WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees, joined Hugh Hewitt this morning to discuss the prospect of bipartisanship in the Senate. 

“But I think we’ll be successful in tackling issues from tax reform to health care to infrastructure if we approach it in a more bipartisan way. I’ll take Lindsey Graham’s comments. I don’t have hatred for President Donald Trump. I pray for our president,” said Senator Coons. “I do oppose him on a number of issues, but I think that’s, you know, that’s part of the political process. I do think that the very direct threat to the American homeland that Kim Jong-un poses is exactly the sort of thing that requires us to put aside our temporary partisan political differences and try to find a strategy and an approach together that can reassure the American people, that can keep us safe, and that can strengthen our leadership regionally.”

“You know, the thing I hear most often from Delawareans is why can’t you all work together. That’s why I keep introducing bipartisan bills,” said Senator Coons. “I’ve got a bill to advance American manufacturing with Senator Roberts of Kansas, a former Marine, 30-year veteran of the United States Senate, and a very conservative senator. I find ways to work across the aisle on issues that matter.”

Full audio available here.

Excerpts from the interview below:

Senator Coons on the prospect of bipartisanship on infrastructure and North Korea: I agree with the president that if we’re going to have a strong infrastructure bill, it’s going to have to be bipartisan. There are some concerns about exactly how we might finance infrastructure, what its scope might be, how much we prioritize buy American, how central it is that we actually build things rather than finance things. But I think we’ll be successful in tackling issues from tax reform to health care to infrastructure if we approach it in a more bipartisan way. I’ll take Lindsey Graham’s comments. I don’t have hatred for President Donald Trump. I pray for our president. I do oppose him on a number of issues, but I think that’s, you know, that’s part of the political process. I do think that the very direct threat to the American homeland that Kim Jong-un poses is exactly the sort of thing that requires us to put aside our temporary partisan political differences and try to find a strategy and an approach together that can reassure the American people, that can keep us safe, and that can strengthen our leadership regionally.

Senator Coons on appropriations: Well, Hugh, you know you’re playing to my sympathies, because as a former county executive, I often felt that the local level of government was the most likely to get it right when it came to land use decisions, to housing, to infrastructure, and I think we might find a common way forward for infrastructure by looking at bloc grants to local government. Of course, in some areas, you have to coordinate regionally. I happen to be from Delaware, a very small state. I can be in three other states in 15 minutes. And for us to have local infrastructure projects where you don’t coordinate or plan with the county next door or the state next door, you can end up with some inefficiencies. But that’s different from compelling that planning. Encouraging it, incentivizing it, making sure that your local governments are talking to the next county over, and they don’t just go on a vanity project that serves the interest of that local leader or community is a way that we can end up with a more efficient network of infrastructure investments. I’m also a big fan of matching when the local government has some skin in the game. When the private sector has some skin in the game, you’re much more likely to end up with an infrastructure project that both puts people to work and strengthens our competitiveness regionally and nationally.

Senator Coons on the prospect of bipartisan immigration reform: I actually had a two hour lunch with President Trump several months ago with a bipartisan group of senators, and this ended up being the main topic of that conversation – whether or not we could come to a common agreement. A comprehensive immigration reform bill that I co-sponsored and supported had billions of dollars for border security in it. And I don’t oppose the idea of strengthening our border security and closing the border. I don’t think that physically building a 2,000 concrete barrier is the most efficient way to do it, or even the wise way to do it. But I do think we can come to an agreement that having an open border, having a border that isn’t fully secure, is not in our national security interest. But the place we’re most likely to have real tension is the difference between DACA and a family reunion-oriented immigration policy, and what Senator Cotton has proposed, which would dramatically cut the number of people allowed into our country through legal immigration, and shift it towards high skill. In past Congresses, I have co-sponsored with Orrin Hatch a high-skilled immigration bill, because as someone who worked in manufacturing at an advanced manufacturing company, I see the significant need in our private sector for folks with STEM degrees, for folks with advanced skills. I first want to make sure we’re investing in American education so that we strengthen STEM skills and the number of Americans who are pursuing degrees that make it possible for our cutting edge private sector companies to continue to be strong. But I think we need to balance between family reunification and skilled immigration. The way to do that isn’t to cut in in half, but to find a middle ground that actually meets the needs of American families of the private sector and some humanitarian accommodation of the young people who were brought here when they were too young to know that they were being brought here in a way that violated our laws. 

More on immigration: You know, the thing I hear most often from Delawareans is why can’t you all work together. That’s why I keep introducing bipartisan bills. I’ve got a bill to advance American manufacturing with Senator Roberts of Kansas, a former Marine, 30-year veteran of the United States Senate, and a very conservative senator. I find ways to work across the aisle on issues that matter. This is one that I think just cries out for us to find a middle path that can be supported by the vast majority of Americans. 

Senator Coons on blue slips: Well, blue slips are not in the Constitution, but like the filibuster, they are an important part of the traditions of the Senate that empower senators to represent their state and their state’s interests. I’m looking forward to meeting the president’s nominee for the 3rd Circuit. I may return a blue slip on him, but you know, I’m not going to say that I would welcome the end of an important tradition that allows the senators a key voice in the determination about who’s going to sit on district courts and circuit courts. That’s something we’re going to have to agree to disagree on. 

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