MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), CO-CHAIRMAN, PROGRESSIVE CAUCUS: Good to be here.
SCHULTZ: You bet. What, if anything, can you tell us about this reported deal that"s been made, a two-year extension on the Bush tax cuts, 13 months unemployment insurance extended, two percent payroll tax credit? What do you know?
ELLISON: Well, you know, Ed, we"re all waiting for the information to come out as has been reported in the press. Not every Democrat was in that meeting. I wasn"t in there.
But I can tell you this, that, you know, the fact is that if the Republicans want to stand in the way of a middle class tax cut, if they want to hold it hostage so that the richest Americans can get a tax cut, I mean, I think that"s something we should stand up and fight for. I mean, we"ve got to stand and fight for the middle class.
Look, $700 billion this is going to add to the deficit is an expense Americans should not have to bear, particularly when, you know, $700 billion could probably send every kid to college for the year. Seven hundred billion dollars could probably pay for universal preschool education. Seven hundred billion dollars could do a lot of infrastructure work and put Americans back to work.
Why are we giving it to the most privileged Americans and why aren"t we asking everybody to do their fair share in this economy?
SCHULTZ: Congressman, do you think this weakens President Obama and the Democrats? I mean, I have been inundated with e-mail today and phone calls from folks around the country who think that this is total capitulation, that the very tax policy that took us into this ditch is exactly what President Obama and the Democrats are ready to sign on to.
ELLISON: Well, let me say this--you know, it is the Republicans who caused this situation. You could say that the Democrats could have played it better, but if you beat on the Democratic president long enough, you"re going to end up with a Republican president. And then you"re going to see real pain.
So that"s what I say to my progressive friends out there, that we have to encourage the president to stand up for the values we stand up for. And that means--
SCHULTZ: But he"s not standing up. That"s just the whole thing of it. There"s a lot of Americans out there that think that President Obama has caved in on this. And the Republicans, on paper, as it"s been reported, are getting everything they want. They"re not giving up anything.
ELLISON: Well you know, what they should be giving up a whole lot of things. And I believe that the fact is we have got to stand and fight.
But, Ed, I"m not going to be the one to help Republicans get rid of Barack Obama, OK? We have got to be the ones--we have got to remember that the fact is, is that it is the Republicans who stood in the way of middle-class tax cuts. That"s who did that.
It"s the Republicans who demanded that something like unemployment insurance have to be paid for while $700 billion in tax cuts for the rich would not be paid for. That"s where the blame lies. That"s where I"m going to pin it.
And so we have got to understand something, that, look, you know, when Democrats fight and don"t win, the fact is, is that it"s Republicans who are trying to impose a lot of pain on the middle class. And I"m not going to stand by and act like it"s the Democrats" fault.
I"m going to encourage them to stick and to stay, to stand up and to keep on fighting back. I"d like to see the number--the people who want to stand--I"d like to see the people who want to send calls out to Obama also send them to Republicans as well. Send them to Mitch McConnell, send them out to John Boehner, send them out to the people who are saying that unless the very rich get a lot, the middle class get absolutely nothing.
SCHULTZ: Congressman--
ELLISON: Keep the focus on where it lies.
SCHULTZ: Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota.
Good to have you with us tonight. I appreciate you spending time with us.
ELLISON: Any time.
SCHULTZ: You bet.
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For more on all of this, joining me now is Congressman Keith Ellison, co-chairman of the progressive caucus. Congressman, from what you heard the president say, what"s your first reaction?
ELLISON: My first reaction is that it is horrible that the Republicans would put these kinds of demands on the table. It"s absolutely unconscionable that they would allow unemployment insurance to run out as they already have. And have two million people during the holidays be absolutely without and it"s unconscionable by February there would be two million more who would be without and would not have any source of income and unemployment insurance is fundamentally insurance, it"s something hardworking people pay into and expect to get particularly when we"re in an economic crisis. I mean, the fact is, the fact that the Republicans would make these kinds of demands and force this kind of compromise really lets me know that they think that poor people have too much money and rich people don"t have enough money and I wish that poor people would vote their interests when they get the next chance to.
SCHULTZ: Congressman, you are the co-chairman of the Progressive Caucus in the House.
ELLISON: Yes.
SCHULTZ: Is the Progressive Caucus in your opinion going to go along with what they heard tonight? Do you think that the president will have any trouble in the House or Senate on this deal?
ELLISON: Well, you know, certainly people are going to raise a lot of questions. And we have yet to handle on this. You know, he just made the announcement.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
ELLISON: But I can tell you that the Progressive Caucus is about--is full of members who demand economic justice. And we"re going to look at this thing for what"s best for working America, for low-income Americans and we"re going to raise the real questions. We"re full of fight, but the fact is, is that I" m not ready to tell you how we feel about this because we haven"t had a chance to sit down and look at it.
SCHULTZ: The president said right now, fighting this would be the wrong thing to do, that it"s not perfect but it"s essential and he is convinced that it will affect a million jobs and middle class families with a hit with the $3,000 tax increase, he says, the economy would slip backwards and he"s not willing to allow that. Did the Republicans win on this negotiation?
ELLISON: Well, you know what? I don"t think that they won. What they wanted to do was have permanent tax cuts for the richest Americans. I don"t think that they won, but the fact of the matter is, is that, look, sometimes in legislating you sometimes have to make compromises. The question is, was this the right one? I have to dig into it and the Progressive Caucus has to dig into it before we"re going to say, we"re thumbs up or down on it. So I would ask that we get a moment to just really review what"s written on the page.
But I can tell, you ask me what my gut level reaction is and the gut level reaction I have is anger that such a compromise was ever even necessary because why are we adding $700 billion to the deficit when at a time when people are talking about decreasing the deficit? These folks want to take $700 billion and not spend it on pre-school education or reducing the cost of college education. They want to just put it in the pockets of their benefactors and their donors and I think that"s absolutely disgusting.
SCHULTZ: Yes. Congressman Keith Ellison, great to have you with us tonight. Thanks for your reaction here on THE ED SHOW on MSNBC. Stay with us, more reaction on the president"s announcement is coming up. I"ll talk to "Newsweek"s" Jonathan Alter and Michael Medved, conservative nationally syndicated talk show host. That"s coming up next, stay with us.
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