Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Congresswoman Gwen Moore is
Speaker 1: watching all of this from her perch in Wisconsin's fourth district.
Speaker 1: The Democratic congresswoman is with us right now live on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg TV and radio. It's great to see you, Representative
Speaker 1: more welcome back. Are you stockpiling tomatoes ahead of next week?
Speaker 1: How do we deal with these tariffs?
Speaker 2: Well, I tell you I do have a tomato plant
Speaker 2: outside my back door, just in case.
Speaker 1: You're doing it right apparently. How concerned are you about
Speaker 1: the impact this could have on Wisconsin? Of course, a
Speaker 1: major agriculture state, a major dairy state, as we enter
Speaker 1: a whole new level of trade war, it seems with Canada.
Speaker 2: Well, of course I'm very concerned. Years ago I asked
Speaker 2: my youngest granddaughter where food came from, and she said,
Speaker 2: pick and save. So I got worried. Then, you know,
Speaker 2: the whole supply chain is going to be disrupted, everything
Speaker 2: from farmers planning their foods to actually people who will
Speaker 2: need and rely on snap and so this will affect grocers,
Speaker 2: people who have jobs bagging grocers, groceries, inflation, the cost
Speaker 2: of groceries, and our farmers and the only way that
Speaker 2: this president seems to be able to address these things
Speaker 2: is to try to provide a subsidy for agriculture workers
Speaker 2: or to declare that he is not going to deport
Speaker 2: Mexican migrants who might be working as agricultural workers. This
Speaker 2: is a real big stretch in terms of saving our
Speaker 2: economy and lowering costs.
Speaker 3: Well, Congressman, I would mention in our audience on Bloomberg
Speaker 3: TV as well as on YouTube, can see this. Now.
Speaker 3: President Trump has just landed in Texas alongside First Lady
Speaker 3: Milania Trump. They of course are now heading into the
Speaker 3: helicopter and when they'll begin viewing some of the damaged
Speaker 3: areas in an around Kerrville, Texas from last weekend's devastating floods.
Speaker 3: When we consider a congressmom in the future of FEMA,
Speaker 3: knowing President Trump has up until recently called for essentially
Speaker 3: it's dismantling and sending that responsibility back to the States,
Speaker 3: do you believe that that policy pursuit is one that
Speaker 3: he will still actively pursue or could this disaster actually
Speaker 3: spell a second chance for FEMA as it currently stands.
Speaker 2: Well, I guess I wish I could predict to what
Speaker 2: President Trump was what was going to do, because I
Speaker 2: would not have predicted that FEMA would have been destroyed
Speaker 2: when we have seen a time and again, whether you
Speaker 2: believe in climate change or not, the environmental the environment
Speaker 2: be shifty calls, tornadoes, all kinds of five hundred year
Speaker 2: weather conditions, and surprise, surprise, this storm was yet another
Speaker 2: aggression on the part of Mother Nature and a warning
Speaker 2: not to dismantle emergency services. I heard President Trump say,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't have even blamed Joe Biden for this, you know,
Speaker 2: but I'm telling you that there's nothing like preparedness and
Speaker 2: nothing like being able to reach people on several different
Speaker 2: platforms to warn them to escape. And so I think
Speaker 2: that it's fine for him to be there with his wife.
Speaker 2: That's where any president should be. And maybe it's better
Speaker 2: late than never, But I think that the agony and
Speaker 2: misery of this community is going to continue long after
Speaker 2: the cameras are gone, long after Air Force one leaves.
Speaker 1: Well. It is pretty heartbreaking to consider one hundred and
Speaker 1: seventy people still missing. Congresswomen in Texas is one of
Speaker 1: many states that has seen an influx in ice raids.
Speaker 1: Of course, Texas is a border state. And is no
Speaker 1: stranger to immigration security here. But I want to ask
Speaker 1: you about some of the raids that we have been seeing,
Speaker 1: in many cases by unmarked and masked individuals who are
Speaker 1: purportedly with ICE or sometimes it's hard to tell. Border
Speaker 1: Patrol Department of Homeland Security. You just signed a letter
Speaker 1: urging ICE to not deport undocumented victims of crime. Did
Speaker 1: you hear a response from the federal government from the
Speaker 1: administration on this? Is there anything your office can do
Speaker 1: to help them?
Speaker 2: No, the response is hopefully forthcoming. There's nothing more frightening
Speaker 2: to me to think of someone throwing a bag over
Speaker 2: my head and dragging me away. This is so Unamerican.
Speaker 2: To not announce which law enforcement agent you are, demonstrating
Speaker 2: your badge number, and that you have the authority to
Speaker 2: take people into custody. This is very chilling, and I
Speaker 2: think it's being done deliberately to replicate the tactics of
Speaker 2: authoritarian regimes. This is totally unacceptable and to devise people's
Speaker 2: You know, I'm not an attorney, but I would think
Speaker 2: that if you need a warrant, you would at least
Speaker 2: need to disclose who you are as a law enforcement person.
Speaker 2: This is totally unacceptable.
Speaker 3: Well, Congressman, when we consider ICE will be getting more
Speaker 3: funding along with customs and border patrol due to the
Speaker 3: one big, beautiful bill that just passed in all the
Speaker 3: various components in it, with the passage of that bill,
Speaker 3: with the potential passage of now a recisions package that
Speaker 3: could very well happen in the Senate, do Democrats have
Speaker 3: any incentive to deal with Republicans for a government funding deal.
Speaker 2: Well, we always have an incentive to do our job
Speaker 2: if we're allowed to do our job. You know. The
Speaker 2: thing about the package now is that it's the largest
Speaker 2: border bill that we have seen in history, and I
Speaker 2: don't know that it's always directed at the right the
Speaker 2: right equipment. Democrats have long been for more electronic surveillance,
Speaker 2: more human beings, to actually evaluate and separate the sheep
Speaker 2: from the goat, as it were, at the border. We
Speaker 2: have always aired on the side of more border security,
Speaker 2: you know. But the building, the optics of you know,
Speaker 2: putting people, you know, surrounding them by alligators, this is
Speaker 2: this is a costly It costs so much money to uh,
Speaker 2: you know, the optics Alcatraz, for example, it costs more
Speaker 2: money than it's worth in terms of being of incarcerating people.
Speaker 2: I think that the overkill is not only bad for
Speaker 2: people's personal rights, but for our budget.
Speaker 3: All right, Congresswoman, we appreciate your time. As always, Democratic
Speaker 3: Congresswoman Gwen Moore representing Wisconsin's fourth district here with us
Speaker 3: on balance of power