NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript
Interview
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Leader McConnell, let me start with you and ask you whether this presidential plan on a millionaires' tax rate is something that you could support.
SEN. McCONNELL: Well, you know, we had that vote, David, a couple of years ago when the Democrats basically owned the Congress. They had overwhelming control of the Senate and the House, and it was defeated then. So I think I would simply go back to what the president said last December in signing a two-year extension of the current tax rates. It's a bad thing to do in the middle of an economic downturn. And, of course, the economy, some would argue, is even worse now than it was when the president signed the extension of the current tax rates back in December. I think what he said then still applies now.
MR. GREGORY: What's unfair, though, about making richer Americans pay the same tax rates as middle income Americans?
SEN. McCONNELL: Well, look, you know, if Warren Buffett would like to give up some of his benefits, we'd be happy to talk about it. I mean, I, I think that means adjusting benefits is one of the ways that we're going to have to solve at least the Social Security and Medicare problems long term for the next generations. With regard to his tax rate, if he's feeling guilty about it, I think he should send in a check. But we don't want to stagnate this economy by raising taxes. It won't just hit individuals, David. You know, there are over 700,000 of our most successful small businesses pay taxes as individuals, not as corporations. That represents 50 percent of small business income and 25 percent of the American workforce. We've got a 9.1 percent unemployment rate. Does anybody think that's a good idea other than the president? There's bipartisan opposition to what the president is recommending already.
MR. GREGORY: We're talking about a jobs bills the president wants, and then tomorrow he's going to talk about his larger plan for reducing the deficit because we know there's a super committee now in Washington that still has to make some of the hard choices that Congress couldn't make the last go around. So the real question, Leader, is whether the president has a partner in Republicans. Now, House Speaker Boehner talked about the economy and both of these issues this week. I want to play what he said on this idea of whether there's a partner.
(Videotape, Thursday)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH): If we want to create a better environment for job creation, politicians can--of all stripes, can leave the, you know, my way or the highway philosophy behind. ... Now, tax increases, I think, are off the table. And I don't think they're a viable option for the Joint Committee.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: Isn't this classic? Politicians talking out of both sides of their mouths? We can't have an ultimatum, "my way or the highway," but we will not talk about tax increases as we go forward to try to bring this budget into balance over time.
SEN. McCONNELL: Well, regretfully, it never gets talked about, but there actually are things we agree on. We passed the Budget Control Act last August, this past August. It will get us a trillion dollars in savings over 10 years. We're going to get another minimum of a million--a trillion, $200 billion savings out of the Joint Committee. We passed a patent bill that we think will help the economy. This week we extended the Federal Aviation Administration, and the--we passed a highway bill. If the president would send up these trade bills that have been sitting on his desk for two and a half years, ever since the day he was sworn in, we'll pass those. There are things we can do together, David, and we're ready to do it.
MR. GREGORY: But let's talk about the hard stuff because my question's about taxes.
SEN. McCONNELL: Mm-hmm.
MR. GREGORY: If the president is willing to deal on Medicare cuts, cuts to that program, are you willing to consider tax increase as part of a larger effort to reduce the deficit?
SEN. McCONNELL: Well, we're certainly interested in tax reform. I don't have a single member of my conference who doesn't think it's time to take a whole look at the tax code all over again. It's been 25 years since President Reagan led us through this effort on a bipartisan basis back in the mid-'80s. It got the top rate from 70 percent down to 28 percent, was a big step in the right direction, and helped produce an economic boom for a fairly lengthy period of time. So tax reform, we're certainly open to. We're not opposed to more revenue.
The way you get more revenue is getting the economy going. Government is a big winner when the economy is moving. Right now, we've got--we've thrown a big wet blanket over the private sector economy. We've borrowed too much, we've spent too much, we're dramatically overregulating every aspect of the private sector in our country. And now we're threatening to raise taxes on top of it. That's not going to get the economy moving.
MR. GREGORY: Isn't the reality, Leader, that you laid out the political playbook for Republicans, and that's to make this president a one-term president. You've laid that out before. Is it your view that it's political malpractice to do business with the president on this point, and by taking any tax increases off the table, to either jump-start the economy or to deal with the deficit problem down the road, you say, "We're not going to give him anything now, the window is closed. Let's have it out in the election."
SEN. McCONNELL: No, the window's not closed. I mean, the election is next year, in case anybody forgot. It's not this year. We're in the middle now of a process that I think is going to lead to a major bipartisan accomplishment, and that's the Joint Committee and its recommendations with regard to entitlement reform and possibly tax reform as well. Only divided government can do those kinds of things, David. Let me give you four good examples. President Reagan and Tip O'Neill fixed the Social Security system for a generation in the mid-'80s. They did tax reform in the mid-'80s. President Clinton and Republicans did welfare reform and President Clinton and the Republicans actually balanced the budget in the late '90s. You know, divided government, that is when neither party controls the entire government, is the perfect time to do big stuff. And we intend to tackle deficit and debt, once again, through the Joint Committee. I'm hopeful the president will sign whatever we send him later this year. That'll be an accomplishment that both sides can brag about.
MR. GREGORY: I want to ask you about 2012. Who do you think is the front-runner on the Republican side?
SEN. McCONNELL: I have no idea. I have my hands full with my job in the Senate. It's interesting to watch; and, obviously, I'm going to be supporting the Republican nominee. And I think if the election were very soon, we'd have an excellent chance of changing the occupant of the White House. But, of course, the election is not this year, as I just indicated, it's next year.
MR. GREGORY: I want to play a couple of moments from recent debates that had to do with, really, a challenge to the notion that the Republican Party is the party of life and supports a culture of life. The first question from my colleague Brian Williams in the debate that had to do with the death penalty, to Rick Perry. I'll show you that.
(Videotape, September 7, 2011)
MR. BRIAN WILLIAMS: Your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other governor in modern times. Have you...
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: An awkward moment of applause. And then during the CNN debate, Wolf Blitzer asked Ron Paul whether a healthy man who had opted not to get insurance should be allowed to live, frankly, if it required intensive care for a period of six months. Here was the question.
(Videotape, Monday)
MR. WOLF BLITZER: Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?
REP. RON PAUL (R-TX): No.
(End videotape)
MR. GREGORY: Does the audience response in both cases trouble you as a Republican?
SEN. McCONNELL: Look, we have a lot of people running for president. There's going to be a lot of debates, a lot of things said, a lot of audience reactions. I, I don't have any particular reaction to what's going on in the Republican campaign for president right now. I've got a big job to do trying to help turn this country around and working with a president who I believe has been doing all of the wrong things. I mean, if you look at the stimulus bill, David, what did we get out that? Turtle tunnels and Solyndra. Solyndra. Look, more money was lost on Solyndra than came to my state to, to fix roads and bridges out of the entire stimulus package last year, and now he's asking us to do it again. One of my favorite sayings here in Kentucky, out in the rural areas, is there's no education the second kick of a mule. I mean, we've been there, we've done that, and now he's asking us to do it again. I'm trying to, to get him to go in a different direction. I've got my hands full without commenting on all that's going on in the Republican campaigns for president.
MR. GREGORY: All right, we're going to leave it there. Leader McConnell, as always, thank you very much.
SEN. McCONNELL: Thank you, David.
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