KERRY: Well, I hadn't thought about introducing it, but I certainly would support it or entertain a discussion about it. I mean, you know, I think it's important for parents, for adults to be more involved in the lives of their children.
But let's be clear: This administration that keeps talking about family values does precious little to actually put that into effect.
 
Friday's Question:
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An example: I just introduced a Kids First bill this past week. Eleven million children in America have no health insurance. Think about that. A quarter of kids don't get their immunizations up-to- date. You've got a third of the kids in America who have no insurance. They saw no doctor for a year. You have people who have learning disabilities as a result of the fact that they can't even get a doctor's visit.
For the price, Tim, of simply rolling back the tax cut for people earning more than $500,000 a year, $300,000 a year, you could insure every child in America. I think that's a value, and that's a value worth fighting for.
RUSSERT: And yet if President Bush nominated a Democrat who said publicly that he believed Roe v. Wade was incorrectly decided, you said during the campaign you would vote against that Democrat to be on the Supreme Court.
KERRY: That's correct, on the Supreme Court, because I believe that Roe v. Wade represents the settled constitutional law of the country, and I don't think -- and the majority of the country believes that. The majority of Catholics believe that. The majority of people in America believe that Roe v. Wade is settled.
And the majority of the Senate believes that. Because we've had several votes where we've said, "Do you want to get rid of Roe v. Wade or do you want to keep it," and the Senate has voted to keep it.
Now, I don't think President Bush, frankly, wants to get rid of Roe v. Wade, and we'll see what happens.
RUSSERT: If there is a vacancy for chief justice of the United States and the president nominated Antonin Scalia to take that position, would you vote for him?
KERRY: No.
RUSSERT: In 1986, when Scalia was put on the court, he was confirmed 98 to nothing.
And this is what John Kerry said then about Judge Scalia: "I believe Judge Scalia is a man of principle and integrity. I believe his conservative view of the role of the judiciary will provide a valuable and needed balance on the Court. While I may often disagree with Judge Scalia's views, I respect him as a jurist, a legal scholar. I believe that he will make a positive contribution to the Supreme Court, and I support his nomination."
KERRY: I was wrong.
RUSSERT: Why?
KERRY: You asked me, or somebody asked me, during the campaign, "What mistakes have you made?" or "Have you made any mistakes?" and I listed a number of mistakes, and that was one of them. I think that vote was a mistake.
RUSSERT: What has he done in the last...
KERRY: I think he's proven to be ideologically rigid and so far to the right and unwilling to find the kind of common consensus, and I think that's the perception of a lot of people.
RUSSERT: Any specific decisions that bother you?
KERRY: Well, affirmative action, others, absolutely.
RUSSERT: Let me turn to Social Security and find out your current thinking.
I want to take you back to your campaign in '96 when you talked to your hometown paper, the Boston Globe, and said that, "Dramatic changes are needed to make sure Social Security benefits are available for future retirees. Kerry said the next Congress should consider controversial measures, such as raising the retirement age and means- testing benefits, called it `wacky' that taxes that pay for the system do not apply to income over $62,700." It's now 90,000. "I know it's all going to be unpopular."
KERRY: So I was right about wacky.
RUSSERT: Well, we'll see (inaudible) -- "We have a generational responsibility to fix them."
And then in 2003, you said, "I'm blessed to be wealthy, but rich people are getting checks from poor people well beyond what they put in the system. Another idea is raising the cut-off point. Maybe we ought to raise it to $100,000, $120,000."
Specifically, Senator, do you still agree with yourself? Should we raise the retirement age, or consider it? Should we raise the cap on income level that people pay payroll tax?
KERRY: Precisely what I said in 1996 is we should consider a number of these things. We did consider them. I considered them; others did. I rejected them.
And I have said again and again throughout the campaign this last year, I do not believe we have to raise the retirement age. I'm not in favor of it. I am absolutely opposed to cutting benefits. And I believe we can save Social Security in any number of ways, Tim, other than what President Bush wants to do.
President Bush is hyping a phony crisis. The crisis in America today is 45 million Americans who don't have health care. The crisis are 11 million children that I just talked about that we ought to be covering with health care.
You know, Social Security does not run out, as the president says, and become bankrupt in 2018. It can pay 100 percent of the benefits until 2042, and after 2042, it can pay 80 percent of the benefits.
And all you need to do to move Social Security into safety well into the 22nd century, into the next century, is to roll back part of George Bush's tax cut today. His tax cut takes three times the deficit of what is contained in Social Security.
KERRY: Now, there are any number of other things that you could do to try to fix it smart. What President Bush wants to do is put at risk something that has stood up not as an investment program but an insurance program, an insurance against poverty.
Without Social Security, 50 percent of seniors would be in poverty. Without Social Security, people with disabilities, widows, orphans, children would not get help.
And the president is willing to put that at risk so that you have $940 billion of fees that go to Wall Street and a whole bunch of young people get to invest money in who knows what, and there's no guarantee that money will be there for them in their lifetime.
RUSSERT: But people you know...
KERRY: It's a bad program, and we should oppose it.
RUSSERT: People you know and respect -- Bob Kerrey, Democratic senator; Warren Rudman, former Republican senator...
KERRY: Right.
RUSSERT: ... Pete Peterson, Concord Coalition -- said this is it, straight out. "Ensuring a more sustainable system will require change, meaning that someone is going to have to give up something -- either in the form of higher contributions, lower benefits or a combination of both. No Social Security reform will succeed unless this fact is acknowledged up front."
KERRY: Tim...
RUSSERT: You're saying raise taxes by rolling back the top bracket. You're raising taxes on richer Americans to pay for Social Security.
KERRY: Well, Tim, you can call it what you want. I mean, if you think rolling back to the level that we had in the 1990s, when an awful lot of our friends made an awful lot of money and people did very well in America -- if you think that's raising taxes, then you can go ahead and have that definition. I think it's rolling back. I think it's rolling them back to a level of responsibility.
What you have today is irresponsibility. The president is going to add $4 trillion to the debt of this nation just with his tax cut, which is $1.9 trillion over the next 10 years, and his Social Security plan, which is about $1.6 trillion. That's almost $4 trillion, just in those two choices the president is making.
Now, you can look at -- look at this headline. Here's a headline that ought to send shudders through America: "Central Banks Shun U.S. Assets." This was last week in The Financial Times. Why are they shunning U.S. assets? Because of the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration.
And the president's plan on Social Security is not only dangerous for Social Security, it's dangerous for the fiscal long-term health of our country.
Now, I'm for creating wealth with young people. I think they have a right to try to have better means of being able to put money away for retirement. But there are plenty of ways to do it without privatizing, without putting it at risk.
If the president would say to us, "Look, let's all get together and make sure Social Security is going to be saved the way President Clinton did, for the long term, and we're going to do it without privatizing it but we'll find one of these ways of doing it that's responsible," we will be at the table and we will join him to depoliticize it.
RUSSERT: Ten seconds. The most important thing you learned running for president?
KERRY: How great, how unbelievable the American people themselves are. They are just -- the courage of the American people day to day blew me away. And I think that, you know, this is an amazing country, and I came to love it even more.
RUSSERT: Senator John Kerry, we thank you for joining us. Thank you for your views.
KERRY: Thank you.
RUSSERT: We'll see you opening day at Fenway when the Red Sox play the New York Yankees.
(LAUGHTER)
KERRY: That'll be a deal.
END
