MSNBC "The Beat" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Barbara Lee

Interview

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O`DONNELL:  Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California.  She`s a member of that Bipartisan Conference Committee negotiating a funding bill to keep the government open.
 
Congresswoman, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  I know you`ve had one official meeting of the committee.  Nancy Pelosi says there will be no border wall funding in any final agreement.  Is that your position and the position of the Democratic conferees?
 
REP. BARBARA LEE (D-CA), BIPARTISAN CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:  Absolutely.  First of all, Speaker Pelosi is very smart and she is an effective leader.  And she knows very well that $5.7 billion for a border wall, it will do nothing.  It is not -- it`s a waste of taxpayer dollars.
 
And what she really wants and what we all want is to look at how we can come up with a proposal for effective border security, which means using 21st Century technology, imaging, and all of the new ways of making sure that our borders are secure.
 
O`DONNELL:  I want to read you something that the president said in his interview tonight with "The New York Times," which has become breaking news.  This is something he said about the speaker of the House and this is something that no previous president has ever said about a speaker of the House because every previous president has understood just how powerful a speaker is.
 
President Trump said, "I`ve actually always gotten along with her but now I don`t think I will anymore."  And as you know, the president doesn`t have a choice.  The speaker of the House has complete control over any legislation passing through the House of Representatives.  And if he doesn`t think he can get along with Nancy Pelosi, that means he is surrendering completely and won`t get a single piece of legislation passed.
 
LEE:  Well, I tell you, first, it sounds very childish.
 
O`DONNELL:  Yes.  That, too.
 
LEE:  Secondly, it sounds like he is either uninformed or really doesn`t care about the -- our system of checks and balances.  You know this is a democracy.  It`s not a dictatorship.  We have three branches of government, and the Congress has to do its job.
 
As a member of the Appropriations Committee and as a member of the Conference Committee, it`s our job to put forth a conference report for border security.  The Congress has the power of the purse.  So I don`t think the president even understands the nature of our democracy.
 
O`DONNELL:  He does say in this same quote to "The New York Times," he says, "If she doesn`t approve the wall."  So he now is recognizing that Nancy Pelosi does have veto power over the wall.  She does have power over this outcome.  He never told his voters when he was running and telling them that Mexico was going to pay for it, that in reality, it was going to be up to Nancy Pelosi whether or not there`s a wall on the southern border.
 
LEE:  Well, he has misled his voters.  He`s misled the country in general.  But I have to tell you, in this instance, he`s doing everything he can to derail what we are, as appropriators are engaged in, in terms of our work project.
 
He`s trying to just say that -- like he said earlier, he`s not going to even read the report if it doesn`t have a wall in it, that he thinks it`s a west of time.  I mean my goodness, what does he think this country and government is all about?
 
We are appropriators.  We`re working in good faith, both Republicans and Democrats, House, and Senate.  And we are trying to come together to come up with a border security proposal that makes sense, that that`s effective and that`s evidence based.
 
LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC ANCHOR:  Congresswoman Barbara Lee, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  Really appreciate it.
 
LEE:  My pleasure.

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