Former congressman and 2020 presidential candidate John Delaney pledged on Sunday that if he became President of the United States he would put off considering progressive legislation for 100 days and only sign bills with bipartisan support in his first.
ABC's "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos asked Delaney how he would unite the country and solve the divisiveness that has plagued Congress. Delaney said his plan would be to only sign legislation that received bipartisan support.
"Well, I think it takes leadership. What the American people are looking for is a leader to bring us together. Not actually talk like half of the country's entirely wrong about everything they believe. Focus on where we have common ground. Talk about big things for our future. And really do things differently. One of the things I pledged in my first 100 days, only to do bipartisan proposals," Delaney said. "Wouldn't it be amazing if the president looked at the American people at the inauguration and said, I represent every one of you, whether you voted for me or not, and I'm going to prove it."
"Isn't that a cut against what a lot of Democrats are expecting? If you're only putting bipartisan legislation on the floor, that means no 'Medicare for all.' No 'Green [New] Deal.' No $15 per hour minimum wage," Stephanopoulos interjected.
"There are things we agree with; building infrastructure, comprehensive immigration reform was bipartisan, fixing our broken and immoral criminal justice system is bipartisan," Delaney said.
"So you put other Democratic priorities on the back burner?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"The first 100 days you prove to the American people that we can start actually solving problems and getting things done. Then, you start talking about the big things that we need to do to build a better future," Delaney said. "Universal health care, I fully support, and I believe there are ways to get that done. I introduced the first bipartisan carbon tax bill in the Congress of the United States last year, to show that climate change, which is a huge threat to our prosperity, our national security, we can actually come together and solve that problem. I think there's a pathway to do big things together as a country. But there's also, in the short term, a lot of things we agree with each other on that have to get done."
Delaney was the first Democrat to announce he was running for president back in July 2017. Since then, he has focused on campaigning in Iowa. With a current campaign staff of 24 in the Hawkeye State, he opened a field office in Des Moines on Saturday and plans to open five additional offices across the state.