CNN "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" Transcript: Jobs and the Economy

Interview

CROWLEY: Joining me now is the number three Democrat in the Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer out of New York for us today. Senator, thanks for joining us.

SCHUMER: Good morning.

CROWLEY: Let me ask you that question. We see the president, he wants to increase the minimum wage. He wants to do something about reducing carbon in the air, universal pre-school, immigration, guns, more money for infrastructure. You know congress. I know congress. What is reasonable to expect you will get done this year?

SCHUMER: Well, I think that there's going to be more done than most people think, and that's because...

CROWLEY: And that would be what specifically do you think will get done?

SCHUMER: Well, I think immigration has a very decent chance of getting done. We're working hard on a bipartisan proposal on guns. I think we're going to avoid sequestration, and the proposal that we've made will prevail. I think that on some of these jobs issues -- you heard Eric Cantor in a speech where he talked about the same issues that the president did. So I think you're going to find out on minimum wage, we're going to bring that to the floor this spring, and I think you're going to find we're going to get more Republican support than people think because the policy...

CROWLEY: That's different, though, than passing it as you know. There's a lot of thought that the minimum wage, which appears to be something that's not going to clear congress is this year, is more about setting up 2014 to give Democrats something to rail against Republicans on.

SCHUMER: Well, it is an issue of fairness. If you work 40 hours a week, you shouldn't be way below the poverty level. The minimum wage is at a lower level than 1960, and I think that you may find some Republicans changing their minds on these issues.

What I was saying, Candy, is I think there's a sea change in our politics. The politics of obstruction, the politics of just cutting, cutting, cutting and shrinking, shrinking, shrinking, not things that are need to be cut or shrunk, but everything across the board is losing clout. And I have seen it in many areas. Our Republican colleagues are coming to the middle to meet us. We're going to have to come to the middle to meet them, too, but there will be less obstructionism.

I can't predict which issues, but I'll predict it will be a more productive congress than the last one.

CROWLEY: OK. Let me take some of these issues one by one.

First of all what, makes you think that sequestration will not take place which, boy, most people up there this week have said, yeah, it's going to happen, and that is the across-the-board spending cuts.

SCHUMER: Well, here's what I think. I think that Democrats have the high ground, both substantively and politically, and we will win on this issue.

Why?

The bottom line is very simple. The Republicans are proposing devastating cuts. They would lose 750,000

CROWLEY: But you all agreed to these across-the-board cuts.

SCHUMER: Please, I would like to finish what I'm saying here. 750,000 jobs will be lost. The economy will shrink by 6 percent, and what we've produced is very simple. It's closing loopholes. The only people who support them are the people who benefit them from them, oil and gas loopholes, the idea that businesses shouldn't get breaks by sending jobs overseas, the idea that someone who makes over $1 million should pay a higher rate than others. And whether it's right on the eve of sequestration or if god forbid it has to take effect for a few days, the devastating effects will be so strong. The president will be out there on his bully pulpit that just like on the fiscal cliff Republicans will come on board. They have no choice. Their arguments are untenable and don't meet the favor of hardly anyone other than themselves and the few whose special interests they are protecting.

CROWLEY: Let me move you on to immigration simply because we now see the White House sort of drafts immigration bill, at least the skeleton of it, has been leaked out there. We know that Democrats had been saying to the White House we don't -- please don't put your proposal out there because these are very delicate negotiations. We see that Marco Rubio, who is a part of the bipartisan group that you are also with working on immigration, has said the president's plan is dead on arrival. This leak cannot help the cause on Capitol Hill.

SCHUMER: Well, look, I -- I don't know what bill the president has out there. I haven't seen it, but they did say last night when this leak occurred, and I don't know how it occurred, that it wasn't their final or complete bill. The president and those of us working on immigration are working very well. Senators Durbin, Menendez, Bennett and I met with the president Wednesday, and he agreed to give us the space we need to come up with a bipartisan proposal. And so we're working well together.

I know that Senator Rubio was upset with this leak...

CROWLEY: Are you upset?

SCHUMER: We talked to him.

No, I am not upset.

We've talked to Senator Rubio, and he's fully on board with our process. And I am very hopeful that in March we will have a bipartisan bill.

You know, it's obvious. If a Democrat, the president or anyone else puts out what they want on their own, it's going to be different than what you have a bipartisan agreement, but the only way we're going to get something done is with a bipartisan agreement.

So I'm happy with the president. He's given us the space, and I'm optimistic we can get something done.

CROWLEY: I have to move on to guns now and ask you, you're also working on a deal with -- and on a bipartisan basis. How close are you to a deal of putting bill on the floor about gun control?

SCHUMER: Well, look, we have Democrats and Republicans, some of whom are pro NRA, have been supported by the NRA and some of whom, like myself, have been opposed by the NRA sitting down trying to negotiate the sweet spot where we can get something done.

We're talking. We've made some good progress. There is still some hard issues to be resolved. Guns is a very difficult issue, but our talks continue, and we've solved a good number of the problems. We have some significant problems still to overcome.

CROWLEY: What significant problems are there yet?

SCHUMER: Well, I am not going to get into the details of our negotiating publicly, but I can tell you we both made progress and have a ways to go.

CROWLEY: Do you think that there will be any kind of assault weapons ban in your bill?

SCHUMER: Well, I think that certainly Senator Feinstein has championed assault weapons. And it will be voted on by the senate. Whether it's part of our bill, we've been focusing on universal background checks where I think there's a greater chance to come to a bipartisan agreement.

CROWLEY: And do you have at least within your group agreement about universal background checks, at least to include those gun shows?

SCHUMER: We are. I'm not going to get into any details. There are many issues we've resolved and some we yet haven't.

CROWLEY: And so as I understand you, you are looking at perhaps your bill and then maybe a separate vote on assault weapons which looks a lot less likely to pass, is that correct?

SCHUMER: Well, Senator Leahy is going to determine the structure as we move through judiciary committee and Senator Reid as we move to the floor.

CROWLEY: But you're going to recommend something?

SCHUMER: We are hopefully going to recommend -- I'm certainly going to recommend something. And hopefully it will be bipartisan, and hopefully it will have both those have been supported by the NRA and those who have been opposed by the NRA on it.

CROWLEY: And finally, is there a mental health component, do you think, in what your group is working on?

SCHUMER: Well, there's one of the aspects of things we have to clear up is mental health records. The mental health records is part of the NIC system are weak. Five years ago I did negotiate an improvement in that system with the NRA support, and we're continuing to work in that area to tighten it up more than it was back in 2007.

CROWLEY: Senator Chuck Schumer, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

SCHUMER: Thank you. Good to talk to you.

Source