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

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

So rather than thinking of this as a crisis, I think of it as an opportunity to come together and those talks are under way led by the vice president.

CROWLEY: So then let me see where the coming together is. On the House side, we've heard Speaker Boehner say that there has to be $2 trillion worth of cuts and that the amount of cuts has to at least equal the amount that the debt ceiling is raised. Is that where you stand? Is that a bottom line for you?

MCCONNELL: Well, let me just tell what you it would take to get my vote. We need to do something about the short term. We need to get a spending ceiling for the next two years because we're not likely to get a final budget out of a Democratic Senate and a Republican House. We need to know how much we're going to spend the next two years, and that needs to be on a declining basis. Then we need to do something mid-term, that is within what we call the budget window, within the next few years, both on the discretionary side and the mandatory side. And the mandatory side means entitlements. And we also need to do something long-term.

I just mentioned we have over $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities. The president doesn't seem to want to do Social Security without a tax increase which is clearly not need and we just heard from trustees Friday that both Medicare and Social Security are in serious trouble and it's worse than anybody thought. Maybe the president's open to doing something on the Medicare side.

But to get my vote, Candy -- and I can only speak for myself -- we need to do something significant, short-term, medium-term and long- term...

CROWLEY: All before you raise the debt ceiling?

MCCONNELL: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

CROWLEY: Short, medium, and long-term have to be done before you go for an increase in the debt ceiling.

MCCONNELL: Absolutely.

You know, my definition is significance -- you know Standard & Poor's is in the process of downgrading the U.S. credit rating. Now that's a serious problem. We need to impress the markets, impress foreign countries that we're going to get our act together and astonish the American people that the adults are in charge in Washington and are actually going to deal with this issue.

CROWLEY: So, let me see if I understand you. $2 trillion is not necessarily where you would go. You would leave that amount open while the Biden commission with Republicans and Democrats on it figure out the short, medium and long-term, is that correct? $2 trillion you don't stick with.

MCCONNELL: Yeah. What I'm not going to do is negotiate the deal with you here this morning.

CROWLEY: Oh, come on.

MCCONNELL: I'd like to, I know, but I just can't.

What I'm trying to do is give you a sense of what I think would be significant, would be a clear indication that we're going to go in an entirely different direction.

And I think if you do something significant both short-term, medium-term and long-term, everybody will understand the Americans are going to get their act together and we're not going to end up being a Western European country.

CROWLEY: And you'll know significant when you see it, I take it. MCCONNELL: Yeah. And I think Standard & Poor's will be a good indicator of if they are impressed with what we've done, then that will mean the markets think the Americans will get their act together. Foreign countries, many of whom have been lending us an enormous amount of money would get the message that the Americans are going to get their act together.

We need to -- that's my definition of significant.

CROWLEY: And I think I can get a yes or no from you on this. No tax increases will you accept at all in either the short, the medium or the long term, and that includes close tap loopholes?

MCCONNELL: Well, there aren't going to be any tax increases. You know, that was settled by last November's election. The president knows that. We are not going to raise taxes in connection with this problem.

Look, we don't have this problem because we tax too little. We have it because we spend too much. And there certainly not going to be any tax increases.

CROWLEY: How about closing loopholes like the tax -- for instance, for the oil companies.

MCCONNELL: The problem with doing tax reform right now is it is very, very complicated. The Senate Democrats, you're right, do want to raise taxes on what they call the big five oil companies which of course will raise the price of gas at the pump, send jobs overseas and make us get even more oil from Hugo Chavez. That's just a political stunt that Mary Landrieu, Democratic Senator from Louisiana, called laughable.

That's not the kind of thing we're going to be dealing with here in connection with the serious talks that are going on with the Vice President's group.

CROWLEY: Let me turn you to foreign policy for a quick question. Do you think that President Obama ought to call on Syrian president al Assad to step down as he did for President Mubarak in Egypt?

MCCONNELL: Well, we certainly know that the Assad regime, just like his father's regime, is a thuggish regime that murders their own people. The president I think correctly is trying to put the squeeze on them in ever way possible. Calling for resignation? I don't know whether that's called for at the moment or not but this regime has turned out to be exactly what we thought. And there were some people in our own administration who thought that Bashar al Assad was going to be a reformer. I don't think there is any evidence of that. This is a thug regime.

And I think what comes out of it is that we're not likely to make any progress in the Middle East right now. I know Senator Mitchell decided two years was enough because it looks to me like we're kind of reached another stalemate in the Palestinian talks with Israel. We're not sure what comes next in Egypt. I think this is a period of great unrest in the Middle East and probably not a time when we're going to make serious progress in any of these countries.

CROWLEY: And let me turn you to politics. Mitt Romney as you know often called the front-runner in the Republican race for the presidential nominee, gave a big speech on Thursday, talked about how his health care plan in Massachusetts, which required mandates -- which had mandates for people that they must have health insurance, was different from the president's, which Republicans are so critical about.

Was it enough to satisfy you? Would you have any qualms if Mitt Romney were the presidential nominee for the Republican Party?

MCCONNELL: Well, look. I'm not going to start dabbling around or endorsing or criticizing one candidate or another running for president on the Republican side. But let me say this about Obamacare. It was the single worst piece of legislation that's been passed in my time in the Senate.

CROWLEY: What about the Massachusetts plan?

MCCONNELL: The biggest step in the wrong direction for America. I think it needs to be repealed and replaced. We've had that vote earlier this year. I would hope whoever gets elected president, if it's not the current president, would join with us and repealing it totally.

CROWLEY: And finally, this has often been described and often is at this time as a weak Republican field. Is there someone that is not being discussed that you would like to see get into this race for Republican nominee?

MCCONNELL: Well, on the weak field comment, I'm reminded of how the Carter administration was pulling for Ronald Reagan to be the Republican nominee because they thought he would be the easiest to beat.

Look, one of these candidates who wants the nomination and who is going to work very hard for it and run through this gauntlet is going to look a lot better than any of these people look right now. So I assure you, we're going to have a very credible, electable Republican nominee. I just don't know who that is.

CROWLEY: Me neither, Senator Mitch McConnell, thank you so much for your time today.

MCCONNELL: Thank you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source