NEW YORK, NY — Today, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (MA-5) joined CNN's News Central, where she discussed Trump's reckless war in the Middle East and House Republicans' refusal to end their painful DHS shutdown. Below are excerpts from the conversation:
On Trump's Reckless War:
"We have heard so much from this president — except what is the clear reason we got into this war? What are the objectives? And what is the exit strategy?
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"He went into this war, took the American people — our sons and daughters — into this war without a clear objective. The Strait of Hormuz is closed, spiking gas prices at the pump to over $4 average across the country.
"It is so irresponsible and such a dangerous position that he has put the United States in. And instead of leading, telling us what the strategy is, how we get out of this, he is blaming it on allies who were not consulted before he made this war of choice."
On the GOP’s Lack of a Clear Exit Plan or Strategy:
"What I would support is for this president for once to put the American people first.
"He took them into this war. He is now proposing to pay for this war with further cuts to their health care.
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"Let's have him, for once, lay it out for the American people. What is the exit strategy? How do you make sure the American people are safe? What are our national security interests? How do you make sure you are leading with those. I have heard nothing from the White House about any kind of exit strategy. They owe the American people that.
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"If he leaves that region with the Strait closed and says, 'we'll deal with that some other day,' what does that do to small businesses? What does that do to the American families who are seeing this additional spike in costs that he's already put on them with tariffs by taking away their health care, soaring housing, grocery and utility costs?
"This is a mess of his own making. He must come to a rational exit strategy."
On House Republicans Refusing to End Their DHS Shutdown:
"We should be in Washington today.
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"We got to a bipartisan agreement. There is one segment of Congress that wouldn’t come and take a step forward in agreeing to put TSA workers, put [the] Coast Guard, FEMA, our cyber security, those working at our ports and in customs first. And that's House Republicans.
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"I do feel the pain that people are feeling. And I hear it every single place that I go in my district. And this is a hardship. And what we want to do is come together and actually govern. And there is one segment of Congress that rejected that this week. And then sent us home. And then sent us home.
"The TSA workers have this public-facing problem. So Americans see them. But there are so many other workers at DHS that need to be paid. We have made the proposal to open up every [other] part of DHS. We already know that ICE and Border Patrol are being paid. What we said is not an additional dime for them until they act like every other police department and have common sense reforms. But we were willing to say those negotiations will be ongoing as DHS reopens. That has been rejected by the Republicans. And they’re using these workers as political pawns."
To watch the full interview, click HERE.
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