MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews " - Transcript
Statement
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
But, first, we"re joined by South Carolina congressman James Clyburn, who"s the assistant Democratic leader on the minority side there.
Congressman Clyburn, nice to see you.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, thank you so much for having me.
TODD: All right. I want to start with what seems to be--there"s a
a message war here. And forgive me for being cynical, but the Republican talking point of the day seems to be, the Senate Democrats haven"t come up with a plan; we have passed two.
The Senate Democratic talking point of the day seems to be, oh, look at the House Republicans; they have been captured by the Tea Party.
You know, Congressman, does this mean we"re not going anywhere in these negotiations, that we"re stuck in a stalemate of talking points?
CLYBURN: Well, I would hope not.
I think the fact still remains that the ball right now is on the--in the House court. We have done--since the lame-duck, when we did $41 billion, we have now done two short-terms, $4 billion and $6 billion. That gets us to $51 billion. I think that it"s up to us now to come up with something within the next two weeks.
I hope it will be a long-term C.R., because I think that we make a mistake if we don"t think that these short-term C.R.s do not have an adverse impact on families. We seem to be thinking only in terms of what"s good for us up here in Washington and what"s good for us politically.
The fact of the matter is, we are fighting two wars. We have action going on in Pakistan, action going on over in Libya. And the families of these men and women need stability in their lives.
So, we ought to get serious about doing a long-term C.R. so that everybody can stabilize their families and their businesses.
TODD: But why shouldn"t Senate Democrats--why shouldn"t they offer up a plan in this back-and-forth? I mean, do House Republicans have a point when they say, hey, look, they have thrown out a couple of different plans, they have passed a couple of these things, why not have the Senate Democrats do a full-fledged plan? Instead, they have been going behind the scenes.
CLYBURN: Well, Todd, you know I never get into the business of trying to figure out why the Senate will do anything.
(LAUGHTER)
TODD: Yes, Congress is--there"s bipartisanship sometimes--or there"s partisanship times, that"s called the House versus the Senate. But, anyway, go ahead, Congressman.
CLYBURN: That"s exactly right. I think that"s what"s going on here a little bit. The fact of the matter is, we got serious back during the lame duck. Democrats cut $41 billion out of the continuing resolution before putting it forward.
Now, since that time we see that the Republicans have come up with only $10 billion. Now, we know that the White House has made it very clear, the senators have been very clear on another $20 billion. That gets us around $71 billion.
I always say, Chuck, that if the distance between me and the other person are five steps, I don"t mind taking three of them. And I think if you look at this, we"ve taken more than three steps. We"re trying to meet them more than halfway and they seem not to be willing to do a deal.
TODD: OK. Well, we"re going to get to the other side on that in a second. Congressman Clyburn, thanks very much.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source