MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Unemployment Benefits

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SCHULTZ: Joining me now is Congressman Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania. Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. The story is this .

REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT, (D), PENNSYLVANIA: My pleasure, Ed.

SCHULTZ: . Senate Majority Leader -- you bet. Good to have you with us.

The story here is that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that there`s going to be a vote on unemployment insurance on Monday. How is that going to affect the House? And I asked that with this toxic attitude that has been presented by the Tea Partiers and by Boehner in an element of obstruction, the era of obstruction. How is a vote in the Senate going to change minds in the House that all of a sudden 1.3 million people are going to have a better fate when it comes on unemployment insurance?

CARTWRIGHT: Well, Ed, first of all let me say it`s a pleasure to be here on the network that stands up for the Vatican. But here in the here in Northeastern Pennsylvania a lot of are Notre Dame fans. And Notre Dame -- watching Notre Dame is all about seeing what team shows up that day.

It`s the same thing with Speaker Boehner. Sometimes it`s the John Boehner that is cow towing to the hardest Right Wing Tea Partiers, and sometimes it`s the John Boehner who`s listening to the more moderate voices among their conference.

So for example we actually passed something that looks like a budget before we left for the holiday break. Many of us on the Democratic side were happy to vote for it sort of as it`s show of confidence in Boehner because .

SCHULTZ: Sure.

CARTWRIGHT: ... he had found his spine and he stood up to the Tea Partiers and did something. Is that the Boehner that`s going to show up next week and pass a reasonable short-term extension of unemployment benefits?

SCHULTZ: I hope so.

CARTWRIGHT: Because we have over 6,000 families in Northeastern Pennsylvania who got cut off on December 28.

SCHULTZ: Well that`s the key with all there, Congressman, is that the Democrats they`re counting on John Boehner to show up. They`re banking on John Boehner showing up who has a record of not showing up. And the Democrats could be very well in a position at the end of the day saying "Well, you know, we took a vote in the Senate, not a whole a lot of Republicans voted for it, and this is just the way it`s coming down, this is our governmental system".

Reid is giving, as I see it, the GOP a chance to show that they are compassionate that John Boehner does have a poll study. He`s willing to be trusted. And if it doesn`t happen how many more of these votes are going to be taken by the Democrats down the road counting on John Boehner? And I think this is a pivotal vote, I really do. Your thoughts on all that?

CARTWRIGHT: Pivotal is a great word. I like to think of it as a defining moment for the Republicans. I mean are they really the party that doesn`t care at all about, you know, what Romney called the 47 percent, the people they think are the takers in this country? I mean we only think that way if you don`t know anybody who lost his or her job.

You only think that way if you never lost your job. And you only think about people that way if you don`t really care about people. If they vote that way, if they refuse to bring up unemployment compensation extension for a vote then that`s a defining moment that really tells us who these people are.

And that may be even more important than income inequality in this country for the upcoming 2014 elections.

SCHULTZ: Well they`re definitely connected. But I think your own point, this is a real pivotal moment, a defining moment. Is this the way it`s going to be in 2014?

Now granted there`s going to be some Tea Partiers out there that are never going to vote for an extension of unemployment insurance, but what we have is special circumstances in this country right now. We still have high unemployment even though we`ve got 47 months of private sector job growth and added 2.1 million jobs this year.

But the fact is, is it -- in special circumstances we need to do special things as a government and to turn to Americans and say "Well, it`s over with." And these Tea Partiers are saying "They`re nothing but a bunch of couch potatoes. They`re not going to community college and bettering themselves." We all know that the straw man argument is coming from the Republicans.

So what is the best way if this does not come down the way we want it to come down? Where does the political capital end for the Democrats on this?

CARTWRIGHT: Well I think that the very bottom line of the whole picture, Ed, is elections have consequences. I mean we as Democrats have to remember that the Republicans won the House because they won the elections.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

CARTWRIGHT: If we want to fix this problem, if we want to have a House where they bring reasonable things up for a vote, we want to have a speaker who`s not afraid to do things .

SCHULTZ: Yes.

CARTWRIGHT: . for the regular working people of this country, we have to roll up our sleeves and get to work as Democrats and elect the right people to Congress, otherwise we`re going to have this over and over and over again. We have a Republican speaker who`s afraid of the Right Wing
and who`s afraid to do the right thing for regular working Americans in this country.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Matt Cartwright, great to have you with us tonight. I appreciate your time and we will do it again. Thank you, sir.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source