MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Pramila Jayapal

Interview

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REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Always great to be with you, Rachel.

As I was listening to you, I was thinking, this is like waiting for Godot. You know, waiting for the Republicans to magically show up is something we don`t think is going to happen, but obviously we needed to give the president a little bit of room. I think that room has now been closed, that door has now been closed. We have clarity, as you said, and now we go back to doing what the country actually wants.

So even if Republicans in Congress don`t want a big infrastructure, jobs and families plan. We were talking about the jobs plan. There`s also the families plan which the Biden administration has proposed, the president has proposed, and we`re saying let`s put those two together, let`s pass it through reconciliation, and let`s do what is incredibly popular across the country.

MADDOW: Let me just ask you about what`s going on internally among Democrats right now, because as I just explained and as you seem to agree, the Republicans have kind of taken themselves off the table here, which is clarifying in terms of what needs to happen now in order to get this done. But I am acutely aware that Democrats in Congress come in all sorts of stripes and flavors.

Are there really significant differences that remain among Democrats about what to do here? Are there choke points that still really need to be figured out? Or are things at a place right now where Democrats are essentially ready to go and ready to pull in the same direction?

JAYAPAL: You know, every Democrat that I talk to in the House for sure is really on board with getting a big investment, a once in a generation investment done in all of these different pieces, roads, bridges, transit, broadband, you know, taking on climate, really addressing the issues around child care, especially when we`ve seen women being pushed out of the workforce, that is a huge piece. Free community college, which is also part of the Biden administration plan.

And we have been building the chorus even for additional health care pieces like lowering the Medicare eligibility age and lowering the cost of prescription drugs. And so there is a lot of agreement across the Democratic caucus.

Now, are there going to be places where we`re going to have to negotiate? Yes, there will be. And I think that for some in the Senate, some Democrats in the Senate, there needed to be an effort to at least see if Republicans were going to come along. It`s not really what we felt was necessary in the progressive caucus, but we understood that there needed to be a little bit of room.

However, Rachel, we have to learn the lessons from the last time around during the Obama administration where we tried and tried and tried to work with Republicans and we narrowed down everything we wanted to do and we didn`t make the kind of investment we needed to make. At the end of the day, the Republicans didn`t vote for it.

That is the same party we`re dealing with, except even worse because you look at the rescue plan, it was so popular. And the Republicans voted no and took the dough because they went back to their districts and people were like, oh, this is really great. I`ve got money in my pocket, a shot in my arm, my kids are going back to school, I got my child tax credit.

And all of a sudden, Republicans are like, oh, I can`t tell my constituents I voted no on this. So they started claiming credit for it. I think it`s important to distinguish between what Republicans across the country want and what Republicans in Congress are willing to do.

MADDOW: Realistically speaking, given all that you just said and what you understand about how the process is going to go from here on out, what`s your best guess as to when this passes?

JAYAPAL: Well, I think there`s a very good possibility that we take up the budget resolution in the House in June and then we try to pass it by July 4th. The speaker had said before that`s what she wanted to do. And then the Senate is able to do the same probably in the month of July and then the whole thing comes together and we vote it out before the August recess.

So that is really the timing that we need. This is urgent. And again, you know, when I look at what people are telling us across the country, they`re saying we like a bold, ambitious plan. Guess what, it gets even more popular if you put in the fact, as the president has said, that we`re going to tax the biggest corporations and the wealthiest people in order to raise some revenue.

We know that infrastructure pays for itself, but making the tax system fair, that`s something that Americans say, yeah, I want to get behind that. I`m for it. And it actually increases the popularity even more.

MADDOW: Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the very influential, very active progressive caucus, it`s always great to have you here, Congresswoman. Thank you so much for making time tonight.

JAYAPAL: It`s always great to be with you, Rachel, thank you.

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