State of the Union: Interview With Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-MI)
Interview
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No, I think that there is, Jake.
And one thing that I am seeing every day in Congress is a renewed interest to address this national trauma. Now, this goes far beyond the carnage that we see, bodies stacked up behind an outlet mall. Look at all those people fleeing the mall, the trauma that reverberates around our country, the mental health crisis that's rising in our young people, who have been forced to bear the burden of gun violence in our country, which is now the number one killer of children in the United States of America.
This is a uniquely American problem, and we don't have to live like this. I hear from people every single day in a swing district like mine, Republicans alike, who are ready to do something about this problem, and I'm ready to work on it as well.
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No. No.
Respectfully, Marc, last Congress, we did pass a once-in-a-generation Safer Communities bill to combat this. There are -- I have personally co-sponsored eight different pieces of commonsense gun control legislation that has the majority of Americans backing it.
And Republicans refuse to bring it to the floor. We can preserve the Second Amendment and protect our children. This is not a zero sum game.
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What have Republicans done about it? Their debt ceiling proposal defunds the police, cuts tens of thousands of law enforcement jobs.
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But, in reality, what are Republicans doing about it? The Democrats are out there with bills that will increase law enforcement on the streets, funding the police, and...
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It's not surprising that individuals would have concern. President Biden would be one of the oldest presidents ever elected.
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The -- the oldest president. All right, the oldest president ever elected.
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All right, well, people tend not to believe what they have never seen. As the first woman to represent my part of the country, I can tell you that for certain.
But here's the thing, this election is going to still be a referendum on whose vision for America people want. Do they want the extremism of today's Republican Party that's allowing our children to be obliterated in classrooms, rescinding our rights, or do they want a pragmatic, steady hand at the wheel that's increasing jobs, improving infrastructure, and growing and expanding our freedoms?
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In a swing district like West Michigan, we saw what the answer was in 2022.
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It's lived experience.
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