CNN Democratic debate night 2

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, the only war veteran on stage tonight, said most policymakers in Washington can’t fathom the cost of the war.

Her political record has come under intense scrutiny over the past few years, but Gabbard’s criticism of the US foreign policy establishment is in line with most progressives’ – and she pulled no punches on stage tonight.

Before she began, Gabbard who was deployed to Iraq in 2005, said her feelings on the issue are “difficult to convey in words.”

Ending the American conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, she added, should not be about the setting of “arbitrary deadline.” It’s a question, Gabbard said, “about leadership.”

“The leadership I will bring to do the right thing, to bring our troops home within the first year in office because they shouldn't have been there this long,” she said.

Turning to Trump, Gabbard added: “We were all lied to (about Iraq). The problem is that this current president is continuing to betray us.”

Watch Gabbard speak on Afghanistan:

Former Vice President Joe Biden was forced to defend his changing position on a measure that blocks federal funds from being used for most abortions.

During a conversation about women's rights, California Sen. Kamala Harris brought up Biden's recent decision drop his support for the Hyde Amendment.

Biden defended his position, saying, "The fact is that senator knows that's not my position."

"Everybody on this stage has been in the Congress. And the Senate or the House has voted for the Hyde Amendment at some point. It's in the past it was available because there was other access for those kinds of services, provided privately. Once I wrote the legislation making sure that every single woman would have the opportunity to have health care paid for by the federal government, everyone, that that could no longer stand," he said.

"I support a woman's right to choose. I support it as a constitutional right. I support it, and will continue to support it and move as president to see to that the Congress legislates that that is the law as well," Biden added.

The former vice president said he changed his position on the measure "because there was not full federal funding for all reproductive services prior to this point."

Watch the moment:

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand grilled Joe Biden on an op-ed that about women working outside of the home, which he wrote when he was a senator.

"I want to address Vice President Biden directly. When the Senate was debating middle class affordability for child care he wrote an op-ed. He voted against it," she began. "He wrote an op-ed: He believed that women working outside the home would, quote, 'create the deterioration of family.' He also said that women who were working outside the home were quote, 'avoiding responsibility.'"

She asked him what those quotes meant — and Biden explained why he voted against the bill.

"That was a long time ago," he said. "It would have given people making today $100,000 a year tax break for child care. I didn't want that. I wanted the child care to go to people making less than $100,000."

Gillibrand was not satisfied.

"Mr. Vice President you didn't answer my question," she said. "What did you mean when you said when a woman works outside the home, it's resulting in, quote, 'the deterioration of family'?"

Biden said both his late and current wives worked outside the home, and he said that he wrote the Violence Against Women Act. He pointed out that he and Gillibrand have worked together on women's issues.

"I don't know what's happened except you're now running for president," Biden said to Gillibrand.

Here's how Gillibrand responded:

"I never believed it" Biden said.

Watch this moment:

Tulsi Gabbard, who has opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said she'd ensure that the US remains competitive against China by "pushing for fair trade."

What you need to know about the deal: The Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as TPP, was negotiated under the Obama administration. It would have eliminated trade barriers between the United States and 11 other countries, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand, as well as some South American countries like Peru and Chile – with the goal of creating an alliance to counter Chinese economic influence.

Some Democrats, like Gabbard, are opposed: It drew criticism from some Democrats, including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who argued it was written behind closed doors with input from corporations and could end up forcing American workers to compete with low-wage labor around the world. 

President Trump isn't a fan either: He repeatedly said during his election campaign that it would send American jobs overseas and -- as one of his first acts as President, he withdrew the United States from the agreement. The 11 other countries went ahead with the deal, now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. It went into effect in January 2019. 

Instead, Trump has decided to take on China alone. He’s imposed tariffs on more than $250 billion of Chinese goods while his administration negotiates with Beijing, attempting to reach a comprehensive trade agreement that would address what it says are unfair trade practices by the Chinese.

Former Vice President Joe Biden was the target of multiple attacks, from protesters and from others onstage, about the deportation record of President Barack Obama. Biden defended his former boss against New York Mayor Bill de Blasio by saying Obama "came up with the idea for the first time ever of dealing with the DREAMers. He put that into law." 

Fact's First: That's false. Obama didn’t put it into law -- and that’s a hugely important point. 

The "DREAMers" are undocumented immigrants who were brought into the United States as children and there has long been bipartisan support to give a pathway to legal status. The DREAM Act was a bill written by Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois. It never became law despite multiple efforts -- but the name stuck. 

But there was not enough support to put it into law. And when a comprehensive immigration plan failed in congress, Obama instead used executive authority to give DREAMers temporary protection with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. 

If they met certain requirements, signed up for the program and stayed out of trouble, he promised they could stay in the country. But it was a temporary fix and not ever put into law. 

So when Donald Trump came into office, he moved to end DACA. Trump says he supports a legal status for DREAMers, but has said Congress must pass a law giving it to them. His effort to end the DACA program is currently stalled in the courts. 

So no, Obama did not put anything for the DREAMers into law. And that's part of the point of his record on immigration that frustrates immigration advocates. 

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is not a co-sponsor of the sweeping Green New Deal proposal, called the climate change debate “personal,” drawing on her experience growing up in Hawaii.

“First of all, this is personal. You can imagine I grew up in Hawaii, which is the most remote island chain in the world, so for us growing up there, protecting our environment was not a political issue, it’s a way of life," she said. "It’s part of our culture. It’s part of who we are.”

She went on to plug her work on climate change in Congress:

Watch now:

While criticizing former Vice President Joe Biden’s health care plan, California Sen. Kamala Harris said, “Let's talk about the fact that the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies last year alone profited $72 billion, and that is on the backs of American families.” 

Facts First: Harris was in fact understating the profits of these industries. Ten of the largest US-based drug companies alone made $69 billion in profits last year. Health insurance companies made $23 billion.  

The profits of the top US drug companies were as follows: Johnson & Johnson ($15.3 billion), Pfizer ($11.2 billion), Amgen ($8.4 billion), Merck ($6.2 billion), AbbVie ($5.7 billion), Gilead ($5.5 billion), Bristol-Myers Squibb ($5 billion), Biogen ($4.4 billion), Celgene ($4 billion), Eli Lilly ($3.2 billion). 

Not all of these profits came from the companies’ operations in the United States. 

A report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said the health insurance industry generated net earnings of $23.4 billion in 2018. 

Asked if he would commit to ending the use of fossil fuels and fracking during his presidency, Joe Biden hesitated before saying he would “work it out” of the American economy.

"We would make sure it's eliminated and no more subsidies for either one of those," the former vice president said of coal. "Any fossil fuel."

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who began his run as a one-issue candidate focused on climate change, challenged Biden, saying he didn’t seem to understand the urgency.

Inslee, who has released a comprehensive plan backed by leading climate activists, told Biden that his “argument isn’t with me, it’s with science” and claimed the former vice president’s plan took a “middle ground” approach.

Biden denied it, then talked about his plan to rejoin the Paris climate pact and push for the alliance to adapt more aggressive goals.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made a similar promise, but with some extra mustard.

"The first thing that I'm going to do when I'm president is I'm going to Clorox the Oval Office,” she said. “The second thing I'm going to do is I will reengage on global climate change and I will not only sign the Paris Global Climate Accords, but I will lead a worldwide conversation about the urgency of this crisis.”

“The greatest threat to humanity,” Gillibrand said, “is global climate change."

Still, such promises were criticized.

“Nobody should get applause for rejoining the Paris climate accord,” Sen. Cory Booker said. “That is kindergarten.”

Businessman Andrew Yang offered an even more dire portrait of what’s to come – without or without immediate, urgent action.

“We are too late. We are ten years too late,” Yang said. The entire world needs to take action to reverse the damage, he added, but “we also need to start moving people to higher ground.”

Watch the moment:

It's 10 p.m. ET and the debate is nearing its end.

After talking for two hours, it looks like former Vice President Joe Biden has had the most to say. He lead the way with 15:38 minutes, followed by California Sen. Kamala Harris with 13.25 minutes.

Here's where things stand: