MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Interview

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Today`s hearing was presided over by the chair of the rules committee, Amy Klobuchar. She made it clear that growing threats demand a federal response. We have seen an effort to mount a federal response. Democrats proposed one in the form of the freedom to vote act, which among other things would have created enhanced protection for election officials.

That bill was voted down by Senate Republicans last week. They would not even agree to allow debate on it. We know what the threat is. What is the way to address the threat? If Republicans stand unified against even trying to.

Joining us now is the chair of the Senate Rules Committee, Minnesota Senior Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Senator, it`s great to see you. Thanks for making time to be with us tonight.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): Thanks, Rachel.

Could I first thank you for covering this hearing. You know how much is going on in Washington today this week, this month, and I was afraid it was going to get forgotten, honestly.

[21:25:07]

And those people that came forward were so courageous to even tell their stories. Mr. Smith, the Republican from Philadelphia talked about the fact that he knew he put himself at greater risk by even coming forward, but he was telling the story of so many Democrats, Republicans from big cities, from little towns and rural areas who are election officials who have been threatened, their families have been threatened. And not all of them have the police protection that he said he has been able to get.

And, so, I just want to thank you for highlighting it because it is a frightening, frightening thing. And there are a number of solutions I hope we can discuss.

MADDOW: Well, I want to talk about those proposed solutions and how we would get there. I do want to say, when Mr. Smith got to the part of the hearing where he said he is not running for re-election, he can`t take it - - that he can`t keep doing this, he can`t keep doing this to this family, it was a heartfelt thing and also just, you know, shocking and upsetting to hear because as you say in some ways, he`s privileged over other election workers that don`t have the kind of protections he has as an elected official. But it does feel unrelenting and it does feel like there is no help coming.

KLOBUCHAR: And Katie Hobbs, this is one of the things he said. She got a voice mail, she`s the secretary of state, the woman you featured from Arizona. I am a hunter, and I think you should be hunted. You will never be safe in Arizona again.

Wade Henderson, a civil rights leader, talked about the effect this has had in African-American communities. This is a countrywide, we even had a conservative secretary of state, you heard from him at least focusing on the fact that we are basically losing election workers. So our job, protect and defend the Constitution.

So to me that means it is time to pass the Freedom to Vote Act. You rightfully pointed out Republicans have blocked it, but we must bring it up again. Senator Schumer is committed to bringing this bill up again. This is the bill you know Senator Manchin signed his name on the dotted line. He was in the group of us that worked on it with Senator Padilla and Warnock and Senator Merkley and Kaine and King and Tester and myself spanning the country.

And we put together a really good pill. And it basically addresses this. This should be a federal crime when this kind of stuff happens.

We should not allow state legislators to arbitrarily fire local election officials. The election records should be protected. There are a number of things that would be in that bill that would give these local officials the kind of protection and respect that they need in addition to the work that has to be done on the state basis and the protection they well need. We need to have election workers, and we cannot let these people destroy our democracy.

MADDOW: Republicans who are part of your committee today could not help but have been moved by some of these testimonials today both from the Democrats and the Republicans who -- who testified. Is there any appetite among them to try to fix this, to try to protect these folks some other way even if for some other reason they`re not willing to sign on to legislation that includes voting rights. Will they -- will hey at least talk about this or talk about solutions to this in a narrow way, in a way that would just be about protecting, providing federal protection to people who are threatened for doing this kind of public service?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, I hope so. But I am -- we have so many other issues we`re dealing with on elections with over 400 election suppression bills that have been introduced across the country, over 30 passed.

I will say Senator Blunt did hold this hearing with me. It was one of those hearing where I just held, and I grudgingly came. He issued a very strong statement ahead of the hearing.

So I`m going to continue to pursue that. But right now, there is one clear solution. Not just to this problem, Rachel, but to the fact that in Georgia right now, you will not be able to vote on weekends during the run-off period, that you -- there is going to be less drop-off boxes in states all over the country, that they`re attempting and have made it harder to cast mail-in ballots. We`ve got states that are still requires notary publics. Like in South Carolina if you want to order a mail-in ballot, you have to have someone notarize it and find a notary.

This is after the biggest turnout in American history in a federal election in the middle of a public health crisis.

So in the words of Reverend Warnock, some people don`t want some people to vote. And that is why we must restore the Senate, but allowing bills like this to come up if our colleagues are going to block them.

[21:30:01]

There is no way when you look to the past that leaders in either party ever imagined that wouldn`t even debate a bill like this, that my colleagues would be, I guess, hiding behind their desks instead of actually allowing us to debate this bill, giving us their ideas. But that`s where we are right now. That`s why I think once we get through this really important week and hopefully very soon we will have an agreement on the Build Back Better agenda, we must turn to this again. We must find a way to allow this bill to be debated and go forward.

And the haunting words of those elected officials, if that is not enough to bring it to the floor again, I don`t know what is.

MADDOW: Minnesota senior senator, Rules Committee chair, Amy Klobuchar -- Senator Klobuchar, it`s always a pleasure to have you here. Thanks for focusing on this today in such a potent and incisive way.

KLOBUCHAR: Thank you, Rachel.

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