Fox News Interview - Transcript

Interview

Fox News Interview - Transcript

FOX NEWS CHANNEL INTERVIEW WITH REP. DARRELL ISSA (R-CA) AND REP. JOE SESTAK (D-PA)
SUBJECT: ECONOMY INTERVIEWER: BILL HEMMER

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MR. HEMMER: We're going to turn our attention now to Washington. President-elect Obama is now making a major push; in fact, he's doing it this hour in northern Ohio near Cleveland, making a push to America for a stimulus plan that may top $800 billion.

Is this a good idea? Or is there a better option there and what will Congress agree on?

Darrell Issa, Republican from California, ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee and Joe Sestak is a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania.

And gentlemen, welcome to both of you here and thank you for your time.

REP. ISSA: Thanks, Bill.

MR. HEMMER: Congressman Issa, I want to work in this segment to figure out what you guys agree on. So why don't we start there? What would you agree on with your Democratic counterpart?

REP. ISSA: Well, I think the one thing we can agree on is that there's a tremendous amount of backlog in roads, bridges and other infrastructure that if they were moved forward now would not only be less expensive, but it would put a lot of hard working men and women back to work.

So those projects that would otherwise be done would simply be awarded sooner, I think, we can agree would be very good. That's a small part, but an important part of the stimulus package.

MR. HEMMER: Okay. And what would that total -- do you want to dare to put a dollar figure on that?

REP. ISSA: Well, the Corps of Engineers is presently budgeting about $10 billion extra for the stimulus package. We've talked to them. They could probably move that up to $50 (billion) to $60 billion that they could do if they were allowed different rules of procurement for roads, bridges and other Corps of Engineers projects.

Additionally, if you piggyback on the other non-Corps of Engineers projects, you could pick another 100 and some billion dollars. So you could get it up to about $200 billion of legitimate infrastructure spending and that, I think, we could agree on a broad base, Republicans, Democrats alike.

MR. HEMMER: I think we might be making some progress here. Congressman Sestak, what about that?

REP. SESTAK: I think Darrell is absolutely right. I think the bill you'll see come to the House floor will have about $125 billion in it because for every dollar you spend on infrastructure, you get a $1.60 back in increase in monies for the GDP. That said, my concern, of course, is that of all construction jobs, only nine percent of them are for women and as you well know, 44 percent of the entire working force is women, but be that as it may, what's also needed here is an overall stimulus bill of about $825 billion, about five percent of GDP and that's why it's a good benchmark for two reasons, number one, we will lose next year, 3.6 percent of our GDP and 1.3 percent the following year if we do nothing.

MR. HEMMER: So you try to compensate for that? Okay. What about tax cuts?

REP. SESTAK: Correct.

MR. HEMMER: Where are you willing to go on that?

REP. SESTAK: You're going to see, I think and hear, about $250 billion of tax cuts. They will be focused on two broad aspects and they're absolutely needed, number one, businesses. You will see businesses getting -- being able to carry back about five years and not just two years' losses. You'll see additional bonus depreciations and additional expensing like we did in the first stimulus bill.

Number two, individuals. You will see about $1,000 per family and that's going to be given back in their payroll so that it's a little bit every day.

MR. HEMMER: And some debate the effectiveness of that --

REP. SESTAK: But this is absolutely needed.

MR. HEMMER: All right. Quickly --

REP. SESTAK: It's very effective. It's about $1.20 each of these. And so it's worthwhile and has a more immediate impact.

MR. HEMMER: Congressman Issa, does that sound doable?

REP. ISSA: This is where Joe and I probably go separate ways on where to put those tax incentives. None of those tax incentives are going to say, spend this money on worthwhile, productive, ongoing activities of our economy. They may be saved or they may simply be spent foolishly. Back in the '80s, the investment tax credits in the Reagan era, which were targeted toward machinery, delivery vehicles, the kinds of items that then, for many years to come, led to a more efficient America. We could do that and it would be a lot smarter.

The stimulus package also is supposed to have an AMT fix in it. As much as I'd like to eliminate the AMT, nothing in the AMT is going to cause the kind of investment in new technology that we're going to need.

REP. SESTAK: Okay --

REP. ISSA: So if we want to have high tech jobs for women, we need to promote them.

MR. HEMMER: This is where the debate begins and, gentlemen, I'm way out of time here.

Congressman Issa, mid-February, is that doable to pass this?

REP. ISSA: I don't believe that we passed on Republicans' majority vote. I think it will pass. I think it will pass on a partisan basis. I'm sad to say that because I think it could be a better bill if we put the kind of targeted tax cuts in that actually encourage new investment, but we'll see.

MR. HEMMER: I was just looking for a date on that and I've got to run.

Congressman Sestak, will it be done in mid-February? Yes or no?

REP. SESTAK: Yes. You'll see it done in February.

MR. HEMMER: Wow!

REP. SESTAK: And why it's also important to get these tax cuts is just because individuals are also hurting just for money in order to pay their mortgages. We don't want them to lose their houses and go into it deeper. So it's also to help individuals who are hurting.

MR. HEMMER: Let's take that debate up another day because there is a lot to cover in that area, too, and there are large disagreements --

REP. SESTAK: There sure is.

MR. HEMMER: As to how effective that would be and how you would manage it and even pull it off.

Gentlemen, thank you from both of you coming on today.

REP. SESTAK: Glad to be here, Bill.

REP. ISSA: Thank you.

REP. SESTAK: It's good to be with you, Darrell.

END.

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