Fox News "Fox & Friends" - Transcript

Interview

Fox News "Fox & Friends" - Transcript

FOX NEWS CHANNEL "FOX & FRIENDS" INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY)

SUBJECT: REACTION TO THE PRESIDENT OBAMA'S ADDRESS TO CONGRESS

INTERVIEWERS: STEVE DOOCY, GRETCHEN CARLSON AND BRIAN KILMEADE

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MR. KILMEADE: New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer joins us again and weighs in.

Senator Schumer, welcome back to "Fox & Friends".

SEN. SCHUMER: Good morning. Good morning -- good to be back.

MR. KILMEADE: Thank you.

Senator, first off, last night -- the presentation, hard to argue with it -- but when you look at those programs: curing cancer, health care reform, energy conservation. Is it possible to do all that? Are you concerned it's too much?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, no. The president laid out a really bold agenda, but America needs change. As he said, for about 15 years both government, business, people -- we were just consuming more than we produced. We were importing more than we were exporting. We were borrowing more than we're saving. And now the time -- the day of reckoning has come and that involved two things.

It involves eliminating wasteful government programs, as the president outlined, but it also involves getting our government into the 21st century, having an energy policy so we don't depend on foreign oil. That's not going to cost that much. A health care system which will, but will save money in the long run to deliver efficient, good health care to people. We can't spend the most and get one of the worst health care returns back; and an education system that truly educates our kids.

The president talked about money, but he also talked about standards. And Governor Jindal says "don't spend the money". He sounds a little bit like Herbert Hoover. Back in 1930 we had a real recession. Herbert Hoover said "do nothing" and that recession turned into a depression. I'd like to know what Governor Jindal says we should do. He didn't say one positive thing.

MR. DOOCY: All right.

Let's talk to you, Senator, about this and that is the fact that my -- what a difference a year makes! Last year, the president of the United States, George Bush, talked a lot about the global war on terror -- the war on terror. You're from New York. New York's a target. Last night, the president of the United States barely even mentioned the war on terror.

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, I think his focus was domestic. But he did at the end talk about terrorism. He talked about he's going to expand the number of troops in Afghanistan, which after all, the Afghanistan- Pakistan border is where the terrorists are that could hurt us. Iraq isn't.

And he's going to be tough as could be on terrorism, but last night was job number one: getting this country's economy turned around. Every day, as we speak, there are five or 10 people for these few minutes just being laid off in New York and hundreds more in the rest of the country.

MS. CARLSON: Senator, you talk about cutting out the wasteful spending, but a lot of people in America feel that this latest stimulus bill is exactly that -- a lot of wasteful spending. That's the first part of my question.

And the second part is: Who's going to pay for all of this?

SEN. SCHUMER: Okay, first part, 95 percent of it goes to three causes, which I think everyone believes in: creating and saving jobs, putting money in the pockets of the middle class. I'm particularly proud of a provision that I wrote, that the president mentioned, which gives a $2,500 tax credit against tuition for families that have incomes up to 160,000 (dollars) helping put kids in college; and the third part is infrastructure.

Now, about -- in all fairness, about 1 percent of the bill didn't go to that. It was all these things that shouldn't have been in the bill. But let me tell you something, we took most of them out. The House put them in, the Senate took them out and the vast majority of Republicans -- including Governor Jindal -- were still against it.

Those little items that they don't like were an excuse, because fundamentally, they say the government shouldn't be involved. And that's simply a philosophical division. We think you need a strong, active government to get us out of this. They say no, do nothing and let the private sector do it. The lessons of the Great Depression and other places say that they're wrong.

MS. CARLSON: Okay, well who's going to pay for it? That was the second part of my question.

SEN. SCHUMER: Now, that's the second question.

You know, we are in a very bad situation that, as President Obama said, he inherited from George Bush. Clinton left $300 billion surplus; Bush $700 billion deficit. So we have two choices, both bad.

One is do nothing. We wouldn't have immediate expenditures, but then the economy would go into a nosedive, revenues would go down and the deficit would be worse; or do some smart spending now for jobs and putting money in the pockets of the middle class, have the economy turn around. And once the revenues go up, really cut back on the kind of wasteful programs the president mentioned so we can get our house back in order.

MS. CARLSON: And increase taxes.

SEN. SCHUMER: Neither choice is a good choice.

Increasing taxes on the very wealthy when our economy turns around is called for. They've had a great holiday over the last time, but no one below 250,000 (dollars) -- and that is 99 percent of all Americans and all people listening to your show, will get a tax cut.

MR. DOOCY: All right. Chuck Schumer, the senator from New York. We thank you, sir, for joining us live today from the Russell Rotunda.

SEN. SCHUMER: Thank you. Nice to see you guys.

END.

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