Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) slammed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) Tuesday for hiding that she would need to hike middle class taxes to pay for her Medicare for All proposal.
Warren has repeatedly refused to say she would raise taxes on the middle class to help pay for a government-run health care system. She did so again at Tuesday's debate, only saying that middle class "costs" would go down but not answering direct moderator questions on taxes.
Klobuchar, who favors expanding Obamacare and adding a public option, jumped on Warren, saying at least Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) was being "honest" about raising taxes to pay for his signature proposal.
"I'm sorry, Elizabeth, but you have not said that, and I think we owe it to the American people to tell them where we're going to send the invoice," she said. "I believe the best and boldest idea here is to not trash Obamacare but to do exactly what Barack Obama wanted to do from the beginning, and that's have a public option."
"That's what we should be doing instead of kicking 149 million people off their insurance in four years," she added. "And I'm tired of hearing whenever I say these things, 'Oh, it's Republican talking points.' You are making Republican talking points right now in this room by coming out for a plan that's going to do that. I think there is a better way that is bold, that will cover more people, and it's the one we should get behind."
Warren responded by saying that one of the top issues in U.S. bankruptcy cases is the "overall cost of health care."
"You can try to spin this any way you want," Warren said. "I have spent my life working on how America's middle class has been hollowed out and how we fight back."
Klobuchar fired back that the difference between a "plan and a pipe dream is something that you can actually get done."
"We can get this public option done, and we can take on the pharmaceutical companies and bring down the prices," she said.
Warren has said corporations and the wealthiest Americans will pay more under her health care proposal. She did not endorse single-payer health care when she first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012.