DPCC Co-Chair Bustos: Republicans are Focused on Fueling Fear, Democrats are Focused on Fighting For the People

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WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC to discuss Congressional Republicans' attempt to destroy Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Bustos highlighted how Democrats are fighting for the people and will focus on lowering health care costs, increasing pay and cleaning up corruption in Washington if given the opportunity to govern in the majority. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.

"Well, first of all, Chris, Donald Trump is the master distracter. Here we are 15 days out from this election. We've got Democrats all over the country who are some of the sharpest candidates I have ever seen in my political lifetime. [Republicans] are running scared. And what do they do when they're running scared? They resort to fear tactics. And that's what's happening. What we need to stay focused on is the legislation that we will do once we win back the majority. That's number one, bring down the cost of health care and prescription drug prices. We will rebuild this country with a real trillion dollar infrastructure package not a fake one like the President introduced. And number three, we're going to make Washington functional again. We're going to address the dysfunction in Washington, the self-dealing, the money in politics. And we will do that as soon as we win back the majority. We just have to make sure we continue to do our best to earn the trust of the American public again."

"If you came to this part of the country, you would hear the candidates that are running for the House all over the Midwest, in Illinois, in Iowa, in Minnesota, in Michigan, Ohio -- all over the place, you would hear them saying exactly what you just said. We know what Mitch McConnell said. We also know that that was the Republican playbook. Pass this tax scam, increase the debt by $2 trillion, and then oh, my gosh, let's scream bloody murder, now we're going to have to go over so-called entitlements."

"We are yelling and screaming, in a polite Midwestern way, about what Mitch McConnell said. He wants to now address this $2 trillion debt on the backs of seniors who are recipients of social security. Our parents and our grandparents who are on Medicare, and that's [Mitch's] answer to this $2 trillion debt now. We're talking about it in every single one of these races that we're running all throughout the country. And so maybe it's not coming from Washington, D.C. constantly, but it is here in Peoria, Illinois, it's in Dubuque, Iowa, it's in Kentucky, it's in southern Illinois. It's all over the place."