Nothing shows Democratic solidarity against President Donald Trump’s demands for border wall funding like the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee saying that Democrats should definitely give in to some of his requests on border wall funding.
Speaking on CNN Friday morning, Illinois Rep. Cheri Bustos, who is also the new chair of the DCCC, said that “the wall” has just become a symbol for Trump’s refusal to budge on his $5 billion request for the actual wall itself. However, she said that other elements of border security, such as a “partial wall,” fencing, or other technology, “is fine.”
When asked by CNN New Day anchor John Berman if she was willing to give Trump additional border wall funding, Bustos hemmed and hawed, saying that she’s not actually at the negotiating table and just a part of Democratic leadership as DCCC chair.
“But you have a vote in Congress and you’re a member of Democratic leadership, and you got four votes for speaker, and I don’t mean to diminish that. So are you saying that that is where you believe Democrats should give?” Berman asked her.
To which Bustos all but said, yes, yes she does, and talked about a lot of other pieces of legislation that don’t have to do with the border wall (emphasis mine):
I believe that when we are looking at many issues, whether it pertains to rebuilding our country and passing what I hope will be a trillion-dollar infrastructure package to rebuild our roads and bridges...and waterways and rural broadband, or whether it has to do with lowering the cost of healthcare, including the exorbitant prices of prescription drugs, whatever it is.
What I’m saying is, we can have a starting point, that we can go in there and say, “This is ideally what we would like to see happen,” but in the end we might have to give or take a little bit. It’s just the way the world works. It’s the way our families work. I’m a mother of three sons, and it’s the way that I work with my husband and with my children. It’s just the way the world works. And why should we in Congress, in this building, in the U.S. Capitol, be any different than the way anything else works in this world?
I don’t know, Cheri. Maybe because a multi-billion dollar concession for a physical barrier symbolizing racism and hate isn’t exactly like agreeing to host the family for Thanksgiving if one of your sons takes Christmas?
It appears that Bustos’ philosophy on settling in politics will permeate the way she wishes to run the DCCC. She told Politico on Thursday that she wants to work and learn with Democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but that her role is to “support Democrats in the House” instead of primary challengers. She also said she hopes the party doesn’t have to “deal with a lot of primary angst.”
“We’ve got a tough two years ahead, with the other side of the aisle, so I hope those are the battles we can focus on,” Bustos told the site. Cool.
[h/t the Hill]