MSNBC News Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC NEWS INTERVIEW WITH REP. MAXINE WATERS (D-CA)

SUBJECT: FALLOUT ON THE AIG BONUSES

INTERVIEWER: NORAH O'DONNELL

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MS. O'DONNELL: Congresswoman Maxine Waters joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Congresswoman, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.

REP. WATERS: You're welcome.

MS. O'DONNELL: You said the president has some explaining to do. What do you mean?

REP. WATERS: Well, it seems that there was a little bit of fumbling in the beginning when this issue was first talked about. I think now Mr. Dodd has clarified that he did write the language. Mr. Geithner has clarified that he had some concerns about breaking legal contracts. And the president is up to speed, he does know what's going on, and he's taken full responsibility.

So you had this period of time where it was not clear, and it seems as if there was a gap in information. But it appears that Mr. Geithner had information prior to the president having information. And the president --

MS. O'DONNELL: I think --

REP. WATERS: The president is now saying, "Look, I accept responsibility. Let's stop pointing fingers and let's get on with the business of stabilizing this economy."

MS. O'DONNELL: Well, Congresswoman, of course, when we heard that you said this to Joe and Mika, quote, "the president -- maybe the president up to -- isn't up to speed on what's going on," we certainly took notice of your comments. Do you regret that you said that? Were you mistaken?

REP. WATERS: No. No, I'm not mistaken, because what has turned out is that he had not been given the information in a timely fashion. And that happens to all of us in this business. We think we have it all, and sometimes our staff people are late in getting information to us. But he's got it somehow.

MS. O'DONNELL: Congresswoman, I think that's key. If you are saying that the president was not kept up to date on this information by his staff -- and in this case, from his Treasury secretary -- do you then believe that Treasury Secretary Geithner should resign?

REP. WATERS: No, of course not. You don't resign people over one fumble, or bumble even. Most of the time --

MS. O'DONNELL: Is it a bumble?

REP. WATERS: I don't know what it is, but I know this. We select people based on their competence. Both Democrats and Republicans like Geithner. As a matter of fact, Republicans supported him getting the position in the first place. They all say he's smart, he's competent, and he's capable of doing this job, and he needs to just keep going and staff up the office and that he's going to be fine. So you don't fire somebody over one thing.

MS. O'DONNELL: Well, Congresswoman, is it just one thing? Because you had the whole House there up in arms yesterday and voting this big package to tax these AIG bonuses by 90 percent, channeling this public outrage that's out there. And yet, that could have been avoided, if the Snowe-Wyden provision had been in that stimulus bill. And instead, somebody took it out, without anybody knowing about it. And it was probably -- it was Senator Chris Dodd who said he did it, along with consultation with the Treasury Department. That's another issue. So should Geithner be responsible for that?

REP. WATERS: Well, let me just say this. Yesterday, the House took a big step and took action. And what they said is, we're going to get that money back. And what we're going to do is, we're going to tax these bonuses 90 percent for those who are making 250,000 (dollars) or more. And it was supported by Democrats and Republicans. That's positive. They moved, despite whatever had happened. Everybody came together, and you had bipartisan support.

MS. O'DONNELL: I know, Congresswoman.

REP. WATERS: Yes.

MS. O'DONNELL: We get that, but I think a lot of people are saying, "What the heck is going on in Washington?" if there is no oversight. These bonuses were known about. The CEO of AIG was up there on the Hill saying the Federal Reserve has known all along. So what the heck is Congress doing -- including you -- voting for a stimulus bill that would allow these bonuses to go through originally?

REP. WATERS: Well, this is what happened. The Congress of the United States voted for a huge package to help stimulate this economy. It is not always known when there is fine language, or language that has been added. And that happens too often. But as the president has said --

MS. O'DONNELL: And does it happen too often?

REP. WATERS: As the president has said, he is targeting these kinds of actions. He's going to be working with the Congress of the United States to make sure that these things do not continue to happen. And I think he is right. It is time to move on.

MS. O'DONNELL: Congresswoman, I had people mention this to me yesterday. When is it that lawmakers are going to start reading the legislation that they actually pass? I mean, this was a problem before even the Iraq war, that people didn't read the national intelligence estimate. And then you have a stimulus package, over $800 billion, and you've got members of Congress voting on it, and they haven't read it?

REP. WATERS: Oh, yes.

MS. O'DONNELL: When is that going to end?

REP. WATERS: Well, the fact of the matter is, you don't read everything, I don't read everything. What we do is, we read what we consider the most important aspects of the bill. How much money is being spent in this bill? Who's going to benefit from the money that's spent in this bill? Our staffs break it up into different parts. They read it. They feed information to us.

There are millions of pages of information that go through this Congress, and nobody really reads it all; just as you don't read every fine line in every newspaper every day. You read what you think is most important for you to do your job. That's the way the world works.

MS. O'DONNELL: No, I know. I know that. I do -- I must say, though, my mom and dad have always told me, any time you have to sign a mortgage or anything like that you sign on, you'd better read every fine print of it. And, boy, I hate that advice sometimes, because it takes me forever.

REP. WATERS: Yes.

MS. O'DONNELL: But I try and do it, because it involves money.

REP. WATERS: Of course. But it's exactly what you said: you try to do it.

MS. O'DONNELL: And I think that people are saying that, well, we're telling people who signed all these subprime mortgages out there --

REP. WATERS: You try to do it.

MS. O'DONNELL: -- and all these phony mortgages that they should have read the fine print. And now we say, well, it's okay, because Congress doesn't read the fine print either on these big bills? What kind of example is that?

REP. WATERS: Well, I wish -- I wish all of America read all of the documents that's put before them. I wish more people reading mortgages understood everything that was in the mortgage. I wish that I read every piece of everything, all of the print that's put before me. And like you say, you try to do it. We try to do it. And we do the best job that we can, just as you do the best job that you can.

MS. O'DONNELL: Congresswoman Maxine Waters, you're great to join us. Good to see you. Thanks so much.

REP. WATERS: You're quite welcome.

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