CLTV: Politics Tonight: Rep. Quigley on the Pope’s speech to Congress and Potential Government Shutdown

The following video aired on CLTV on September 24, 2015. A link to the video can be found here.

Paul Lisnek: Partisan politics return to the Capitol just hours after the address over those very same topics, thanks to a vote over Planned Parenthood funding that could leave us in another government shutdown situation just one week from today. Well one man that was in that crowd this morning, Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley, and he's joining me tonight from Capitol Hill. Congressman, welcome back to Politics Tonight.

Mike Quigley: Thank you.

PL: A big day on Capitol Hill, historic day, but let me ask you, aside from the historic component of it, how important is it that the Pope visited Congress?

MQ: You know, first of all, you're right, an amazing historic event, a great speech. Its importance, I think, will be measured by, "will we heed his advice for a renewed spirit of fraternity, cooperation, to work for the common good?" I think that will measure its success in time.

PL: Now, I do want to ask you what it was like in the chamber, because I know ahead of time, they placed a variety of people who would ensure that people would not reach out to the Pope and do what they do on those State of the Union nights. It was a very calm, very respectful entrance for the Pope. What were the dynamics like in the chamber? Because several people seemed very emotional.

MQ: Well first, it was an emotional moment, and I do think most of the members didn't need to be told more than once that that they weren't to reach out and they were to act in a very respectful manner, so it wasn't just the neutrals there. It was, in my life, perhaps the greatest lean forward moment in a collective sense that I've ever witnessed. I think the body was extraordinarily attentive, respectful, and very excited to have the historical meeting with the Pope.

PL: Obviously, the Pope's role as a pastor, his pastoral role, so very important to him, my understanding is he just chose to skip lunch with political leaders to go serve lunch to the homeless. That's who this Pope is. But I'm just curious, from your perspective, he did get political, not just pastoral. Immigration, death penalty, climate change. Is that safe territory for a Pope to get into in front of Congress?

MQ: You know, I think from his point of view, it wasn't politics as much as moral issues. When someone says climate change is just a political issue, the fact of the matter is, the ramifications, the impacts of climate change, are going to be felt by the very poorest of the people who live on Earth first, and they're going to be affected the hardest. So I think he looks at these from the point of view of being moral issues. The fact that we make them political is probably the fault of Congress.

PL: You know, you make a great point there, and so along those lines, it didn't take long before we saw half the chamber standing for one point, or the other half of the chamber standing for another point—talking about climate change, talking about abortion, and I guess that's why I asked the question. Because it seemed to turn political, at least in the ears of the members of Congress, who started reacting as they do in a State of the Union address.

MQ: Yeah, I think what the members should have done instead is look at this as an opportunity to start building bridges, right? This is exactly what the definition of the word "Pope," and I think we should take that as the definition of the message, not "oh, he meant that you were wrong," or "oh, he meant that we were wrong" it's more of a collective binding, a fraternity that moves us toward the common good. The opening that you talked about, that tells us that polarization or extremism is inappropriate, and unfortunately we're walking right in with threats of shutting the government down because one group or another isn't getting their way. This is what he was speaking to. I think you can get past the aspect that this is a political speech and get to the larger issues of how we should respect each other, again for the common good.

PL: And I want to go into the political issues, but I want to bridge it with the Pope's reference to the golden rule. We played some of what he said, but I think he got the longest and most sustained applause when he talked about do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Such powerful words, and then you can't help but think about what happens in Congress when you tackle issues like the budget coming up and Planned Parenthood issues. It seems like the golden rule goes out the door.

MQ: You know, I think we can get past this. We have before. It's just unfortunate. I mean, if we shut down the government, that's a disaster. If we pass a CR, that's still a failure. People forget, I think, that we are passing a budget, we aren't passing our appropriation bills because the Speaker of the House, Mr. Boehner, pulled those bills because he was afraid his members would introduce measures dealing with the Confederate Flag. In 2015 that's amazing that we're at that point still.

PL: Let me talk for a moment about the abortion issue that the Pope raised, because he talked about the importance of life and so that was a comment related to those issues, and the Planned Parenthood effort, to defund Planned Parenthood, would tie to that. Is that a comment that Republicans can use to be emboldened in their efforts?

MQ: No, I think not. I think the smarter way to look at that is to respect the fact that, if you don't like abortion, and I don't think anyone does, then you want to fund Planned Parenthood. You want to make abortions legal, safe, and very rare. And the only way to get that done is to provide Planned Parenthood birth control to all who need it, and the critical healthcare that goes along with Planned Parenthood to the very, very needy in our society.

PL: I was also struck by the moment we ran it where he talked about being immigrants and Marco Rubio wiped a tear from his eye. And yet, when Marco Rubio talks about his position on immigration, he's one of the toughest in terms of illegals having to leave the country. This Pope would seem to be someone who would say you need to find a way to find amnesty. Am I reading him right, do you think?

MQ: No, I think absolutely. And the Church has a long history of supporting immigration reform. And here's what's even more frustrating: in the last session, the Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform. If Speaker Boehner had put that same bill on the floor, it would have passed with bipartisan support. How we can't get past this loggerhead is just beyond me.

PL: Not much time Congressman, but Senator Mitch McConnell says he promises no government shutdown, so it sounds like maybe some kind of compromise is being reached. Can you share with us, do you know what level of compromise that could be? Or is that strictly a Senate thing and there isn't a similar discussion going on in the House?

MQ: Well, we do know that the Senate plans to put before the Senate Monday a clean continuing resolution to fund the government. And we do know that, as we speak, the Republican leadership in the House is meeting to try to figure out what to do. It's quite simple: at this point, they can put a clean CR on the floor and we can get forward to the other business we need to get to. If they don't, unfortunately there probably will be a government shutdown.

PL: Alright, Congressman Mike Quigley. Thanks so much for your time, sir. You've now been with the Pope, and you've met Paul McCartney. Man, you've got one heck of a life going on. Thank you sir.

MQ: I absolutely do, thank you.

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