MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Vicente Gonzalez

Interview

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Ad we`re joined now by Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez of Texas.

Thank you very much for joining us.

You`ve been -- tell us you are -- how you`ve worked your way through this legislative procedure so far and where you are tonight on the two tracks of the legislation.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): Right. Well, I feel confident that we will have an agreement either tonight or tomorrow morning to be able to vote on this bipartisan infrastructure bill that I think is going to be transformative, a bill that every single member of Congress gets to take about $1.2 billion to their district. That is going to be transformative in terms of our roads, deteriorating roads and bridges and drainage and infrastructure just across the country, things that we know have been crumbling for a generation.

I think it`s a very tough decision to vote no on this bill. And my position has always been that we should not hold this proposal hostage or link it in any way to reconciliation.

[22:20:07]

And the speaker committed that she was going to put this on the floor today, and maybe she`ll do it in the morning, but I feel quite certain we`ll be voting on this bill and that it`ll successfully pass the House.

And then we need to look at reconciliation separately. And clearly it`s a huge investment in the American people. But earlier I heard you say something very interesting. Why are we talking about a dollar amount? We should be talking about the programs we`re interested in and making this massive investment then American people that hasn`t been done in generation? For the first time college graduates to be able to go to community college tuition-free, for the first time seniors will receive vision and dental and hearing care under Medicare, for the first time, we`ll be negotiating -- Medicare will be negotiating pharmaceutical prices with pharmaceutical companies to ensure our seniors have low pharmaceutical prices.

So, we -- this will be transformative in so many ways, but we shouldn`t be caught up in a number. I think we should talk about what we need, what we want and then figure out what it costs. Much like you said earlier, we can`t get caught up on $3.5 trillion. Maybe everything we need costs half of that or it costs $2 trillion, but I think we need to have a thoughtful conversation in getting to that number, and I`m confident that -- hey, Nancy Pelosi is a master negotiator and I`m confident she`ll get this done.

O`DONNELL: But in your own case if the menu of everything you wanted in this bill, if you sat there and worked out all the provisions you wanted in the bill and then you looked over at the cost and you saw $3.5 trillion, would that be something you could vote for?

GONZALEZ: I would have to look at the pay-fors, right? How are we going to pay for it?

You know, as Congressman Yarmuth said, this is 1 percent of our GDP over a ten-year period. It`s a drop in the bucket and for the first time a massive investment in the American people.

Now, I don`t like to see any industry targeted unjustifiably or in a punitive way like Texas energy or any kind of energy or a section of our economy. We need to be fair and balanced and thoughtful, but I think this is something that we`re working through.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Gonzalez, thank you very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it.

GONZALEZ: Thank you.

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