MSNBC The Situation - Transcript

MSNBC The Situation - Transcript
Friday, September 16, 2005

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

CARLSON: One thing we know for certain the reconstruction of the gulf coast is going to be expensive, up to $200 billion, possibly more. How are we going to pay for it?

Our next guest should have some idea because he is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Joining us from Waterloo, Iowa tonight, Senator Chuck Grassley, Mr. Grassley, thanks a lot for coming on.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: Oh, I'm glad to be with you, Tucker.

CARLSON: So, Senator, I'm looking at an AP story that has you quoted saying this. You said in the case of a terrorist attack or in this instance a hurricane recovery, "You don't worry about the debt you incur in the cleanup." Do you still feel that way after the president's speech last night?

GRASSLEY: Well, of course, I do because in the case of a terrorist attack we're at war and in World War II if we had worried about the deficit or would have been in New York City, an act of God comes along. You can't insure for it ahead of time, so you do what you do to help the people that are hurting.

Now, you have to make adjustments accordingly to it and I would expect future budgets of this president and even under my leadership to show some restraint in other areas so that we're taking from other areas to help pay for this but it's going to be a long haul.

I would suggest, for instance, we could have an across the board budget freeze. People that are going to get by on X number of dollars in 2006. Then for our next budget, 2007, could get along with the same amount of money during that period of time.

Families have to live maybe the next year on what they made the year before without a raise and we in government can do the same thing. And I know it doesn't give a lot of money into the pot that I'm talking about but to members of Congress can start this process going by saying that we won't have a pay raise.

GRASSLEY: But, Senator, one of the key promises of the Republican revolution eleven years ago was rollback, the idea that I was sold on anyway when all these Republicans took over was they were going to get rid of things. They were going to chop federal spending not just halt it but cut it, pare it back. What about that?

GRASSLEY: OK, well let's look at where we have been under this president. We inherited a 16 percent increase in annual spending from President Clinton the first year of the president's budget, Bush's budget, it was six percent and then five percent and three percent.

For the year we're in right now it's a one percent increase and the budget we're working on for next year for the programs that you can plan on, not acts of nature like New Orleans we're going to have a budget freeze except for defense.

So, we're picking out those things that are essential. You've got to support your troops in Iraq.

CARLSON: Yes.

GRASSLEY: Well wherever they are fighting the war on terror because it's our enemy. And when you have an act of God, you've got to help the people that have need but it's got to be paid for. It's not something you can write off like you can by going into bankruptcy. You've got to keep your commitments and we'll do that by adjusting expenditures and paying for this over the long haul.

CARLSON: Now, we just had a man from Cato on who I, of course, understand isn't in the position to make laws. He's not under the same pressures you are obviously. However, he suggested well what about cutting farm subsidies in half or the NASA budget in half? I don't know.

GRASSLEY: Yes.

CARLSON: That would, I don't know, save $17 billion, $18 billion.

What do you think of that?

GRASSLEY: OK, well we're not cutting them in half but when we get this budget adopted for this year, the reconciliation process that was put off a month, it should have been done this week but because of Katrina we put it off until October 25th, we would be cutting farm programs by $3 billion over the next five years as one example. And, throughout the entire budget, the reconciliation process would have saved about $40 billion.

CARLSON: Now, this new poll out indicates that 45 percent of people asked anyway said the money to pay for Katrina and the reconstruction ought to come from Iraq, the money we're spending to rebuild that country. What do you think of that? Is that-will there be...

GRASSLEY: Well, of course...

CARLSON: I'm sure you're against it.

GRASSLEY: Go ahead.

CARLSON: But is there going to be pressure, is there going to be more pressure do you think on the White House to do that to scale back in Iraq because of Katrina?

GRASSLEY: Well, if you scale back in Iraq you're just going to put our men and women in more trouble there or you're going to give terrorists an opportunity to train there. What we're doing is we're already in a draw down in the sense that a year ago on June the 30th we turned the government over to their country. We're helping them through their elections, to write a constitution, to enhance their military.

Our intention is to get out of there just as soon as we can but we intend to make sure that it's a nation that won't train terrorists. As you can see, the insurgency now is a bunch of terrorists that would just as soon attack America as they would their own people.

CARLSON: Finally, Senator, what do you think of this plan that FEMA is going to spend billions, not exactly clear at this point, but more than $5 billion anyway on mobile homes to house tens of thousands of evacuees from the gulf coast and then when they're done with those mobile homes bulldoze them? It seems kind of wasteful or maybe I'm missing something. What do you think of that?

GRASSLEY: Well, I don't-it doesn't sound very reasonable to me when we have people that have a lot of hurt. It would seem to me that as the mayor of New Orleans has seemed to indicate there's going to be people getting back into their own homes that we need to be a little cautious and maybe we're buying homes sooner than we need to and maybe spending some money we don't need to.

That's why I'm sponsoring this legislation that Senator Coburn came up with yesterday to have a chief financial officer survey all this money and see that it's spent wisely ahead of time instead of having the government accountability office come in afterwards like they did in Iraq on our capital expenditures there...

CARLSON: Yes.

GRASSLEY: ...and say a lot of it was wasted. You can't do anything once a horse is out of the barn.

CARLSON: No, you can't.

GRASSLEY: (INAUDIBLE) to lock the barn door then.

CARLSON: I hope you get that legislation through. That sounds like a great idea. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa joining us from Waterloo, thanks a lot.

GRASSLEY: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9399356/