Interview with Representative Debbie Dingell
CAMEROTA: President Trump says he is not getting enough credit for his big wins this year. But Congress still has a lengthy to-do list, of course, for next year. Will Democrats work with the president to compromise on his agenda? Joining us now to answer this and more is Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Good morning, Congresswoman.</s>REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D), ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE: Good morning, Alisyn. Good to see you.</s>CAMEROTA: Good to see you, too. First things first. How's your husband? Of course John Dingell, well-known, former congressman, longest serving member of Congress. How -- he took a fall. How's he doing?</s>DINGELL: He's OK. He's still in the hospital. I've been there for a week so it's made me very sensitive to health care issues again but he's feisty, gave every doctor and every therapist a hard time. So that gives me relief.</s>CAMEROTA: It sure sounds like he's feisty. I was reading his tweets. He said, "If you're lucky enough to make it to 91 years old, pay attention to where you're walking. Took a fall and ended up hanging out here at George -- G.W. Hospital with a bum leg. Feeling good, though, particularly glad I'm not a horse." So --</s>DINGELL: He's pretty mad at himself. He said to me, I'm glad I'm not a horse, you might shoot me. So I said I'm not going to and there went the tweet anyway.</s>CAMEROTA: I mean, how did he fall?</s>DINGELL: He was just getting out of the car and he's very stubborn and won't let anybody help him. It's -- you know, it keeps me real every single day.</s>CAMEROTA: That is the silver lining. Well, we wish him our best. Please give --</s>DINGELL: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: Give him our thoughts for a speedy recovery there.</s>DINGELL: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: OK. In the meantime, let me play for you what the president's legislative director said that he wants for the coming year. It sounds like at the top of their list of their agenda is infrastructure and he hopes that you Democrats will get onboard. So listen to this.</s>SHORT: Both Democrats and Republicans say their infrastructure is crumbling and we need to fix it. But the big question remains, will Democrats put politics aside and actually work with us? They need to meet us halfway.</s>CAMEROTA: OK, will you work with them on infrastructure?</s>DINGELL: You know, I've been very clear from the beginning that I will work with Donald Trump on anything that helps the working men and women of my district. So, yes, I'll work with him on infrastructure, if he'll work with us. We've got --</s>CAMEROTA: On what? I mean, what are your demands?</s>DINGELL: Well, I don't even call them demands. I call them helping the working men and women in this country. He came into Michigan, I told you he could win. He talked about trade, he talked about pension deals. We -- first of all, we've got DACA. He agrees with us on DACA. Did you see these kids in Washington with tears? They've been in this country their whole life. Republicans and Democrats -- many Republicans and Democrats agree, we have to do something. I've got men and women in my district that spent a lifetime paying into pension plans that are suddenly in retirement and scared to death that they're not going to have a safe and secure retirement. He promised them during the campaign that he would do something about that. OK, we don't agree on health care, but I certainly don't believe that this man wants to see 13 million people suddenly not have access to health care. I can't tell you what it's been like being in the hospital, Alisyn. I mean, at 3:00 a.m., a mother came into me, her child in the hospital, and just wanted help and was scared to death. This is not a political war of words. We are dealing with real people's lives in every one of these issues we're talking about.</s>CAMEROTA: And so is infrastructure at the top of your list? If that's what the president's number one agenda?</s>DINGELL: It's always been -- I hope that his number one issue is doing something about the promises that he made. We've got to extend the budget and do things about pensions and about DACA and about health care promises made to Susan Collins. But then, as we move into what we need to do, we've been needing to do something about infrastructure for decades. We've got an aging infrastructure with potholes and highways that aren't working and bridges that are in trouble. We need to do something together to fix our infrastructure if we're going to stay competitive as a nation.</s>CAMEROTA: Listen, the president thinks that he is fulfilling his campaign promises. He's got the tax, you know, overhaul done after decades of Republicans not being able to do that. They have repealed the individual mandate. These were things that he promised to do. So are you --</s>DINGELL: But he also said that every American should have access to affordable, quality health care. You know, you should see the Facebook postings I'm getting right now. A man who has cancer, who can't afford anything on the health insurance market, which is now going to go up because of this bill that passed, because we didn't do the fix that they promised Susan Collins. And he said, my deductible is $6500, do I go ahead and buy it knowing that I don't how to do it? How am I going to get health care next year? I just don't think there are any of us that don't think that somebody in this country who's sick shouldn't be able to afford their medicine. Why are -- or the treatment. Why aren't we working together to do something about making medicine affordable for every American? So, yes, infrastructure is one, but there are a whole -- there are a whole group of people who aren't looking at these as Republican issues or Democratic issues. There are issues that matter in America and we've got to work together for working men and women in this country.</s>CAMEROTA: You know, just ever since the tax reform was announced or the tax overhaul, whatever you want to call it, there have been this whole slew of companies that have come forward in saying, guess what, we're going to give out bonuses now to our employees. And I have just a partial list in front of me and there's nine companies on here from AT&T to Boeing to Comcast, Bank of America, Sinclair, Wells Fargo, PNC. There's all sorts of companies who say they're going to give something to $1,000 worth of bonuses to their hundreds of thousands of employees. One is going to -- fifth, Bank Corp is going to boost the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Obviously they could have done this before this tax overhaul was announced. They were sitting on profits, but they didn't. They did it when the tax overhaul was announced. So I'm wondering if you as a Democrat are worried about the wind in their sails. People vote with their pocketbooks, I don't have to tell you this. So if you get a $1,000 bonus, you're voting for Donald Trump again.</s>DINGELL: Well, first of all, I've always said, you know, I keep saying the same thing. Next election is going to be about the economy, jobs, trade deals. You know, I'm never going to complain that any working man or woman gets an extra boost in their income. But I think a lot of people are still worried. You know, the nonpartisan Tax Policy Institute says that 86 million working families are actually going to see an increase in taxes at some point.</s>CAMEROTA: Years from now. Years from now.</s>DINGELL: Years from now. So I think --</s>CAMEROTA: Well after the midterms. Well after the midterms so couldn't this carry Republicans through the midterms?</s>DINGELL: We're going to have to see what the real world is next year. We're going to have to talk about issues that deliver for working men and women. But they're still waiting to see something happen on trade. I've got to tell you, the number of people in my district that are scared to death about their pensions, it's a lot of things. So it's good that they got $1,000, but why didn't it go into their base salary? I was happy to hear that someone actually raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Why aren't all these other companies raising the base pay of all of these companies? I'm glad people -- I will never ever take a shot at someone getting an increase in pay of any kind because these are the hearts and souls of these companies. But how much more are the executives going to get in their bonuses? What are the profits going to be? How are they going to do it? This tax bill, by the way, gave an incentive for corporations to locate overseas. Are companies going to come back home or are they going to locate overseas? Let's see what the reality of this tax bill is. Short-term, I'm always happy if someone sees a benefit.</s>CAMEROTA: Yes.</s>DINGELL: Because we want working men and women to have it. But 81 percent of the people -- or 81 percent of benefit of this tax bill is going to billionaires.</s>CAMEROTA: All right. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you very much. Merry Christmas to you and of course to your husband.</s>DINGELL: Merry Christmas. Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: Thanks for being here. Bill.</s>WEIR: All right, Alisyn, more sanctions and saber-rattling out of North Korea after this holiday weekend. And they call this latest round of U.N. actions against them, quote, "an act of war." We'll have the latest on the threat, next.