The Lead with Jake Tapper: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Is Interviewed About Debt Deal

Interview

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Yes. I mean, we had a very clear negotiated compromise with the President of the United States and the speaker of the House where they set the caps, if you will, for both defense and domestic spending.

And now they just have walked away from this deal. And it's really rather incredible. I don't -- you may or may not know this, Jake, and by the way, thank you for having me be with you this evening, I voted against the compromise.

I would never have, you know, seen the government default. But I voted against it because I wasn't unhappy with the domestic spending portion of it in that were really going well below the 2023 numbers to address the issues. And I find myself in the position of really amongst those who are looking at the appropriations process of being the only person or one of the only people that says, I'm willing to work within the framework of the agreement.

I'm an appropriator. I negotiated a deal last December with the Senate Democrats and Republicans. We came to a deal. But you have to think about this that last week, we had skies that were orange from wildfires. We had a portion of I-95, you know, collapsing in Philadelphia. You talked not that long ago about the underfunding of pediatric cancer. We've got kids who are in a mental health crisis. We have a hunger crisis in the United States. And what the Republicans wanted to do was to really make massive cuts. That was the basis for the agreement, and now they don't want to abide by the agreement.

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Well, no, I mean, we are in the minority. But, no, our hands are not tied. First of all, if you know about appropriations bills, they have to pass in the House. They have to pass in the Senate. There needs to be Republicans and there needs to be Democrats. It's bipartisan, bicameral, and then the President signs it. If we don't get that kind of cooperation, the President will not sign the bill. It's probably one of the only pieces of legislation on a yearly basis that has these restrictions around it. So we have to come to a conclusion.

The issue will be how long will the Republicans try to hold this process hostage, and what kind of harm will be done in the interim? We can move forward. I'm prepared to move and to deal with, you know, and I have -- I did tell this -- told this to the Speaker. I have told it to our own leadership who we are in concert on this. I've told it to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. And I've told it to my Senate counterparts.

Let's go. We have an obligation because what we can't do is have the government shut down. And that is potentially where the Republican majority wants to take us to a government shutdown.

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Thank you. Happy Father's Day.

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