Congresswoman Jacky Rosen (D)-NV., was new to politics when she ran successfully for Congress last year in the 3rd Congressional District. She arrived in Washington D.C. during one of the most polarizing times in American history. And things keep getting more interesting.
Tuesday, President Trump fired FBI director James Comey, taking him and much of Washington by surprise. Wednesday morning, Pres. Trump told reporters that he fire Comey because "he wasn't doing a good job."
Rosen told KNPR's State of Nevada that Comey's firing shows why a special prosecutor is needed to investigate any possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
"This absolutely underscores why we need a special investigator, a special prosecutor. We need to call on the Attorney General, that's who appoints them, to have an investigation into what's going on in the administration into what happened to our election," Rosen said.
Rosen said it is not a Democrat or a Republican issue but it's about "those who seek to undermine our America way of life through disrupting our institutions."
Since the firing, lawmakers have questioned whether it is connected to the FBI's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential Election. Rosen said that she can't say what is in President Trump's mind, but "for you to directly fire someone who you know is investigating you is absolutely a conflict of interest."
She said if a special prosecutor is appointed he or she is "only beholden to the truth." Rosen said Attorney General Jeff Session's recusal from the investigation is "all the more reason that he himself needs to appoint someone who the American people have confidence in, who will stand up and do the right thing in a bipartisan fashion."
Discussion Highlights:
On bipartisanship:
I am actually really proud to be part of what is a new caucus called the Problem Solvers Caucus. It is newly formed this 115 th Congressional Session and we are about 50 or 60 so, equal amount Democrat and Republican who have formed this caucus. Our sole mandate is to begin the process of collaboration and conversations so we can move the country forward.
Now that we have founded this, we’re meeting with a lot of different stakeholders, cabinet secretaries, industry, business leaders, other members of Congress and Senate. If you want to join, we call ourselves Noah’s Ark, you have to join two by two. So you have to go across the aisle and you can only join with a partner. So we stay balanced.
So, what we hope is at a certain point it becomes that tipping point where everyone begins to realize that collaboration is the way we move government forward.
On the omnibus spending bill:
I’m not sure about the strategy, but what I am sure about is we were part of all those discussions. I sit on the Space, Science and Technology Committee… and when we talk about those things we talk about NIH (National Institutes of Health) and that research and development that is important to cure diseases and help us find the new inventions – the microwave ovens, the cell phones, the GPS – that propel our nation forward… so we’re always talking about how research and development in medical and technological moves us forward.
I’m really pleased that through those discussions and that insistence that we must have that or we’re not going to be competitive on a world stage. People listened. They listened to their constituents who believed that.
On Yucca Mtn.:
What I really believe is that our protest made a difference. Our testimony made a difference. We know that Yucca Mountain isn’t safe. There was a nuclear accident, I believe yesterday in Washington state. We need to find some smart solutions to this 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste that exists around the country. There’s more to it than just Yucca Mountain. There’s the transportation. It would take over 50 years of transporting one or two loads of week of nuclear waste across our interstates, across our rail lines. Can you imagine that there wouldn’t be an accident with one or two loads a week in 50 years?
On the American Health Care Act bill:
I think it’s a bad bill and I’ll tell you why. First of all, anything that is this important deserves to have hearings. They put a bill through in the middle of the night. It came on our desks only hours before we were supposed to vote on it. No CBO (Congressional Budget Office) score. No analysis. No stakeholders came to the table to talk to them. They had seven years to come up with something without a hearing. They have Paul Ryan on earlier sound bites saying this is the wrong thing to do and he did just that. So, it is wrong on that level.
We’re still analyzing what’s in it. But what we’re hearing, I’ve had hundreds of phone calls. I’ve been on all these listening tours. I talk to people constantly – across the board, no matter what people’s opinions are – everyone one wants those 10 essential health benefits. And especially, they want the protection for pre-existing conditions, because who amongst us doesn’t know someone who has a pre-existing condition, perhaps doesn’t have one, and God forbid, disease is an equal opportunity predator, won’t be a victim of an illness.
On what she is hearing from constituents:
I have to say that the number one amount of phone calls I get are on health care. Overwhelmingly, the people in my district want amend it not an end it. They want to strengthen what’s there like pre-existing conditions and the 10 essential health benefits. But they want us to find those ways to reduce the premiums, reduce drug costs. I refer back to being an analyst. What I would like to see is us put together a group of stakeholders across the spectrum, find out the data. Let’s find out the top five reasons that premiums are high and then tackle those one at a time to begin to bring them down and people see relief.
Rep. Jacky Rosen, (D) -NV., 3rd Congressional District
