MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Suzan DelBene

Interview

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Leading off our discussion tonight is someone who was in the room with the president today, Democratic Congresswoman Suzan DelBene of the state of Washington. She is the vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Congresswoman DelBene, thank you very much for joining us. You have the floor. You can just tell us word for word everything Joe Biden said. Everything everyone in the room said. We`ll cancel all the rest of the guests if it takes the whole hour.

Go ahead. Just everything.

REP. SUZAN DELBENE (D-WA): Well, it was a great meeting. Thanks, Lawrence. It`s great to be here.

It was a great meeting because we need to bring folks together. We need to talk about what that Build Back Better, the final bill is going to be because it is important that we land the plane and pass important legislation that is going to help families, communities, and deliver on the promise of building back better. That is the goal.

So, we talked in the meeting about what the goals are, what it would take to bring folks together to have that vote. Obviously, we have a small majority in the house and very small majority in the Senate so every vote counts.

And I think the president did an excellent job of hearing people`s priorities, their concerns, as he works with everyone across the Democratic Caucus to get things done. This is a group effort. We sink or swim together. And I think the only acceptable answer is to pass a strong infrastructure bill, pass a strong Build Back Better Act, so that we are delivering for families, for workers, for communities across the country.

So, that was our discussion. He obviously had a separate discussion after ours. And now I think it is about what is our collective conversation to come up with that final piece of legislation.

I am a chair of the new Democrat coalition, 40 percent of the House, moderate members, our goal is to get things done and no one is going to feel the benefit of this policy if we don`t pass it in the House and Senate and get it to the president`s desk. That has to be the goal.

O`DONNELL: OK. So, you were in the first meeting after the leadership meeting which was the moderate group. We all understand what the bipartisan infrastructure bill is because it`s already passed the Senate. And you`re all in favor of that.

And so, the real discussion in that room had to be about what is now the shape of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. Was there an agreement in that room about that reconciliation package and what was your position on that in the discussion with the president today?

DELBENE: Well, I think the most important part and I said this to the president, too, the most important part of the bill is what is the content of the bill? There`s been a lot of talk about a number. But I think what people want to know is, what are we going to invest in? What is the impact of that investment?

That is really what makes a good piece of legislation. So as new Dems our priority has been to make sure that we extend the expanded child tax credit, an important program that was part of the American Rescue Plan only put in place for a year. We know that already over 3 million families have been able to provide food for their children, over 3 million children have been lifted out of poverty just in the last few months since the first checks started going out to families starting July 15th, 90 percent of the kids in our country, their families are benefiting from that tax credit, really a middle class tax cut.

But kids don`t grow up in a year. We need to make sure we have this as a long term policy. That`s an important priority for new Dems, including refundability, which means that we are reaching every family because in the past the tax credit didn`t reach families who didn`t make enough money to earn the full credit. That is something we fixed in American Rescue Plan, something we need to keep going forward.

So, the child tax credit. Also a priority is the keeping the premium subsidies going that have helped people obtain health care and the Affordable Care Act.

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Making sure we are addressing states that didn`t expand Medicaid so people have coverage. Really this is about making sure everyone in our country has coverage, building on the ACA, so important. Another top priority.

So those are two priorities, and then climate. I think a lot of folks in the room shared the importance of making sure that we are -- have serious legislation to address the climate crisis. Those are three of the top priorities that we have for the New Dem coalition.

But the other element I think is important that I raise and some others in the room raise, too, is it is important that we do -- we pick the few impactful things we`re doing and do them very well. The child tax credit, making sure we extend it at least through 2025, making sure we have refundability.

We need to do it well so people can know and rely on it. I think that is an important tenet for any final piece of legislation as we do things well, that impact the American people and help them right now, as folks are continuing to struggle through the impact of the pandemic and as we work to Build Back Better programs like that are going to be top, the top priority for us to fund. That is another core component of the final piece of the legislation.

O`DONNELL: So it sounds like you support everything in the reconciliation package. That would be the $3.5 trillion version of the package.

DELBENE: Actually I think what is the important part of the package is what are we going to prioritize in the package? I think that is the final decision. The child tax credit --

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O`DONNELL: Congresswoman, so when you say prioritize, does that mean get rid of some of the things?

DELBENE: I think right now, we have a lot of things there has not been agreement between the House and Senate on everything in the final package. That is what we have to come to agreement on, the specifics so we have a bill with 218 votes in the House, 50 votes in the Senate.

O`DONNELL: Does Joe Biden have your vote on the reconciliation bill, did you leave with agreement with him that when he gets this bill in the best shape he can get it in he can call you and he has your vote?

DELBENE: I want us to pass a reconciliation bill. I think New Dems across the board want to pass the reconciliation bill. These are important priorities. So we`re working to get that bill there and absolutely want to support the president because that is how we help families and communities is by passing that, passing the infrastructure bill, making a difference for our communities. This is an historic time and incredibly important opportunity and we need to get it done.

O`DONNELL: Congresswoman Susan DelBene, thank you very much for starting us off tonight. Really appreciate it.

DELBENE: Absolutely take care.

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