DPCC Co-Chair Matt Cartwright: The President Must Not Shut Down the Government Again
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Matt Cartwright, Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on New Day Weekend on CNN to discuss preventing another federal government shutdown. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.
"I support evidence-based expenditure of money. We're so happy to have [Congresswoman] Lucille Roybal- Allard as the Chairperson of the Homeland Security Subcommittee of Appropriations. And she's on the team that's negotiating to make sure we don't go into another shutdown over all of this. What I want to see is let's not take pledges or promises. Let's talk about evidence-based decisions."
"Absolutely. But you can't have broad sweeping statements like ‘we have to have a wall from sea to shining sea.' No, you have to see where it's going to work so you are not wasting taxpayer dollars. I said over and over again, there are places where mountain goats couldn't even cross let alone human beings. Why would we need any kind of barrier at that area?... because of the terrain, because it's so remote, because of the remote possibility of any human being trying to cross in that area. Let's find out where the American taxpayer can get the best bang for his and her buck."
"I think will you see this coming out of the joint committee negotiating the make sure we don't go back into a shutdown. You will see a compromise coming out of that that makes some sense."
"We're talking about veteran legislators. People who have been there many years. We're talking about appropriators like Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, like David Price, people who have been there a long time and understand the give and take of negotiation and they also understand the horrible harm it does to our nation to shut the government down. We're looking at a possible zero growth rate for the first quarter of 2019, only because of the shutdown. That means lost jobs and that's wrong."
"Let's get beyond the semantics. Let's talk about what makes sense and what we can agree to as grown up legislators."