MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN)

SUBJECT: THE MINNESOTA SENATE RACE, ARLEN SPECTER AND THE PRESIDENT'S FIRST 100 DAYS INTERVIEWER: DAVID GREGORY

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MR. GREGORY: Joining me now, Minnesota's Democratic senator, Amy Klobuchar -- the lonely Senator Klobuchar, without another senator from Minnesota. Real quickly, Senator, any more pressure, do you think, on Norm Coleman to give up the fight so that, in fact, Al Franken could be seated as a Democrat from your state?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You know, David, there's going to be five Minnesota Supreme Court justices deciding this in the next month or so. And I don't think that has changed. It was the same yesterday. It's the same today. Whether or not Arlen Specter is a Democrat or a Republican, they are going to make their decision based on Minnesota law. I predict it will be a good one for Al Franken, and then Norm Coleman will make his decision. I'm hopeful this is going to be resolved in June.

MR. GREGORY: Senator, your thoughts here about the next 100 days and where you would like to see this president specifically execute with a huge agenda that's now moving through Congress.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Well, I believe that the president -- first of all, in his first 100 days, as we look at this, it's been a sprint. He knows that this is really a marathon in trying to change the direction of this economy. This is a president that is really like no other we've seen in many, many, many decades. He's shown so much calm under pressure, grace under pressure, and is really leading our country in the right direction. I think he always know (sic) you don't just put a flight suit on and march across a flight deck and say, "Mission accomplished."

So he knows he has to work with Congress, and it takes time. I think the health-care efforts are a part of that as a great example. He is allowing Congress to work with the administration, come up with a lot of their own plans. And there, I think you're going to see bipartisan work. There has been a lot of bipartisan work in the health-care area. Economy, we know the next thing in store there is moving on the financial regulations so we make sure this never happens again.

MR. GREGORY: The -- is there a danger in acquiring too much power, if you think about Senator Specter, now perhaps being able to avoid a filibuster in the Senate? Is there a danger sign with that good news?

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: I really don't think so. I think, as you know, 60 is not quite the magic number everyone says that it is. We're going to have members here and there, Republicans joining us as happened with the stimulus package, Democrats that may disagree. So I think it's incredibly helpful to have another senator that wants to move this economy forward and work as a team. But I just don't see the danger signs that some of the insiders are predicting. I just see this as a natural outcome.

Senator Specter, he's an independent thinker. He wants to move forward on this economy. He got incredibly frustrated by his party's refusal to really work with us. Hopefully, this will be a -- more of a danger warning sign to them that we need to work together and they need to work with this new president.

MR. GREGORY: All right. It was great to see you last night at a dinner benefiting --

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.

MR. GREGORY: -- the Boys and Girls Club of America.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: Ah, well. Thank you, David. It was great to see you there.

MR. GREGORY: Senator Klobuchar, I appreciate you being here this morning.

SEN. KLOBUCHAR: All right. Thank you.

END.

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