MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR SHERROD BROWN (D-OH)
SUBJECT: PROTECTIONISM INTERVIEWER: ANDREA MITCHELL
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MS. MITCHELL: Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat from Ohio, serves on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee among others.
Thanks very much for joining us, Senator.
SEN. BROWN: Glad to be with you, Andrea. Thank you.
MS. MITCHELL: First of all, let me ask you about "buy America," because the Senate passed an amendment authored by, I guess, Senators Dorgan, Baucus and you clarifying "buy America" provisions and saying that they are consistent with international trade agreements. Then, the European Union said, not so fast, it still would result in a trade war. Where do we stand now on "buy America" in the current package?
SEN. BROWN: The Senate spoke resoundingly -- first of all, passed our amendment by a voice vote. Then, when Senator McCain tried to do away with all of the "buy America" language, even though it's been in law -- U.S. law for 75 years, the Senate resoundingly, more than two to one, defeated it.
I just find -- I'm just incredulous, when we have a $750 billion trade deficit, we have the most open borders and open markets in the world, and -- anybody who would dare to say we're protectionist. it just doesn't -- in Ohio, we'd say that doesn't pass the straight-face test.
So I -- that's just what the Europeans are going to say. They're protecting their industry. They do subsidies, as do the Chinese, and they use tariffs. We're doing none of that. We're simply saying, if we're going to reach into our pockets, ask taxpayers to spend hundreds of billions of dollars in the stimulus package, that the jobs should be in this country when we build infrastructure, and the materials that go into that infrastructure, into the building and the construction, should be made in the United States. It's pretty simple.
MS. MITCHELL: A lot of economists would say that it raises the price by paying more for steel, let's say, on construction projects, and that it will end up costing jobs and having the reverse effect.
SEN. BROWN: Andrea --
MS. MITCHELL: For instance, Boeing will lose contracts to Airbus. Let's just put it that way. Just --
SEN. BROWN: Well, I hear them cry that every time it's in a trade agreement. The fact is our trade policy -- we have a $750 billion trade deficit. We -- $2 billion a day in trade-related dollars leave this country every single day of the year. And our trade policy currently hasn't worked.
And these same people that have written that trade policy are arguing about buying -- "buy America" provisions. And they've been proven wrong for 10 years, as -- as my state and this country have lost -- hundreds of thousand in my state and millions of manufacturing jobs because of our trade policies and because of our tax policies that encourage these companies to outsource jobs instead of -- instead of hiring Americans.
It's -- I just don't understand how they can argue with any credibility that what we're doing is making sense.
MS. MITCHELL: John McCain went to the floor to oppose the president's package again today. Let me play a bit of that and ask for your reaction again.
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ): (From videotape.) The whole point, Mr. President, is to enact tax cuts and spending measures that truly stimulate the economy. There are billions and tens of billions of dollars in this bill which will have no effect within three, four, five or more years, or ever.
MS. MITCHELL: Senator, does he have a point? What's your response?
SEN. BROWN: John McCain's wrong. I mean, he -- you know, the people that are opposing this stimulus package, that are opposing -- opposing President Obama's stimulus package, are the same people that got us into this mess. They pursued this policy of tax cuts for the rich; of free, unregulated trade that cost us jobs; of deregulation of Wall Street. These are the people that wrote these policies. They haven't worked.
It's time to go in a different direction. That's what the election was about. That's why what John McCain said on the floor today is simply not right, that we clearly need to put this money -- not just today for jobs, but when we do infrastructure, right, it's long-term economic development. Every Chamber of Commerce official in my state -- I've had roundtables in all 88 counties in the last 25 months or so, and every one of them will say we need better infrastructure so we can create jobs. We need safe drinking water, and we need water and sewer and bridges and highways systems that will help us do economic development. And they're standing in the way.
And that's why this -- that's why, ultimately, Andrea, this program is going to pass, this stimulus package. But it's -- more importantly, it's why it's going to work.
MS. MITCHELL: And where do you think, if you do think the administration went off-track here when the president goes to the Hill, spends all that time with Senate and House Republicans, basically lets the House Democratic Caucus write a bill and plan to fix it later in the Senate, in conference -- did he give too much weight to the House Democrats --
SEN. BROWN: Well, that's the Republican --
MS. MITCHELL: -- and not scrub the bill going in?
SEN. BROWN: Well, that's the Republican talking points that -- you know, they can read the polls. Obama's popular, so let's blame Pelosi and Reid, and let's blame the Democratic members of the House. This is a team effort.
The bill is a good bill. It's not perfect. It never will be when you spend that much money and when you need to do it in a pretty rapid way. But this bill has accountability built in. It's bold. It's done right. It's done with all kinds of Republican ideas, too. I wish they would be more bipartisan.
But again, the people that opposed this are the ones that got us into this with their tax cuts for the rich and their deregulation of Wall Street. That's why we need to do something very different.
MS. MITCHELL: Do you have the votes today? Is it going to pass today?
SEN. BROWN: It's close. I hope that there -- I think there are four or five Republicans -- including one in my state, Senator Voinovich, who has a pretty moderate voting record -- that will do what's best for the country and support this.
MS. MITCHELL: Okay. Sherrod Brown.
SEN. BROWN: Thank you, Andrea.
MS. MITCHELL: Senator, thank you very much.
SEN. BROWN: Thank you.
END.