The following is a transcript of an interview with Rep. Maxwell Frost, Democrat of Florida, on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Oct. 13, 2024.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to Florida Democratic Congressman Maxwell Frost. He joins us from Orlando. Welcome to Face the Nation.
REP. MAXWELL ALEJANDRO FROST: Thanks for having me on.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, President Biden is in Florida today to assess damage from Hurricane Milton. At least 60 Democratic lawmakers, some from Florida, have called for Congress to immediately return to Washington to vote for aid. You haven’t joined that call. Why?
REP. FROST: I believe I have joined that call. But- but if not, I do believe that Congress needs to return to make sure that we pass money for more aid.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But how immediately do you need that to happen? How in need is your community?
REP. FROST: Our community’s very much in need across Florida. But the thing we have to understand is, yes, FEMA has the resources necessary to deal with the current situation, but like was mentioned in the previous segment, NOAA is predicting, and we’ve seen, that this is one of the worst hurricane seasons we’ve seen, and we’re not done with this hurricane season, it doesn’t end, really, till the end of November. And so I think it is important. Why leave up to chance when we can ensure that FEMA has the resources it needs. And not just FEMA, SBA also has a program, and different agencies have programs that help us to respond to these hurricanes. Why would we leave it up to chance and wait till something happens, when we can make sure that we do that work now. Especially when a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are working at politicizing these storms when we can actually do something about it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So you need this vote to happen before Congress is set to return November 12th. Or you can wait until November 12th?
REP. FROST: I think we should do it as soon as possible. Why wait until November 12th? We don’t know what’s going to be happening in terms of natural disasters or storms. I think it’s important that a agency like FEMA have even- not just what they need, but even more than what they need to ensure that they have, the resources necessary, of course, to help with the current operation–
MARGARET BRENNAN: I’ve gotta–
REP. FROST: — which they have but also–
MARGARET BRENNAN: — take a break here, Congressman, and continue our conversation on the other side of the commercial. Stay with us.
[COMMERCIAL BREAK]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return to our conversation with Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost. Congressman, you are the youngest member of Congress, it looks like, and you’ve been on college campuses trying to shore up support for Vice President Harris. In our CBS polling from earlier this summer, before Harris entered the race, we did see among 40% of young people who responded, they said politics over the last few years makes them feel like there’s nothing else they can do. Another 40% said they want to tune out and watch something else. Young people may not be apathetic, but they certainly don’t seem to be excited about the political system as a way to affect change. How do you change that?
REP. FROST: Well, I appreciate the question. And it’s not just up to me, right? It’s up to all of our leaders, all of our organizers, people on the ground, to make sure that young people understand that if they step away from their civic power that they have, there’s people who don’t have their best interests at heart that are more than happy to step into that power for them. I mean, you mentioned, you know, a number that comes before Kamala Harris being the top of our ticket. I’ve seen, as I’ve traveled this country, I did a back to school tour just a few weeks ago, a lot of enthusiasm and excitement around this election, especially with young voters wanting to vote for Kamala Harris. And, you know, there’s this notion that young people are not being involved in the political system, and we can do better, but people should know that young people are voting at the highest numbers in our country’s history. 2020 was the highest youth voter turnout in the history of our country. 2018 and 20- 2022 are the highest youth voter turnout in a midterm in the history of our country, too. So we’re really- we’re trending in the right direction. We just need to continue to reach out to young people, not take those votes for granted.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. And there’s that question of enthusiasm actually translating to votes. You’ve said vibes don’t mean votes. I saw you say. On another issue that we know is of concern to the Harris campaign, I want to ask you about remarks that Former President Barack Obama made earlier this week. He was speaking to campaign volunteers in Pittsburgh and he raised the concern about low enthusiasm and turnout, specifically among black men. He said, quote, “part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.” Do you share the former president’s concern that this is a dynamic impacting the race? How much of an issue is it for Vice President Harris?
REP. FROST: I think it is an issue with a lot of different voters across this country, and it’s something that our country, you know, we’ve come a long way, as in terms of women’s suffrage, we’ve come a long way in terms of making sure of equity in this country. But there’s still a lot of this bigotry in this country in terms of sexism, in terms of racism. And we still have to work at getting over that. Those things are still here. They still exist in a lot of communities. And we still have a lot of work to do here. And so I think President Obama was just having some very serious, tough talk, right, tough love, with a lot of- especially he was speaking directly to young black voters, young black men specifically and making sure that they understand. Look, sometimes you have to take a step back and look at your own bias. What’s the bias you have? What are the real reasons you’re voting against someone or for someone? Is it a legitimate policy thing, or does it have to do more with the vibe of something and then look more into that as well. I think it’s really important. This, like, politics of vibes. We see it a lot here in Florida with someone like Ron DeSantis, who claims to be someone who’s for the people and for democracy. Yet every chance he gets, he acts like an authoritarian. Then I go to voters who have family members, who have escaped countries with authoritarian leaders, and I ask them, why are you voting for someone who’s emulating what your parents escaped? And they can’t quite explain it. It has to do with the vibes, with the atmosphere the politician has created. And I think we still have to contend with that as a country. And that’s what the president was talking about.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Congressman, thank you for sharing your insights. We’re going to have to leave it there for today. We’ll be right back.