FOX "On The Record" - Transcript
Interview
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MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Joining us live is the Republican Senator from Wyoming John Barrasso.
Nice to see you, sir.
SEN. BARRASSO: Hey, great to be with you.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: All right. Now, I know $300,000 sort of seems like chump change compared to these trillion-dollar budgets that we've passed and everything else, but it's not insignificant to most American families. What's your thought about today? I should tell you that I sort of think that because these are unusual times that the president would have been smarter tonight to video conference and say, these are unusual times, I'm going to talk to all of you at 8:00 so I'm not going to spend $300,000.
SEN. BARRASSO: Well, that's right. You know, this was kind of a cheap trick which turned into a very expensive trick to go and put this plane there in New York, as they did yesterday, and then today flying as part of an orchestrated day. A lot of money. The people of Wyoming very concerned about the way their tax dollars are being spent. We had tea parties. People turned out all around the state of Wyoming. They are offended by this kind of spending.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: And I should say that I think it's important under most circumstances for the president to get out and talk to the people. And I appreciate that. But as the president says, these are unique times. I think the president, from a PR standpoint and to save us the cash, it would have been smarter to not spend the money today just to go out to Missouri and to come back.
SEN. BARRASSO: Well, absolutely. I had a telephone town hall meeting, hundreds of people from Wyoming on the phone tonight after the president's press conference. They mentioned the plane, they mentioned the expense and they mentioned the tea parties. Not one person actually mentioned watching the president tonight. So I mean, it's fascinating. But people are very offended with the amount of spending.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: And of course, he told his Cabinet to tighten the belt so the buck needs to stop here.
SEN. BARRASSO: But only by $100 million when he just has a budget of 3.6 trillion (dollars).
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: And I know $300,000 today may not seem like a lot and it may seem like chump change compared to everything else but anyway, nonetheless, it's a lot of cash. All right, now, have you spoken to Senator Specter?
SEN. BARRASSO: I talked to Senator Specter tonight after we voted on the budget. I voted against the president's budget and amazingly Senator Specter also voted against the president's budget.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Well, he said he was going to. I mean, he's always been against it. What did you say to him?
SEN. BARRASSO: I said, well, you know, it's been 24 hours since you made the decision and the announcement, how does it feel? Because sometimes you make a life decision and you want to go back. He said, you know, I had four choices. One was to run as a Republican and know I would lose for sure. One was to run or try to run as an independent and know I was not going to be able to make it through the process because of the laws.
It wasn't like Lieberman in Connecticut. He said, the third is I could have retired, and I have more work to do. And the fourth was to switch and become a Democrat. The only way I could retain my Senate seat, he said, was to run as a Democrat and switch parties. And that's what he did. It was basically a pure, calculated, political move. And I think he's --
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: So is he getting the cold shoulder from all the Republican senators tonight a little bit?
SEN. BARRASSO: Well, I think, you know, there were more people smiling on the Democrat side yesterday than the Republican side. I think people are still visiting with him. You know, he's had 30 years on the Hill.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Come on. You're not furious at him? I mean, the Republican senators aren't furious? I mean, it makes you guys look bad. I mean, come on, let's face it, you look bad. You lost one of your own.
SEN. BARRASSO: Well, there is strength in numbers.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: You don't have any numbers.
SEN. BARRASSO: You have 41 votes you can stop things, if you have 51 votes you can get some things done. If you have 60 votes, you can get just about anything done, so numbers matter. But also does a philosophy and --
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Isn't smoke coming out of the ears of some of you?
SEN. BARRASSO: Some, and we've had some spirited discussions since his announcement yesterday at our lunch.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Who's maddest?
SEN. BARRASSO: (Laughs.) I think probably Jim DeMint maybe.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Well, he was going to support the guy who was running against him, Toomey, in the primary anyway. DeMint had already said that he's going to basically stick it to Specter.
SEN. BARRASSO: Yeah. I heard him, and we discussed that today. And I will tell you that I think we're going to build this party from the ground up.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Well, you guys are at the ground right now.
SEN. BARRASSO: At times like this, you know, you look at multiplying, not purifying. You do it by addition and multiplication. And that's what we'll do. I'm still a member of the Ronald Reagan big-tent approach, have alot of people involved. We're still a center-right party. And to me, it's always, what's best for the country, not what is best for me and specifically my future. And I think that Senator Specter made a decision differently than a lot of people should make.
MS. VAN SUSTEREN: Senator, thank you.
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