MSNBC "The ED Show" Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "The ED Show" Interview - Transcript

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SCHULTZ: Welcome back to “The Ed Show.” OK, here‘s the latest. The Senate Finance Committee‘s gang of six, they met this afternoon and tried to get a deal on health care reform before President Obama‘s big speech tomorrow night.

Now, committee chairman Max Baucus has finally distributed a plan, not to the White House, first. Distributed a plan that he thinks can get bipartisan support. Meanwhile, a new poll suggesting that Americans are heavily divided along party lines on health care. Gosh, how surprising? Sixty-eight percent of Democrats want their representatives in Congress to support a reform bill, 72 percent of Republicans want them to vote against reform. OK, hold it right there.

Let‘s see, we‘re divided as a nation on health care. We won and they lost. OK, let‘s go. Looks like it might be time for the Democrats to get her done all by themselves.

Joining me now, Democratic member of that Finance Committee on the Senate side, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. Senator, good to have you with us tonight.

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: Many thanks, Ed.

SCHULTZ: All right, I want to know about this Baucus plan that ended up on K Street first before it got over to the White House. Is that any signal at all to you that there‘s really no genuine effort here on a bipartisan agreement? What do you think?

WYDEN: Ed, first of all, this is just a starting point. This isn‘t the end point. There are plenty of areas for improvement. To me, it starts with the comment that Robert Gibbs made yesterday, the White House communications man. He said that 180 million people wouldn‘t be eligible for the public option.

Our figures are that it‘s more like 225 million people. And we need real choices for the consumer. That‘s how you‘re going to hold the insurance industry accountable. That‘s how you get real reform. And that‘s what I‘m going to get out of the Senate Finance Committee.

SCHULTZ: OK so you‘re saying that 180 million or 220 million people would not benefit from the public option? Which whatever number it is, senator, at least they‘re going to have a choice. Right now they don‘t have a choice. In many respects, it‘s a pre-existing condition. So why wouldn‘t a public option be the right way to go?

WYDEN: Well, let‘s make sure people have real choices, Ed, like members of Congress. And first of all, it‘s a no brainer to me to outlaw these pre-existing conditions.

SCHULTZ: Hold it right there. Senator, hold it right there. That‘s a key point because I haven‘t seen any insurance executives step to the microphones and say, hey, we‘re taking all people with pre-existing conditions, those are gone. So how can there be real reform with that one point you just mentioned? Unless they do that, there won‘t be any reform.

WYDEN: Ed, I very much want to make this a bipartisan bill. But if we can‘t get Republicans to support something, which I call no-brainer consumer protection, then you do have to go it alone. What we‘re going to hear tomorrow night from the president of the United States is that it is time, these premiums are gobbling up everything in sight. I do think that the finance committee bill needs to be strengthened in terms of the provisions that will hold people‘s premiums down. I‘m going to do everything I can to make this a bipartisan bill. If we can‘t do that, then Democrats are going to generate the support.

SCHULTZ: So the question is, is the president tomorrow night willing to leave all Republicans behind if they don‘t want to go along the freight train of reform for the American people? And speaking of that, Harry Reid met be the president today and came out and talked about reconciliation after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: We‘re still approaching this in the form of bipartisanship. We still, after all these months, have a place at the table for the Republicans. And we‘re going to do everything we can to work with them. We want a bipartisan bill. We do not want to do reconciliation unless we have no alternative.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Well, I‘ll tell you where the Democrats are. The lefties in this country they say, heck, yes, go to reconciliation. Now senator, you‘ve held a couple of town hall meetings. What did you hear during the recess?

WYDEN: People are saying, get this done. They understand that fixing the economy and fixing health care are two sides of the same coin. The reason people‘s take-home pay isn‘t going up is because it all goes to health care. Now I think the themes that the president is going to be talking about in the days ahead, particularly more choices for the consumer and also competition. Those are themes that are going to resonate with the country. They are going to resonate all across the political spectrum. That‘s what I‘m going to be building support for with my amendments when we go into the Finance Committee.

SCHULTZ: OK and I understand that Mr. Baucus has said you‘ve got until 10:00 tomorrow morning to bring any additions to his bill. So obviously it‘s going to be a big news day again tomorrow. Of course, the president speaking tomorrow night. Senator, good to have you with us. Appreciate your time. All the best to you. You bet.

Coming up, the drugster really needs a dose of reality. He‘s comparing President Obama to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. I‘ll set him straight in “Psycho Talk.”

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