MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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Joining me now is Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders. He"s calling for a full ban on offshore drilling.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight.
And I want to get to that subject in a moment. But first, I want to ask you about the press conference. It seemed today, to me, anyway, that the White House was playing defense, that this was all about explaining to the American people that in day 38, we are in charge. Don"t you think that"s rather odd?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Yes. I think that"s about 38 days too late.
I think the point here, this is not a BP tragedy, this is an American tragedy. And I think what we should have done from day one is tell BP and every engineer and oil company in the world, we need your help to put a stop to this horrendous spill.
The second area where I think we have got to be aggressive is go beyond BP saying--and your point was correct that you made a moment ago. It"s not good enough for BP to say they"re going to cover all damages, we have got to lift that cap legally and make certain that they do. We can"t just rely on their good word.
Thirdly, Ed, what I would say, if there"s a silver lining in this terrible, terrible ecological disaster, it should be that we wake up and understand that right now, we have got to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel, away from offshore drilling, and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
Let me give you one example.
When I called for a ban, permanent ban on offshore drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Coast, if the oil companies had their way and done all of the drilling in those areas that they wanted, do you know how much we would save on a gallon of gas in the year 2030?
SCHULTZ: I think it"s about 12 cents.
SANDERS: No. Wrong. It"s 3 cents. It"s 3 cents. If we move to 35 miles per gallon in the year 2016, as we are doing, by the year 2030, you"re going to save a buck on a gallon because people are going to get a lot more miles to the gallon. If you do as I want to do and increase energy efficiency, fuel efficiency even more, you"re going to save $1.43 as we go to 55 miles per gallon.
In other words, $1.43, raising fuel efficiency. Three cents by drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts.
What makes sense to you?
SCHULTZ: Well, it makes sense to me. But as I said, the multinationals have got tremendous influence on the Congress. They cash-whip everybody they possibly can. And you have got senators actually out there who are somewhat defending the drilling--
SANDERS: Absolutely.
SCHULTZ: -- saying, well, guys, we"ve done this out there before and this is just an anomaly.
You know, it"s a mindset. And it"s hard for the American people to wrap themselves around the idea that this is a serious sin that has been committed.
SANDERS: Ed, doesn"t this sound like deja vu all over again--
SCHULTZ: Sure it does.
SANDERS: -- in terms of what we did with Wall Street? What Wall Street wanted is, deregulate us. Let us do what we want to do. And we"re going to do good for the American people. Well, they caused a major recession.
The oil companies said to Bush, deregulate us, let us drill anywhere we want, trust us. Well, we got what we"re experiencing in the Gulf Coast right now.
So, the point there, if people are concerned about the future of this country, you can"t go around saying get the government away from business. SCHULTZ: Yes.
SANDERS: You leave these guys alone, and that"s what you"re going to end up seeing.
SCHULTZ: Well, it"s going to take a tremendous will, willpower of the Congress, to turn this around. Only time will tell.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight. You"ve got it together on this issue. They should undoubtedly ban offshore drilling. Thanks for going after it.
SANDERS: Thank you.
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