CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Nikema Williams

Interview

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And joining me now is Georgia Democratic Congresswoman Nikema Williams. She is also a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Congresswoman, thanks for spending some time with us on this Saturday. How confident are you that you and fellow progressives can be won over in time for Monday's planned vote on the infrastructure bill?

REP. NIKEMA WILLIAMS (D-GA): Thank you for having me, Pam to have this conversation. And I think what people are missing is you should never count Speaker Nancy Pelosi out. I support her long term vision of advancing reconciliation along with the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

And until we are at the last minute and can't get it done, I'm sticking with my Speaker and I know that she is working behind the scenes and continuing to have those conversations to get it done.

We can't have an infrastructure package that doesn't include people, and so I will continue to talk about how we need to make sure that we're building our roads and our bridges, but we have to do this with the vision of the Biden administration, which is building back better and that includes people as a part of this infrastructure package and I'm not willing to leave the people that I represent behind.

BROWN: So to be clear, now that Speaker Pelosi is saying that the Build Back Better package, the $3.5 trillion spending bill will be brought up for a vote on the House floor next week, maybe a couple of days after the infrastructure bill, because of that, you're willing to get on board on Monday's vote, a vote in favor of the infrastructure bill, correct?

WILLIAMS: So, I have -- we have not had our caucus meeting so that I could get the details. As you know, the Budget Committee just finished our markup process, and so, I need more information on this since I've been out in my district today, working with the people here in Georgia, and so I'm looking forward to having a conversation when I get back to Washington on Monday to figure out exactly where we are and how we move both of these bills forward simultaneously.

BROWN: So, I'm wondering, are you and your progressive colleagues having conversations with your more moderate Democratic colleagues about how to move forward this week on these bills?

I mean, on the markup, you had a Democrat siding with the Republicans. This is a Democrat, who is more moderate voting against the $3.5 trillion bill. What are you going to do to make sure you have enough -- Democrats have enough votes, so it passes?

And then of course, you have Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Manchin saying they're not going to go for $3.5 trillion?

WILLIAMS: Well, I'm not going to guess what will happen in the Senate, because I serve in the House, and when it comes to the members that I serve within the Democratic Caucus, I know that we are all focused on serving our districts. And so, I have no doubt that we'll get both of these bills passed because we need them both, and it's not one or the other.

And so I have confidence in the leadership that I serve under in the House of Representatives that we're going to get this done, and we'll get it done in time to advance things next week.

BROWN: But how can you have no doubt when the moderates are saying it's too high? What are you doing, and other progressives doing to talk to them to try to figure out a way forward?

WILLIAMS: So, it's not up to me to figure out how to move them along, because there are things that I want to see in this bill and it is about compromise. And so while I'm not going to get everything that I want in the $3.5 trillion infrastructure package, the same thing is not going to happen on their side.

And so when we write legislation, it's about coming together for the greater good of our entire country, and that's exactly what you're going to see us do as a caucus next week in the House Democratic Caucus.

BROWN: Well, another crisis for the Biden administration is of course, what's been going on at the border, and specifically the Haitian immigrants, do you think the White House has been doing enough on that front? How do you think they've handled it so far?

WILLIAMS: Well, first of all, what we saw at the border with the Haitian migrants was unacceptable. It should have never happened and it can't happen again. I know that the Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty met with that administration and was at the White House talking about how we move forward to make sure that the Haitian people who have suffered so much over the last decade, especially in the last month are being treated with the dignity and respect that they deserve and are giving the opportunity for asylum in this country.

And so we're continuing to work with the Biden administration to make sure that what happened doesn't happen again, and we're holding accountable for the actions that happened. And so I am giving this administration the grace that they deserve so that we can make sure that we're getting policies in place that treat people at our borders with the dignity and respect that all humans deserve, because what I saw happening was not acceptable and cannot happen again.

[18:10:19]

BROWN: And we know the D.H.S. Secretary has said it's all under investigation and that we would still wait for all the facts to come out before we really understand the full picture there.

But I mean, you have asylum laws on the books that are very clear and very narrow. So, what is the administration supposed to do when these asylum laws say basically, it doesn't matter if you're fleeing violence or poverty, what only matters essentially, is if you're fearing persecution, because you belong to a social group, what is the administration supposed to do?

WILLIAMS: So, what the administration is supposed to do is continue to treat people with dignity and respect. And regardless of what the asylum laws are, what we saw happening with people on horses and reins going after migrants at the border is unacceptable, regardless of the law.

We are a country that welcomes immigrants. We're a country that was built by immigrants. And so we should make sure that we're treating people with the dignity and respect that they deserve. And no human should be ever treated the way that we saw at the Southern border. If that means that we need to change some laws, then that's what I'm in Congress to do, and we'll get to work on that.

BROWN: I want to talk to you about a cancer that seems to be spreading in this country, and that, of course, is the big lie. Polling shows most Republicans believe there was widespread voter fraud and that Biden was not legitimately elected.

The big lie is alive and well, it is working. What is the danger when American citizens no longer believe in a fair election process?

WILLIAMS: Pamela, all of this would be funny if it wasn't our democracy that's at stake, because we saw what just happened in Arizona when they recounted their ballots or the sham of a process that they had, and actually, Joe Biden ended up with more votes. And we're seeing the same thing over and over again, people are just not willing to accept the truth. But in Georgia, we counted the votes not once, not twice, but three times and Joe Biden continuously came up the victor, and the same thing happened in Arizona. We are going to have to continue to move forward in this country in a way that continues to not put a partisan lens over what it means to have a representative democracy.

And there are some Republicans who have called out their party to tell them that they need to stop spreading these conspiracy theories and this lie, and I am moving forward to make sure that we continue to do the work of the people.

I can't convince people who are following Donald Trump blindly that he didn't win the election, but the numbers speak for themselves.

BROWN: All right, Congresswoman to Nikema Williams, thank you for joining us today.

WILLIAMS: Thank you, Pamela.

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