WEBVTT

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GEOFF BENNETT: For the
first time in the 236-year
history of the U.S. Senate,

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two Black women are
serving simultaneously.

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I sat down with Senators Angela
Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa

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Blunt Rochester of
Delaware for a conversation
about breaking barriers,

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shaping history, and how
Democrats aim to meet the
current political moment.

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Senators Alsobrooks and Blunt
Rochester, thanks so much for
making time. I appreciate it.

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS
(D-MD): Thank you.

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER
(D-DE): Thank you.

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GEOFF BENNETT: I'd like to
start with some news, because
the GOP-led House this week

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passed a sweeping
multitrillion-dollar plan
that supports President
Donald Trump's policy agenda.

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How are Democrats
planning to address it,

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especially if it makes
significant cuts to
the social safety net?

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS: The
billionaires have gotten
what they paid for. You will

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see in this budget that there
will be significant cuts for

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Medicaid and other
significant cuts that matter
to the American people.

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There's nothing about
this budget that really
addresses the germane
concerns of Americans around

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ability to afford health care
and ability to be able to bring
down the cost of groceries. This

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hasn't been the focus of this
administration. Instead, it's
been really lining the pockets

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of these billionaires
and doing so on the backs
of the American people.

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GEOFF BENNETT:
How do you see it?

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER:
I totally agree.

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I mean, a lot of times,
people say, if you want
to see their priorities,

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look at their checkbook.
They're showing us exactly what
their priorities are. When you

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have got 72 million people
in this country who are
on Medicaid in some way,
it might be a parent

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who has a child with a
disability. It might be a
family whose grandparent
is in a nursing home.

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People are going to be
touched and hurt if these
things move forward. And so,

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for us as Democrats,
we feel it's really
important that, number one,

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we make sure people know what
the stakes are, and, number two,
make sure that they recognize

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that we're all in this fighting
to make sure that the cost
of eggs are not skyrocketing,

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even though this president
said, on day one, he was
going to address the economy.

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We put our priority the
American people, families
of this country, and
not on the billionaires,

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as Senator Alsobrooks
said, which seem to be the
intention with tax cuts.

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GEOFF BENNETT: How do you make
that message stick? Because
one of the takeaways of the

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last election is that
working-class voters,
many of them, didn't see
Democrats as their champion.

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS:
Well I think they will
see after this period.
Again, the -- what we have

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heard is, bring down the cost
of groceries,we're concerned
about the cost of housing.

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And instead you have
seen anything but that.
You have seen Elon Musk,

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who is unelected, who has really
focused heavily on making sure

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that we cut in a way that
I believe has nothing
to do with efficiency.

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GEOFF BENNETT: When
Democrats push back, I
mean, do you risk being seen

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as defending the status quo,
when people in November were
saying they wanted change?

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS: I
don't think the American
people voted for this. Did they

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vote for us to cut critical
funding to the National
Institutes of Health, the people

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who are researching cancer
and who are coming up
with cures to diseases?
We didn't vote for that.

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We didn't vote, again,
to fire people who

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have to make sure that
we have air safety or
that our water is clean.

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER:
A third of the work
force that they're
cutting are veterans. And

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so I think it's really important
in this moment for us to
amplify what's happening.

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GEOFF BENNETT: I want to
talk about your historymaking
election victory.

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To be a Black woman in
the U.S. Senate is to
be part of a small club,

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Carol Moseley Braun, Kamala
Harris, Laphonza Butler.
What does this moment

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feel like to you and what does
it feel like to do it together?

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS: We
call ourselves sister senators.
And it's been just great

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to have her here serving
with me. We recognize
the privilege that it is

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to represent so many people who
fought hard for us to get here.

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And you know what? Our
voices matter. We believe
representation, I believe
representation matters,

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that all of us should be
represented in these spaces,
and that the solutions are

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incomplete unless every
single lived experience
is represented in this
Senate of every background.

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And so that means people from
rural America should be here,
the people from urban spaces,

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Black, white. Every background,
Latino, has to be represented so
that our solutions are complete.

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER: And
when you think about the quarter
of a century it took to get

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from Carol Moseley Braun to
Vice President Kamala Harris,
and then almost a decade until

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we got from Kamala Harris to
Laphonza Butler, the two of us
came in immediately, seamlessly.

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We don't really talk about,
ooh, we made history.
What we talk about is,
what kind of impact can we

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make on the lives of the
people who sent us here, on
our country, and, who knows,

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maybe the world with the work
that we're doing? It is really,
for us, about the impact.

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But we also don't lose
the fact that there may be
a kid -- just this week,

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a kid did a book report on
me. That was kind of strange.

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(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER: Yes.

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Or, just recently, over the
past summer, the way I got
to this job was after the

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unexpected death of my husband.
And I had a constituent walk
up to me and say in a diner:

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"You were sad, you were
depressed, but you got
up. And so I got up."

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And so you don't know whose
life you're touching or
impacting by being of service,

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but that's really what
this moment is about.
And I will tell you,

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it is really important to have
a sister senator next to me. We

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sit next to each other in
committees. We are on the
same row on the Senate floor.

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And just to even say basic
stuff like, well, what
do you think about this,

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or how do you wear your
shoes on these hard
marble floors? Like...

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GEOFF BENNETT: There's marble
throughout this entire building.

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS: Yes.

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER:
It's really different here.

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But to have that kind of
support has been really,
really a blessing, a blessing.

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GEOFF BENNETT: It's also
important, I would imagine too
to have mentors. And I know Vice

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President Kamala Harris,
you count her as a friend
and mentor, both of you.

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What advice has she given you?

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS:
Well, so Vice

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President Harris is -- has been
amazing. She really has been.

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And I have been really
blessed to have her. For
at least the last 14 years,

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she's been there as an adviser.
She's told me a number of
things that matter. She told me

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that you should be joyful
even in these times that
are difficult, that we
have the right to go into

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these spaces and to bring
joy with us, to never
forget, of course, the
people that we represent.

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But to not internalize it,
to not make it personal
has been helpful to me.

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER: After
getting elected to the Senate, I
was just kind of running almost

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on autopilot. And it
wasn't until the day that
we were sworn in that I
stepped on that floor and

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I raised my right hand
and I looked in her
face that it hit me, the
significance of the moment.

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And she hugged me and whispered
in my ear: "Enjoy this moment."

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And I think that was really
important, because so many
people were focused on,

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oh, we didn't win this race
or we didn't win. And it was
almost like she wanted us

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to not negate the success that
Delaware and Maryland had done
when they elected, for me,

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the first woman sent to
the Senate, as well as
the first person of color.

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And so that reminder, I felt,

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was really important.
Don't forget, as you said,
the joy of this moment.

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GEOFF BENNETT: How do you
reconcile this moment with
the challenges posed by the

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current administration's stances
on race and diversity issues?
Or do you reconcile the two?

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS: I think
what we know is we have been in
difficult times before. When we

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speak about our grandparents,
they have seen some
difficulties. They know
what challenge looks like.

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It gives us the resilience
to walk through this moment.
And I refuse to justify

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my being here. This
administration has made
and unfortunately had
tried to make it almost

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a dirty word the fact that we
should care about inclusion
and equality and those

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things. But I refuse to
relitigate that. I don't
think it's necessary.

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I think that we're going
to continue working hard,
myself and so many others,

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because we care about our
country. We love our country.
We love the people of

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our states. And I'm here to
serve them and to do everything
I can to ensure that every one

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of us has the opportunity to
experience the American dream.
That's what this is about.

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SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER:
People have to ask themselves,
who are you talking about?

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Well, we have heard it's women,
it's people of color, it's
people with disabilities. You

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could go down the list.
Well, who you're talking
about is America. Our
strength is the fact that

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we bring these different
professional and lived
experiences. At this month,

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Black History Month, the
theme this year is African
Americans and labor.

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Of all times in our history
to be pulling people out of
the work force, telling people

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they don't have a seat
at the table, this is not
the time. This is the time
-- we're stronger when

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we recognize all of the
talent, the brilliance,
the excellence that all
of us bring to the table.

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And so folks can try to
distract. We're going to
keep our eyes on the prize.
And that's making sure

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that people have good jobs.
That's making sure that people
have clean drinking water

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and clean air. It's making
sure they have health care.
We have our eyes on the prize.

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Ours is not about tax
breaks for billionaires
and ultra-rich people.

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It is about making sure that
all of us have opportunity
and have a fair shot.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Senator
Alsobrooks, Senator
Blunt Rochester, thank
you again for your time.

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SEN. ANGELA ALSOBROOKS:
Thank you. SEN. LISA BLUNT
ROCHESTER: Thank you.