CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Adriano Espaillat

Interview

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WHITFIELD: New York Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat joins me right now. He is the deputy whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. So good to see you, Congressman. So if, you know, both the Infrastructure and Build Back Better plans are popular with the American public, what is going to bring some resolution, some common ground on the price tag or the content?

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): Well, we'll follow the president's instructions. And his instructions were that we should take a look at the programmatic aspect of this discussion. And that will drive the price tag.

You know, I like $3.5 trillion, but not everybody does. But we ought to take a look at what we can do to help the American people as they come out of this pandemic.

How do we recover as a country is really the goal, the objective, not necessarily the price tag. I think that it is important to take a look at each and every one of the proposals on the table and we prioritize them. I think that's our goal right now.

WHITFIELD: But it seems like that's where the difficulty is. Not everybody is prioritizing the same way. If the priority is, as you say, and as the president wants it to be, prioritization based on the programs, if you all want say, you know, universal pre-k education and you know the price tag is somewhere in the $450 billion range, that means there has to be a consensus to say how do we have the program but then whittle down the price?

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WHITFIELD: I mean it sounds like that's what negotiation is, but it doesn't sound like that's so easy right now. What's the problem?

ESPAILLAT: Well, our caucus is pretty much united. Let me say, it's never 100 percent. I don't think in any democracy you will find any particular body 100 percent in agreement with anything.

But we're very close to that. I think there's a small minority that may not be in agreement with the price tag that we put forward. But for the most part, I think our caucus is united. And so yes, now the question is to prioritize those programs and to see which are so important.

For example, day care. Day care is critical. Why? Because women were disproportionately at home and fell off the work force. And they got to get back to work now. and you need day care. So universal day care is an important one.

To me immigration is critical. I think that over five million immigrants -- undocumented immigrants were there for us when we needed them. Delivering food to our homes, making sure that our seniors and our frail were taken care of.

You know, we have to be there for them now. So how do we bring them in is a great challenge. But you know, I think we'll get there.

We have the vast majority of our caucus in agreement that we will follow the president's lead. This is his plan and it's just a question of how bold we want to go.

WHITFIELD: And now this, are you worried about losings the Republican senators who voted in favor of the infrastructure bill? You know, now expressing concern about the idea of decoupling these two bills?

ESPAILLAT: No. I think that both in blue states and red states there is an urgent need to take a look at our infrastructure and to build new transportation systems.

I think that that's so important to our recovery, but most importantly, you have roads and bridges that need emergency repair in both blue states and red states.

And not only that, but this is a great job creator. So the fact that we're going to create millions of jobs and we need to train those folks. And that's why these two bills are connected: the human infrastructure --

WHITFIELD: Right. Well, that's you pushing for the bills and the value of them, but the question really is about those Republicans who are threatening to change their mind on supporting these measure because of the separation of the measures.

ESPAILLAT: Well, I think they go back to their states and they will hear from their constituencies. And the need to build bridges that are nearly collapsing and to ensure that they bring back prevailing wage jobs for people that are trained for that industry.

That kind of addition will resonate and will bring up (INAUDIBLE). I think it's important that they hear their constituencies and I think they will.

WHITFIELD: And now on moving this deadline to Halloween, House Speaker moving that deadline, heard from the president when he was on the Hill, he said six minutes, six weeks, six months -- whatever it takes. Is there a disadvantage to moving the goal post, the deadline?

ESPAILLAT: I think it's towards the end. I don't know if it's Halloween. It's towards the end of October. But yes, I think it's important that we have the ample time. It's not just about how quickly we get to the finish line but getting to the finish line the right way, I think is the challenge.

And of course, we must make sure that America recovers, that the jobs are there, that day care is there, the free community colleges are there, that hearing, eye care, dental care are provided for seniors. These are all critical aspects of this discussion and America wants it.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Adriano Espaillat, thank you so much for your time.

ESPAILLAT: Thank you, Fredricka. Thank you so much.

WHITFIELD: Thanks. All right. A possible game changer in the fight against COVID. A pill for COVID patients the doctors say cuts the risk of death or hospitalization in half. Details on that straight ahead.

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