Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, a gay man who cochairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, lambasted Donald Trump’s trade war and his misguided priorities in a CNN interview Friday.
On CNN’s News Central, host Sara Sidner asked Pocan if Trump’s decision to cancel trade talks with Canada will help or hurt Americans. Trump canceled the negotiations because of an anti-tariff ad from the government of Ontario that featured footage of President Ronald Reagan speaking out against tariffs.
“Of course it’s going to hurt us,” Pocan said. “You can’t throw tariffs around indiscriminately and then not negotiate because you’re mad about a pushback from one of the countries that you’re having a trade war with. People are paying too much for groceries, for durable goods; inflation is up from September, all because of Trump’s tariff taxes on all of us. It does have a negative effect on Americans, and it has a negative effect on Canadians. The president needs to be more mature and go back to negotiations. He’d be better off if he just took away this irresponsible use of tariffs, since Congress is supposed to have that responsibility. And let’s get back to helping lower the cost for Americans.”
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Sidner then asked Pocan about Trump’s demolition of the White House’s East Wing, the site of many historic events, especially for first ladies, to build a ballroom. “I serve on a subcommittee on appropriations, which has oversight [of the White House], and they have not come to us as you would expect they would,” he said. “They did all the tearing down, and now they’re going to get permission to build. You probably should get permission before you’ve torn down the East Wing. But for visual learners, this is what Donald Trump is doing to our democracy right now. He’s tearing it down, and to see this so visually with the White House, again, without getting any permissions, without talking to anyone, is part of the frustration that the American people have with this administration. [Trump] doesn’t care about lowering costs. That’s what they should be focused on. They should care about our health care costs about to soar because of the Big Ugly Law. But instead, he wants to have Mar-a-Lago north, and he will do anything to have it done. It’s just his priorities couldn’t be any more out of whack.”
Related: Donald Trump’s East Wing demolition trashes First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt’s queer legacy
Lastly, Sidner queried Pocan about the prolonged government shutdown and its effect on federal employees — who will miss paychecks. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, a Connecticut Democrat, recently said that using the shutdown as leverage is one of the few ways Democrats can fight to preserve insurance premium subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. She has been criticized by Republicans, who say Democrats are using federal workers as leverage.
“I think the American people, more than ever, realize what value our federal employees provide, not just when you need help with Social Security or the IRS or all the things that are done by federal employees that affect our lives,” Pocan replied. “They’re also saying we understand 15 million people are going to lose their health care, and everyone’s going to have an increase in health care rates because of the Big Ugly Law that just happened. We are fighting to lower the cost of health care and make sure that people don’t outright lose it for their families. Federal employees are working without paychecks or being furloughed and not getting paid. And they’re the heroes. They’re the ones saying no, this fight is important to have. … House Republicans haven’t shown up for five weeks. If they were serious about negotiating anything, they wouldn’t be drinking piña coladas in their basements. It’s time to get back to Washington, D.C., and work, and we’re not seeing that from the House Republicans. Anything they say, the American people can tell it’s pure BS.”