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DPCC Chair Cicilline and Co-Chair Lieu: Democrats Are Fighting for The People

July 18, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC) and Congressman Ted Lieu, Co-Chair of the DPCC, appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC to discuss how House Democrats are fighting For The People to lower health care costs, rebuild America's infrastructure, and take on corruption in Washington. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the interview.

CICILLINE: "The President evidenced he doesn't understand what is really great about this country and that is our diversity, the fact that America is a welcoming place for people from all over the world. The idea saying ‘go back to your country' is one of the oldest, racist tropes there is. It should have been condemned by every Democrat, every Republican, every Independent, every American. It's un-American. It was disgusting. The President owes them an apology, owes the American people an apology."

LIEU: "Thank you, Chris, for your questions. So like many people in America, I'm an immigrant. I also served on active duty in the United States military because I love America, and yet people have told me to go back to China or Japan or North Korea, and it's very hurtful when that happens and like many immigrants, when we get that go back insult, we feel that we don't belong here in America. And make no mistake, the go back insult is flat-out racist because it's based on race. If I was white, people wouldn't tell me to go back to China. They tell me, and I experience that insult, because I happen to be of Asian race. But what's good is Americans now realize that immigration is a good thing. We have high support for immigration. In fact, record highs according to a new poll, and David Cicilline and I are still going to be standing here after the occupant of the White House departs."

CICILLINE: "It's so obvious, and what's so disappointing is you look at the President's language, you look at his policies. This is clearly racism, and that was an opportunity for everyone to stand up and say enough is enough. We need to move forward on a whole range of important policy issues. We've passed 230 pieces of legislation that are sitting on Mitch McConnell's desk. We have lots of work to do for the American people. But it would have been very helpful today if everyone in the Congress said this is not American, this is not acceptable and condemned and voted to condemn the President for what he did. And it was very disappointing that we only had four Republicans that were willing to add their voices to this. This is – this doesn't reflect who we are as a country. We cannot let the President say these things and change the character of America and it was disappointing today that we weren't joined by our Republican colleagues, but it was an important thing to do. The President and the country needs to see us standing up and saying this is not acceptable. This is un-American. This is not who we are. No one should be speaking this way, particularly the President of the United States."

LIEU: "I want to note that the President is engaging in a new line of attack now. He is attacking legal immigration and U.S. citizenship and the problem for him is that many Americans are immigrants or have family members who are immigrants. This is backfiring for him in a big way, and he is going to see that most of America does not support what he says."