MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR ROGER WICKER (R-MS)
SUBJECT: CONSENSUS ON THE STIMULUS PACKAGE INTERVIEWER: NORAH O'DONNELL

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MS. O'DONNELL: Joining us now live from Capitol Hill is Republican Senator Roger Wicker. Senator Wicker supported the Republican alternative to the current stimulus plan, but that was killed last week.

Senator, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. WICKER: Glad to be back. Thank you.

MS. O'DONNELL: Can you address what specifically are the Democrats adding to this bill that is keeping you from supporting it?

SEN. WICKER: Well, the more we hear about it, the less I like and the less the public likes. One-third of the bill -- 32 percent of the bill -- is means-tested welfare spending. That's not a stimulus.

I wanted to support a bill that would build some infrastructure. Only 3.6 percent of the bill is directed to roads and bridges, something I think we could have a broad amount of bipartisan support for.

MS. O'DONNELL: Senator, the White House is making the case today that they're in the right and that you guys are in the wrong, and that new polls show that. In fact, according to this new Gallup poll that shows the president with a 67 percent approval rating on handling the stimulus, the Democrats have a 48 percent rating, and you congressional Republicans just 31 percent. So, given that, are you guys on the wrong side of the public on this one?

SEN. WICKER: Well, I think if they had asked the approval rating of Democrats in Congress on handling the stimulus, they might have gotten a different answer.

It's all in how you ask the question, and of course we had a Rasmussen poll toward the end of last week that showed Americans by a majority vote were against this package. But I think when they start to understand the details more -- the fact that for every job created, this bill spends $100,000 to $300,000 per job to create a job -- I think the more they hear about it, the more the American people, when asked the question --

MS. O'DONNELL: Well, let me ask you --

SEN. WICKER: -- "Do you support this bill?" would say, "No, I don't support that." They support the president, and there's a good bit of good will about it.

MS. O'DONNELL: Yeah, but I mean, some people are saying -- but Senator, some people are saying "What is the alternative?" including a Republican by the name of Senator Arlen Specter, who writes today in the Washington Post, "I am supporting the economic stimulus package for one simple reason: The country cannot afford not to take action.

"My colleagues and I have tried to balance the concerns of both the left and the right with the need to act quickly for the sake of our country. The moderates' compromise, which faces a cloture vote today, is the only bill with a reasonable chance of passage in the Senate."

That particular point -- the country cannot afford not to take action -- and yet you stand on the opposite side of progress.

SEN. WICKER: Well, and it looks like the other side has the votes. But I will tell you that I supported a proposal that spent about half the money that got directed directly toward housing, the situation that actually got us into this problem, and provided incentives for job creators, the small business people in this country. And I think that's what should have passed.

What we've proved with people like Senator Specter, who I like and admire, is that there are three moderate Republicans in the Senate that can bring this to 60 votes. I just wonder if there's any such thing as a conservative southern Democrat anymore. Is there such a thing as a Blue Dog, because where are they when we're saddling our young people, our next generation, with 1.2 (trillion dollars), $1.3 trillion of debt that the next generation and the generation thereafter is going to have to pay off?

MS. O'DONNELL: Senator Roger Wicker, Republican from Mississippi.

Senator, good to see you. We appreciate you coming on.

SEN. WICKER: Thank you, Norah. Thank you.

END.

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