MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MATTHEWS: Well, joining me right now is Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan. What do you make of that argument--that you got to find a cut somewhere to pay for this emergency?

REP. RUSS CARNAHAN (D), MISSOURI: You know, Chris, this is like calling the fire department when your house is burning down and they have a debate about political ideology and how we are going to pay for the gas and the truck. That"s not what we do in this country.

Congress has emergency powers to deal with this, do it that way. We should do what Americans do best when there"s natural disasters, whether it"s flooding on the Mississippi River, or tornadoes in St. Louis or Joplin, or hurricanes in the Gulf, we lend a helping hand to those who need it. That"s what we do.

MATTHEWS: What do you make about this energy? Is your sense that this weather condition we are facing right now--I mean, I don"t think I"ve ever seen a more horrific picture of a twister than the one going through Joplin. Is there something going on in our weather out there that you know about in your part of the country that"s going to be around for a while, it"s not just a fluke?

CARNAHAN: I sure hope not. This has been not only--that tornado in Joplin was the worst ever that we know of, but around the country, over 500 deaths by these multiple tornadoes in the Midwest and the South, unprecedented weather events but it really requires us as a nation to pull together. And we"ve seen such incredible events were people have pulled together--from individuals giving, but also the president, as we heard on the program earlier, standing up in Joplin this weekend to tell people there he is going to be there, we"re going to be there for them.

MATTHEWS: What"s the latest word? We just found out that your governor out there, Jay Nixon, a Democrat is saying that the federal government is going to pay 90 percent of the cleanup. What do you make of that? Just came out.

CARNAHAN: It"s another way to give a helping hand here. This precedent has been set. This was done down in Alabama and certainly with states and local governments struggling through these tough times--this is an extra way to have national help there in Joplin, Missouri.

MATTHEWS: Let"s listen to your colleague, Claire McCaskill, friend of this show, talking about this Cantor move, which I find pretty ideological. We usually put aside ideology during crises. Let"s look at Claire McCaskill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: There is no question we have to be careful about the way we spend federal money. But with all due respect to Congressman Cantor, I have a hard time believing that if this were in his congressional district, he would be talking about how additional disaster relief would not be available unless we found some other program to take it from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: So, what would happen, you think if you stood up on the House floor. I know some of this tornado does affect the state of Virginia on the periphery, not like it did your state, of course. But what would you make if he had done this to you. Would you take as a personal attack? How would you view it?

I mean, I"m sorry, how do you think he would view it if you had done it to him? I should say. He"s already done it to you.

CARNAHAN: Well, first of all, we shouldn"t be playing politics with natural disasters. There is a great time and police to have debates about our budget. There"s a great time and police to talk about investing money and disaster preparedness where we know a dollar invested. We are saving $5 on the other end. Let"s have those debates.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

CARNAHAN: But when people are smack down in the middle of a disaster, rebuilding, still looking for lost victims, this is no time to be saying--you know, we are going to have a debate about how we are going to pay for the gas in the fire truck.

MATTHEWS: I think right, left and center agree with you, only Cantor disagrees. Thank you so much, Congressman Russ Carnahan of Missouri.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source