CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Interview with Gary Peters

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SEN. GARY PETERS (D-MI): Well, it's clearly outrageous. It's clearly hypocrisy. And we are going to make sure that the voters back home in their individual states understand exactly where that member of the Senate voted. At a time when they needed relief to get through this pandemic, when families were struggling, when the need for a stimulus check, when restaurants needed relief to reopen, when schools needed to reopen, every single Republican in both the House and in the Senate, every single one voted against that relief and we're going to remind voters of from now until Election Day next year.

BURNETT: And how are you going do that, because obviously you're speaking now and your job as Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, your job is to get Democrats elected to the Senate.

PETERS: Right.

BURNETT: So, when you see Republicans taking credit for these things they voted against, it strikes home. This could hurt Democrats at the ballot box. Are you confident you're going to be able to get the credit score to line up accurately?

PETERS: We are. I mean, we're going to be very assertive and aggressive to make sure that that message is out from the DSCC. We'll be putting ads, so we're going to be working through media channels. And certainly, we'll have members of Congress in those states, talking about what Democrats did. And if there's a Republican senator in that state and a democratic senator, our democratic senator will paint a very clear contrast. And even an open seat, it's very clear that had the Republicans been in the majority in the Senate, all of the benefits that folks received, critical benefits for them to get through this pandemic, they would not have gotten it and they need to remember that come election time.

BURNETT: Now, they'll say Nicole Malliotakis, she voted against the bill, but she did like the health care grants. She told the AP. These grants were among 9 percent of funds dedicated to COVID-19 relief that I was always in support of. So, some of them will make the argument, Wicker, I'm sure will make it. They were things they liked in the bill that they supported, but you guys stopped it with so much other pork that they couldn't vote for it. Is that not compelling?

PETERS: No, it's not. People see through that. We're confident that a majority of Americans will see through that, someone who's trying to have it both ways. Let's be frank, a lot of folks don't trust what a politician says and when a politician is saying something and then their action is absolutely opposite of what they're saying, it just is very clear to voters that that's not someone who they can trust.

BURNETT: So look, we made it clear at the top of the show that if you're going to come out and say 100 percent of my focus is on stopping this new administration, as Senator McConnell has. You're not working with anybody. It's not acceptable.

However, let me just play for you what Leader Schumer said in 2017 when he was in the minority and he was talking about working with Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The only way we're going to work with him is if he moves completely in our direction and abandons his Republican colleagues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:10:01]

BURNETT: How is that any different?

PETERS: Well, I'm sure he said a lot of other things related to that. But let me just get back to what Mitch McConnell said that he was 100 percent focused on the Biden administration and opposing. What the American people want right now is they want to have a party focusing on them getting through this pandemic. If a Republican Party, Mitch McConnell isn't saying that he's also focused on trying to rebuild America, make sure our businesses open up, our schools open up and families can get back on their feet. He's saying he has zero interest in doing that. He's 100 percent about politics.

That's what the American people are frustrated with. They've had enough of it and what they need to look at is as Democrats, we have stepped up and said, we're willing to do the tough things necessary to help people in our local communities and when you vote for a democratic majority, that's what you get.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source