STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts has been listening with us. She is the House minority whip, meaning she is a member of the Democratic House leadership. Representative Clark, welcome back.
KATHERINE CLARK: Oh, good morning, Steve. Good to be with you.
INSKEEP: As you know very well, when the majority is strong in the House, the minority has hardly any power at all. But have you arrived at a point now where Democrats do have some power because Republicans are divided?
CLARK: What we are seeing from House Republicans is utter chaos. And yesterday, we showed that when we are united as Democrats, we can score some victories. But almost a hundred days into this war, the fact that we could only get four out of the 218 House Republicans to join us in the war powers resolution is pretty shocking because they're having the same conversations that I'm having at home, people facing skyrocketing gas costs because of this war and still no explanation of why we are there and how we determine that we have had victory and what's the strategy for getting us there.
INSKEEP: What is the practical effect of passing this resolution through one house at a moment when the administration itself is trying to end the war?
CLARK: It is showing that we are listening to the American people, who are telling us they don't want this war. It's cost them $50 billion in tax dollars to support it. It's 13 service members have been killed, hundreds injured. And it's made everything more expensive. And it is a statement to the president, to the State Department, to the Department of Defense that we need to end this war. We should never have been put in this position. The American people are paying the price for this war of choice by Donald Trump without a strategy for actually accomplishing anything. We...
INSKEEP: Well, let me ask - let me follow up on that point, if I can, Representative Clark. Do you agree with some analysts, then, who have asserted that it's better to end the war, even though it seems to have accomplished very little? It arguably has left the United States in a worse position.
CLARK: It absolutely has left us in a worse position because we have seen Iran, for the first time, use the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon - to shut it down and effectively increase costs around the globe not only of gas, but of fertilizer and other products that are going to end up costing American families more. And they're the only ones paying the price for this war - working families. So this is a signal to the White House to say, you have to bring this war to an end, and all of this - all of this treasure, all of the service members we've lost and who've been injured, the pain that working families - and again, for what? We are nowhere closer to making sure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, which is a shared goal.
INSKEEP: I want to follow up on another matter that we discussed on this program yesterday with your fellow Democrat Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. It has to do with renewing a portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has been much criticized by Democrats and Republicans. Senator Warner wants to round up just enough Democrats and Republicans to pass it. And he asserts that this is now much more difficult because the president has appointed Bill Pulte an acting director of national intelligence, who seems to have no experience and has a background of weaponizing government information. Are you - is that going to be very difficult to get through Congress at all now?
CLARK: It is going to be extremely difficult. Trump once again has jammed down the throats of the American people and of Congress a nominee for a very strategic and important position who has no time in the military, no time in Congress, no time in the diplomatic corps, no experience in law enforcement. And...
INSKEEP: Let me just interrupt. I'm sorry to interrupt, Representative Clark. Just got a few seconds left. I want to get to the bottom line here, if I can, though, because there's this measure that intelligence agencies insist is essential. And a lot of Democrats don't like it. Are you going to be able to round up votes for this anyway?
CLARK: I think it is going to be very difficult at this point to round up Democratic votes in the House. We have been working for months to say, come together. There's a bipartisan solution that we can address concerns over this program while we acknowledge that we need a program like this to keep Americans safe. But it's not a binary choice. And they have refused to come together and put in some assurances for the American people about the use of the FISA program against Americans.
INSKEEP: Got it. Representative Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.
CLARK: Thank you, Steve. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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