NBC "Today" - Transcript

Interview

MR. LAUER: Democratic Congressman James Clyburn, the majority whip, voted for the bill. Republican Congressman Tom Price from Georgia voted against it.

Gentlemen, good morning to both of you.

REP. CLYBURN: Good morning, Matt.

MR. LAUER: Congressman --

REP. PRICE: Good morning, Matt. How are you?

MR. LAUER: Good morning. Congressman Price, let me start with you. You voted no. After the no vote came down, Wall Street experienced its worst drop for one day in history. The overseas markets are falling as well. Any second thoughts for your vote?

REP. PRICE: Well, I think it's important to get this vote right, not necessarily to get it quick. We are principled in the fact that we believe that we ought to stick to American principles. We ought to protect the taxpayers. We need to make certain that private money, private equity, can get involved and have Wall Street bail out Wall Street, not on the backs of the taxpayers. And we need to make certain that there's an exit strategy so that there's not a huge, massive bureaucracy that grows up around this.

MR. LAUER: But --

REP. PRICE: I'm positive and hopeful that we'll be able to get to this by the end of the week. I'm hopeful that the speaker will bring it back --

MR. LAUER: Well, you keep saying the Wall Street --

REP. PRICE: -- into session.

MR. LAUER: But when you say Wall Street and you hear so many references to fat cats, do you say, then, that what you're hearing people say -- that credit will dry up, people won't be able to get car loans, student loans, companies won't be able to make payrolls, people will be laid off -- is that just a scare tactic, or do you think that will really happen?

REP. PRICE: No, I don't think it's a scare tactic, but -- we are facing remarkably challenging times, without a doubt, and the market is incredibly volatile. But it's important that we remember that this is the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and it is so because of economic freedom and liberty.

This bill, taking $700 billion, another $700 billion from the taxpayers that, frankly, they don't have, is not the right solution. There are wonderful free market ways to correct the situation that we have right now. I look forward to working with the speaker and everybody else to make certain we can do it this week.

MR. LAUER: Okay. Congressman Clyburn, then, as we move forward later into this week, how is this going to play out? Are you going to look for a way to entice more Republicans to cross over and vote yes, or are you going to look for a way to strong-arm the 40 percent of Democrats who voted no to vote yes?

REP. CLYBURN: Well, Matt, what we had here was a piece of legislation that was developed over 13 days, and we had -- we promised 50 percent of our caucus. They promised 50 percent of their caucus or their conference. We produced 60 percent and they produced 33 percent.

MR. LAUER: Yeah, but in fairness, Congressman Clyburn, the speaker of the House couldn't even deliver half of her own Democratic delegation from her own state.

REP. CLYBURN: Well, that may be true. But zero from Arizona voted for this, and it seemed as if presidential candidate McCain came in and he said he brought everybody to the table. But if you check, Matt, you will see that not a single person from Arizona voted for this legislation.

MR. LAUER: Well --

REP. CLYBURN: So here is what we have to do going forward. I think it's time for us to set aside blaming, set aside all of this extraneous stuff like a speech that may have been delivered on the floor of the House. It's amazing to me that we can be so sophomoric to believe that a politician would not give a political speech.

MR. LAUER: But Congressman Clyburn, let me just ask this. You say we should set aside blaming right after you just talked about the Arizona situation where they didn't -- I don't know if there's a question at the end of this, but do you understand why people in the country -- and Congressman Price, you as well -- might say, "A pox on all their houses"? We've got these partisan speeches --

REP. PRICE: Sure.

MR. LAUER: -- and we've got then news conferences after the vote pointing fingers. That's not what's required here.

REP. CLYBURN: We were not --

REP. PRICE: Exactly. Blaming is not --

REP. CLYBURN: -- pointing fingers when we had our news conference.

MR. LAUER: Go ahead, Congressman Price. You take it.

REP. PRICE: Thank you. Blaming is not what this is all about, and we ought not be doing so. Incredible challenges that we face as a nation. We need to work together. That's what our constituents want. That's what the American people want. It's imperative that we sit down, solve this problem as adults, and move on with it this week. And we ought to. And I call on the speaker to bring us back as soon as possible.

MR. LAUER: Congressman Clyburn, go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off.

REP. CLYBURN: Well, if we're going to sit down and solve this problem as adults, I don't think adults would be blaming a speech on the floor of the House. That is pretty juvenile to me. The country comes first. Senator McCain has been saying that all year. And I believe that it's necessary for us to put the country first. And you do that by sitting down in a mature way, coming up with legislation, as we did, and you deliver the votes you promised.

Now, they did not keep their promise on the other side. We kept our promise and did better than we said we were going to do. When I talked to the minority whip about two hours before the vote, he told me that he thought he was going to come up short of 100. And I said to him at that time, "I think we can allow you some cushion." And so if they had gotten -- he told me he was in the high 70s or low 80s. He was in the 60s. We did not have that much cushion. And so I think the responsibility lies on them to do their fair share, which they did not do.

MR. LAUER: All right. And Congressman Price, can you rally some of your colleagues? Can this get done by the end of this week, which everybody says is imperative?

REP. PRICE: Sure. Absolutely, as long as we stick to principle. But what is this deal-making that's going on? That sounds like the fix is in. Each and every member of Congress has their own franchise, is representing their own constituents. Let's all work together, get this done. It's important for the nation. It's important for the American people. It's important for our economy. And we can do it if we work positively and together this week.

MR. LAUER: And we will all keep our fingers crossed that that happens.

Congressman Price and Congressman Clyburn, thank you both very much for your time this morning.

REP. CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.

REP. PRICE: Thank you.

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