Henry Cuellar: The Interview

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[As my luck would have it, I had too many Firefox tabs open last night and inadvertantly posted the promised interview over in the Press Room, as opposed to here. Here, now, is the interview, and sorry for the confusion!]

It may not match Texas Monthly’s forthcoming interview with James Leininger in firepower, but today I had the opportunity to interview Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo).

For those of you who have been living under a rock since January, Congressman Cuellar was locked in a fierce election battle and re-match in Texas’ CD-28 earlier this year with the former Congressman who he defeated last year, Ciro Rodriguez (R-San Antonio).
We talked about the March Primary election, the infamous photograph with the President, the place of centrist Democrats in the Democratic Party, and some current issues like gas prices and immigration.

Before I get down to the meat of the interview (which, though the interview was done over the phone and in person as opposed to via e-mail, I will try to present in a Q&A format) I do want to make a couple of comments.

First off, I’ve been on Congressman Cuellar’s press release list for a few weeks now. Over the weekend, I decided to shoot his office an email and ask for an interview. I was surprised when they responded not just with a ‘yes,’ but an enthusiastic ‘yes.’ If I were Congressman Cuellar’s press secretary, I’d probably never grant a blogger an interview.

Not only was I granted the interview, but Congressman Cuellar was kind enough to actually want to talk about the primary election, his feelings about the blogs, and to spend well over a half an hour on the phone talking about these issues plus immigration and gas prices and energy policy.

I had a very open and frank discussion with Congressman Cuellar and must say that I have tremendous respect for someone who would agree to be interviewed by someone in the very medium that gave him unrelenting Hell during the Primary.

That said, it is my pleasure to present to you my interview with United States Congressman Henry Cuellar.

[I wrote most of my questions down, or, at least, parts of them down, prior to the interview just so I could present the interview in this format.]

CAPITOL ANNEX: Congressman, as you no doubt recall, your primary election this spring was one that was a very big race for the blogs, both Texas and nationally. You were the subject of a lot of criticism, some of it was harsh. Did you ever wake up in the morning and think, ‘what did I do to these people,’ or ‘what did I do to deserve this?’

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: You know, all of them [the bloggers] had their opinions, and I respect them. I wish that some [bloggers] had given more consideration to my record at the state level. There were a lot of issues of importance that I took the lead on iat the state level: the Texas Plan which was a college funding program, I was the author of the first CHIP program which became the model for the whole state, the Colonias. If you go to my campaign web page, www.henrycuellar.com, you can see some of that and that I took the lead on a lot of issues that were important to them. I was very active [as a legislator].

I try to do the same here [in Congress], and this is my first term, but I’ve passed ten amendments out from the House floor to the Senate. That is very uncommon. I’m in first place with the rest of my freshman class, in second place among all 202 Democrats, and in fourth place among all the congress [in terms of amendments passed by the House and sent on the Senate].

It is very different here in Congress than it was in the Texas Legislature. I am a Democrat and will always stay a Democrat, but I am a big believer in bi-partisanship. Bi-partisanship is a big ting in the capitol [Austin], but when you come up here [Washington, D.C.], it’s a different story. There are more situations where, as a Democrat, you are expected to vote a certian way with Democrats.

I came up here after having had all of my training at the state level, where Democrats like Bill Hobby—a strong Democrat—Lloyd Bentsen, and Bob Bullock were all a big part of that. Bullock was a big believer in bi-partisanship. But, when you come up here, you are expected to follow the party line whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, it’s a big difference.

I came in and tried to keep my bi-partisanship. To me, my district will always come first, and party second even though a lot of the times we are expected to follow the party line even when that might not be the best thing for your district.

I wish some of them [bloggers] had called me and asked me about my record and some of this.

When you come to freshman orientation, you are told ‘vote your district first and your party second.’ But, you’re still expected to follow the party line. A lot don’t understand centrist Democrats; all Democrats aren’t liberal and all Democrats don’t come from liberal districts.
When I got here, I cast my vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker. And, I said to her, ‘Madame Leader, this is the most important vote I will cast, but you have to understand that if centrist Democrats aren’t allowed more leeway, we are going to lose more elections.’

CAPITOL ANNEX: During your primary election, one of the bigger issues involved President Bush…

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: The picture.

CAPITOL ANNEX: Yes, the picture. Do you think too much was made of it? What are your thoughts on the kind of furor tht caused?

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Well, I can understand it because those things happen in policits.

But, what you’ve got to understand is—you’ve got to look at the whole situation to understand it. Other Democrats and myself who were sitting there got there way, way in advance to be able to sit right there.

[Rep.] Ralph Hall [(R-Rockwall), CD-4] told me to sit there. He said ‘I’ve been sitting over here for the last 25 years for the State of the Union and it’s a good place.’

My focus [on sitting there] was for my district. I wanted to be able to introduce myself to the members of cabinet, the Senators, the members of the Supreme Court, to be able to interact and talk with these people.

[President] Bush comes in, and I have known him since 1995. Now, in 1994, I endorsed Ann Richards. I didn’t know Bush, I knew who his father was. In 1995, Bush is Governor—he defeated Ann Richards—and I work with him. He was different then, though, he was a lot more bi-partisan then. When he comes by, he shook my hand and, before I know it, he has his hands up and is grasping my face, and that’s the shot everyone took, that’s the shot everyone saw. And, the next morning everyone is saying, “hey, have you seen the Washington Post?”

CAPITOL ANNEX: Did President Bush ever say anything to you, you know—call up and say, “wow, I can’t believe that caused such an uproar,” or anything like that?

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: No, I never had an occasion to talk with the President about that.

CAPITOL ANNEX: Congressman Cuellar, do you still believe there is room for centrists in the Democratic Party?

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Never until I ran for Congress, had to run in a Democratic Primary against a Democrat, did anyone ever question my credentials as a Democrat. In politics, I guess that’s understandable; when you are in a Democratic Primary you might say that ‘my opponent’s not a Democrat,’ or question their credentials.

But after the primary and you are elected, you go to work and that’s bi-partisan. I will never, never change parties. I was born a Democrat and I will die a Democrat.

The Democratic Party, in my opinion, if it is not going to make room for moderates, we are going to continue to lose a lot of races. The bloggers, the trial lawyers, the labor unions, the environmentalists all came and spent a lot of money against me in a Democratic Primary, and keep in mind I gained in every county in the district. I didn’t win every county in the district but I did gain.

After the election, it is time to be bi-partisan and do your job here. I had success at the state legislature doing that, and 10 out of 10 amendments passed on to the senate, that’s not bad. You can do more a lot of times with a bi-partisan approach.

Now, the Democratic party must make room for centrists. That is important to me and when I got here, I told Nancy Pelosi, ‘Madam Leader, my most important vote was when I voted for you for Speaker,’ and after that, I talked to her about being able to expect some flexibility in representing my district, and she told me that they have to come first.

But, you experience more partisanship; you are expected to vote with the party every time. Congressional Quarterly says I vote 70 percent of the time with my party. I feel I voted right because I voted my constituancy.

My district is not all liberal, it is very, very diverse, and I don’t think [during the primary] that I got credit for that. I’ve done some polling and about 19-20 percent of the distric considers themselves as liberal Democrats.
My constituants are not liberal or far left for the most part, they are moderate, fairly conservative Democrats. If they didn’t like the job I was doing, they could vote, vote me out.
A big part of bi-partisanship is trying to get along with people, too.

My parents taught me to be civil: you might disagree with someone, it might be negative, but you always be civil. An issue up here, the [President's] budget, is wrong. I do not like the education and healthcare cuts or how they will affect Texas. But you still are civil. You can still disagree, but you are always civil. There are somethings I agree with the President on, CAFTA—I come from Laredo, it is the largest inland trade center in the U.S. In the United States as a whole, you’ve got Los Angeles, New York, Detroit and Laredo [as the largest international trade centers].

I have no ill feelings for people [about the election]. What I ask is that people respect my opinions and I will respect theirs. I might not agree with them, but I will respect them and be civil.

CAPITOL ANNEX: Congressman Cuellar, I’d like to talk with you also about some more current issues and how you think they affect your district and the state and what you think Congress ought to do about them.

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Sure.

CAPITOL ANNEX: High gas prices are something that is on everyone’s mind. High gas prices, high oil prices—I know you’ve done some of that work on one of the subcommittee you are on, would you talk about this and perhaps some possible solutions—and you can throw something in on energy policy too, if you like.

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Ok. I know this is an issue that is hurtng a lot of people. I’ve talked to my parents, my brothers and sisters, my constituants, and this is a big issue to all of them.

When you look at something like this, it is important to break it down so you know how to get to the root of the problem. A gallon of gas breaks down to 59 percent from the price of crude, 10 percent refinery costs, 11 percent local distribution costs, and 20 percent the cost of federal and local taxes.

How do you address that with all of those factors? Some people say lift the taxes, some say tax the oil companies more, some people say drill more oil. Like I tell my constituants, I have asked this question of people, so I’ll ask you the same thing. What do you think is the best way to address it? I’m interested to know what people think.
CAPITOL ANNEX: Gosh, how would I address it? Well, I think I would probably try a combination approach, I suppose. Maybe windfall profits taxes combined with tax incentives for people who buy hybrid cars but with that you’d have to have incentives for manufacturers to build more hybrid cars to make them more affordable. I’m not in favor of a long-term removal of the gas tax, but I did support the “gas tax holiday” they proposed here in Texas and think that similar relief might be in order at the federal level, but those are only temporary fixes.

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: That’s right, those are not long term and we do have to be looking long term. I can certainly see the need for more domestic drilling, but, again, that’s a fix for the short term too, really. If we think these prices are high now, wait until China and India start becoming even more developed and consuming more oil and see what happens to the price of oil.

Sure, the tax credits for individuals who buy hybrid cars and also some incentives to encourage manufactures to make more hybrid cars. Another issue, though, is the alternative fuels and alternative sources of energy.

With alternative fuels, right now I don’t think I know of a place in Laredo or in my district that offers any alternative fules. Do you where you live?

CAPITOL ANNEX: No, I really don’t believe I do. I’m not even sure if they do up in Dallas.

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: I have events and things with my constituants and asked at one the other day, and there were probably 80, 85 people in the room, and we were talking about high gas prices, I asked “how many of you have looked at hybrid car, or one that uses alternative fuels?” Not a single person raised their hand. The alternative fuels aren’t avaliable in great quantity outside the midwest. That, the distribution, is something we need to look at. Also, I think we need to look at what some other countries have done with alternative fules, places like Brazil. They don’t have our economy, but they are certainly using alternative fuels.

But, we have got to look long-term.

CAPITOL ANNEX: Another issue that has been discussed a lot of late is immigration. You’re a Hispanic Congressman from a predominantly Hispanic district, so I would bet you are hearing about this issue constantly. What are your thoughts on immigration, especialy from the perspective of your district?

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Last year, I was a co-sponsor of Sen. McCain’s bill on immigration, a co-sponsor in the House of that. To me when you are talking about immigration, you have to reference three points. Now, we are hearing a lot about the first point, border protection, right now. So, border protection, continuity in the system to come into the country legally, and third, dealing with the 11-12 mllion undocumented aliens. No matter what, they are here and we have to address that.

More protection, we need more border patrol, more detention beds, also more National Guard, but not to go down there and do the job of law enforcement. I am talking about being there in a support capacity not to do the job of law enforcement. They already do support.

A wall? I’m not a fan of a wall. The French tried it in World War I, it didn’t keep the Germans out. The Germans tried it, the Chinese tried it, it didn’t work. Plus, it sends the wrong message to our neighbors to the south. We’re telling them that we want to trade, but we’re going to build this wall? What we need to do is fix the system so it is easier for people to come here legally. It takes someone many, many years to do this now. Also, the guest worker program. A lot of people don’t realize we actually have one in place right now as part of some existing laws, we just need to make it work.
Also, we have to look at the 11-12 million undocumented aliens here now. I support a pathway to legalization of these 11-12 million undocumented aliens.

Another issue is stopping the problem before it starts. Mexico’s economy is developing, but compared to the aide we give other countries around the world, Mexico gets very little. If we were to invest money in Mexico and Central America, it would help the economies in thise countries.

CAPITOL ANNEX: Congressman Cuellar, I understand you have to get to a vote, but may I ask what issues you see on the horizon that will be big ones for your state and the district, on the scale of immigration or gas prices?

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Well, of course the budget, that is a major thing we are voting on right now. Do you mind if I talk about one more issue?
CAPITOL ANNEX: Certainly, feel free.

CONGRESSMAN CUELLAR: Border violence is a big issue. I am from Laredo, and around the border there it can be a very violent area.

There have been about 100 people in the last five months who have been kiddnapped. Fourty three or 44 of them were Americans. Some, the FBI says, were involved in the drug trade; some were not, wome were family of people in the drug trade who they got to, some were just regular people in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I’ve met with the families of those missing Americans. When you have a little girl who is telling you, “I just want to see my mommy again,” there has to be more that we can do.

[Due to time constraints, I'll post the rest of the interview Thursday.—VL]

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Vince Leibowitz posted this article under Texas Congressional Delegation on Thursday, May 18th, 2006 at 11:21 pm You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a comment. Pinging is currently not allowed. View Technorati Linkbacks.