Barbara Rodriguez | The Des Moines Register

Kelsey Kremer, kkremer@dmreg.com

Climate change and health care: U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said that's what Iowans named as top priorities as she made a two-day swing through the state Wednesday and Thursday.

Harris hosted a town hall at the University of Iowa, where she promoted her policy to give teachers a pay raise. At a house party in Des Moines, the Democrat highlighted her interest in passing universal background checks for gun purchases and renewing a ban on assault weapons.

Harris spoke one-on-one with the Des Moines Register on Thursday. This interview has been condensed for brevity.

Kelsey Kremer/The Register

Question: It’s a quick trip. How would you describe it?

Harris: “It’s part of an ongoing connection with Iowa … as I say everywhere I am, it’s about listening. It’s about getting feedback and really appreciating that what happens in Iowa and the issues that affect Iowa are really part of the measure and a thermometer of what is affecting the entire country. So, obviously, it’s a first-in-the-nation state, in terms of the election, but there is also a piece of it that is about Iowa’s important relevance to national policy and the priorities, in terms of national policy.”

Question: If you had to highlight 1-2 issues, what are you hearing from Iowans, in terms of feedback?

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Harris: “The floods, and the significance of climate change. Also health care, and I think, in part because of the privatization, the Medicaid issue and the providers pulling out.”

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Election 2020: Kamala Harris, a Democrat campaigning for president in Iowa

Question: What are you telling them in response to those concerns?

Harris: “On the issue of climate change: There’s no question that we have got to confront and deal with it. We need national policy that prioritizes it and understands the fact of it, which, frankly, the sad part of it is that there’s actually denial of it, much less what we need to do around the immediacy. There is the point about what we need to do in a way that is about investment in infrastructure and growing the economy as a way to help combat the effects of climate change. So I talk about those things. In terms of health care: It’s about what we need to do to reform the health care system in a way that everyone has access to health care based on a priority which is that health care … should never be thought of as a privilege for those who can afford it. It’s a right, and it’s a human right.”

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Question: You just re-cosponsored this revamped Medicare-for-all legislation this week. A lot of Iowans have indicated that health care is a priority for them. How are you going to sharpen what that actually means? Because some Iowans have indicated they want more details.

Harris: “The details … include what we need to do around looking at specific subsets of those who need health care. It’s about dental, it’s about vision, it’s about hearing aids. It’s about what we need to do in terms of thinking about how we’re going to do an implementation and understand that it’s not going to happen overnight, nor should it. There’s going to need to be a phasing-in and, frankly, an incremental approach to getting where we need to be from where we are right now.”

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Photos: Kamala Harris campaigns in Des Moines, meets Drake's Griff

Question: You mentioned the flooding and then went into a point about climate change. Do you see a correlation with the flooding here in Iowa and climate change?

Harris: "Yes."

Question: How so?

Harris: “Well, you look at just what’s happening, in terms of the melting of snow and the rapid pace of that. We are seeing around the world — the glaciers are melting. There’s a shifting of the climate in a way that’s creating new … situations that we’re not prepared to deal with because it is not what we have seen before.”

► From the Associated Press: Floods expose the threat to military posed by climate change

Question: How does Iowa respond to climate change and the flooding? What is it that you would like to see addressed, or how would you like to solve that?

Harris: “Renewable energy. Iowa is doing an extraordinary job. Fifty percent of the energy consumed in Iowa is generated by wind turbines and some combination of that and solar paneling. But Iowa is actually a real model for the country about how you can dedicate resources to renewable energy and will actually have a profound impact on energy consumption but also on jobs and the economy.”