Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D., N.Y.) on Tuesday took a shot at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) for downplaying the bonuses workers received as a result of the new tax reform law.
Cleaver appeared on Fox Business' "Coast to Coast" to talk about the Democratic strategy for the upcoming midterm elections in November and whether Democrats support the House leadership.
Host Neil Cavuto asked Cleaver whether he agreed with Pelosi that tax reform, which was signed by President Donald Trump back in December, is bad for the American people. The question prompted Cleaver to say any increase in a worker's pay is good, but he added the polling isn't "good" for the tax cuts.
Cavuto noted the polling was, however, "stronger than it was" before he asked further about Democrats' widespread decision to minimize the benefits of tax reform for Americans.
"So you think that it's an issue Democrats can campaign on. The reason why I mention it, congressman, is that a lot of your colleagues, two in particular, Nancy Pelosi and a couple of other Democratic senators who've made the point, 'it could be more.' In other words, 'there could be more,'" Cavuto said. The host later recalled the other lawmaker he was thinking of in particular was Booker, who called tax reform bonuses "crumbs" last week during a town hall.
"But tell that to someone who is getting 1,000 bucks from his company or seeing a little bit more in their paycheck. Do you risk alienating voters who are told this is 'crumbs?'"
"That is the dilemma," Cleaver responded.
"When you downplay somebody's increase, which is significant to them, they're not going to be quite happy," Cleaver said. "Here is the other thing, there is a lot of talk about what's going to happen in January. I think a lot of it is contrived distraction. If you're going to have rabbit stew, you need to first catch the rabbit, and I think we're talking too much about the stew."
"We've got an election to win, and I think that's where the energy ought to be," he added.
Cavuto mentioned Republicans were targeting Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) and asked Cleaver whether he would vote for Pelosi for House Speaker if the Democrats took control of the House after the 2018 elections. Cleaver responded by referencing a recent piece he wrote warning Democrats about "avoiding that," telling them to "stay away from that" issue and focus on winning the midterms.