CNN "Larry King" - Transcripts
Interview
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight, a "Growing Pains" star is missing, last heard from more than a week ago.
Where is Andrew Koenig?
His sister is here desperate for answers.
Plus, men's Olympic figure skating champion, Evan Lysacek, joins us. He won the Gold Medal fair and square, but the Russian runner-up is still griping.
Is there a new cold war heating up over this?
But first, American's government broken?
If so, who can fix it?
Sarah Palin?
President Obama?
Who?
Can anyone solve the problems that could kill this country or are they bigger than any person or political party can solve?
All next on LARRY KING LIVE.
Good evening.
We begin with two distinguished American governors.
In Minneapolis, Governor Tim Pawlenty, the Republican of Minnesota.
In Sante Fe, New Mexico, Governor Bill Richardson, the Democrat of New Mexico.
We'll start with Governor Pawlenty. Governor, five Republican senators, including the new senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, broke ranks with their party. They're supporting a $15 billion jobs bill. A vote expected tomorrow. It could pass.
Good idea, Governor Pawlenty? GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: Well, I don't personally agree with that because I don't like that particular bill and the approach that they took with it, Larry. But for those individuals, they're doing what they think is right for the country ask that and, you know, that's something that they've got to decide for themselves. And now we'll see what happens with the bill and whether it makes a positive difference.
KING: Were you surprised that five Republicans went with it?
PAWLENTY: Well, you know, it's -- you know, it's not the type of bill that is so polarizing. I think they were disappointed that they took out a bunch of the Republican tax cuts earlier from an earlier version. But I don't think it's a complete surprise or a total surprise they -- that they got at least a few Republican votes for it.
KING: Governor Richardson, what do you think of the bill?
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Well, I might note that Senator Brown, the new senator from Massachusetts, voted for it. I think it's a good bill. It shows that President Obama is anxious for bipartisanship. This bill is needed. It -- it covers unemployment insurance. It covers a number of other benefits that are needed right now to -- to help people.
Hopefully, the next jobs bill is going to have some initiatives for small businesses to get capital, tax incentives for companies to create new jobs.
President Obama met with all of us governors yesterday and he was extremely bipartisan. It was a love feast. Republican governors were -- Democratic governors thanking him for the stimulus bill, for the help that is coming to us -- has come to us in highway jobs and education and keeping teachers and cops employed. KING: But I was asking...
RICHARDSON: -- so I...
KING: -- only about the jobs bill.
RICHARDSON: Well, the jobs bill, I believe, is -- is necessary. Hopefully, the...
KING: OK...
RICHARDSON: -- the bill in the House will have more job creating initiatives.
PAWLENTY: Well, Larry, can I just add one thing here, because I think this is very instructive to your larger question about is the government broken?
Not long ago, with a previous version of this bill. They had a lot of Republican support because they had some tax cuts in it. And then the Democrats removed those provisions from the bill and they lost almost all the Republican support over that maneuver, with a few exceptions that you noted. So instead of having a real bipartisan bill with lots of Republicans on the bill with the prior tentative agreement that they had, they basically, again, made it a very partisan bill -- a mostly a partisan bill.
KING: Let me...
PAWLENTY: And that's disappointing...
KING: Let me...
PAWLENTY: It goes right to the heart of your question.
KING: Let me touch a couple of other bases.
Governor Richardson, what do you expect out of that summit on Thursday?
Is that all politics?
RICHARDSON: Well, no. The president has said he wants Republican ideas on health care. And I think you've seen Republicans basically reject his bipartisanship.
I am pleased that the president put forth a more modest bill that involves, I think, potential bipartisan compromises on preexisting condition, on insurance reforms, on insuring more Americans, on incentives for small businesses.
I believe it's a -- a good bill, a health care bill that hopefully will pass very soon in the House and Senate. And then we move on to more initiatives, as he said, on job creation, on the economy, on education reform.
He talked to us about standards and testing and improving our educational system as the core of our economy.
KING: Governor...
RICHARDSON: Again, I think, the president is -- is more than extending an olive branch. I hope the Republicans have some good ideas tomorrow that might be incorporated in this new health care bill.
KING: Governor Pawlenty, are you optimistic about Thursday?
PAWLENTY: Well, the president and the first lady were very gracious to have the governors at the White House and we appreciate their hospitality, Larry. But he's taken basically a 1970s jalopy and run it through the car wash and tried to declare it something new. It's still a 1970s jalopy.
It's a -- it's a start, it's a discussion. But I think it's a prelude to make it look like they're reaching out to Republicans. Unless he actually incorporates some of our ideas and if he's just going to ram through this -- what amounts to what was the Senate Democrat version of the health bill, that's not bipartisanship. If he wants to be bipartisan, he could take some of the ideas, like medical malpractice reform or paying for performance rather than volumes or procedures and the like.
But so far, he's just basically compromising between two Democratic positions. He hasn't meaningfully incorporated some Republican ideas. And that would help a lot.
And I wrote an op-ed about this not long ago. It was in "The Washington Post." And it's at timpawlenty.com, so people can check out some of those ideas.
KING: All right.
Governor Richardson, CNN's is asking all this week on a lot of programs about broken government.
Do you think we have a broken government?
RICHARDSON: Well, I think there's -- just having gotten back from Washington, the atmosphere is too partisan. It's poisonous, in some cases. I -- I -- I said that if the governors and the president worked out a lot of these issues, we could get a lot more done than what's happening right now in Washington.
But I believe that the president has been sincere in his efforts at reaching out. He's addressed a lot of issues.
Look, he brought us back -- we were heading into a depression and the president basically has saved this country in -- in -- in -- in the initiatives he has put forth on health care, on job creation, on helping our banking system, on many other initiatives that needed urgent attention.
I will say that I was discouraged by the partisanship.
KING: All right...
RICHARDSON: But it's not coming from the president's part. He has reached out...
KING: Well...
RICHARDSON: -- and I think he's going to be very effective.
KING: Governor Pawlenty, do you think we're -- we're -- we're broke?
PAWLENTY: Well, Larry...
KING: We're broke and we're broke?
PAWLENTY: We're broke financially, that's for sure. And we've to get our hands around the spending and get it under control.
But in terms of the system, it's a reflection of a divided country. It's a reflection of a lot of polarized discourse and discussion. But when you get, for example, the nation's governors in a room and you say, well, what can we agree on in health care and you set aside the things we can't agree on, you can get a pretty quickly develop a good list. And I think rather than trying this big overreach that the administration and the Congress have done, they'd be much better served at having done this in steps, including some of the Republican ideas and we could have gone down this road in steps. That's what we're going to have to do, instead of trying the big overreach.
KING: All right, let us...
PAWLENTY: But the system reflects a divided country.
KING: As someone once said, let us pray.
We shall call on you both often.
Governors Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Bill Richardson of New Mexico.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source