The Achieving A Better Life Experience — ABLE — Act, which faced a House vote this week, hit close to home for Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state. "For me personally, this bill is about a little boy who was diagnosed with Down syndrome three days after he was born. His diagnosis came with a list of future complications," she said on the House floor.
While Thursday's House vote on immigration reminds us that Congress remains divided, the ABLE Act enjoyed bipartisan support.
The bill, which passed in the House 404-17, allows for special savings accounts for people with disabilities as a way to deal with those future complications. The little boy McMorris Rodgers spoke about is her son Cole.
McMorris Rodgers was one of the lead sponsors of the ABLE Act and is also House Republican Conference Chairwoman. She spoke with NPR's Audie Cornish about the bill, her call for hearings on local law enforcement, and the GOP's priorities in the next Congress.
Interview Highlights
On whom the ABLE Act would help
This is important legislation; I'm very excited with the broad support that we have. It allows for a child with disabilities to have a tax-free savings account set up in which people can contribute the charitable limits into that account. And then that money could be used for qualified expenses related to independent living, and hopefully working.
On President Obama's executive action on immigration and suggestions to defund offices that would implement it
I believe it is very important that we are working to get this budget in place, keep the government open, operating. The way that we respond to this executive order and hold him accountable — part of it is through funding priorities, part of it may be seeking for the courts to intervene. Another part of it is for us to move forward with immigration reform, starting with border security but laying forward what we believe are those solutions to fixing a broken immigration system, and we're pursuing each of those paths.
On her call for hearings after grand jury decision in the Eric Garner case
This is a terrible tragedy that has happened. And my heart goes out to the family. And I believe we do need to get some answers to the questions that have been raised. And that's why I believe that hearings are important, that we better understand exactly what happened and then we can take the appropriate action to make sure that local law enforcement are responding properly, that they are trained, that they have the right type of equipment. It seems like those are all questions that have been raised and that we need to make sure we get answered.
On the GOP agenda in the next Congress
Our goal in this new American Congress is to make sure we are presenting solutions. Our priority is the economy, because a job is so important in our lives and creating more jobs, creating more opportunities, increasing those paychecks, that's going to be our top priority. And working together yes, with our colleagues in the Senate, but also the White House and the president. People are tired of the gridlock. They want to see us lead. They want to see us address these challenges that face the country, come up with the solutions and I'm anxious to get to work on it.
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Transcript
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
While today's House vote reminds us of the divide in Congress, there was a vote this week that did enjoy bipartisan support.
(SOUNDBITE OF SPEECH)
CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS: For me personally, this bill is about a little boy who was diagnosed with Down syndrome three days after he was born. His diagnosis came with a list of future complications.
CORNISH: That's Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers speaking on the House floor about the ABLE Act. It's a bill that allows special savings accounts for disabled people as a way to deal with those future complications. The little boy is her son Cole, and Representative McMorris Rodgers, who was one of the lead sponsors of the bill, joins us now. Welcome to the program.
MCMORRIS RODGERS: Thank you. Good to be with you.
CORNISH: We should say that the House passed this bill 404-17. It's expected to pass the Senate next week, and it's going to cost roughly $2 billion. Explain who can qualify, how it will help.
MCMORRIS RODGERS: Right, well, this is important legislation. I'm very excited with the broad support that we have. It allows for a child with disabilities to have a tax-free savings account set up in which people can contribute the charitable limits into that account. And then that money could be used for qualified expenses related to independent living and, hopefully, working.
CORNISH: Now, this bill enjoyed enormous bipartisan support. I want to turn to the legislative business that hasn't enjoyed quite the same level of support. There's the immigration bill disapproving the president's executive orders on immigration, and it's seen as symbolic, given that the Senate won't take it up. The White House has said that they would veto it. What do you say to conservatives who want to defund the president's executive actions right now? They say they don't want to delay the effort till early next year.
MCMORRIS RODGERS: This legislation is a very important statement that we are making that the president should not be acting unilaterally when it comes to the very important issue of immigration reform. You know, we just had this election. And for me, one of the most important messages that people all across the country sent is that they want us to work together, that they want us to work to get things done. And yet, the president decided to act unilaterally. And for us in Congress, it's very important, on behalf of the people that we represent, that we hold the president accountable.
CORNISH: I want to play a little bit of audio from Representative Steve King. He was speaking about this idea of having to vote on a spending bill that would fund the president's executive actions in the short-term. Here he is.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
REPRESENTATIVE STEVE KING: Fund everything except that. And if the president then throws this country into a conflict, it's the president saying, I insist on having the funds to commit my unconstitutional act.
CORNISH: So the suggestion here is to fund everything but the Department of Homeland Security offices that would deal with the president's orders and that if that means a threat of a government shutdown, so be it.
MCMORRIS RODGERS: I believe it is very important that we are working to get this budget in place, keep the government open and operating. You know, there - the way that we respond to this executive order and hold him accountable - part of it is through funding priorities. Part of it may be seeking for the courts to intervene. Another part of it is for us to move forward with immigration reform, starting with border security, but laying forward what we believe are those solutions to fixing a broken immigration system. And we're pursuing each of those paths.
CORNISH: I want to turn to another issue - the grand jury decision in New York not to indict the police officer in the chokehold death of Eric Garner. And you've actually called for hearings in the House to investigate. You told MSNBC we all recognize that these are tragedies, and it's raised a lot of questions. What questions do these deaths raise for you, and what aspects do you think need to be further addressed in hearings?
MCMORRIS RODGERS: Well, I do - this is a terrible tragedy that has happened, and my heart goes out to the family. And I believe that we do need to get some answers to the questions that have been raised. And that's why I believe that hearings are important - that we better understand exactly what happened. And then we can take the appropriate action to make sure that local law enforcement are responding properly, that they are trained, that they have the right type of equipment. It seems like those are all questions that have been raised and that we need to make sure that we get answered.
CORNISH: Are you hearing from law enforcement groups? And what concerns are they raising?
MCMORRIS RODGERS: Yeah, we are - you know, we're in - we're in that stage, I think, when we are all better understanding exactly what the situation is. And that is - that's where I believe it is important that we are holding the hearings. And then we can better figure out what that appropriate action is moving forward and whether the justice system has handled this properly.
CORNISH: Finally, Congresswoman, you play a lead role in the messaging for the party in the House. What difference will we hear in the GOP agenda, especially when - especially next Congress, where you'll have the majority in the Senate, and you'll all be playing in a position of power rather than opposition?
MCMORRIS RODGERS: Our goal is to make sure that we are presenting solutions. Our priority is the economy because a job is so important in our lives. And creating more jobs, creating more opportunities, increasing those paychecks - that's going to be our top priority - and working together, yes, with our colleagues in the Senate, but also the White House and the president. People are tired of the gridlock. They want to see us lead. They want to see us address these challenges that face the country, come up with the solutions. And I'm anxious to get to work on it.
CORNISH: Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She's House Republican Conference Chairwoman and Republican from Washington state. Thank you so much for speaking with us.
MCMORRIS RODGERS: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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