Fox News Channel "Your World" - Transcript

Interview

Fox News Channel "Your World" Interview With Rep. Louie Gohmert

Interviewer: Neil Cavuto

Subject: Repaying Tarp Funds

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MR. CAVUTO: All right. And these guys, we gave them the money, right, when they needed the money, right? Now they're paying us back the money, right? So why aren't we seeing a dime of that money? And I'm talking about a lot of money here, folks. Forty-five billion smackers in combined loans to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan. The banks want them off their books, but you're off your rocker thinking you're getting any of it. Texas Republican Congressman Louie Gohmert says he's had enough of it.

Congressman, bottom line is they're paying this money back but it ain't going to the folks who lent it out, us. What's going on?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, what's going on is what Tucker talked about. He realized, as he said, that when the government spends money, it means power for them. So whether it's Paulson, whether it's Geithner, they know, when they pour money into something it gives them power. And so it's one of the things that I was concerned about with this bailout bill back in September. There is no limit. They can treat it like their own piggy bank. They bring it in, they give it out, more and more power every time they give it out. So Geithner is bringing this money back in saying, I want more power, I may want to spend it somewhere else. He needs to reduce the deficit.

MR. CAVUTO: That's the key. I mean, we can sense what his motivations are, but the argument, Congressman, is what started with TARP stays with TARP. In other words, if you got money from Uncle Sam, it stays with Uncle Sam and, in this case, I guess rescuing mid and smaller banks that might need help, too, not going back to the folks who lent it in the first place. Is that the government's way of saying, kiss that 700 billion (dollars) good-bye, it's never going to get back to taxpayers?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, that was my concern originally. But you put your finger on it when you said where it starts it ought to come back to. It started with the American people, and that's where it should come back to. If he wants to do something to finally get the economy going, then go back to my tax holiday idea. Let the people that are earning this money get a tax holiday, not the guys that ran their banks into the ground.

MR. CAVUTO: Do you think, very quickly, Congressman, that had taxpayers been apprised in the beginning that when they lent out all this money that they might get the money back or the government might get these loans paid back early by some of the banks, but the folks who lent it would never see a penny of it, they would be forgetting it?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, you kept your head through this and kept a good cynical eye through it. But the leaders in both parties were saying, looks like we've got to do it. I could see it. I said, this is a slush fund. On the floor, I said, read the bill, this is not good. And now we're seeing the result of a bad bill. But there's an old saying here in Washington. No matter how cynical you get, it's never enough to catch up.

MR. CAVUTO: I love you guys from Texas. You have an expression for everything. Congressman, thank you very much. Very good having you on.

REP. GOHMERT: Thank you, Neil.

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