NBC "Today" Interview - Transcript

Interview

NBC "Today" Interview - Transcript

NBC "TODAY" INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR BEN NELSON (D-NE) AND SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME)

SUBJECT: ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE INTERVIEWER: MATT LAUER

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MR. LAUER: Senator Susan Collins, Republican from Maine and Ben Nelson, a Democrat from Nebraska, played instrumental roles in crafting the Senate's version of this stimulus bill.

Senators, good morning to both of you.

SEN. COLLINS: Good morning.

SEN. NELSON: Good morning.

MR. LAUER: Senator Collins, let me start with you. Some of your Republican colleagues have expressed outrage over the spending in this bill. Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee said Sunday, this bill could put our country on the road to financial disaster and John McCain said it was generational theft. He called for a bill about half its size.

So what do you get that those are not getting?

SEN. COLLINS: Well, first of all, we worked very hard to reduce the unnecessary spending in this bill. We cut more than $110 billion, but in fact, we need a stimulus package and it has to be robust enough to do the job. We've made the infrastructure investments. We provided more than $200 billion in aid to the states. We have put together tax relief, I think, it's a good package and one that our country really needs.

MR. LAUER: Senator Nelson, to get the support from even these moderate Republicans, cuts had to be made; Senator Collins just alluded to some of those. You lose $40 billion in aide to the states that means states are going to have to make draconian cuts in jobs, teachers, cops, firemen. You lose the $16 billion in school construction money.

So is it still a real stimulus package? Will it have clout?

SEN. NELSON: Absolutely. The infrastructure spending is outstanding. That will create jobs, and we're not looking to try to make sure that we take care of everything, it's impossible, there isn't enough money, but I think the things we have focused on will help turn this economy around. Joblessness continues to increase. If you look at the job loss numbers, $3.5 billion this last year and 50 percent of that in the last three months.

So there isn't any way that you can ignore what's going on, but we're still providing, I think, in total aide to the states around $200 billion when you add the aide to the schools for special education and all the other programs. There's a lot of money going back out across America.

MR. LAUER: Senator Collins, let me just make sure I understand this. Are you going to vote for this stimulus package, the Senate version because you think it is the right bill at the right time? Or did you and some other people just get scared to death by those jobless numbers that came out last week showing almost 600,000 jobs disappearing in the month of January?

SEN. COLLINS: This bill is not perfect. We're not claiming that. But in fact, I think this bill will help to create three to four million jobs and is that important to me? You bet it is. The American people want us to work together on this. We're facing a crisis and it makes no sense to have a partisan divide on the most important issue facing our country.

This bill is not the bill that Ben or I would have drafted if only we were making the decisions.

MR. LAUER: Right.

SEN. COLLINS: But on balance, it is a good bill. It's needed and I think it will make a difference.

MR. LAUER: Senator Nelson, I'm going to give you the last word here. Obviously, there's some key differences between the Senate's version and the House version. Where is the major area of compromise going to be?

SEN. NELSON: Well, I don't know that there has to be a compromise. What we've done is we put together something that will attract some Republican votes and, essentially, all the Democratic votes. As it goes to conference, I hope that the conference will not get into an auction or a bidding war. There were 20 individuals involved in these discussions this past week, about 12 Democrats and six Republicans, three of them are not going to participate in this bill. This was broadly viewed by a large number, almost 20 percent of the Senate.

MR. LAUER: Right.

SEN. NELSON: So it's bipartisan, and I hope that it will pass through the House as well.

MR. LAUER: Senator Ben Nelson and Senator Susan Collins, thank you both very much for your time this morning.

SEN. NELSON: Thank you.

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you.

END.

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