MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

You, I know, are one of the voices who"s willing to stand up and protect the big three because this is not the problem. Where do we stand at this 11th hour as everyone quotes?

REP. DENNIS KUCINICH (D), OHIO: I think it"s very important for Democrats to draw the line and say that Social Security has nothing to do with creating this deficit. There"s no reason why Social Security should be mixed in with this discussion about the debt ceiling. Social Security has a long term problem and it"s solid through 2036 without any changes whatsoever. We could solve it very simply by lifting the caps on the amount of money that is subject to Social Security taxation.

So, we don"t have a problem with Social Security.

Where we have a problem, as you pointed out earlier--wars, tax cuts for the rich, and the fact that you had Wall Street cashing in on speculation --

SCHULTZ: So, why are the Democrats--

KUCINICH: -- of the housing bubble.

SCHULTZ: So, Congressman, why are the Democrats even getting roped into this conversation?

KUCINICH: Well, I think that the Democrats normally we want to be supportive of the president. But when the president has put Social Security on the table in the middle of a debt ceiling debate, we have to caution the president that Social Security has been a cornerstone of social and economic justice in the United States since 1934.

SCHULTZ: He"s not listening. The president"s not listening to the Democrats right now on protecting the big three. He"s not doing it.

KUCINICH: It"s called having the votes to pass a plan. And if they"re mixing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in with the debt ceiling issue. They"re not likely to have a vote to pass the plan.
There"s no reason why America should go into default. Let"s make that clear, Ed. There have been routine extensions to the debt ceiling, 74 since 1962, 10 since 2001. There"s no reason we should be looking at a fiscal version of Armageddon right now.

People are pushing a certain agenda, some want tax cuts. Think about this--tax cuts? We"re saying that, what"s the problem, the deficit--we"re going to add another $1.5 trillion., $1.7 trillion to the deficit by getting rid of the alternative middle tax that would help those in the top brackets?
We have to ask ourselves--are we united as a nation for all the people? Because right now, these plans will essentially help the continuation of the acceleration of the wealth of America into the hands of the few, at the expense of the poor and the middle class.

It doesn"t have to be that way. We can regain our capacity for governments who invest in the economy to create jobs. The problem is we don"t have enough jobs in the economy.

SCHULTZ: No, we don"t have enough jobs. So, why take from the vulnerable? Why is President Obama doing this? Why do you think a Democratic president is doing this?

KUCINICH: I can say that I can"t tell you I know why he"s doing it. But I do know this: that those of us who are in Congress, who were elected as Democrats, understand that--as Bernie Sanders said, it"s so important to remember that people--use Social Security as a lifeline, for more than 90 percent of seniors, it is the source of income that people have to survive. A 10 percent cut for people over a period of time would be devastating. We cannot expect people to absorb these kinds of cut backs, when at the same time you have Wall Street cashing in on new machinations in the economy.

SCHULTZ: It makes no sense.

KUCINICH: We don"t have to go into default, Ed. I want to make that clear. It should not be a choice. We have to do everything we can to avoid it.
But we cannot ask the poor and the middle class to continue to bear the burdens of the wrong decisions that Washington has made.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Kucinich, good to have you with us tonight.
Thanks so much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source