MSNBC "Morning Joe" Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "Morning Joe" Interview - Transcript

MSNBC "MORNING JOE" INTERVIEW WITH REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC)
SUBJECT: BUDGET INTERVIEWERS: JOE SCARBOROUGH, MIKA BRZEZINSKI, PAT BUCHANAN, CARLOS WATSON

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MS. BRZEZINSKI: Congressional Democrats sealed the deal late last night on a budget plan. And here with the details, Democratic House Majority Whip, representative from South Carolina, Congressman James Clyburn.

Very nice to have you in studio.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Good to see you in studio!

REP. CLYBURN: Thank you. Thank you so much.

(Cross talk.)

REP. CLYBURN: Very good. It's good to be here.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Speaking of Lizard's Thicket in South Carolina --

REP. CLYBURN: (Laughs.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: -- this is the first time, I think, we've been together in the same room since then. We always get him on remote.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: I know! It's great to see you.

REP. CLYBURN: Yeah.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Judge the president on his first 100 days.

REP. CLYBURN: Oh, I think he has been absolutely fantastic.

You know, the thing about this president in his 100 days, we have to look at a little part of his speech that I think was very, very important.

He talked about the thing that would be hard to measure but very profound would be addressing the confidence of the American people -- the fact that so many people just felt at that time that our best days were behind us, and whether or not we need to lower our sights for the next generation.

This president's first 100 days have allowed people to raise their sights again. So for the first time in a long time people feel that this country's best days are still ahead.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Pat, that sounds like Ronald Reagan, 1981.

MR. BUCHANAN: Well, I think the congressman's got a good point. There's no doubt about Americans feel better about their country and its direction far, far better than they did.

Congressman, let me ask you. One of the big issues Joe and everybody, Mika, have been raising is, is the Democratic Party, is the president, going to take health care and roll that through reconciliation -- in other words, tell the Republican Party go fly a kite. We need 50 votes; we've got 'em. We're going to ram it on through.

REP. CLYBURN: Well, what the president said in this, and I am very pleased that they did it this way, he says look, if you want to do a bipartisan bill, I'm open for a bipartisan bill.

But the fact of the matter is you've got until October 15th to get this done. If you don't, then reconciliation will kick in.

We would hope not to use that. I would love to have a bipartisan --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But isn't this what Democrats were complaining about when George Bush and Republicans decided they were going to get judicial nominees through with 51 votes?

REP. CLYBURN: (Chuckles.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: I thought Barack Obama was going to be the agent of change and better than George Bush. (Laughter.)

REP. CLYBURN: We complained more about the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that the used reconciliation to get.

And so if we think it's good enough to give tax cuts to billionaires, then it's good enough to give health care to people who --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: So what you're saying is that his standard, the standard that Barack Obama has set, is George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. (Right? ?)

REP. CLYBURN: Oh, absolutely not. What we're saying, we will use the same methods if we cannot get people to understand that 51 is a majority --

(Cross talk, laughter.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But that's not bipartisan, Jim.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: It's saying the same thing. That's the same thing.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: I watched him in Iowa. He was going to bring us together. I want to be brought together.

REP. CLYBURN: You've got to have backdrop --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: I want to be brought together.

REP. CLYBURN: You've got to have a backdrop. Reconciliation is a backstop to all of this.

We want to have a bipartisan bill on education, on health --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: But if we don't get it, we're taking 'em down!

(Cross talk, laughter.)

REP. CLYBURN: Then we will say to the American people we understand that 51 is a majority of 100.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: (Groans.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: You know what? Fifty-one was a majority when Republicans wanted to appoint Supreme Court justices. (Laughter.)

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Carlos Watson has a question from New York. Carlos, jump in.

MR. WATSON: Congressman Clyburn, we know despite what Joe and Pat just said that health care is likely to pass. But what about energy? '

Do you think that President Obama will get something significant done not only on climate change, but even more on renewable energy sources?

REP. CLYBURN: I think we'll do a lot of things on energy. I think we'll lay -- (inaudible) -- foundation for energy. I do believe that it was left out of the reconciliation because of the reasonable considerations that we have on energy.

But I do believe that we will make a start on energy.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Let me -- can I ask really quickly -- (cross talk) -- you passed the budget last night.

I'm concerned -- fiscal conservative, we've talked about it an awful lot here -- I'm concerned about the fact that the Congressional Budget Office says that the budget that was passed has deficits that are unsustainable.

They don't add up.

Shouldn't we be concerned that Congress just passed a budget that its own budget office said could wreck our economy?

REP. CLYBURN: No, I think that what they said that about was the budget that we passed in the House. I don't think they've said the same thing about the agreement that was reached last night.

In fact, when the budget left the House, we had gone from a projection of $1.8 trillion deficit to around 530 (billion dollars), maybe 540 (billion dollars). We're now down to 510 (billion dollars) or -12 (billion dollars).

So if you're going from a projection of 1.8 trillion (dollars) down to a projection of 510 billion (dollars), this is a deficit reduction plan.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Well, you -- but there is a -- anyway. We'll talk about -- I'll talk to the wall.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: I liked Betsy Fischer's question last night --

MR. SCARBOROUGH (?): What's that?

MS. BRZEZINSKI: -- and I'm going to steal it.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Okay.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: If you had to give the president an A on something and an F on something -- and start with the F -- on what issues would those be?

REP. CLYBURN: (Laughs.) Well, I would give him A, once again, on raising the level of confidence in this country. I think this is the most remarkable thing, to see the next generation of people --

I've talked to young people, and there is great hope. I think the poll out in The New York Times this morning is indicative of that.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Right.

REP. CLYBURN: For the first time, I know in my lifetime, more African Americans feel a sense of hope about this country since -- maybe since back in the 1960s.

So I suspect that if I had to give a failing grade, it's -- I don't think there's a failing grade here.

(Cross talk.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: How about bowling?

REP. CLYBURN: (Laughs.) Well, I'll tell you what -- no, no. I'm not going to deal with bowling, because we're going to make him a better bowler.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Oh, okay.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Congressman --

MR. BUCHANAN: How about that handshake with Chavez?

(Laughter, cross talk.)

REP. CLYBURN: The handshake was okay with me, but he could have looked past him for the smile. (Laughter.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: So that's the trick? You look past the person.

REP. CLYBURN: We talked about that earlier. You look at them, but you don't see them. (Laughter.)

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Interesting.

REP. CLYBURN: What you used to do to me when you were in the House.

(Laughter.)

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Oh, that's not -- I came up and hugged you, because -- (inaudible) --

(Cross talk, laughter.)

REP. CLYBURN: Yeah, the other night you did. Yeah. Yes, he did. Yes, he did.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: -- district, but I did. I'm a hugger, buddy.

(Cross talk.)

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Congressman Clyburn, thank you so much.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Thank you, Congressman.

REP. CLYBURN: Well, thank you so much for having me.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: We give you an A every time.

REP. CLYBURN: Okay. I appreciate that.

END.

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