CNN "State of the Union with Candy Crowley" - Transcript
Interview
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CROWLEY: Joining me now from a snowy Chicago, Senator Dick Durbin.
Thank you so much for joining us. I know you heard our conversation with the two congressmen, and here's what I walk away with. The White House isn't going to budge on the totality of its package, and the House will eventually go along. Is that how you read what's going to happen this week?
DURBIN: I'm not going to presume what's going to happen in the House. We're counting votes in the Senate. Harry Reid and I have been on the phone over the weekend and I can say that we have a good cross-section of the Senate Democratic Caucus, from left to right, who are prepared to accept this.
There are a handful who will not, including Senator Sanders, who took to the floor just the other day, I understand it. But most of us believe, as painful as some of the provisions are, this is absolutely essential so that our economy doesn't slump and that we provide the kind of benefits that unemployed people and the middle class income folks need across America.
CROWLEY: So you see the vote happening tomorrow in the Senate as scheduled and you see it passing?
DURBIN: I don't want to presume that, because we will need Republican support to pass it. And I hope that they...
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CROWLEY: I think you may have some.
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DURBIN: ... Senator McConnell has promised.
Well, I think we will. Senator McConnell has promised that. And there will be some members of the Democratic Caucus will be unhappy. But, you know, the reality is this -- and I really like my colleagues Jim McDermott and Elijah Cummings. We sing from the same political hymn hymnal.
But, you know, the bottom line is this. In three weeks they'll no longer be in the majority. In three weeks, the Republicans take over the United States House of Representatives.
Try to project what the president's bargaining power is at that point and project where we would be with 2 million Americans losing their unemployment benefits by the end of this month and middle-class income going down in America because tax cuts would go up, without disagreement.
CROWLEY: Here's what I think bothers some of the Americans that have been out there saying what is wrong with this president; why won't he go and fight for it, and that is that you have -- still have a Democrat in the White House; you still have and it will remain a Democratically-controlled Senate; and for the next week or so, you have a Democratically-controlled house.
And yet the president is on TV saying, look, I have to do this because this is what the Republicans want. You all are saying, yes, we've got to go along because otherwise, you know, bad things will happen.
Can you explain to the American public why a Democratic majority, a Democratic-controlled Washington cannot get what it said it wants and has to give in to what it said it would never accept, and that is a continuation of tax cuts for the wealthy?
DURBIN: Well, Candy, I would only question one of your premises, a Democratically-controlled Senate. In the last two weeks we have watched the Republicans filibuster and stop the defense authorization bill, in the midst of two wars. They stopped it cold. They also voted against and filibustered a $250 check for disabled veterans and the elderly.
They've -- basically have told us, unless we get tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America, and now the estate tax, nothing will move in the United States Senate. So we don't control that situation, and the president knows that.
CROWLEY: Let me ask you if you think, tonally, the president has hit the right keys in this argument?
DURBIN: Well, I could tell you that I would have written a little different statement for the president a couple days ago. But by and large, what he has tried to project is the reality. Our economy is weak, 9.8 percent unemployed. He wants to do everything in his power to bring this economy back to life and create jobs. He feared that losing the tax cuts across the board, cutting off unemployment benefits, not helping businesses would slump this economy.
He might win the rhetorical battle over tax cuts for the wealthy, but at the end of the day, the economy would slump and people would suffer. It's a hard calculation to make, but that's why we elect a president. He is making the right decision, as painful as it is politically for a lot of us.
CROWLEY: And what in particular about his tone -- because I've heard from so many Democrats on the House side who are pretty deeply offended and who believe that the president really did, sort of, cut them off at the knees in this sense, that they feel that they really went out on a limb on a number of things in the first few years, in particular the stimulus bill, in health care reform. They paid a very heavy-duty price on the House side, lost a lot of members.
And now they feel cut out, and he's, sort of, lecturing them on Tuesday. What offended you about that tone?
DURBIN: Well, you know, I think you've really put your finger on it. When I try to project the thinking of many in the House, they really have sacrificed for this president. They've gone out on a limb, and even more than the Senate, they've shown loyalty to his agenda and paid a dear price for it in the last election. And now, the one defining issue, the real difference between Democrats and Republicans in terms of economic justice, it appears this agreement doesn't honor what we think are the true values and principles of our party.
That's why I think we have the pushback from the left and even the center in the House Democratic Caucus.
I would just say to them we have to accept the reality. In three weeks the world is going to change dramatically in favor of the Republicans. What we can seize on today is something that will help working families across America. It is the only stimulus we can bring to this economy. We need to work together to pass it, and hope that this economy gets well.
And I think this president is going to come back and be strong with the House Democratic Caucus, even after the next -- the swearing- in that's going to occur January 5th.
CROWLEY: And, Senator, I know that you advised the president, are quite close to him. What would you tell him publicly he needs to do to heal what are clearly some really miffed feelings, some hurt feelings over on the House side? What has he got to do?
DURBIN: Well, the president's going to be working with a lot of issues. And let tell you, tomorrow is another day. Tomorrow is another battle. And I think this president is going to continue to battle for working families.
And he's going to find that his cause is shared by the House Democratic Caucus and the Senate Democrats as well. When it comes to the progressive values of this country, the president hasn't sold those out. I think he is going to fight those battles. And many of those who are critical today will join him.
We're a long way away from the next election. And I think that, in the period of time between now and then, we're going to have plenty of times where the president will demonstrate his commitment to the working families across America.
CROWLEY: And just quickly, you, a little bit, touched on it. I know the election is a long way off, but you know and I know that it really has already started, the re-election campaign, on both sides, the election campaign on the Republican side, re-election for the president.
Why should this not be viewed, this deal, as the president of the United States looking to 2012, tacking to the center?
DURBIN: Well, the harsh reality is that, to pass anything in the United States Senate, the president has to accommodate the demands of the Republicans. I wish that were not the case, but I live in that world and that is the reality.
Many in the Democratic Party have been upset because they didn't get a public option in the health care reform package. There were other things that they had hoped for, but we have to accept the reality that, if we want to change Washington and continue to move in the right direction, we need to stand together. And sometimes the accommodations that we make, the compromises that we make may be painful, but we've got to eat the spinach and keep moving on. It's going to be a good dessert when it's over...
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... if we can say that we've worked together for the working families across America.
CROWLEY: Senator Dick Durbin on the feast that we call politics. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
DURBIN: Thanks, Candy.
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