00:00Joining us this morning, as we said, Yvette Clark. She's from New York. She's the chair of the powerful Congressional
00:03Black Caucus, represents the 9th Congressional District.
00:06I should say, until recently, was my congresswoman here in Park Slope. That has now changed.
00:11We've talked about redistricting in all kinds of ways. That is one casualty of it. She's no longer my representative.
00:16Let me have you react, first of all, to what we saw in Alabama over the course of the last
00:1924 hours here,
00:21and draw a broader line here to the way the Democrats respond to that decision by the Supreme Court from
00:25a few days ago.
00:28First of all, let me thank you for having me, Dave. It was a massive turnout yesterday, and I think
00:34it's only the beginning.
00:36All across the south of the United States of America, since the Calais decision, we've seen a rapid-fire redrawing
00:45of maps that eliminate Democratic seats,
00:49and more specifically, seats held by members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
00:55These are minority Black districts where voters have had, for the past 60 years, the opportunity to draw maps that
01:06would ensure that they have representatives
01:08that reflect their lived experiences, and that bring those experiences to Washington, D.C.
01:14to make sure that their interests are being addressed in the halls of Congress.
01:19This Calais decision is devastating. It really sets us back.
01:24Sorry to step on you there. I was going to say, you said about 19 CBC members are at risk.
01:29That's about the third of the caucus, and at the moment, you have more members than you've ever had.
01:34So what are you expecting as this sets the stage for kind of more redistricting throughout the south,
01:38and how will you cope with that? And you talked a little bit about it, but what that means for
01:42representation.
01:45Yeah, well, we expect that there will be more protests, that there will be more individuals across the country who
01:53recognize this is not a right-versus-left scenario,
01:58as painted by the Supreme Court, who said that it's okay to have political gerrymandering,
02:03but that it is actually a racial dynamic here, where the vast majority of Black people still live in the
02:11south of the United States of America.
02:13And here we are, you know, 60 years, 61 years, since the passage of the Voting Rights Act,
02:21stripping them of their ability to select candidates, again, their lived experiences.
02:28We also know that Black candidates are running across this nation in different seats and are being victorious in doing
02:37so.
02:37But the voices of the people are paramount in designing and prescribing policy in Washington, D.C. that will advance
02:51their lives.
02:52And fortunately, this decision, though couched as though it's not racial,
02:59targets CDC seats in such a significant way that, as you've stated,
03:04we could lose up to a third of the members that are currently seated today.
03:09Congressman, what's your prescription for what needs to happen next here?
03:12So, as you mentioned, there might be more protests here in the near term.
03:15Is the solution legislative?
03:18Is it going to happen in the courts?
03:20I think that that decision by the Virginia Supreme Court obviously was so devastating to Democrats
03:24who felt quite elated on the heels of that vote in April, and it changed there on a dime.
03:31What happens next, as you see, what does Congress need to do here?
03:35Yeah, well, what happens next is that we continue to educate and inform the public of what is taking place
03:43and how it impacts a multicultural civil society in their legislative representation.
03:51We then also push to make sure that Democrats gain the majority in the House of Representatives in the Senate
04:02so that we can legislate.
04:04We have legislation, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, that will, again, put us in a position to make
04:18sure that there's clearance
04:19and that there's this adverse impact on Black communities across this nation.
04:25And then we need to take a look at the Supreme Court.
04:28We really need judicial reform because this court has been ripped to be extremists.
04:37And as a result of that, we're seeing the diamond back of very significant legislation that have been long-held
04:45precedent in the United States.
04:47And we've got to make sure that the court has balanced it and that it is truly reflective of an
04:55impartial body that can hold on behalf of the American people.
05:01So what does that mean?
05:03Do you think court expansion should be on the table?
05:05And do you really think that that's something that realistically would ever get passed in any kind of form?
05:11We're looking at an all-of-the-above strategy here.
05:15There are members who have already introduced legislation for an expansion of the court.
05:21But there are other ways that we are looking at holding the Supreme Court accountable.
05:26They have no ethics, you know, regulations that they abide by.
05:33So there's an undue influence on this body as a result of that.
05:38And we know that there are a number of ways which we can look at either expansion or limits.
05:45There are a whole host of ways.
05:48The bulk of a conversation that we had with Mike Lawler, the congressman from upstate New York, also New York,
05:54I should say,
05:55talking about the Republican message and strategy going into the elections.
05:58And I'm curious, how do you distill the Democrats' message in going into the elections?
06:02Does it center wholly around affordability?
06:06Give us your sense of what the Democrats' unified message is here going into the election.
06:12Well, we know that there's an intersection between what is taking place under the Trump administration
06:17and the impact to the American people.
06:20Yes, affordability is critical.
06:22And it's at every level, whether it's housing or health care, whether it is wages and or the cost of
06:29living.
06:30People are feeling the corruption of this administration.
06:36Right now we're in a war that was not sanctioned by the United States Congress.
06:40How does that even happen in a constitutional democracy?
06:43And so, you know, we're going to really craft, we are crafting a narrative that the American people are actually
06:51living.
06:52And we're going to make sure that they are well aware of every way in which we will counteract that
07:00and move this nation forward.
07:02But in order to do that, you know, Democrats have to win in the midterms.
07:05At the moment, it seems like Republicans are really having the upper hand when it comes to the redistricting battle.
07:10Former Vice President Harris was at a conference this week, and she suggested kind of a no bad ideas brainstorm.
07:17We've got some sound we're going to play for you.
07:19Oh, I'm sorry.
07:19It's a quote.
07:20I'll read it to you guys.
07:21We talk about what we need to do and think about doing around the Electoral College.
07:25We talk about the idea of Supreme Court reform, which includes expanding the Supreme Court, which we mentioned.
07:30We invite a conversation about multi-member districts.
07:34Do Democrats and do black lawmakers in the face of this court decision need to think more creatively about how
07:41to address this?
07:42Is there a way, for example, to get the same effect without making it race-based on its face, you
07:48know, kind of counter the court with its own argument?
07:50Is there a way to do that, kind of coming at it sideways?
07:53Or do you just have to call it what it is and get representation where it's needed?
07:57There's a whole host.
07:59You know, again, it's an all-of-the-above strategy, as former Vice President Kamala Harris has indicated.
08:07At the end of the day, in many of these states, what we're seeing is that where Republicans felt that
08:15they were creating strongholds,
08:17they've actually diluted the population of Republicans in current districts.
08:23We're not going to leave any of these districts behind where we can be competitive, where we can ratchet up
08:29voters and get them out.
08:32And again, it's not a right versus a left.
08:35It's a right versus wrong.
08:37And I think there are a whole host of Republicans out there that are hurting, be they farmers in rural
08:43communities or folks who are living paycheck to paycheck.
08:48Folks are really feeling the pain of this administration.
08:52And we're going to appeal to make sure that we can regain this majority.
08:57Let me pivot to the president's most recent trip.
08:59So he was in China meeting with the Chinese president.
09:01You said on the Energy and Commerce Committee, and as Christine and I were saying a little earlier in the
09:05show,
09:05we're waiting for details on whatever deliverables came out of the meetings that he had over the course of that
09:10trip and that summit that he had with President Xi.
09:13What did you observe as you watched that meeting unfold, and what are you waiting for?
09:17I'd love to get your sense of the productiveness of the trip the president took to China.
09:22I really don't have a readout on it, to be quite honest with you.
09:26It's very difficult when Donald Trump is shaping the narrative to know whether it's an honest shaping of the narrative
09:35or it's something that he's crafting for his own purposes.
09:41I know that President Xi is a very clever leader of China, and I know that he's not going to
09:52do anything that puts the United States in a position to be competitive with his nation.
10:00So we'll see what comes to the road.
10:04But at the end of the day, we know that we've got a number of issues with China, the way
10:11they operate, the way they steal our intellectual property, what it means.
10:16We'll see what it means in terms of opening the straighter from news, because part of what Donald Trump has
10:22said is that China has the relationship with Iran to speak to them in a way in which they can
10:30be of support to the United States.
10:33We'll see.
10:35Congressman, before we let you go, New York Mayor Zoran Madami has abandoned his proposal to increase property taxes in
10:42the city, but he's still working on this pied-Ă -terre tax for people whose second homes are in the
10:47city and cost over $5 million.
10:49Do you think this is a good idea, and do you think this is something that's going to be popular,
10:52or could it be a liability for Democrats going into the midterms?
10:56Yeah, I think that he's very focused on the city of New York.
11:01And right now, the city has a $5 billion deficit, $5 billion plus.
11:09And so he's looking at every avenue that he can utilize to fill that gap.
11:16And I don't think it's far-fetched to ask those who have been the most privileged in society to give
11:25a bit more, particularly if it's their second resident in the United States.
11:28I don't know, you know, how far he's gone in terms of conversations and negotiations.
11:35We're always under the threat of individuals divesting from New York.
11:40But at the end of the day, the status quo can't hold.
11:43We're always under the threat of individuals divesting from New York.
11:43I'll see you next time.
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