CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: Government Shutdown

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

SCHIEFFER: And now we're going to get thing other side from the assistant republican leader in the Senate, Texas Senator John Cornyn. Senator Cornyn, give me some scenario, where do you see this ending? How does this end?

CORNYN: Well, the president has got to lead, and he has got to do his job. We rejected the concept of a king when our country was founded, and created three co-equal branches of government. The president said he won't negotiate on the continuing resolution and now he says he won't negotiate on the debt. But what he needs to do is roll up his sleeves and get to the table. And I'm sure we can get past the impasse on both the continuing resolution as well as the debt ceiling.

SCHIEFFER: But I just -- as I said to Mr. Lew, I just see both sides talking past one another. Republicans say they want -- they won't vote on this until everybody sits down and talks. The president says vote on it and then we'll sit down and talk. Somebody has got to give here, it seems to me.

CORNYN: Well, 17 times since 1976, the government has temporarily shut down because of an impasse over spending levels. And that's what has happened again. And we're not going to resolve this without the president engaging. Now, the debt ceiling and the continuing resolution have sort of morphed into one another because of the timing of this thing. And, again, Mr. Lew says that the president won't negotiate on that. I think what has happened is that in 2011 the president now realizes that Republicans who were concerned about spending levels got better of him on the Budget Control Act, which has actually cut $2 trillion over the next 10 years. We got on that trajectory of discretionary spending. And the president realizes that he's going to have to give something in order to get what he wants. And he doesn't want to go there.

SCHIEFFER: Well, you heard Speaker Boehner say that he does not think that there are votes in the House right now to pass a clean bill, a bill that doesn't have anything attached to it. Do you think that's the case?

CORNYN: Well, he knows the House better than I know the House. But I know there is a lot of concern among conservatives about actually the level of the continuing resolution. Because, as you know, it came out of Senate at $988 billion, which is actually above the Budget Control Act number of $967 billion. So I imagine there are a number of different views about this. But the fact is that the continuing resolution has now become part of the debt ceiling negotiation, and the president needs to do his job. So far he has been AWOL.

SCHIEFFER: Well, don't Republicans also have to do their job...

CORNYN: Everybody does.

SCHIEFFER: ... after all, I mean, you know, this law -- this all started because Ted Cruz, your colleague from Texas in the Senate, didn't like Obamacare, and he worked up this deal that we won't raise -- I mean, we won't fund the government unless we can also get you to agree not to fund Obamacare. I mean, which is almost like you know, I'm going to throw a brick through your window unless you give me $20.

CORNYN: Well, I would look at it a little different way. I would say that Ted and I share the concern about what Obamacare is doing to our economy. And even...

SCHIEFFER: But that's besides the point. The law has been passed. Why not keep the government running and then everybody can sit down and decide what they want to do about it?

CORNYN: Well, there should be a negotiation, and this government would still be up and running in full if Harry Reid had allowed Democrats to vote to eliminate the congressional carve-out which treats them favorably under Obamacare and to treat average Americans the same way the president has decided to treat business with regard to Obamacare penalties.

SCHIEFFER: But, Senator, isn't there something wrong when you say, we won't fund the government unless I can attach my personal wish list to the legislation every time we vote? I mean, I'd love to see the government find a cure for cancer, but I don't think you can say, I'm not going to pass any funds for the rest of the government until NIH finds a cure for cancer. I mean, isn't that just kind of the same thing here?

CORNYN: Well, it should be part of the negotiation. But there's actually more common ground than you might think, because we have actually -- the House has passed a provision to open up NIH to do the cancer research that is necessary...

SCHIEFFER: Yes, but that...

CORNYN: ... and that has been shut down...

SCHIEFFER: Yes, but, I mean...

CORNYN: ... by the Democrats.

SCHIEFFER: ... you can't do that every time you get ready to fund the government, it seems to me, as somebody comes up with some new thing that is their thing that they want done, and you can't fund the government unless you get that. I mean...

CORNYN: Well, I know you can't reach an agreement and get past this impasse if the president won't negotiate and he's not at the table. We've moved from the defund Obamacare effort to eliminating this congressional carve-out, and eliminating the penalty on individual Americans like the president has done for businesses under Obamacare. We would have the government be funded today if Harry Reid and Senate Democrats had agreed to vote for that.

SCHIEFFER: What would you like? What do Republicans want?

CORNYN: Well, I'll tell what you we want is some measures to address the out-of-control debt and spending in the country. And, particularly, looking at $17 trillion in debt, which is hampering our economy, creating uncertainty. It's helping to contribute to slow economic growth and high unemployment. And the president says he want a clean debt ceiling increase. That's not going to happen. And we can't let it happen if we care about the next generation.

SCHIEFFER: Well, where does this end? I mean, I guess I've asked that question before, but where does this end? Because I don't see either side this morning moving any closer to that than they were six months ago.

CORNYN: Well, I think you're correct this morning. Things change rather quickly around here. My hope would be the president would reconsider his decision to sit on the sidelines and be a mere spectator. And he would roll up his sleeves and he would do the job. I can't imagine -- coming from Texas, I can't imagine Lyndon Baines Johnson as president or any other president, frankly, in the 17 times we've had a shutdown, sitting on the sidelines and outsourcing these negotiations to other people.

SCHIEFFER: Let me just ask you this, you've been around for a while, how is it that you wind up with a freshman senator who has been in office less than a year, becomes the architect of this thing that has the two sides so gridlocked that nobody seems to know a way out of it? How did that happen?

CORNYN: Well, there is a way out of it. But it's going to take the president's involvement. But I'll speak to that. I think what Ted and so many others have -- are addressing is the fear in this country that we are careening down a path that unless we stop and correct it in terms of spending, in terms of government overreach, that our country will become something we don't even recognize. And so I think they see this as an opportunity. I think they're right. It is an opportunity, but it's going to take the president being a co-equal partner along with Congress in negotiating both the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling.

SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, Senator, thank you for coming by this morning.

CORNYN: Thanks, Bob.

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