Rep. Susan Davis Discusses Iran Nuclear Deal

The a look -- the Iran nuclear deal is on the agenda as Congress reconveyance. We will pay 1 billion -- visit to 7 billion others and meet Tom Ables who has not missed a football game for the Aztecs since 1964. I'm Tom fudge and you are listening to midday addition on K PBS and we wish -- wish you a happy relaxing Labor Day. Our top story. Tomorrow Congress reconveyance after a summer break and one boat that is expected to come up soon as the boat on the nuclear deal with Iran. The deal struck between Iran and world powers requires precautions to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. In return it -- economics Inc. students -- sanctions would be gradually lifted. Congresses expected to vote against the deal and even so President Obama still wins. Because ahead if there are not enough votes to override his veto and it appears they are not. It is expected to be a largely partyline vote and one of the votes on the side of the Iran deal will come from San Diego Democratic Congresswoman student -- Susan Davis. She joins us in studio to talk about the around deal and other matters before Congress and thank you very much for coming in. Happy to be with you Tom Why do you support the nuclear agreement with Iran. The most important consideration that we and our partners in this can have is to make certain that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Now or in the future. We know that they would have the capability to do that in a matter of a few months at that. So this deal is again with the international community -- provides at least a 10 to 15 year window to make sure that whatever they do is for peaceful means. Since we don't have one in your Republican colleagues on the show that me just read it to short statement from one of them in this is Congressman Darryl Issa. He wrote that the deal with a rant Folsom medically short of the standards to obtain the vital anytime, anywhere at -- inspections the White House promised to be part of a final deal. This is junior varsity foreign-policy grounded in childlike optimism rather than clear eyed realism. What would you like to say in response. That's great rhetoric but the reality is that the people who are close to this and have been engaged in watching Iran for many years believe that all the sides that we know of we will have full access to. Anytime anyplace. Those that we discover or feel are in other places there is a period of time that has been allowed and that period of time according to the experts is doable. What I think is so important is that despite the fact that we have a lot of great concerns about Iran and its hegemonic ambitions the reality is that with a nuclear umbrella everything that we fear about their intentions is worse. It's important for the international community to stay engaged and to stay together and that's really what we're doing in this agreement. We can move to next steps. The Israeli government opposes the deal and this may cause some of your Democratic colleagues to oppose it. What you think of that. What we have to do is be sure that Congress is very vigilant as we move forward. Many of us have been engaged in discussions not just amongst ourselves or with the administration or with other experts but also with the Israelis about how we move forward to be sure that their intention stay peaceful. There are ways of doing that. There's criteria that we can engage with and we will have those discussions moving forward. The important thing is to make certain that we stay on top of this along with our allies. One last question on the subject. You must be confident this deal is going to go through given the terms of congressional power and all the president has to do is prevent a veto override. What role do you think Congress should have when it comes to these kinds of international deals. I think it's very important that we continue to be very vigilant about what happens next. And to be clear eyed about the fact that we have no illusions that Iran will not cheat. That's one reason that we have this kind of an agreement and we are not alone in that. Congress has a very important role in making certain that countries to engage with us on this issue stay true to that and do not allow the sanction relief to come and away that could only be helpful to Iran in the worst possible way. I think we can play a role in that, and I think they are willing to have us do that. It sounds like you don't object to the limited power Congress has to terminate this deal. The limited power meeting -- meaning that if there's no veto override the deal goes ahead to go The deals been structured in such a way that there have been other times in which that's true. We are not voting on a treaty here. It is a different way of moving forward and what it takes from the Congress is more of a negative we don't approve as -- whereas I think we are seeing that there's enough approval on that gives the president the ability to move forward. And other agreement in the mid--- news has to do with the trade agreement with Canada and other Pacific nations. This is the trade pact that's very controversial with organized later -- labor. The summary about it giving Obama administration fast-track authority in negotiating transpacific partnership. Do you still support it? We don't have the TPP yet but I supported with is the ability for the United States along with 1100 -- 11 other countries to move forward and be part of an agreement and we will then come back and vote on it. I think that's reasonable because we know the outlines of that but we don't have the final yet. What I've been trying to do and the reason that I stay engaged in this issue because I think it can be in the best is -- interest in San Diego and California and certainly the country but there are some issues that I have that I share with labor and I share with others who want to be sure that it best possible deal that we can get to go -- Will get to that in a minute but how would it benefit San Diego. Whenever we market -- open markets to small business we are providing our men and women who have these processes in a country to have the ability to engage and converse with them. This is very important because we know that outside the United States are valuable markets for many businesses. Whether it's actual services or whether it has to do more with what people may coproduce. One of the things that we are concerned about is what happens in terms of our pharmaceuticals and whether the generic brand name -- and we want to be sure that the specific sub that are good for the United States and certainly for people around the world. So the concern is that some of our pharmaceutical companies may lose money if this goes there? Will want to be sure that the terms of the agreement are such that they are good for the United States and they are also good for those who would also have those pharmaceuticals. People have protested outside your office in San Diego about the TPP. They are concerned about jobs. They are concerned about the environment. Which of those concerns -- you talk about pharmaceuticals -- are concerned this could cost jobs in the United States? There are always reasons that we can be against something but in this case I think that we anticipate that while the end result is something we don't -- can't really judge right now. If businesses grow they are able to hire more people. So that is really what we want. We want an economy that is strong, that is able to reach out to communities across this country and build on what they are selling or offering. We think that there are better markets out there that we can do that with. We have to be concerned about the issues that are racist -- raised by labor. I'm concerned about those in working with my colleagues to be sure that in other countries that we are working with that their laws are such that they are going to be competitive with us. We do not want them to undermine our labor markets here in the United States and that's why I stay engaged and that's why I fight hard for what we can deliver for San Diego and for the country. And that's why you are still thinking about it. Mac absolutely we don't have a deal yet. We don't have anything to vote for right now. I think we're pressuring the administration and we're pressuring our negotiators to do the best deal that they can. My guest is Congresswoman Susan Davis. We're talking about the next session of Congress. Congress reconvenes tomorrow the day after Labor Day. Aside from the subjects we have discussed what do you consider to be the most pressing issues facing Congress for the remainder of 2015. Getting a budget is very important. We need to do that and we need to be sure that we have the authorization bills moving forward as well as appropriations. We have a highway trust fund bill that needs to be passed. I would love to see us come back and look at comprehensive immigration bill but I'm not sure that that's going to happen. We have students throughout this country who would love to see us work better so that the interest rates on their bones are -- loans are reduced. And we certainly want to be sure that everybody in this country believes they have a stake in what happens. It's important that we move forward that way and really worked hard for a strong economy. You brought up the needs for students saying that you want to get the interest rates low on student loans -- Hillary Clinton I believe has made free tuition for community colleges part of her presidential campaign. When you think about that sex is it something the federal government can do to make that happen? I think the federal government would have to subsidize the community colleges of someone forward and that probably is a really good use of those dollars but I think we also want to engage on this issue generally. If we can have that conversation which unfortunately has been a difficult one, I think we would look at a whole range of areas in which young people have the ability to go to school -- the school of their choice and to be able to enter the labor market without having these huge loans. When I have this huge loans people can't make other life-changing decisions. So we want to be sure that it is fair and young people are playing -- paying their part but that they are not strong -- strapped with such loans at the Think about the future. Imagine trying to get a budget. Help me out on this one the deadline is in October? It's basically the end of the month yes. Are we going to see the same drama we have seen in the past weather stock of the government shut down -- where there is talk about government shut down? I hope there won't be but there are some issues that come forward and I hope people are willing to take a stand and those issues. What issues are you talking about? It's my understanding that some people are going to fight the plan he -- Planned Parenthood issue as a way of holding up the budget told that we will be able to focus on the needs of the American people in those needs are passing a budget that moves forward and works in that we address the major issues we are looking at like highways. We need to address that as well. The Mac -- Would probably ask you the same question every year. Is gridlock when to continue to be the way of doing business in Congress or do you feel that you can work with Republicans this year? I can always work with Republicans. I have a lot of them that I work with on a whole host of issues and I think in most cases we are really focusing on issues that don't necessarily take the entire Congress to work on. We need to build on those relationships. I certainly do that every day in Congress but it is disturbing and I understand why the American people would think just move forward and do it. I think that people need to put aside whatever partisan differences they have on a number of issues and make certain that they are doing something that benefits the American people and drives our economy in the right direction. My guest has been San Diego Democratic Congresswoman Susan Davis. Thank you very much for coming in. Happy to be with you Tom. Thank you. 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