'This Week' Transcript 9-24-23: Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Rep. Mike Turner

A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, September 24, 2023 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC "THIS WEEK" CO-ANCHOR: Let’s take this all to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Good to see you.

As you heard from Rick, the poll, the vast majority of American people are not happy with President Biden’s leadership on a range of topics and issues.

So, what do you say to the 44 percent of Americans who say they are worse off now than they were before Biden took office?

PETE BUTTIGIEG, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Well, look, we all know the economic pressure that Americans have felt. When the president took office, the economy was flat on its back. But we’re also getting extraordinary results, more than 13 million jobs created. That’s more than any presidential term in American history. And, yes, it take a while for people to feel the full benefits of those results, just like it’s going to take a while to build all of the infrastructure that we’re now underway on with the president’s generational infrastructure build.

But he got the bill done after president after president, congress after congress couldn’t make it happen. He did. We’re getting the results on the economy.

And one other thing that I think is really important is that the American people agree with us and not with congressional Republicans on what to do about it. So, when you look at the economy, the most important thing, in the president’s view, is to support families and support workers, not just with the job creation that’s going on, but lowering costs. That’s why, for example, lowering the cost of insulin to $35 for seniors is something that the president pushed for, got, wants to do for all Americans, but congressional Republicans are blocking him.

We’re going to keep pushing on that because, in the end, what we are seeing to do, versus prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthy, let alone driving this country toward a government shutdown, is not what the American people want to see in response to these conditions.

RADDATZ: Whether they want to or not, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged there is a disconnect. You are seeing the disconnect. I have heard this time and time again over the past few months, what President Biden has done. But the message is not getting through. And that message, in a re-election campaign, is vitally important. So what do you do about that?

BUTTIGIEG: Well, of course, I'm here on the official side, not to talk about the campaign side. But one thing I'll tell you, just from an administration perspective, is, when we go out on the road, when we demonstrate, for example, how the president’s agenda of investing in roads and bridges and railroad improvements and better airports and all the things that we’re doing around the country, how that’s actually arising in community after community, you have a whole different kind of conversation.

Now, there’s a lot more work to do. The story of these investments, these efforts and these results isn’t going to tell itself, but that’s exactly the work that we’re doing. And we’re an administration that isn’t all about the polls. We recognize that if we get the results over time people will come to appreciate that.

RADDATZ: But – but – let’s – let’s – let’s drill down on this again. Gas prices are on the rise again. Gas prices. People look at that. No matter what you say about what you are trying to do, they are feeling it. They are feeling gas prices. They are feeling food prices. It’s just not breaking through because they live their lives, they see it every day.

BUTTIGIEG: Which is why we are prioritizing making life easier and more affordable for Americans. Again, it’s one thing to point to a problem and, frankly, in some corners of the – of –

RADDATZ: About gas prices.

BUTTIGIEG: Well, they’re down from their peaks. They’re higher than – than they were a few weeks ago. And the president will continue taking actions, not just to make sure that gas prices stay under control, but to make sure that American can afford their – our overall bills. And, you know, when you look at a congressional Republican opposition that is literally against having insulin capped at $35, is against the caps on those out-of-pocket costs, seems more concerned with tax cuts for the wealthy than with actually solving these problems, that’s when you see the real difference in approach.

So, even if you have an agreement on an economic challenge, like prices at the grocery store, you have two different ways of dealing with it. Our way of dealing with it is to invest in the supply side that – that – for example, improves the supply chains, which in turn helps bring down those prices, it’s to invest in making life more affordable every day for Americans.

And the other side’s talking about a shutdown. They’re talking about government cuts that would – I mean you want to talk about groceries. They’re talking about something that would wait-list families that need access to support to be able to afford to feed their children. They’re pushing it –

RADDATZ: Do – do you see – you – you bring up the – the shutdown. Do you see that as inevitable at this point?

BUTTIGIEG: I hope not, because in the event of a shutdown, we would have to immediately stop so many important activities in the Department of Transportation, like training air traffic controllers. After everything we’ve been through, after all of the disruptions to air traffic – to air travel that we experienced last year, this year we finally see cancellations and delays back to normal. They’re actually a little below where they were before COVID. This would be a reversal that nobody wants, nobody asked for.

And I can’t believe some of the very same congressional Republicans, who get in line to try to beat us up any time there’s a – there’s a travel disruption, even a weather-related travel destruction, are going to turn around and shut down air traffic control training. And that’s just one example, from one department, that I happen to be very concerned about. So it better not be inevitable.

RADDATZ: And there are – Secretary, our poll found that more Americans would blame Democrats for a possible shutdown than Republicans. How do you explain that?

BUTTIGIEG: I just don’t think that’s how it’s going to actually play out in a Republican shutdown. You know, this is because Republicans can’t, you know, on The Hill, can’t even agree among themselves.

And remember, Kevin McCarthy and – Speaker McCarthy and – and President Biden made a deal. And – and that deal was tough for all sides. Frankly, it was tough for our department. It meant cutting back on some things we wanted to do, some funds we were going to use to improve roads and bridges and airports. But we accepted that because that was the deal that was made earlier this year.

And now all were doing is asking them to live up to that deal. If they can’t be organized enough among themselves, if the House Republican conference is in such chaos that they can’t even accept a deal that they supported earlier this year, or in the words of one House Republican, take yes for an answer, then I think the Americans are going to see very quickly how we got in that situation.

And, by the way, not only are they driving us toward a shutdown, but their position, the thing they’re trying to use the threat of a shutdown to get, is further cuts that would also undermine things that the American people overwhelmingly want us to do. In the case of transportation, things like railroad safety inspections.

RADDATZ: But let’s – let’s talk a little more about transportation and turn to the autoworkers strike. The UAW extended its strike against GM, Stellantis, to 20 different plants. Is that something you support?

BUTTIGIEG: We stand with the UAW’s determination to make sure that autoworkers benefit from the next chapter in the auto industry. As the president has said, when you have record profits in the auto industry, there ought to be record pay and record benefits for the workers who create that value.

RADDATZ: President Biden is going to join the picket line on Tuesday, he just announced. We can’t find that, talking to historians and labor leaders, that that’s ever happened before. Is that a good idea? He’s planting his flag with the workers. Obviously, he is a big supporter of unions. But how can he be a mediator of something like that if he’s right there with the workers, standing with them?

BUTTIGIEG: That’s where he stands. He’s a pro-worker president. He is an unapologetically pro-union president. And, you know, not just in contrast to the anti-union policies of the Trump administration, but really with respect to presidents of both parties over the last half century. He’s proud of the fact that he is the most pro-union and pro-worker among them. And, by the way, getting this right.

RADDATZ: So, does he support a 40 percent raise and a four-day week?

BUTTIGIEG: Look, the – the president and this administration, we are not at the – the bargaining table, but we are with workers. And, by the way, the – the American –

RADDATZ: But that sends a pretty strong message.

BUTTIGIEG: Yes, and I will say also, the companies, the American auto sector, will benefit in the long run from the deal that moves this country forward and secures American leadership, especially in the next chapter of the automotive industry.

Part of what the UAW has made clear is that they’re not trying to turn back the clock, they’re not saying that they want us back in horse and buggy days, they’re not pretending that we can have the – the technologies of the – of the ‘60s power us into the 2020s, ‘30s and ’50s. what they’re saying is, if a whole new way of making cars is going to be the way of the world and the way of the automotive sector, then workers ought to be able to benefit from that and thrive on that, just like the last generations of workers did. And – and there is a win/win future to be had. And that’s what the president and the administration are urging the parties to reach.

RADDATZ: OK, thanks very much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

BUTTIGIEG: Thank you.

RADDATZ: The roundtable’s coming up. Plus, more on the surge of migrants arriving at the southern border. We’re on the scene in El Paso.

And House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner joins us next.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THIS WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: Matt Rivers, thank you.

Joining us now is the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, Congressman Mike Turner.

Great to see you this morning.

Congressman --

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Martha, thanks for having me.

RADDATZ: Many predicted that we’d see a migrant surge after Title 42 ended. That did not happen. But we have this situation now with these record numbers. Why now?

TURNER: Well, the Biden administration has been encouraging, and the manner in which they have -- have provided assistance to migrants, not really communicating that our borders should be closed. Instead, have encouraging an open border policy.

You know, this is a national security and an economic security threat. On national security, we’ve seen individuals on the terrorist watch list be apprehended. We certainly see fentanyl and other drugs coming across the border. On economic security, you even have the mayor of New York saying that it’s destroying his city.

That’s why the Republicans put forth a border protecting bill, House Bill 2, which would put physical barriers on the border, but also change our asylum rules. And at the same time, put more border agents.

And to contrast that with the Biden administration just in the last 10 days took action to give 200,000 Venezuelans temporary protective status, which includes that they cannot be deported and work privileges.

This type of encouraging --

RADDATZ: Do you not agree with that, I take it?

TURNER: But if the president would close the border and stop encouraging, providing people incentives to come, others would not see that the path is worth it, and that’s what you see --

(CROSSTALK)

RADDATZ: Eric Adams says it saves taxpayers’ money, with the Venezuelans to work. What would you rather have them do at this point?

TURNER: Well --

RADDATZ: As long as they’re already here?

TURNER: Right. But they shouldn’t be here. If we had the right policies, they wouldn’t be here. By providing them these -- the open assistance, what you’re seeing is an encouragement for others to come. Wherefore, House Bill 2 makes certain that we close the border for immigration, this migrant immigration, makes certain that provide border security and at the same time change our asylum rules to give us the legal tools to send people home.

RADDATZ: I know your talk about the Biden administration encouraging an open border and saying, come across. I’ve certainly heard Security Mayorkas say, don’t come across, and Border Patrol arrested more than 180,000 people along the border throughout Biden’s term. Agents have apprehended 5.4 million (ph) migrants. You really said that’s an open border?

TURNER: Well, the numbers speak for themselves, right? Just this year, we’ve had 1.9 million people across our border. That -- that’s more people that live in the cities of Columbus, Cincinnati, and Dayton, Ohio, and southeast Ohio, combined. These numbers speak for themselves. They surely show that the administration’s policies encouraging people to come across the border, we need to stop this.

RADDATZ: Former President Trump boasted about the wall along the border, and that that would stop migrants. That doesn’t seem to be working.

TURNER: Well, the wall isn’t finished. Biden, by executive order, stopped the wall, began selling off --

RADDATZ: How about 500 miles of new border wall?

TURNER: In the places and I’ve been down to the border.

RADDATZ: Not all new, some refurbished.

TURNER: I took the Intelligence Committee members down to the border, and what we saw was in areas where that -- the wall had been built, immigration had -- migrant immigration had stopped.

We gave Border Patrol an ability to control the area. But when areas that it’s open, people are walking across.

RADDATZ: What do you do right now? You heard the new border control chief says it’s bad as it’s been. They want -- they want to be doing their jobs down there. They want to be screening people with guns and instead, they’re basically processing people.

TURNER: Right. That’s why we passed a border protection bill with our House Bill 2, and that completes the border and barrier area to give the Border Patrol an ability to defend the border. More Border Patrol agents and also change our asylum laws, so that we can encourage lawful immigration and get people here that we need, who have skills, so we can put to work and can grow our economy.

But right now, with this migrant immigration that’s occurring on the border, it’s a national security threat, drugs and people in the terrorist watch list, economic threats (ph) like even the mayor of New York says, it’s too much, his city can’t take it.

RADDATZ: Okay, I want to turn to the possible shutdown. We did see President Zelenskyy here this week. Kevin McCarthy has left that in the defense spending bill, $300 million. But do you see a shut down that’s almost inevitable? How do they solve this?

TURNER: Well, it’s very difficult. You know, I’ll bet on Kevin McCarthy any day. And we certainly have time yet to go. But he’s in a very difficult position because the holdouts keep saying to Kevin McCarthy, don’t bring bipartisan bills to the floor. We don’t want you to use Democrat votes to try to avert a shutdown.

But they’re using Democrat votes to try to cause the shutdown. And these individuals, these Republican holdouts are voting with Nancy Pelosi against Republican bills that have been brought to the floor, that will -- could trigger a shutdown.

Now, I think Kevin is going to continue to negotiate until the end. But, you know, the Republicans need to vote for Republican bills, and we can avert the shutdown.

RADDATZ: McCarthy said this whole new concept of individuals that just want to burn the whole place down, he’s speaking about his own GOP House colleagues.

TURNER: Right. And they’re doing so. And this is the thing. They’re doing so by voting with Nancy Pelosi. That’s what -- I think, you know, back home, they’re going to have a difficulty answering to the voters as to why they’re voting with Nancy Pelosi and not with Kevin McCarthy and Republicans to pass Republican bills and keep the government open.

RADDATZ: And just quickly, Senator Robert Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges. Do you think he should resign?

TURNER: Absolutely. I think that everyone has been calling for his resignation. I think that the body of allegations are certainly of the kind that it makes it very difficult for him to his job.

RADDATZ: Okay. Thanks very much for joining us this morning.

The roundtable is next. We’ll be right back.

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