MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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STEWART: Today‘s vote in the Senate Finance Committee is by no means the end of the road for health reform. But its prospects of becoming a reality just got a big boost.

Joining us now from the Russell Rotunda on Capitol Hill is Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York. He‘s a member of the finance committee and voted for the bill that passed today.

Senator, thank you so much for taking the time tonight.

SCHUMER: Good evening.

STEWART: You call the bill you voted on today, quote, "not ideal but a good bill." Despite your best efforts, the public option was not part of it. Why not?

SCHUMER: Well, we didn‘t have the votes, obviously, but we are making good progress once again. We never thought we‘d win in the finance committee, but 30 Democrats signed a letter saying the public option must be in the combined bill. There are many others who were supportive. The four of us in the leadership didn‘t sign the letter, because it was to the leadership, we‘re for it as well.

And I am very optimistic that we‘re going to get a strong public option. The House is standing firm on public option. And I think all of those, when they saw the vote in the finance committee who thought, "Oh, it‘s over," hadn‘t really read the situation correctly.

STEWART: Well, how do you get it done? How does it end up in the final bill?

SCHUMER: Well, first, Leader Reid has the option of putting it in the final bill. If he puts it in the final bill, in the combined bill, then you would need 60 votes to remove it. And there clearly are not 60 votes against the public option. If--and so, we‘re urging him to do that and he‘s seriously considering it.

Once it passes the Senate, if that were to happen, it‘s in the House bill, it‘s in the Senate bill, and it would have to be in the final product. So, it‘s very important to see if the public option is in the bill that Leader Reid puts together. He hasn‘t yet made up his mind, but many of us who believe in the public option are urging him to do so. And so far, we‘re getting--we‘re getting heard.

STEWART: Let me ask you about some of the more conservative Democrats in the Senate, like Senator Lincoln or Senator Nelson. How might they be convinced to support the public option?

SCHUMER: Well, they don‘t even have to support the public option. As long as they‘d support a final bill with the public option in it, there are some suggestions. One of the things that Senator Carper and I have been talking about is a possible opt-out; that you‘d be in the public option unless your state opted out. So, if a state felt very strongly they didn‘t want it, they wouldn‘t be forced into it.

There are other types of changes that would still keep the strength of the public option, but would be considered. My preference would be to have a complete public option in the bill, and that‘s what we‘re working towards right now.

And again, if it‘s in the bill, you don‘t have to have every Democrat vote for it, because if it‘s in the bill, to take it out would take 60 votes. So that‘s one of the cases. One of those rare moments where this 60-vote rule which we usually abhor works in our favor.

STEWART: Senator Schumer, in your statement, you praised Committee Chairman Baucus for his, quote, "tenacity." What was he particularly tenacious about?

SCHUMER: Well, just moving forward. This is very hard to do. There are all kinds of special interests who are against the bill. There were all kinds of things that have to be done to get health care costs down, that would get the insurance companies mad, or get the drug companies mad, or this one or that one. And he just kept moving forward.

I didn‘t agree with him every step of the way. We had, of course, our discussions on public option and on several other issues, too. But he kept moving forward, moving forward.

And if you believe, as Olympia Snowe said, and I think most Americans do, and most Democrats, liberal, moderate, or conservative that we must have a bill, whether you agreed or disagreed with specifics about Senator Baucus, he clearly moved the process forward. President Obama was very happy at the end of today because the finance committee did actually vote out a bill. I would have preferred it to be.

STEWART: You brought up the president.

SCHUMER: I would have preferred it to be a little different in one area or another, but we have moved forward. And as I said, this is the most conservative place, the finance committee. The Senate floor will be more progressive and the House more progressive still. So, the bill is going to get better from that point of view.

STEWART: You brought up the president. He came to office talking about bipartisanship and extolling the virtues of working with Republicans. But after so many months, negotiating on health care, just one Republican senator signed on today.

Are the Democrats negotiating away things for a bill Republicans won‘t support anyway?

SCHUMER: No, I don‘t think so. We‘re not going to. On public option, my view is, we have to have it in whether we get any Republicans or not.

But, I would say this. It was much--it was--we always make an effort for bipartisanship and what we found here is that the Republican Party is the "party of just say no." No, no, no. Ninety percent of the amendments they brought forward in the finance committee were either gotcha amendments, senators should go on Medicaid or something, or amendments that were just negative.

What is the Republican plan? You don‘t agree with us? Do you think we should keep the status quo and have Medicare go broke in seven years, have tens of millions of people possibly thrown off private insurance or at least have that private insurance greatly curtailed?

What‘s your alternative, guys, gals? They didn‘t have one. And that is helping us.

STEWART: New York Senator Charles Schumer, thanks for your time tonight.

SCHUMER: Nice to talk to you, Alison.

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