CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Interview with Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick
Interview
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COOPER: All right. Jim Acosta at the White House -- appreciate it. So, the bottom line according to people on both sides of the talks is not very encouraging in terms of the shutdown stopping.
[20:10:01] No progress yet. The pain is coming. For some, it's already here.
One point made by CNN's Phil Mattingly, current pay-as-you-go spending rules could force cuts to Medicare if Congress doesn't act. The stakes are growing, whether it's the kind of crisis the president seized or the one that millions around the country could soon be feeling.
I spoke about it earlier with one of those Republicans Jim Acosta was just talking about, Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who voted last week with Democrats on bills to reopen the government.
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COOPER: Congressman, with the president poised to dig in more on the shutdown with the primetime speech tomorrow night, a visit to the border on Thursday, do you have any reason to believe the shutdown is going to be resolved anytime soon?
REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R), PENNSYLVANIA: I sure hope so, Anderson, because the stakes are awfully high and I lived through a government shutdown as an FBI agent back in 2013, and saw how devastating and detrimental it is, you know, having -- as a supervisor, having to make decisions on essential versus nonessential employees, and then the FBI, everybody's essential professional staff getting furloughed right in the middle of investigations, it's not a good situation.
And under the current circumstance right now, we have the TSA negatively impacted, Air Traffic Control, Border Control, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard, the FBI, our entire national security apparatus is not being funded and it's national security issue for sure.
COOPER: The president says the situation at the border is a national emergency and they might bypass Congress and use military funds to build the wall. Do you see this as a national emergency?
FITZPATRICK: There's two questions there. Number one, can he legally? The second is, should he? The can is a question of constitutional law in Article 2 of the Constitution and Title 50 of the U.S. Code. That's the question of constitutional lawyers, and I think if he does make that decision, Anderson, that's going to get tied in litigation.
And as far as whether he should or not, you know, I think this is an issue that needs to be b revolved by Congress in a bipartisan manner, by the way, and that's going to require both our friends on the left and right to come to the center and come to a consensus solution to this, because the Democrats control the House. Republicans control the Senate.
So, by necessity of this, it will be a bipartisan solution. And the stakes couldn't be higher. We have to get the government reopened and that's the most important thing.
COOPER: So I take it from that, you don't believe when the president says it's a national emergency, you don't believe it is in the sense the president means. FITZPATRICK: No, I think it needs to go through Congress. There are
a lot of these people same people Anderson that complain that when the prior administration took executive action on DACA, that they said he acted outside of authority. My question to those same people, is do you believe this would be the same thing. We need to be consistent.
COOPER: Just lastly, have you gotten blowback for your vote to reopen the government?
FITZPATRICK: Well, you hear from certain constituents and you welcome through your rationale. You know, I just don't see any logic whatsoever so shutting the government down. It is a dangerous thing. And people that haven't lived through it may not understand that.
And to that point, Anderson, 'm encouraging every single one of my colleagues to do what several of us are doing, which is to forfeit our pay during the shutdown. Not just delay it. Forfeit it. Right a check back to the U.S. Treasury because then we'll actually feel the pain these federal employees living paycheck to paycheck will feel.
And just looking at aviation security, Anderson, the TSA and air traffic controllers, if they're not getting paid and they're fatigued and they're not on the ball as far as their job goes, that makes us less safe. We need to think about these things.
COOPER: Yes. I mean, that's the irony. And if the larger issue is national security, the shutdown is harming national security.
FITZPATRICK: And specific to the border. CBP, the Coast Guard and Border Patrol all fall under DHS. And DHS is not being adequately funded. So, having a debate over border security, while we're defunding border security simultaneously.
COOPER: Congressman Fitzpatrick, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
FITZPATRICK: Thank you, sir.
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