Washington, D.C. – For Country Caucus members, Congressman Mike Waltz (FL-06) and Congressman Pat Ryan (NY-18) joined Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation. The interview was recorded May 23rd at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall washing event annually hosted by the caucus and led by Rep. Waltz. The members discussed the meaning of Memorial Day, veteran suicide rates, military family food insecurity, and bipartisanship in Congress The interview aired on CBS May 26th.
Interview Transcript:
MARGARET BRENNAN: So Congressman Waltz, more than 3 million people including 58 thousand Americans died in the Vietnam war. When you came up with this idea back in 2019, what, what was your inspiration?
REP. MIKE WALTZ: Well, I actually came across, a-a colleague that was a Vietnam veteran himself. And he just told me that he was going that morning to go wash the wall. I said, wash the wall. He said, yeah, the park service, before all of the vet visitors come on Memorial Day, they literally clean the wall because people have fingerprints on them, they want to touch the- the marble or bird droppings, what have you. And, and I said, can I join you? Absolutely. And there was just a group of Vietnam veterans, volunteers on their own time, down here helping the park service. That was years ago. And then once I got elected, you know, and I saw the acrimony and the- the end fighting and I said, you know, let's, let's get a group of veterans together. People who really have skin in the game. I think that's important for the American people to see. To see us honoring our forefathers, to see us where Democrat, Republican, black, white, brown, none of that matters. It just matters that we're all Americans, we're all veterans. And we're honoring those that came before us. And it's turned into a bit of a tradition now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And exactly, bipartisanship is sort of rare these days, or at least, an effort to be bipartisan. What made you come out, Congressman?
REP. PAT RYAN: So this is my second year doing this. I'm a freshman, and this is the most powerful thing I've done in Congress, truly. Very- it's very emotional and it's- it's positive. I mean, there's so many divisive forces, and so to get together with fellow veterans, all services, all generations, and just actually do something with your hands that improves the world, that honors our veterans, that prepares this memorial for hundreds of thousands of Americans that are gonna come here this weekend. It's- it's really- it's an honor. And again, I think it's important to show, as Mike said, the American people that there are people trying to bridge this divide that we have right now. And I, and I thank Mike for organizing this because it's- it's, I think it's been special for all of us.
To read more of the interview transcript please click here.
The full interview can be found here.
The interview was also covered by Politico. Read the full article here.