CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript

Interview

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BOB SCHIEFFER: Thank you for giving your side of the story. I'm going to go now to his sort of counterpart in these negotiations, the number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin who joins us from Chicago. Senator Durbin, Speaker Boehner is working on a plan that he hopes can be supported in the House. But Democrats have already said no way. And that is this short-term extension of the debt limit. Could something like that possibly pass the Senate?

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN (D-Illinois/Majority Whip): Bob, let me tell you what the problem is. Those who give us a rating, our credit rating for the United States of America, Moody's, Fitch, Standard & Poor's have told us don't do that. A short-term extension of the debt ceiling is going to jeopardize our economy. At a time when the global economy is so weak, when we facing a downgrade of America's credit rating, they have warned us not to do it. And Speaker Boehner is ignoring that warning. We can't do that. I'll tell you what will happen. We know that Majority Leader Cantor walked out of the negotiations with Vice President Biden. We know that Speaker Boehner walked out of negotiations with the President not once but twice. And now, the reality is if we fail to extend the debt ceiling of the United States, we will be imposing a new tax on working families and businesses across America. They'll see it in their credit cards. They'll see it in-- in their home loans and their automobile loans. This is a tax which will be imposed because Speaker Boehner refuses to consider a tax on the wealthiest people in America.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. But I take your point on all of that. But wouldn't it be better to pass a short-term extension to raise the debt limit than just letting this thing go?

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN: Well, we absolutely do not want to default. But this notion that we're going to replay this movie in four or five months, that we're going to face this whole thing all over again, the American economy is too fragile at this point in recovery for us to allow that to happen. We've been warned not by political advisers. I hear the Republicans. They want to make this a campaign issue. Ignore the political advisors for a moment. Listen to the economists who are telling us, all of them together, do not lurch from one five-month period to another when it comes to the credit rating of the United States of America. Not at this moment in history. It's going to hurt us. It's going to stall our recovery. And I might say to Speaker Boehner he should remember six words--if you break it, you own it.

BOB SCHIEFFER (overlapping): Well, I--

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN: In this situation he has the responsibility to lead his Republican caucus and to help this nation move forward in a stronger economy.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Have you talked Senator Reid? What's-- what's his thinking here at-- at this hour?

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN: I called Harry Reid this morning in Washington. He's been working nonstop as everyone has. They've all put a lot of time into it. But an agreement has not been reached yet. It needs to be reached today. I know that Tim Geithner, our secretary of the Treasury, has warned us at that some moment there's a tipping point here. These political negotiations will go on too long and people will start paying the price. And it won't be just the politicians. It's going to be the average working family in America, the average business that'll face this new burden from this failure to reach an agreement that they are going to sense and feel. They're going to see it in their savings, a-- a reduction in value I'm afraid if we don't extend the debt ceiling. That's why it's critical for us to reach an agreement today.

BOB SCHIEFFER: So exactly. So what happens if you don't reach the agreement today?

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN: Well, it becomes problematic, Bob, as you know in the Senate. It takes a time, a long time to move legislation through the Senate. Under the best of circumstances, a controversial bill will take you a week to go through the Senate and so we need to have an understanding today and move forward. I would just say to Speaker Boehner, the President negotiated directly with you in good faith twice. And you walked away from it. At some point the Speaker has to accept the responsibility beyond his caucus to this nation. I met with a business leader here in Chicago yesterday who was in a meeting with Speaker Boehner where the speaker was saying, "Well, not extending the debt ceiling is not that serious a thing." Yes, it is.

(CBS News)

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right.

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN: It means that people will not be receiving their Social Security checks at least on time, that we'll have to make a decision about whether we're going to pay those who work in the military. These are critical decisions that'll have to be made if we fail to extend the debt ceiling.

BOB SCHIEFFER: All right. We've got a critical decision here. I have to break it off there. The time is running out. Thank you so much, senator.

We'll be back in one minute with more perspective on this.

SENATOR RICHARD DURBIN: Thanks, Bob.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Thank you, sir

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