Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Elissa Slotkin
Interview
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
The Trump administration reassigning as many as 750 immigration officers to some of the country's busiest border crossings, as the wait times for cars and commercial vehicles to cross into the U.S. have soared to as many as 10 hours longer than usual.
This all comes on the heels of the president's visit to the U.S. Mexico border in California yesterday, where he doubled down on the claim that our immigration system was overburdened.
Let's bring in Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. She's a member of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees and a former senior Pentagon official and former CIA analyst.
This is the congresswoman's first time on "Sunday Morning Futures" since being elected.
And we welcome you to the program.
REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN, D-MICH.: Thanks for having me.
BARTIROMO: Congratulations to you.
SLOTKIN: Thank you.
BARTIROMO: Yes, we want to talk all about your time in Congress and what you're seeing so far in probably one of the busiest and most momentous times in our country's history.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: Let's talk the border and its impact on national security and the homeland.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: How do you see it?
SLOTKIN: I mean, listen, I'm a former CIA officer, so I spent my entire career trying to prevent homeland attacks.
The border situation is a national security issue, it's an economic issue, and it's a moral issue. The sheer numbers that are coming over right now - - you have got to call a spade a spade -- it is extremely difficult to deal with. And we have got to make sure that the border forces have what they need in order to protect people and deal with them in a humanitarian way.
And that means we have got to surge people there.
BARTIROMO: How do you do that?
SLOTKIN: We have already -- in the Homeland Security Committee, we have authorized spending more to send border agents down there.
I'm from the northern border, and some of those folks are being tasked to go down to the southern border. You just make sure that they have the resources they need, the bed space that they need. It's a practical, logistical situation they have got down there.
BARTIROMO: I mean, do you find it odd its been so difficult for the president to get the money for the wall, to get the support throughout the Congress to actually help him make a difference here?
SLOTKIN: I think that the Congress is all -- you know, is supportive of increasing border security and then making sure we can process people through the border efficiently.
I think that there's different definitions on how to do that. And for me, you have just got to be clear-eyed about it. If we need borders in some areas, fencing in some areas, do it. But if you need drones in other areas, do it. If you need border agents, do it. I think we're...
BARTIROMO: But they're not doing it. So how do you, you know, answer your question -- the issues from your colleagues like Nancy Pelosi, who said a wall is immoral?
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SLOTKIN: Well, I don't think a wall is immoral.
I think that you just -- it's -- we do this every day in the military, do an honest-to-God needs assessment of what you need, and do it. And I think that's gone on. And in some areas, you just don't need a physical wall.
Even the president has said, you don't need a wall from sea to shining sea.
BARTIROMO: Right.
SLOTKIN: So I don't think it's an issue of people not wanting to help on the border.
I do think it's important to maintain a humanitarian standard down there. So, for me, that's ports of entry and putting Customs and Border agents down there where we need them.
BARTIROMO: Now, how do you think about coming up with the real solutions? You sound very practical, and obviously answering the needs and the desires of the American people.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: And yet you have a major pushback, not just from the right, but from the left, from your own party, saying, look, we don't want to look at the fact that this is -- really, the numbers are soaring. We want to take President Trump down.
Don't you think that's a lot of what this is about?
SLOTKIN: Yes, we have a responsibility to protect our country.
BARTIROMO: Exactly.
SLOTKIN: We have a responsibility to deal with immigrants in a responsible and humanitarian way, and we have a responsibility to make sure that our economy has the labor that it needs to function, right?
I have got farmers in my office every day from Michigan saying that: I don't have the seasonal visas I need to actually staff my farm.
So I think that it's become so political, that we can't have a clear-eyed conversation. And it's because our immigration system is broken for everyone, right? It's just -- it's a broken system. Therefore, when we selectively enforce it, it becomes a very political thing.
So I do believe we need comprehensive immigration reform, like the whole enchilada. And I think that it's important that we have that conversation.
BARTIROMO: Are you going to be able to have that conversation? Is your voice being heard amongst the cries to get Donald Trump's tax returns, to take him down, this Russian collusion delusion that we have been dealing with for two years?
What a waste of time for two years.
SLOTKIN: To be honest with you, there's -- I feel like there's two responsibilities for Congress.
We have got to be able to walk and chew gum. And walking is providing a check and balance on the executive branch. That would go for any Congress in any time with any president.
BARTIROMO: So far, they haven't done either, walk or chew gum.
SLOTKIN: Well, I think that there's certainly been a pretty significant change into providing a check and balance, right?
I'm on the Homeland Security Committee. So, the secretary of homeland security, Kirstjen Nielsen, came up in front of our committee. She had not been up there in, I think, just about a year to answer for some of the policies that she's imposed. That, to me, is providing a check and balance. And that wasn't happening before.
On the other side, we have a responsibility to push affirmative legislation that helps people's lives. That is our job. So, you have got to be able to do both.
BARTIROMO: Yes. So do you fear that your colleagues are doing both?
SLOTKIN: Yes.
I mean, listen, I...
BARTIROMO: Because all I'm hearing is a lot of cries to get Donald Trump's tax returns and get him out because he's an agent of the Russian -- the Russians.
So, I mean, I'm not hearing a lot. I'm hearing a wall is immoral. I'm hearing take this president down. I'm not hearing a lot of what I'm hearing from you.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: So are you being heard?
SLOTKIN: Yes. I mean...
BARTIROMO: You are?
SLOTKIN: Yes.
Listen, I put forward legislation this week, bipartisan legislation, to try and close a loophole, so that, for instance, foreigners can't buy ads in our election system.
BARTIROMO: Let's talk about that bill.
SLOTKIN: Yes. Yes.
BARTIROMO: This is a bipartisan bill.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: You would think that you would get full support on a bill that's going to block foreign entities from buying ads to influence the U.S. election.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
BARTIROMO: What has been the perception and the reception from your colleagues?
SLOTKIN: It's been great.
And this week, we will be collecting co-signers and then push it through committee. We have co-sponsors in the Senate. So I think that there are things that are being done.
But I will be honest. It's the sort of far left and far right that are getting a lot of the media attention. There's a lot of folks in the middle who are focused on doing something affirmative.
BARTIROMO: Do you support things like the Green New Deal, Medicare for all?
SLOTKIN: So, for me, I'm just a pragmatist. I'm from Michigan.
BARTIROMO: I can tell. Yes.
SLOTKIN: We're very pragmatic people.
BARTIROMO: And that's who our viewers are, by the way.
SLOTKIN: Yes.
We're pragmatic people. And I certainly understand the importance of dealing with climate change in a serious way. But I want to do something that actually passes. I want to do something that actually helps.
And, to me, by bringing in some of these other ideas about, let's say, universal health care or a job for every person, it makes it less likely we're going to pass environmental legislation, not more likely. And I just want to get something done.
BARTIROMO: Yes. Well, we like that a lot.
Congresswoman, it's great to have you on the program.
SLOTKIN: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much, Congresswoman Slotkin joining us there.
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