The next is a transcript of an interview with Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Sept. 1, 2024.
NANCY CORDES: We’re joined now by Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey, who’s becoming a member of us from Boston this morning. Governor Healey, welcome to Face the Nation. So good to have you ever. , there was an assumption by many progressives with regards to Israel that Vice President Harris is extra sympathetic in the direction of the Palestinian trigger than President Biden is. However when she was interviewed this week, she stated that really, she is in lockstep with President Biden. She would not do something in a different way. You’re the governor of a state with loads of schools and universities. You understand how younger folks specifically really feel about this concern. Does she must say extra?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: I feel what she has stated is strictly proper, her assertion final night time, this morning, and what she stated final week on the conference. I imply, she’s been very clear in regards to the want for America to proceed to face by Israel, for the hostages to come back house, for there to be a stop fireplace and a peaceable decision right here. And I feel the best way she has articulated this has been each with compassion and in addition with a really clear understanding about what must occur.
NANCY CORDES: You signed a giant maternal well being invoice in your state final week. It might develop insurance coverage protection for pregnant girls, for girls who’re battling postpartum melancholy. President Trump introduced this week that he desires to require insurance coverage corporations to cowl IVF therapies. Is that one thing that you just and fogeys in your states would welcome?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: Properly, to start with, do not imagine something that Donald Trump says. , as Lawyer Common, I needed to sue him over 100 instances for his lies. And as governor, I’ve seen the very actual distinction between a Trump administration and an administration that we’ll have with Kamala Harris. With regards to well being, girls’s well being, reproductive freedom. There will be no clear a distinction on this on this election. Kamala Harris stands squarely for reproductive freedom. She helps girls’s entry to well being care. She is aware of the significance of giving girls the liberty and the sources to guard care. Donald Trump, bear in mind, is the architect of the undoing of Roe. He has stated simply the opposite day he’ll help the draconian abortion ban in Florida, the six week abortion ban. So, you understand, I do not assume Donald Trump can spell IVF, not to mention perceive what it means, as a result of his personal undertaking 2025, bear in mind, which establishes a fetal personhood, would undermine and take away IVF therapy. As well as, Donald Trump is the one that tried to undo the Inexpensive Care Act time and time once more. So do not imagine Donald Trump with regards to girls’s well being, girls’s reproductive freedom, and People’ entry to well being care. He would not imagine in or help any of it. Kamala Harris does. She’ll battle for it. She’ll shield it.
NANCY CORDES: However have been you stunned to listen to a Republican embracing what seems like an insurance coverage protection mandate? Do you see that as a step in the suitable course?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: You’ll be able to’t take this significantly. I imply, this is not only a Republican. That is and by the best way, I work properly with Republicans. That is Donald Trump, who will say something and all the pieces, relying on the place the wind is blowing. He caught some warmth the opposite day, you understand, and so he comes out with an announcement that, rapidly, he is a believer in IVF. It is simply, it is simply patently false. It is, it is offensive. And I feel, you understand, what’s essential is that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are on the market day after day on offense. I imply, they’re, touching rural areas. They’re in purple counties, they’re in purple states. They’re throughout. They usually’re not simply speaking to Democrats, Nancy. They’re speaking to Republicans, to independents, and to so many People who’re simply tuning on this Labor Day and have not made up their thoughts about who they will vote for. And on concern after concern, defending the center class, a properly functioning financial system, standing up for reproductive freedom. These are all issues that Kamala Harris and Tim Walz imagine in and can battle for, and issues that Donald Trump and JD Vance do not know the very first thing about and can’t ship on.
NANCY CORDES: I wish to flip to immigration, as a result of final 12 months, you blamed a, quote, federal disaster of inaction for the big numbers of undocumented migrants who have been ending up in your state and different states. You even declared a state of emergency. Border crossings have come down fairly considerably over the previous couple of months after the administration’s asylum restrictions went into impact. Is your state nonetheless at capability or over capability? Or has the state of affairs improved?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: , I am glad you level that out, Nancy, as a result of border crossings are literally under 2019 ranges. Border crossings have come down on account of President Biden’s government motion. What I’ve stated and skilled as a governor in Massachusetts and I talked to colleagues across the nation–That is the issue of Congress. Now, bear in mind, months in the past, we truly had a bipartisan deal on the desk negotiated by Democrats and Republicans. It might have solved the border disaster. It might have put extra brokers down there. And as a former lawyer common, I do know the significance of securing the border, as does Kamala Harris. She’s been very, very clear about that to cease the trafficking of medication and weapons and human beings. Okay? Bear in mind what occurred? Donald Trump killed that deal and stated he didn’t desire a deal on the border. So the fault is Donald Trump proper now with regards to the border and what has occurred. And the one factor that Kamala Harris was clear about final week, amongst different issues, is that she wouldn’t solely push for bringing again that bipartisan invoice, she would battle for it and he or she would signal it into regulation as President. That is what states like Massachusetts want.
NANCY CORDES: However for those who assume that this coverage is working, do you want that the administration would have put it into impact rather a lot sooner again while you and different Democratic governors first began sounding the alarm bells?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: No I feel the administration has dealt with this as greatest it may. Bear in mind, you understand, it is it is Congress that should act, and has wanted to behave on this each to provide us the sources, the funding, and the rationale for for our states who’re coping with this. But in addition for brokers down on the border to cease the circulation of fentanyl, to cease illegal immigration into into America. So actually, the fault is with Congress. And you understand, sadly, Congress did not act. They usually did not act as a result of too many Republicans have been kowtowing to Donald Trump. And you understand, that is why President Biden took the motion that he did. I am glad. And you understand, I do know it is so essential on this election to elect Kamala Harris, so we are able to cope with the border as soon as and for all.
NANCY CORDES: Governor Healey, another fast query earlier than I allow you to go. You are the previous State Lawyer Common, and your title has been floated as a doable US Lawyer Common. If Vice President Harris is elected, is {that a} job that you just’d be taken with?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY: I really like being governor of this state. I really like what we have been in a position to do, free neighborhood school, higher entry to well being care, ensuring that we do issues to maneuver ahead economically. I am a pro-growth Democrat, as is Kamala Harris. We simply minimize taxes right here within the state, which can also be one thing that Kamala Harris desires to do– minimize taxes for the center class. Donald Trump solely desires to lift taxes for the extremely rich. So I am targeted, Nancy, on doing all the pieces I can to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in November. Will probably be good not only for Massachusetts, it will likely be good for America.
NANCY CORDES: Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts. Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us this morning. Actually admire it.
