'This Week' Transcript 2-12-23: Sen. Chuck Schumer, Rep. James Comer & Rep. Pete Aguilar
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
It's like being -- being home. That's what this place means to me. It's -- my family has been coming here for multiple generations. My dad grew up around the corner.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
It's a sense of opportunity. You know, my story is not very different than so many other, you know, Latinos who grew up in communities where they had to work hard to get by.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
I think there has been common ground on the ability for Dreamers to become citizens. We have Republicans on board with that.
Then, I think you have farm worker modernization bills and a reform to that system, grounded in, you know, rural Republicans realizing that they need laborers.
Now, the Democratic Party believes that we need strong border security as well. We genuinely believe that, and we believe in the rule of law. But those to me seem like three strong pillars that we can look at that have strong bipartisan support.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Well, I think -- I think we need more friends and allies in the United States Senate. And I can respect that at certain times, you know, the House has been at fault and the Senate has been at fault, but in the last ten years, Democrats have continually put these bills on the floor, and Republicans have stood in the way on the House side to see any real reform happen.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
You know, I think -- I think the grade would be incomplete, right? There's plenty to do. We know that it's a humanitarian issue down at the southern border.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
I think they're -- I think the president is trying to do that now by -- by increasing the pathways that people have to declare asylum. So they can declare asylum in their home countries or while they are in transit. Less while they are, you know, at the border physically.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
I think that how we -- how we talk to voters, how we meet them, you know, where they are, how we talk about the issues with them, you know, really is important. I mean, there's no cookie cutter way to talk about Latino issues. We need to realize that. We need to have a plan to talk to those voters and those individuals. And I think that we need to do a better job of that.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
The biggest challenge is making sure that we communicate to the American public the legislative achievements that we've had. We understand it's going to be -- it's going to be a difficult time to pass a lot of big pieces of legislation. We can still get some things done, but over the next two years, implementing this agenda that the president has -- has accomplished with Congress is going to be the focus of what we do.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source