McConnell On CNN's ‘Situation Room'

Interview

McConnell On CNN's ‘Situation Room'

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell appeared on CNN's Tuesday afternoon. The following are excerpts from the program:

On AIG and Missed Opportunities:

"There were several missed opportunities…Two weeks ago, this current Treasury Department gave AIG $30 billion of our tax dollars and apparently with no strings attached. No questions about this sort of thing. Senator Snowe from Maine had an amendment that was added to the stimulus bill in the Senate and would have prevented this kind of thing. It mysteriously disappeared in conference controlled by the Democratic party in the House and Senate and was not in the final stimulus package.

"You bet there have been missed opportunities. This is an absolute outrage and I think that it contributed to what Bill Schneider was suggesting in the introductory piece: Massive case of bailout fatigue around here in the Congress."

On Oversight Of TARP Funds By The Treasury Department:

"…the day-to-day responsibility of oversight of TARP funds is at the Treasury Department. Congress is doing a lot of different things but we gave the Treasury Department the authority to dispense this money and to provide day-to-day oversight of what's happening with this money. Where were they two weeks ago when they gave them $30 billion? The question needs to be answered." On Government Involvement In Businesses:

"Well, it has always been a big debate about how much you can micromanage the company and keep it profitable. But the cold hard reality is that - the message to American businesses, if you want taxpayer dollars and will have the government as your partner, you are going to have to operate in a different sort of way. I'm among those who would like to see not very many companies with the government as a partner. But if you are going to have the government as a partner you can't operate in the same way. Obviously, AIG was trying to have it both ways. And I want to know directly from the Secretary of the Treasury why they got $30 billion of mere two weeks ago, apparently with no strings attached.

On The Administration's Decision To Close Guantanamo:

"Let me tell you what I do feel. I do feel that an arbitrary decision to close Guantanamo by a certain date doesn't deal with the issue. And the issue is we have the worst of the worst at Guantanamo. These are the worst terrorists you can imagine. We let some of these suspects down there go, 12 percent of them have gone back to the battlefield and have tried to kill Americans. And some succeeded in killing Americans. We know that no one has ever escaped from Guantanamo. And so if you are going to make a hard decision to close Guantanamo by a certain date, then you need to answer the question, what are you going do with them?"

"I do not think that the president should have an arbitrary deadline for closing Guantanamo. He used to have an arbitrary deadline for getting out of Iraq. He adjusted that. He adopted the policy of the previous administration not only to Iraq but Afghanistan. He has shown he can adjust his sales. to pick an arbitrary date to close Guantanamo when you have no idea what to do with these hardened terrorists who have been involved in killing Americans is, in my view, not the right course of action. I hope he will remember consider during the course of this year -- you know the previous administration wanted to close Guantanamo and never did it because there was no good answer to the question of what to do with these terrorists."

"They are in the perfect place now. They are being treated well. All the visitors know they are being treated well. These are enemy combatants and we know the American people overwhelmingly do not want them here in this country.

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