FOX News "Fox News Sunday" - Transcript
Interview
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CONGRESSMAN-ELECT ALLEN WEST, R-FLA.: Thank you for having me.
SENATOR-ELECT MIKE LEE, R-UTAH: Thank you.
WALLACE: Congressman -- I want to ask you both. It's been two months since you were elected to Congress, and you both have made several trips to Washington. You've gotten to meet with your colleagues, got to meet with the leadership in the House and the Senate. Is it even worse than you thought it was? Are the problems even bigger? Congressman West, why don't you start?
WEST: Well, I think the problems are big, but I don't think they're insurmountable. I think that if we get back to some basic fundamental principles, we can make sure that we resolve the issues. And I think that that's what the Tea Party was all about. It's getting back to a constitutional conservative government. And that is limited, but it's also effective and efficient. I think that that's what we'll be able to do.
WALLACE: Senator Lee, your thoughts about these last two months. And is Washington even more broken than you thought it was from the outside?
LEE: I -- I wouldn't say it's more broken. It is what it is. You know, voters announced in droves in November of 2010 that the federal government is too big and too expensive. They proclaim what they don't want from the federal government, which is more debt heaped on the backs of unborn generations.
They're in the process now of telling Washington what they do want from the federal government, which is strong national defense, controlling the borders and balancing its budget.
WALLACE: One of the things that I think we're all waiting to see is how you Tea Party members deal with Washington. And -- and particularly with your own party, with the GOP establishment here in Washington.
Congressman West, you've already written a letter to House Majority Leader Cantor when you found out how many days the House was going to be taking off in the New Year and complaining about that. Saying we've got a lot of work to do. We need to be working harder.
Congressman Cantor's spokesman said more days in Washington mean a bigger government. Are you convinced?
WEST: Well, I think that that's a very disconcerting statement for me, because if they believe that the more time that we're spending up here working toward what's best for the American people is a bad thing, then, you know, what's our purpose for being here?
Our purpose is to be up here to resolve these issues. Our purpose is to be up here and represent the people. And I think that we're going to have to work a little bit harder starting off especially in these first three to four months than I think that that schedule showed. And that was something that I had to bring up.
And I think it's important that, you know, even though I'm new up here and then a freshman, if I see something that I feel that is not correct, you know, my responsibility is to bring that up as an issue.
WALLACE: Senator Lee, when you see -- and I was just talking about this with the new chairmen, when you see Republicans making deals in the lame duck session, yes, extended the Bush tax cut but it added another trillion dollars to the debt, and billions for the first responders, did Washington -- and particularly did the Republican establishment get the message that you say voters were sending in the mid-term elections?
LEE: Well, it certainly is disturbing that we have to add an additional trillion dollars to our debt in order to preserve tax cuts without which our economy couldn't survive right now. This just showcases, I believe, the need for a balanced budget amendment. Congress has long abused the authority to incur debt in the name of the United States. And we need to restrict that through adopting a balanced budget amendment. I think that needs to take place this very year. I think we can get it done in 2011. And I intend to push for it.
WALLACE: But are you willing as Congressman West says he is, are you willing to confront the GOP establishment, the leadership of your party in the senate where you think they're wrong?
LEE: Well, certainly. That's what elections are about. That's why we have senators and members of congress from every state. That's why we have elections. Because the people speak and there are different viewpoints out there. It doesn't mean just because we're members of one party or another, doesn't mean that we behave monolithically. It means that we will express our view points and I intend to do that.
WALLACE: I want the to both of you about your agenda. Congressman West, you got a lot of attention when you made a speech last year -- well actually now that it's 2011 -- it was 2009 which was viewed 2 million times on YouTube. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEST: We need to meet in places and start talking about restoring our liberty and fighting a backs against a tyrannical government. It starts right here. It starts right now with each one of you that's gathered here today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WALLACE: Then in November you said your focus -- here is the quote -- "that this liberal, progressive, socialist agenda, this left wing vile, vicious, despicable machine that is out there is soundly brought to its knees."
"Tyrannical, socialist, despicable," is it really as bad as that?
WEST: I think it is. When you look at the things that happen in our country and the nationalization of so much of our production. Being it an automobile industry, being it a health care industry, being the fact that we had an amendment in the health care law that said the federal government is going to take over education. When you look at the fact we're creating more victims and making people dependent on the government, I would not have agreed with extending unemployment benefits with 13 months. I think that if we extent these unemployment benefits, take it through the winter time.
But we need the viable conditions to be set so that we have private sector job growth in this country. When you look at the incredible debt, and the deficit that has occurred over the last two fiscal years, we're going in the wrong direction. I think that this liberal progressive agenda is not the thing that the American people want and it's antithesis to who we are as a constitutional republic.
WALLACE: Well, let me ask you, just following up on that. Because you're going to have a decision to make as an individual member of the House voting on the debt limit, probably as early as late February, early March, continuing resolution, certainly by early March. Are you prepared, backing up these principles, backing up this rhetoric, are you prepared to see government shutdown or the government default in its obligations if it doesn't begin to get its House order?
WEST: Well first, I don't think that we will have the government shut-down. I think that -- you know, I would vote to have that continuing resolution, but when you talk about raising that debt limit, the only way that I would ever support raising the debt limit if we also talk about budgetary controls on the federal government, capping its spending, how do we deal with the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid problems, because they cannot continue to run on auto-pilot. So I'm not going to write a blank check as far as raising the debt limit without us also saying we're going to do these things to make ourselves fiscally responsible as Senator Lee talked about a balanced budget amendment.
So it's not going to be a blank check that comes from Allen West. We have got to make sure that we are responsible up here before we continue on with business as usual.
WALLACE: But are you saying that you would vote against the debt limit, raising the debt limit if you don't get the things you're talking about and let the country default on its obligations?
WEST: Well, I don't think the country is going to default on its obligations. I think that we will be able to meet our obligations but I think that the American people are looking for us to make a principle stand and say we are going to do something to get this economic situation, this fiscal responsibility under control. And if just say we're going to raise the debt limit, that's not sending the right message.
WALLACE: Senator Lee, you don't use Congressman West's rhetoric but you talk about going back to the budget of 2004 at least as a goal. Are you prepared to tell Americans that it's not just a matter of waste and fraud, that they are going to have to sacrifice, do without some program that do some good because we can't afford them anymore?
LEE: Sure. And look, Americans are already doing that. They're doing that already in their homes and their families and their businesses. State and local governments are doing that. The federal government shouldn't be exempt from everything that other Americans have to do, at every level of our society. And it's time to once and for all we stop perpetually spending money we don't have and sending the bill to unborn generations of Americans.
WALLACE: You both, even in the short time since the election have run in to some criticism for your choices of chiefs of staff. And I want to ask you about that starting with you, Senator Lee. You have chosen an energy lobbyist as your chief of staff. Is that the right person to drain the swamp here in Washington? Incidentally, that's not the right person. But are you -- is that the right person to drain the swamp in Washington, an energy lobbyist?
LEE: I've hired the brightest political mind, political consultant and lobbyist in Utah, Manning Spencer Stokes. He is a brilliant man. He understands Utah politics and he understands Washington politics. And I need a man like that to help me in Washington.
WALLACE: And you're not scared off by the fact he's a lobbyist?
LEE: No. He's a lobbyist and he's a political consultant. And I'm not scared off by that. He and I share a common vision, which is more constitutionally limited federal government. He's willing to fight with me to achieve that objective. And that's exactly the kind of person we need in Washington, D.C. right now is someone who has that goal in mind.
WALLACE: Congressman West, you chose and we can now put her picture up on the screen, a radio talk show host, Joyce Kauffman, as your chief of staff, but when it came out that she called Nancy Pelosi "garbage" and told a Tea Party rally "if balance don't work, bullets will" she stepped down. What did you learn from that whole experience?
WEST: Well, I think first of all what you saw was an attack from the left against Joyce Kauffman and there are some other issues with that, but they didn't play the full clip of her speech when she gave that, I think it was the 4th of July. So once again, it was the editing sound bite.
And I didn't learn anything from it, because you just adjust and you continue on. So Joyce Kauffman was a very instrumental and helpful person in our campaign and she was the one who interviewed my current chief of staff because she knows it's a good match.
WALLACE: We have less than a minute left. Congressman West, if you say you are going to join the congressional black caucus, which has not had a Republican member since the 1990s. What do you hope to add to the conversation and the CBC?
WEST: Well, one of the things people keep talking about bipartisanship and I think I want to bring in that intellectual debate and discourse. I think there are different voices that are coming out of the black community. You had 42 blacks that ran on the Republican ticket this Cycle, 14 made of them made it to the general election and two of us made it to the House of Representatives. So I think that there is a new movement that needs to have a voice in the congressional black caucus.
WALLACE: Congressman West, Senator Lee, we want to thank you both for so much coming in today. And we can't wait to see how you both do here in Washington. Gentleman please come back.
WEST: Happy New Year.
WALLACE: Thank you.
LEE: Thank you.
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