House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee members held a press briefing on Wednesday.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi, everybody.
00:02You just moved locations.
00:06We want to welcome you to the Democratic Issues Conference, but note what great weather we
00:10brought you today.
00:13We want to thank Ted and Pete for organizing this, and this is going to be a really good
00:17time for all of us to talk together.
00:20We know we're really excited to be with each other for these next few days and the chance
00:26to be with fellow House Democrats to come together and to plan for the next two years
00:31ahead.
00:32I have one message for you guys today.
00:35We are united.
00:38We showed yesterday that House Democrats stand firmly against Donald Trump and Ellen Musk's
00:44chaos in House Republican schemes to slash Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.
00:51We will continue to show that what you saw yesterday, I know you want to see us.
00:59You're going to see that unity in the weeks and the months ahead as we expose and talk
01:04about what the House Republican budget does to Medicaid, taking away healthcare from tens
01:11of millions of Americans.
01:15What we're really going to do is lift the voice of real people, veterans who've lost
01:19their jobs at the VA, medical researchers who've been fired from the labs, and countless
01:25others who are the victims of Trump and Musk's chaos.
01:28That's what we're all working on, raising the stories, letting the American people see
01:33what the impact of what's happening is.
01:36Why are Trump and Republicans subjecting the American people to this chaos?
01:42Even more, why are they making people hurt and hurting them the way they are, these cruel
01:47cuts?
01:49Let's be clear, to give tax cuts to billionaires.
01:53It's a clear message.
01:54If you've been out there like I have, and I've been talking to a lot of people, the
01:58American people are on our side.
02:01Our job over the next 21 months is to make sure that voters are hearing this message
02:06loud and clear, and we're going to keep repeating it over and over.
02:11And that's exactly what DPC and our entire caucus intends to do.
02:15So with that, let me turn it over to Maxwell.
02:18Thank you, Debbie.
02:19I appreciate it.
02:20In January, Donald Trump and House Republicans inherited a growing economy with inflation
02:24coming down.
02:25I remember during the election, right after Donald Trump won, I was having a discussion
02:30with some friends, and I said, it's going to be kind of similar to what happened his
02:33first term.
02:34He's going to come into a growing economy and then take credit for it six months in.
02:40But this guy is so incompetent, and he's failing so much, that he took that growing economy
02:46and inflation coming down and actually completely reversed it.
02:50And now people are using the R word.
02:53We hope we don't go into a recession.
02:55We hope that doesn't happen to American people.
02:57But we've got to be clear that Donald Trump's reckless policies, all in service of billionaires,
03:02are really harming working families.
03:04From the Trump tariffs, to the cuts to essential programs that people have earned, he has completely
03:10turned around the ship in a really bad way.
03:13The economic announcement that Donald Trump has made has plunged the stock markets into
03:17a freefall, costing jobs and wiping out retirement savings.
03:21And at the same time, he's trying to ask all these government workers to retire.
03:25They're looking at their 401ks, they're looking at the stock market at the same time as he's
03:30trying to make that proposition.
03:32And at the same time that this is going on, where's Donald Trump?
03:35He's outside turning the South Lawn of the White House into a commercial for Tesla.
03:43A few weeks ago, I got my words taken down in the Oversight Committee for calling Trump
03:48a grifter in chief.
03:50And a week later, he does something that proves me right in saying that, proves all of us
03:55right in saying how corrupt he is and this administration is.
03:59That he would, in front of the White House, in front of the executive, do a commercial
04:06for Elon Musk.
04:07Why?
04:08It's because he cares more about corrupt billionaires like Elon than he does about the American
04:12people.
04:13Amid this chaos, Democrats have a clear message.
04:16We're fighting for and with working people.
04:20When I went home this weekend, everywhere I went, I went to the grocery store, I had
04:24people come up to me asking me, is my social security going to be okay?
04:29I did a town hall at the VA with Darren Soto.
04:32I had a guy come up to me, multiple, who said, I voted for Donald Trump.
04:37I'm a veteran.
04:38I'm very worried about my benefits.
04:41I'm very worried about what's going to happen here at the VA.
04:45You know, a lot of my colleagues keep saying, the people spoke, the people spoke, so I guess
04:49we can cut Medicaid, we can cut social security, without realizing that the people are speaking.
04:55And that's part of the reason why they've decided to cancel all their town halls, because
04:58they don't like what the people are saying.
05:00The people don't want these cuts to these programs that they've earned.
05:05And this is our winning message, talking about the fact that the voters are with us and the
05:11work now is to ensure that the voters are being heard.
05:14So thank you so much, and I'll yield to Lauren.
05:16Thanks, Maxwell.
05:18The good news for Democrats is that House Republicans and Donald Trump are making our
05:23messaging work easier for us.
05:25The chaos that Elon Musk has unleashed in our communities by laying off public servants
05:30who provided critical services is deeply unpopular.
05:34And the budget that House Republicans are pushing puts Medicaid, Medicare, and social
05:39security on the chopping block, which virtually no one, anywhere, supports.
05:46Right now, DPCC and all House Democrats are working to ensure the American people understand
05:52what's happening and how Democrats are fighting back to protect them.
05:56Tomorrow, our caucus will have an opportunity to take a deeper dive into how the people
06:02get their information and how that's changing and what Democrats must do to meet voters
06:07in digital spaces.
06:09In the months ahead, we will continue to prioritize reaching new audiences while making sure that
06:14our messaging remains clear and concise.
06:17Democrats are fighting for working people and fighting to stop cruel cuts.
06:23And we're fighting to stop tax breaks for the billionaires.
06:26With that, I yield to Laurie.
06:29Well, thanks, Lauren.
06:32Good afternoon, everyone.
06:35It's not just that Donald Trump's approval numbers are failing or that the Republicans'
06:39trust on the economy has cratered in just two short months.
06:45The anger that Americans feel about what Trump and Musk are doing is palpable across the
06:50country, both in swing seats and in Republican seats.
06:55It's no wonder that the NRCC has advised Republicans to stop holding town halls.
07:02That's not a problem for House Democrats.
07:05During the last district work period, 118 members of our caucus held at least one town
07:10hall, and we have dozens more planned for the district work period next week.
07:16These town halls are crowded.
07:18They are full of energy.
07:20And the folks coming in have a simple message.
07:24They want to stop Trump and Musk from taking away their health care so that billionaire
07:30GOP donors can get another tax cut.
07:34While House Republicans continue to hide from their constituents, Democrats will continue
07:40to listen to the American people.
07:42We will continue to fight for them, and we will remain, just as the theme of this year's
07:47issues conference says, united to win.
07:52I yield to Debbie.
07:55So thanks to all my colleagues, and now we will entertain questions.
07:59But if you want to go drink, it's okay with us, too.
08:03I don't know.
08:04Nick, I'm not going to go to you.
08:05I'll go over here.
08:06I'll come to you later.
08:07I will come to you.
08:08House Democrats, obviously, are calling on Senate Democrats to hold the line, stand firm,
08:09vote this GOP funding bill down.
08:10But I wonder if you are concerned that President Trump may be okay with a government shutdown,
08:11given his perspective on the federal government, given what he and Elon Musk have said, and
08:13the Doge folks are doing to federal agencies.
08:14Are you concerned that if the government shuts down, they may be okay with that?
08:42We are very clear that we think there should be a short-term continuing resolution that's
08:47clean, that lets us do the appropriation process in a regular and normal way, and we are united
08:54on that.
08:55Nick.
08:56Well, I want to ask, in a similar vein, you guys all stayed united earlier this week on
09:14the vote on the continuing resolution.
09:15Do you want Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats to be more vocal in their opposition, given
09:16that this was a tough vote for a lot of House members?
09:17Does anybody need to see the New York Times?
09:18That Schumer is, Democrats aren't going to help Republicans, but I'll let any of you
09:21with that want to answer, Laurie.
09:25Look, I think we, our actions speak on our unity.
09:31There's no question that Democrats have been united against giving, you know, in terms
09:38of voting for a CR that would cut veterans' health care, so many things, giving Elon Musk
09:45further ability to just rummage through the government and make cuts and fire folks and
09:53allow Republicans to abdicate their Article I responsibility to Elon Musk.
09:58We are united on that, and I think that's why we're so supportive of Senate Democrats
10:02today, you know, making sure that we do everything we can to have a short-term, clean CR so that
10:10we can work this out together in a bipartisan way, rather than allow these cuts to hurt
10:16the American people.
10:17So, Demi, you guys talked a little bit about this, that Democrats are going to be using
10:18a lot of money to do this.
10:19So, Demi, you guys talked a little bit about this, that Democrats are going to be using
10:23a lot of social media and different tactics to reach voters where they are.
10:27Some of, you've already started to do some of that, and some of that has really made
10:31an impact, and some of that has been ridiculed by some Republicans.
10:34How do you find that intersection of reaching younger voters, reaching old-class voters
10:38through different social media tactics, or even messaging platforms, and then also making
10:43sure that you're still presenting a unifying message to the rest of your base?
10:47Demi, either of you want to start?
10:50We're taking advantage of the opportunity to reach the American people using all the
10:54tools available to us.
10:56We have a responsibility to meet voters and constituents where they are, and many of them
11:00are online.
11:01And so, you're increasingly seeing House Democrats take advantage of the opportunity to have
11:05a direct conversation with our constituents about the work that we're doing on their behalf
11:09here in Washington.
11:11And, you know, if folks want to ridicule or point things out, if the White House wants
11:18to tweet at us, you know, that means that we're getting under their skin, and if anything,
11:23it's expanding our reach.
11:25And so, if they want to join us in that effort to communicate directly to the American people,
11:30that's fine.
11:31Last week, we had 50 million, 50 million people interacting with our content, and I would
11:37call that a success.
11:40Yeah, I mean, the only thing I'd add is they're going to ridicule everything that we do.
11:44I mean, when I first got to Congress, they ridiculed me because I had trouble getting
11:47an apartment, because I'm not a rich person, and I wasn't a rich person when I got to Congress,
11:53and they ridiculed me for that.
11:55So, they're so out of touch.
11:57Anything that we do, they're going to ridicule, but that doesn't guide where we're going.
12:01What guides where we're going is fighting for working people, fighting with working
12:04people, fighting for young people, fighting for seniors, fighting for veterans.
12:08And so, we're not going to allow what the White House tweets out to dictate our message
12:13and what we're going to do.
12:14We want to reach out to the masses.
12:16We know more people are getting their information and their news from many different sources,
12:20and we want to be there front and center to talk about our message, which most people
12:24in this country agree with.
12:29Back there.
12:30I wanted to ask you about the town halls and the fact that many Republicans are not doing
12:35town halls in their districts.
12:37I've seen some Democratic members say they're going to start doing town halls in Republican
12:42districts, and I'm curious if that is part of a larger strategy, if that's an approach
12:48that is being encouraged.
12:51And also, when you do these town halls, what kind of reassurances can you give these people,
12:57given that midterms are over a year away, and there's really not that much the Democrats
13:03So, I'm going to start with your last question, and then turn it over to my colleagues.
13:11I've probably had more town halls than most here.
13:14I started the first weekend, and I haven't stopped.
13:17Note to self, don't ever do two back-to-backs.
13:19I had one with 11,000 people from 530 to 630 and left, and did one for three hours with
13:25more than 1,000 people, two overflow rooms.
13:28And people were intense, and they had a lot of questions.
13:31But they respected me, and I did it with my state legislators, and we answered questions.
13:36I'm accessible.
13:37I did one with Indivisible and all the Indivisible groups the week before, and several others.
13:41And I try to do two or three a weekend, to be perfectly frank.
13:45People want to see you.
13:46They want to know you're accessible.
13:47They want you to answer questions.
13:49And I don't make people false promises.
13:51You know, when we're standing here, and I can't tell you what it's like.
13:56Everybody's talked about it in a different way.
14:00It's the firemen from Detroit that came up to me and said,
14:03tell me my pension and Social Security are going to be okay.
14:07I can't make a promise, and I won't make a false promise.
14:10I went to my asthma doctor, and I said to him, I've told him all this story.
14:14Before I ever got to the doctor, 25 different people stopped me from doctors who were worried
14:19about their research grants.
14:21And normally, because I go to U of M, when you walk in, they were so scared.
14:25The nurse who took my blood pressure sister had been fired the night before.
14:28I said, from where?
14:29She said she was crying so hard she couldn't tell me.
14:32The mother who was wheeling her child in a wheelchair and said,
14:35what are you going to do to make sure I can bring my child back if anything happens?
14:39The seniors that were scared to death that stuff was going to happen.
14:42You've got to be there.
14:43You've got to answer their questions.
14:44You've got to tell them to care, and you've got to tell them to be engaged.
14:46And we're not running away from doing it.
14:48We're making ourselves accessible, and that is what we have to do.
14:51Any of you want to answer the first question?
14:54All right.
14:55You want to say anything?
14:56I was just going to say, in my community, I talk about my commitment to the people of the 14th,
15:00which is to be accessible, transparent, and responsive.
15:03I don't see my Republican colleagues making that same commitment to their constituents,
15:07and I think that in this moment, the American people want to feel seen.
15:12They want to feel heard.
15:14They want to understand what's going on.
15:16They hear a lot of words when they engage with the news,
15:19but they want to know how it impacts them.
15:21And I think as much as we can show up and talk to people, listen,
15:26give people an opportunity to share their stories,
15:29and allow that to inform the work that we do, then we will be successful.
15:38I believe it's about listening to people.
15:40It's not about where.
15:42I get stopped all the time, and I stop and talk and listen.
15:45It's not about going one place or another place or showing up and making a big fuss of it.
15:51It's making sure that people have an opportunity to be heard.
15:58I was just going to say, because I'm going to be doing a few of these,
16:00and I think part of the reason is we're filling a void.
16:04We're filling a void that's left open by our Republican colleagues who are too scared to show up to town halls
16:11and their own districts because they're doing things that are not popular.
16:15And it's not just Democrats showing up.
16:17It's Republicans showing up.
16:19I know you've all seen the videos, Republicans showing up, independents showing up,
16:23and now they're being told stop doing it.
16:25It's too much of a political liability, and that's not fair to their constituents.
16:29So it's Democrats going above and beyond and saying we, even though I don't represent your district,
16:36I know you want to talk with a member of Congress,
16:38not just send a form online, not leave a voicemail.
16:41All that's really important, but you want to see someone face-to-face.
16:44And we as Democrats, we're going to fill these voids,
16:47and so that's part of the reason why many of us are doing that.
16:54Thank you, Congresswoman.
16:55Thank you all for doing this.
16:57I know that past Democrats have coalesced around a message around the economy
17:01and letting folks know that Republicans feel that they have a winning message
17:07on issues like immigration, public safety, cultural war issues like trans rights.
17:12Sometimes they bring bills to the floor for some of those issues.
17:16Democrats kind of didn't have an answer during the election for some of these kind of cultural war attacks.
17:24Do you all feel that you've shorted that up going into 2026, especially on the cultural war issues?
17:30Yeah, and I mean I would say that we do have answers,
17:34and I think part of what we need to do here is these controversial issues are issues that we as Democrats,
17:41we have positions on them that most Americans agree with.
17:44Just look at this past bill that they put on the floor, the trans sports ban bill, right?
17:50A lot of people in this country might not fully understand what it means to be a trans person.
17:55They might still be figuring that out, et cetera, but most people in this country are against discrimination.
18:00Most people in this country don't want people to be bullied,
18:03and that's what we leaned in on, the Child Predator Empowerment Act.
18:06That's something people can understand and get,
18:09and I encourage people to go back and look at that House debate because the Republicans were caught off guard
18:15because this is an issue that, yes, they have tried to capitalize on and fill a void,
18:19but we're standing strong, and we had from the most moderate members to the most progressive members
18:24and everyone in between on the same accord talking about the same message during that debate on the news.
18:30Hell, even Fox News was calling it the Child Predator Empowerment Act, too,
18:33and then because we stood strong, our colleagues in the Senate stood strong,
18:37and it did not make it to the president's desk.
18:39That's how we win, being unified on a message that everyone can get behind
18:43and that most Americans are in that position anyway.
18:50Just because we've all done multiple town meetings, and I have many more scheduled next week,
18:58I think it's really important to sort of elevate the actual issues that walk through the door.
19:03If I'm shopping at my grocery store or if I'm in a town hall, people are scared right now.
19:10They're scared that they're not going to have health care.
19:13They're scared that their parents aren't going to have their Social Security checks or Medicaid for assisted living.
19:20They are frightened that these core programs are going to compound the problems that they already have,
19:26which is when they go to the grocery store, they're panicked when they're at the register,
19:31and they're watching their 401ks go down the tubes because of tariffs put on our largest trading partner and our allies.
19:40This is irresponsible.
19:42So there's a lot of things that Republicans want to talk about.
19:45There's a lot of things that they want to put their campaign donations behind,
19:49but we're in touch with the American people because we face them every chance we get, and we listen to them.
19:55Republicans aren't doing that.
19:56Not only are they not facing their constituents as their representative, but they're allowing Elon Musk,
20:02someone who hasn't filed a financial disclosure, has a ton of conflict of interest, he is actually doing their job for them.
20:12So it's unacceptable.
20:14People are rightfully scared, and we are going to do whatever it takes to meet them where they are,
20:20assuage their concerns, use every tool that we have to fight for them, and win in 2026 so that we can get back the majority.
20:29I was just going to add, it's really clear that the House Republicans, at least number one priority,
20:34is this big tax bill that they're working on.
20:37Let's talk about their priorities in the tax bill.
20:40$880 billion cut in Medicaid.
20:43That's people's health care, not just working people, kids, seniors.
20:49Donald Trump's own pollster put out a memo about two weeks ago that said the number one issue on the mind of Trump voters
20:57when it came to a tax plan was to extend the ACA tax credits.
21:02And these guys don't even want to have that conversation.
21:05They want to compound the harm by kicking people off their health care.
21:10I mean, the contrast could not be more clear.
21:14They're doing all of this in service of tax cuts to billionaires.
21:18They're billionaire donors.
21:22And I don't think that we should be distracted when we see polling data on issues like policies,
21:29what should be in the tax plan.
21:31We should not be distracted when we see polling head-to-head,
21:36and people are asked, what's the number one issue that you vote on?
21:40Inflation and the economy.
21:42And then you see a party make their number one priority tax cuts for billionaires.
21:48They are the ones that are out of touch.
21:50We are the ones working hard for working people.
21:56Last question.
21:58What do you guys pick?
22:03Your hand stayed up.
22:06Well, so I know that some of the issues that DOJ is making,
22:11they want to predate DOJ.
22:13The Government Accountability Office identified $2.7 trillion in improper payments
22:17from, I believe, 2003 until 2023.
22:20And there have been some hearings and oversight where there's been bipartisan concern
22:24about improper payments.
22:26All that is to say, is there any way, given DOJ and given the prominence of Elon Musk,
22:31for Democrats to own on messaging aspects of some of those reform elements,
22:37or is this an issue that it's just going to be difficult to bring to the forefront?
22:44Look, I'll sit down and talk to anybody about waste and fraud,
22:47and I'd start with the Pentagon, to be perfectly frank.
22:50But this meat-axe approach that we are watching is hurting innocent people every single day.
22:55I was at the VA the day after they announced VA cuts.
23:00I had veterans.
23:02And then the staff, while they're worried about what's going to happen,
23:05are more worried about veterans' care.
23:08The Detroit Dingell Hospital, I don't care whose veterans secretary, had issues.
23:13I went to the Secretary of Veteran Affairs.
23:15We got an Inspector General report that a director was fired in a Democratic administration of the hospital.
23:22That's hard.
23:23And it's understaffed.
23:25And now you're going to cut them more?
23:27By the way, when you talk about critical jobs, keeping the building heated, keeping the inventory there matters too.
23:33And when you're cutting things like research for burn pits, we've had 30 years.
23:38I have had Vietnam vets that have died of Agent Orange.
23:41For 30 years, we have been making a promise and have a moral responsibility to take care of those veterans.
23:48We finally do it, and now we're not going to meet our obligation under the PAC Act?
23:52And I could go on.
23:55Two Fridays ago, or ten days ago, at the Veterans Hospital downtown Detroit,
24:00they had just fired people at the Great Lakes Lab, and this woman just collapsed in my arms.
24:05Do you know the kind of work that's not going to get done?
24:07It's algae bloom and keeping the water safe.
24:10It's NOAA and weather and predicting floods.
24:13It's safety.
24:16We're cutting air traffic controllers.
24:18How many air traffic events have we had?
24:22Firefighters that are fighting fires.
24:26I could go through the list.
24:28See, don't take a meat ax.
24:29We'll have a conversation, but you don't cut programs that are hurting people every single day.
24:37You may say whatever you want.
24:43I do think Democrats are committed to modernizing our systems, rooting out fraud, waste, and abuse.
24:52I think there's a way to do that that is respectful of the programs that people rely on,
24:57respectful of the federal employees who could actually help us identify where some of those buckets of cost are that can be trimmed.
25:05That should be done in full view of the American people.
25:08It should be debated.
25:09It should be the role of Congress.
25:11It should not be left to a billionaire who has not been elected,
25:16who has not been vetted by the Senate or the administration,
25:20who has multiple billion-dollar contracts with the DOD, with the FAA, with the FDA,
25:27to go through and start wiping out personnel and programs that people rely on.
25:33That is just not the way to do it.
25:35It is Congress's role to do that,
25:37and that is something where we're fully committed to doing those audits and rooting out fraud, abuse, and waste,
25:44but I think that we want to do that in full view of the American people.
25:48Would you agree that the Pentagon is an area that requires?
25:51Absolutely.
25:52The Pentagon hasn't passed an audit since I've been in Congress.
25:55Well before that.
25:58That's it.
25:59Thank you very much.
26:01Good to see you all.