CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

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Well, joining me now is Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming.

Good morning, Senator.

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R), WYOMING: Thanks for having me on AMERICAN MORNING, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here.

So, you heard the president yesterday, he said Republicans have to explain themselves. But, in your mind, have Republicans already done that?

BARRASSO: Well, absolutely. And, you know, there are a lot of Democrats who don't support the president's proposal either. We asked for a vote on the Senate floor twice this week and Harry Reid, the Democrat leader of the Senate, blocked the vote on the president's own jobs bill.

So, the president is out there saying, vote for it. And the Democrats in the Senate don't want a vote because they don't want to have to support it. They realize this is just stimulus two.

The first stimulus failed. The president promised if you pass that stimulus that the unemployment rate would stay below 8. Instead, it went to over 10. We still have 14 million Americans looking for work.

This is not the way to get the economy going.

COSTELLO: Right. And still, Senator, if I may interrupt, we still have no action in Congress and that really frustrates many Americans.

And let me just run this by you because yesterday -- you know, we all talk about this as not the time for political gamesmanship and we all say that, but last night when Democrats were trying to pass this China currency bill, Republicans wanted to add an unrelated amendment on the president's jobs bill and, of course, Democrats blocked that by establishing new rules and that set off this tizzy in the chamber.

I mean, isn't this exactly the kind of gamesmanship the president was talking about?

BARRASSO: Well, they blocked two amendments that I wanted to bring. One that said that we ought to not export jobs, cement jobs, construction jobs, to China. They blocked that. It was completely relevant.

Another one I wanted to do was have a jobs impact statement on all pieces of legislation, just like we have environmental impact statements to see how different --

COSTELLO: But the real reason behind this was --

BARRASSO: And they blocked that, as well. So, we need to get --

COSTELLO: But the real reason behind it was to debate the president's jobs bill right on the spot. So, it kind of like threw a wrench the into China currency bill, which has some bipartisan support.

BARRASSO: The president said, "Pass my jobs bill now." He said it every stop along his trip, along the way. Every time the Republicans try to bring his jobs bill up for a vote, the Democrats block it. They don't want to vote for this either.

The president said, explain it. I'd invite the president to come to my home state of Wyoming where I can explain it to him and to my constituents. And, you know, the Democrat senator from the state north of Wyoming, Montana, Jon Tester, he has opposed it, as well.

We are as bipartisan opposition to the president's plan of borrowing and spending and over-regulating and threatening tax increases. That's not a way to get the economy going.

I want to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs and the president continues to find ways to make it harder and more expensive for the private sector to create jobs.

COSTELLO: And, Senator, you are right, Democrats do not like the way the president wants to pay for his plans. There's some dissent among the ranks of Democrats as well.

I wanted to ask you about these Wall Street protests. They spread nationwide now. Thousands of people are participating.

What do you make of that?

BARRASSO: Well, it sounds like many of them are being paid by unions to do that, to foment disorder out there.

We need to get people back to work. Fundamentally, that's what we need to do. The president ignored the job market for the last two and a half years. I'm glad he's starting to pay attention.

COSTELLO: So, you think most of these people -- you agree with Herman Cain, the presidential candidate, who said he believes that these protests were orchestrated and he also believes that these people should not complain about not getting a job, they should go out and find one. Let's listen to a bit of Herman Cain and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you are envious of somebody who happens to be rich that you call a fat cat, go and get rich instead of expecting them to walk outside of the office and write you a check. That's not the way America works. Work for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Does Mr. Cain have a point, Senator?

BARRASSO: Well, we're a nation of equal opportunity, not guaranteed results. And I want to do things to provide more opportunities for all Americans. And when the president's plan takes away those opportunities, I don't think that's helpful.

I have a whole jobs program that I introduce would a number of different western senators and a jobs opportunity plan for red, white and blue American jobs. It's 20 pages and you can go to that and I would suggest that the president do that, as well. This is the way to get so many Americans back to work.

COSTELLO: Going back to the protesters and why they're protesting, Senator, do you think they have a legitimate frustration?

BARRASSO: Well, I think a lot of people in this country that are very frustrated because they can't find work and a lot of it has to do with the policies coming out of this administration. You know, the president inherited a bad situation and his policies have made it worse.

COSTELLO: But, I guess I just want -- Herman Cain and you just said that you believe that unions are behind these protests. But the unions really didn't get involved until weeks later and, you know, a lot of people are now co-opting this group and it's growing.

But at some point, it was organic and the anger was directed at Wall Street. Do you think that the anger is directed in the right place?

BARRASSO: I think people want to work. We have many people around the country that cannot find a job and the policies that make it harder and more expensive for the private sector to create jobs is what's keeping people out of work. We need to make it easier and cheaper for the private sector to create jobs so we have more people working. That will raise the tax revenue coming in to the country and will help us deal with our deficit and our debt.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Senator, for being with us this morning. We appreciate it.

BARRASSO: Thank you, carol.

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