MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Judy Chu

Interview

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MADDOW: Nevertheless, she has persisted. 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, now 2021 - - for her last five terms in Congress, California Democratic Congresswoman Judy Chu has introduced the same bill, a simple bill which has been promoted by Democratic politicians including precedents for a generation now, a bill to codify the protections for abortion rights, that is supposedly enshrined by Roe versus Wade, which the United States Supreme Court has now jettisoned.

[21:50:15]

Before now, Judy Chu has been introducing this every two years, but it hasn`t been going anywhere. Now, of course, everybody is paying attention to what she has been doing for the better part of a decade. Better late than never?

Joining us Congresswoman Judy Chu, Democratic from California. She`s the lead sponsor of a bill to protect abortion rights, a bill that Speaker Pelosi has promised the House will take up and pass as a first order of business when they return later this month.

Congresswoman Chu, thank you so much for being here. I know this is an intense time.

REP. JUDY CHU (D-CA): Thank you for having me.

MADDOW: Tell us about your determination to try to get this passed. You have been pursuing this in a single-minded way for years now, even as you have had so many Democratic cosponsors and so much, frankly, lip service support that this is an important thing, but no -- no effort, no momentum to actually get it done before now.

CHU: Well, first of all, let me say that there is a very dedicated group of members of Congress that have been pushing for this law as well, so it certainly isn`t just me. I just have the privilege of being able to lead this effort.

It has been important because starting in 2011, we saw these states doing these antiabortion laws that were restricting access by requiring a certain width of the doors or doctors to be admitted in hospitals where there is more relevance or requiring waiting periods, ultrasounds or two separate visits to clinics, and we knew we had to have an overall solution that would indeed make the protections of Roe versus Wade into law by establishing a federal statutory right for patients to proceed and providers to provide abortion carefree from these medically unnecessary restrictions that single out abortion and impede access.

This bill will indeed do this. I have to say, though, that we have gotten more and more cosponsors and actually in this last Congress, we had the greatest number of cosponsors, 216 members of Congress that supported it. And, in fact, we actually had the most pro-choice Congress in history and we did this bill knowing that the day would come when there would be a draconian bill like SB-8 that the Supreme Court would let go into law and undermine Roe v. Wade.

So I am so grateful that finally we are bringing it to the floor. I`m so grateful to Speaker Pelosi, and I`m grateful that president Biden is indeed supporting the right for a statutory kind of improvement to the Roe v. Wade debate.

MADDOW: With the 216 cosponsors and with Speaker Pelosi now backing this effort and her commitment to it today to get it done, I have a -- I believe that this can pass the House. The Democratic majority has Speaker Pelosi behind it and those kind of numbers you are going to get there.

Are you also working on another strategy. There are arguably a few, maybe two, Democratic senators who are explicitly anti-choice, Joe Manchin and Senator Casey. There`s others that I can speak to in terms of their commitment to the issue. There are also at least ostensibly Republican senators who say they are for upholding the protections of Roe v. Wade.

Setting aside the filibuster now and whether or not the filibuster will survive this challenging time in our nation`s history, do you believe that it`s possible to even cobble together a 50-vote majority in the Senate to pass it?

CHU: I do believe that it`s possible. And let me say that since the beginning of the introduction of this bill, we`ve had an incredible partner, an incredible champion, and that is Senator Richard Blumenthal, who introduced the Senate version of this bill since the beginning. And he has been working to get the cosponsors. He actually has 48 cosponsors on the Senate side. We also know that there are two Republicans that are pro- choice.

And, so, we have the ability to get somewhere on this, besides the fact that that country is more galvanized than ever because of this disturbing and chilling bill that would turn private citizens into vigilante bounty hunters against anybody who helps a woman who wants to have an abortion, doctors, staff members at clinics, counselors, people who help pay for the procedure.

[21:55:17]

Even an Uber driver taking a patient to an abortion clinic could be subject to this $10,000 fine. A private citizen could go after all of them and make quite a living, actually.

MADDOW: Congresswoman Judy Chu, lead sponsor of the bill to protect abortion access which Speaker Pelosi has promised to take up later this month in the House. She`s been leading this effort for years. It is now going to -- it is now going to move.

Congresswoman Chu, thank you for keeping us apprised. I imagine we`ll be back talking with you about this in the days forward as the bill moves.

CHU: Thank you.

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