MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining me now is House Majority Whip South Carolina Congressman Jim Clyburn.

Jim, great to have you with us tonight.

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you so much.
SCHULTZ: This is--you bet. This is undoubtedly--it"s almost comical at this point. They want to block everything. Now the word is "moratorium."
How does that receive you tonight? What do you think?

CLYBURN: Well, I"ll tell you, this is absolutely amazing to me. I don"t know. I"ve got to talk to John Boehner or something. He seems to be really off the reservation.

I don`t u"derstand what he`s t"lking about. Here he is calling today
for a moratorium on regulations on the day that we have just responded to
77 percent of the American people who want us to do something about
bringing Wall Street back into line with the aims and objectives of the

Here this gentleman is saying to us that we ought to do something that"s tantamount to playing a basketball game without any referees. We have enough time with umpires on the baseball field even when they"re there than to talk about having regulations or not having any regulations while people run amok on Wall Street.

As I"ve said before, everybody in the banking business, like in any other business, will not be honest brokers. We have to have some oversight here.
When we removed the oversight, what did we get? We got the Bernie Madoffs of the world, as well as others.

We have got to make sure that as we put in place our financial institutions, as we put in place our health care institutions, that there is sufficient oversight so that we won"t have more gushers in the Gulf like we have with BP, so that we won"t be saying to young people born with diabetes that you can"t come on your family"s insurance policies.

This is what we"re doing. And Boehner is saying we ought to repeal all that stuff, stuff called for a moratorium. He"s just talking about repeal, repeal, repeal, rather than offering the American people some kind of an agenda.
We, on the Democratic side, are giving the American people the making it America agenda.

SCHULTZ: There"s know doubt about it.
Now, they"re obviously not in step with the American people, and it also shows it when it comes to health care as well. Bloomberg poll out says 61 percent of the American people oppose repealing the health care bill, which the conservatives have done a tremendous job of vilifying for months on end.

What"s the message to the American people, those who are sitting in the middle right now, Congressman, who are wondering whether this country is going in the right direction or not? What is the message now as you go into the midterms and go to this summer break coming up in August?

CLYBURN: I think the American people know that we"re moving in the right direction. A lot of them would like to see things more quickly. And I can understand that.

I just saw a report this morning that here, in my state of South Carolina, the tax collections for the last quarter, $126 million more than they expected it to be. That means that people are going back to work, people are now making incomes, they"re now paying taxes into the coffers. That means the economy is moving forward.

And we in the Democratic Party decided that we are going to have a "Make it in America" agenda so that manufacturers and other business people will be incented to make products in America so that we can make sure that young people in America can make it in America, that working men and women can make it in America. We are moving forward with an agenda that I am convinced that the American people will look at. And when we get down to the fall elections, they are going to draw a contrast between us and the John Boehners of the world.

And I think that everybody"s going to be surprised when they wake up the morning after Election Day and see that Democrats are in good shape and the American people will be in good shape.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, great to have you with us tonight. Have a great weekend. I appreciate your time on this Friday edition of THE ED SHOW. Thanks so much.

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