Rhode Island’s top Democrats react to election results

(VJAR) — Rhode Island’s congressional delegation supports a transition of power after the election.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday for the first time since the results were announced, they said some adjustments needed to be made.

“A lot of the things I really hoped to do, like get Social Security and Medicare on a solid footing, get some of the corruption out of the tax code, find a path to climate security, clean up dark money. As for our politics and the atrocities in the Supreme Court, I think almost all of it is due to the advice of the Republicans in Washington, USA.” This was stated by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. “I think these are all important things and I will continue to fight for them, but I think it’s very different now: we have to be extremely careful about corruption and about trying to protect taxpayers and the public from what’s going on.” . there could be a massive influx of corruption. I don’t think the billionaires who put Trump in the Oval Office are likely to be there for public reasons. I think they’re here to rob and we’re going to do it. have to be very aggressive to prevent this from happening.”

When NBC 10 asked what Democrats need to do differently to move forward, Whitehouse simply answered “win.”

“I think we need to be much more aggressive in communicating what we’ve accomplished,” said U.S. Sen. Jack Reed. “I don’t think it will change dramatically. The basic rule of a senator is that major legislation requires 60 votes to pass, so it must be bipartisan by definition, and we are going to work closely with our colleagues, as we have already done. In the past, one of the nice things about serving on the Armed Services Committee is that it has a tradition of bipartisanship and that tradition will continue and we will do our best for the state and we work hard every day and try. work harder the next day.”

When it comes to working for Rhode Islanders, funding for the Washington Bridge remains a major issue.

This fall, two different federal grants, one for $95 million and the other for $135 million, were awarded to the Ocean State to help pay for the bridge.

“These grants have been awarded and we are going to do everything we can to ensure that they are allocated and provided and that we have the money, if not in hand, then we will have money that cannot be provided. be revoked,” Reed said.

But since the final price is unknown, there is a possibility that more money may be required.

“I did very well under the last Trump administration with road grants. Secretary Chao was a pleasure to work with. Through her, we received the largest grants we have ever received,” Whitehouse said. “So I think we will continue to seek additional funding for the Washington Bridge. Right now there’s $220 million budgeted for the bridge, and we don’t even have a contractor or a plan. So we did everything we could. work in the delegation to allocate money, and we are going to continue to do that.”