MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Joining me tonight is Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois. She`s the perfect guest for this segment on this story, because she has had on the table for over a year a bill that asks the wealthiest Americans to just do a little bit more so we can straighten out our fiscal house. you know what I mean?

Congresswoman, great to have you with us tonight.

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), ILLINOIS: Thank you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: I feel like -- you bet. I feel like today, the president made a turn. Is this a turning point? Your thoughts.

SCHAKOWSKY: No question. The president took the reins today to try to set right what the Bush administration did. The three things that really caused the debt and the deficit, and that is the tax cuts that he gave to the rich, unpaid for, the two wars that were unpaid for. And, of course, the great recession that Wall Street created under his watch.

And all three are addressed here, taxing the rich now, paying their fair share, ending the wars. And that`s $1 trillion that we`ll bring home and the third thing -- the third thing was to create jobs and that is going
to stimulate the economy.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

SCHAKOWSKY: So, all three parts of the deficit are being addressed.

SCHULTZ: All of these tax cuts that have been given out to the, quote, "job creators" had been far short of what they thought it was going to be. But the key now, is it not, coming up in the election year, for the
Democrats to be on the same page, to collectively say and maybe even go so far as assigning a pledge that it`s over for the rich. You`ve had it for 10 years.

Do you think the Democratic Party will follow the president on this?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, it certainly should. You know, the nerve of them to talk about class warfare when all of the growth and the economy, all of the wealth in the economy has gone to the richest Americans.

And this has not been some sort of natural disaster or an act of God. This has been their policies that have driven the money upward. And you`ve been talking about the destruction of the middle class for a long time,
that`s the kind of class warfare, the rich won so far.

And so, Democrats now who have always been the party to stick up for ordinary Americans need now to stand behind our president who has the plan to set us on the right track and bring back this kind of balance when all people do well. If we don`t have a robust middle class in this country, Ed, you know darn well that our country can`t compete in this world.

SCHULTZ: Well, you got no disposable income by the middle class. I don`t know how your economy is going to be digging out of the ditch. I mean, but I will tell you what, this is the president that I supported, and
this is the president that I`ve been waiting for, and you can`t fault him for having olive branches coming out of the White House left and right. He`s done everything he possibly can.

So, the final question quickly for you tonight, Congresswoman, do you think this is a winner for the president? Do you think this is the beginning of him running against the Congress and being victorious?

SCHAKOWSKY: Yes, I do. And you talked about those polls one after another that says the American people believe that they should be -- that we should be taxing the ones who have benefited most, not the middle class, not our senior citizens, not the poor. I think this is a winner for the president and for the Democrats, the 16 Democrats you talked about.

SCHULTZ: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, with us here on THE ED SHOW tonight -- thanks so much.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source