MSNBC "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" - Transcript

Interview

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O‘DONNELL: A lots to talk about tonight with Senator Jeff Merkley, Democrat of Oregon.

Senator, thank you very much for your time tonight.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D), OREGON: Oh, it‘s great to be with you.

O‘DONNELL: Now, don‘t you wish you were one of the holdouts? Things are going pretty good for them, aren‘t--isn‘t it?

MERKLEY: Well, you know, it‘s 60 members and you need 60 votes. There‘s always going to be a few folks who are coming to the decision at the last minute. That‘s where we are now.

O‘DONNELL: How does it feel to be a loyal Democrat in line with the party from day one on something like this watching as it approaches the various finish lines along the way, procedurally, that the holdouts, the reluctant ones--they‘re the ones who get the most in the bill at the end? How does that feel from someone who‘s been on board from the beginning?

MERKLEY: You know, I‘ve been so involved in this conversation through the HELP Committee and then on through the merger, advocating for different measures that should be including to making sure small business is involved and increasing the cap for participation. I feel like I‘ve had a great chance to influence this bill. And, I--but I--what does catch me by surprise is that I‘ve never anticipated the possibility that we‘d be wrestling with whether to have a debate on health care here in the U.S. Senate in the United States of America.

I think we should have 100 votes tomorrow for the principle that it‘s time to debate this issue that touches every single life that‘s so important to the quality of life of our families and the success of our businesses.

O‘DONNELL: Well, you know, Senator, my memory is, we did have 100 votes in ‘94. I was at the floor manager‘s desk as the chief-of-staff of the Senate Finance Committee. And I‘m pretty sure we proceeded by unanimous consent. This wasn‘t even a question in 1994.

How did it get to this point this year that the Republicans feel emboldened enough that they can challenge even the notion of proceeding to the floor for debate?

MERKLEY: It has reflected a strategy of obstruction, to slow things down, to try to thwart the president on each of his three major initiatives -- in energy, in financial reform, in health care--in order to cripple this administration.

And, you know, I came to the Senate with a philosophy of problem-solving. And I think that‘s where most Americans are. I don‘t think they want to see their senators come here and say this is a partisan battle and we‘re going to show the administration, we‘re going to cripple the administration. That makes--that makes no sense at all.

What we need to do is address the many difficult complex issues that our nation is wrestling with.

O‘DONNELL: Now, we just heard Senator Cornyn say that the Republicans need to kill this bill. And in 1994, a predecessor of yours, Republican senator from Oregon, Bob Packwood, was the Republican floor manager. And he did, in effect, kill the bill by presenting a series of successful amendments that forced the Democrats into retreat.

Why won‘t the Republicans be able to do that this time around?

MERKLEY: Well, they certainly will have that opportunity. And that‘s

what the floor debate is about--is to present ideas about how to improve

the bill, or if the tactics of--that the minority leader is bringing, the

· Mitch McConnell is simply to kill the bill, that will be--that will be his choice. And it seems the way he‘s headed.

But wouldn‘t it make a lot more sense to say, "Yes, it makes sense to have competition, to create exchanges, but we think it can be done a little better in this fashion"? "Yes, it makes sense to improve our manpower in health care, but we can improve on the bill by doing it in this fashion." "Yes, we need to do prevention and disease management, but there‘s a better way or we can enhance that effort." That‘s the type of conversation that we should be having on the floor of the Senate.

O‘DONNELL: And just today, Senator Reid announced that he is going to include your senior senator, Ron Wyden‘s, provisions about making health care options more available to more people in this bill.

Does that lock in any more votes than just Ron Wyden‘s?

MERKLEY: Well, I‘ll tell you, principle is important to many of us. For example, the finance committee, Senator Wyden had presented his proposals. In the HELP Committee, one thing that I was trying to do and we succeeded in, was lifting the ceiling so that instead of just very mall businesses being able to participate in exchanges, all businesses.

States could decide to open these exchanges up to business of any size. And then, when a business says, "Yes, we‘ll go to the exchange," then the individuals could choose which health plan they wanted at particular level, really increasing competition. So it‘s a very important principle and Senator Wyden deserves a ton of respect for having advocated for this.

O‘DONNELL: Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon--thank you very much for your time tonight. It looks like you‘re going to make history on the floor tomorrow, no matter which way this vote goes.

MERKLEY: Thank you. I‘m looking forward to be in there tomorrow tonight.

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