DPCC Chair Cicilline: Democrats Will Govern In A Responsible Way
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on FOX News @ Night to discuss the Trump Shutdown and the new Democratic majority. Democrats are going to focus on fighting for the people by lowering health care costs, increasing pay, and cleaning up corruption in Washington. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video
"He's not only not cut, let's remember the Republicans passed a tax bill that added $2 trillion to the deficit. They are now suggesting that that should be paid for by cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The top 1% got 83% of that tax cut. And so to finance the tax cut for the richest people in the country and the biggest corporations, the Republicans in the House have been saying we need to pay for that now - so let's cut Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid."
"We can't add to the deficit. We need to have policies that are going to promote growth of the middle class, raise family incomes. That's why we developed an agenda that focuses first on driving down the cost of health care, driving on the cost of prescription drugs, raising family incomes by rebuilding the infrastructure of our country, and taking on the pervasive corruption in Washington…you're going to see Democrats govern in a responsible way."
"We need to do a thorough examination of all the programs in the government and look at programs that don't work. I think some of the things we do, for example, the tax expenditures that we fund, giving billions of dollars to a big fuel companies, other tax loopholes that allow you to deduct things you shouldn't be able to deduct. I think there are number things we can do in the tax code to get rid of some of those loopholes that can generate enormous revenues."
"Leader Pelosi is the Leader of the Democratic Caucus. She will be the Speaker tomorrow. She speaks for our caucus. The American people don't support the border wall. Our caucus doesn't support the border wall. President Trump shut the government down. He told us he intended to shut the government down. He said the government needs a good shutdown. He's had a 25 times. He made up a fight in order shut the government down. Frankly, distract from the many other problems the Administration has been his Defense Secretary left in a strong rebuke of his foreign policy, the person responsible for leading the ISIS effort, Brett McGurk, resigned…his national security advisor, plea sentencing hearing blows up, his private attorney is cooperating. My point is he's had a bad couple weeks – so what does he do? He shuts the government down so all the discussions are about the government shutdown not about the many problems his Administration is facing."
"If you remember, his promise was ‘I'm going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it.' That's a two part promise. So now he saying ‘I want to build a wall but the American taxpayers going to pay for it.'"