MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. JIM MCDERMOTT (D), WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE: That"s it. And the president had that meeting with them. He keeps making the same diagnostic error. He thinks that you can shame the Republicans. They have no ability to be shamed by children without food or being thrown out of their homes or all the problems that come with unemployment. And so, it"s wasting your time doing that. The second thing is you have got to stop negotiating with yourself. Make them put something on the table. If they want to put something on the table, it is never going to pass. The president can"t pass a law, it has to be passed by the Congress. The Democrats have put bills out there, it"s been turned down by the Republicans. We may have are to go through two million people without anything at Christmas time. When people figure out what these people are really all about. The Republicans do not care.

SCHULTZ: And the president doesn"t seem to push the hard line. Why does he have to turn to Geithner? Why does he have to turn to his budget director? Why can"t the president just say, this is what we are going to do? The tax cuts are going to expire for everybody but we are going do something for the middle class. Are you in or are you out? Why doesn"t he do that?

MCDERMOTT: I have no idea. Sending Tim Geithner out to solve this problem, he is the guy that caused it, among other people, on Wall Street. And for those who have made all the money on Wall Street to say, go out and solve it for the people that you put out on the street without anything is simply--I can"t think of a more unlikely person to come up with a solution to this problem because they come back and say, well, I tell you what, we will give two months of unemployment benefits and two years of tax breaks to the rich, that is a pretty good deal, isn"t it? And that kind of deal is not going to work, it"s not going to get my vote.

SCHULTZ: The thing that is so damaging politically here congressman, and correct me if I am wrong, is the Democrats can do this? They have the majority in the House, OK and in the Senate, instead of the president using his political capital going over and twisting some arms trying to get some votes in the Senate, he is meeting with the Republicans saying, you know, everything is on the table and I have commissioned a couple of guys to go figure this thing out with you guys, when we know all along that the Republicans are not going to--they are going to be unwavering on this. They will not capitulate on the top two percent. The corporate money won"t allow them to do it. Am I right or wrong?

MCDERMOTT: That"s what Eric Cantor said today. He is going to be the majority leader in the next Congress and he said, we will vote down a tax reduction for everybody if is it is just for the middle class, it has to include the people at the top. So, he"s already set the stage and there is no negotiating with a guy who makes a first and final offer. He said, that"s it, there is nothing on the table except take care of the rich. And that"s what their first priority is, it"s their second priority. It"s their third priority and it is their fourth priority. They do not care about the unemployed in this country.

SCHULTZ: Well, the numbers are very clear. For every dollar that is spent on federal unemployment benefits, it leads to $2 in economic activity. These are--this is a composite study by the Labor Department and so, what is happening tonight and what"s going to happen for another two million at the end of December means that 2011 for a good majority of Americans, I mean, we are talking about 20 million Americans that are affected by this. We now go into the heartless age of American history. We now are writing a new chapter. We have never done this before. We have never denied benefits at an unemployment rate at this level.

MCDERMOTT: These guys act as if they have never read the story of the Good Samaritan.

SCHULTZ: They haven"t.

MCDERMOTT: They walk by people and ignore them, laying there in the street with nothing. Not because they are lazy or because they didn"t try but because Wall Street screwed up the economy and they lost their job.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Jim McDermott, we have had you on the program numerous times talking about this. I want to thank you for not giving up on the story. I want to thank you for doing as much as you possibly can and we should mention tonight, what we are talking about doesn"t even include the 99ers.

MCDERMOTT: No.

SCHULTZ: It doesn"t include the 99ers. And it is horrible. And we know that during the holidays it is a tough time for a lot of Americans. Depression sets in, people do desperate things and I think the fact that in Mitch McConnell"s home state of Kentucky, they are arming the unemployment officers speaks volumes. They know exactly how people are going to react to this, they know the hurt that they are doing but they just can"t let their sky box mentality go, they got to take care of the top two percent. If I may say it, it sucks!

MCDERMOTT: They can"t be shamed.

SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight, sir. Thank you.

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