CBS "Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer" - Transcript - Immigration Reform and the Farm Bill

Interview

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SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, we'll stop there. We're going to turn to the other side of Capitol Hill and talk to the number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, who joins us this morning from Springfield, Illinois. What's your take, Senator Durbin? You all passed the big immigration bill. You saw what the House did this week. You also saw this farm bill that was passed. What, as a Democrat, do you see now?

DURBIN: Bob, you know what we discovered in the Senate? If you want to pass an historic bill to fix a broken immigration system, it has to be a bipartisan effort, four Democrats, four Republicans. We sat down for over 40 meetings; we worked out an agreement. It includes border enforcement and security, a path to citizenship. And we passed it with a strong bipartisan roll call. That should be a message to the House. That's how this has to be done. This can't be done by the Republican Caucus in the House; it should be done on a bipartisan basis. When it comes to the farm bill, twice now the Senate has passed the farm bill by strong bipartisan votes, sent it to the House, where it failed last year because they couldn't even call a bill. And this year when it was called, even the Republicans wouldn't vote for it. Now they've stripped out food stamps. I listened to the explanation from Congressman Kelly. He wonders why so many people are receiving assistance, SNAP and food stamps. It's because their wages and incomes are so low. They're working but they can't afford to feed their children. Elderly people on Social Security are not receiving enough to really keep food in the house. That is a problem we should face squarely. It isn't a matter of defrauding American taxpayers. It's a reflection on the weakness in our economy for a lot of hardworking families.

SCHIEFFER: Well, do you see any kind of farm bill passing the Senate that does not include money for the food stamp program?

DURBIN: No. Let me tell you, for 50 years -- 50 years we have had a partnership of those living in the cities who are interested in nutritional programs, whether it's food stamps or school lunch, and those who represented rural areas, which I did in Congress. They came together in a farm bill. It was a winning formula. Now the House Republicans have given up on that. That's a mistake. Let's not only grow the food; let's make sure it's distributed fairly across America, particularly so our own people don't go hungry. Separating out these two issues is not in the best interest of our country.

SCHIEFFER: Getting back to the immigration bill, it apparently, or it looks like that the house is going to pass some sort of bill or a series of bills. But at this point it look like, I don't see very much sentiment for anything that deals with the 11 million people who are in this country undocumented, the so-called called illegals in this country. It's hard for me to see how the Senate would pass anything that didn't deal with that.

DURBIN: I agree with you. And we started this debate -- started this conversation among Democrats and Republicans with two basic understandings. First, a path to citizenship. It's long, it's tough, folks have to come forward and register, pay their taxes, pay a fine, be monitored to make sure they have no criminal background that troubles us. Give them a chance for 10 years to pay taxes and not receive government benefits, and then an opportunity of a three-year path to legalization. I think it's fair, it's certainly not amnesty. And we said to the Republicans, all right, I will give when it comes to the border. Do I think we're overspending in our bill on border security? Yes, I do. But on the Republican side they insisted on it. We agreed to it, and came up with 14 Republicans who said this is fair way to reduce the likelihood of illegal immigration. Couple it with the E-Verify system at the employment place, couple it with checking on visas, entry and exit. It's a sound, solid system. I'm afraid when it comes to this border security there's never enough for some. They say it's about border security, that's the reason they can't be for immigration reform. I think it's about something else.

SCHIEFFER: Let me ask you quickly about what Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said this morning. He said the United States is going to have to take an even tougher line with Iran and let them know that if they proceed with this nuclear program that it -- that the United States will simply not tolerate it, that this regime cannot survive. What is your advice right now to the administration on that?

DURBIN: I think the administration position is the right one. Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. The notion of a nuclear Iran is absolutely unacceptable. It will not only create a threat to Israel, the Middle East, and even the United States, but it will trigger this arms race in the Arabian Peninsula of others that will now seek nuclear arms if Iran has them. We cannot let that happen. We put sanctions in place but we made it clear to the Iranians there is a point beyond which we cannot allow them to go. Neither the American people nor Congress are seeking a war, we're not looking for one. But the Iranian leadership shouldn't push us to the brink. There will come a point where United States has to stand up for our best interest and the best interests of our allies and friends in the Middle East.

SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, Senator, thank you so much for being with us this morning. And we'll be back in one minute with our panel of analysts.

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