MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Unemployment Benefit Extension

Interview

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Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illinois joins me tonight, who told us last week that, gosh, if they put it to the floor, there`d be enough votes. But this is something new. Now, you`ve got a number of Republicans who were asking Boehner to act on the Senate.

Will they do it? Will Boehner move on this? Who`s putting -- put pressure on the seven Republicans in the House? Good to have with us Congresswoman.

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, (D) ILLINOIS: Well, the Republicans who are for the extension of unemployment benefits understand that that`s really important for them in their districts. And I do believe that if John Boehner would have call a clean bill that it would get the votes. The problem right now is John Boehner is talking about things like adding the approval of the XL Pipeline or saying that employers don`t have to pay the healthcare benefits unless someone works 40 hours a week.

So he`s looking at all kinds of extraneous things. But, I am hopeful that in a few minutes, we`ll know that the Senate has actually passed this extension. It`s now 2.35 million Americans. And I`m wearing a sticker, this is the number of people in Illinois, a 153,400 that have a, you know, needed. And by the way, that`s $300 million that Illinois has lost because these people have not gotten their unemployment checks.

SCHULTZ: Well, it`s not very often the Senate get 60 votes. And this is been out there. The Republican said back there in the Christmas break, over the Holidays that they would address this. Well, they`re doing it in the Senate. But how much of a bargain do you think Boehner is going to be looking for? He`s not going to get XL Pipeline out of this. He might try to get something else, but, I mean is that -- will he cave on just a clean bill?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I`m certainly hoping that the pressure will be enough from some of his own -- members of his own party and from his own state. People like Rob Portman that will talk to him about extending unemployment insurance benefits, I mean, after all, he has the gesture, and it`s in Ohio, and they are hurting. And so, I`m hoping that he will finally see the light and move on. It`s going to help some of his targeted members.

SCHULTZ: Would this be retroactive? Would this go all the way back to the beginning of the year for this folks?

SCHAKOWSKY: Yes. The Senate Bill, it would. And hopefully, that will go again, you know, I -- the best deal would be to pass whatever the Senate passes to do that in the House of Representatives. If he starts fooling around with another bill and all kinds of additions, but yes, it would be a retroactive in the Senate anyway.

SCHULTZ: Some of the -- in the Republican caucus, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, head of the Republican conference said that they wanted to wait and see what the Senate was going to do, which makes me believe that, well, if they really do get 60 votes over there, we`re going to be forced to do something about it. How much of influence do you think these seven Republican House members are going to have on Boehner?

SCHAKOWSKY: I think they will have influence because these are people that they want to keep. You know, we need 17 seats to take back the House, some of those people are in very vulnerable districts, swing districts where there`s a lot of Democrats that will be mad if unemployment insurance is not extended. And so, I think he have to take the politics into consideration.

SCHULTZ: Is this how minimum wage is going to go?

SCHAKOWSKY: That will be good if this is the way minimum wage, to extend and pass the minimum wage increase, and then the House feel pressure to do the same. I think many of the same Republicans would want to see that raise as well.

SCHULTZ: Congresswoman, I want your take on the 7.1 million and the pushback by the Right Wing saying that these are phony numbers, that this is a joke, it`s a masquerade, the numbers aren`t real. What are the numbers? And in your opinion, how verifiable are they?

SCHAKOWSKY: I`m sorry, which numbers Ed? I`m sorry.

SCHULTZ: The healthcare numbers. The healthcare numbers that .

SCHAKOWSKY: Oh please, you know, if that`s the best that they can do, Ed, to say that the, you know, that those numbers that were some how cooking the books, actually, most of those numbers came from the states all together. And so, there was no real opportunity for the federal government to cook the book. Those are the real numbers of people who have now taking private health insurance. And it`s really good news and they can`t bear it.

SCHULTZ: And what do you think the number will be a week from tonight when
the sign up is over in 24 hours? They have until the 15th.

SCHAKOWSKY: Oh, I think we`re going to see, you know, we know that there was this mad rush of people who went to the website. We could perhaps see a million more. We`ll see that it`s going to be a lot more. Anybody who is the queue will be eligible.

SCHULTZ: OK. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, Chicago, here on the Ed Show.
Thanks so much.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thank you.

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