MSNBC "Morning Joe" - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "MORNING JOE" INTERVIEW WITH HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC)
SUBJECT: THE EARMARKS IN PRESIDENT OBAMA'S BUDGET PROPOSAL INTERVIEWERS: JOE SCARBOROUGH, MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MIKE BARNACLE

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MR. SCARBOROUGH: Let's bring in right now House Majority Whip and Democratic representative from South Carolina, our friend, Congressman Jim Clyburn.

Jim, let's you right in on the conversation. And I'll start by asking you the question -- everybody believes this morning -- Warren Buffett's talking about President Obama's muddled mess, Jack Welch saying the same thing. So let me ask you, how does spending $635 billion on healthcare stop the market from sliding? How does talking about the carbon tax stop the market from sliding? How does sending those mixed messages out there bring stability to our economy?

REP. CLYBURN: Well, Joe, thank you so much for having me.

You may recall on this show, when President Obama was first sworn in, you asked me what I expected. I said at that time that I thought that the president's biggest problem would be managing expectations. Expectations are so great in so many areas until he has a problem with the message. And it's not because of him, it's because of us in the Congress not being able to get on the same page. If we could get all hands on deck, as was mentioned this morning, working in one regard without regards to all of these different issues that we know people are concerned about -- the recovery, the housing market, the financial stability, communities.

People are scared, and they would love to see their leaders working together with one message. And that's what we ought to have. Let's take for instance --

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Mike Barnacle --

REP. CLYBURN: -- Joe.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Go ahead.

REP. CLYBURN: Yes, Mike? Yeah, well, let's take for instance the package that we're currently working on. We're now trying to do the appropriations bills. We worked together last year -- Democrats and Republicans -- putting this package together. We had an agreement, and all of a sudden, now that we're debating it, all of these people who helped to put this package together now decided to use politics to fire away at this package.

This was a bipartisan agreement that Senator McConnell said was done in a bipartisan way. He endorsed it back in January, and now he seems to be against it. That's the kind of mixed message that we're giving to the American people that ought not be given.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: Mike Barnacle.

MR. BARNACLE: Hey Congressman, you're home -- you've been probably this weekend. Let me ask you how many people come up to you, look you in the eye, and say, Congressman, we've spent $1 trillion bailing out the banks with the stimulus, and I keep reading and hearing in the papers and on the national news that we might need another $1 trillion. Congressman, where are we going to get that kind of money? What do you say to them?

REP. CLYBURN: Well, let me tell you what people are saying to me. They're saying that we are in serious trouble with our mortgages. I'm having a program here in South Carolina this weekend trying to help stabilize the communities. Over 5,000 people have already pre- registered to be at the Carolina Coliseum on Friday and Saturday of this weekend. They want to get their lives stabilized.

They aren't worried about Wall Street, they aren't worried about whether or not the automobile industry will survive. They're worried about their homes, their children, their communities. And that has to be worked on as well.

Now, I heard all the former businesspeople and current this morning talking about we've got to fix the economy. The economy, to these people, are their homes, their jobs and their communities. And they could care less about what's going on with the Big Three or what's going on in Wall Street.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Well, Congressman, you talk about the need for certainty and the need for leadership -- and you could even question whether there is confluence of opinions within your own party. Here's from the Washington Post.

The Pentagon's unwanted projects in earmarks -- which is another controversy that people are debating. When President Obama promised Wednesday to attack Defense spending that he considers wasteful and inefficient, he opened a fight with key lawmakers from his own party. It was Democrats who stuffed an estimated $524 million in Defense earmarks that the Pentagon did not request in the 2008 Appropriations Bill, about 220 million (dollars) more than Republicans did, according to an independent estimate. Of the 44 Senators who implored Defense Secretary Robert Gates in January to build more F-22 Raptors -- a fighter conceived during the Cold War that senior Pentagon officials say is not suited to probable 21st Century conflicts -- most were Democrats.

What do you say to that, sir?

REP. CLYBURN: I would say this to that, Mika. Let me remind everybody all of these so-called earmarks -- the Democrats are 60 percent of the Congress and they are 60 percent of the earmarks. Republicans are 40 percent of the Congress and they are 40 percent of the earmarks.

But let me say this about earmarks. The most life-saving device that we've got in Iraq today is called the MRAP. The Defense Department refused to do the MRAP. Congress earmarked the money for the MRAP. Now, everybody's saying that it's the best thing that was done for our fighting men and women in Iraq. So I would say we ought to look at all of these earmarks and judge them based upon their benefit to society, their benefit to the communities that they're earmarked for.

This is not something that's just drawn out of the hat. We do it online -- we post all these things online -- we do it out in the open. We have the best policy now, and it was all started by President Obama. When he was in the Senate, he gave us a very good blueprint, and that's what we're using to do these earmarks.

MR. SCARBOROUGH: All right. Jim Clyburn, very good to see you, as always. I will see you on the Hill soon.

REP. CLYBURN: Thank you so much.

MS. BRZEZINSKI: Thank you, Congressman.

REP. CLYBURN: Okay, buddy. Look forward to seeing you, Joe. Thank you so much, Mika.

END.

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