MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SCHULTZ: For more, let me bring in New York Congressman Gregory Meeks. Congressman, nice to have you tonight. Where are we, in your opinion? Are we doing enough at this hour? And what do you think the next stage of relief is for the United States?

REP. GREGORY MEEKS (D), NEW YORK: I think that the United States and President Obama is--as Reverend Sharpton said, there is a plan. We know who"s in charge. We know who to talk to. There has been conference calls and members of Congress have been on them throughout the day. And what is currently being planned--because the most urgent need is to make sure we get medical equipment, along with doctors, into Haiti to try to make sure that you are able to treat the people that are there.

I"m told that there"s hundreds of people who are lying on the streets awaiting treatment. They can"t get treatment. And if we just send doctors there without an organization and coordination, then they still can"t treat unless they have the equipment there. And so I know the administration, as we speak, is working to make sure that there is proper coordination between the medical supplies, that they can arrive, along with the doctors from around the world, so that we can get treatment to the hundreds of thousands of people who need help.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, I have been trying to wrap high head all day along around the figure of three million people needing help, medical help, water, food, housing, personal assistance. I mean, can you put that into perspective of just how big a lift this is going to be for the world, not just the United States. Three million people need immediate help. That"s amazing.

MEEKS: Ed, you have got it exactly right. The president of the nation is homeless right now, the president of Haiti. If you look at what the condition of the capital, the palace now, where it was. I was just in Haiti about a month and a half ago. I stayed at the Montana Hotel. It no longer exists.

And so the magnitude of what we are talking about is almost unimaginable for the country that is already wrecked with poverty. So it is going to be a very, very, very long-term, I think, plan that we have to have. And it is going to take every nation on this planet to pitch in. But it is also important for us to lead the way, because Haiti is our neighbor right next to us.

And one of the other things I think that we can do--and I know that a number of us from the House of Representatives have already sent a letter into the president. And I know Senator Gillibrand and Schumer had this--to have temporary protection status for many of the Haitians that are currently in the United States, because, for sure, that country cannot take in anybody else at this point.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you with us. Thank you for your time tonight.

MEEKS: Good to be with you.

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