On Tuesday, the Congressional Progressive Caucus held a press briefing.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon. I had to check my watch real quick. Not evening, not morning. Good afternoon.
00:11Can you guys hear me okay at the audio work? Great. I'm Greg Cassar. I'm proud to represent
00:18the heart of Texas in Congress and be chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
00:23Today marks 100 days since Donald Trump took the oath of office surrounded by the richest men
00:31on earth. The most important story of Trump's 100 days is crystal clear. Trump, Musk, and the
00:40billionaire class are using the government to rip off working people every single day for 100 days.
00:47For 100 days, they have cut your services. For 100 days, they've raised your prices. For 100 days,
00:54they have fired veterans and stolen their salaries. For 100 days, Trump, Musk, and the billionaire class
01:02have gotten richer off of you while our country has gotten screwed. They're not even trying to
01:07hide it anymore. For his entire career, Trump has stolen from working people while claiming
01:13to be, quote, anti-establishment. But in the last 100 days, Trump has finally ripped that anti-establishment
01:21mask off, starting with the row of billionaires sitting right behind him at his inauguration and
01:27continuing every day since Trump has created a government by and for the billionaires. And if
01:34anyone ever doubted that Trump and Musk and Bezos and the billionaires are all at one team,
01:39just look at what happened at Amazon today. Bezos immediately caved and walked back a plan
01:46to tell Americans how much Trump's tariffs are costing them. Bezos, who spent $40 million
01:53on Melania Trump's documentary, wants big tax cuts and sweetheart deals much more than he wants
02:02to represent the American people. The message to our communities and to people watching at home
02:07is crystal clear. These billionaires and Trump are on one team and stick together. And it
02:12is the responsibility of Democrats to bring people across the country together that are
02:18everybody else besides the billionaires. Today, Americans don't need a dictionary to know
02:23what oligarchy is. All they have to do is turn on the news. Musk cutting social security services
02:29and firing veterans to pay for bigger government contracts for himself. House Republicans pushing
02:34the biggest cuts to Medicaid in American history to pay for tax cuts for their billionaire donors.
02:41And Trump jacking up prices on working families by $4,000 a month in order to have corporations
02:48and billionaires come sit at his feet and pay him extortion money in order to get exceptions to
02:54his tariffs. I don't care what word we use for it. Democrats need to make confronting the billionaire
03:00takeover of our government our top priority. Now, I do see some hope amidst the darkness.
03:06A hundred days ago, there were many Democrats who were grieving or unsure of where to go from here.
03:11A hundred days ago, there was debate within our party about whether to play footsie with Elon Musk
03:17or go to toe to toe with him. But today, the Democratic Party is shaping up. Millions of Americans
03:23have protested and marched and called and demanded that Republican politicians stop acting like puppets.
03:30And we know now that we cannot just be the anti-Trump party, but progressives especially are organizing
03:36Democrats to build a vision for America where the world actually gets better after this. This week,
03:43the Progressive Caucus has begun discussions about a policy agenda that will end the billionaire
03:50takeover of our government and make sure our government really works for working people.
03:55In the short term, before we take back the House, our priority is to stop the bleeding
04:00and stop the corruption. In markups this week, Republicans will be forced by our CPC members to
04:06confront again and again whether these Republican members of Congress want to act like representatives
04:12of their constituents or representatives of their billionaire donors. And together, alongside the
04:18entire Democratic Caucus, I believe we can pressure just the three House Republicans we need to flip
04:24their votes and we can save Medicaid as we know it. We can stop the billionaire takeover of our government.
04:31And in the coming month, we can remind the entire country that we can fire Elon Musk by May 30th,
04:37the day that he legally must exit his role at the White House. If we do these things, then I believe
04:43that 100 days from now, Democrats can say we have found our way out of the wilderness and back to our
04:49roots of fighting for all working people. And with that, we will pass it along to a number of our leaders
04:55in the Progressive Caucus to discuss all the important issues that faced us the last 100 days and how we'll
05:02take them on over the next 100 days. So I'm handing over the podium to our Deputy Chair, Ilhan Omar.
05:09Thank you, Chair Kassar. We knew that the lies, the chaos, and the destruction were on its way when
05:18Trump got sworn in 100 days ago. And just in three months, we have seen the gutting of institutions,
05:28the shattering of norms, and the fundamental rights of so many people being trampled on.
05:36We have watched Trump tear through our government like a wrecking ball by destabilizing federal agencies,
05:45undermining the rule of law, and lashing out against anyone who dares to dissent.
05:52Trump said he would fight for workers. Instead, he handed the federal government over to a billionaire,
05:59Elon Musk, who fired tens of thousands of public servants whose only crime is doing their job.
06:08And what do we have to show for it? Not a trillion dollars in saving, not even close.
06:15Trump swore he would bring down prices. Instead, his reckless tariffs have rattled markets,
06:24interest rates are soaring, and the threat of recession looms. A recent poll showed that only 11%
06:33of Americans feel better off since the election, with majority believing the economy is deteriorating.
06:41Trump swore he will pay off the national debt. Instead, he wants to hand out tax breaks to billions
06:51while planning to cut Medicaid and SNAP. And here at home, we're seeing ICE has deported nearly 140,000
07:03people, often with no due process or real hearings. In our streets, the crackdown has reached a terrifying
07:13new level. Students have been disappeared. Their only crime is daring to demand an end to a genocide.
07:23This is the behavior of a dictator.
07:26They are trying to turn our government into a weapon to punish enemies and reward threats.
07:34But I am here to tell you that this is not normal. Just last week, I spoke with students,
07:41small business owners, and seniors in my district. I listened to seniors and veterans who said,
07:47with tears in their eyes, that after a life of service, they are now afraid their Social Security checks
07:55will vanish into the pockets of billionaires. This fear is real. But so is our resolve.
08:04We will not allow billionaires to run our democracy like it is one of their business ventures
08:11to strip for parts. We fight because we believe in an America that is big enough, brave enough,
08:20and free enough for all of us. Donald Trump and his enablers want to create a country where power is
08:27hoarded by the few and the rest of us are criminalized by daring to exist. If they thought the first 100
08:36days of chaos would break us, they were wrong. Because across this country, millions of us are standing up
08:44for our human rights and our democracy. Judges are fighting back to block these unconstitutional
08:51executive orders. Here in Congress, we are fighting back every single day. We are fighting to protect
08:59immigrant families from mass detention and deportation. We are fighting to prevent horrific cuts to Medicaid,
09:07SNAP, and Social Security. It won't be easy, but we must continue to organize, to speak out, and to build
09:16a future that reflects our highest ideals. Thank you, and I am proud to introduce Representative Pramila
09:26Chayapal, Chair Merida of the Progressive Movement.
09:30Thank you so much, Deputy Chair. Omar, thank you to our Chairman Greg Kassar for leading us
09:39in this very, very important time. In the 100 days since taking office, Donald Trump, Elon Musk,
09:45and the Department of Greed and Ego have taken a literal chainsaw to our government. They have eliminated
09:53and threatened programs that help people in every corner of our country, both red and blue. So I want to
09:59spend a few minutes just talking about health care and some of the promises that Trump made on the
10:04campaign trail. First of all, he said he was going to lower prescription drug costs. Promise made,
10:10promise broken. He said he would make IBF free. Remember that? Even as his Republican cronies in Congress
10:18took aim at it. Promise made, promise broken. He promised to not make a single cut to Medicare or Social
10:27Security. Promise made, promise broken. Let's be real. We have all heard the clip of Elon Musk saying
10:34the quiet part out loud that Social Security and Medicare are the big ones that need to be cut.
10:43I know and you know that these are not entitlement programs the way that Musk talks about them. They
10:49are earned benefit programs. They are programs that people have paid into their entire lives so that
10:54they would have some security when they retire. No unelected billionaire should be able to just
11:00slash those benefits. And the budget that the Republicans are marking up this week in committees
11:06would cut a minimum of 880 billion dollars from Medicaid. This is not a red state blue state issue.
11:15Medicaid pays for health care for 38 million kids. That includes more than three million in Texas. It pays for
11:2264 percent of childbirths in Louisiana. Speaker Mike Johnson's home state. This is an all-out assault on our
11:30workers, on our federal safety net. It is promises made, promises broken by an administration that cares
11:37more about big pharma CEOs than families that rely on Medicaid. Cares more about insurance shareholders
11:44than seniors who are getting ripped off. An administration that cares more about keeping their billionaire
11:50buddies happy rather than lowering the cost of literally anything that Americans need. It is all promises
11:58made and promises broken. So now 100 days in, we know exactly how Trump will conduct this presidency.
12:07And it is important that we both fight back and fight forward. That we have a positive proactive agenda
12:15that we continue to fight for. And just today, we introduced the Medicare for all bill with Senator Sanders,
12:20Debbie Dingell, and over a hundred of our House colleagues to say that universal health care is what we all need
12:27in the richest country in the world. And ultimately, we need to come together to stand up and to show that our
12:33collective power is stronger than their hate and that we will always fight for the American people. Thank you all. And now it is an honor to
12:43introduce Representative Jimmy Gomez from California.
12:53Thank you. It is quite impressive
12:57what Donald Trump has pulled off in 100 days. In 100 days, he has tanked the U.S. economy,
13:07he has isolated the United States from their traditional allies, and he has driven a lot of
13:15those traditional allies into the arms of China. In 100 days. Think about that. If there was ever to be
13:24a movie written about this 100 days, it would be how to destroy the world's greatest economy in 100 days
13:31or less. Because that's exactly what he did. And this has all been because Donald Trump promised
13:39the golden era of America. He promised he would lower prices on day one. He made promise after
13:48promise after promise. But once the billionaire establishment has taken root, they have here in D.C.,
13:55they have been trying to accomplish one thing, how to give tax breaks to the billionaires and the
14:01largest corporations in this country and everything else be damned. So the economic plan that they had
14:08to raise all the billions, if not trillions of dollars was one, cut the federal government as much as
14:15possible. That means eliminate the VA, eliminate SNAP, eliminate Medicaid, any program that's meant to help
14:22working people and families. They're trying to cut it. Then they're imposing tariffs.
14:28And their tariffs are a plan to one, raise revenue. And two, they say it's going to bring manufacturing
14:35back to the United States. I want to be clear. We're not against all tariffs. We're against dumb
14:40tariffs. And these are dumb tariffs. Because they raise the prices on consumer goods and hurt small
14:46businesses unnecessary. And that's exactly what this administration has done. This tariff agenda was
14:55also made up by Pete Navarro. Pete Navarro, who quoted himself, Ron Barra, as an expert to justify
15:07a tariff agenda that makes no economic sense. They also had a formula, a tariff formula that every
15:18economist, conservative otherwise, planned that didn't make sense. So they're banking their whole
15:27economic agenda on a tariff proposal that hurts working families. We've seen prices increase.
15:36We've seen containers at the shipping ports get stalled or canceled altogether. So what you're
15:45seeing is just a complete devastation when it comes to the American economy. And if you really
15:50want to kind of dig deeper, ask a working man and woman. I'm the chair of the Dad's Caucus,
15:57but I also have a toddler who's two years and seven months. And my son, all he's doing is growing and
16:05growing and growing, like other parents. Well, where do our shoes come from? This is just an
16:11example. 99% of all shoes purchased in the United States are made outside the United States. A child
16:18between the age of one and five will go through anywhere through 15 to 30 pairs of shoes.
16:22And that's going to cost the family anywhere. It's going to go from $300 to $800 in expenses,
16:29just on shoes. But then you take them to the fact that a stroller, a car seat, baby wipes, toys,
16:38all of it, you know, comes from outside the country. So this is a tax on working people and making
16:45life a lot harder to get by. Food, produce, 40% of our produce comes from outside this country. So just
16:54go on and on and on. And the American family is struggling and carrying the burden of an economic
17:02strategy that doesn't make sense. It's not going to bring any jobs home. And it's actually going to make
17:08things more expensive. Additionally, it's going to cause small businesses to shut down. When people
17:15start tidying their belts, that means they're spending less. The small business owner has two
17:19choices. Either raise the prices or cut back a little bit, cut back on hours, cut back on certain
17:27products and go from there. And it's this downward spiral over and over and over again. So what do we have?
17:34We have a situation. We have economists warning that we have a recession. Anywhere from 45 to 60 percent
17:42chance of having a recession in the next year. In the next year. So this is going to hurt people.
17:50Additionally, I was on a plane just coming back from D.C. going to L.A. with a person that works for a
17:56Unite here in Vegas. And he told me that there are cutting workers in Las Vegas. Why? Because less
18:08people are spending. The people that 40 percent of the foreign travel to Vegas are Canadians. And they're
18:16not coming to Vegas. So this is an economic ripple effect that is not going to bring people,
18:24help lift people. It's actually hurting them. And this is what 100 days of a second Trump administration
18:30looks like. And it's all to give those billionaires and the largest corporations tax cuts. That's all it's about.
18:38And people are going to suffer more and more and more. So we're going to fight. We're going to continue
18:43fighting back. And it was the progressive caucus that has been leading it. One, we're going to show up and fight.
18:48We're going to fight them in the committees. We're going to fight them in the courts. We're going to
18:51fight them in the streets. And then we're going to, we're going to also stall the Republican agenda
18:57in Congress by any means necessary. You know. And in the end, the math is the math. They have more votes
19:03than we do. But if we show up and fight, we get people motivated and organized. And that's the last step.
19:09Organize, organize, organize. Get people to make sure that they're talking to people that don't listen
19:15to our news, uh, podcasts, watch our cable shows or read our newspapers. Because those are the people
19:21that we need to win over. And when we do, that's when they're going to start putting pressure on the
19:26David Valadeus and the Young Kins and the, and the, uh, Juan Sismanis. Those are how we actually
19:33bring them and hopefully, hopefully, um, limit the devastation of this administration. I wouldn't
19:40hold my breath, but we're going to keep doing that. And if they, if not, the American people,
19:45um, are going to hold them to account. With that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
19:49I have Boyd Doggett from Texas. Uh, I think the measure of the success of Trump's 100 days,
19:55just look at his promises for his first day. He said he'd be a dictator on day one. He should have
20:01kept that promise. But he also promised, quote, starting on day one, we will end inflation and
20:07make America affordable again. He promised starting the day I take the oath of office,
20:13I will rapidly drive prices down. Well, the chickens weren't listening because the price of eggs
20:20is up 26% since January at 623 a dozen. Over promising and under delivering. That's the Trump
20:28approach. He's making prices greater again, much greater. While markets are drastically down,
20:35401ks are down, retirement savings counts are down, uh, the opportunity for many Americans is down.
20:43And with soaring debt, with tight family budgets, with plummeting markets and measles outbreak,
20:50the Republicans have sure turned America red again, but it isn't the type of red they promised.
20:56On again, partially off again, tariffs are costing American families an estimated minimum of $4,900 a
21:04year. And Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warns that, quote, the tariff increases will be
21:10significantly larger than expected. The same is likely true of the economic effects, higher inflation,
21:17and slower growth. Americans don't need a Fed chair to tell them what they're experiencing every day.
21:24They see the prices rising at the grocery store with the car dealer. Even something as simple as buying
21:30some flowers for Mother's Day or for a spring wedding, the price goes up, up, and away because
21:37those are imported goods. The only thing that Trump has liberated from his Liberation Day is to liberate
21:43dollars from our wallets and to liberate some owners from their businesses as cost rise. Of course,
21:50for Musk and the other billionaires, tax breaks are on the way, likely marked up next week.
21:57Republicans are so very concerned about the threat of our national debt growing that they're going to
22:03add a few trillion dollars more. But the cost of their tax bill will not just be IOUs, it will be you.
22:10By cutting federal support for those services that our taxpayers have fought for, earned, and rely upon,
22:19closing social security regional offices, wrecking the Veterans Administration, firing more military
22:25veterans than any president in history, meaning longer wait times and worse customer service,
22:31cutting healthcare, terminating vital research, it's all out there in ways that harm Americans.
22:38So if some folks thought that they could trade our democracy in order to get more wealth,
22:43they're about to lose both. And unless you're really a billionaire already, there's not much that
22:49you stand to gain from their agenda. That's why we progressive Democrats are fighting by continuing to
22:55place our priority on working families, retirees, students, and our environment. I'm pleased to introduce
23:02our leader on the Small Business Committee, my longtime friend, Nidia Velazquez.
23:09Thank you. The first 100 days of Donald Trump's second term can only be described as an assault on our
23:18immigration system and on the Constitution itself. Foreign students here legally have been picked off
23:27the streets simply for speaking out against U.S. foreign policy. Mixed-status families have been torn apart
23:37overnight, and people have been sent to foreign prisons without even a chance to defend themselves.
23:45Over the weekend, we learned that even U.S. citizen children, including one,
23:54U.S. citizen children, sick with cancer, deported to foreign countries. How can we claim to stand for
24:15human rights or be a beacon of hope around the world when this is how we treat our
24:24most vulnerable Americans? Each of these examples is tragic, but taken together, they amount to an
24:35assault on due process, which has always been the foundation of the American justice system.
24:43We have a Department of Homeland Security that acts like the law doesn't apply to them. We have a
24:53president who floats the idea of sending American citizens to rot in a Salvadorian prison. And we have
25:04an administration that seems to take pride in tearing down, tearing up the basic rights that are supposed to
25:14protect all of us. We're not going to stand by and watch this happen. In 100 days, the Trump administration has
25:25launched an all-out assault on due process. And they are only getting bolder. That is why we have to speak out.
25:37Because if we don't push back now, it won't stop with immigrants. No one's rights in this country will be
25:48safe. Who will be next? A reporter for doing his or her job about reporting about some assault or
26:02sharing an opinion on foreign policy? Who is next? We've got to stop this by organizing and mobilizing. Thank you.
26:14Thank you very much.
26:15All right. Well, good afternoon, everyone. I'm Melanie Stansbury, and I'm deeply proud to represent New Mexico's
26:24first congressional district and to serve in the role as the ranking member of the Doge subcommittee
26:29of oversight and accountability. But I'm here to say welcome to the first 100 days of Donald Trump's
26:37failed attempt to remake American society, which has been an absolute and total unmitigated disaster.
26:45And I'll build on what was said just a moment ago. Not only was this how to destroy the world's greatest
26:50economy in 100 days, I will say it was how to destroy the world's greatest democracy, its economy,
26:58and its world standing in 100 days, because that is exactly what Donald Trump has done over the last
27:05three and a half months. Now, let's make something very clear. Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Doge, these
27:11billionaires who are serving in the cabinet around him are not here to make American life better.
27:17They are here to steal from us. They are here to remake American society in their image,
27:23and they are here to take over our government and dismantle it from within. Over the last 100 days,
27:29they have literally fired tens of thousands of Americans. They have signed hundreds of executive
27:36orders and taken hundreds of executive actions, resulting in mass firings, dismantling of agencies,
27:43data mining of your sensitive data, hurting real Americans, teachers, firefighters, veterans.
27:50And all along the way, they've been self-dealing, giving themselves contracts, Elon Musk taking off
27:57with literally billions of dollars in his pocket in new contracts. Now, is it any question that any of this
28:04is historically unpopular with the American people? In fact, the polling as of this week shows that almost two-thirds of Americans
28:13believe that they are doing a terrible job. Whether that's Elon Musk or Doge, or what Donald Trump is doing with the economy and his tariffs and immigration,
28:23the American people are speaking loud and clear. They do not want what Donald Trump is serving.
28:31So, I am here to join the American people in saying enough is enough. Enough with the lies. Enough with the secrecy.
28:38Enough with the grift, fraud, waste, and abuse. Hands off our Social Security. Hands off our veterans. Hands off our communities.
28:46Hands off our Medicaid. Hands off the vital housing and food assistance programs that our communities depend on.
28:53And hands off our environment. We will not stand for this. As progressives, as the Progressive Caucus,
29:02we call on the American people to join us to continue to speak up, speak out, keep marching, keep showing up,
29:10keep calling Republican offices, keep organizing, because we will take back our democracy, because we will
29:17make sure that our colleagues across the aisle stand up and are held accountable, and we will take back this
29:24House in the midterms and restore the sanity and democracy of this country. I yield so much.
29:31Amen. Thank you, Ranking Member. We're about to open it up to your questions, but I think what you heard
29:39from everyone in summary is, for the folks watching at home, your costs in these first 100 days of the
29:46Trump administration went up, and these guys got a sweet government contract. You might have lost your job,
29:54these guys got a cabinet position, or a private dinner. And I think in these 100 days, the Progressive
30:01Caucus is organizing our members and folks across the country to make our party the pro-working people
30:07party, and the party that's against these sorts of guys, and what they're doing to folks. I'm
30:12looking forward to taking your questions. Go ahead. Have you had any... And if we can, if y'all can say your
30:18name and your outlet, even when I know many of you. Arthur Jones II, ABC News. Have you had any
30:24luck with reaching across the aisle to some of those moderate Republicans and helping push back
30:30against the Republican agenda? I would love to hear from folks. My couple of quick sentences on this,
30:37though, is I hear often from Republican, quote-unquote, moderates, that they're concerned about what's
30:46going on when they're moderate elected officials, but they don't vote against these cuts to Medicaid.
30:52They're not voting against the billionaire tax cuts. They just cave, just like Jeff Bezos caved,
30:58to just being part of the Trump-Musk organization. And so I think Republican voters, when they hear
31:06about what Republican members of Congress are doing, are outraged. That's why I've done town halls in three
31:11different Republican districts, as have many of the other Progressive Caucus members. And in all three of
31:17those town halls in Republican districts, I've heard from conservatives and progressive constituents
31:23alike that they're opposed to robbing from our health care to give Zuckerberg and Bezos and Musk a
31:29tax break. And the question is whether these Republican members of Congress will start voting with their
31:34constituents, or will just kind of continue to follow Trump and Musk wherever they lead them.
31:39I would just add, the first group of people in our country who were effectively intimidated by Trump
31:47were not immigrants or poor people. They were House Republicans. And they are scared to do what they
31:53need to do to represent their constituents, unwilling to join with us to stop the horrors that we see.
31:58But we won't stop reaching out to. And I've had conversations, being on Ways and Means,
32:05with some of the moderates on the committee. And I said, before the tariffs, I said, this is going to
32:11devastate the economy. The stock market is going to crash. They were just kind of like, well,
32:18you've got to wait. So they'll dance around it. They never admit it. And they know that to be true.
32:24Right? I even saw one on Bloomberg talking about how tariffs were not great. But they wouldn't,
32:29they're not going to vote against Trump at all. And even if you look at a lot of the deficit hawks,
32:36the people that, let's look at Schweiker. Their plan, their budget reconciliation is going to add
32:43trillions of dollars to the deficit and to the debt. And what is he going to do? He's going to vote aye.
32:49So people should go and ask them, hey, you've been campaigning and you've been talking about
32:54the debt for years. And you're going to vote for Donald Trump's plan? Because that's exactly what
33:02they're going to do. They're not going to, they're not going to buck Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Not at all.
33:09I'll give you four concrete real life examples. I'm just coming off a town hall tour back in New
33:16Mexico. I represent 10 rural counties. I did 15 town halls touching more than 15,000 New Mexicans.
33:23I was incredibly surprised that in one of my town halls and one of the more conservative and
33:27rural parts of my district, it was predominantly local Republican elected officials who came to tell
33:34me how deeply concerned they are about what's happening, the effects to funding freezes, the
33:39effects of these mass firings, the effects that it's having on local municipalities and tribes,
33:45and asking me to work in a bipartisan basis to push back. So it's happening at the local level.
33:50Secondly, when we heard that the administration might mass fire healthcare workers at the Indian
33:57Health Service, I worked with several members across the aisle to contact cabinet members
34:03to try to make sure that they didn't slash funding for tribal programs. While they have not come out
34:08publicly, I do know that they make calls behind the scenes to the White House and to cabinet officials
34:14because they know the catastrophic impacts they would have. So these are members of the Republican
34:19caucus here. Third, we know that last week 12 Republican House members lined onto a letter
34:26saying that they would not vote for cuts to Medicaid. We need to make sure that they hold to that promise
34:31and that that wasn't just a campaign gimmick because they did vote for it in the reconciliation
34:36instructions. Now, if it comes out of energy and commerce with $880 billion in Medicaid, we can
34:44kiss those folks goodbye because they lied to the public, they lied to their constituents, and they
34:49lied to the American people. And finally, I want to lift up at least one voice of one brave Republican
34:56member across the aisle, and that's Lisa Murkowski. She has risked everything and put everything on the line
35:02for our democracy to tell the truth about what's going on inside this administration. And my sincerest
35:08hope is that my Republican colleagues who do care about democracy and good government and about real
35:14people will have the backflow that Senator Murkowski has had to stand up for the American people. And so I
35:23don't want to just attack folks across the aisle for abrogating their responsibilities, but I want to
35:29encourage them that the American people are with you. So stand up. Do not be kowtowed by this
35:34administration. The American people will have your back. Two-thirds of Americans are opposed to what
35:39they're doing. And vote no. And vote no.
35:45Could you talk about how the Progressive Caucus policy agenda will address immigration, just given
35:50House Republicans, in addition to tax cuts, want to boost more funding for border security and
35:55GOP-led states like Texas support these efforts? The Progressive Caucus recognizes that Democrats
36:02can actually go on the office on issues of immigration. The vast majority of the American
36:07people today do not believe that we should be sending people from this country to a prison camp
36:15in El Salvador run by a dictator. The vast majority of the American people are opposed to these mass
36:21deportation efforts where you have U.S. citizen kids with cancer being deported, and then the
36:29President and his White House continuing to lie about it. And so I refuse to believe that Democrats
36:36should just follow whatever poll there was from the last election. The American people know and believe
36:43that we're a country of immigrants, and that immigrants make us stronger, and that these mass
36:48deportation plans are deeply dangerous. And so the Progressive Caucus is going to continue to advocate
36:55for us to actually have a humane and orderly and safe immigration system. What the Republican caucus
37:02has done and what Trump campaigned on was breaking our immigration system and then complaining about
37:07it being broken and then burning it down more. We can't keep being in a situation where the arsonists
37:13come and blame the firefighters for the flames. I think that if we win back the House and then are
37:18able to actually have rational people in the White House, it's on us to finally have a comprehensive
37:26reform of our immigration system where, yes, we have safety and order, but we also should have a real
37:32path for the folks that have been here for years in places like Texas and California and New Mexico to
37:38have some certainty and to have some humanity because it's not just the rights of immigrants that are
37:45under a threat. If he, when people like Donald Trump undermine the rights first of immigrants, next he
37:52starts to undermine the rights of legal permanent residents, next he's undermining the rights of US
37:56citizens with immigrant parents, next he's coming for your rights no matter who you are or where you
38:01come from. And I think that needs to be the message on offense from the Progressive Congress.
38:06Can I add one thing? I want to also add that I want to call BS on the immigration deployment that
38:14Donald Trump is doing because as a representative from a border state, I can tell you that our governor
38:20and our elected officials actually asked the Trump administration for support with the real issues
38:26that our state is dealing with with the border and that is namely fentanyl and the illicit trafficking of
38:32drugs and human trafficking that is of course dangerous to all individuals. And not only did he not send a
38:41single border patrol agent to come help with that or dollar or piece of technology, he instead asked our
38:47governor to use our National Guard resources to support his mass deportations. So I think it's important that
38:54we not validate what he's doing on the border because it's all smoke and mirrors and frankly,
39:00you know, Christie known cause plane like this is not real. They're not actually addressing the
39:05fundamental issues. And I believe that is why the American people are saying we reject how you're
39:11handling immigration because not only is it violating due process and the normal process by which
39:18asylum and other cases get processed and fears it's creating for American citizens. They're not
39:24dealing with the actual real problems like drug and human trafficking on the border. So it's a lot of
39:29bullshit.
39:30Last question.
39:33Um, Nick with Politico. In light of all that has been discussed here, if you guys take the house back
39:40next year, should president Trump be impeached? We'll deal first, we'll deal with take you back
39:47the house. What I'll tell you is we all know that Donald Trump has broken the law constantly in his
39:54first term, repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly, and throughout these last hundred days, repeatedly
39:59broken the law. What we, I think, are need to be committed to doing is hitting him where it hurts
40:05and making sure that instead of going and saying, okay, Jim Jordan, why don't you determine the
40:11witnesses and the evidence, um, instead for us to actually have the truth come out and make it very
40:17clear on our terms how it is that Trump is failing the American people by jacking up their costs,
40:22by firing veterans, by undermining due process, by threatening every single person's fundamental
40:26rights, by enriching these guys while having you pay more and pay for more and more. And I think that that
40:33really, uh, continues to be our focus. Yeah, no, the, um, also we don't really know what everything
40:41he's done, right? There is, um, Ed Schill has taken, um, has swept over all aspects of American life,
40:53especially if you're in the departments, uh, if you're in any federal department, how many of them
40:58are actually speaking up when they're seeing the wrongdoing, knowing that this administration
41:03will come after you? They'll not only fire you, they might even set the Department of Justice on you
41:09if they consider what you're whistleblowing on illegitimate, right? So we really don't know
41:17the legality of some of the things that they've done because people haven't necessarily stepped forward.
41:23And when, and when we take back the House, I'm predicting we're going to see a flood of, uh,
41:31of whistleblowers coming forward, coming to the House and saying, this is what happened, this is
41:36what they did, this is how they stole from the American people, that we're going to be inundated.
41:42And we will have to make a determination of what course of action we take at that moment. But one of
41:48the things I want to stress is nobody should, um, no egg joke, uh, no pun intended, that people shouldn't,
41:56um, count their chickens before they're hatched. We still need to mobilize, energize, and educate the
42:04public to win them on our side. There's no guarantee we're going to win the House back. And if people are
42:09already thinking that, then we've already lost. So people should be sober and talk to people where
42:17they're at and where, and, and on the issues that are, they are dealing with, pain they're dealing with.
42:23Because if you miss that, if you don't focus on that, then we're going to, uh, then they're going to
42:28say, see, Democrats don't have the priorities of the American people. They're always trying to do
42:33what's best for them, not for us. I'm just going to add a couple of data points. One, why do we
42:42think Donald Trump is preparing to be impeached? His own team, it was announced, uh, is preparing
42:48for him to be impeached. Clearly they know what they've been up to. And I think it's important
42:52to recognize that there are over 170 federal court cases currently in the federal court system.
42:59There are, as of today, 90 injunctions and restraining orders against the Trump administration
43:05for breaking the law. Will he ultimately be brought before Congress to answer and go through a due
43:13process where he is held accountable before the American people? I think it's very likely. I'm not
43:18afraid to say that. Um, but we do believe in due process. And so we will see who comes forward,
43:24what allegations come forward. And if he's broken this many laws in a hundred days, who knows what
43:30he's going to do over the next hundred. I'm sure when we have subpoena power, I think it'll be time
43:36for us to not just play t-ball while they're playing hardball. I think we are out of time because
43:41somebody else is about to take over the room. But I know that some of you all have questions left,
43:44so maybe we can catch each other after this. Thanks, as always, for coming and asking us questions.