Fox News Channel "Fox & Friends" Interview - Transcript

Interview

MR. DOOCY: Meanwhile, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was in the caucus meeting with Obama last night. She joins us from Washington.

Good morning to you, Congresswoman.

REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Good morning. Good to be with you.

MR. DOOCY: So what was the message from Barack Obama to those assembled?

REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, the message was that we have about 98 days till the election and we need to work hard and keep our heads down and focus on making sure that we can get him to the electoral votes that he needs.

He also talked about the -- he also talked about what we need to do once we have an Obama administration: bring the troops home, making sure that we can focus our attention on alternative energy and getting ourselves weaned off of oil and expanding access to health care for all Americans.

MR. KILMEADE: And Congresswoman, what about the concern a lot of American people have because things are so tight now that they're going to be getting higher taxes?

REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, I mean, what they're going to experience under an Obama administration is much more broad based tax reform so that the middleclass and working Americans feel the benefits of tax reform and tax cuts -- unlike under the Bush administration, which has really focused exclusively on the wealthiest of Americans, which is what John McCain is offering more of. So that's what Americans can expect under an Obama administration.

MR. DOOCY: So in other words, for wealthy Americans, their taxes are going to go up. And we've heard some -- well, we've heard some kind of scary numbers.

And forget about the tax rate increase, but Congresswoman, at what stage in an Obama administration would you consider -- would Senator Obama consider -- that person to be wealthy where they should jack up his taxes or her taxes?

REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, what we're going to focus on is not tax increases, but basically allowing the tax cuts that were adopted under the Bush administration for the wealthiest Americans to reach their expiration, which occurs in 2010.

MR. DOOCY: What is -- what do you mean when you say "wealthiest"?

REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Essentially, basically, people who are making more than $250,000 a year, which is the wealthiest 1 (percent) or 2 percent of Americans in this country.

And we are -- what Barack Obama's tax cut plan would do is give tax cuts to 95 percent of taxpayers in America today, unlike what Senator McCain offers, which is to expand even more the wealthiest Americans and the tax benefits that they enjoy now. That's the wrong direction. Americans are struggling with a difficult economy. We need to make sure that working families benefit from tax reform as well.

MR. KILMEADE: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks so much for joining us.

REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

END.

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