CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Interview

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Here now to talk about it, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Congresswoman, so good to see you. Happy Mother's Day.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): You too, Fredricka. Thank you. You as well.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you. So Biden has big plans. The administration saying you've got to go big, around -- more than $2 trillion for infrastructure, another nearly $2 trillion to expand the child tax credit. Republicans have put out their own infrastructure plan that they say is much more targeted, but it comes in just under $600 billion. So how do you bring these two sides together when the plan's cost is so different?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, we need to continue the dialogue. We need to come together. We need Republicans like Mitch McConnell to not say that his number one priority is blocking everything that President Biden is trying to do. It's just mind boggling. He said the same thing when President Obama was in office, and now he's saying, again, that that's his number one priority. That doesn't --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: And what would that meeting be like then in the White House this week, having -- you know, having the fact that McConnell did say that?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, I think that the minority leader needs to realize that the margin is very tight. He doesn't necessarily control how his members ultimately decide to vote and working with the president, I think there are members on both sides of the aisle that want to find common ground. I mean, mothers need more than flowers on Mother's Day.

We need making sure that our children are well cared for with the child care benefits that are part of the American Family Plan, making sure that our kids can start off good -- on a good pathway in life after graduating from high school with three years of free community college.

Making sure that the underpinning and undergirding of families are able to build their infrastructure, for strength through the year. The last year showed us -- not if anything, it's showed us that we need strength in the infrastructure of families and of our traditional infrastructure across the country. And Mitch McConnell and Republicans need to realize that, or we'll go it alone because we can do that. WHITFIELD: Well, I mean, underscoring that, you know, Biden is pushing

these policies as the nation is suffering. We just saw very disappointing jobs report last week that showed the U.S. only added 266,000 jobs in April, you know, far below expectations. So, given all that you just said, why will it be the fact that the president is facing a very tough sell on the need for these plans, particularly with infrastructure and included in that assistance for families?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, the reason it'll be a tough sell with Republicans is because they are still worshipping at the altar of Donald Trump and not at the altar of strengthening families.

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We need to make sure that Republicans and Democrats -- like Democrats understand that families have suffered for the last 14 months. We are coming out of the worst pandemic that has impacted our economy like never before and we need to focus on making sure that we can create jobs, that we can strengthen this economy, that we can make sure that children who graduate from high school are prepared for the path they choose in life, that parents can have a safe place to send those children so those schools so they can go back to work. That schools can reopen.

I don't know how Republicans expect all of this to happen. It just doesn't happen, you know, automatically out of thin air. We have to work closely together to help ensure that that happens. And if they just stand in the way, then we're going to have to find a way -- and we have ways procedurally, to make sure that we can do this on our own. Because we are going to strengthen the American family and we are going to rebuild our nation's infrastructure, one way or other. With or without them.

WHITFIELD: Let me switch gears here. You represent Florida. Last week, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a sweeping and controversial new voting bill into law. It puts new restrictions on ballot drop boxes, adds vote by mail ID requirement. The governor says it will strengthen voter confidence in Florida's elections. But what do you see happening?

(LAUGHTER)

WHITFIELD: You see it laughable. What do you see, you know, is the consequence here?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I'm laughing because imagine a successful business who just had a record increase in their customer base. And imagine that their response would be to make it harder for their customers to do business with them.

That's what Ron DeSantis and Republican governors across the country are doing by putting obstacles in the path of record turnouts, targeted specifically at voters who are more likely to have trouble voting with those obstacles in place.

That's the bill that Governor DeSantis just signed. He is dramatically restricting the ability to douse drop boxes. He is requiring after this election voters every single year to request a mail-in ballot instead of it being for two election cycles. He is shrinking the number of people that can actually drop ballots off. And the list goes on.

We had record voter turnout here in Florida. And uncoincidentally, Democrats beat Republicans for the first time by almost 700,000 mail- in ballots. Gee, why do you think that they are trying to make mail-in ballot and voting harder? Because they can't win on their agenda, Fredricka, so they have to try to shape the electorate to look like the voters that most likely will show up and vote for them.

If our voters show up, they know they'll lose. And he's up for reelection next time. But businesses are opposing proposals like this because they understand that making voting harder and making our democracy weaker is really a bad idea.

WHITFIELD: So this Florida law, you know, follows Georgia's controversial voting law. And for the bill signing, Governor DeSantis took another page from Georgia's playbook. I mean, holding it behind closed doors and giving it exclusive live coverage to FOX News. And of course, you remember the Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, you know, signed his state's bill very soon after passage also behind closed doors.

So, you know, what -- how hopeful are you that this measure can be reversed? And of course, you know, on the national level, there is great hope in this HR-1 For the People Act, but in the meantime, what can you do to insist on transparency or potentially reverse this measure, this law?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Right. Well, certainly, we're going to continue to press, and we have to pass the For the People Act. We have to make sure that we re-establish the ability of everyone to be able to have the right to vote, freely and fairly.

We're setting a terrible example for the rest of the world. But what we can do is make sure that -- I think the governor of Texas, the governor of Florida, need to realize that the lawsuits that were filed immediately in Florida, I believe, will win voters and the NAACP have merit.

And that ultimately much of what they passed, because it was a solution in search of a problem, is going to get overturned by the courts. So they're either going to have these really draconian laws and make it like harder for certain kinds of voters, poor people and minority voters, to cast their ballot.

They're going to have them opt out, or we're going to pass portions of the For the People Act to make sure that nationally we have a standardization of how people are able to vote, so that it doesn't depend on your zip code, your ability to vote freely and fairly doesn't depend on your zip code and where you live.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it there for now.

Congressman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, always good to see you. Thank you so much. Again, Happy Mother's Day.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: You too, Fredricka. Thank you so much. Happy Mother's Day to everyone. Thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you.

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