CNN "The Lead with Jake Tapper" - Transcript: Interview with Ted Lieu

Interview

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REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): Thank you, Pamela, for your question.

There's two processes right now. There's a bipartisan proposal for infrastructure, and then there's going to be a reconciliation bill that would only require 51 votes. So I'm going to look at both of them and then make a decision. None of them are put in stone yet, and I think it's important to compare the two before making decisions.

BROWN: Of course, on reconciliation you would need, as you pointed out, those 51 votes. That is the second possible infrastructure deal. But it would need Democratic votes like from Joe Manchin, right, Kyrsten Sinema.

Joe Manchin, for example, hasn't said if he'll support that route. What is your message to him?

LIEU: Senator Manchin has said he does support the current two-track process. So I think we need to have some time to let this play out and again, be able to compare the two proposals. If there's not climate change put into the bipartisan bill or there's not a lot of funding for core priorities, then I'm not sure the House will be able to support that, so let's see what the two proposals ultimately look like at the end of the day.

BROWN: And just to be clear, he has not committed to reconciliation. He says he needs to see what's in the bill. So while he's supportive of the two-track process, on reconciliation, he is not committed to that.

I want to ask you about your colleague, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She said that she will not commit to the bipartisan plan if Manchin won't commit to a reconciliation package. Would you do the same?

LIEU: I think, right now, it's important to just let the two parallel tracks play out and to continue to keep going. They're still exchanging language. They're still looking at a different pay-fors.

So this is still early. Let's just see what the final proposals look like, and then both the House and Senate can make a decision.

BROWN: I want to ask you about what we just saw, Joe Biden signing the Juneteenth bill into law. Fourteen Republican House members voted against the bill, which the president just signed. Again, you see it right here in this video.

Have you talked with any of them, any of those Republicans?

LIEU: I have not, but I did read some of their rationales and I believe those Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for not supporting the end of slavery. This is something we should celebrate as a nation. This was bipartisan coming out of the Senate, and it's something that we simply need to teach our children.

We can't wish away slavery. It happened. We have to teach it, and we can't whitewash it.

BROWN: Let's turn to the meeting, the president's meeting with Vladimir Putin, since you sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Today, "The Washington Post" editorial board wrote a piece titled: Biden offered Putin the benefit of the doubt.

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He should know better.

Do you think Biden walked away from the summit too optimistic?

LIEU: I think President Biden did a great job at the summit. First of all, he strategically made sure that he worked with our NATO allies, strengthened NATO, and got the entire commitment of the NATO before he walked into this meeting with Putin, and then he stood toe-to-toe with Vladimir Putin, challenged him on human rights, cybersecurity, and a range of other issues.

This is in stark contrast to the former president who went to Helsinki and basically bent a knee to Vladimir Putin.

I thought President Biden was strong and was simply going to have to stand up against the aggression that Russia has shown and continues to show the United States.

BROWN: What do you say to Kevin McCarthy who has come out and criticized Biden saying he was weak on Putin in light of what you just mentioned about Helsinki?

LIEU: Kevin McCarthy is just wrong. President Biden was very strong in standing up to Vladimir Putin. He told him that if Mr. Navalny died or suffered any serious harm, there'd be serious consequences for Russia. We have very strong human rights. And under President Biden's leadership, America is back and respected once again on the world stage.

BROWN: I want to get your response to what we heard from Alexander Vindman, the former director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, who testified, as you'll recall, during Trump's first impeachment. He says, Russia is coming away with a public relations win, while the U.S. has little to show from the summit in terms of tangible improvements to national security.

What do you think about that view?

LIEU: Russia has state-run media, so whatever happens they're going to spin it in favor of Putin.

President Biden, again, stood up to Vladimir Putin, made a number of very strong assertions and challenges to Vladimir Putin. And Vladimir Putin also praised President Biden, saying, essentially, nothing gets past him, that President Biden really understands what he's doing.

And so, we're going to have to manage this relationship, and Russia does cooperate with the U.S. on a variety of different issues. On other issues, we do have differences of opinion and the best way is to solve those diplomatically. BROWN: Well, time will tell how successful that summit was.

Congressman Ted Lieu, thank you so much.

LIEU: Thank you, Pamela.

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