NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript

Interview

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Welcome back to MEET THE PRESS, Senator Schumer.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Good morning, Chuck.

MR. TODD: I want to ask, I want to ask you about nuclear power. Just in January, you had been inching toward being in support of expanding nuclear power in this country. You said quote, "It makes a great deal of sense. It's clean, and now it's pretty safe." Watching everything unfolding, do you still feel that way?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, we're going to have to see what happens here. Obviously, it's still, still things are happening. But the bottom line is we do have to free ourselves of independence from foreign oil. And the other half of the globe, Libya, showed that. Prices are up, our economy is being hurt by it or could be hurt by it. So I'm still willing to look at nuclear. As I've always said, it has to be done safely and carefully.

MR. TODD: Senator, I want to turn to the budget debate. We know that there is a new short-term continuing resolution to keep the government open. The current one expires this Friday. House Republicans have put one out. A lot of Democrats have signed on. I just want to confirm your--you approve of this new short-term three week budget resolution that the House Republicans have put out.

SEN. SCHUMER: Yes. And it gives me some cause for optimism that we can finish this CR, the remaining six months, pretty well. There were negotiations between the president, Senate Democrats, House Republicans. And the proposal that was made, I'm, I'm for it. It takes cuts that Democrats have proposed.

MR. TODD: Right.

SEN. SCHUMER: Cuts that get rid of fat, but don't hit into the muscle the way HR-1 did, and it leaves out all these extraneous riders on things like abortion, global warming, other things that would cause all kinds--make it far more difficult to get to a budget decision.

MR. TODD: Senator, there's been a lot of criticism of a lot of players in this budget debate. Let me play you a clip of Senator Claire McCaskill who was not happy about the Senate Democrat proposal that was put out earlier this week. Here's what she had to say.

(Videotape, Wednesday)

SEN. CLAIRE McCASKILL (D-MO): I still think that there are way too many people in denial around here about the nature of the problem and how serious it is. And I don't think we're demonstrating to the American people that we understand the nature of the problem when we present an alternative proposal with such a small number of cuts.

(End videotape)

MR. TODD: Who is she referring to when she says there are too many folks around here that are in denial? Is she referring to you, Harry Reid, the more liberal members of your caucus?

SEN. SCHUMER: Claire McCaskill has, God bless her, she has been out there long before this election talking about budget cuts. And House Democrats, Senate Democrats, have moved in her direction. The McCaskill-Sessions Bill we supported last year, late last year, it didn't get enacted. The bottom line is this, though: Claire McCaskill voted against HR-1, as did every other Democrat--that's the Republican proposal--because I think we're united in one thing: We should make significant cuts, absolutely, we need to, but we can't cut into our seed corn. We can't cut into the things that help America grow and create jobs like education or cancer research or food safety, things like that. And I think what you're finding, Chuck, is you're going to find a turning point here. Now that every Democrat has rejected HR-1 and it clearly doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate, the ball shifts to Speaker Boehner. We've put some cuts on the table. We're willing to put more. But they have not said a single place where they would move off HR-1, and now it can't pass. So, actually, the action in the next week or two will occur behind the scenes. Speaker Boehner will have to meet with these 87 freshman Republicans.

MR. TODD: Right.

SEN. SCHUMER: Some have said they won't budge. But if they don't, he may have to make a coalition with some Democrats in the House because it's clear HR-1 can't pass, we have to go somewhat further than what we've gone, and we are willing to be reasonable and meet in the middle as long as it doesn't cut the kinds of things that help America grow. Because the American people gave us two missions: Cut unnecessary programs, but grow the economy and create jobs. We think we can do both. We think HR-1 only focuses on one.

MR. TODD: We are in our third set of short-term budget expansion--extensions here. Are you OK if, if you can't get a deal by April 8th, which is when the next continuing resolution would end, the next time we can see a government shutdown. Are you OK with another short-term, or is that it? Because Harry Reid had said last week, no more short-terms, and then all of a sudden you guys are saying, "OK, we'll take one more short-term." Is this it? Last one?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, as I said, this short-term CR does meet our basic criteria--the president and the Senate Democrats--which is: Cut the waste, cut inefficiency, but don't cut the seed corn. And by the way, just parenthetically, the tsunami shows that as well. We proposed cutting some earmarks out of the funding of NOAA, which has the regulation and watching out for tsunamis. They cut so much out of NOAA, which funds the tsunami warning center, that there would have to be furloughs there.

MR. TODD: Right.

SEN. SCHUMER: So we are sticking to where we're at. This short-term CR moved us in that direction, but now we should negotiate one for the rest of the year. We only have six months left. The president, Senate Democrats, House Republicans are sitting down and negotiating, and we should get it done already. You can't fund a business two weeks at a time.

MR. TODD: Right.

SEN. SCHUMER: You can't fund a government two weeks at a time.

MR. TODD: Senator, has the president done enough? I know behind-the-scenes that the relationship between you and the White House has been somewhat rocky during the lame duck and it's up and down. Has the president been involved enough?

SEN. SCHUMER: Oh, yes. First, I talk to the White House every day. We are talking to one another. We're not always on the same page, but we usually are. And the overall goal, again, cutting waste, using a smart short scalpel but not a meat ax. Senate Democrats and the president are on the same page, and I think we're moving in that direction. I'm optimistic that we can get there, particularly based on the negotiations and what happened in the short-term CR, which is something that we could support.

MR. TODD: And very quickly, on Libya, the Arab League has called on the United Nations to call for a no-fly zone over Libya. Are you supportive of a no-fly zone and should the U.S. Senate be put on the record on this? Do you believe that before the president agrees to anything that Congress should have a say?

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, I certainly think the Arab League's decision makes a no-fly zone more likely. I think the president's handling it very well, not taking a military option off the table, but being careful. We've learned in the past when we go in militarily there are all kinds of other types of consequences, and at the same time, it's much better to do it in a multilateral way, with all the nations of the world on board, rather than do it unilaterally. The Arab League, NATO will get on board, and I think it makes a no-fly zone much more like to happen shortly.

MR. TODD: Does Congress have to have a say?

SEN. SCHUMER: I don't--I believe on these we should defer to the commander in chief on short-term immediate situations like this.

MR. TODD: All right. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, Democrat from New York, thanks very much for being on MEET THE PRESS.

SEN. SCHUMER: Thank you, Chuck. Nice to be with you.

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