CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Adriano Espaillat

Interview

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WHITFIELD: Democratic Congressman Adriano Espaillat from New York joins me right now. Congressman, good to see you. Are you equally optimistic? Do you believe that her plan will come to fruition this week?

REP. ADRIANO ESPAILLAT (D-NY): I know that folks are working very hard to reach a consensus. But again, I'm troubled that the one issue that I have been concentrating which is bringing relief for immigrants who were there, what we needed them during the pandemic, delivering our food to our doorsteps and making sure they work the farms to bring the food to the table as well as take care of our elderly and frail. That they may not be included in this deal and they will be left behind.

I think it will be a great travesty if that occurs. That the folks that really came through for us in the pandemic are left behind while we try to build back better.

WHITFIELD: So those are some of the disappointments that you anticipate. And as a progressive are you disappointed that President Biden is willing to give up tuition-free community college and cut paid leave from 12 down to four weeks' time?

ESPAILLAT: I am disappointed about that as well, of course. You know, free community college is an important piece for my district, the 13th district that includes Harlem and North Manhattan and the Northwest Bronx, as well as paid leave.

But I tell you nothing could be more egregious that we're really afraid in our homes during the bad months of the pandemic and those folks came knocking on our doors to deliver the food for us.

[14:29:56]

ESPAILLAT: And now we can't included them in the build better deal. I think that's really egregious.

And I hope that they're included. And there's pathways to do that. I know that the parliamentarian has not been cooperative, but there's an additional proposal that's on the table right now. And at the very end the parliamentarian is really just an adviser to the Senate. It's not an elected adviser to the U.S. Senate, someone that could be reversed at any time.

WHITFIELD: And so if some of those things that are near and dear to your heart like immigration reform are not included in the package like you'd like it to be, would you still consider it an achievement if it is voted on, if it is embraced as the best package deal possible for moving forward?

ESPAILLAT: Look, I like a lot of the things in the package. You know, I worked very hard to include a lot of the provisions in that agreement, in that deal. I would like to see immigration, public housing is an important one for me as well, so a dramatic and deep cut to public housing would be also be troubling to me, but, you know, there's a group of us that feel that immigrants have waited for 35 long years, Fredricka, and now is just an opportune moment, perhaps the best moment, to bring them in. We're going to leave them out in the cold once again. That I don't know if I can live with.

WHITFIELD: Today President Biden is meeting with moderate Senator Joe Manchin in Delaware. Manchin has been, you know, vocal about his opposition to much of the climate actions in this bill and he's also expressing concerns about expanding Medicare to include dental and vision. Are you comfortable with one senator possibly nixing some of the most popular aspects of the bill or at least wielding so much power?

ESPAILLAT: I'll tell you. It's much more than just that. I think it's disempowering our president as he gets ready to go to Glasgow and make a good argument for the rest of the planet to come online with these green deal agreements that we want to put in place.

I think it's important that we lead by example, and so if we go to Europe and say that the rest of the world has to be aligned with our principles and our guidance with regards to the environment and we're not agreeing to them ourselves, that's a real bad message to set out there so it's much more than just one person wielding power than the construct of government or of Congress here. It has global implications as well.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Adriano Espaillat, thank you so much for joining us this Sunday.

ESPAILLAT: Thank you. Thank you, Fredricka.

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