Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Jeff Van Drew
Interview
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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.
The Democrats in Congress reportedly devising a strategy to challenge President Trump over his declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, this setting up a showdown in Congress and the courts that could go on for years.
Joining me right now to discuss that is Congressman Jeff Van Drew, a Democrat from New Jersey.
And, Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.
REP. JEFF VAN DREW, D-N.J.: Oh, it's great to see you. And thanks for having me.
BARTIROMO: So, Congressman, are you going to join your colleagues in pushing back against the national emergency?
VAN DREW: Well, let me just say something real quickly.
When I believe the president is right, I support him, and I have supported him. When I believe he's wrong, I say that he's wrong. I'm not a real strong partisan, and I believe in bipartisanship.
In this case, I think the president has overreached. I think this is a constitutional issue. I think it's an important issue. And I do think it sets up a precedent for many reasons.
The bottom line is, you have to be careful what you wish for. And right now, folks -- some folks -- might be happy and think that this is good, but I don't know if they'd be so happy if there was, for example, a very progressive president in who decided that it was a national emergency what's going on with climate change, and decide that they were going to move a lot of money from the military and other areas to climate change issues, or if there was a president that was from a different viewpoint and really felt that the gun issues were a tremendous emergency, and actually moved money to have guns confiscated from people.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: You always have to watch for executive power getting too great on either side of the aisle.
It's something that our founding fathers believed in very much, the balance of powers. And taking money, military construction money...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: And it isn't the amount so much. The amount isn't so huge. It's the principle of it. It's the principle of it.
And actually using it for something totally in which it wasn't intended budgetarily, I really do think is problematic.
BARTIROMO: Well, let's talk about that, because you are talking about -- about $3 billion from these non-emergency funds.
You heard your colleague Kevin McCarthy talking about it a moment ago, $600,000 from Treasury, forfeited funds. This law was signed obviously into law by the Congress -- and passed by the Congress, rather, and it's been utilized 58 times since it was implemented. On average, it's been used every -- every nine months.
So if you have got funds that are meant or allocated and appropriated for anything around national security, construction of national security, that sounds about as close to building a wall around a border as it gets.
VAN DREW: Well, now we're using money that's military money to build a domestic project.
Usually, money is used in this case on that line item for the military to protect the different areas, whether it's -- in this case, it would have been housing.
BARTIROMO: Right.
VAN DREW: It would also be the housing for the military planes itself.
Those 58 times -- let's be clear with that -- all -- those 58 times, only once or twice has there actually been an appropriation of money involved with it. And, of course, the one time that really mattered -- and it was appropriate -- was in 9/11.
But the other times, the other 50 some times, the money is used for emergency situations, such as when there is a terrible situation that occurs, a catastrophe, or money was used...
BARTIROMO: Right.
VAN DREW: ... for freezing funds because a country was doing something wrong.
BARTIROMO: Yes, I understand that, but do you think...
(CROSSTALK)
VAN DREW: But that -- the money wasn't used in this way.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: This is different. This is unique.
BARTIROMO: I think you make really important points. And it's very practical of you.
But do you think there's an emergency? I mean, given that there is drugs coming over the -- coming through the border, as well as the ports, given that there's human trafficking, as the president has discussed, and all of the other things that we see coming through the southern border, is this an emergency?
VAN DREW: This is a serious situation.
And you know I believe that it is, and I have spoken about it.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: And I have supported him in a lot of what he has spoken about.
So, what I think we should have done is use -- more money still is going to be spent for this issue of border security than ever before in history in this budget.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: Let's use that money. Let's go forward. Let's get all the work done that we can with it.
Let's keep the working group going. In fact, I really recommended having a working group where you didn't have elected officials necessarily. You had completely nonpartisan experts...
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: ... make more recommendations and, as we get into the next budget, allocate more money where and when needed.
I don't think it is of such a nature that we really have a constitutional breach. And I think this is a real constitutional issue. And there are many Republicans that feel that way.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: And people that really strongly believe in the Constitution feel that way.
BARTIROMO: Of course.
VAN DREW: And nobody should ever allow this to be getting mixed up with the other 50 sometimes that the emergencies were used.
They were totally different situations that didn't take the power of the purse away from the constitutionally dedicated area, which is Congress.
BARTIROMO: Right.
And, as you said a moment ago, you have taken sides when you think it's right or wrong. I mean, the Green Deal, you put out a statement about. You were against it, your colleague Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's trillion- dollars-plus deal for a green -- a green change.
VAN DREW: Exactly. We can't do it right now.
It would -- I don't know that we ever can do it but we certainly can't do it now. We do not have the money.
You were speaking about the debt before. The debt is a very serious issue. If interest rates rise significantly -- or even if they rise at all -- the debt issue is going to become a huge problem.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: We fund in the United States of America, through all the interest we pay, the entire military of China. Think about that.
BARTIROMO: Yes, that's pretty incredible.
(CROSSTALK)
BARTIROMO: And I said a trillion dollars when I was talking with Congressman McCarthy.
I want to make sure people understand that's a trillion dollars a day, a trillion dollars a day just in interest payments.
Real quick, Congressman. Because you're from New Jersey, I have got to get your thoughts on Amazon. Obviously, they have changed plans because of the pushback from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some of your other colleagues there.
Would you like to see Amazon set up shop in New Jersey?
VAN DREW: Yes.
What -- Atlantic County is looking into it down around Atlantic City area. I know Newark is looking into it. The bottom line is, this is the world we live in now. I know some people don't like corporations or don't like incentivizing corporations, but I think that we have to compete.
And we certainly have to make sure that we create jobs. And, frankly, if they don't want those jobs in New York, we sure do want those jobs in New Jersey.
BARTIROMO: All right. So you think it was a mistake, what happened in New York, then?
VAN DREW: I do.
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: I do.
We can't be -- we are still -- I mean, we're going to have to make a decision, in all seriousness, as a nation, Republicans and Democrats. Are we an entrepreneurial, capitalist nation...
BARTIROMO: And do we want jobs?
VAN DREW: ... that certainly has a safety net, and do we want jobs, and do we want to succeed, and do we want to compete?
BARTIROMO: Yes.
VAN DREW: And do we want to see our people do well?
BARTIROMO: Well, all very good questions.
VAN DREW: The answer that I have is yes.
BARTIROMO: I think I know the answers as far as our viewers' personal feeling about that.
Congressman, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks so much. Very important conversation there with Congressman Van Drew.
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