MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript
Interview
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REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D), CALIFORNIA: You bet I"m happy with Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer in the leadership. It"s not just the election. You take a look at what was actually accomplished, extraordinary legislative accomplishments that took place, all the way from this--the American Recovery Act, bailing out and saving the financial base of America, jobs bills, high-speed rail, all kinds of legislation passed the House, very important, largest legislative agenda perhaps in the last 50 years.
Not all of it, in fact, very little of it passed the Senate and got to the president. And because of that, I think we were unable to turn the economy around as fast as we could have, had those bills actually been passed into law. Nancy Pelosi a great leader. Steny Hoyer is a great leader.
MATTHEWS: Right.
GARAMENDI: And we"re going to need that kind of strong leadership.
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GARAMENDI: No, my view is that the economy was in a terrible, terrible state when Obama came into office, and major legislation was passed to turn it around. That legislation would have been even more successful had the action of the House actually...
MATTHEWS: OK.
GARAMENDI: ... been made into law. But the reality was that when Obama came into office, we had--he was handed a $1.3 trillion deficit...
MATTHEWS: Right.
GARAMENDI: ... and we had no help, no help whatsoever from the Republicans in the House or in the Senate. They simply refused to help, basically following the Mitch McConnell strategy of, Let it all go straight into the...
MATTHEWS: He asked for the job. He asked for the job knowing what the deficit was going to be. And let"s not get crying...
GARAMENDI: Of course he did.
MATTHEWS: ... over this. He knew it was...
GARAMENDI: Not crying, but Chris...
MATTHEWS: Let me ask you--let me ask you...
GARAMENDI: ... we need to understand the progress that was made.
MATTHEWS: OK.
GARAMENDI: And in fact, very significant legislation was passed...
MATTHEWS: OK.
GARAMENDI: ... which is very, very important...
MATTHEWS: OK.
GARAMENDI: ... for now and on not future. You talked at the outset of this about Moynihan looking to the future. You look at those pieces of legislation that you talked about, those are all things that will change...
MATTHEWS: OK.
GARAMENDI: ... America for the better in the future, as well as right now.
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GARAMENDI: Of course we must compromise. We"re going to have to compromise...
MATTHEWS: Have you been doing it for two years? Have you been doing it for two years or just--go ahead.
GARAMENDI: Chris, you know there"s been major efforts to do just that. It was the Republicans that absolutely refused to work with anything, even such things as ending tax breaks for American corporations that shift jobs offshore. The Republican refused to support the end of those tax breaks. Apparently, they want more jobs shipped offshore. Little thing things and big things, we got no support, no compromise from them.
Yes, we will compromise. We always have. You take a look at those major pieces of legislation, each one of those is a compromise, and significantly, in my view...
MATTHEWS: All right...
GARAMENDI: ... weakened as a result of the compromises that took place mostly in the Senate.
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GARAMENDI: Well, Chris, you"re a sports fan. We"ve talked about this...
MATTHEWS: I"m talking about the big 10 states.
GARAMENDI: No, but listen--let"s talk about the big 10. If you consider the first quarter being the eight years of the Bush administration, in which things went into a tank in a bad, bad way--
800,000 jobs per month being lost--per quarter being lost in those years
then the second quarter was the last two years, with Obama coming in, stabilized things, brought the country back to stability, not where we need to be. We"re now in the second half.
MATTHEWS: How much time...
(CROSSTALK)
GARAMENDI: Here"s what we must do, Chris...
MATTHEWS: Can you get it down to the 8 percent the president promised, that Christine Romer promised, his economic adviser? (INAUDIBLE) down to the 8 percent he promised?
GARAMENDI: Chris, there"s a way of doing it. And what we have set out to do--and this is part of the agenda that was started--we need to carry this on for the next two years, and that"s an agenda of rebuilding the American manufacturing sector. Make it in America. If America is going to make it, we must make it in America.
For example, two things. We have green technology tax credits for solar and wind...
MATTHEWS: Yes.
GARAMENDI: ... but those pieces of equipment are not made in America.
That"s our tax money, it should be spent on American-made equipment.
MATTHEWS: I"m with you.
GARAMENDI: And similarly, buses and trains, all of that transportation money...
MATTHEWS: Yes! Yes! That"s all I say.
GARAMENDI: Made in America, Chris. That"s the second agenda.
MATTHEWS: Have trains again! Build things again like they did when we were growing up! Why do we have to outsource building stuff? Aren"t Americans up to building anything?
GARAMENDI: No, Chris, you"ve got it right.
MATTHEWS: Oh, (INAUDIBLE) country! Let"s have the other country, third world countries--oh, they"ll build. We will be thinkful--we"ll be thoughtful. They"ll build things.
GARAMENDI: No, no.
MATTHEWS: That"s the kind of stuff...
GARAMENDI: We"re going to...
(CROSSTALK)
GARAMENDI: ... manufacture things, Chris.
MATTHEWS: We got to compete--yes, I know. Thank you, Congressman Garamendi. By the way, if you don"t get this goal done by the spring of 2012, do you think Congress--do you think--I"m going to ask you. Will the president get reelected if you don"t get the jobs number down?
EDWARDS: We got to get the jobs number down.
MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you.
EDWARDS: We got to do it by creating jobs (INAUDIBLE)
MATTHEWS: OK. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much, Congressman. And have a nice...
GARAMENDI: Take care, Chris.
MATTHEWS: I think Thanksgiving"s coming, too. Thank you, Garamendi, Congressman Garamendi. You have such an arresting last name, I call you by your last name. Thank you, John Garamendi, and thank you, Donna Edwards.
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