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DPCC Co-Chair Dingell: We Have To Keep Delivering On The Promises We Made For The People

September 30, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC -- Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, appeared on CNN Newsroom Live to discuss the importance of fighting For The People on jobs and lower prescription drug prices while the impeachment inquiry is underway. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.

"I plan on still trying to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the committees that I'm on as this is happening. My colleagues in the Intelligence Committee with the skill of Chairman Nadler and Chairman Cummings from Oversight, who knows how to look at records, you know, we've had a report from a whistleblower that there could be conversations, that there could be a pattern of corruption that's endangering our national security. The Inspector General had reported to us that it was a credible and urgent threat. Now, we need to know what is in that, and, by the way, a lot of this probably should never be made public. There are issues that need to be very confidential. We have to make sure that the whistleblowers are safe; that's one of the most important parts of our whistleblowers law. But we need to know: Has the rule of law been violated, has our national security been harmed? And if so, they'll come forward with recommendation."

"I'm worried that the media is going to focus on the fact-finding and not in communicating to the American people what we're going to be doing on lowering drug prices. Fact of the matter is we all have different committee assignments. I care very much, I don't think this is a happy day for this country, I think it's a very sad day that we are where we are, having to have this impeachment inquiry. But I also was home this weekend. I have a very divided district, I have Ann Arbor, which has been putting a lot of pressure on me for months, but I went down-river yesterday, which had very significant numbers in the presidential [race], and I was in Monroe county that President Trump won by 21 percent. People there are trying to-- they do want to know that we're going to keep doing the things that they're concerned about. They're worried about tariffs, UAW workers are walking the picket line, they're worried about trade deals, but they're also really concerned about what's happening to our country. They want more information. I thought I might be yelled at more yesterday. I was yelled at on the plane by someone not in my district, but people are thoughtful, they're engaged, they're worried."

"So first of all, I think that one of the fundamental principles of our constitution is due process as well, but I agree with everything that she said about how we have to make sure that our national security is not being violated, and those kinds of conversations aren't happening with the president. And because I do know that Republicans and Democrats alike have promised to deliver on lowering prescription drugs, everybody's going to be held accountable for that for next year, you know, in story after story. Because I've got those UAW members walking a picket line because their jobs have been shipped overseas to Mexico, we need to not have [impeachment] dominate the headlines every single minute, but we need to get the facts, and I do believe we need to move quickly."