State of the Union: Interview With Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA)

Interview

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I think it's cruelty, right? There are so many other things that we could be talking about.

I think this is a smokescreen. I think that it's clear that what we're trying to do is, we're pushing people further into poverty. We're talking about issues that are nonissues. Folks want to work. These folks are already working. These folks are hungry. These folks are sick. And we're putting up bureaucratic red tape that we don't need to.

So, instead of giving these folks the food they need or helping them to get healthy, we're instead going to put precious resources into putting up more barriers for those same people that I relied on. I'm here today because of it.

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Let me just say, though, because we like to use the phrase both sides, but the reality is that there's one side, particularly Washington insider, Beltway folks, who are talking about this in terms of dollars, in terms of politics.

And then there's the other side of people who are impacted. There is a human impact here.

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I'm a politician, and I'm an impacted person.

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I know that there are going to be people who are going to suffer. We're here to fight for them.

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It's not about politics. It's about lives. It's about my own family will suffer if this happens.

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And it shouldn't be about politics.

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If you're a student and you rely on a Pell Grant, this is a student who may now not be able to go to college. Folks who are trying to lift themselves out of poverty, lift themselves into the middle class will now have their access cut off.

If you are somebody who relies on SNAP benefits, TANF, Medicare, if you're a veteran, we're talking about Veterans Affairs. All of these earned benefits that people rely on, this isn't a shameful thing to rely on. These are folks who are every day trying to make it. And these are their basic needs...

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... that we're saying, we're going to cut your basic needs. We're going to make sure that you're -- we're going to ensure that your child can't eat.

And this should be a nonstarter. It should be a nonstarter for Democrats, Republicans and independents.

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Wow.

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One of them.

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