MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining me tonight is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Senator, great to have you with us tonight. What did you think of the president"s speech?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: I thought it was a good speech.

Probably should have been given six or seven months ago.

I think, Ed, the plan of the Republicans is pretty clear. What they want to do is everything they can to protect the wealthiest people in this country who are doing phenomenally well, whose tax rates are the lowest on record.
They want to protect corporate America. We have companies making billions of dollars in profits and not paying a nickel in taxes.

And then what they want to do in a variety of ways is not only slash discretionary spending on education, on health care, on environmental protection, on nutrition--their plan is to go after, as you referred, the big three. They want to decimate Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That is their long-term plan of action.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

SANDERS: But as you also indicated, let"s be very clear. The Democrats have compromised and compromised and compromised.

The Reid proposal calls for $2.7 trillion in cuts, a lot of it military, but not all of it. And you know how much we"re asking from the wealthiest people and largest corporations? Zero. Zero.

SCHULTZ: Well, I found it interesting tonight--you just said that the Democrats have compromised. The president seemed to be an honest broker tonight. He"s willing to serve some pretty tough cuts, support the Reid plan, which is $2.7 trillion. It"s not the $4 trillion the president was talking about.
But in a reversal politically in all of this, what did you make of Boehner accusing the president of wanting a blank check? Where does that come from?

SANDERS: That comes from a good speechwriter.
The reality is, the president has been to my mind much too aggressive in talking about cuts. Let"s be clear. There are millions of progressive who extremely upset that this president has begun to talk about major cuts in Social Security, cuts in Medicare, and hundreds of billions of dollars of cuts in Medicaid.

SCHULTZ: But the Reid plan tonight, Senator, the Reid plan tonight has the big three off the table.

SANDERS: That"s right.

SCHULTZ: So, I think progressive voices in this country are being heard by the White House, and also by the Senate.
Does this have a chance of passing?

SANDERS: Ed, yes and no. You are right. The big three are not in the Reid proposal. But you know what is in the Reid proposal? A commission made up of 12 people, six Democrats, six Republicans. And within that commission, what could happen, what could happen is Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid could be impacted.

The point is, our position, which says that the wealthy and large corporations have got to contribute to deficit reduction is what the overwhelming majority of the American people want. And what we have got to do and should have done six months ago is rally those people, put the Republicans on the defensive, and say you"re not going to decimate programs for working families, for the kids and the sick and elderly, and give tax breaks to billionaires.

SCHULTZ: Senator, great to have you with us. Thanks so much.

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