MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

MSNBC "THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW" INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH)

INTERVIEWER: RACHEL MADDOW

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MS. MADDOW: Joining us now is Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire. She's a member of the newly formed caucus of moderate Senate Democrats. She met with President Obama today during his trip to Capitol Hill.

Senator Shaheen, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I know this probably is not your number one choice of discussion topics right now.

SEN. SHAHEEN: Oh, no, I'm a big fan, Rachel, as I said, and it's always nice to watch your show. And I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you.

And the fact is, those of us who are working to support President Obama support his priorities for the budget. I think we need to invest in education and health care and move towards energy independence. We need to reduce the budget deficit. We're all about trying to make sure that we can do that. I worked to try and get the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in a way that was able to bring along some Republican senators to get that done, and that's what I am intending to do in the Senate.

MS. MADDOW: With a 58-seat majority in the Senate, though, does it not seem odd to you that the focus has to be on getting Republican votes all the time?

SEN. SHAHEEN: Well, this isn't just about getting Republican votes. There are a number of issues that we're going to be working on, like legislation, major legislation to address global climate change, like an energy bill, where people are divided along geographic lines. And so it's important for us to be able to build those bridges and relationships so we can bring everybody along to get something as important as climate change legislation through.

The same is going to be true of health care, where there are many differences that are based as much on geography as on party. And so the goal for me, anyway, in working with this group, was trying to make sure that we could build the relationships that it's going to take to get the priorities not only of President Obama but that I support and that I ran on and that I think we need for the country to get those passed.

MS. MADDOW: How would it make it more likely for climate change legislation and health care reform legislation to pass if there's a 60-vote threshold instead of a 51-vote threshold?

SEN. SHAHEEN: I don't think the issue there is 60 versus 51. I think the issue is how do we get the votes to get major pieces of legislation done. And as I said, that's what my goal is. And there are a lot of arcane rules for how the Senate operates that I'm still learning, but one thing I do know from my time as governor, that you have to compromise. You have to be able to work together. And often that means taking a bipartisan approach. It means working with people who you may not agree with on every point.

And that's what I think we've got to do, because I certainly share the concern that the president has laid out an agenda for this country. He came to the caucus today and talked about the importance of investing in education so we can be competitive in the future, about his priority for moving this country to energy independence, about making sure that we get health care reform done, both so that we address those people who don't have access to it, but also so that we can do something about costs, about his interest in reducing the deficit. So those are all things that we as a Senate caucus are supporting, and we're interested in getting those done.

MS. MADDOW: Senator Shaheen, I understand that bipartisanship is sort of -- it's a very attractive idea in the abstract. Honestly, trying to work with Republicans toward policy ends on things like the stimulus bill, on health care legislation, on climate change legislation, is likely to make it less likely to pass rather than more likely to pass. The Democrats have a huge majority now. And it seems like the obstacle toward them passing what they want to pass is not that they can't attract Republicans from the minority but that they can't stay unified enough to pass anything.

SEN. SHAHEEN: Well, but that's not true. In fact, since we have been here, we've passed a number of pieces of major legislation -- the Lilly Ledbetter bill that addresses equal pay. We've passed children's health insurance, something that couldn't get done under the last Congress and last president. We passed a public lands bill that makes significant investments in protecting our environment. This week we're working on national service. I'm sure we're going to pass that by the end of the week.

We've passed an Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act that took us over 60 votes in order to pass, and so it was important to be able to work together to get that done. We passed an omnibus budget bill that finally put in place a budget for 2009. And we're now going to be addressing the president's budget proposal.

But, you know, I was a governor. I prepared a budget for the state of New Hampshire with my administration, and I sent it to the legislature. And I knew they weren't going to rubber-stamp my budget, that they were going to put their own imprint on it. And that's what's going to happen, I'm sure, with this president and this Congress. And that's the way the process works.

MS. MADDOW: Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, thank you so much for taking time to talk with us tonight.

SEN. SHAHEEN: Thank you. Nice to be with you.

MS. MADDOW: Nice to be with you too. Thank you.

END.

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