CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript: Interview with Pramila Jayapal

Interview

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COOPER: Now standing with the President, as you saw there, House Speaker Pelosi whose message all week was pretty much the opposite, but that turned out to be wishful thinking on her part. Regardless of the timing though, the bottom line remains the same --

getting it done for Democrats and the President means satisfying progressive lawmakers who successfully blocked a vote on the infrastructure bill without alienating two centrist senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema who have been pushing against the kind of sweeping social legislation that progressives and the President want.

The President today did not bridge that gap, at least publicly. The question now, will members of his party use the time he apparently bought for some bridge building of their own?

Joining us now Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Congresswoman, thanks for being back with us. You called this last night when you said that this wasn't going to happen. What is the position of your caucus, the Progressive Caucus right now in terms of what happens now?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Well, Anderson, thanks for having me on. Our position is exactly the same as the President's, which is we are going to get both these bills done and we are going to send them to the President's desk, and it will take us a little bit of time to negotiate because what we are clear on is we're not doing one and leaving the other behind. The President reemphasized that today.

And he also said to us, look, we've got to get all 50 senators on board, and so we are doing, you know, the work we need to do to go back and look at our priorities and make sure that we are really thinking through what we need to have in this bill, and how we can come to agreement, though, that is the negotiating process, and I'm thrilled that it is really happening.

COOPER: So does -- and going through that, seeing what you really need, does that mean $3.5 trillion is a number that's in play. I mean, is there a new number in play?

JAYAPAL: I think we're going to have to get to a number that all 50 Democrats in the Senate and all of us in the House agree to and you know, 3.5 was our number. We're going to go back and see what we can do on that, because we understand, we've got to get everybody on board.

And actually, we've been saying that for some time. We just need to have this negotiation. We need to have an offer from the two senators that you know, don't want to do 3.5. You know, look, I think that we will do the work we need to do and I am confident that we are going to get there.

COOPER: So -- but I mean, that sounds different than 24 hours ago, I mean, you sound more -- and I'm sorry to be like parsing your each word here, but as you know, that's what's happening right now. I mean, you sound more willing to say, look, we're going to go back and look at, you know, priorities and 3.5 was our number.

You know, you're willing to negotiate, what -- is it specifics you want to hear from Sinema and Manchin? Is it a -- you know, he had given the 1.5 number, you know, a while ago to Dana Bash of CNN. What do you want to-- is it the specifics you need to hear?

JAYAPAL: Well, I don't think that's the number. I mean, that's not going to be acceptable to us. This is a negotiation. And so we need to figure out how we're going to get to a number that we can all agree on.

But the key thing we were fighting for Anderson, which we feel so proud about tonight, is we were not going to leave behind families who need childcare, who need paid leave, people who need affordable housing, people who are committed to delivering real results on climate change, and we are going to leave behind immigration.

I mean, these were the five priorities of the CPC that are in the Build Back Better agenda, the Build Back Better Act, I should say, and there was this push to try to get one bill, the infrastructure bill, which is also important. We support roads and bridges, but it's no good to have roads and bridges if people don't have childcare to be able to get to work, if people don't have healthcare to be able to actually engage in society.

And so what we've achieved tonight is agreement that the two will move together. That one is not going to pass without the other. The President said that multiple times today and that we will negotiate as a united Democratic Party to get to a place where both can pass and where the President can sign this agenda into law. The agenda he ran on, the agenda we ran on.

[20:05:20]

COOPER: I think it was Dana Bash who was on the program after we spoke last night, and one of the things she said is that, you know, with Senator Manchin, that many of the things you are really focused on and really want in this, and other progressives do, would actually benefit a lot of people in his State of West Virginia. But some of those people have an ideological sort of point of view, which is, well, it's too much government, I don't want that kind of level of government, and also deficits. What do you say to that argument?

JAYAPAL: Well, the polling, Anderson, in both Republican and Democratic and Independent districts is excellent on all the components of the Build Back Better Act. The reality is that it would benefit a lot of people in West Virginia, in Arizona, and across our states, and people know that and they support it. They want affordable childcare when they can't get it right now. They want paid leave, 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. That is something that all other developed countries do, but we don't. That's in the Build Back Better Act.

They want housing. They really want us to take on climate change. I mean, people understand this. And so making sure that we have a real plan when the President goes to COP in a little bit, and has to say to the world, the United States is going to lead on cutting carbon emissions, that's in the Build Back Better Act. So it is popular, and, you know, that's what we have to continue to

emphasize. It's popular with the American people, 70 percent agree. And with, you know, the vast majority, 98 percent of Democrats in the House and the Senate.

COOPER: Just in terms of process. I mean, did the self-imposed deadline set by the Speaker, did it make sense? I mean, if the President of United States has to drive up to Capitol Hill and essentially tell his party to take a deep breath, you have more time to get this done. Does that suggest the party leadership needs to handle this process differently in some way going forward?

JAYAPAL: Well, look, the Speaker was in a tough position because there were nine House Democrats who said that they wanted that deadline or they weren't even going to vote for the budget resolution and that's unfortunate, but you know, these things happen and so, that deadline got set.

And I have said from the beginning, I think I said it on your show the other day, that's arbitrary. And the President made that clear today, six minutes, six days, six weeks, we're going to get this done. We need a little time to negotiate.

There was a lot of time to negotiate the infrastructure bill, and you know, there were skeptics like me, who said, I don't think it's going to get done, and I was wrong. I'm happy to be wrong about that. Now, we need a little time to negotiate on this Build Back Better Act, and I believe we will be able to do that.

COOPER: Congresswoman Jayapal, I appreciate it. Thank you.

JAYAPAL: Thank you, Anderson.

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