and that ought not to be extended, in my view.

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