National Public Radio "All Things Considered" Interview - Transcript

Interview

National Public Radio "All Things Considered" Interview

MS. NORRIS: In the Senate today, Democrats are working to win enough Republican support to pump some $200 billion into the U.S. economy. The Senate stimulus package is $40 billion more than the House-passed version -- a version that had support from Democrats, Republicans and the White House. Republicans scoring off with Democrats barely qualifies as news, but this legislation divides Democrats.

I sat down with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her office to talk about the stimulus package this afternoon. She was skeptical about the Senate Democrats plan, even as she insisted that Democrats are speaking in one voice.

SPEAKER PELOSI: We have a difference of opinion between the House and Senate -- not that we need a stimulus, not that it should go to low- and middle-income people -- but we have a difference as to how expensive that package will be.

MS. NORRIS: Now, that package, if approved by the Senate, comes back to the House. Can you imagine this passing in the House?

REP. PELOSI: Well, we'll see what happens. Why don't we take one-step at a time? They haven't passed theirs yet.

MS. NORRIS: But if they do, what would be the --

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, we will have to act upon it. We have been, really, leaders in terms of fiscal responsibility. In all of the bills we passed last year, we did not go into deficit -- not one dollar. Everything was paid for or we realigned priorities so that there was no additional spending in any of those bills that wasn't paid for. And now in the stimulus, we are holding to that same standard.

First of all, is what is in there a stimulus? And second of all, is it so laden down with additional measures that it increases the deficit and hinders a recovery?

MS. NORRIS: A stimulus package, whatever form it takes -- one question that people will have since people -- many families are looking so closely at their own budgets as the economy slows down -- is how the federal government will pay for this. Where does the money come from?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, the Democrats have restored PAYGO, which we had in the '90s when President Clinton was president.

MS. NORRIS: PAYGO -- I just want to make sure that we --

SPEAKER PELOSI: This is called PAYGO -- it's short for pay-as- you-go -- that you can't make any investments or do any spending unless you offset it by reducing other spending. And so when you have a stimulus package, the economists tell us that in order for it to be stimulus, you can't start cutting other spending. You have to inject this into the economy in a way that it will be put in the hands of those who will spend it quickly -- and these middle and low-income families will -- and that injects demand into the economy, creating jobs, returning money to the Treasury.

MS. NORRIS: But if the Senate -- again, they seem to be taking a completely different tact. Are you suggesting that their approach is wrongheaded?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, they have a different culture than we do here. We could come together quickly in a bipartisan way to put -- again, what we did was historic.

It's important to note that before this legislation, there was never a time where people -- low-income people -- were able to get a tax rebate or a child tax credit unless they made a certain level of income and paid income tax. With this bill, we gave recognition to FICA taxes, to Social Security taxes and that is federal tax too. This is the first time Republicans ever agreed to such an approach.

And the president's original bill, the rebates went from those who are paying income tax all the way up to the wealthiest people in America. With this legislation, we put a cap on who would get it on the high end and took $28 billion and distributed it to 35 million families in America.

MS. NORRIS: But the Senate is basically -- in the package that they're looking at, they're suggesting that that's not enough. They also want to extend those benefits -- the stimulus package -- to low- income seniors, to small businesses. They're saying that in order to truly stimulate the economy, more people have to benefit from that package.

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, it -- I mean, if you have endless money, I would like mothers who receive a welfare check to be able to get a rebate, but this was geared to people who paid taxes and it went all the way down to people who make $3,000 a year, so it went down very low. Sure, I'd like to include the seniors. Maybe that will be, in the end, in the package. But it will cost more money.

I'd like to stand on a street corner and hand out checks. That's just not what this is about. This is about -- in a very clear plan to inject demand into the economy by giving rebates to people who pay taxes. In the spirit of compromise there may be some additions that the Senate will put forth that are not pork, but that are real stimulus, and the rebate to the seniors would be one of them. But it increases the packages significantly and goes beyond those who are paying FICA taxes and income tax to those who are not.

MS. NORRIS: Now, this package is designed to jolt the economy -- to provide a jolt to the economy. I want to look a bit further down into the calendar. If the stimulus package does not stimulate the economy, does not provide a strong enough stimulus for the economy, what's plan B?

SPEAKER PELOSI: Well, it's not a question of plan B. This is a piece of something much bigger. I said to my colleagues the other day -- I'm going to talk -- I'm going to use a four-letter word when I talk to you over and over again: jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. And our Democratic agenda, as we go in -- and we hope that it will be bipartisan -- is to create jobs, to create jobs while we meet other needs.

What we are proposing is in order to meet the needs of the American people -- whether it is their health care, whether it is the education of their children, whether it is investing in the infrastructure of our country, or investing in a whole green jobs agenda for addressing climate change and energy independence -- that each of these categories enables us to keep, create jobs, good paying jobs in the United States. And so that is what we will be going forth with -- a very entrepreneurial approach to health care, to education, to infrastructure and to addressing the global climate crisis.

MS. NORRIS: Now, I know we came to talk to you about the stimulus package, but since this is the Wednesday after Super Tuesday, I just have to ask you a question about the elections. You have pledged to stay neutral; however, I wonder if this is difficult for you, particularly on the Democratic side. There's so much interest and enthusiasm.

SPEAKER PELOSI: No. I rarely take a position in presidential races. As matter of fact -- in the primary -- I certainly take a position in the general. It's not hard for me to be neutral, because I have so much respect for all of the candidates in the race. We've had more and now we're down to two. And as we all know, you know, one of them would be a great president, either one of them will make history when elected. And I'm absolutely certain that we will have a Democratic president.

But to chair the convention, to try to bring people together after the primaries, to respect the wishes of my caucus -- some are for one candidate, some are for another, as are my constituents -- no, it's a very comfortable place to be, as a matter of fact.

MS. NORRIS: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER PELOSI: My pleasure. Thank you, Michele.

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