Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi represents the 8th District in northern Illinois. He joined the 21st Show to share his thoughts on how the war with Iran is going, the U.S. House of Representatives voting to pass a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security minus Border Patrol and ICE, and what’s next for him after he leaves office next year.
Interview Highlights
On current state of Iran War
“It’s a colossal disaster. It is illegal. It’s unconstitutional, but it’s also causing tremendous hardship for Americans. You don’t have to look further than your gas pump where you know we’re seeing $5 to $6 gas. You’re seeing the price of fertilizer go up, cost of goods in grocery stores and across the economy going up, inflation creeping up. And then of course the human costs are mounting as well.”
On funding for ICE
“I think what it says right now is that I believe this is going to become an electoral issue. This is, this is going to be something that the voters have to decide in November, among other things, which is do they like the way that CBP and ICE are operating or do they want to go a very different direction. I think they’ll prefer the latter.”
On congressional redistricting ahead of midterm elections
“We should kind of go back to a situation where voters choose their representatives and we don’t have lines that um for congressional districts or otherwise that look the way they do currently, but at the same time if the president is going to basically dismantle you know these congressional districts in the middle of an election process or election year, I think that Democrats have to have to respond.”
On what’s next after serving in Congress
“I’m gonna continue to fight for the issues I care about, whether it’s, you know, career technical skills based and vocational education or whether it is making sure that our 2026 elections are free and fair. In part, I have jurisdiction in the oversight committee over mail-in balloting which I’m very concerned that the Trump administration is attacking now for purely partisan purposes, um, so I’ll be plenty busy and I just have to continue to work on the issues I care about and that’s what I intend to do.”