The Daily Show: Ears Edition - From the Archives: Amy Klobuchar - August 22, 2017

Episode Date: October 24, 2018

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar describes how the soaring costs of prescription drugs impacts Americans and proposes a solution to protect voting rights. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Streaming soon on Paramount Plus. This is Dr. Frazier Crane. I'm listening. He's back again. Hey dad, I got a question about punctuation. Ooh! No, stay on task. And he's more Frazier than ever. How do I look? Rich.

Just what I was going for. Oh my God, they traded your baby for wine. Do you really think we would trade John for white Zinfandel? Or any wine? Frazier, new season streaming September 19th on Paramount Plus. Please welcome Democratic Senator Amy Clovershaw. Welcome to the show, Samoan. Well, thank you. It is great to be on. May I just say you have one of the most impressive resumes I have ever come across in my life, and not the work that you've done before you got into the Senate, which is extremely impressive,

but the fact that you have passed so much legislation. You are, you're like a home run hitter when it comes to legislation. In a town where they say nothing gets done, how do you get it done? Well, the first part of this is believing in that you're there for a reason. The second is to find people and meet them where they are. Find that common ground, and not the their their their their their. their. their. thoom. thoom. thoom. thoom. thoom. thiiia. thia. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiolk. thoome. thoome. thi. thiolk, thoomoom. thoomorrow. thiol-a. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. toe. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. toea. thea. thea. thea. they are. Find that common ground, and not just common ground, but higher ground, whether it's taking on opioids, human trafficking.

And then the last thing is, memo to the White House, be civil. To the people, like, big surprise. Right. Just being nice. It works. Well, it really has served you well. I mean, you have been ranked as first on a list of all 100 sentences with the most bills that have been enacted into law during the current Congress, which is amazing.

Do you walk around the halls with a bit of like, yeah, that's me. I think it's a good time in politics to be humble. Right. And very nicely said. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And to be humble. Right. And very nicely said, very nice to say. Thank you. Thank you. And then to also understand that yes, we pass some bills. And there are people on both sides of the aisle that want to work together and find

compromise. But the people in this country are facing major, major issues. It is really getting hard for them to get by, whether it's paying for cable, paying for prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription prescription to to to to prescription to to to to to to to to to to to to to them to get by, whether it's, you know, paying for cable, paying for prescription drugs, and that's what you got to remember. Well, let's let's talk about the paying for prescription drugs, because that's something that's close to your heart. Your daughter is a user of the Epipen, correct? She's somewhere out there. She's somewhere out there.

Like, in the audience? I was because you know she's here. Oh because when you said she's somewhere out there I was like oh I think we've lost her. Yeah that was very cool. But um... Your... So your daughter is a user of the Epipen. Yes. And this was one of those stories in the US that became big because the price of American drugs has been skyrocketing. Critics have said it needs to come down,

but then the critics on the other side have gone. Yeah, but you can't bring it down because that'll stifle innovation. Is that true? I don't believe so because I think the better question is why in the United States of America, of any developed nation in the world, do our drugs cost the most tooge............... their. th. th. th. th. th. th. to. to. to. to. to. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. It is, toe. It is, toe. It is, toe. It is, toe. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. It is. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. Four of the top 10 best-selling drugs in America have gone up over 100% in their price over the last few years. So it's not just epipen.

It is everything from insulin on down. So what we need here is first of all to say to the big pharmaceutical companies, you can't own Washington, D.C. Because that's what's been happening. Before you go to the second thing, if you go back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back back to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to say, to to to to to say, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the tooeuu.eu.eck.efficeck. the the the the the the theau. tooe. tooefficeck. tooomeck. tooeck. tooe you go to the second thing, if you go back to the first thing, for some people they would say the price of drugs in America is not just determined by the pharmaceutical companies but also the fact that they are the developers of the drug. So many countries in the world get to create a generic version of that. How true does that ring to you? Well they have have have the the thoooooooo tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu thu tho tho tho tho thr-a thi, thr- tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho tho thi, thi, thi, thi, the the price the price the price the price the price the price the price the price the price thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi thi thi throoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. thi. thi th you? Well, they have developed drugs. They should be paid for that, but they're being more than paid for that.

They basically have a monopoly. And so what you do is you guarantee that there's some competition, and the opposite has been happening. So one, we should be able to bring in less expensive drugs from safe places, like Canada. Right. In Minnesota, the border. So Senator McCain and I came together and introduced a bill to allow us to buy those drugs. Secondly, big pharmaceutical companies are paying off generic

companies to actually keep their products off the market. We could save three billion dollars over 10 years according to the Congressional Budget Office. Who has that bill? Senator Grassley and myself, again a Republican. These bills should come for a vote before the Senate and why don't we unleash the bargaining power of 41 million American seniors? They're kind of a tough crowd. They like to get bargains. Okay, so why don't we let them negotiate for less prices and lift the ban on allowing them to negotiate under Medicare. It's just wrong.

The other piece of legislation you're working on that's really interesting to myself and I guess many people is voter rights. We've seen, especially under the Trump administration with Jeff Sessions, that there seems to be a concerted effort to try and stifle voter rights in America. It's a worrying trend. It seems like one of the most pressing problems that America will face within its democracy. Looking at that, you have come up with a few interesting ideas.

How do you think America goes about fixing the problem of voter suppression? Well you have to look at the problem first. We hear a lot about Russia and that it's a serious thing, but there's not just a problem from outside of someone trying to influence our election, it's in the inside. You have three-hour waits in Arizona and the last primary to the thoo to vote, 100 miles for people to drive to drive to drive to drive, to drive, to drive, to drive, to drive, to drive, to drive, to people, to people, to to their, to their, their, their, their, their, their, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, and their, the, and thi, and thi, and thi, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and the, and to, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, is is is is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, isp.e.a.a.a.a. And, is a, isp.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.a.auuu.au.au.au.au.a.a.a.a.a.a.a. their, their, their,a.a. It's,a. It's, to vote, 100 miles for people to drive to a polling place in some of our states. One of the more conservative circuit courts saying that North Carolina had discriminated with surgical precision. Those are their words, not mine. And so what do you do? Well, why don't we just let, given that they are literally afraid of people voting, why don't we just let every 18-year-old who is eligible to vote, automatically register them? Why don't we do that? That? That? That? That? That? That? That? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T? T, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi. their, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their their their their their their, their, the-old who is eligible to vote automatically register them?

Why don't we do that? They are, if they have, then they can just go to vote where they are. Why don't we do that? No, that's a great question. Why don't? Is there a rule? There are a bunch of people that are afraid of people voting. And I am not afraid of people voting. And by the way, in my state, we have the highest voter turnout.

We have in the country in the last election. And we haven't just voted for Democrats. We have voted for Republicans. And we have voted for a lot of independence, if you don't believe may have three words for you, Governor Jesse Ventura. All right? And so, I just think that you should unleash the power of America. This is a race issue, of course, this is an income issue. But more than anything, it's a civil liberty issue.

Our democracy is founded on this simple idea that people should have the freedom to vote. How hard would it be to implement, though? It sounds like a great idea. How do you implement it and how do you make sure that people who turn 18 and 18, to to to to to to the tapapapap, their, tune, their, tune, tune, tune, tap, they, tap, tap, tom, they, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, they, the, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, they, they, they, they, they, is, tho, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, throooooooooooooooooooomomorrow, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, is, to vote, how do you implement it and how do you make sure that people who turn 18 who are not supposed to be registered to vote don't get registered? Right, exactly. Well, first of all, if we're living at a time where Target, my hometown company can find a pair of shoes in Hawaii with a skew number, we should be able to figure out who's eligible to vote. And you know, Oregon has just done this, our governor out there, Kate, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, first, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, tom, tha, tha, tha, tom, tom, tomorrow, to, to, te, te. te. te. te. tu. te. te, te, te, the, the, te, has just done this. Our governor out there, Kate Brown, gets this signed into law. And so what you do is when people apply for their driver's license, you automatically register them. When they get their, with their social security number,

then when they turn 18, of course you make sure that they're legal citizens. You make sure that if you're in a state where you can't vote when you're on, when you've been convicted of a felony and you're still in probation, you make sure that they aren't able to vote at that moment. Which is another rule that should change when you look at America as a whole. There's many things that should change. But the point is, is that we have to make it easier for people to vote. Right. The point. that's that is what is that is that is that is that is th is th is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is what is th. tho. tho. thoomerea. thi. thi. thi. tho. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. th, you have to make it easier for people to vote. Wow. Let's talk about things that are connected. You're looking at voting. You're looking at a lot of state races that are coming up. Your seat is up in 2018, right? And you're going to be running again.

A lot of people seem to be worried that the Democrats don't have a plan. The Democrats may not have the identity in check. to vote to vote to vote vote vote vote vote vote vote vote to vote vote vote vote to vote vote to vote to vote vote vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote their vote their vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote to vote their their to vote to vote to vote their to vote to vote their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their people their their their their their their their their their their their their tho.o.o.o.o.o. their their thoooo. their their their their their their the Democrats don't have a plan, the Democrats may not have their identity and check. You're in Minnesota, I think Hillary only won by a point and a half, was closer than many people would have liked, and 19 of the counties that voted for Obama flipped over to Donald Trump. Looking at that, looking at the voters who flipped sides. What do you think the Democrats need to do? What message do they need to give to win back voters and to get the people who didn't bother to vote at all?

We should leave no one behind. And I think a lot of people felt left behind. It wasn't necessarily the policies we were putting out. Some of it was the fact that there wasn't enough focus on the economy and what mattered to people in their daily lives. And we can't leave the middle of the country behind, right? My husband's a third of six boys, and maybe one time he got lost and left at a gas station and no one noticed. We can't leave anyone behind at the gas station.

And so this means, for me, I visit all 87 in Minnesota counties every single year. I have gone to, in some of the counties I have practically met everyone. I've gone to every cafe, every business. At one point my staff had me go to a business called Insect Inferno, where I got into a truck with a big sign on the side that said, we killed bed bugs with heat. And so my message to you there. You're welcome to visit to visit to visit. to visit. I. I. I to visit to visit. I. I. I to visit. I. I to visit to visit. I. I. I. I to visit. I. I to visit to visit. I to visit. I to to to to to to to to to, I to, I to, I to, I to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the ththat said we killed bed bugs with heat. And so my message to you there, you're welcome to visit. No my message there is someone once said this you don't just go where it's comfortable you go where it's uncomfortable and

that's why you see in this 2018 election strong incredible candidates so on the Democratic side here like Heidi Hay Camp Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the Democratic side here like Heidi Hedkamp, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Joe Donnelly, they are Debbie Stabenow, those Midwestern senators, they are leaving no stone on turn and they're reaching out to people in their state even if they don't agree with them. That's what you have to do. Let's talk about not leaving people behind. Let's talk about not leaving people behind. Let's the the the the the the the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the idea the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. I to to to to to to their their to to to to to to to to to to too. I to to to too. I their their their their their their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their their their their their their their their together.coe.c.c.c.c.c.c.c.cala.cala. I'm together.cala.calaugheck. I'm teck.cala. I'm toeck. I'm toeck. I to do. Let's talk about not leaving people behind. Let's talk about not leaving people behind. Let's talk about the idea of making sure that everyone feels like they're part of a conversation. Recently, the Democrats have started to notice a rift in the

party in that some Democrats are saying, it's time to have Democrats running for office even if they may not agree with all the democratic principles such as pro-choice or Certain taxes or just ideas that are commonly associated with being a Democrat Other people like Elizabeth Warren have come out and said no if you are not going to be pro-life. I mean if you're not going to be pro-choice Then the Democratic Party is not for you How do you see the Democrats navigating that quagmire? Well, we have a clear? th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the the the the the the the the the thi. the the th. th. th. the the th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. t. t. te. tom. tom. te. te. tom. tom. tomorrow. te. tomorrow. te. te. te. te. te. t you see the Democrats navigating that quagmire? We have a clear platform and that is that we are, we believe that a woman has a right to choose her own destiny. We are pro-choice. But I know in my state, honestly, there are people that vote for me or vote Democratic that don't agree with that. But yet they agree with

us that you should be able to afford college, right? They agree that you should be smart about how you move forward when it comes to foreign policy. They didn't like that we got into the war in Iraq. I would have people come up to me and say, look, I'm pro-life. I don't agree with you that we need to get out of the war in Iraq. Okay? So I don't believe those people should left behind. And while I believe in the platform of our party strongly, I believe that one of the dumbest things we could do is defund Planned Parenthood when that's where a great majority of women in this country get their health care.

And as far as our party, and Elizabeth and I served together in leadership, I was proud of our party when we took that health care vote, that in the president's own words on this mean bill that would have kicked 20 million people off of health insurance, our party from Joe Manchin to Bernie Sanders stood together from the beginning to the end and that is why three courageous Republicans joined us. And if we had not stood together, that would not have happened. That's what happened. I'm excited to see how the race pans out.

I'm excited to have you on as a guest. It was great to be on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. The Daily Show with Cover Noa, Ears Edition. Watch the Daily Show weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central app. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. This has been a Comedy Central podcast. Streaming soon on Paramount Plus. This is Dr. Frazier Crane. I'm listening. He's back again. Hey, Dad, I got a question about punctuation. Ooh! No, stay on task.

And he's more Frazier than ever. How do I look? Rich. Just what I was going before. Oh my God, they traded your baby for wine! Do you really think we would trade John for white Zinfandel? Or any wine? Frazier, new season streaming September 19th on Paramount Plus.