ABC "Good Morning America" - Transcript

Interview

ABC "Good Morning America" - Transcript

MR. CUOMO: So now the fate of this bill is clearly in the House. Let's bring in two members of Congress that are different sides of the issue.

We have Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat from Ohio, and Representative David Dreier, Republican from California.

Let me start with you, Representative Dreier. You voted in favor of the original rescue plan. How do you think the bill that just got passed in the Senate will help you with other Republican members of the House who were against it?

REP. DREIER: Well, first let me say I hated the bill. I was very concerned at the outset with the proposal that came forward that would have allowed golden parachutes to continue for those on Wall Street and others.

Fortunately, those things were cleaned up in the initial bill. This one is even better. Why? Because it puts into place growth- oriented tax cuts like the research and development tax credit. Energy credits; we all know that energy has played a big role in this economic downturn that we're suffering.

And I will tell you, the American people are angry and frustrated. And I've been hearing from constituents. I did a telephone town hall meeting last night and I will tell you, hearing messages like the woman who said that she was concerned about getting access to a student loan for her daughter so she's (been unable ?) to sleep.

MR. CUOMO: Real concerns. Real concerns.

The numbers are starting to move, though. People were very much against the bailout. Now it's about 50-50, still a little bit more opposed.

The word "bailout." Is that accurate?

REP. DREIER: Oh, it's a pejorative, obviously. And this has been mishandled as far as putting it out there.

The idea, Chris, is to unclog the banking system. And we've gone through periods like this in the past, and this is a very, very serious time. But we need to make sure that we can take the bad debt off the books so that we can ensure that people have access to credit.

So much attention is focused on the stock market, but it really is the credit market. And again, when small businesses don't have access to a line of credit to meet their payroll, as one small business man told me in the last couple of days, it's a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

MR. CUOMO: Now, Representative Kaptur, you've become somewhat of the face of the resistance to this bill.

You wanted different accounting standards; the SEC is moving toward that. You wanted to see breaks for mainstream Americans; you now have 20 million people who will benefit from tax breaks that are in this current bill.

Does that help you? Will you now vote for it?

REP. KAPTUR: I will not support this legislation because it's the wrong medicine.

I agree with David that the problem is the inability of the regular banking system to function because of their credit shortages on their books, with inter-bank lending, for example. But that is because of the real estate crisis and the foreclosure challenge we face across this country.

REP. DREIER: And -- (inaudible) -- too.

REP. KAPTUR: But the way that you deal with that -- the way you deal with that is to use the powers of the FDIC, the time-tested FDIC which resolved all of the difficulties back in the 1970s and '80s in a much worse crisis than we face right now.

And also to do the workouts on our home foreclosures using the FDIC again, but also the Securities and Exchange Commission and a change in the mark-to-market accounting rules to true value, not some sort of artificial index that is used now.

REP. DREIER: (Direct sale. ?)

REP. KAPTUR: We got the SEC to move a bit this week, but I think that -- and the worst part is this is adding over a trillion dollars to our deficit. The value of the dollar is going down.

We need to use the market, not the government, in order to solve this problem.

MR. CUOMO: But do you see that hardship that's mounting? You know that the job numbers are going to come out; 105,000 jobs lost this month. That's the most in the last five years.

(Cross talk.)

REP. KAPTUR: I'm -- very well. I'm very well aware of the --

MR. CUOMO: You know the pain the constituents are feeling.

REP. KAPTUR: I'm very well aware of that.

MR. CUOMO: Are you ignoring what's happening in this credit situation in favor of other issues?

REP. KAPTUR: That's why the FDC (sic) could act more quickly. You're going to funnel this through the Department of Treasury. They're going to contract the contractors. They don't have the staff to do these workouts.

We should use the regular banking system, the FDIC. But that requires bank examiners, bank examiners to look at the books.

MR. CUOMO: And more -- time.

Representative Dreier?

REP. DREIER: We, of course, need to do that.

Listen, I'm a free market capitalist, and the thing that we need to do, Chris, is we need to ensure that the American people have access to capital. It's because of my commitment to free markets that I believe that what we're working on here is the correct thing for us to do.

MR. CUOMO: Representative Dreier, obviously still a lot of room here that needs to be negotiated.

REP. DREIER: Absolutely.

MR. CUOMO: I should let you two get to work.

Representative Kaptur, thank you for joining us --

REP. DREIER: You bet.

MR. CUOMO: Good luck going ahead.

REP. KAPTUR: Thank you.

Citizens should call their member of Congress.

MR. CUOMO: Absolutely.

REP. DREIER: They are.

MR. CUOMO: Every day.

REP. DREIER: They are.

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