CNN "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" - Transcript

Interview

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CROWLEY: Now what? Joining me from our New York bureau, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer. Senator, thank you for joining us this morning.

SCHUMER: Good morning, Candy.

CROWLEY: You're $60 billion apart between what the House wants to do and what the Senate wants to do. Where's the middle?

SCHUMER: Well, I hope we can negotiate somewhere in the middle. That's obviously what should be done, but, unfortunately, Speaker Boehner seems to be on a course that would inevitably lead to a shutdown.

CROWLEY: But wouldn't you bear some responsibility for that as well if it came to that?

SCHUMER: Well, let me explain. Speaker Boehner is on a course, I think, that would lead to a shutdown. That's reckless. It would hurt the American people, jobs and the economy, and I'd hope he'd reconsider.

Now, back in December -- Democrats and Republicans always come to impasses about government spending, and in December, Democrats and Republicans agreed to -- we couldn't agree on a full year's budget, so we said we'd agree to a $41 billion level of cuts that would expire March 4th. Now, the House has come up with 100 billion below the president's level. We think it's reckless. It would prevent Social Security checks and veterans checks from going out. It would take people away from the border as we guard the border, health inspectors.

And so what we're proposing is for a short time, a couple of weeks, we continue that $41 billion level while House and Senate negotiators come up somewhere in the middle, but Speaker Boehner has said even before negotiations that he wants it a certain way. That is reckless. That's what Newt Gingrich did in 1995.

And I understand that Speaker Boehner is being pushed by the hard right in both his body, the House, and outside. Sarah Palin said a shutdown would be a good idea in New York on Thursday, but it's wrong. It would hurt innocent people, hurt the economy, and we hope we can come to the table and negotiate without shutting the government down.

CROWLEY: Well, senator, let me just get to that question that is wouldn't you all bear some responsibility for that as well if the government shuts down? It takes two parties to come to an agreement.

SCHUMER: Right, but here's the bottom line. We have said shutdown is off the table. Speaker Boehner, Mitch McConnell, other Republican leaders have not taken it off the table when asked, and there are lots of people on the hard right clamoring for a shutdown.

Don't shut the government down, come and negotiate. And you can't say it has to be this way before negotiations begin. We just got their budget Saturday morning at 5:30 a.m. The right thing to do, the way it's always been done, the way to do this like adults is not to say it's my way or no way. That's what Newt Gingrich did with lots of severe consequences but rather sit down and negotiate. No Democrat has said let's use shutdown to get what we want. Many republicans have.

So I think the public -- I think the public, Candy, when they look at what happened, is going to put the blame on them, if it happens. And I hope and pray to god that it doesn't.

CROWLEY: To be fair, I think that the Republicans would argue that you have been the ones talking more about shutdown than they have. And look, Speaker Boehner said I need a temporary spending bill to have some cuts in it, and the truth is you've basically had this budget that you're now working on, that is now sort of brought it to this climax in early March since last year at this time. So what does make you all move, because you now have this deadline that you're going to meet early next week, but you all are out. Why if it's so important, if it's so vital and if you don't want the government to shut down, why isn't the Senate working?

SCHUMER: Okay, first, we didn't get -- you know that the Constitution says that all spending bills should originate in the House.

CROWLEY: Sure.

SCHUMER: So we can't do anything until the House sends us a bill. They send it to us 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning. It was a raucous week to their credit, an open week where things were debated on the floor. And so we've begun immediately to do two things, first, to prepare a temporary stop-gap emergency proposal.

CROWLEY: Will it have cuts in it?

SCHUMER: To keep the government -- yes, it has $41 billion in cuts, below the president's level.

CROWLEY: But that budget was never put into play, so it's $41 billion from his proposal that was never put in place, right. It's the same as 2010, same spending as 2010.

SCHUMER: They are proposing $100 billion below the president's level. That's the benchmark we have used, they have and we have. And obviously we are going to have to sit down and negotiate and we're prepared to negotiate right away. We're going through their document right now. It's a big document with a whole lot of pages. And while at the same time we prepare an emergency stop-gap measure to keep the government going so there's not a shutdown, we're prepared to negotiate about what should happen for this fiscal year.

They have said repeatedly that -- many Republicans have said a shutdown is a good thing. And unlike all of our leadership has said we'll avoid a shutdown at all costs and they are not saying that. So one thinks that they are use the shutdown to get their way. And as I said, that's wrong. It's dangerous for the economy, dangerous for the American people and it's what Newt Gingrich tried, albeit over a smaller amount of cuts, $17 billion.

CROWLEY: Would you agree for a temporary measure that has cuts inside that temporary measure, rather than extending what exists, would you grew to a temporary measure that cuts something, anything?

SCHUMER: We have already agreed to a temporary measure that cuts $41 billion, very painful.

CROWLEY: So no further than what you're talking about.

SCHUMER: Yeah. But these cuts are very painful and many in our caucus didn't want to go along with those. You don't say before you negotiate it has to be this way. We are saying continue the government at a $41 billion level of cut for a period of time, short period, a couple of weeks and negotiate something for the whole year. And we realize that in those negotiations, where the house is at 100 billion, we think it's extreme. We're at 41 billion, there has to be give on both sides, but we are saying negotiate, and they are saying do it my way before there's any negotiations or the government will shut down.

CROWLEY: Let me turn you quickly to overall negotiations to bring the deficit down. Why do you not want to include Social Security in that? I realize it's not an on-budget item, but the president's own debt commission has said you cannot do anything about the debt until you deem with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

SCHUMER: Okay. Look, first of all, let me say I think that the negotiations going on among the bipartisan group of six are a very good thing, and I want them to continue, and I hope they will be successful, and I think most Democrats share that view.

Social Security, however, does not contribute one penny to the deficit and won't until 2037. And so therefore...

CROWLEY: And yet people in your own party believe that it is urgent that you deal with Social Security, to deal with the overall debt picture.

SCHUMER: Well, we believe -- the vast majority of Democrats, overwhelming, believe that since Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit, since Social Security will not contribute until 2037, that by including it in these specific negotiations it makes it harder to deal with what is the immediate and dangerous problem which is our immediate deficit over this year and the next several years. And, therefore, most of us think that Social Security should be kept for generations, and the way to do that is like what happened in 1983: Democrats and Republicans get together and come up with how we can extend Social Security.

But to mix it up as part of these negotiations I think will make these negotiations much tougher and harder, and because Social Security doesn't contribute to the debt, it makes sense to separate the two.

CROWLEY: Senator Chuck Schumer out of New York this morning for us. Thank you so much. Always too short, I hope you'll come back.

SCHUMER: Thanks, Candy. Have a nice day.

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