CBS "Early Show" - Transcript

Interview

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MS. RODRIGUEZ: Joining us this morning is Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Good morning to you, Senator.

SEN. DODD: Good morning.

MS. RODRIGUEZ: So Chip (Reid) just mentioned that consumers will want a guarantee this time. Here is someone else asking us for $700 billion to fix the economy. Will we get a guarantee?

SEN. DODD: Well, we've got to, I will tell you. And I'm confident they will. I don't often reveal conversations with presidents or president-elects, but in talking to the president-elect several days ago, let me use his words. He intends to entirely rebrand this program.

He's not happy, as I'm not and others, of how mismanaged this program has been over the last several weeks -- money going to lenders without any assurances they're actually going to lend; executive compensation not being limited, as it was promised it would be. So there need to be far more assurances here about the accountability standards and how this is all going to work. And if we don't -- am I hearing something? Hello?

MS. RODRIGUEZ: We hear you fine, Senator.

SEN. DODD: Oh, all right. There was someone bellowing in the background. I apologize. (Laughs.)

Anyway, these assurances have to be forthcoming. If they're not, then we'll have trouble passing this. But if they are, then I believe there's a good chance that this money will be approved. It needs to be approved, in my view. But without the assurances on accountability standards, on foreclosure mitigation, which may be the most important aspect of all -- we need to put a tourniquet on the 9,000 foreclosures that are occurring every day in this country. And yesterday Larry Summers gave assurances to many of us in a two-hour meeting we had that that's exactly what will happen.

So I feel better about this this morning, but I want to see the specifics. And I'm told that the Obama team will be giving us those specifics in either a letter form or, if necessary, Barney Frank and I, the chairman of the House Banking Committee or Financial Services Committee, will propose legislation that will demand those kind of standards if this money is going to go forward.

MS. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I can tell you right now, we will -- everyone will be looking for specifics. What about the criticism about the tax cut portion of this plan, 40 percent of it? Some people say it's just politically convenient. You're just trying to get Republicans on board. It's not really necessary.

SEN. DODD: Well, I share those concerns that the best work of all is, of course, job creation and, as they call, shovel-ready projects. But I would also, if we talk about science-ready projects and so forth, not just about what can be done tomorrow but what we need for our economy to grow in the 21st century.

But let me also suggest that there are stimulative effects of tax cuts that are not purely just give-aways. And so some balance of this probably is necessary. And whether or not you have it exactly right, I suppose each one of us might write it a bit differently. But the fact that there are some tax cuts in here, I think, are probably going to be necessary and probably the right step to be taking. I'd like to see a bit more of the infrastructure than we have in this bill, but that's just one person's opinion. Overall, I think the president- elect has it about right.

MS. RODRIGUEZ: All right, Senator Chris Dodd, thank you for your time this morning.

SEN. DODD: Thank you for yours.

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