Bream mentioned Cuellar's many conversations with the Biden administration on immigration, and asked if he thought the border is secure. Cuellar, who was born and raised in Laredo and represents the city today, was clear. With nearly 5M people crossing illegally in two years, between those we've apprehended and "the getaways,"
No... it's not secured... I started telling the transition team in December of 2020, this is what's going to be happening. You all have to be ready... we can be compassionate at the border, but you've got to enforce the law. And if you don't return people, then this is what you're going to have.
He also provided a great football analogy about immigration.
... look, we can spend all the defense on the one-yard line called the US/Mexico border, but if we don't go to their 20- yard line, work with Guatemala, work with Mexico and - and get them engaged so they can stop those folks from coming in, then they're just going to be at our doorsteps...And how does he respond to his opponent's accusation that he "can't point to anything concrete" he's done about immigration? After noting she's not from the district, he said he "works very well with her husband" who's a Border Patrol Chief in Del Rio. He's also announcing a new, $165M Border Patrol checkpoint in Laredo. And, he said,
...by the way, Shannon, if you want to stop drugs, drugs are coming in -- over 90% of their drugs come in through ports of entry. So, we've got to support the men and women in green and the men and women in blue also.
Bream asked if Cuellar "had any regrets" about voting for the American Rescue Plan. He said deficit spending under Biden is less than under the Trump administration, but added we need to control "one of the biggest drivers," oil and gas, which supports 40,000 jobs in his district. He said he helped pass "the ban on oil exports" which created more US jobs, and he wants more drilling here.
Bream wondered if there's a place for him with the Ds; some have suggested his policy positions align more closely with the Rs. Cuellar said "surely, I'm a Democrat. I'm a conservative Democrat. I work in a very bipartisan way." And, he continued,
And I think every party has the extreme. We have the extreme left. We have the extreme right. But some of us are not sent up to Washington to go make political statements. We're sent to Washington to do the hard job, and that is govern... I think there is definitely room for a conservative, moderate Democrat like myself.
Bream's last question was about the FBI raid at his home several months ago, which his opponent has been mentioning on the campaign trail. Cuellar said he is not the target of the investigation, and he's going to keep focusing on the election, and he said this about his opponent.
What I want to know is what she wants to do? You know, she's focusing on negative attacks. And I think people are sick and tired of the negative attacks. What they want to see is, this is a market of ideas. This is what I want to do. This is what she wants to do. Let the people decide.
Hear, hear to that.
Down the hall to the left, Jake Tapper talked with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) in the State of the Union classroom. Mace was on to talk about the GOP's agenda, should it "ride a red wave back into power."
On "lifting some of the Trump tariffs against China," as suggested by a WaPo editorial, Mace said there's a place for tariffs during negotiations on trade deals, but "at the end of the day, it is an increased cost on the consumer." She also talked about government spending.
...for decades, both Republicans and Democrats alike have had issues with increasing the deficit and deficit spending. We have got to look at our government spending.
Specifically, we need to look at getting the supply chain out of China, whether it's here in the US, or at least in North, Central or South America, to make it more efficient and less expensive. And, we have to address taxes.
The infrastructure bill last year, there were 42 new taxes. And so, all these things contribute to the rise in inflation. And, of course, Congress can't control the Fed, but when you print trillions and trillions of dollars every single year, again, that is just another factor into issues that increase inflation.
Tapper mentioned House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy saying if the Rs took over, they'd not lift the debt limit unless the Ds agree to spending reductions, and asked," Are you willing to risk the U.S. defaulting on its debt as leverage to impose these spending cuts?"
Mace supports that, pointing to COVID and businesses having to make decisions on how or whether they'd keep their doors open, while "...the federal government just kept getting record revenue year over year and hasn't had to make those tough decisions." She also talked about the House Oversight Committee and how it sees "waste in every single agency."
Tapper wondered if the better way to control spending is through legislating, meeting with Senators and the administration to come up with "a way to reduce spending or at least to reduce the rate that spending is going up..." She said the Rs, "for a year-and-a-half now, talk about more responsible spending, looking at the deficit spending in these bills that have been passed talking about how we can move this country forward. And we have been shut out." She's got a plan, though.
... I filed a bill earlier this year that would balance the budget in about five years, looking at making spending cuts about 5 cents for every future dollar the future government spent. If we made those cuts across every agency, you could balance the budget in five years... If we could do that, then we wouldn't need to threaten -- use the threat of the debt ceiling as a negotiating tool.
Tapper brought up McCarthy's suggestion that a GOP-majority House might not be as interested in funding the Ukrainians in their war against Russia. Mace said that, with predictions that we will "100% guaranteed" be in a recession,
... if we keep writing these blank checks to other countries, if we increase the deficit spending or government spending any more than we already have...we are going to exacerbate the situation. But make no mistake. Ukraine is very important, not only to the United States economy, but to countries all around the world. And so, there is going to have to be some sort of balance.
Tapper wondered if McCarthy's comment might embolden Putin to keep fighting until January. Mace said she thinks Putin "has lost his marbles" and is willing to do pretty much anything to cause destruction for Ukraine. And, his alliances with Iran and China aren't good for the US. But, there's a bigger issue here, she said.
...I think one of the reasons Vladimir Putin feels emboldened isn't because of what Republicans are saying they may or may not do. It is because of months, a year-and-a-half, two years now, more than that, even, but the divisions that we have and unwilling to work together on some of these issues and just the fighting. It makes us look weak on the world stage. And that is something that I am urging both sides to work on, no matter who is in the majority after November.
On impeaching President Biden, she said that's "something that would have to be investigated," but, more importantly,
I am not interested in playing tit for tat. I am not interested in retaliation... I really want us to be focused on the economy, on tackling inflation with responsible policy. We also need to look at crime and immigration... we have got to get very serious about those issues. And that is where I believe our focus should be when Republicans are in the majority.
When the Republicans are in the majority...
See you around campus.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!