CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Congressmen Tom Reed & Josh Gottheimer

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Yes, I know you're working your sources as well up on Capitol Hill. We'll get back to you, Manu. Thank you very much.

I want to bring in the two co-chairs of the House Problem Solvers Caucus: Republican Congressman Tom Reed of New York and Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey.

Congressman, thanks so much for joining us, and I want to get to the critical talks over desperately needed COVID relief funds for the American people.

But let me get your quick reaction to this latest extremely disturbing news, which you just heard from our Jeremy Diamond over at the White House.

Congressman Gottheimer, what do you think when the President of the United States is raising all these absurd possibilities of trying to overturn an election that the Electoral College has already certified and ratified and approved even talking about the possibility of raising -- the possibility of not leaving the White House on January 20th? When you hear this kind of stuff, Congressman, what goes through your mind?

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Well, I think you just said it best. The Electoral College has certified the results. The court -- the Supreme Court has spoken, lower courts have spoken.

We have huge challenges facing our country right now with the spike in the pandemic, and of course, the hacks from Russia. We have a lot to focus on.

President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20th, just days from now and that's what we should focus on, getting there, getting this relief out the door. And to me, that's what I would hope the President and everyone in this country and Washington is focused on, getting this deal done to help the country.

BLITZER: Yes, 32 days from now. Congressman Reed, what's your reaction?

REP. TOM REED (R-NY): Well, Wolf, obviously, I think, Wolf, first of all, there's many Americans, millions of Americans that are disappointed like myself that President Trump didn't win this election on Election Day and there are serious concerns about fraud.

But now we are talking about the transition of power, and I think everyone needs to take a deep breath. I think we need to recognize what's made our country strong for 200-plus years and have been a beacon of peaceful transition of power across the globe, is that we go through this process and elections is where we resolve our disputes.

So when you hear rhetoric like that, and I wasn't there, I don't know the details. But if there is rhetoric like that, we need to keep the big picture of America's stability in focus. And I would be on the camp, let us take a deep breath and go forward with the transition of power like we've had for a couple of a hundred years here.

BLITZER: Yes, and let Joe Biden become President, he was elected. But he got more than seven million more votes in the popular national vote than Trump did and he easily won the Electoral College as well.

All right, let's get to the subject I really wanted both of you to discuss tonight. What's going on with this really dramatically needed economic stimulus package for millions of Americans. Congressman Gottheimer, what's the latest? Why is this taking so long? This should have been done a long time ago.

Millions of Americans are suffering, especially now only days away from Christmas. They're worried they're going to be kicked out of their own homes and won't be able to feed their kids the day after Christmas.

GOTTHEIMER: I mean, it's absurd. We've got a few Scrooges who are trying to steal Christmas at the end here, Wolf, then we're obviously going to stop them get this deal done.

You know, we're in spitting distance, and we're hearing, you know, I'm optimistic that this is going to get done and agreed to sometime tomorrow.

We'll vote on it either tomorrow in the House or possibly the next day. But the bottom line is, as you just said, Wolf, people are hurting in our country. We need to get vaccines out. We need to help people who are in food lines for the very first time.

People on December 26th will lose their unemployment and their rental assistance and people will be evicted from their homes. We've got so many small businesses that are suffering, 30 percent in my state in New Jersey have already gone out.

We know that one in 500 people have lost their lives in New Jersey from the pandemic. This cannot wait an hour longer, which is why we've been working, Tom Reed and I and the Problem Solvers Caucus along with our Senate colleagues in a bipartisan way to get this done, working for months, and I'm optimistic it's going to get done right away.

BLITZER: What about you, Congressman Reed, because if you look at the numbers, just last week, one week -- in one week, almost 900,000 Americans lost their jobs, largely because of the COVID pandemic, 900,000 Americans lost their jobs. They've applied for first time unemployment benefits according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and what -- about eight million or 10 million Americans over these past several months have now gone into poverty.

What's your assessment? When is this legislation going to be passed, signed into law by the President?

[18:15:18]

REED: Well, I will tell you, the Intel that, you know, Josh and I -- Josh Gottheimer there with us at the Problem Solvers Caucus, we have been working tirelessly on this for months now, and in particular, with our bipartisan, bicameral group in the Senate, the Gang of Eight there.

And I will tell you, the Intel we have is we're down to this one last issue, it appears with the Federal Reserve that was reported on by a great reporter there on Capitol Hill. And I think that's resolvable because I think everyone recognizes, we've made a commitment, we are not leaving Washington, D.C. without answering the call of the American people.

It is time to stand down and do the work of the people rather than having everyone on their special interest, their little pieces of the puzzle that feel that they're going to be hurt if this goes into law, fight this deal. And the deal is being done for the American people, and I believe

we're ready to get this through the House, hopefully, tomorrow. And once this final Federal Reserve archaic in the weeds detail issue. It's an important issue. It deals with the structure of the Federal Reserve, and it needs to be dealt with, but I am confident, good men and good women of good faith hearts can solve this problem, and they're working on it, and they'll get it done and we'll get this to the American people here, hopefully, starting in the House tomorrow.

BLITZER: Well, I hope -- I hope it happens. Congressman Gottheimer, so how are they going to -- what are they going to do about this one issue involving the Federal Reserve?

Some Republican senators have been pushing it, supposedly to tie the hands of the incoming Biden administration, they won't have this issue. They won't have this policy that's been around for a long time to deal with, removes some flexibility for them in dealing with potential economic recessions. What do you think?

GOTTHEIMER: I mean, it's a red herring thrown in the last minute to try to jam things up. This is about getting emergency short term pandemic relief out to people, Wolf, and to helping people at a time of great need, as we're approaching Christmas here.

And as you said, people will be hungry. We need to get direct payments out to people. We need to help our small businesses, our families and our communities that are in real trouble.

So the idea that we would have somebody throw, you know, a wrench in here to try to stop it is absurd. I think we're -- my understanding is they're working through it. They have found the compromise to deal with that issue, and we can get back to doing what we need to do, which is getting this passed.

You know, we've been -- Wolf, I've talked about this so many times. I've been working on this for months. It's so frustrating, and you know, people are hurting, and the idea that anybody would delay relief to families right now with the cases spiking, you know, 310,000 people or more have lost their lives in our country, you know, this a whole gut wrenching moment in our country.

And those who try to throw in other of these last minute things, you know, should be ashamed of themselves.

BLITZER: They should be ashamed of themselves. It is hard to believe this is going on right here in the richest country in the world, the United States of America, and they're haggling over ridiculous things that they are preventing the desperately needed funds to help these people who are in desperate need.

Congressman Gottheimer and Congressman Reed, I know both of you are working very hard to get this done. Thanks for the bipartisanship. Thanks for joining us.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks, Wolf.

REED: Thanks, Wolf.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source