Wall Street Journal Radio Network - Transcript

Interview

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) spoke with Michael Castner on The Wall Street Journal Radio Network about the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations and what is necessary to reach an agreement that will pass in both houses of Congress. A transcript of her interview is below, or to listen to a recording, click here.

Kay Bailey Hutchison
Radio Interview
Wall Street Journal Radio

MICHAEL CASTNER: Joining with us right now is Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Thanks so much for being with us Senator.

SEN. HUTCHISON: Thank you Michael. It's great to be with you.

CASTNER: What's going on in DC? And do you have any hope, and if not, fake it (laugh)... any chance we will be coming up with any agreement to solve this crisis?

SEN. HUTCHISON: I do. I think that, in the end, we will avoid the crisis because I know that 90 percent of the people, in both houses of Congress, do not want to hit that debt ceiling and have a disruption in our government. We also want reform to go with the cuts that we are proposing and, of course, that's where we haven't come to an agreement. And there has been a hiccup, for sure, in the House tonight so we have got to go back to the drawing boards. But I do think that the goal is the same. We just haven't figured out exactly how to get there. Michael, I think we are looking at something short term now and then with a promised cap on spending that ensures that there will be more reduction by the end of the year.

CASTNER: And the breaking news tonight is that the Congressional Budget Office was saying that the "Boehner Plan" didn't cut enough so they are going back and rewriting that. But the problem is that if that passes the House, the Majority Leader Reid said that it won't pass the Senate. That's the old version -- do you think this new version could pass the Senate?

SEN. HUTCHISON: Well I do think, and certainly I think everyone hopes, that the Speaker and Harry Reid and Senator McConnell are working together to try to come up with something that is a hybrid of all of the different ideas that have been put on the table. And I don't think that what Speaker Boehner is putting forward in the House is going to pass the Senate. I think it has very good parts, and I support it, but I think if we take parts of his and put it with the parts of Harry Reid's that are real cuts -- but many of them are not -- then I think we will be able to go forward and do something. But the way it is is not clear right now. I just know that everyone has the same goal, so surely we will reach that goal.

CASTNER: We are talking with Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. I want to ask you something. I was just talking with David Gergen from CNN. I think we all know David and you know, people always say they want change, they want to vote this person out, this person in, or what have you. But, you know, I'm taking a look at some of you folks who been around for a long time and you're reasonable. You've been able to resolve these crisis, you're what democracy is about. You disagree with the other side, and you come up with a solution at the end of the day. But Senator we are better than what we are getting right now. This is not what we are used to as American citizens and we know that our lawmakers can do better than being in the situation now.

SEN. HUTCHISON: Well, I know that it looks like there is chaos in Washington, and that is a great concern to people. But the principles are so different on which we are basing our solutions to this problem. And I think we will come to terms, I think probably a lot of people will like it, and a lot of people won't. But I think, at this point in time, all we can do is something short term. I think sending a Balanced Budget Amendment to the States would be very positive progress. But the Senate Democrats are not going to support that and we don't have the 2/3rds vote in the Senate to get that through. So I think we have got to go to Plan B, or maybe Plan Z -- we are just at that point. We've got to do it, and I think we will.

CASTNER: Well, Republican Leader McConnell said tonight, and boy this is some of the best news I heard all day, because I love the way you're talking, and I love the way he is talking. And that is, we are going to have to get back together and get a solution here. [McConnell said] "We cannot get a perfect solution from my point of view, controlling only the House of Representatives, so I am prepared to except something less than perfect because perfect is not achievable." You agree with that?

SEN. HUTCHISON: That is correct. We are not going to get what we would like. And that would be basically the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act. But we are not going to get that. But we can get cuts and we can get caps and we can allow the debt ceiling to go up with the cuts, hopefully, ensuring that we won't have to do it again in the near future. But we are just going to have to work those cuts out. And Harry Reid's proposal doesn't have enough real cuts. It has cuts in waste, fraud, and abuse. Well that's not real. We have got to have cuts that are going to cut back on programs and we can't be sure of how much waste, fraud, and abuse there is. We have got to have the cuts we can count.

CASTNER: Well, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Republican Senator of Texas, as always, thanks so much for being with us and we have our fingers crossed that this can all get done in time. We are counting on you.

SEN. HUTCHISON: Thank you Michael. I'm up to it- we'll go for it.

CASTNER: I know you are Senator. Thanks so much for being with us.

SEN. HUTCHISON: Bye!

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