Fox News "Fox & Friends" - Transcript

Interview

Fox News "Fox & Friends" - Transcript

FOX NEWS "FOX & FRIENDS" INTERVIEW WITH REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN MICHAEL STEELE; GOVERNOR TIM KAINE (D-VA), DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
SUBJECT: DEBATE ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE INTERVIEWER: GRETCHEN CARLSON

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MS. CARLSON: So will the bill actually break the cycle of job loss in this country? Let's hear from both sides: Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is the new DNC chair; He's with us from Richmond. And former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele is the new RNC chair; he joins us live from D.C.

Good morning, gentlemen.

MR. STEELE: Good morning.

GOV. KAINE: Good morning, guys.

MS. CARLSON: All right, so Governor, let me start with you on the whole idea of what Barack Obama said last night. He did believe in the private sector, but he does believe that the government needs to step in to jumpstart the economy.

In your mind, is that starting the roll of socialism?

GOV. KAINE: Absolutely not. It's doing what's in the best tradition of a government by, of and for the people dealing with the circumstances we face.

The stimulus bill does three things, Gretchen: It has tax cuts for working Americans -- those that make -- their families make less than $150,000 a year so they can pay bills, but food on the table, help their kids go to college and start spending again.

It has infrastructure spending -- roads, bridges, alternative energy projects -- that will put people to work and then build a platform for greater economic growth. And then it has an important piece of relief as we take care of rising Medicaid and unemployment rolls for Americans that have been hit so hard by 1.8 million job losses in the last three months.

This is exactly what we ought to do. We'll create or save more than 3 million jobs -- 90 percent of them in the private sector.

MS. CARLSON: Okay.

GOV. KAINE: And that's -- we can't let this economy continue to slide.

MS. CARLSON: Okay. All right, that was the stump speech. Michael Steele, I promise you get a response right when we come back after this break!

MR. STEELE: Okay.

MS. CARLSON: More with Kaine and Steele, next.

(Commercial Break.)

MS. CARLSON: Welcome back, everyone.

We're talking with Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, the DNC chair; and former Maryland lieutenant governor and new RNC chair, Michael Steele.

All right, we heard what the Democrats believe in, Michael, about how this plan is going to reinvigorate the job market, et cetera.

But here's my question to you this morning: It seemed to me that Barack Obama was elected on this whole hope and change mantra. And now for the last two weeks he's sort of shifted completely to catastrophe and doom and gloom.

MR. STEELE: Well, yeah. I mean, that's how you sell it. You've got to set up the sell; otherwise you don't get what you want. And the reality of it is this: The president did a wonderful job last night of laying out his case. I mean, he went to the people and he laid it out. The problem is that it is a short-term, shortsighted solution to what is, I think, becoming a worse -- a more worse problem.

And the reality is this: This rests on the back of small businesses in this country. Over three-quarters of the businesses are small businesses and why aren't we gearing this relief, this strategy, to lifting them up so that they can lift others up? They're the ones that create the jobs, not make work like government projects do like road projects and so forth. They create jobs.

As the governor knows, and as I learned as a lieutenant governor, you rely on that private sector when you -- even when you've got all this largess available to you as a state government to infuse for road construction and school construction, you're still looking on that private sector to create the jobs that are going to sustain your economy long term. This plan does not do that, which is why the Republicans have focused on how do we lift the economy up through tax relief, job training incentives, housing incentives and the like?

MS. CARLSON: Yeah, so Governor Kaine, why not just let the private sector do the job?

GOV. KAINE: Well, you know, I disagree with what Michael just said.

Let's look at this plan first. In the House stimulus bill, there is tax cuts for small businesses. And second, who does road projects? In Virginia, 40 percent of our discretionary government contracting is with small women and minority-owned businesses. So when Michael says, well, road projects don't help small businesses, he's just wrong.

It's small businesses that do a huge amount of the contracting that will be done on these infrastructure projects. And they are at the table with the rest of the American public -- 67 percent of Americans are saying we have to act; we have to act now. We can't let the people who are against everything block us from solving this economic crisis.

MS. CARLSON: Okay, if that's true, Governor, then Michael, let me ask you this: Why is Barack Obama going across the nation trying to sell this plan? And why did he go on national television last night in a prime time news conference? He has the votes! This thing's a done deal.

MR. STEELE: Well, this is the thing that I don't understand. And with all due respect to the governor, that's great. You're absolutely right; those small businesses do those contracting jobs. But what happens when you don't write that contract, sir, when you're administration doesn't have the dollars in place to put that contract out on the street? They don't work.

The second thing is, the Obama administration and the Democrats have the votes. Why are you looking for Republicans to give you comfort on this, when you outstrip us almost three-to-one in the House and you're close to 60 in the Senate? If you want this so badly, give it to the president? I mean, you can call us naysayers and destructionists all day long, but the reality of it is, you have the votes!

MS. CARLSON: Okay, Governor Kaine, why the P.R. trip?

GOV. KAINE: Because it's very -- the most important thing isn't what people inside the Beltway think, Gretchen; it's what the American people think.

Sixty-seven percent of the American public says they support what the president is doing on the stimulus, because they know the economy needs it. When you see a vote in the House where every House Republican votes against it and the chairman of the Republican Caucus in the House says, "Yeah, we've learned from the Taliban how to be insurgent-like and disrupt what the other side wants to do", that's not what the American public wants to see. They want to see folks working together.

So when Barack goes out, like he is today with the Republican governor in Florida, and stands up and talks about this stimulus, he is demonstrating that the American people want action and they want it now so we can get the economy growing.

MS. CARLSON: All right. Well, I've got to wrap this up. It'll be interesting to see. We know how the Senate's going to vote today, but it'll be interesting to see what the House does when it goes back to them.

Governor Tim Kaine and former Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, great to see you both this morning.

MR. STEELE: Thank you.

GOV. KAINE: Thank you, guys.

END.

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