MSNBC "Hardball With Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

TODD: Welcome back to HARDBALL. The president and Democrats are going full speed to the finish line on health care reform. What can Republicans do to stop them?

Joining me, Republican senator George Lemieux of Florida. So Senator Lemieux, what do you understand as going to be the Republican strategy starting--it"ll probably be a week from Monday, when the baton is handed off from the House to the Senate on these fixes to health care? What is the Senate Republican plan?

SEN. GEORGE LEMIEUX ®, FLORIDA: Well, we"re going to do every...

TODD: The strategy.

LEMIEUX: Chuck, we"re going to do everything we can to make sure that the American people know that this is a bad bill, that it"s being shoved down the throat of the Senate using a process, this reconciliation, that was never intended for a bill that"s going to affect such an important part of people"s lives in this country.

So we"ll be on the floor of the Senate. We"ll be trying to make amendments. We"ll be trying to make sure the rules are followed. And we"re going to expose this process to the American people, just like we did back in December.

TODD: What"s--what"s wrong with a 50-plus-1 vote? What"s wrong with that on its merits?

LEMIEUX: Well, two things. One is this reconciliation process was never intended for something as substantive as health care, that affects every person"s lives, that"s--depending on who"s counting, one sixth or one fifth of the U.S. economy is impacted.

TODD: The bill"s already passed the Senate. These are some legislative fixes, whatever you want to call them, but it"s a much smaller portion than what you"re describing on the Senate health care bill, correct?

LEMIEUX: Well, let"s see what it is. We don"t know what it is yet because it hasn"t materialized. But if it"s going to affect everything from Medicare Advantage to how Medicare works, to how health care works in this country, it"s still an issue that is not intended for reconciliation.

The second point is, the Senate is not supposed to be the body that passes things on an up-or-down majority vote. That"s not what our founders intended. The Senate is supposed to be different from the House. George Washington said it was the saucer that would catch the hot coffee and let it cool down a little...

TODD: Right.

LEMIEUX: ... and where we"d have sober and deliberative debate. We should have the opportunity to offer amendments, to discuss these issues, and do it in a way that"s going to benefit the American people. If it"s going to be some crammed-down process of only 30 hours of debate, and take it on an up-or-down vote, you"re basically turning the Senate into the House.

TODD: But I guess (INAUDIBLE) you had a shot at filibustering this vote, this bill, the health care bill back in December, correct? And you had a shot at doing amendments back in December?

LEMIEUX: Well, we had a shot at doing some amendments. And remember, this bill that"s coming over is not that bill. That bill will be the one that the House will take up. If they vote on it, it will pass. This will be a new bill.

We have the opportunity and we have the obligation--you know, look, I represent 18 million people in Florida. They want me to come up here and offer ideas. I"ve got a fraud prevention idea that some of the folks think might save $20 billion a year. I should have the right to bring that amendment forward. We should have a right to make this better.

Traditionally, a piece of legislation this important would have lots of amendments, lots of debate, and we"d have 70 or 80 senators vote for it, in favor of it. This bill"s not like that. The Democrats have handled it very badly.

TODD: I want to go to this issue of Medicare Advantage because it"s an issue that is very important to a lot of Floridians. Do you think it"s been fair to conflate Medicare, the government-run insurance program, with Medicare Advantage, which is a private sort of insurance subsidy that comes from the government?

LEMIEUX: Well, they"re both parts of Medicare. Medicare Advantage is a program that people in my state enjoy. We have more than a million people on it. And what it does more than...

TODD: But it"s not Medicare, correct? I mean, it"s an addendum, sort of--it"s an extra policy...

LEMIEUX: No, it"s Medicare.

TODD: ... you can purchase in addition to Medicare, though, correct?

LEMIEUX: No, it"s another part of Medicare. You know, you have Medicare part A, part C, part D. It"s a part of Medicare. You can opt into it. And it is a program that provides a lot of wellness benefits independent of, and better, I think, than normal Medicare--health care--hearing care, rather, vision care, wellness care. And seniors in my state like it.

Now, can it be run more efficiently and effectively? Sure. Most everything in government can be. But the idea that we"re going to eliminate it, potentially, is not going to have the seniors in my state very happy.

TODD: I want to move on to...

LEMIEUX: You know that, being from Florida.

TODD: I want to do some local politics there. Obviously, Governor Crist appointed you. I would assume you are in favor of Governor Crist in this primary. What kind of advice have you given Governor Crist on how to come back from what is turning out to be a very, very deep deficit to Marco Rubio?

LEMIEUX: Well, I think Governor Crist is going to be fine. This race is just beginning. The election isn"t until the end of August. This isn"t like the Kentucky primary in two months.

This election is held the last week of August. There"s still a lot of time. And Governor Crist is a formidable campaigner. And if he is underestimated, whoever underestimates him would be at their own peril, because...

TODD: Do you--do you...

LEMIEUX: ... the people of Florida like him.

TODD: ... think Marco Rubio--do you think he"s ready to be a U.S. senator?

LEMIEUX: Well, I will let the people of Florida decide that.

I have worked with Marco Rubio when he was speaker of the house. His merits will come through, and the people of Florida will decide whether or not he"s ready. This is a contest between him and the governor and who is the best pick. And I think the people of Florida...

TODD: That"s not a ringing endorsement. There are some--you know, Senator Martinez the other day, who you replaced, said they were both qualified. Are you--you"re not ready to say that he"s ready to be a U.S. senator?

LEMIEUX: Well, he--look, yes, he--he is--he was the speaker of the house in Florida. That is a qualification to be a United States senator. That"s legitimate.

It"s not a question of qualification. It"s a question of who"s going to bring a better vision, of who the people trust, who they think is going to do a better job in Washington. And I think the people will vote for Charlie Crist.

TODD: All right. Senator LeMieux, thanks very much.

University of Miami today actually advanced in the ACC Tournament, so a little Florida love out there today.

LEMIEUX: Yes, you know, the Hurricanes, it"s all good.

TODD: There we go. All righty, thanks for joining us.

LEMIEUX: Thanks, Chuck. Bye-bye.

TODD: All right.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source