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Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC, good morning, everyone. This week, today, right now is a pivotal moment for what kind of country the United States is going to be for the next generation. It's also a very interesting time to be Ritchie Torres. Now, on this being a pivotal moment, that's not hyperbole. This is not the kind of thing I say here every day.

Tomorrow, the house is scheduled to vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill that's intended to repair and modernize transportation for drivers, bicycle commuters, and mass transit users alike. It would also expand broadband to help close the digital divide, such an important thing for this country. Hanging in the balance is the so-called reconciliation bill, which would revolutionize the way government helps Americans pay for baby and toddler care, pre-K, and at the other end of life, long-term care in your own home for interim senior citizens. It also has major provisions to stop the March of climate change, the so-called reconciliation bill.

As of right now, some of the more progressive and more centrist Democrats in Congress can't agree on a path forward, with one side threatening to vote no on infrastructure, the other on reconciliation. That's not even to mention that the Republicans are threatening a government shutdown as early as tomorrow night and have the United States treasury default on its debts shortly thereafter. Do you own treasury bonds? It's a pivotal moment for the United States today right now.

Yes, it's an interesting time to be Ritchie Torres. He may just be a freshman Congressman from the Bronx, but he led the New York City delegation and writing a letter to President Biden, asking for federal intervention in the Rikers Island jail crisis, not just on humanitarian grounds as we've been discussing on the show, but on civil rights grounds. Torres is a member of the House Progressive Caucus but was also celebrated last week in a column by New York Times' conservative columnist, Bret Stephens called New York Superstar Progressive isn't AOC. Congressman Ritchie Torres joins me now. Congressman, always good to have you on, and I'm glad to have your voice at this pivotal moment. Welcome back to WNYC.

Ritchie Torres: Always a pleasure to be here.

Brian Lehrer: We'll get to the future of the United States, but let's start local because the Rikers Island crisis is so in the present. Two more people have died there in the last two weeks. Why did you ask President Biden to get involved in conditions at a local jail?

Ritchie Torres: Well, the conditions in Rikers Island represent a humanitarian crisis. It's become a public safety and public health crisis. I've said if Rikers Island were a country, it would be declared a failed state. Keep in mind that there was nothing inevitable about the downward spiral of Rikers Island. It was largely a consequence of malign, neglect, and mismanagement. The conditions were left to deteriorate rapidly during COVID-19.

I asked myself, how could the workforce be allowed to be so absentee? There are about 8,700 correction officers. At various points, a third of them were either out sick or otherwise unable or unwilling to work. The correction officers who were on site were often working multiple shifts with minimal food and sleep, intake units became so overcrowded that they could easily become Petri dishes for the spread of COVID-19. I see this as a management failure of the highest order, and my colleagues and I in the congressional delegation have called upon the justice department to intervene because the City of New York cannot be trusted to manage the situation on its own.

Brian Lehrer: What do you want them to do? Do you want them to enact literally a federal takeover of the Rikers Island, New York City jail?

Ritchie Torres: No federal takeover, but there's a need for federal scrutiny, a federal investigation that will determine what reforms could stabilize the conditions of Rikers Island, because the status quo is unacceptable, and it's a civil rights violation. The majority of detainees in Rikers Island are awaiting trial. Rikers Island has become a death sentence for those who have never been tried much less convicted of a crime. If that is not a civil rights violation, I'm not sure what would be.

Brian Lehrer: Have you gotten a response from the President or Attorney General Merrick Garland or anyone else? This letter went out last Friday.

Ritchie Torres: No response. It takes government a long time to respond, but yes, there's no response yet.

Brian Lehrer: Wow. When you talk about the neglect that allowed the jail to deteriorate into this humanitarian crisis, many listeners may not remember that before you went to Congress, you were in city council and chairman of the oversight and investigations committee there. You were a leader in drawing attention to the chronically bad conditions in public housing. That then started to get more serious attention. With that as background, how do you see Mayor de Blasio's handling of Rikers in particular? How much did his actions or inactions caused the problem? How much is he just trying to fix what COVID and the correction officers sick out and the slow down of the court system dumped in his lap?

Ritchie Torres: Look, there could be many people to blame here. Certainly, the conditions did deteriorate rapidly during COVID-19, so COVID is a factor. The crisis of COVID has been compounded by mismanagement. The question I have is, how could the correctional workforce be allowed to be absentee in Rikers Island, and the intake process, which normally would take 24 hours became drawn out for weeks and days? There are more suicides and self-harm or violence and deaths in Rikers Island. I see it as a management failure on the part of the City of New York. The mayor is in charge. He's the chief executive, and the buck stops with him.

Brian Lehrer: Do you think more people should be led out of there right now? The mayor and the DA say we have to remember some of those at Rikers are being held on charges of very violent crime.

Ritchie Torres: I suspect there are non-violent offenders who could easily be released. We released early several detainees during COVID and did so safely and successfully, and we should replicate that same strategy now.

Brian Lehrer: The mayor did champion the idea of closing Rikers altogether by 2026. I think it's fair to say he was a leader on that. Before COVID, he had reduced the population there by thousands with criminal justice reform policies. Does he deserve credit for a big picture right direction?

Ritchie Torres: He does. I support the vision for closing Rikers Island, and the latest humanitarian crisis demonstrate that Rikers is too big to succeed. It's just too unwieldy to be managed successfully.

Brian Lehrer: Do you support replacing Rikers with the four proposed borough jails, including the one for the Bronx, which has been subjected to debate over where in the Bronx?

Ritchie Torres: I did vote for it, and I stand by it.

Brian Lehrer: Before we turn to national affairs, what's your next step with respect to Rikers? It's one thing to send a letter and get news coverage for sending a letter and having more of a public discussion about the civil rights aspects of this. If they're not responding, what's the next step?

Ritchie Torres: Yes. We're going to give the Justice Department until early next week to respond, and then we're going to reach out.

Brian Lehrer: All right, let's turn to this intense moment in national priorities. The Democrats in Congress can't agree on the physical and human infrastructure bills. Progressives like AOC are threatening to vote against the physical infrastructure bill tomorrow unless the two bills are linked because they're afraid that centrist Democrats like Joe Manchin won't then vote for the human infrastructure bill. They're both using the word hostage, like holding one bill or another hostage in some soundbites from yesterday. What's your position?

Ritchie Torres: AOC is right, I would say. There are two bills. There's the Build Back Better Act, which is not only physical but also social and human infrastructure. Then, there is the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, which is purely physical infrastructure, purely roads and bridges. I would argue that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework focuses narrowly on physical infrastructure and fails to prioritize the need to combat catastrophic climate change.

Politics is about compromise. It's about give and take. Every progressive, every single one of them is willing to give the moderates the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework, but not every moderate is willing to give the progressives the Build Back Better Act, the larger $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill, and therein lies the problem. That's the stalemate. The obstructionism is not coming from the progressives, it's coming from the so-called moderates.

I use the word so-called because someone has to explain to me what is moderate about allowing the child tax credit to expire and plunging 10 million children deeper into poverty. What's moderate about denying long-term care to senior citizens or perpetuating housing insecurity and homelessness, or turning a blind eye to catastrophic climate change, or leaving our country as unprepared for the next pandemic as we work for the previous pandemic? The Build Back Better Act would build a 21st-century social contract, it would invest in pandemic preparedness, and it would combat catastrophic climate change, and these are challenges that we cannot afford to ignore.

Brian Lehrer: Will you vote no tomorrow on the infrastructure bill, like Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Congresswoman Jayapal from Washington State, another leader of the Progressive Caucus, are threatening to do unless they get pushed through at the same time to make sure that the moderates, the so-called moderates won't let the second one fail?

Ritchie Torres: I'm torn. Part of me worries that voting for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework means surrendering leverage necessary for passing the much larger and much more consequential Build Back Better Act. On the other hand, I wonder whether I'm assuming leverage where none exists. It seems to me that Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, Senators Synema and Manchin, would be perfectly pleased if nothing passes. It is not clear to me at all that killing the bipartisan bill on the floor would actually give us leverage in relation to those two senators.

Brian Lehrer: Interesting. If you vote for the bill tomorrow, would it mean that you would be in a coalition with the majority of Democrats, but not all the democrats because the squad and Congresswoman Jayapal and some others might vote no, plus Republicans who are for the bipartisan bill? It'd be a lot of Democrats and a lot of Republicans against the most progressive, as they're calling themselves, Democrats, is that a coalition you're you're comfortable being in?

Ritchie Torres: I'm leaning toward no, but I want to give the speaker an opportunity to make her case to me. I care far more about the larger Build Back Better Act than I do. Ideally, I would want to pass both bills. The speaker originally promised to advance both bills on two parallel tracks, but then, as you know, we have the smallest majority we've had in more than two decades, and we only have three votes to spare in the house, and any faction of members, no matter how small, no matter how fanatical, can hold the rest of the Caucus hostage.

In the late summer and late August of 2021, there were a number of Democrats who threatened to derail the reconciliation process unless the speaker agreed to bring the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework to the floor for a vote, and the speaker had to break her promise to the progressives in order to break the stalemate. There's a sense in which I feel like we're rewarding hostage-taking, but it's a real dilemma.

Brian Lehrer: Do you trust Senator Manchin?

Ritchie Torres: No.

Brian Lehrer: They're holdouts, even from our local house delegations like Tom Suozzi and Josh Gottheimer of New York and New Jersey respectively, not to kill or fatally dilute the human infrastructure, what you call the Build Back Better Bill with childcare and eldercare and climate prevention, also known as the reconciliation bill? If the physical infrastructure bill passes, what leverage is there to get Manchin and the others I mentioned to go forward?

Ritchie Torres: I'm concerned that there's no leverage. Here's my frustration, Senators Sinema and Manchin refuse to tell us what version of the Build Back Better Act is acceptable to them, what policies, what price, what pay-fors are acceptable to them. If you refuse to spell out your position, then how can we negotiate with you? How can we trust that you're even willing to negotiate in good faith? I feel like we no longer live in a democracy, we live under the tyranny of Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, we're at the mercy of their whims.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, your calls are welcome for Congressman Ritchie Torres of the 15th Congressional District in the Bronx, mostly the South Bronx, let's say, between-- all right, tell me if I get this right, mostly between the Deegan and the Hutch between the RFK Bridge and Whitestone Bridge, from up at the Bronx Zoo in the north to end the Botanical Gardens with the wonderful Kusama exhibit right now, in the North to Yankee Stadium and below in the south to West Farms 10460, and you're the congressman from the Cross Bronx Expressway, does that tell it okay?

Ritchie Torres: Yes, south of Fordham Road and west of the Bronx River for the most part.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, your calls are welcome for congressman Ritchie Torres on anything we've been talking about, 646-435-7280. You can lobby him, especially if you're in his district on whether to vote yes or no on the bipartisan infrastructure bill tomorrow. If it remains on linked to the reconciliation or Build Back Better or human infrastructure bill, that bill has so many names, 646-435-7280, you can ask him about Rikers Island, and his relation to that issue, or anything else relevant for congressman Ritchie Torres, 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or tweet your comment or question at Brian Lehrer.

When we come back from a break, which we're going to take right now for just a minute, I'm going to ask about the column in The New York Times by their conservative columnist Bret Stevens, calling you not AOC, New York's progressive superstar. Do you even want that label coming from him? Stay with us, Brian Lehrer on WNYC.

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Brian Lehrer on WNYC with Congressman Ritchie Torres from the Bronx. Myrna in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Congressman. Hello, Myrna.

Myrna: Yes.Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I just want to say how very angry I am with the Democrats. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, voted Democrat all my life. Why are they so inept, never learned to play the political game? We need to pass things in order to remain in control, because if we don't, then Trump is going to be back in 2024, and if it means just passing the infrastructure bill on which you have partisanship agreement, then let's do it, let's get something passed.

To play these stupid, unrealistic games, to think that we're going to have some kind of leverage, we have no leverage in the Senate, we have no leverage in the House of Representatives. We may be in control of all three branches of government, but we're not in control. The Republicans know how to play the game, and we never learned how to do it. It's time to get realistic, pass something, get something done. Also, I want to know where the money that I donate to the Democratic Party is going. When I don't hear any ads on TV touting the benefits of any of these bills, I think this is a disgrace. Where are the Democrats?

Brian Lehrer: Myrna, Thank you very much. Well, she put a few things on the table there, Congressman. Obviously, she wants you to vote yes on infrastructure tomorrow, so something gets done. Also, you heard it at the end, she's a donor to the party, and she wants to be seeing TV commercials and other things making this case more loudly.

Ritchie Torres: Look, it's a fair point. There is a concern that if the Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework fails on the floor, it could derail the momentum of President Biden's tenure, and he certainly needs a win at the same time. My view is that the Build Back Better Act is too big, it's too important to the future of our country to fail, especially on issues like climate change, or even the child tax credit. If the child tax credit is left to expire, it will affect 69 million children. It will plunge 10 million children-- [crosstalk]

Brian Lehrer: I think we won't get that one.

Ritchie Torres: It will plunge 10 million children into poverty. It's a dilemma. I acknowledge that it's a dilemma. There are legitimate arguments on both sides, but the Build Back Better Act is far more consequential to the future of the country, and it's it's too big to fail.

Brian Lehrer: Here's Diego in Manhattan, who I think is going to disagree with Myrna in Brooklyn. Diego, you are on WNYC with Congressman Ritchie Torres.

Diego: Thank you. Congressman, I actually really admire your work, but I disagree with do on this one. I think that it would be better to pass the bipartisan legislation, because actually, a lot of people in the country agree with it. There are some recent polling that about 60% of the country agrees with the bipartisan legislation and about 52% agrees with the Build Back Better.

While I think that Build Back Better has a lot of good things, wouldn't it be better to pass the bipartisan legislation, and then negotiate with Sinema and Manchin for the reconciliation bill, which could come down in size, but we'll pass no matter what because they have already promised to pass a reconciliation bill, even if it's smaller in size?

I've talked to many students at the City College of New York where I go to, and they agree with the proposals from both legislation. They think that we need urgent repair in both infrastructure, physical and infrastructure and human infrastructure. If we don't pass either, there'll be a catastrophic result for not only the country but for the Democratic Caucus and the majorities that you have built in the 2020 election.

Brian Lehrer: For 2022. Diego, thank you very much. I got that wrong. I thought that he was going to disagree with the previous caller. He obviously takes the same position, vote yes, so you have something done, and then keep moving on. Let's just go to another caller, Giovanni in Bed-Stuy, you're on WNYC. Hello, Giovanni,

Giovanni: Good morning. I've been listening to the discussion, and for the Congressman, and I admire his position, but for the people like those two senators, you have to actually suspend belief and disbelief and what's going on in this country as to why, because their biggest argument right now is that it costs too much money. You're going to add to the debt.

The President says, "No, there's not going to be any money added to the debt." He has a plausible argument, a real good argument to prove it because since 1980, when Ronald Reagan and those three illegals put together the supply-side idea to budgeting and getting a pay for the government, there wasn't one year, not one year since that time with 24 different sessions of the presidency was in the hands of the Republican that they didn't produce a debt.

Brian Lehrer: Right, and that's fair. Let's pivot on that, Congressman Torres, to this issue, which is very in the moment with this deadline coming tomorrow night for passing the next federal budget. The fiscal year starts on Friday, October 1st. This is where you and other progressives will certainly agree, I'm sure. That's on the Republican threat to partially shut down the government when the current fiscal year ends tomorrow night by not approving a new budget. Where's the right and wrong of this as you see it? How big is the threat, and how much are they just bluffing?

Ritchie Torres: I am confident that we can pass a continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown. Here's where I'm not so confident. The Republicans are against raising the debt limit. As you know, there's been a long bipartisan tradition of raising the debt limit so that the federal government can borrow more money to pay its debt obligations.

Then beginning in 2011, the Republicans began to politicize the process and use the debt limit as a bargaining chip in negotiations. This time is different. The Republicans are unconditional in their opposition to raising the debt limit. They're not even using it as a bargaining chip. They're just simply saying no, it's pure obstructionism, it's pure arson.

If we allow the debt limit to be breached, or if the federal government runs out of cash, as it could, sometime between mid-October and early November, it could lead to economic catastrophe. Our government runs on deficit spending. That's the greater challenge. I think we can avert the government shutdown. The greater challenge that we face is, how do we prevent a default in the face of Republican obstructionism, the debt default?

Brian Lehrer: What would a default mean? Does it mean that the average American who might own some treasury bills as the safe part of their investment portfolio might see those defaulted on, or what else does that mean?

Ritchie Torres: It would destabilize the whole system. The whole system depends on the full faith and credit of the United States. If there's no longer confidence in treasuries, if there's no longer confidence in the federal government's ability to pay its bills, then everything comes crashing down. It means we no longer have enough cash to send Social Security checks, to pay for defense, to pay for basic goods and services. It would be a catastrophe of the highest order.

Brian Lehrer: The caller was right historically to point out that every year that the Republicans have had the presidency since Ronald Reagan, the federal debt has gone up. It went down for a few years during Bill Clinton, and otherwise, it's gone up every year, and under Democrats too.

Ritchie Torres: That's a crucial point. Infrastructure is not an expenditure. It is an investment. We are making investments that will enable us to be more productive at home and more competitive abroad. If the United States of America can squander $2 trillion on a failed war in Afghanistan, then why can't invest trillions of dollars in our own people and our own infrastructure and our own future right here at home?

Brian Lehrer: How will you resolve this? How will you get the Republicans not to sabotage the full faith and credit of the United States, or ultimately, will the consequences be so apparently dire to so many people that they wouldn't dare because then they won't get elected to their congressional seats next year?

Ritchie Torres: We are in dangerously uncharted territory. If the Republicans refuse to budge, then the President might have to invoke the 14th amendment. A case could be made that the President under the 14th amendment has the authority to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally to preserve the full faith and credit of the United States, but that's a gray area.

We could seek intervention from the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve could, in theory, buy treasuries so that the federal government can pay its bills, but that's on the chartered territory. We've never had, in the history of the United States, a political party unconditionally opposed to raising the debt limit and honoring the full faith and credit of the United States. This is a level of obstructionism and Neoism without precedent in the history of our country.

Brian Lehrer: Edmundo in the Bronx, you're on WNYC with your Congressman, Ritchie Torres. Hi, Edmundo.

Edmundo: Hi, thank you, Brian. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Love the show. Congressman, although I did not vote for you, I do support the stuff you have been doing, and I think you're doing a great job. My question is in regards to cyclists and other people who do not travel by way of car or truck. Last year, 26 cyclists have died across the city, 8 of those were in the Bronx. Just last night, a woman was parking her car and got killed while a car stood by. What are you doing or what are you willing to do to help make the streets safer for people who are not in a car or truck? I'll take my answer off the air.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much.

Ritchie Torres: Well, thank you for the kind words. I think part of what we want to do is pass the Build Back Better Act, which would include investment for more climate-resilient infrastructure, more sustainable infrastructure, which would lead to safer streets. In the American Rescue Plan, we brought $6 billion to the City of New York, which certainly gives the city more resources to invest in safe streets. We're bringing resources for Washington DC, but we have to do more to hold the city accountable for creating more safe streets.

Brian Lehrer: A Rikers call, Tanya in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with Congressman Ritchie Torres. Hi, Tanya.

Tanya: Hello. I'm a long-time listener of your show, Mr. Lehrer. Congressman, I do like a lot of things that you have done. My one question is, I hear Rikers spoken about quite often. What I don't hear in this conversation at all is the power that has been taken away from correction officers to handle situations. I should also mention I'm a New York state court officer. I work in criminal court. I see a big change within the last two years and my previous four years.

For instance, the correction officers get in huge trouble for simply defending themselves if they're attacked and they simply pick up an inmate cuff and then put them in the cell, they can have days taken away from them. They get suspended, and I understand why they don't want to come to work and why they don't want to involve themselves. I think this is part of the mess that we have now. I'm just wondering why this hasn't been brought up. Do people know that this is happening? Is this an issue for you guys?

Brian Lehrer: Congressman.

Ritchie Torres: It's not an issue. That's not a piece of it that I know well, but I've heard that the correction officers feel handcuffed by some of the consent decrees, some of the agreements that the city has entered into with the US Attorney's Office. That's why I called for an investigation to figure out what policies and practices are contributing toward the public health and public safety crisis in Rikers Island, and how can we revise those practices and policies to improve the conditions of confinement at Rikers. That would be part of the investigation that I'm calling for.

Tanya: Okay, thank you very much.

Brian Lehrer: Tanya, from your perspective, what changes would you advocate? Because we had Vincent Schiraldi, the new correction commissioner, on the show recently, and one of his main points was that to improve things for the inmates, we also have to improve things for the correction officers. What specifically would you change?

Tanya: I would like if there's ever a call by an inmate saying that they were hurt or there was an abuse of power, there are cameras all over, instead of just simply immediately taking days away or blaming the correctional officers. Look at the cameras, see what actually happened, see if they were attacked, if they were defending themselves, or if they were abusing their powers, because that way, at least they know.

They even feel handcuffed if there are two inmates fighting because the inmates say that they grabbed someone the wrong way or do anything that can be looked like an abuse of power, they don't want to involve themselves, so it's like they can't win. Just please really look at each situation when there's a complaint and make an honest--

Brian Lehrer: Determination.

Tanya: Just really decide on what to actually see. Yes, thank you, exactly. An honest determination on what actually happened instead of immediately just taking time or suspending correction officers, and I think that would really help everyone, the inmates and the correction officers.

Brian Lehrer: Tanya, thank you very much. It's obviously a part of the equation. Congressman, in our last few minutes before you go, the column in The New York Times by conservative columnist, Bret Stephens, calling you not AOC, New York's progressive superstar. How much did you cringe or smile or anything else at that comparison from that writer?

Ritchie Torres: I cringe at the comparison. Unfortunately, I cannot control what is written about me, but I'm indifferent to these profiles. I think as an elected official, you have to be careful never to believe your own press releases and never to drink your own Kool-Aid. I just work my heart out for the people in the South Bronx, and I focus on the end game, which is public service, and I just ignore the background noise.

Brian Lehrer: You were quoted in that article saying, "I don't hire ideologues or zealots." Does that imply you think AOC or other members of the squad or the Progressive Caucus do?

Ritchie Torres: No, I don't. I have enormous respect for Alexandria and the role that she's played in raising awareness about climate change, which is an existential threat, and when it comes to the Build Back Better Act, we're on the same page on substance.

Brian Lehrer: Last thing, off the topic of that article, on something that I know you feel very passionate about, and we have tried to highlight a bit on this show, and I want to give you a platform to do it as we finish up. You've been a big champion of the provision of the reconciliation bill, By the way, I said it earlier in the segment, but I'm going to say it again because people who are not total news junkies can get so confused.

When the media talks about the reconciliation bill, when it talks about the human infrastructure bill, when it talks about the Build Back Better Bill, when it talks about the American Jobs Plan, these are the same bill. This is the 3.5 trillion that tag that gets put on it and unfairly because a lot of it would be paid for by the tax hikes. It's not increasing the debt by $3.5 trillion, but that's another piece of it, but when they talk about the reconciliation bill, Build Back Better, human infrastructure, it's all the same bill.

One of the things it would do is it would make permanent, the expanded child tax credit, which started a few months ago as a temporary piece of pandemic help for families. It's touted as perhaps the biggest weapon against child poverty in the United States since the 1960s. Congressman, since you represent what's usually called the poorest congressional district in the country, can you tell if it's already helping kids in your district avoid poverty circumstances?

Ritchie Torres: The child tax credit has cut child poverty by 50%, not only in the Bronx but throughout the country. Families have more money to put food on the table and pay their bills and keep their families afloat, and it benefits disproportionately families with children and essential workers. For me, there's no greater enemy of opportunity in America than child poverty, and alleviating child poverty is not only good morals. It's good economics.

According to the National Academies of Sciences and Medicine and Engineering, child poverty costs our country up to $1 trillion every year in lost productivity, and for every dollar that we invest in alleviating child poverty, it generates $8 in returns. It's one of the best investments that we can make in the future of our country, our children.

Brian Lehrer: How is it that a bill that a credit that's only been in effect for a few months could have cut child poverty by 50%?

Ritchie Torres: The simplest way to radically reduce poverty is to put money in people's pockets and to make our country more affordable.

Brian Lehrer: Since it's a monthly payout, they've already gotten a few of those checks or credits.

Ritchie Torres: Unlike most tax credits, which tend to be given annually, the child tax credit operates as a basic income, as social security for families with children. Families will receive up to $300 per child every single month. The program has been a resounding success. There's no policy in America that has had a comparable effect in lifting up the lives of the most vulnerable.

Brian Lehrer: Do you at least have Senator Manchin and Senator Sinema on board for that?

Ritchie Torres: Senator Manchin is a skeptic about the child tax credit. He's playing into Republican talking points and calling for a work requirement.

Brian Lehrer: We leave it there as a work in progress on the reconciliation, Build Back Better, human infrastructure bill, and everything else that we've been talking about with Congressman Ritchie Torres from the Bronx and your calls. Congressman, we always appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Ritchie Torres: Take care.

 

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