We welcome Vice President Mike Pence. Mister Vice President, thank you so much for joining Boomberg Television. We just heard from President Biden on this historic UAW strike, as well as Sean Fain. You and Sean Faine actually share some geography.
He worked at a plant in.
Kokomo, Indiana, one hundred miles from your hotown of Columbus.
But he's striking against the Big Three.
This is about Detroit and Michigan, a state you and President Donald Trump flipped to red the first time Republicans flipped Michigan in twenty sixteen since the nineteen eighties, but you lost it in twenty twenty. Are you on the side of the workers? Do you think what they're doing is justified?
Well, look, let me say I'm on the site of the American people who are struggling under the failed policies of the Biden administration. Joe Biden is weak in this country at home and abroad. But the gusher of spending when they came into office two trillion dollars in unnecessary spending launched the worst inflation in forty years. Wages haven't kept up the backdrop of what's happening between the big three, and the U a W today is that American workers
are hurting. I hear it everywhere I go across the country. You know, people are struggling to pay for groceries, They're struggling to pay for gasoline at the pomp and it's you know, I tell people this one crisis after another, but they're all man made crises. And that man's name is Joe Biden. And so I think the first thing is the strike and the demands that you hear from workers are being driven by people that are that are
that are enduring the failed policies of Bidenomics. But I also think, Amory, I honestly think what you touched on just a few moments ago is an unreported.
Aspect of this. Look. I was governor of state of Indiana. It's the second your.
Right to work state.
It's a right to work state. But we have a proud U a W tradition. They're a proud automotive tradition.
In the state of Indiana.
So, and I will tell you what what I'm hearing around the country is that that auto workers are very, very concerned about Joe Biden's Green NWD deal, heavy handed.
Effort to use taxpayer.
Dollars to drive these automotive companies into electric vehicle production. I mean, you got you got one hundred and forty five thousand workers out there that have been many of them built a lifetime making gasoline powered cars, and suddenly they see Joe Biden and liberal Democrats pushing down this electric vehicle the gend. You see states like California that are saying at the end of the decade, they don't even let you sell a gasoline powered vehicle in the state.
I think that's also driving this.
So the backdrop of the failed policies of the Biden administration, plus the heavy handed effort with their Green New Deal to to use taxpayer dollars to drive these companies away from the traditional manufacturing that so many UAW workers have made it in.
I think that's what brought us to today.
Let's talk a little bit more about what Sean Feyin and his union members are saying.
They're trying to play catch up.
They say, sure, with a massive gap between worker pay and executive pay. He said, we're tired of living office scraps left by millionaire executives. When it comes to wages, you opposed raising the minimum wage in two thousand and seven as a congressman at that time, believe it was five point fifteen. They wanted to raise it, and I believed into seven twenty five at the time. And as governor, you blocked an effort that would have had local municipalities
essentially demand higher wages from some companies. I know that's actually in line with your politics. So I guess I would ask you here, how should they be catching up? If wages kept par with profit growth over the last two decades, would these workers be in the same spot.
Well, let's be clear.
I mean I believe in free market economics. Free enterprises created the most prosperous nation in the world has ever known.
We have to preserve that.
And minimum wage debates that always came up back in my day, Anderson, even when I was governor. I mean, you looked around state of Indiana. You look at labor shortages. Today, nobody's making minimum wage. I mean, the marketplace is paying out a higher number all across the country, with very few exceptions. But I think you put your finger on it, Joe.
I think what's happening with this strike and I'm glad it only affects thirteen thousand workers so far far because of all these one hundred and forty five thousand workers go on strike, that's going to have an enormous impact on an economy is already struggling and is literally on
the verge of a recession. But I think that rather than going back to the same rhetoric about closing the gap between the executives and others, will hear that more we just heard that from President Biden is to recognize that under Biden's economic policies, wages have not been keeping up with inflation, and hard working Americans out in the heartland know that inflation.
Is starting to come down now.
A lot of these legislative products of the Biden administration is really also about China. They're trying to move the supply chain away from China to get an EV tax credit. Most of that car needs to be assembled or some of the battery materials has to be.
Come from North America.
Because you know better than anyone China is dominating when it comes to advanced technology, when it comes to battery war materials and making evs.
And you're about to give a major policy speech Monday on China.
You were basically the front man under the Trump administration to talk about China.
And in twenty nineteen at.
The Woodrow Wilson Institute, you said you constantly get asked are we trying to decouple from China?
And you said a resounding no. Is that still the case?
It's still the case, But we have to recognize that China is the greatest economic and strategic threat of the United States of America.
So why not decouple.
Well, because I think using access to the most powerful economy in the world, the United States of America, is a mean of having China end decades of trade abuses and intellectual property theft, stop their military provocations, and end the human rights abuses that we've been witnessed of with regard to Muslim leger As Christian pastors, it should be the objective in the goal of the United States. But
everything begins with strength. And I'll actually return to the Hudston suit where I gave actually the very first speech on changing our administration's policy towards China many years ago, and I'm going to say, then it all begins with not just rebuilding our military, but building a military fitted to the widening challenges in the Asia. Pacific and around the wider world. I want to build a three hundred and fifty five ship navy by the.
End of the decade.
I believe the United States of America can eclipse the Chinese Navy and the Asia Pacific, and that'll send a decisive message that we are going to ensure freedom of navigation. We're going to ensure that our treaty allies in the Regent I have the support that they need. Look, I've met President she I've sized him up as a person individually. I've told him some things that he didn't want to hear, and we've spoken plainly at conferences about the interests of
our respective notions. China only understands strength, and if I'm President of the United States, We're going to meet that moment with American strength. But we're also going to use access to this the most powerful economy in the world, as a means of bringing China forward, just like we did Anne Marie with the Phase one trade deal in twenty twenty. People long since forgotten it, and by all accounts, Joe Biden hasn't held China to.
Their word with the Phase one trade deal.
Well, we put two hundred and fifty billion dollars in tariffs on China, and literally almost overnight, they were at the negotiating table saying, how do we figure something out? And we did a phase one trade deal where they made commitments to agricultural goods, to manufactured goods, to dealing with trade abuses. I think Joe Biden and his administration
have largely dropped the ball. Now, the other piece of this, I believe in free trade with free nations, and the other piece of this is we ought to be working on a free trade agreement with Japan. We ought to be looking to strengthen trading relationships with free countries across the Asia Pacific.
It's part and parce of what we'll talk about.
Let's talk about trade with China.
Now we've seen what China is capable of with this recent revelation of Huawei suddenly emerging with a smartphone that includes ships that we're trying to keep away from China. Are we dancing around the edges here? Is it possible to continue compartmentalizing that relationship. I know you don't want to decouple, but why not cut off our entire technological relationship with Beijing?
Well, look, we led the fight internationally against Huawei. So that's a good on Western nations, and we won that fight. If you remember the UK and other nations, we're going all in on and the United States said it's not going to happen. This whole issue of TikTok. I know, I know that one of my competitors, Vekram swamme at the Republican primary. He had rightly described TikTok as a digital fentanyl for American youth, and this week he signed
up for TikTok. I said he'd met with one of their executives and they changed his mind.
Well, they're never going to change my mind.
We shouldn't expect you on TikTok's not anytime soon.
We'll be banning TikTok.
TikTok is a platform of the communist Chinese government. They're collecting data on Americans every single day. And I got to tell you, I've raised three young people in this generation, all right. Two of their families are in the armed services. And what young Americans deserve to know is that their privacy is being compromised with participation in the TikTok platform.
We've got to make that case.
We've got to protect privacy and the intellectual property rights of Americans.
When you give this speech, are you're going to outline more tariff because you're talking about free trade deals with countries like Japan. Well, what does that mean for the record trade the United States has with Beijing?
Well, I think what we're going to do is lay out a vision for giving China an opportunity to join the Family of Nations and respect the international rules of the road.
As I like to say, but I.
Really do believe that it begins with American strength. I mean, we've gone through a period of time where we're trying to flew a balloon over strategic you know, facilities in North America, and at the same time, their ships are cutting off our ships in the Asia Pacific aircraft cutting off American aircraft on patrol near Taiwan. That's got to stop, and it stops when they see that America's not doing what Joe Biden has done over the last two and a half years, which is make every effort try and
cut military spending. I mean a lot of people don't know this recent debt ceiling deal. If they don't pass all of their thirteen bills, which looks more in doubt every day it's a one percent cut in military.
Republicans who voted against even debating the defense budget on the.
House floor, and it's this president that actually asked for additional Pentagon funding that appears to be Well.
Look, what I've seen from this administration early on is a consistent effort to cut military spending. When they did that Omnibus bill at the end of the Democrat control of Congress a half a year ago, they were able to backfill those cuts.
But look, it's like I've said.
When we came in in twenty seventeen, we had to rebuild a military after years of budget cuts under the Obama Biden administration. But my vision is going to be we don't need to rebuild a military. We need to build a military fitted to the widening challenges. War raging in Eastern Europe, China continuing to menace in the Asia Pacific. Will have peace through strength and will also ensure prosperity.
There projecting American power.
We talked to Senator Tommy Tubberville just two days ago about his blockade on military promotions. We're hearing a lot of people suggest that that is weakening our posture and in fact, impacting military readiness. This is, of course, in protest the Pentagon's abortion policy. I know you said in a town hall the other night that you would not ask Tommy Tubberville to step down or stand down, but you would ask the Pentagon to stand down on this.
What about military families, You know a lot about this. You have a son who's a Marine Corps pilot. Military families who might be in temporary housing, their kids are waiting to go to school. They're not getting the pay increase that they were waiting for. That's tied up in a confirmation vote at some point.
Is that just the cost the sacrifice of being in the military.
Well, I've got a son of the military and a son in law. Yeah, So don't leave anybody out.
I'll be out in trouble.
God.
Look, President of the United States, I'm going to look across the river at the Pentagon and I'm going to say stand down on playing politics.
Okay.
I mean, the Supreme Court of the United States returned the question of abortion to the States and the American people. States have adopted pro life laws. It is not the place of the Pentagon to use taxpayer dollars to undermine state pro life laws around the country. There's nothing that restricts military personnel from taking leave, traveling wherever they want to travel, and obtaining healthcare services. I'm pro life, I don't apologize for it. But the issue here is taxpayer funding,
and it's part and parcel. It seems to me Joe of kind of this liberal and oftentimes woke politics that's made its way into the hallways at the Pentagon. If I'm president of the United States, We're going to have a Secretary of Defense, We're going to have chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that focus on the mission, but on the larger question of life. It is something that separates me from other candidates in the Republican field,
with maybe one exception, I mean the former president. Other candidates in this race want to relegate the question of abortion to the States only, and I'm one of the few leading candidates.
It's actually called.
For a minimum national standard. I think we ought to align the laws across this country with most of Europe. Most of Europe limits abortion after fifteen weeks, but.
There are exceptions.
We could be four exceptions, life of the mother, fetal issues.
And Marie, if you check my record in Congress. I always recognized receptions in cases of rape incests, life of the mother. But I just think looking today at we've made great progress. I speak as a pro life American in states around the country, but I think there's a case that seven out of ten Americans agree with me. According to Poles, that at the moment at which an unborn child can experience pain, we at a limit abortions
after that, that's roughly about fifteen weeks. And as president of the United States, unlike Donald Trump, unlike other leading candidates in this primary, I'll be a champion of the right to life in that national standard.
But back to Senator Turberville, Should one senator have this power to undermine what people I'm hearing? I mean, General Mark Kelly says that you're hearing champagne bottles hit the ceilings at the Chinese Embassy in Washington, d c Up Connecticut Avenue because of what he's doing to undermine US military preparedness.
Should one senator have that power?
And you seem to be a defense hawk, aren't you concerned this is undermining national security?
It's the reason why I would i was president of the United States.
I tell the Pentagon to stand down, stop playing politics with this. But look, the other thing is, come on, Senator Schumer can just bring Senator Turberville's bill to the floor. Depentagon unilaterally decided to start using taxpayer dollars to pay for members of the Armed Services to travel out of state to see an abortion. That ought to be something that Congress talks about in debates.
It's the use of taxpayer dollars.
And it used to be one of the things that we agreed on in Congress in a broad and bipartisan basis, was whatever your view of abortion, you recognize that it was simply wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro life Americans and use it to subsidize abortion. That's the same principle. Chuck Schumer could put that bill on the floor tomorrow, vote it and let the votes be counted, and the policy will be said at the Pentagon. But we just got to get the politics out of
the Pentagon. If I'm President of the United States, I promise you I will, because a good part about the Pentagon different from Congress is they take orders.
Let me ask you this philosophically, then you have famously said that you are first a Christian, then a Conservative, and then a Republican.
In that order, in that order.
So would your north star be your faith, your Christianity and making other decisions in the olah.
Well, it would guide the way that I deal with others. I'm someone that believes that civility is essential democracy. Well, when it comes to the right to life, Joe, that's that's where my pro life views spring from.
The Bible says before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
I mean, I said before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life.
So that's your one exception when it comes to your Christians.
But on a broad range of issues, well, that that informs my faith, I think more than anything else. I hear people across Iowa, across New Hampshire who want to see us restore a threshold of civility in public life, to get back to treating others the way we want to be treated, which is at the very core of my faith. And you all known me for more than a few years. You know I'm a conservative, but I'm not in a bad mood about it. People that knew me in Congress.
Conservative because you feel like populism has taken control.
Of your party.
No, it's a different issue.
I just me.
I think you get fifteen miles out of Washington, d C. The people of this country actually get along pretty well. It's our politics as deeply divided as it is today, and I think the American people long to see our politics reclaim the kind of civility that most Americans show each other every day. Look, we're a nation of diverse
views and diverse opinions. And as my late father, a combat vetter and used to say, I may disagree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death for you right to say it will defend the freedom and the liberties of every American. But I think the American people want us to get back to more respect in Washington, d C. The same kind they show each other every day.
Joe brought up Christianity.
And there's another man of faith who had some interesting words that we're learning how to say about you, Centermt Romney.
He's retiring.
There's this new biography out about him, and an excerpt this is what was said Romney. He had long been put off by Pence's pious brand of trump psycho fancy no one, he told me, has been more loyal, more willing to smile when he saw absurdities, more willing to ascribe God's will to things that were ungodly than Mike Pence.
He is deeply religious. What would you say to him.
Well, he doesn't know what I what I ascribed to. He wasn't there, he was. He's entitled his own opinion. But I'm proud of the record of the Trump Pens administration. I'm proud of what we did for the right to life, for religious liberty. I'm proud of how we revived our economy. I'm proud of how we rebuild our military, and the greatest honor in my life to have served as vice president.
And I know he's had his problems with the president, but I'm very confident that we were where we were called to be during those four years.
But now you know, I'm.
Running for president because I think different times call for different leadership, and not just different style of leadership. But as I said last week in New Hampshire, you know, when Donald Trump ran for president, he promised to govern as a conservative, and we did for four years. But Donald Trump makes no such promise today. In fact, I see him walking away from American leadership on the world stage,
talking the language of appeasement. When it comes to the war raging in Eastern Europe, Joe Biden's policy on entitlements is insolvency. He won't even talk about it. Donald Trump's position is the same as Joe Biden's. And when it comes to the right to life, Donald Trump and others in this race want to marginalize the right to life
to a states only issue. So my message to people is that because of the experience I had at the White House and as a governor and as a leader in the Congress of the United States, I believe I'm the most qualified, the most tested, and the most experienced, and the most ready conservative in this race.
It were called a rather unique position on January sixth. And you have said recently that Donald Trump asked you to put him over the Constitution.
You chose not to.
But Vice President Pence, were there other times that Donald Trump tried to put himself over the Constitution when he may not have asked for your help that you witnessed in the White House.
I.
Don't believe.
So. I believe that January sixth was a tragic day and the President was surrounded by a gaggle of crackpot lawyers. It should have never been allowed on the White House grounds. They told him things that just simply weren't so. But I think all along the way in our administration we kept faith with the American people with the agenda we ran on. My differences with the president today are they
remain over that day. I mean, I'll always believe, by God's grace, I did my duty under the Constitution that day, And as I travel around the country, there's almost not a day goes by that someone Republican's independence. Even many Democrats stop me and thank me for just keeping my oath to the Constitution. But I have other differences with the former president, and they have to do with the direction of the country.
I think this country's in a lot of trouble. I think Joe Biden.
Has weakened our nation on the world stage. I think Joe Biden's economic policies have failed people from Detroit to all across this country.
And what we need to do.
Is return to those time honored, time tested, common sense conservative policies that I've always been about in the course of my life. In the career, if I'm President of the United States.
I know we will we have.
Under a minute, So this is a quick yes or no.
What's raging in Washington now is whether or not we're going to have a government shutdown.
What's your take?
Well, as you know, I was a House Conservative before it was cool. I mean, I remember when we dug in in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and demanded that there would be offsets to pay for that. So I think it's important that how Republicans take a strong stand. But let's be clear that whatever's accomplished in this moment, it's still just going to be nickels and dimes, but Ukraine funding against the massive debt crisis that our nation
is facing. And I'm the first candidate and one of the only candidates for presidents said I'm going to be willing to lead our nation forward on common sense and compassionate reforms of entitlements and save this in future generations, Preserve Social Security and Medica. Today, let's save our kids from a debt crisis that threatens our futures.
Their Vice President, thank you for coming to see us. How about we meet in Iowa. Former Vice President Mike Pence with us here on Bloomberg.
Thanks for the time, sir,