CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript Interview with Jeff Merkley

Interview

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Here to discuss both, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.

Welcome, Senator. Good morning.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): Thank you. It's good to be with you.

HARLOW: You are living what is hell in your state, these fires. And as I understand it, you drove 600 miles through them without getting out of your car. What did you see?

MERKLEY: Well, I -- Poppy, I did get out of my car. I was visiting different refugee centers and fire control centers and two towns that had been just incinerated to the ground. And it was a fact that from that 600 miles I never got out of the smoke.

[09:50:00]

I remember fires of the past where I was driving and be in the smoke for 20 or 30 minutes. That's a big fire. This is apocalyptic. To see, as your viewers have, these towns burnt to the ground. It looks like a World War II town hit -- hit by fire bombing.

And thousands of homes destroyed, residences destroyed. A lot of them are apartment buildings and mobile home parks, manufactured housing parks. So a lot of the families who had very modest housing, the most affordable housing, the housing is gone. We have commercial districts burnt to the ground. It's overwhelming.

HARLOW: Yes. I really can't imagine. And these pictures are just -- are bringing it home for everyone. I'm very sorry about what all of your residents are going through there.

It makes also, I would assume, their financial situation more dire for many in the middle of a pandemic. And here we have this week, on the stimulus front, a bipartisan group of lawmakers coming forward with a $2 trillion proposal, right, supported by some Republicans and Democrats that has been now immediately rejected by Democratic leadership in the House.

And it includes a lot. It includes a $1,200, you know, stimulus check, $450 in weekly unemployment benefits increase, it includes $500 billion for state and local aid.

You have said about the people of Oregon, they are struggling to pay their mortgage, they're struggling on housing, they're struggling with access to food. You've said state and local aid is essential. This proposal checks, in one way or another, all of those boxes. So is it a mistake for Speaker Pelosi and Democratic leadership to reject it outright?

MERKLEY: Well, I can tell you over here in the Senate, I would like to see a bill like that on the floor with the ability to amend but with 50 votes. Let's put the legislative process to work. So, for example, the issue that we need to address on evictions and foreclosures can be debated and considered. The issue over utility cutoffs, which is just extremely important to families getting through this, you know, being able to still stand on their feet. Let's -- let's take and put it before the body and -- and any version of this is a starting point with 50 votes. Let's legislate and consider and --

HARLOW: That's notable. You like -- you like it enough to consider it, and I wonder if you think then it is a mistake for Speaker Pelosi to be rejecting this outright. I ask because, for example, Democrat Max Rose, in the House, whose on this bipartisan commission, said this is all the reasons why people hate politics. And he even said, Senator Merkley, it makes him disappointed to be a Democrat. Does it make you feel the same? MERKLEY: Well, I don't know the dynamics on the House side. Whenever

you ask a senator about what's going on in the House, we're very aware. I -- my impression is that Speaker Pelosi is working at putting together her own package. Maybe it will have some of the additional elements that the House Democrats largely have thought or are important. But the point is, let's get a bill on to the floor of the Senate where we have a chance to amend, to vote on the different provisions we think are important, to be accountable to our voters. If people want to vote for evictions rather than helping people prevent evictions, well, then -- then at least the voters know where they stand.

HARLOW: Right.

MERKLEY: Are they going to help people out or not help people out?

HARLOW: Before we move on to another very important topic, I guess just a yes or no question on this, and I understand you're in the Senate, you're not voting on the House bill, but you seem to like this bill enough. If this bill were brought -- this proposal were brought to the Senate floor, would you be a yes vote on it?

MERKLEY: Well, I haven't -- actually haven't seen the details that bill, Poppy, so I -- I -- it would be always a -- you know, you always like to see exactly what's in it and what the shortcomings are.

HARLOW: All right.

MERKLEY: But the fact that the speaker says it doesn't have a bunch of key elements in it would -- would probably mean it wouldn't pass my test unless we have a chance to amend it.

HARLOW: OK. It is a lot. I went through -- I went through some of it. It also has $400 million for election security, $100 billion for healthcare programs, $5 billion for moratoriums and rental assistance, et cetera.

OK, we'll see what happens there. I just know there are a lot of people suffering right now without any deal and days and day and weeks and weeks with no deal.

Let's talk about the protests in Portland --

MERKLEY: And, Poppy, four months -- four months in which there has not been a bill on the floor of the Senate open to amendments. I called the -- Mitch McConnell's office and said, if you put this bill on the floor, your bill, the one that cut it in half from the previous offer, are you going to allowed amendments? And they basically said no. And so its --

HARLOW: OK. But House leadership -- in -- Democratic House leadership is also outright rejecting the Problem Solvers' proposal. I hear you.

I do want to talk about Attorney General Barr and the protests that continue for way over -- well over 100 nights there. And we have seen violence that has broken out, et cetera. [09:55:02]

The attorney general, Bill Barr, as you know, on this call with prosecutors, brought up the possibility of charging violent protesters with sedition, which is a crime to conspire to overthrow the U.S. government.

What is your reaction to that?

MERKLEY: Well, I'm astounded. If people are engaged in property damage, and I condemn violence on -- on all fronts, they should be charged with property damage.

But what I read into Attorney General Barr's comments is he wants people who are protesting in opposition to the administration to be charged with sedition. I don't know that it's that clearly laid out but that was the impression I took from it.

This is a part of the imperial presidency, an authoritarian approach, where you undermine the legitimacy of the press, you absolutely make disagreeing with the administration a -- a crime, charge them with sedition. It's -- I think the attorney generals or the various prosecutors who weighed in and shared that news, they are professionals who were just astounded that our top law enforcement person would -- would propose really what is politicizing protest.

HARLOW: Senator Merkley, thank you, and we are thinking of everyone in Oregon right now as you battle those fires.

We appreciate your time.

MERKLEY: Thank you so much, Poppy.

HARLOW: We'll be right back.

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