DPCC Chair Cicilline: Democrats are Delivering on the Promises We Made to the American People
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on The Lead with Jake Tapper on CNN to discuss Special Counsel's Mueller's potential testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Cicilline emphasized that House Democrats are fulfilling their oversight responsibilities while also focusing of the priorities of the American people: driving down health care costs, raising family incomes, and cleaning up the corruption in Washington. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"You may recall, the President said, that's up to the Attorney General, and then when the Attorney General said publicly that he had no objection to the Special Counsel appearing, the President suddenly changed his mind and tweeted that he doesn't think Mr. Mueller should appear. Fortunately, it's not up to the President. The committee has the ability to bring witnesses before the committee that are necessary to do our work, but I think something more pernicious is going on here. The President wants a fight about this, because frankly he wants to distract from the work that the Democrats have gotten done in the first 100 days. We ran on an agenda for the people to drive down health care costs, raise family incomes, take on the corruption in Washington. We've passed legislation, the most dramatic ethics reform since Watergate. We've passed out of committee we'll bring to the floor legislation to reduce the cost of precipitation drugs, infrastructure bills are in the making. We've reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and equal pay for equal work, so we've done all of this work."
"… These are the priorities of the American people. We ran on this agenda to improve people's lives and the President ought to be focusing his attention on making those things become a reality, talking to the republican leaders in the Senate, and I think what the President is trying to do is to distract away from the attention of the work that Democrats have been doing to address the economic anxieties of the American people and to deliver on lower health care costs, bigger paychecks, and honesty in government. So he wants to distract with a big fight about whether the Special Counsel should come or not. We are going to do our oversight work, but at the same time, we're delivering on the promises we made to the American people."