MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky from Illinois. She chairs the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation. Congresswoman, thanks very much for coming back on the show.

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL), CHAIRPERSON, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATION: Thanks, Rachel.

MADDOW: Given that both George Bush and John McCain wanted to close Guantanamo, how do you assess the outrage that we"re seeing right now from Republican leaders on this?

SCHAKOWSKY: There"s somehow a calculation that the polling would indicate this is a bad idea, that people are afraid. But if you look at the support that all of the local communities - and by the way, it"s Duke - his nickname is Duke Heebler(ph).

MADDOW: Oh, OK. Duke -

SCHAKOWSKY: Had actually requested - he put every question to the governor to seek the Guantanamo prisoners to come, the city counsels, the county board, the local Republican state representatives, all the people in the town, the local business owners.

There"s enormous support for this, so I"m really not quite sure, the political calculation, particularly that Illinois Republicans have made like Mark Kirk who"s running for U.S. Senate.

MADDOW: I was going to ask about that, because it would seem - it would make sense to me. At least, it would be intellectually coherent for people like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, who have nothing to do with Illinois, to come out and sort of demagogue on this issue to make national politics out of something that is desired at the local level.

Congressman Mark Kirk wants to be the next senator from Illinois. He"s making a calculation that this is going to help him win at least the primary if not the Senate race. He sort of built his whole campaign around this.

SCHAKOWSKY: Actually, the editorial boards, not only in Chicago, but around the state, have pretty much excluded him for the fear-mongering he"s done around this. And so I don"t know what the political advantage that the sees in this.

MADDOW: Is this a done deal? What are the next steps for the Obama administration"s plan to go through? I guess they instruct the Bureau of Prisons to buy the facility first.

SCHAKOWSKY: Actually, the members of the Illinois delegation met with the head of the Bureau of Prisons as well as the Department of Homeland Security. It looks like the sale is going to go through.

A lot of the details are still unclear as far as how many would actually be transferred to the Thomson Center. But it looks pretty much like a done deal, and there"s a lot of excitement about that.

MADDOW: The economic impact certainly sorely needed in that corner of the state, I know.

SCHAKOWSKY: Yes, I mean, we"re talking 3,000 jobs although, 1,500 are going to be military personnel that will move to the area to actually guard the prisoners. But lots of local jobs have been promised and certainly, the stimulus to the economy there, which has over a 10 percent unemployment rate.

MADDOW: I want to ask you one other question, not on the Thomson situation, but on health reform. A bill that looks like the one that - a bill that looks like the one that"s going to probably pass the Senate without expansion of Medicare, without public option, would that have trouble passing in the House?

SCHAKOWSKY: Well, I certainly think that we"re going to do everything we can to make some improvements in a conference committee or in some sort of an agreement with the Senate, so that the bill that actually gets sent back to them looks better than the one that is being handed over to us.

I mean, it"s just - it is a huge disappointment in so many ways. I think we have to understand all the details, what is left that is really going to help control the cost of health care for average people and really get a handle on it.

But right now, I think we have a lot of work to do. The problem that we face is, there"s 60 votes. No matter how you cut it, it has to go through a gauntlet of 60 votes in the Senate. And it"s infuriating. It really is infuriating.

MADDOW: I know how you feel.

SCHAKOWSKY: Yes.

MADDOW: Very, very acutely. Very acutely. Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, it"s nice to have you here. Thank you very much for coming in.

SCHAKOWSKY: Thanks, Rachel. I appreciate it.

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