MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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SEN. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Ed, thanks for having me on again.
SCHULTZ: You can speak with authority. You"re a successful businessperson. You"re a compassionate man. What should we do about taxation in this lame-duck session?
WARNER: Well, here is where I feel like both sides have kind of got to be willing to maybe listen to some other alternatives. I mean, what some in our party and some of the Republicans proposed is a two-year extension from the top. And everybody agrees the 98 percent of Americans below $250,000 ought to go ahead and get their tax cuts made permanent.
But the top end, that"s what we"re fighting about. But the problem with these two-year extensions tell me that Congress is going to have more courage two years from now to take on this issue.
And the independent analysis has said giving folks like me--I was a very successful business guy--an additional tax break right now is not the best way to spend the money. So here is my alternative suggestion.
You know, we"ve got to recognize that in certain ways, government has used its tools. We have lowered interest rates about as far as we can. And, Ed, whether we like it or not, the kind of appetite for more additional federal spending in terms of stimulus has been pretty much dried up.
The one good piece of news out there that doesn"t get reported is that larger American corporations are actually more profitable today than they were before the recession. They have got more than $2 trillion in cash sitting on their balance sheets right now.
So my idea is, rather than--go ahead and let the top end expire for the top two percent. And for the two years of revenue that we are going to collect, about $65 billion, why don"t we go ahead and use that for targeted business tax cuts to engage--to get that $2 trillion off the sidelines, back reinvesting in America and creating jobs? Stimulus, but a private sector stimulus with the cash that"s already out there.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHULTZ: But, Senator, you"re banking on the good will of a lot of small business people out there who might not want to see President Obama succeed when it comes to creating jobs. You give them a break, they sit on t.
WARNER: But that"s where I"m saying this would be--some of these would be targeted towards small business, some of these would be targeted towards larger business. The fact is, if we"re going to be pro-job growth, which I absolutely am--I spent both my whole career both in the private sector and in the public sector--you"ve got to have the business community kind of at least pulling in the same direction.
SCHULTZ: OK.
WARNER: And my sense is there was a way here to get this cash off the sidelines. These companies have got more cash on their balance sheets today than they did before 2007. We need to get that reinvested.
SCHULTZ: Senator, the question in a CBS poll is, "What should the new Congress focus on first?" Fifty-six percent say the economy and jobs, and only four percent, budget deficit and the national debt.
And this conversation we"re having about earmarks, are we disfocused (ph)?
Is the Congress disfocused (ph) on this subject?
WARNER: Well, it"s kind--I know folks have got hot about earmarks, but the fact is--and I think you"re going to see a lot of these new members who got on elected on the Republican side. Their campaign rhetoric is going to hit reality.
Earmarks make up less than one percent of federal spending. So we"re talking about stuff around the margins.
There"s a lot of folks who campaigned saying that if you got rid of earmarks, you"re going to get rid of the deficit. At the end of the day, if we got to get rid of earmarks, so be it if that takes that issue off the table.
It is not really the focus. Our focus ought to be job creation. Our focus ought to be how we get the private sector regenerating jobs, and that"s where we ought to be first, second and third.
SCHULTZ: Senator, good to have you with us tonight. Appreciate your time.
You have a plan. I give you credit. You have a plan.
WARNER: I"ve got at least an alternative that maybe gets both sides out of their corners and willing to start talking.
SCHULTZ: Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.
Good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much, sir.
WARNER: Thanks, Ed.
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