NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Bill Cassidy
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now is Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. He's one of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict President Trump at his second impeachment trial. Senator Cassidy, welcome back to Meet the Press.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
Hey good -- Chuck, thank you for having me. Pleased to be with you.
CHUCK TODD:
Let me start with Anthony Gonzalez's retirement. Him walking away from politics, is that good or bad for the Republican Party?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
You know, Anthony's -- Anthony is choosing his personal priorities. You read his statement, it stands for itself. But I think you have a broader question there. The broader question, frankly, is do Republicans continue to relitigate 2020, or do we look to the forward -- look forward with a positive agenda? If we relitigate 2020 over and over again, it won't change the result in 2020, but we're sure to lose in 2024. On the other hand, if we have a positive agenda which addresses the fact that the Biden administration is in disarray, whether it's inflation, the border, Afghanistan, then the country will win and we'll win. But if we choose to be bullied, we'll lose.
CHUCK TODD:
You agree with Congressman Gonzalez, who calls Donald Trump a cancer for the country?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
You know, politicians -- he's really speaking about the Republican Party. Politicians are not victims. Politicians make a choice. If we choose to look forward, bringing positive solutions to the American people who have needs, we win. If we choose to be bullied, we lose. Let me put a point on this. My state has been hammered by Hurricane Ida. I have communities which have been completely destroyed. Now, if you go back there, you're going to find somebody who, yeah, they feel strongly about the election in 2020. What they really feel strongly about is rebuilding their community and building the resiliency so that this doesn't happen again. Now, if we meet that person's needs, Republicans will do well in 2024, 2022. And if we don't, they'll look elsewhere. Let's meet their needs.
CHUCK TODD:
Look, you are, I think being -- I think relentlessly hopeful here. You're trying to look forward. I get what you're trying to say. You're alone here. There are not many of you speaking this way. It does look like a lion's share of your colleagues prefer to either stay silent or to go ahead and relitigate to appease Trump.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
So we answer to voters. And so if we don't answer to voters in a positive way, we lose. It's kind of a market-based economy, and it's ruthless. If all you do is talk about the past, you're yesterday's news. If you talk about the future in a way which gives a positive alternative to a Biden administration, whether it's inflation, Afghanistan, immigration, I could go on, which is failing, then we win. Now, folks can choose to be bullied and relitigate. We can choose to go forward and win. I choose to go forward and serve my constituents.
CHUCK TODD:
Adam Kinzinger said that the issue is there are too many of his colleagues, and I'm going to use his quote here, "lacking the courage to speak out, while privately hoping for change." It does seem as if there's been this, "Well, if you just wait Trump out." Well, guess what? There's no waiting him out. He waits you out. He waits everybody out. Do you got to confront this more squarely? Do other -- your colleagues -- you've done it. Look, you've put yourself on the line. No one's going to accuse you of not speaking out. But you're seven of 50 Republicans.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
Republicans -- let me start over. Politicians are not victims. We choose who we answer to. Either you can choose to answer to someone who is off-screen, if you will, or you can choose to answer to your constituents, your state, your country. Now, I find if you answer to your state, your constituents, and your country, elections go okay. If we speak -- and you say I'm being hopelessly optimistic? No. That's a winning strategy. If we don't adopt that sort of strategy, our country loses and we lose. I'm all about winning. I'm about going forward. I'm about meeting the needs of someone right now in South Louisiana who's wondering if their life can be put back together. And there's folks like that across our country.
CHUCK TODD:
Do you think at this time with where the party is choosing to go right now with Donald Trump that that is a losing strategy for the midterms at this point?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
If we relitigate the past, we lose. We've got to speak about the future. Now, again, our country is looking for something which brings back the prosperity we had pre-pandemic, where economic benefit was principally going, or disproportionately going, to those in the lower portion of our economic scale, with record low unemployment, which is to say record high employment, for African-Americans, Hispanics, the disabled, high school dropouts, et cetera. If we speak about recovering that, we win. Again, if we relitigate an election from 2020, we lose. I'm about winning.
CHUCK TODD:
Part of the reason why we might have Donald Trump is this idea that Washington is just always finger-pointing, and this debt ceiling discussion feels like one of those moments. I want to put up something that Mitch McConnell said. He said, "The country must never default. The debt ceiling will need to be raised. The only issue is, whose responsibility is it to do it? A Democratic president, a Democratic House, and a Democratic Senate, it's their obligation." This feels like someone saying, "There's a fire. I have a fire extinguisher, but I'm not going to use it." And I know where you are on the debt ceiling in general, but do you see how silly this looks to the average person right now where it's, like, just do your job. We know you have to raise the debt ceiling to make sure the economy doesn't crash. Why politicize it?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
Yeah. A couple things about that. Every now and then, context is important. Debt ceiling context is important. We actually raised on a bipartisan basis the debt ceiling in the last Congress because, on a bipartisan basis, we agreed on what to spend the money on. This time, Democrats want to increase the debt ceiling on the -- for their reconciliation bill which they're passing on a party line basis, which is going to fuel inflation if you speak to Democratic economists like Larry Summers. So wait a second. We're supposed to aid and abet party line spending, which even Democratic economists say will fuel further inflation? No. That's not right. Now, if you want to come back and meet where we can actually find common ground, where we can actually address needs, as opposed to a Democratic wish list, well, then we'll help, but not when you're just trying to tank the economy by fueling inflation to get your kind of --
CHUCK TODD:
But Senator --
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
-- who knows, wish list.
CHUCK TODD:
-- the debt ceiling -- this debt ceiling has nothing to do with the reconciliation. This isn't about spending going forward, this is about spending that's already happened. I mean, I understand the messaging.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
No --
CHUCK TODD:
I understand the messaging you want to make clear here and the issue of spending. And I understand that from an ideological, you know, disagreement. That's politics. But that is not what this debt ceiling is about right now. It's simply paying the bills we've already promised we'd pay.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
We had actually raised the debt ceiling adequately to address all the way up to the $1.9 trillion package that was passed, the American Relief Plan, on a party line vote, which has money out there far in excess of what is actually needed, and is contributing to the inflation we have now.
And I will beg to differ with you. Going forward, that's what they're hoping to do. They're hoping to increase the debt ceiling to meet their $3.5 trillion package, which the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says is actually $5.5 trillion. And so we're going to disagree on this. They are increasing the debt ceiling to make room for a $5.5 trillion Democratic Party wish list.
CHUCK TODD:
Well, I think that isn't how this technical debt ceiling needs to be. Very quickly, there are still people without power in your state. And I know it's in the hardest to reach areas. Does this -- do you believe this bipartisan infrastructure bill that you're supportive of is going to make it where power outages are less in Louisiana after storms?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
First, hopefully disaster relief will actually address those particular needs. But this bill has billions to promote resiliency for the grid, whether it is a hurricane in Louisiana, an ice storm in Texas or the northeast, or forest fires on the west coast. So absolutely. Again, billions to address resiliency. We should pass this. We should pass it for my folks in Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish, but also for folks elsewhere in the nation.
CHUCK TODD:
All right. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana. Appreciate you coming on, sharing your perspective with us.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY:
Thank you.
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