MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ (D), ILLINOIS: Thank you, Chris, for resisting the urge.
HAYES: So tell me, give me the lowdown on what happened in this meeting. What was the tenor of it, and what did the president have to say?
GUTIERREZ: The president wants to garner all the different supporters
and sectors for comprehensive immigration reform. I believe to refocus and
re-energize us all and get us to the goal of passage of a comprehensive
immigration bill. He"s going to begin--he"s begun that process by calling in different constituent groups to discuss different tactics, strategy to get us there, and he"s going to begin, I believe it"s American University, this Thursday morning in which he will make an evaluation of the present state of where comprehensive immigration reform is at and why he believes it"s an urgent issue that Americans refocus on.
HAYES: Congressman, if you had to rank what the obstacles are, I mean, originally I think there was hope of getting something, you know, before the mid-terms on comprehensive immigration reform, certainly a vote. If had you to rank what the obstacles are, I mean, do you think that the White House has expended insufficient capital? Is it democrats who are a little skittish about taking a hard vote on this, or is it republican obstruction?
GUTIERREZ: I think it"s all of the above actually. You"ve named them all, Chris, really you have. But that is Washington, D.C., right?
Sometimes the obstacles are bipartisan. Not only the debates or the fights
or what we struggle over are bipartisan, but actually the obstacle can be
bipartisan. But, look, I think what the president said today, at least to
us in the meeting was I"m going to give a speech on Thursday. I want to
refocus the energy. I want to have a closer collaboration with you, and I
I got to say, look, it takes 218 votes in the house to pass something.
I know where 200 of those votes for comprehensive immigration reform. I"m not exaggerating. They will come from the Democratic Party. You still need, 200 doesn"t get you to 218. It doesn"t pass you a bill. It"s a great idea. It"s 90 percent of your--but it doesn"t get you both. So, we do need republican support and we need to figure out a way to bring them to the table.
HAYES: Let me ask you a question. You"ve acted, you"ve played a very interesting role in this whole process, you"re sort of a liaison between the outside and inside. And I wonder how you can--there was a meeting with reform advocates, I believe it was yesterday. I"ve heard that that, you know, things were a little testy in there, and I wonder how you would characterize relationship between some of the groups that are working on this and being quite frustrated and the White House which I think generally feels like hey, don"t look at us. Don"t attack us. What is the state of that relationship right now?
GUTIERREZ: You know, the state of that relationship is that we"re waiting for Thursday, and we"re waiting for this president. You know, most of--most of us supported him. I supported him in the primary, voted for him, twice, once in the primary and once in the general election. Look, he is the president of the United States of America, but he"s a special person for me in terms of the hope that I have for changing America. And particularly, the hope that I have for what is the cardinal issue that brings me and wakes me up every morning and that"s the reform, our immigration reform system to make sure the families, you know, that are here working hard, sweating and toiling have an opportunity to stay together.
So, I think that yes, there"s friction but out of that friction can come good. Yes, we"ve criticized him, we push this president but out of that pushing good can come, and I think what the president is kind of saying, hey, let"s try to figure it out together. Here"s my point of view. He made it in a very strong manner, but, look, we"re not children here. We understand that there are differences, and sometimes those differences can be made in somewhat harsh terms.
HAYES: We"re going to look for the speech definitely on Thursday and be talking about this more. Congressman, I really appreciate you taking some time.
GUTIERREZ: Thank you, Chris. Thank you.
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