MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), ILLINOIS: Thanks, Ed. Happy New Year.

SCHULTZ: You bet. Happy New Year to you.

He"s asking for direction, going right to the big corporations, asking, OK, what do you want me to do?

How do you take that as a representative?

SCHAKOWSKY: You know, Darrell Issa has to know that this has nothing at all whatsoever to do with creating jobs, that the big corporations right now are sitting on a pile of money. They had record profits, and yet they failed to create jobs.

And so the hypocrisy of this--and so, what we really have to ask, does Darrell Issa want them to tell the Congress that they want to go back to sweat shops so people are hurt and abused at work? Do they want the oil companies to be able to pollute our Gulf of Mexico, or anywhere they want, without any kind of regulation? Or serve hamburgers to kids that might kill them, or pollute our air so that our kids get asthma?

I mean, is this the kind of thing that Darrell Issa wants to go back to, the good old days where corporations ran roughshod over all Americans and actually caused enormous damage to our environment and to the health of Americans? It sounds that way.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

Congresswoman, to go on the offensive, how much more information do the Democrats need?

I mean, it"s very clear how they are going to favorite corporations. You know, this is more than calling balls and strikes. This is just giving the game over to the people that want to run America.

SCHAKOWSKY: You know, you"ve got to hand it to Leo Gerard talking about workers and what the real problem is in our country. And the fact is that, right now, the wealthiest of Americans, the super rich, are calling the shots.

Darrell Issa seems to like it that way. This is very dangerous for our economy.

When middle class people are falling behind, when jobs are not being created that actually give people a living wage, this is not good for even the biggest businesses who aren"t going to have their customers in order to revive our economy right now. And so, we are heading in absolutely the wrong direction, and with Darrell Issa it is full speed ahead.

SCHULTZ: Yes. Asking the oil companies and the drug companies what they want him to do as far as regulations is really the fox guarding the hen house, if there ever was. I mean, I have never heard of a politician openly sending a letter out telling me how you want me to do my job, I will do whatever you want me to do, and I will attack wherever you want me to attack.

SCHAKOWSKY: You know, this myth that what is good for business is good for America, didn"t we learn that at the crash of Wall Street, that they are not interested in the well-being of the American people? And if there aren"t rules of the road, if there aren"t regulations that at least moderate the greed that we have seen just exploding before us, then I think that our economy is going to go into the tank again.

SCHULTZ: Yes. Well, corporations are all about profit. They must love these regulations that have been put in place, because you very profoundly stated what kind of money they are sitting on right now.

Congresswoman, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you so much, Ed.

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