MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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Joining me now: Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
Congresswoman, good to have you with us tonight.
REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D), ILLINOIS: Thanks so much, Ed.
SCHULTZ: I think it"s doctrine for the Republicans. They just--they"re never going to sign their name on to anything. I don"t think there"s one Republican in the House, one in the Senate that would ever go against the leadership and their position on raising taxes--meaning going back to the old Clinton rates. Am I right or wrong on that? What do you think?
SCHAKOWSKY: Well, you"re absolutely right. But the thing that the
president was able to do was to paint these very different visions of
America, one that"s very pessimistic, that says that he gives examples that
you can"t afford to go to college--well, so be it. Bridges and roads are
crumbling, we just can"t afford to do it. And if you"re an old person and
you can"t afford that, that voucher doesn"t pay for your health insurance -
well, then that"s just too bad. You"re on your own.
And he painted a vision that we believe in that says that, no, everyone in this country deserves to--we take care of ourselves but we also take care of each other, and we take care of our country. I wonder if you"ve got that--my favorite chart that I walk around with, Ed, that I sent over that shows that the top 1 percent -- 0.1 percent of Americans are in the red.
On the left, you see that over--from 1976 to 2005, that"s the increase in income. The top 0.1 percent saw their income increase almost $6 million. The bottom 20 percent of Americans: 200 bucks. And even when you get up to the 90 percent you only saw income increase about $31,000.
We"re asking those people that live in the red to just pay their fair share. That"s a picture of the unshared prosperity.
Do you think those people in the red are 6 million times smarter than those people at the other end who are just trying to make a living? Of course, they aren"t. And as I think the president pointed out, many of them--and you pointed out--are willing to pay their fair share.
SCHULTZ: Well, they are willing to pay it and that"s the fallacy in the Republican argument throughout all of this, is that they paint Americans who have had good fortune as people who are totally greedy. It"s about leadership and the president is trying to give leadership but once again he is running into a bunch of financial obstructionists over in the House and the Senate who will never go on to it.
The other thing is that the president said that he would not sign on to extending the Bush tax cuts. We should point out that the cuts that were passed today in the House and the Senate now the president is going to sign it. These cuts are effective this year. Yet, the tax increases that the president is talking about aren"t going to take place until after this agreement that was made during the lame duck session of the Congress.
So, they"re going to get the fruits of this tax cut this year and next year. So, why is it so hard for the Democrats to collectively just go on the offensive on this issue and challenge the Republicans to change that time line?
SCHAKOWSKY: This issue is a winner for us. Eighty-one percent of Americans actually said that if they--that the best way to deal with the deficit and debt is to ask millionaires to pay more. And so, we have the high ground here. We should be pushing this issue.
They certainly don"t want to see Medicare guarantees erased. That"s part of the Republican budget. They don"t want to see slashing of Medicare. They all want to protect Social Security, education, infrastructure, investment, clean energy.
SCHULTZ: Yes.
SCHAKOWSKY: And so, we need to press this.
You"re right, Ed. We are on the side of the American people. We ought to listen to them. We should have the courage to follow what the American people are telling us and we are winners with these issues.
SCHULTZ: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, thanks for joining us tonight here on THE ED SHOW. I appreciate it so much.
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