On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said that the government funding bill that passed the House wasn’t an improvement on the original bill, but his goal was ensuring there wasn’t a shutdown.
Host Sara Sidner asked, [relevant exchange begins around 5:30] “Do you think it was better than the original?”
Swalwell answered, “No, but my prerogative was to make sure that the hard-working employee who serves our veterans or keeps our airports safe with the TSA or is monitoring air traffic as an air traffic controller, that they get paid for the work that they do. This wasn’t perfect. This was completely unnecessary, Sara.”
Sidner then asked, “You said that you didn’t think this was better than the bipartisan bill that had been hashed out for many, many weeks, this was plan C. Was there any calculation on your part or other Democrats that you’ve been talking to that you would get blamed for a shutdown if you didn’t vote for this one?”
Swalwell responded, “Well, again, it was more about the TSA security officer that, two weeks ago, pulled me aside as he was helping me, as I was going through security, and he said, hey, I saw you coming through, and my wife told me to ask you, are we going to be okay? So, just knowing that people are counting on us to get this right, and it’s not perfect by any means, but that person not getting paid and thousands others not getting paid, that’s also not right. And so, for Democrats, I think the message we have to convey is, Republicans, they’re going to fight for the rich. We’re for the rest.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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