MSNBC "1600 Pennsylvania Ave" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "1600 Pennsylvania Ave" - Transcript

MSNBC "1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE" INTERVIEW WITH SHAUN DONOVAN, SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEWER: DAVID SHUSTER

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MR. SHUSTER: For more on what we can expect to hear from President Obama tonight, we want to bring in Shaun Donovan. He's the secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.

Now, Secretary Donovan, today Fed Chair Ben Bernanke testified at Congress. He was optimistic about the future. Watch, and then I'll get your reaction.

BEN BERNANKE (Federal Reserve Board chairman): (From videotape.) If actions taken by the administration, the Congress and the Federal Reserve are successful in restoring some measure of financial stability -- and only if that is the case, in my view -- there is a reasonable prospect that the current recession will end in 2009 and that 2010 will be a year of recovery.

MR. SHUSTER: Secretary Donovan, is it the view of the Obama administration that the recession will end this year?

SEC. DONOVAN: Absolutely. Look, the president tonight is going to be honest with the American people about the issues we're facing. He's going to talk about the three-legged stool to fix the immediate crisis between the housing plan, the financial stability plan and the recovery plan that passed Congress last week. But he's also going to look to the future. And that's what Americans do and that's what this president does. He's going to talk about hope --

MR. SHUSTER: But just to clarify, when I asked if the Obama administration believes the recession will end this year, your response was, "Absolutely." Why is it absolutely?

SEC. DONOVAN: Because we believe we have acted quickly and decisively to put the three pieces in place, the three-legged stool of financial recovery.

MR. SHUSTER: Okay, a lot of economists, though, for example, at the Fed chair meeting suggested that they believe that the recession could last four or five years. So is it the Obama administration's view, then, that some of the members of the Fed are wrong?

SEC. DONOVAN: We believe, with the actions we've put in place to turn the housing market around, which is a key piece of recovery, as well as to save or create three and a half million jobs, and to get credit flowing again, that we can begin to turn this economy around this year.

MR. SHUSTER: And yet some of the same economists suggest that when you talk about creating three and a half million jobs, that's simply a prediction, because nobody's done this kind of modeling, given the economic circumstances we face.

So, again, just to clarify, because I think a lot of people are going to be paying close attention to this interview as a result of what you said, that it's the absolute view of the Obama administration that this recession will be over in one year?

SEC. DONOVAN: I said we believe we can begin to turn this economy around with the three steps that we've put in place. Those estimates of three and a half million jobs have been verified by independent economists. And like the president is going to do tonight, we're going to tell the American people the truth about the situation we're in, but also we believe we've put the pieces in place to turn this economy around.

MR. SHUSTER: All right, Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Secretary Donovan, good luck to you. Everybody hopes that you're right. And we appreciate you coming on the show tonight.

SEC. DONOVAN: It's great to be with you. Thank you.

END.

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