Tim Kaine in 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate
On Abortion:
Not role of public servants to implement religious beliefs
Hillary and I are both people out of religious backgrounds, but it is not the role of the public servant to mandate that for everybody else. We support Roe v. Wade. We support the constitutional right of American women to consult their own
conscience, their own supportive partner, their own minister, but then make their own decision about pregnancy. And we don't think that women should be punished, as Donald Trump said they should, for making the decision to have an abortion.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Budget & Economy:
Invest in infrastructure & invest in our workforce
Hillary and I have a plan that's on the table that's a "you're hired" plan. Five components:- First thing we do is we invest in manufacturing, infrastructure, and research in the clean energy jobs of tomorrow.
- Second thing is we invest in our
workforce, from pre-K education to great teachers to debt-free college and tuition-free college for families that make less than $125,000 a year.
- Third, we promote fairness by raising the minimum wage, so you can't work full-time and be under the
poverty level, and by paying women equal pay for equal work.
- Fourth, we promote small business growth, just as we've done in Virginia, to make it easier to start and grow small businesses. Hillary and I each grew up in small-business families.
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And, fifth, we have a tax plan that targets tax relief to middle- class individuals and small businesses and asks those at the very top who've benefited as we've come out of recession to pay more.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Budget & Economy:
We tried Trump tax plan in 2000s: it caused Great Recession
[The Trump-Pence] plan is massive tax breaks for the very top, trillions of dollars of tax breaks for people just like Donald Trump.
The problem with this, is that's exactly what we did 10 years ago and it put the economy into the deepest recession since the 1930s. Independent analysts say the Clinton plan would grow the economy by 10.5 million jobs.
The Trump plan would cost 3.5 million jobs. Why would Donald Trump do this? Because his tax plan basically helps him.
And if he ever met his promise and he gave his tax returns to the American public like he said he would, we would see just how much his economic plan is really a Trump-first plan.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Crime:
I opposed death penalty but upheld the law
Q: Can you discuss a time when you struggled to balance your personal faith and a public policy position? KAINE: For me, the hardest struggle in my faith life was the Catholic Church is against the death penalty and so am I. But I was governor of a
state, and the state law said that there was a death penalty for crimes if the jury determined them to be heinous. And so I had to grapple with that. When I was running for governor, I was attacked pretty strongly because of my position on the death
penalty. But I looked the voters of Virginia in the eye and said, "look, this is my religion. I'm not going to change my religious practice to get one vote, but I know how to take an oath and uphold the law. And if you elect me, I will uphold the law."
And I was elected, and I did. It was very, very difficult to allow executions to go forward, but in circumstances where I didn't feel like there was a case for clemency, I told Virginia voters I would uphold the law, and I did. That was a real struggle.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Crime:
Racial biases do exist in the criminal justice system
Philando Castile, who was killed in St. Paul, was a valued worker in a local school. He was killed for no apparent reason in an incident that will be discussed and will be investigated. They called him Mr. Rogers with Dreadlocks in the school
that he worked. The kids loved him. But he had been stopped by police 40 or 50 times before that fatal incident. And if you look at sentencing in this country, African-Americans and Latinos get sentenced for the same crimes at very different rates.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Crime:
Community policing makes community safer AND police safer
Q: Do we ask too much of police officers?A: We put a lot on police shoulders. Here's what I learned as a mayor and a governor. The way you make communities and police safer is through community policing. You build the bonds between the community and
the police force, build bonds of understanding, and then when people feel comfortable in their communities, that gap between the police and the communities they serve narrows. And when it does, it's safer for the communities and for the police.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
Create a humanitarian zone in northern Syria, with UN aid
Q: 250,000 people-100,000 of them children--are under siege in Aleppo, Syria. Does the U.S. have a responsibility to prevent mass casualties on this scale?PENCE: What America ought to do right now is immediately establish safe zones, so that
families and vulnerable families with children can move out of those areas, work with our Arab partners, real time, right now, to make that happen. And if Russia chooses to be involved and continue to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in
Aleppo, the US should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime to prevent them from this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo.
KAINE:
Hillary and I also agree that the establishment of humanitarian zones in northern Syria with the provision of international human aid, consistent with the U.N. Security Council resolution that was passed in February 2014, would be a very, very good idea.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
On Putin: See difference between leadership & dictatorship
PENCE: The provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength.KAINE: Hillary has the ability to stand up to Russia in a way that this ticket does not. Donald Trump, again and again, has praised Vladimir Putin. And it's clear that he has
business dealings with Russian oligarchs who are very connected to Putin. The Trump campaign team had to be fired a month or so ago because of those shadowy connections with pro-Putin forces. Gov. Pence made the odd claim, he said "inarguably
Vladimir Putin is a better leader than President Obama." Vladimir Putin has run his economy into the ground. He persecutes LGBT folks and journalists. If you don't know the difference between dictatorship and leadership, then you got to go back to
a fifth-grade civics class. I'll tell you what offends me...
PENCE: Well, that offended me!
KAINE: Vladimir Putin is a dictator. He's not a leader. Anybody who thinks otherwise doesn't know Russian history and they don't know Vladimir Putin.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
The "reset with Russia" failed because Putin is a dictator
PENCE: This is the alternative universe of Washington, D.C., versus reality: Hillary Clinton said her number-one priority was a reset with Russia. That reset resulted in the invasion of Ukraine, after they'd infiltrated with what are called little green
men, Russian soldiers that were dressing up like Ukrainian dissidents, and then they moved all the way into Crimea, took over the Crimean Peninsula. Donald Trump knew is saying it's not going to happen again. The truth of the matter is that what you
have in the rise of aggressive Russia, which has increased its influence in Iran, that's now because of [Obama's nuclear] deal, the leading state sponsor of terror in the world in Iran now has a closer working relationship with Russia because of $150
billion and sanctions all being lifted.Q: Senator Kaine, what went wrong with the Russia reset?
KAINE: Vladimir Putin is a dictator. He's not a leader. Anybody who thinks otherwise doesn't know Russian history and they don't know Vladimir Putin.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
Create a humanitarian zone in northern Syria, with UN aid
Q: 250,000 people-100,000 of them children--are under siege in Aleppo, Syria. Does the U.S. have a responsibility to prevent mass casualties on this scale?PENCE: What America ought to do right now is immediately establish safe zones, so that
families and vulnerable families with children can move out of those areas, work with our Arab partners, real time, right now, to make that happen. And if Russia chooses to be involved and continue to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in
Aleppo, the US should be prepared to use military force to strike military targets of the Assad regime to prevent them from this humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo.
KAINE:
Hillary and I also agree that the establishment of humanitarian zones in northern Syria with the provision of international human aid, consistent with the U.N. Security Council resolution that was passed in February 2014, would be a very, very good idea.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
On Putin: See difference between leadership & dictatorship
PENCE: The provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength.KAINE: Hillary has the ability to stand up to Russia in a way that this ticket does not. Donald Trump, again and again, has praised Vladimir Putin. And it's clear that he has
business dealings with Russian oligarchs who are very connected to Putin. The Trump campaign team had to be fired a month or so ago because of those shadowy connections with pro-Putin forces. Gov. Pence made the odd claim, he said "inarguably
Vladimir Putin is a better leader than President Obama." Vladimir Putin has run his economy into the ground. He persecutes LGBT folks and journalists. If you don't know the difference between dictatorship and leadership, then you got to go back to
a fifth-grade civics class. I'll tell you what offends me...
PENCE: Well, that offended me!
KAINE: Vladimir Putin is a dictator. He's not a leader. Anybody who thinks otherwise doesn't know Russian history and they don't know Vladimir Putin.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Foreign Policy:
The "reset with Russia" failed because Putin is a dictator
PENCE: This is the alternative universe of Washington, D.C., versus reality: Hillary Clinton said her number-one priority was a reset with Russia. That reset resulted in the invasion of Ukraine, after they'd infiltrated with what are called little green
men, Russian soldiers that were dressing up like Ukrainian dissidents, and then they moved all the way into Crimea, took over the Crimean Peninsula. Donald Trump knew is saying it's not going to happen again. The truth of the matter is that what you
have in the rise of aggressive Russia, which has increased its influence in Iran, that's now because of [Obama's nuclear] deal, the leading state sponsor of terror in the world in Iran now has a closer working relationship with Russia because of $150
billion and sanctions all being lifted.Q: Senator Kaine, what went wrong with the Russia reset?
KAINE: Vladimir Putin is a dictator. He's not a leader. Anybody who thinks otherwise doesn't know Russian history and they don't know Vladimir Putin.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Gun Control:
I'm a gun owner but I'm scarred from scourge of gun violence
I'm a gun-owner. I'm a strong Second Amendment supporter. But I've got a lot of scar tissue, because when I was governor of Virginia, there was a horrible shooting at Virginia Tech, and we learned that gaps in the background record check system should
have been closed and it could have prevented that crime. And if we do, we won't have the tragedies that we did. We can support the Second Amendment and do things like background record checks and make us safer, and that will make police safer, too.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Homeland Security:
Clinton has an actual plan to beat terrorism; Trump doesn't
To beat terrorism, there's only one candidate who can do it, and it's Clinton. She's got a plan to do it. She was part of the national security team that wiped out bin Laden. Here's her plan to defeat ISIL. First, we've got to keep taking out their
leaders on the battlefield. She was part of the team that got bin Laden, and she'll lead the team that will get Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the head of ISIS. We've got to disrupt financing networks; third, disrupt their ability to recruit on the Internet, in
their safe havens. We also have to work with allies to share and surge intelligence. That's the Clinton plan; she's got the experience to do it. Trump can't start a Twitter war with Miss Universe without shooting himself in the foot. Trump doesn't have
a plan. He said, "I have a secret plan," and then he said, "Um, I know more than all the generals about ISIL." And then he said, "I'm going to call the generals to help me figure out a plan." And finally he said, "I'm going to fire all the generals."
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Homeland Security:
Reagan warned about fools & maniacs with nuclear weapons
Let me tell you what will really make the Middle East dangerous. Donald Trump's idea that more nations should get nuclear weapons, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea. Ronald Reagan said something about nuclear proliferation in the 1980s.
He said the problem is that some fool or maniac could trigger a catastrophic event. I think that's who Governor Pence's running mate is, exactly who Governor Reagan warned us about.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Homeland Security:
Terrorism threat is down due to killing Osama and Iran deal
Q: Do you think the world today is a safer or more dangerous place than it was eight years ago? A: The terrorist threat has decreased in some ways, because bin Laden is dead. The terrorist threat has decreased in some ways because an Iranian
nuclear weapons program has been stopped. The terrorist threat to US troops has been decreased in some ways because there's not 175,000 in a dangerous part of the world. There's only 15,000. But there are other parts of the world that are challenging.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Immigration:
No "deportation force" going door-to-door to deport 16M
KAINE: On immigration: There's two plans on the table. Hillary and I believe in comprehensive immigration reform. Donald Trump believes in deportation nation. Hillary and I want a bipartisan reform that will put keeping families together as the top
goal; second, that will help focus enforcement efforts on those who are violent; third, that will do more border control, and, fourth, that will provide a path to citizenship for those who work hard, pay taxes, & play by the rules. That's our proposal.
Donald Trump proposes to deport 11 million who are here without documents. And both Donald Trump and Mike Pence want to get rid of birthright citizenship--that's another 4.5 million people. Donald Trump has said it--"deportation force." They want
to go house to house, school to school, business to business, and kick out 16 million people.PENCE: That's nonsense. We have a deportation force. It's called Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. And their union endorsed Donald Trump.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Immigration:
Barring Syrian refugees is antithetical to democracy
KAINE: We have different views on refugee issues and on immigration. Hillary and I want to do enforcement based on "Are people dangerous?" These guys say "All Mexicans are bad."PENCE: That's absolutely false.
KAINE: And with respect to refugees,
we want to keep people out if they're dangerous. Donald Trump said keep them out if they're Muslim. Mike Pence put a program in place to keep them out if they're from Syria. We should focus upon danger, not upon discrimination.
PENCE: As governor,
I have no higher priority than the safety and security of the people of my state. So you bet I suspended that program. And I stand by that decision.
KAINE: Sure. Hillary and I will do immigration enforcement and we'll vet refugees based on whether
they're dangerous or not. We won't do it based on discriminating against you from the country you come from or the religion that you practice. That is completely antithetical to the Jeffersonian values of [democracy].
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Immigration:
Barring Syrian refugees is antithetical to democracy
KAINE: We have different views on refugee issues and on immigration. Hillary and I want to do enforcement based on "Are people dangerous?" These guys say "All Mexicans are bad."PENCE: That's absolutely false.
KAINE: And with respect to refugees,
we want to keep people out if they're dangerous. Donald Trump said keep them out if they're Muslim. Mike Pence put a program in place to keep them out if they're from Syria. We should focus upon danger, not upon discrimination.
PENCE: As governor,
I have no higher priority than the safety and security of the people of my state. So you bet I suspended that program. And I stand by that decision.
KAINE: Sure. Hillary and I will do immigration enforcement and we'll vet refugees based on whether
they're dangerous or not. We won't do it based on discriminating against you from the country you come from or the religion that you practice. That is completely antithetical to the Jeffersonian values of [democracy].
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Jobs:
Trump is "You're fired"; Hillary is "You're hired"
On the economy, there's a fundamental choice for the American electorate. Do you want a "you're hired" president in Hillary Clinton or do you want a "you're fired" president in Donald Trump? Hillary and I have a plan that's on the table that's a "you're
hired" 5-point plan [for investment, wage fairness, and middle-class growth].The Trump plan is a different plan. It's a "you're fired" plan. And there's two key elements to it. First, Donald Trump said wages are too high. And both Donald Trump & Mike
Pence think we ought to eliminate the federal minimum wage. Mike Pence, when he was in Congress, voted against raising the minimum wage above $5.15. And he has been a one-man bulwark against minimum wage increases in Indiana.
The second component of
their plan is massive tax breaks for the very top, trillions of dollars of tax breaks for people just like Donald Trump. Independent analysts say the Clinton plan would grow the economy by 10.5 million jobs. The Trump plan would cost 3.5 million jobs.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Principles & Values:
I bring experience of service at all levels of government
Q: What about your qualities, your skills, and your temperament equip you to step into that role at a moment's notice?A: Hillary told me why she asked me to be her running mate. She said, "The test of a Clinton administration will not be the signing
of a bill or the passage of a bill. It'll be whether we can make somebody's life better, whether we can make a classroom better learning environment for schoolkids or teachers, whether we can make a safer--it's going to be about results."
And she said to me, "You've been a missionary and a civil rights lawyer. You've been a city councilman and mayor. You've been a lieutenant governor and governor and now a US senator. I think you will help me figure out how to govern this nation so
that we always keep in mind that the success of the administration is the difference we make in people's lives." And that's what I bring to the ticket, that experience having served at all levels of government.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Principles & Values:
Faith in personal life, but First Amendment for nation
Q: You have been open about the role that faith has played in your lives-how do you balance your personal faith with public policy? KAINE: Yeah, that's an easy one for me. I'm really fortunate. I grew up in a wonderful household with great
Irish Catholic parents. I was educated by Jesuits at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City. My 40th reunion is in 10 days. And I worked with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras, now nearly 35 years ago, and they were the heroes of my life.
I try to practice my religion in a very devout way and follow the teachings of my church in my own personal life. But I don't believe in this nation, a First Amendment nation, where we don't raise any religion over the other,
and we allow people to worship as they please, that the doctrines of any one religion should be mandated for everyone.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Principles & Values:
Clinton Foundation helps millions as Trump lines his pockets
PENCE: The Trump Foundation is non-profit. The Trump Foundation is a private family foundation. They give virtually every cent in the Trump Foundation to charitable causes. Less than ten cents on the dollar in the
Clinton Foundation has gone to charitable causes. It has been a platform for the Clintons to travel the world, to have staff. KAINE: The Clinton Foundation provides AIDS drugs to 11.5 million people.
Hillary as secretary of state took no action to benefit the foundation. But let's compare this with the Trump organization. His sons have said that the organization has a lot of business dealings in Russia.
And the Trump organization is not a non-profit. It's putting money into Donald Trump's pockets, whereas the Clinton Foundation is a non- profit and no Clinton family member draws any salary.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Principles & Values:
Run partisan, but after election, work with everyone
She worked across the aisle after 9/11 to get health benefits for the first responders who bravely went into the towers and into the Pentagon. She has a track record of working across the aisle to make things happen. I have the same track record.
I was a governor of Virginia with two Republican houses. And in the Senate, I have good working relationships across the aisle. I think it's fine to be a Democrat or Republican or independent, but after Election Day, the goal is work together.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Principles & Values:
Hillary apologized for "deplorables"; Trump never does
Clinton said something on the campaign trail, and the very next day, she said, you know what, I shouldn't have said that. Look for Trump apologizing to John McCain for saying he wasn't a hero to Trump apologizing for calling women slobs, pigs, dogs,
disgusting. Did Trump apologize for taking after somebody in a Twitter war and making fun of her weight? Did he apologize for saying African-Americans are living in Hell? Did he apologize for saying Obama was not even a citizen of the US?
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Social Security:
Never, ever risk Social Security with privatization
Q: In 18 years, when the Social Security Trust Funds run out of money, you'll be 76--your benefits could be cut by as much as $7,500 per year. What would your administration do to prevent this cut?KAINE: First, we're going to protect Social Security,
which is one of the greatest programs that the American government has ever done. It happened at a time when you would work your whole life, raising your kids, working, and then you would retire into poverty. And Social Security has enabled people to
retire with dignity and overwhelmingly not be in poverty. We have to keep it solvent. And we will keep it solvent. And we'll look for strategies like adjusting the payroll tax cap upward in order to do that. Here's what Hillary and I will not do: We
will never, ever engage in a risky scheme to privatize Social Security. Donald Trump wrote a book and said Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and privatization would be good for all of us.
PENCE: Well, , there they go again.
KAINE: Go read the book!
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On Technology:
Initiate "intelligence surge" for cyber-security with allies
Q: What do you mean by "intelligence surge"?A: An intelligence surge is two things. It involves increasing our own workforce, but striking great partnerships with some of our cyber and intel experts in the private sector so that we can,
consistent with constitutional principles, gather more intelligence. It also means creating stronger alliances, because you gather intelligence and then you share your intelligence back and forth with allies.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On War & Peace:
We now have fewer troops abroad &reduced Iranian threat
PENCE: For the last seven-and-a-half years, we've seen America's place in the world weakened, and the American people know that we need to make a change.KAINE: Governor Pence doesn't think the world's going so well.
PENCE: Do you?
KAINE: Let me
tell you this. When Hillary Clinton became secretary of state did you know that Osama bin Laden was alive? Do you know that Iran was racing toward a nuclear weapon and Russia was expanding its stockpile? Under Secretary Clinton's leadership, she was
part of the national team, public safety team that went after and revived the dormant hunt against bin Laden and wiped him off the face of the Earth. She worked to deal with the Russians to reduce their chemical weapons stockpile. She worked a tough
negotiation with nations around the world to eliminate the Iranian nuclear weapons program without firing a shot. And instead of 175,000 American troops deployed overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, we now have 15,000. These are very, very good things.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On War & Peace:
Senate and UN agreed on sanctions against North Korea
Q: How would you prevent North Korea from developing a nuclear-armed missile?PENCE: We need to rebuild our military, including modernizing our nuclear forces. We need an effective American diplomacy that will marshal the resources of nations in the
Asian Pacific Rim to put pressure on North Korea, on Kim Jong-un, to abandon his nuclear ambitions. When Donald Trump is president, we're not going to have the world flouting American power. We're going back to the days of peace through strength.
KAINE: You asked the question about how deal with a North Korea. I'm on the Foreign Relations Committee. We just did an extensive sanctions package against North Korea. The U.N. followed and did this -- virtually the same package.
Often China will use their veto in the Security Council to veto a package like that. They're starting to get worried about North Korea, too. So they actually supported the sanctions package, even though many of the sanctions are against Chinese firms.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
On War & Peace:
Iran deal stopped nuclear program without firing a shot
Pence: And a reference to the Iranian deal, the Iranian deal that Hillary Clinton initiated, $150 billion to the radical mullahs in Iran.Kaine: Stopping a nuclear weapons program without firing a shot?
Pence: You didn't stop the nuclear weapons
program.
Kaine: Yes, we did. Even the Israeli military says it stopped.
Pence: You essentially guaranteed that Iran will someday become a nuclear power, because there's no limitations once the period of time of the treaty comes off.
Source: 2016 Vice-Presidential Debate at Longwood University
Oct 4, 2016
Page last updated: Dec 09, 2018