MSNBC "Interview With Senator Orrin Hatch" - Transcript

Interview

Copyright ©2009 by Federal News Service, Inc., Ste. 500, 1000 Vermont Ave, Washington, DC 20005 USA. Federal News Service is a private firm not affiliated with the federal government. No portion of this transcript may be copied, sold or retransmitted without the written authority of Federal News Service, Inc. Copyright is not claimed as to any part of the original work prepared by a United States government officer or employee as a part of that person's official duties. For information on subscribing to the FNS Internet Service at www.fednews.com, please email Carina Nyberg at cnyberg@fednews.com or call 1-202-216-2706.

MS. MITCHELL: Debate on the president's $3.6 trillion budget proposal hits the Senate floor Monday, but some Republicans are already calling the proposal a work of fiction that declares war on the U.S. job force.

SEN. HATCH: The document with which most of our colleagues are quite familiar with by now is entitled, "A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise," unquote. While this is really a nice title for which I commend the president, it does not sound like the appropriate name for a work of fiction. Simply stated, Madame President, this budget declares war on American jobs and on the ability of American businesses to save or create them.

MS. MITCHELL: That was Republican Senator Orrin Hatch who joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Senator, what else do you think about the budget? Clearly, you are taking on the president and his administration right now. What about bipartisanship? And what about the president and what he said to the business leaders at the Roundtable yesterday, which was that not everything is going to be done right away, but that we have to at least start forward on this ten-year document?

SEN. HATCH: Well, President Obama knows that I'm one of the bipartisan people who help bring people together up here, but look, you can't tax and spend and borrow your way out of a recession. This country is the greatest country in the world. I think we'll pull out of this, but if you look at this budget, I really don't think many Democrats can really vote for this budget either because it is one of the biggest spending budgets we've ever seen in our lives. They're talking about going to $3 (trillion) to $5 trillion in extra spending and you know, they're going to tax small businesses, 50 percent of small businesses creates 70 percent of the jobs and 50 percent of them will be hit very hard by the taxes that they're bringing. Then they talk about a climate change approach, in other words, a cap and trade that will make us uncompetitive with the rest of the world because while China will not do anything about it, if we do that, it's going to be the largest tax increase on the middle class -- the people that the president said, 95 percent of whom will have tax reductions. It's going to be the biggest tax on the middle class in history.

If you look at it, the borrowing that this administration is doing is more than all of the borrowing and all of the deficits from 1789 up through 1987. In just a few weeks, he has accomplished that kind of borrowing and spending, and if you add it all up, it isn't going to work very well.

So I really believe there will be a significant number of Democrats who are going to say we can't do this.

Let me add one other thing. In the corporate world, you know, we used to have 18 of the largest corporations in the world and then we started taxing them overseas, other countries don't do that by the way. So we make them uncompetitive. Now, we only have eight of those companies left in this country and I guarantee you if the president's tax approach goes through where he taxes their work overseas and makes them uncompetitive with other countries, they're going to move overseas.

I just chatted with one of the major CEOs in this country and he just frankly said, look, if that goes through, we have to move our pharmaceutical business to Switzerland and that magnifies itself in many, many other ways. This is a disaster this budget.

MS. MITCHELL: But Senator, you've been one of the, as you point out, one of the bipartisan supporters of health care reform. You're working with Teddy Kennedy. You want to get that done. At the same time, you're criticizing the plan, the Obama plan to set up a $600 billion reserve fund. You say it relies too much on reducing reimbursements for doctors and hospitals.

Something has got to give here, I mean, there has to be some reduction in reimbursements in order to make this thing work.

SEN. HATCH: Well, where are they getting most of their tax reductions, excuse me, where are they getting most of their savings? They're cutting back on the military primarily. They're not cutting back on anything else. Then they say they're going to cut back on doctors and hospitals and if you believe that, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you.

Every time that happens, we always have to come up with the money for doctors and hospitals, I mean, it's nice to say that, but it isn't going to happen. So a lot of smoke and mirrors in here.

Look, I happen to like President Obama. He's a very charismatic, winning personality, very bright guy, but I think he's even being underserved by this particular budget. This is an awful budget. You're talking about, you know, just on the so-called cap and trade; you're talking between $1.2 (trillion) and $1.9 trillion in additional costs that will make us uncompetitive with the rest of the world.

Where are we going to get the revenues to be able to pull out of this? I think even Democrats are going to see that this doesn't work as much as they seem to be enslaved by some of these wacko, left wing views.

MS. MITCHELL: Orrin Hatch, telling us how he really feels.

Thank you so much, Senator. Great to see you.

Source