ICYMI: Pappas Talks Obergefell, Housing, SCOTUS on MS NOW’s Way Too Early
MANCHESTER, N.H. — In case you missed it, Congressman Chris Pappas joined host Ali Vitali on MS NOW’s Way Too Early to discuss the 11th anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, the urgent need to lower housing costs by advancing the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and the Supreme Court’s latest rulings on immigration and birthright citizenship.
Pappas is running for U.S. Senate to lower costs for New Hampshire families, protect fundamental freedoms, and ensure our government delivers for the people it serves.
Watch the full interview here and read key quotes from Congressman Pappas below:
America’s Test is to Ensure More People Can Live Up to Their Truth
- PAPPAS: “The story of America on the 250th anniversary of our independence is about how generation after generation, more people have come into the fold, have been extended the same rights and responsibilities that we all deserve. It was 11 years ago that the Obergefell decision was handed down. I got married three years ago because of that decision, and I had a friend who read an excerpt from Justice Kennedy’s decision in that case.”
- PAPPAS: “I think it’s pretty remarkable the way we can make progress in America, the way that this continues to be a country of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as was written in the Declaration of Independence, and our test is to ensure that more people can live up to their truth, can be full citizens of the United States. We are better off as a society when that happens, and so part of what we’re facing here this November is ensuring that we’ve got a court that is consistent with the values that we hold dear and the opportunities we have for the future.”
Trump’s Refusal to Sign Bipartisan Housing Bill an Example of His “Complete Incompetence”
- PAPPAS: “The fact is, this was monumental. This bill doesn’t do everything, but there are some significant provisions here that would prevent Wall Street from jacking up home prices would focus on supporting communities that are building more housing, make it easier to get projects done, and the president blew it up.”
- PAPPAS: “I think he’s been pretty consistent that he doesn’t care about affordability, he’s not concerned about housing or Americans’ financial situations, and when you’re coming from that perspective, this housing bill is just another political bargaining chip to get what you want to advance your own extreme agenda, and for Donald Trump, that’s seeing how he can put his thumb on the scale and rig the next election, so it, I think, is incredibly eye-opening, frustrating. This is a central issue in terms of the affordability challenges that we face in this country. We’ve got to get something major done on housing,”
Supreme Court Decisions Underscore Need for Congressional Action
- PAPPAS: “The fact is, we’ve got work to do in Congress to make sure we have sensible immigration laws that ensure that they’re consistent with our values here in the United States.
- PAPPAS: “The ruling about temporary protected status not only impacts Haitians and Syrians, but it has implications for people from Ukraine and Nepal and Venezuela and others that are here legally in the United States under temporary protected status. These are folks who are part of our communities, who are working, who came here legally, and I think it’s up to the Congress to figure out how we can come together on a bipartisan basis and ensure that we’re providing common sense extensions.”
We Need Coequal Branches of Government to Deliver for Americans
- PAPPAS: “I think this is a moment where we have to be doing the work in the people’s house on these major issues and not just allowing the court and the administration to be driving the train, so whether that issue is immigration, whether it’s housing, where we did our job and passed a bipartisan bill with overwhelming support, we’ve got to be responding to the short and long term needs of this country and figuring out how we have a system of coequal branches of government that can actually deliver for our citizens.”
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