CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript

Interview

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BOB SCHIEFFER: And we're back now. We-- Senator Graham is sticking around. Senator Levin had to leave for a previous engagement.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM (overlapping): I ran him off.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --but we are joined by Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat from Minnesota; Republican Senator Jeff Sessions from Alabama. I want to move the-- the discussion now to next year and what-- Senator Klobuchar if you had to make a prediction it seems to me that the- - the partisan divide is going to be wider. A lot of moderates got beat so it-- I think Republicans
are going to be more conservative in the next Congress and Democrats more liberal. Do you think there's anyway the two sides are going to be able to get together?

SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-Minnesota): Well I think it's a fair assessment in terms of that there are a number of conservative Republicans that have been added particularly in the House. But let me say this, I have some disagreement with my friend Lindsey here about the last month
or so. We were able to get some significant things done. A significant tax bill, both Lindsey and I supported that that was done on a bipartisan basis. We're able to get Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed with the support of eight Republicans yesterday. That was a major step. We are working on the START Treaty. There's a lot of work still to be done on that, but I predict we will
eventually get that START Treaty passed. As you go through what we've done, these things have been done on a bipartisan basis. So I think there is hope for the future. And when you look at this last election what the American people really want, they want a laser focus on the economy and jobs. They want to see some reduction in spending and bringing this deficit down. And they want to see us working together. So any party or any person who decides to spend the next two years just tearing things apart and trying not to move America forward I think they do it at their own peril.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Senator Sessions you're going to be the ranking Republican now on the budget committee. What do you think the next Congress is going to be about? Do you join Senator Klobuchar in thinking there are some things you can actually work together on?

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS (R-Alabama): There is, for example, Senator Klobuchar worked and supported the-- assessing the McCaskill Bill that would put in statutory language the budget numbers that caps limits on spending that and we will require two-third vote to break the budget.
So that was a good step procedurally but fundamentally this election meant something very historic, huge House change. People were elected on a promise to change the direction that we're on. People see where we're heading. We're heading to Greece. We're heading to Ireland. And we're heading to California. That's the future our children and grandchildren see. American people love it and (AUDIO CUT).

BOB SCHIEFFER: Oh, something just happened here. I think it's done.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS: So that is where I see the difficulty. I think the House is going to submit a very lean, tight, tough budget. And the Senate is going to have a real difficult time accommodating the challenges that we face. I just have to say--

BOB SCHIEFFER: You know, the thing is we--- we-- both sides agree that we're facing this fiscal abyss here. And yet you did have this bipartisan tax bill pass. It is going to just add to the deficit. So how does that-- how do you justify that? Or how does that work?

SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: No Bob, one thing that did happen that I didn't mention was this Bipartisan Debt Commission. And number of us were talking about this, you have on that commission, people as diverse as Senator Dick Durbin and Senator Coburn agreeing that we have to move forward to do something about our debt. We're not going to all agree at this table right now but we will -- we'll have to do, but I will say I think that's got to be in the mix looking at, say, even if you said it people making over a million dollars, if you bring their taxes to the Clinton levels when we were amazingly prosperous, you save in ten years nearly four hundred billion
dollars on the deficit. You add that in with some of the things that Senator Sessions just spoke about with some spending limits and a cap, you keep social security solid. I don't agree with everything in that report. But there are some very good ideas about tax reform and other things. If we could move forward together and there is some leverage for this and that would be the debt-ceiling vote that we'll be taking in a few months that is going to force people to have to come together.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well -- well Senator Graham, you did not give the glowing report on the lame-duck Congress.

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: No I think --

BOB SCHIEFFER: So what do you think is going to happen?

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well I think there have been, you know, getting the tax cuts extended was a tough deal that was good for America, but look how hard that was. The House is in revolt. People are pissed off in the House at the estate tax. That's going to carry over a bit but big government and big spending is on the run and retreat. And that's the reality. The Tea
Party will turn on the Republicans as well as the Democrats but it's going to be a test of the Tea Party. They come up here in large numbers and bring a new energy. I applaud what they did but they got to help us solve problems. If we just sit here and talk about what can be done in theory and not actually do it, the Debt Commission is a document we ought to look at closely. There's a tax reform proposal there that is a flatter tax with very few deductions. If we don't adjust the age-- retirement age on social security and Medicare, we're -- we're just all talk. People in our income level, we're going to have to give up some of our benefits that have been promised
because we just don't have enough money to do it all. So I'm ready, willing and able to make the hard decisions about age and means testing on part-d. Why the hell should the federal government be buying my prescription drugs? We're so far in debt we're never going to get out of it unless we look at each other around this table and say, "It is time to sacrifice." Now I am
hopeful that the Debt Commission is a bipartisan document that will give us a way to put together a package to ask for sacrifice.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you think Senator Klobuchar that Democrats will be ready to make those hard decisions on means testing for social security or age. Social security is the easiest --

SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yes.

BOB SCHIEFFER: --of all our problems to solve, but do you think that the Congress has the political will to do what it takes to do that?

SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: I think we have to have that will. And I pointed out there are a number of Democrats including Senator Conrad, fourteen of us signed a letter saying, "Let's move forward with this work that needs to be done on the debt." At the same time not everyone agrees with everything in that report. I would say with social security looking at one of the proposals is to take right now the income cap where you get taxes at hundred and six thousand. You could put a -- a -- area where you don't get taxed up to say two hundred and fifty thousand and then put that tax back in. As Senator Graham mentioned there were some discussion in the
report about reducing benefits for some of the upper-income people. You have the fact that--they also looked at people that have really hard labor jobs that may be you should treat them better and treat them differently in the system. I think it's really worth looking at some of the ideas in that report. And -- and you know, Democrats have made a lot of tough decisions, if you look at the last two years. When President came in he inherited this debt that had grown and grown and grown over the Bush years. When Bill Clinton left office the last time that we had a surplus it was a Democratic President. So you have to look at the fact that Democrats have made some tough decisions in the past. They got us into a balanced budget. And we can make the tough decisions this time.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS: Well, Bob, Lindsey was there when the last budget was balanced. He was there with Newt Gingrich.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Yeah.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS: And there was blood politically on the floor. People slept in their offices. The government was shut down. Bill Clinton then claims credit for balancing the budget, but people living there could see that was the Congress that made that happened in many ways. Entitlements are -- are throwing off basically surpluses. Every bit of our debt fundamentally is overspending in the discretionary accounts. Yes the entitlements are going into deficit in the future big time. Huge challenges. But we had -- we cannot go to our social security recipients, our Medicare recipients and demand big cuts in what they are going to receive so Congress can continue to spend its discretionary money. And we've got to set an example. We've got to start in the Senate. We've got to reduce our budget. The President needs to reduce his. And the President is going to have to help us. We can't just-- he runs the executive branch. He should be able to tell us what can be reduced without substantially damaging our economy. And we--we -- Greece is having troubles, but they're going to be better for this. For New Jersey is having protests and objections, but they're going to be better for the difficult
choices they're making. And we're not going to sink into the abyss if we reduce spending in America.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Let me just ask you, Charles Krauthammer called President Obama this week the new comeback kid. And he said Republicans are underestimating him. Do you think that's right? I mean, let's just talk some politics here.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS: Yeah.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Is-- is President Obama stronger now or weaker--

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS: I think he is--

BOB SCHIEFFER: --now that he passed this tax bill.

SENATOR JEFF SESSIONS: I'm hopeful that he will propose what I think my colleagues mentioned. We need a growth economy. We need simpler, lower rates as far as possible. Le--so we focused on growth. There's some hint that he might offer a pretty bold program in the state of the union. I hope he does. But he's got to help us. We're on the wrong path. We don't need to go thirty miles an hour, instead of sixty. We need to get on the right path. And he's going to have to make some change.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Do you see him moving more to the center, Senator Klobuchar?

SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: I don't care if you call it left, right, center. I think what you've seen is a major focus on private sector jobs. I think that focus has been there. But the truth is when you ask people when the last year when Democrats would talk about jobs whether it was fair or not, they thought it meant government jobs. We need to talk about private sector jobs. The fact that he's meeting with the business community is a start. I think it's very positive. The focus on exports is going to be very important as we move forward, ninety-five percent of our potential customers outside of our borders. And as I've said on your show before, a competitive agenda for this country. I think that's what will bring people together whether they're right, left, or center as we compete in this increasingly go-- global economy that we put America first, that we believe in America. And that means education reform. And that means competitive reform.

SENATOR LINDSAY GRAHAM: I like that.

BOB SCHIEFFER: I'll give Lindsay-- Senator Graham the last word here.

SENATOR LINDSAY GRAHAM: I think the President si-- signing the tax bill and changing his tone instead of whining about it and embracing it. If he would embrace a flatter tax and (INDISTINCT) reform, but in this with one thought. The President's more popular than the Congress in our country now. We're at thirteen percent in the eyes of the American people. We have to ask ourselves, how does that happen? And who are the thirteen percent and what do they like? If we don't recognize that about ourselves and get this body in better standing with the American people, nothing is possible. I'm an optimist. I think we can thing-- change things, but it's going to take sacrifice and political commitment I haven't seen in a long time.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, I want to thank all of you on that note. And the best of the holiday season to all of you.

SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, thank you very much.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Back with some final thoughts in just a second.

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