CNBC "CNBC Reports" Interview - Transcript
Interview
CNBC "CNBC Reports" Interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Interviewer: John Harwood
Subjects: Paying for Nationalized Health Care; TARP; Recollection of CIA Briefings
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MR. HARWOOD: I talked to Nancy Pelosi about so many elements of this agenda that Democrats, both in the administration and the Congress, are pursuing, that have drawn objections from business. I wanted to get her sense of those objections and what they really amounted to. I asked her on cap and trade, for example, the energy program the administration is pursing, whether she thought we were hearing from business a bunch of special interest scare tactics. She said maybe, maybe not. Take a listen.
(Begin videotaped interview.)
SPEAKER PELOSI: I'm just saying people may not know. What we've tried to do in this process -- and I think that Chairman Waxman and Chairman Markey have been masterful in terms of listening to people, addressing their concerns, because as I said, we're all going down this path together. We're not saying, what's the bill that one of us thinks should go? We have to go down together. And perhaps they have some misconceptions. Some people don't believe that global warming exists. I just heard of a story of a head of a major firm said he doesn't believe in global warming, and his role will be to prove that it's not happening. Well, it is happening. And in order for us to be internationally competitive, we have to develop the technologies to make energy cleaner, to reduce cost and, again in terms of national security, reduce our dependence on foreign oil. So I feel very confident about the path we're going.
The public is so far ahead of the Congress and some of the people that you're suggesting. It doesn't mean you don't listen to their ideas, see what their objection is and see if you can reconcile that it might be legitimate or it might just be the agents of the status quo who have long reigned in Washington, D.C. But a new day is here.
MR. HARWOOD: Well, speaking of the status quo, health care is a big issue on the president's agenda. The administration acknowledges that you need more revenue beyond what they can save in the system, maybe $1 trillion or $2 trillion to cover everyone. President Obama proposed limiting the itemized deductions for people who make over $250,000. Influential senators say, we're not doing that, and they're talking instead about removing the exclusion from employer-provided health care. Your chairman in the House, Charlie Rangel, says not doing that. Where are you going to get the money for this?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Welcome to the legislative process where all kinds of ideas are on the table, and everybody has to prove their worth or effectiveness as we go forward. Suffice it to say that we will have, as the president has called for, quality, affordable, accessible health care which will reduce cost -- reduce cost --
MR. HARWOOD: So where does the money come from?
SPEAKER PELOSI: -- and allow people to have the health care that they have, if that is their choice. So the --
MR. HARWOOD: Soda taxes? Some people are talking about.
SPEAKER PELOSI: We have to wait and see. We haven't gotten the report from the Congressional Budget Office to see what the costs are that are involved. Put everything on the table and see how it competes, how it works. This has to work. And so it not only has to pass but it has to work.
MR. HARWOOD: Are soda taxes actually a possibility?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Everything on the table.
MR. HARWOOD: Everybody's been looking at how much money is left from the TAP which I know is unpopular with your members, the $700 billion. A little over $100 billion is left, and some may be coming back from large financial institutions. But if we had a financial setback and the president and the chairman of the Federal Reserve came to you and said, we need more money to prevent the financial system from going under, could you get the votes for it?
SPEAKER PELOSI: It would be very hard. It would be very hard. You know, we worked in a very bipartisan way with President Bush. His own party deserted him on this to produce the votes for the TARP. Our members were not happy that credit is not flowing the way they think it should, that people are using money as a cushion. And we suspect that they would use some of that. But I think people want to see more results in their neighborhoods. And all of this is not getting down to where people are. So it would be very hard. I would hope that that would not be a request the president would make.
MR. HARWOOD: You would think that the 700 billion (dollars) is it. Do you think it's impossible to do?
SPEAKER PELOSI: I never say anything is impossible, but I will say that the doomsday scenario that was presented to us by the Bush administration insisted that if we did not pass a legislation, we would have no economy within four days. You know, they should have come in sooner. But they couldn't get the votes on the Republican side. Our members are not happy about how the TARP was implemented by the Bush administration. It's better now under the Obama administration, but there is not a big appetite for more TARP funding, no.
MR. HARWOOD: As you know, the administration is pushing for new regulation for Wall Street and the financial industry. What is Washington's role? Or does Washington have any role in regulating the compensation, the pay of financial executives, of any executives in this country?
SPEAKER PELOSI: The anger that you saw from the American people and reflected in Congress was about compensation for AIG officials who were getting bonuses after we had put in $180 billion of taxpayer dollars and Fed money, then they gave bonuses to some of the people who got us in this situation. So when you're talking about taxpayers bailing out a company and then the people who brought the company down getting these bonuses -- some didn't. Some, I'd say, probably earned a bonus, whether they should be using taxpayer dollars is another thing. Anyway, having said that, I think we have to not paint everyone with the same brush, that we reward success, the entrepreneurial spirit. So I'd rather keep our focus on how we calibrate the regulation, not overdo it, be sensitive to the markets, reward success.
MR. HARWOOD: Are dollar caps inappropriate?
SPEAKER PELOSI: And I would not be one to go to that path. But if people are taking taxpayer dollars, then they have taken themselves into another realm. It has to be a full conversation. And I don't think, again, that we should paint everyone with the same brush. I think we have to reward entrepreneurial spirit and some risk-taking but responsible. But we have to stop a situation where we nationalize the risk and we privatize the gain and the arrogance that goes with, well, I'm entitled to this, even though my company is down the drain.
MR. HARWOOD: As you know, everybody is talking about this issue of torture and your role, the briefings. You had the press conference earlier today. Karl Rove wrote in The Wall Street Journal today that you weren't telling the truth. But it's not just coming from conservatives. Jon Stewart the other night on "The Daily Show" had a segment that raised questions about your account in April, saying that you hadn't known about waterboarding. Do you understand why some people feel misled by your previous statements? And is it hurting your leadership?
SPEAKER PELOSI: Absolutely not. Karl Rove is going to say what Karl Rove will say, so I won't even go there. Jon Stewart, I'm a big fan, I watch him every night. And mocking Congress is a stock and trade of what many of those shows do. But the fact is that the CIA misled the Congress in how it briefed us. They did not tell us -- they specifically said waterboarding wasn't being used, when they knew that it was.
(End videotaped interview.)
MR. HARWOOD: Of course, Dennis, that torture issue has really taken over the Capitol over the last couple of days. I would predict one consequence about questions about Speaker Pelosi's role, and that is I think the odds of a truth commission, which some Democrats, including the speaker, have called for, are declining rapidly. And it's very likely that this is going to stay within the intelligence committees that are looking into this.
END.
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