National Public Radio "All Things Considered" - Transcript

Interview

MS. BLOCK: We're joined by Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. He is chair of the Budget Committee.

Senator Conrad, welcome to the program.

SEN. CONRAD: Good to be with you.

MS. BLOCK: This stimulus package seems to be moving on a very fast track from the House to the Senate. Would you vote for this package in the form that it's in now?

SEN. CONRAD: Well, I would prefer to add some things to it. For example, there are a number of things that we know are more stimulative than what's in this package -- at least in terms of timeliness.

One of the concerns about this package -- while there are many good things about it -- that is, tax rebates we know are stimulative. Tax rebates especially targeted to middle and lower-income people are the most stimulative. And this package certainly passes that test.

MS. BLOCK: What would you add to the this package to make it more palatable to you?

SEN. CONRAD: What we know is the things that according to the Congressional Budget Office -- and also economists who've analyzed previous packages -- the things that get out fastest, it turns out, are things like food stamps, things like unemployment insurance. Those things actually take effect in about two months. And if we're worried about weakness now, we've got to find ways of getting additional lift into this economy sooner rather than later.

Now, there is one other thing that could occur with these checks and that is the rebate checks. If companies like H&R Block step up here and provide loans in expectation of the checks, like they do for tax refunds -- in other words, they have expectation loans -- that could get money into the system more quickly.

MS. BLOCK: But Senator, if you start adding on some of the things you're talking about -- I mean, this was worked out between the House and the White House. They got a deal, both sides gave something up. If you throw this back into the pot, don't you think that's just going to scuttle the whole deal and we'll be nowhere?

SEN. CONRAD: No. (Laughs.) Look, I've been here 21 years. The way Congress and the White House works is negotiation. What you have is a deal on the House side with the White House. The Senate has not been part of this and the Senate will have a chance to be part of it.

And look, these are fairly modest changes, but they are things that have proved to work the best. I just don't think you want to leave on the cutting room floor those things that have proved to work the best in previous stimulus packages.

MS. BLOCK: But your counterparts in the House -- the Democrats at least -- wanted some of those things too and they agreed to leave them on the cutting room floor, because they had to to get this deal.

SEN. CONRAD: Well, look, that was an agreement between the House and the White House. The Senate has a role to play here and hopefully we can take this package and improve upon it. Again, we know there are things that work better in terms of stimulus and we shouldn't lose the opportunity to do those things.

MS. BLOCK: Senator, how much pressure do you feel to get this done fast?

SEN. CONRAD: A lot of pressure. Look, it is important to get this right. And I applaud what they've done so far. I think the fact that these are gong to be rebates that go to people who not just have income tax liability, but payroll tax liability, is exactly the right thing to do. Having a mix of business incentives, as well as rebates, is certainly positive.

But we also should learn from the past. And we know from the previous stimulus package that there are other things that could be done here that have a quicker effect.

MS. BLOCK: Okay. Well, Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota, thanks for talking with us.

SEN. CONRAD: You bet.

END.

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