See below for video and highlights from Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11)’s discussion with “Punchbowl News” this morning. Great stuff as always from Rep. Walkinshaw!
- [Question on funding for ICE] Rep. Walkinshaw: “Democrats put forward a list of…what I view are reasonable, common sense reforms for ICE and CBP that the American people overwhelmingly support. It seems that Stephen Miller at the White House has rejected those, and that negotiation appears to be stalled. Maybe there are conversations taking place in rooms I’m not in, but it appears to be stalled. I do think it is very significant that Democrats, especially over the last two weeks, have put forward legislation in both the Senate and the House to say, ‘Look, let’s fund everything else at DHS; we can continue to negotiate around ICE and CBP.’ I think that’s a major breakthrough. Democrats have put that on the table. I hope Republicans will accept that before the spring break travel season hits. They should. That’s the best path forward for us…my hope is there will be momentum when the president starts to feel more pressure related to the spring break travel season…I think a lesson from the previous shutdown, the 43-day shutdown, longest in history, is that at the end of the day, the buck stops with the president. And when he tries to blame Democrats for shutting down the federal government, it’s a hard sell, because the American people know that Democrats, we’re the party sometimes to a fault, we’re the party that believes in government. We’re the party that believes government can work. We don’t want to shut it down. President Trump has been shutting down the government, starting with DOGE and the chainsaw, for 15 months. So, the American people blamed him for the first shutdown. And I think if this one continues, they’ll continue to blame him. And when you layer the travel challenges for spring break with the gas prices we’re seeing, it is going to be a very, very tough spring for Donald Trump if he doesn’t end the shutdown.”
- [Question: Want to switch gears to Iran. And most folks we talked to say there’s going to need to be a supplemental, there’s going to need to be additional funds based on the kind of massive spending that has already happened when it comes to the conflict there. You represent an area with a lot of military. A lot of Democrats have said, you know, they think it’s an illegal war. They aren’t going to be able to fund it. Is this going to be a reconciliation pathway forward for them or is there any instance where you think you could turn turn to actually supporting a supplemental package?”] Rep. Walkinshaw: “I don’t see any scenario where I could support funding for a war that was unauthorized, in my view illegal and substantively reckless. I don’t think that’s a reasonable request to make of any member of Congress. Look, had the president come to Congress and to the American people and laid out the case for the war in a coherent way that made sense and if someone like me were to have supported an authorization to go to war – I don’t think I would have – had he convinced me, then I would feel obligated to support a supplemental funding package to pay for it. He didn’t ask me. He didn’t make the case to me or to my constituents. I’m under no obligation to to fund it. So, I think the math is pretty simple. Their only path to fund it is through reconciliation. That’s going to be very difficult for them. Very, very difficult. There’s a part of me that will maybe enjoy the Republicans scrambling to try to figure out how to do that.”
- [Question: “Do you think Virginia is a blue state now? I mean, you look at how decisively Governor Spamberger won, but do you think it’s more of a reflection of the moment, or is this going to be the new normal for your state?”] Rep. Walkinshaw: “Well, I think Governor Spanberger’s margin was a reflection of the moment and her strength as a candidate and the Republican candidates’s weakness. I think probably the best way to think about Virginia now is that it’s it is a state that leans blue, and I’ll differentiate from a purple state. It’s a state that leans blue. But like other states in that category, under the right circumstances, Virginians would be open to electing Republicans, right? Glenn Youngkin was in that category – timing and circumstances made it possible. I don’t think that’s going to be the norm. But as Virginia Democrats, we always have to be aware and vigilant that that’s a possibility. We’ve got to go out and compete to earn the votes of Virginians every single year…”
- [Question: “How confident are you that the Virginia redistricting referendum will pass?”] Rep. Walkinshaw: “I’m confident that it that it will pass. Look, I think we we have to go out and explain to our fellow Virginians why this is necessary…I’m in the same position as the almost two-thirds of Virginia voters who supported Virginia’s nonpartisan redistricting just a few years ago, which is I believe in nonpartisan redistricting. I think that is the right way. Politicians shouldn’t be drawing their own lines. It’s worth noting when Republicans controlled Virginia for decades, they gerrymandered the state aggressively, including some of my Republican colleagues who are now here in the Virginia delegation in the House who are vocal opponents of gerrymandering, were in the General Assembly that violently gerrymandered the Commonwealth of Virginia. They have a newfound concern about gerrymandering. But I think we have to explain to our fellow Virginiaians that look, President Trump wants the midterm elections to be on a playing field that’s like this, where Democrats are running uphill and he can run downhill because his policies have failed and he hasn’t followed through on the promises that he made. The opportunity Virginians have…between now and April 21st – because voting has already started – is just to level that playing field nationally. And look, no state has been hit harder by the Trump administration’s policies than Virginia. Tens of thousands of job losses. And this Republican Congress didn’t just sit by idly while Virginians were attacked and assaulted and denigrated by the Trump administration. A lot of them were waving their pom poms for it. And I think Virginia voters recognize that and will voice their opinion on that on April 21.”
