MSNBC "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" - Transcript

Interview

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Senator, great thanks for joining us tonight.

SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Thank you, Keith.

OLBERMANN: We know what President Clinton says he said. What else did he say that you can tell us about?

REED: Well, the president urged us to seize this moment, that this would be something that, if we did not act effectively, we would not have the opportunity. And he emphasized, as you indicated, Keith, that there‘s a huge economic issue here as well as moral issue.

The economic issues are increasingly important. We won‘t be able to afford health care in this country if we do nothing. We‘ve seen families that are facing the loss of health care because they‘ve lost their jobs. We need to create a system in which the health care is affordable and reliable, and everyone feels confident they‘ll have it regardless of their work status.

And he emphasized those points very eloquently.

OLBERMANN: Senator, I would think it‘s fair to say that your caucus would seem to need unifying--to some degree--at least on the edges as much as, if not more than some sort of pep talk as brilliant as President Clinton is at pep talks. Did the former president succeed today on both counts? Did he--did he coalesce people in the any sense of that word?

REED: I think he indicated how important this is, and how much that we have to work very cooperatively and carefully, in a collaborative way, to come up with a very good plan. But as he indicated, anything as complex as health care reform was going to be continual work in progress. But if we don‘t work, we don‘t cover all of our citizens and we don‘t make it affordable, we‘ll never be able to get a handle on the cost of health care, and that will continually erode our economic position in the world.

And his experience, not only as the president, but now, as someone who travels the world, is something that was very influential.

OLBERMANN: Mr. Clinton‘s evident pragmatism on this shines through all of these quotes that he gave to the reporters in the hallway afterwards. You had said over the weekend that there‘s active debate among senators about a trigger or an opt-out to the public option. Is the public option now itself a subject that‘s being addressed in a totally pragmatic point of view?

REED: Well, I think it is. And I think, from my position, or in totally pragmatic view, would argue strong for a public option. One of the things that everyone complains about, I met with some small businesses yesterday up in Rhode Island, they complained about the increased health care costs to them from private insurers--every year, 18 percent, 20 percent increases.

And unless we have competition, then we‘ll see that. For example, in my state, there‘s two major insurance companies to 80 percent of the market. That‘s not competition. We‘ve got to get that competition.

OLBERMANN: The other quote that I wanted to ask you about, the paraphrase actually. I should attribute it to the president directly, but a briefed aide described that as the question of not letting the Republicans define the issue.

How does that apply, practically speaking, once debate begins, if does, as scheduled next week? How do you prevent that from happening?

REED: Well, I think the major way we‘d prevent it is by working together to pass health care legislation. This is the closest point we‘ve been in the Congress since ever--since the 1940s, and even in the 1930s when Franklin Roosevelt talked about it. We‘ve got, as I say, seize this moment.

If we fail, then the story will be written not only about the failure, but about sort of imagining what caused it. And it will play into a lot of the erroneous rhetoric about, you know, we‘ve seen the death panels, the fact that this is going to take over all health care.

The essence of our plan is a very vigorous private health care system that is on an exchange in which people can make choices based upon their needs, their satisfaction, and the cost of the plan. And that‘s the essence, I think, of a--of a competitive solution.

OLBERMANN: Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island--great thanks, especially at the airport.

REED: Thanks.

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