FOX News Interview with Rep. Louie Gohmert - Transcript

Interview

FOX NEWS CHANNEL INTERVIEW WITH REP. LOUIE GOHMERT (R-TX)
SUBJECT: TAX TEA PARTIES INTERVIEWER: MEGYN KELLY

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MS. KELLY: And joining me now on the phone is the headliner for one such event in Longview, Texas, and that's Congressman Louie Gohmert. Congressman, good morning to you.

REP. GOHMERT: Good morning, Megyn.

MS. KELLY: All right, so, you know, we've been talking to some lawmakers who are participating in these events. Let me ask you about this: All right, according to our information, five hundred cities and towns are going to participate in this.

The goal is to pressure Congress and the states to reject government spending as a way out of our problems and to build an anti- spending coalition to back off of the taxation as well. Here's my question for you -- is this going to do any good?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, the dirty little secret in Washington is that no matter which party is in the majority, they want to stay in the majority. Speaker Pelosi wants to stay speaker.

And what we saw last September when the Democratic leadership was planning on moving through with moratorium to extend the moratorium on drilling in OCS, when the American public let their voices be heard, they didn't move forward on it. They were afraid of losing the majority in November. Now, they may be moving forward now, but the point is when the American people rised up, the majority takes notice because they want to stay in the majority.

And spending has been out of control. It didn't start with this administration, but, boy, did they kick it into hypergear!

MS. KELLY: All right, but what's the specific target? In other words, you know, these protests in general may be nice as an ideological matter, but the question is, what specifically do you want to see happen as a result of these tea parties tomorrow?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, the spending has got to get under control. Yeah, I remember when the Democratic --

MS. KELLY: What spending? The budget? What?

REP. GOHMERT: Well -- what? Yes! The budget, the bailout bill, the stimulus bills, all of this. I mean, when you look at the fact that 1.21 trillion (dollars) is the total amount individuals will pay in income tax for 2008, and you look at just in a few weeks the Democratic majority push though about $1.6 trillion in spending, we'd be better off just letting everybody in the country have all of their tax dollars back. You talk about stimulating the economy; that's what we're talking about. The spending is out of control.

MS. KELLY: Well, I look at this, and I think, all right, the Democrats have majorities in both the House and the Senate --

REP. GOHMERT: Right.

MS. KELLY: -- and they have probably enough Republicans to push, you know, President Obama's legislation through in both houses when it comes to his budget and spending bills. I mean, that's what we've seen so far. He hasn't been shot down on anything.

So, you know, I think people -- I -- you know, they get upset. And they go to these tea parties, and they make their voices heard. And yet the folks on Capitol Hill, in particular the folks who have been backing all of this spending, think, "They just don't get it."

REP. GOHMERT: Well, it's -- that's right. But there were 81 Democrats who were elected in districts that were won by George Bush in 2004, 49 who were in districts that were carried by John McCain in 2008. Those people keep voting for spending, they're going to be out of there, and there will be no more Speaker Pelosi.

MS. KELLY: Is this about 2010? Is this about the midterm elections and sort of laying the foundation to hold lawmakers accountable who don't listen to these people, who do continue to tax- and-spend?

REP. GOHMERT: I think that's exactly what it is. And if the spending continues and they, the Democratic majority, does not cut the deficit like they promised they would do, then they will be held accountable like Republicans were in 2006.

MS. KELLY: You know, it is unlike anything we've ever seen before at least in recent history in this country. And I know Fox News is going to be covering it. We'll watch to see who else will, but we'll be watching to you tomorrow as well as you participate in the events down there. Congressman Gohmert, thanks so much for coming on.

REP. GOHMERT: We appreciate you being fair and balanced.

MS. KELLY: All the best.

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