CNN "Piers Morgan Live" - Transcript: Government Shutdown

Interview

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So what will it take to turn this glimmer of hope even its gotten into a deal. Well joining me now to go head-to-head, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. You know, Debbie, I know you like the guy but I listened to the President's that have 90 minutes giving a press conference which he refused to talk to any television journalist, talked to a random bunch of print packs, he went on and on, it's one of the longest drones I think I've ever listened to. Now the end of it, nothing. Nothing, actually happened. Nothing was achieved.

All he did was inform us why nothing is happening. And he could have used that time, to me, to much greater benefit to the American people, if he just sat in a room with John Boehner until they got an agreement. What is the matter with them?

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA: Well, there's absolutely nothing the matter. On the contrary with President Obama that on the contrary what's going here is that Republicans are dug in so far that they practically got the dirt over the tops of their heads. And someone rational needs to throw them a shovel. We've got to work together.

MORGAN: Probably so with the Democratic, Debbie, so are the Democrats. So ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No.

MORGAN: Yes. Yes.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, Piers.

MORGAN: Yes, 10 percent more Americans ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We're not.

MORGAN: Well 10 percent more Americans blame the Republicans and yes, some of the Republicans ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Piers.

MORGAN: ... like Ted Cruz had been absurdly (inaudible) in trying to upend ObamaCare and so on. But there comes a point, if you're the President of the United States and it's your government that shuts down, you've got to be the big guy. You want to get in the room and do business.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Yes, he does and he's willing to do that, but not, as he said, with a gun to our heads. Not where the Republicans are saying that we must in order to reopen the government, we must have changes to ObamaCare that we have to do it their way and that the only way the government is going to open is if we hold the economy hostage and change the Affordable Care Act which is in law for three years. And again ...

MORGAN: OK.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: ... we've heard this before upheld by the Supreme Court, an election decided over it. So it's very simple, we just need to vote on a clean spending resolution to reopen the government. We need to pay the nation's bills and then yes, we should sit down and there are a myriad of things that we should negotiate over that we should discuss. We have entitlement form ...

MORGAN: OK. Let me -- you're turning into President Obama with this monologue. So let me cut you off.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Sure.

MORGAN: Marsha Blackburn, I mean all of this is true depending on who you talk to on both sides there are arguments on both sides. Personally, I blame the Republicans more than I blame the Democrats on this one ...

REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R), TENNESSEE: I would expect you to.

MORGAN: ... but right now, like most the Americans, I blame both sides. I want to see ...

BLACKBURN: That's right.

MORGAN: ... business done.

BLACKBURN: You're exactly right. And they should be blaming both sides and I can tell you what, Piers, if it were up to Debbie and I, I think you would see the two of us sit down at the table and try to work something out.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: That's no question.

BLACKBURN: Here is what we have done over the past -- yes, she is, I would agree on that.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We've already talked about that.

BLACKBURN: You're right. We can get it done.

MORGAN: (inaudible) you two agreeing on that.

BLACKBURN: We can get it done. But here's where we go. Here's what we've done.

MORGAN: Let's just part this amicable side to one side

BLACKBURN: Right. Here's what we have done. We have offered and continue to offer, we have sent four different CRs, we have sent a budget, we've sent 12 different funding bills ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Oh, come on that is ...

BLACKBURN: ... and what we hear from and with bipartisan support, we have had 200 Democrats and the House vote with us on different funding measures, Piers, that we have sent to the Senate.

Harry Reid will not take them up. And then we have a President who says he doesn't want to negotiate with us. Now, we have never had a President not negotiate a debt ceiling deal. We know that our nation cannot continue to borrow $2 billion a day. We ask them, "Join us at the table. Work with us." We need to work to a solution that is going to be fair for the American taxpayer and it's going to be respectful ...

MORGAN: OK. All right. I'm going to try to keep the speeches to a minimum.

BLACKBURN: OK. OK.

MORGAN: Let me get back to Debbie because -- all right, let's get to the bigger picture here. The shutdown has been very annoying and as we will see when I speak to some people in a moment, very harrowing for certain Americans, many Americans in fact. But let's put that to one side for a moment because the much bigger problem looming is this debt ceiling issue which in fact was to -- well in fact does not to go the right way and there was no deal done will be utter catastrophe Warren Buffet called it a nuclear explosion in fact to be politically and financially.

What basically Marsha Blackburn is saying I've always suspected that the Republicans know they got -- they win on the shutdown argument. What they really want to do is wrap it all around the ground bargain on the debt ceiling not withstanding the irritation of the shutdown. Debbie, do you think that actually that maybe the sensible way to resolve this? Get it all done in one, go.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I think we'd be thrilled to get it all done at once. We have to make sure no question, that we don't jeopardize the full faith and credit of the United States, that we pay the nation's bills. We have to make sure that we do that not tying extraneous settled matters like the Affordable Care Act in order to make sure we can pay our nation's bills.

So as I've said many times, if we can agree that we have to have the government reopened which the Republican's shutdown and withholding ObamaCare as ransom. We have to agree that we can't jeopardize the full faith and credit of the United States and pay our nation's bills and we can work towards that separate and apart from dealing with inevitable kinks that will arise as ObamaCare is implemented. And if we also can agree that everyone should have access to a quality Affordable Health Care then that is ...

MORGAN: OK. Well, look, OK, you two ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: ... (inaudible) us for us to negotiate.

MORGAN: You two we're boasting to me a few minutes ago that you would be the two to deal in a room together. So come on Marsha that's the opening gambit from Debbie, go right back and let's do a deal here.

BLACKBURN: I will. I will. See, first you have to realize is all these extraneous matters that are a part of a budget. They are lying items in a budget and if you are going to look at a budget, at appropriations, at a funding mechanism you have to say, "Where are we spending this money?

MORGAN: OK, we'll do a deal. I want you two ...

BLACKBURN: And where is the brightness and pressure (ph).

MORGAN: ... you two live up to your promise, Marsha. I want to see a deal done. What is the deal between a sensible Republican and a sensible Democrat? Where is the point where you think this could be honorably settled?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I'll throw it out. I think we can both agree that we haven't -- it doesn't make sense to pass the CR with this -- with the arbitrary across the board and sending cuts that are included in the sequester. That we need more targeted spending cuts, and then we need to be more precision like in the spending cuts that we make.

So that to me should be a basis for agreement. I've talked to Republicans and Democrats who both agree.

Now, it might be harder to agree on the spending levels and on what we actually cut, and what we spend more money on. But I don't think anyone is happy with the across the board indiscriminate spending cuts that we've got in the sequester now, which we've already agreed too by the way the Republican number just so that we can get even though we oppose it. Just so that we can get pass.

MORGAN: All right.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: The government being closed.

MORGAN: All right. Marsha sounds reasonable to me.

BLACKBURN: Well, in the President's word those sequester levels would be settle the law. And those would be numbers that we would agree too.

Now, what we have to do is look at that ten-year window or even the one-year window that are Continuing Resolution covers and say, what is going to transpire in that window?

The reason you have to have a discussion about ObamaCare and look at what can possibly be delayed in that program is because it has gone from being an $863 billion program to an estimate of $2.6 trillion.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Oh but that is supposed to be ...

BLACKBURN: Now, there are other things ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Come on Marsha you're just making stuff up here.

BLACKBURN: Those are CBO numbers. No, no. Those are CBO numbers.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No. You have to show me on the floor where those numbers come from.

BLACKBURN: And those are numbers that we're using. I will. I will show you.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: That's basically not true.

BLACKBURN: I will show you those numbers, because when you're going to look at the cost of these programs and the total cost of what is going to be and have -- what will have an impact on the economy, all that has to be put on the table.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: And delaying ObamaCare ...

BLACKBURN: And we have to look at the overall -- we have to look at the overall spending measures.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We do.

BLACKBURN: And when we're borrowing $2 billion ...

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: And that's (inaudible) only discussed what we're spending money on.

BLACKBURN: Right. And so we're borrowing $2 billion a day.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Let me jump in here for a second.

BLACKBURN: We have to say, OK ...

MORGAN: OK, look ...

BLACKBURN: ... where can we get these reductions?

MORGAN: I'm calling an end to this. As I suspected despite your both a fair review, (inaudible) with eye rolling, grimacing and price that come up another (ph), so this why this is so difficult, even reasonable people yourselves, seem completely implacable.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, it's -- Piers.

MORGAN: So, off you go. Oh, that's it for tonight. We'll talk again tomorrow and see if we can make anymore head-way. Ladies thank you very, very much.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Thank you.

BLACKBURN: Thanks Piers. Bye-bye.

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