WEBVTT - US Representative Sean Casten (D) Talks Next Congress Under Trump And Border Control

0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:06.680
<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:10.800
<v Speaker 2>As we add the voice of Sean Caston, the Democratic

0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:14.680
<v Speaker 2>Congressman from Illinois shares part of Chicago. He was with

0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.000
<v Speaker 2>us at the DNC and Congressman, it's great to see

0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:19.200
<v Speaker 2>you here. I hope you had a great holiday. Welcome

0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:21.800
<v Speaker 2>back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. I have a lot

0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.680
<v Speaker 2>of questions for you because you've been a busy guy

0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:26.639
<v Speaker 2>lately with regard to government funding, with regard to the

0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:28.840
<v Speaker 2>Ethics Committee report into Matt Gates. But I want to

0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.040
<v Speaker 2>start with you on this issue that we're talking about now.

0:00:31.040 --> 0:00:34.160
<v Speaker 2>When you go to Chicago dot gov, your town says

0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.199
<v Speaker 2>the city has shouldered the responsibility of caring for more

0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:42.120
<v Speaker 2>than forty nine thousand immigrants new arrivals seeking asylum. Many

0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:45.320
<v Speaker 2>flown to Chicago from states like Texas. What will happen

0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.200
<v Speaker 2>to them when Donald Trump takes office.

0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:52.440
<v Speaker 1>Well, it's important to understand where these folks come from. There.

0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:54.440
<v Speaker 1>You know, there were a surge of immigrants when Greg

0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:59.000
<v Speaker 1>Abbott was bussing people up from Texas. But if you

0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:02.720
<v Speaker 1>look nationally in check is no different. The overwhelming majority

0:01:02.760 --> 0:01:05.400
<v Speaker 1>of the undocumented folks in our country are not people

0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:08.080
<v Speaker 1>who snuck across the border, no matter how many, how

0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.040
<v Speaker 1>much we might like to sort of fall for that

0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:13.640
<v Speaker 1>lazy stereotype. They're people who came here legally and overstate

0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.080
<v Speaker 1>a visa. Maybe it's a student who studied here. Maybe

0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:17.920
<v Speaker 1>they fell in love while they were studying here, it

0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:22.000
<v Speaker 1>had a child. They're people who had temporary work visas

0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.800
<v Speaker 1>and then the temporary work visas weren't renewed in many

0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.440
<v Speaker 1>cases the prior guestment. Maybe they're less so in Chicago,

0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.480
<v Speaker 1>but certainly downstate Illinois. They're farm workers who we depend

0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:33.120
<v Speaker 1>on to grow our food. But our programs have not

0:01:33.120 --> 0:01:36.679
<v Speaker 1>provided support for these people. So to tell those people,

0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, the average undocumented person in this country has

0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.319
<v Speaker 1>been here for twelve years, and again most of that

0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.039
<v Speaker 1>is visa overstays. To tell these people who are contributing

0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.680
<v Speaker 1>to America, who are paying taxes, who in many cases

0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:51.240
<v Speaker 1>may be married or living with American citizens, that were

0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:53.640
<v Speaker 1>going to break up your family? I mean, you could

0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:56.280
<v Speaker 1>not be more anti family than that. And it's creating

0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.760
<v Speaker 1>a lot of nervousness all across the country, not just

0:01:58.800 --> 0:01:59.400
<v Speaker 1>in Chicago.

0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:02.960
<v Speaker 2>Well, so, what will be Democrats posture on the issue

0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.480
<v Speaker 2>of Dreamers, then you're describing some of them in this conversation.

0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:10.400
<v Speaker 2>Congress been knowing that Republicans were elected in part Donald

0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.760
<v Speaker 2>Trump elected in part due to his approach to the border.

0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.320
<v Speaker 2>Dreamers weren't even mentioned in the Senate deal on the

0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.880
<v Speaker 2>border that never, of course, became law earlier this year,

0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.320
<v Speaker 2>one that Donald Trump did not want to see passed.

0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:29.720
<v Speaker 2>Will they be included in this debate in the new Congress.

0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:32.440
<v Speaker 1>Well, look, let me speak to this from the perspective

0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:35.720
<v Speaker 1>of the House. Yes, Donald Trump won the election. The

0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:37.480
<v Speaker 1>House can seats. We picked up two seats in the

0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:39.760
<v Speaker 1>last election, and so you've got a lot of people

0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:42.560
<v Speaker 1>on my side of the aisle who are pretty confident

0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:45.480
<v Speaker 1>that what the people liked what we were selling, and

0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:50.240
<v Speaker 1>we are in a rapidly growing economy. I have yet

0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.600
<v Speaker 1>to meet an employer in the last three years who

0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:56.760
<v Speaker 1>wasn't saying we have a real problem finding qualified people.

0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:59.560
<v Speaker 1>The CBO said that part of the reason why inflation

0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:01.600
<v Speaker 1>of the United Dates came down so much faster than

0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.560
<v Speaker 1>other countries is because we have had a growth in

0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.440
<v Speaker 1>net immigration to this country. So if you want inflation

0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:10.079
<v Speaker 1>to be down, if you want to make sure that

0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:12.600
<v Speaker 1>employers can find workers. We need to make sure that

0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.200
<v Speaker 1>we have a humane, robust immigration system that continues to

0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:17.720
<v Speaker 1>attract the best and brightest. And what I think all

0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:19.640
<v Speaker 1>of us are telling our Republican colleagues is to go

0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:22.400
<v Speaker 1>read Ronald Reagan's farewell speech. He said that I've always

0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:24.320
<v Speaker 1>seen America is a great, shining city on a hill,

0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:25.720
<v Speaker 1>and if it must have walls, make sure it has

0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:27.640
<v Speaker 1>doors and windows so that those with the means and

0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:31.160
<v Speaker 1>ability can come inside. That's the message we need to

0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.040
<v Speaker 1>remind people of, because that's the only thing that has

0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:34.360
<v Speaker 1>ever really made America great.

0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:39.680
<v Speaker 2>This is a conversation that will clearly continue in the

0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:43.440
<v Speaker 2>new Congress, as will be the one about government funding.

0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:43.760
<v Speaker 1>Here.

0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:48.040
<v Speaker 2>You barely got this done to avoid a Christmas shutdown, Congressman.

0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.160
<v Speaker 2>It was, of course, late Friday, the Continuing Resolution was

0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:55.320
<v Speaker 2>passed to fund the government through the fourteenth of March.

0:03:55.360 --> 0:04:01.040
<v Speaker 2>What happens on March fifteenth when this resolution has expired?

0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:04.200
<v Speaker 1>You know, I joked with one of my Republican colleagues

0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:05.600
<v Speaker 1>in the elevator. He said, he said, what are we

0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.120
<v Speaker 1>doing here today? And I said, well, that can doesn't

0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:08.920
<v Speaker 1>kick itself down the road. That's why we had to

0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:11.360
<v Speaker 1>be here today. And it's sort of funny, but it's

0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:15.280
<v Speaker 1>also not funny, right because the over the over the

0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.960
<v Speaker 1>last two years of Republican control in Congress, they've never

0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.440
<v Speaker 1>really managed to put together an appropriations package other than

0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:25.920
<v Speaker 1>one where the terms were dictated by the Democrats, either

0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:28.919
<v Speaker 1>through a continuing resolution that the Democrats carried across the line,

0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.240
<v Speaker 1>or through the deal that McCarthy negotiated with Biden that

0:04:32.320 --> 0:04:34.520
<v Speaker 1>essentially locked in the funding levels we had set in

0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:37.560
<v Speaker 1>the last term with some minor adjustments. And so the

0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:42.080
<v Speaker 1>question will be with a much thinner Republican majority, can

0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.360
<v Speaker 1>they get online between their sort of extreme right wing

0:04:45.480 --> 0:04:48.479
<v Speaker 1>that would would happily shut the government down and wants

0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:53.000
<v Speaker 1>to massively cut government services and they're they're more moderate

0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.839
<v Speaker 1>and in many cases more numerous reasonable wing who who

0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:59.920
<v Speaker 1>has opposed those tensions, and that that fight has been

0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.360
<v Speaker 1>leveled the Republican caucus for this whole term. I think

0:05:03.360 --> 0:05:05.840
<v Speaker 1>you'll continue to find that Democrats are willing to work

0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:09.680
<v Speaker 1>constructively with those Republicans on a bipartisan basis as we have,

0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.680
<v Speaker 1>but we'll have to see what they bring together. There's

0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:16.120
<v Speaker 1>you know, I like to remind people that there were

0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.000
<v Speaker 1>two fist fights in the House this last term. They

0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.680
<v Speaker 1>all involved Republicans, and trying to figure out how they're

0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.680
<v Speaker 1>going to get along together is going to be is

0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.039
<v Speaker 1>going to be a challenge for this next term, at

0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:24.719
<v Speaker 1>least in the House.

0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.240
<v Speaker 2>Well, when we consider what was left out, and you know,

0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:30.440
<v Speaker 2>I know a lot of Democrats were heartened to see

0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:37.000
<v Speaker 2>the request for emergency funding for hurricane relief put back in,

0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.320
<v Speaker 2>but we didn't see year round sale of E fifteen gasoline,

0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:45.320
<v Speaker 2>the crackdown on PBMs that we heard about, also restrictions

0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.320
<v Speaker 2>on investments in China. Congressmen, some Democrats like Rolson de Laurel,

0:05:49.360 --> 0:05:53.400
<v Speaker 2>like Jim McGovern of Massachusetts said that's the real reason

0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:55.839
<v Speaker 2>Elon Musk opposed this because of the amount of business

0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:59.520
<v Speaker 2>that he does in China through Tesla and other entities.

0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:04.240
<v Speaker 1>Do you agree there's a lot of smoke there, you know,

0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:05.800
<v Speaker 1>whether there's fire. I think we need to do some

0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.359
<v Speaker 1>more investigating, but that you know, I serve on the

0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.960
<v Speaker 1>Financial Services Committee and Patrick mckennery and Andy Barr were

0:06:12.160 --> 0:06:15.960
<v Speaker 1>really great sponsors figuring out how to manage that outbound investment.

0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.120
<v Speaker 1>There's a real concern on the Republican side of the

0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.680
<v Speaker 1>aisle with what we are doing to send US technology

0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.120
<v Speaker 1>to our adversaries and how are we controlling that, especially

0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:30.760
<v Speaker 1>technology that has national security implications. And yes, there is

0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:34.960
<v Speaker 1>huge concern that mister Musk weighed in so heavily against that,

0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:37.960
<v Speaker 1>and I would you know, I would hope that the

0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:40.080
<v Speaker 1>fact that there was such a bipartisan support for that

0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.720
<v Speaker 1>provision will also lead to some bipartisan oversight support to

0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.360
<v Speaker 1>ask some questions understand what's going on there. But yes,

0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.520
<v Speaker 1>it is a it's concerning. We spend so much time

0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:54.719
<v Speaker 1>in classified and unclassified settings trying to track where US

0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.680
<v Speaker 1>generated IP is going, and I'd rather not get in

0:06:58.680 --> 0:07:00.320
<v Speaker 1>a fight with the White House about whether we should

0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.599
<v Speaker 1>give me that intellectual property to our adversaries.

0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:06.280
<v Speaker 2>Well, well, I'll tell you last time you were with us, Congressman,

0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:08.440
<v Speaker 2>you were about to go to the floor of the

0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.960
<v Speaker 2>House with the privileged resolution to force the release of

0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.679
<v Speaker 2>the Ethics Committee report into now former Congressman Matt Gates.

0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.400
<v Speaker 2>That report has been released. It came out Monday morning,

0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.040
<v Speaker 2>and it is quite a salacious read. I can't say

0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.720
<v Speaker 2>some of this stuff even on the air. As I

0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:30.000
<v Speaker 2>read from the report, Gates is now threatening to show

0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.240
<v Speaker 2>up next week to claim the seat for which he

0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:36.440
<v Speaker 2>was elected. If that happens, and I don't know if

0:07:36.440 --> 0:07:39.200
<v Speaker 2>you're hearing anything about this congressman, should he be sworn in?

0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.720
<v Speaker 1>Gates doesn't have that option. Gates formally submitted his notice

0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:48.840
<v Speaker 1>not to run in one hundred and nineteenth Congress. We call

0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.920
<v Speaker 1>Ron DeSantis initiated the special election so that they can

0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.160
<v Speaker 1>go through and hold that. The deadline to file to

0:07:54.240 --> 0:07:57.520
<v Speaker 1>run that election has passed and they're printing ballots. So

0:07:57.800 --> 0:07:59.800
<v Speaker 1>I mean, Matt Gates is trying to get on the

0:07:59.800 --> 0:08:03.480
<v Speaker 1>new given as you mentioned, the salacious details in that report.

0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.120
<v Speaker 1>If I were met gates issues, I would be trying

0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.040
<v Speaker 1>to keep a lower profile and not have people looking

0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:10.480
<v Speaker 1>in to find out that, you know, he had, you know,

0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:12.520
<v Speaker 1>he paid for sex with seventeen year old girls. If

0:08:12.520 --> 0:08:14.280
<v Speaker 1>people want to talk about that, we'll talk about that.

0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:16.520
<v Speaker 1>But he does not have a way to become a

0:08:16.560 --> 0:08:18.320
<v Speaker 1>member of the next Congress. He just has a way

0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:19.600
<v Speaker 1>to talk and get on television.

0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:22.640
<v Speaker 2>You must be glad that it's been released.

0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:27.240
<v Speaker 1>Now that it's public, I mean, I think lad is

0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.200
<v Speaker 1>probably the wrong word. I'm glad that the Ethics Committee

0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.199
<v Speaker 1>stood up for ethics in Congress. I'm glad that you

0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.640
<v Speaker 1>know we're hearing that at least two Republicans on the

0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:37.640
<v Speaker 1>Ethics Committee voted to release that. And it's not because

0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:42.000
<v Speaker 1>we're trying to, you know, hurt one of our former colleagues.

0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:45.600
<v Speaker 1>It's because the House has to comport itself in an

0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.280
<v Speaker 1>ethical way that attracts the respect of the American people,

0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:52.840
<v Speaker 1>regardless of how they vote. And when we hold ourselves accountable,

0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.440
<v Speaker 1>when we hold members accountable for these sorts of actions,

0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.200
<v Speaker 1>we basically send a message to the American people that

0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.640
<v Speaker 1>we care about this institution and we love this institution.

0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.520
<v Speaker 1>And that's the important thing of releasing this work.

0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.880
<v Speaker 2>It's great to have you today, Congressman. I hope you

0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:11.280
<v Speaker 2>had a great holiday. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to

0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:14.000
<v Speaker 2>all of your constituents in the Chicago area.