CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Debbie Dingell

Interview

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Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell joins me now.

Debbie, we saw Pelosi's letter that just came out yesterday saying it's going to be an intensive few days. Just how brutal is this week ahead going to be for Democrats like yourself?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): So you want to be honest, I'll tell you it's going to be the week from hell. But the fact of the matter is failure is not an option. There is too much at stake. We need both of these bills. We're going to have to come together as a caucus. The D in Democrat for me stands for deliver. We need both of these bills and we're going to have to figure out how we make that happen.

BROWN: So it's interesting because you've been in Congress a long time. Have you ever seen it like this?

DINGELL: Not that long.

(LAUGHTER)

BROWN: Not that long. Long enough, long enough.

DINGELL: Yes. Long enough. I've been there three terms but I'm a seasoned person at watching the Congress. No. I have never seen it this bad. There's more tension, there's more intensity than I have ever seen probably complicated by many factors including a pandemic. But what's at stake is too serious and too real. And people are -- we're just going to have to come together. We need both of these bills.

What's in this infrastructure bill is important but we can't get to where we need to get without the Build Back Better bill as well, and we've got to figure it out. And on top of it, it's a separate vote on shutting the government down. The Republicans just want to take their hands and say not my problem. It is their problem. It's all of our problem and to shut the government down in the middle of a pandemic would be singularly the most irresponsible thing we could ever do.

BROWN: I want to go back to the reconciliation bill because that's such a big part of this week ahead. Speaker Pelosi said that it's obvious that that bill will have a smaller price tag in the end. How low are you willing to go on it?

DINGELL: I'm not put those kind of figures. It's what's in that bill
that matters for me. Everything from taking the lead out of every pipe in this country so we don't have any more children drinking lead, building an infrastructure for electric vehicles so we can meet the president's goal of 50 percent EVs in the year 2030. To childcare, three million women having left the workforce during this pandemic. Broadband needs to be gotten into rural areas and urban areas.

There are so many things in this bill that matter that we have to deliver. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. And by the way, I know people on both sides of the aisle that desperately want our roads and bridges fixed, want that broadband, want lead out of the water, that we just have to figure out how we're going to get it done. We can't -- we just have to get it done.

BROWN: So you are confident the party, the Democrats will eventually come together despite how divided they are and they will be able to compromise, and these bills will pass this week?

DINGELL: You know what I'm going to say? It's not going to be pretty. There's the old Will Rogers. People with weak stomach should not watch laws or sausage being made and this is the ugliest sausage I've ever yet watched. But nobody can afford to have either of these bills fail. Nobody can.

[19:05:00]

Both of these bills have got to get passed. They both must be passed. And I think in the end everybody's having long, thoughtful discussions, and when we realize that what will happen -- and by the way, Republicans need to worry about this, too. If we lose the opportunity to fix our roads and bridges, to do so many things that have to happen, it will be a pox on every member's house, Republican and Democrat.

BROWN: As it stands now how do you see the week unfolding from what you know?

DINGELL: There's no better master negotiator than Nancy Pelosi, and she's been working hard all of this weekend. We'll come together as a caucus tomorrow night. I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I suspect long nights. Lots of discussions. People talking, building trust, framework development. But we'll get there because we don't have any choice but to get there.

BROWN: I want to switch gears and I would be remiss not to have you address the exchange of words on the Capitol Hill steps that you have had with Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and happened after the House passed abortion rights legislation. Let's listen to that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Killing a baby up to birth is a lack of civility. It's called murder. Hey, how about some order down there? Lack of civility. How about lack of laws or protecting and upholding our Constitution?

DINGELL: We have lots of laws we follow. And you should practice the basic thing you're taught in church. Respect your neighbors.

TAYLOR GREENE: Taught in church? Are you kidding me? Try being a Christian and supporting life.

DINGELL: You try being a Christian and try treating your colleagues decently.

TAYLOR GREEN: Support life.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So you've said that wasn't your proudest moment but you're also fed up about being bullied. What do you mean by that?

DINGELL: So she had been -- what most people didn't see was the entire context of this. She had been yelling at us for almost 10 minutes at the top of the Capitol step. The speaker was having a press conference at the bottom of the steps on Build Back Better and she clearly was disruptive.

Look. Choice is one of the most difficult issues for many people but it is a separation of church and state, and she came out looking -- I mean, she just kept spewing the hate that we see her do so often that's dividing this country. And my colleagues have a right to have a press conference at the bottom of the stairs without her spewing that kind of hate.

I just don't know why she always has to attack everybody. We can disagree but we can disagree civilly. And that lack of civility is destroying the fundamental pillars of our democracy. I hadn't felt good all weekend. I've been very, you know, I've been very honest that I'm actually pretty depressed over the weekend over the fact that it happened. But I'm tired of the bullying, I am tired of people bullying us, and just trying to throw these words of venom that really are horrific.

And I've been bullied at different points in my life, and I'm not afraid to stand up to a bully, and I think that this is a woman that tries to bully her way through her colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I just don't think that if you're elected to the United States Congress we should be treat every member, I don't care who you are, with respect and civility.

BROWN: Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you so much. And best of luck with the hellish week ahead as you said. Thank you very much.

DINGELL: Thank you.

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