DPCC Chair Cicilline: Trump is Making America Less Safe
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman David Cicilline, Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC to demand President Trump and Republicans in Congress reopen the government. Cicilline also highlighted the President's cancellation of Speaker Pelosi's trip to visit American heroes overseas, calling the cancellation disgraceful and just the latest example of the President's continuous disrespect for the men and women in uniform. Below are excerpts from the interview and a link to the video. Clickhere to watch the video
"This was a trip that the Speaker of the House was taking to a war zone, not only to express gratitude for the work the troops are doing, but also to get very critical national security briefings from the military leaders on the ground. I think the President's cancellation shows this is a very thin skinned, petty, and insecure President who sees and perceives everything as a personal slight to him. The Speaker of the House says it does not make sense to do a State of the Union while the government is partially shutdown. You need reopen government first because the State of the Union is shutdown. I think that makes perfect sense. It wouldn't have been appropriate to do a State of the Union as if everything is operating fine. She does that and apparently in response to that responsible decision, he cancels a trip to visit US troops – American heroes who are fighting in a war zone to protect the national security interests of this country. It's disgraceful."
"I think there's no question about it. This is a President whose shown tremendous disrespect for the men and women in uniform, for our military, for their operations. As you said, even the letter he describes this as a photo-op or a PR excursion - which really is how he perceives apparently those kinds of exchanges or events. This was an important trip – it was one in which the Speaker of the House would learn important information as well as other Members of Congress and the fact he doesn't understand the disruption he caused is very, very sad."
"Absolutely. Look, I met with TSA workers and air traffic controllers at my airport here in Rhode Island and heard it firsthand. This is causing incredible heart ache and anguish for federal employees. Imagine being told to come to work every day, to show up, and work hard but you're not going to be paid…and in the name of keeping America safe, Donald Trump is making us less safe in terms of air travel, in terms of security at the border, in terms of food safety. So in this effort to or this claim he's doing this to make America safe, he's making us less safe but the impact on real people's lives is hard to describe. These are heartbreaking stories – of people doing their work, expect to get paid and can't pay their rent, can't pay their mortgage, can't buy food. It's a disgrace and the important thing is we should open the government immediately. We have voted nine times to fund the government. It is never appropriate to shut the government down if you have a policy disagreement. This is the only place in the world this happens. And Donald Trump has done it. He should open the government – we can have lots of debate about the best way to secure our border. But it's never right to shut the government down. It's not fair to the people doing the work and not getting paid."