SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - After successfully winning reelection in the 52nd congressional district, Rep. Scott Peters joined us on Beyond The Headlines to discuss what he thinks the top priorities should be for the House after Democrats reclaimed the majority.
I asked Congressman Peters a number of pressing questions, including who should be the minority leader, will Democrats spend the next two years probing and subpoenaing the President, or will they pursue policy solutions for infrastructure, healthcare and immigration needs.
Peters On Minority Leader Pelosi
"I think we ought to take the opportunity to ask our leadership, how they're going to be different from last time. What lessons did they learn from losing the majority last time, Nancy Pelosi is an historic figure for America, she's done amazing things when she was speaker, I think she should be transparent about her plans as leader, she's called herself a transitional leader, I'd like to hear more about what she means by that and how she's going to lead the caucus. We'll find out the week after Thanksgiving."
On Legislative Priorities For Next Two Years
"We're going to have to have a conversation about what the Democratic party is going to do to show America that we're the adults in the room. There's a few things we agree that we want to put before the Senate, like universal background checks for guns, that's a 90% issue for Americans, 80% for gun owners, we ought to be looking at the voting rights act, equal pay for equal work, making sure you can't be fired because you're gay. These are things Democrats value as civil rights issues that could be bipartisan. And then the big things like infrastructure and immigration, those are things that need to be bipartisan and that's another thing we'll ask of leadership. How can you work to get things done with the other party?"
On Power of the New Democrats
"I hope we take seriously the leverage that we have in the caucus, it's our politics of problem solving and listening to both sides that allows us to win those tough general elections. I think New Dems are going to be called on to provide the ideological leadership in the caucus and you know it's hard to get excited about moderates, but that's really what the country wants."