MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Let"s turn to Congressman Keith Ellison, co-chair of the progressive caucus.
Why did you vote no, Congressman Ellison?

REP. KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA: Because it"s retractionary in a time where we have 10 percent unemployment. What we need is a fiscal policy that"s going to help Americans get back to work, not to put more of them out of work.

What this is doing is they cut programs and they cut people, they cut employees. And therefore, we"re going to see the ranks of the unemployed swell, and this idea that somehow working for a government agency is not a real job is ridiculous.

The fact is that these people who are going to be cut out of this initial $900 billion, I mean, that"s employees. Those are government workers, and, of course, this is going to be phased in. It won"t be all immediate, but it"s a retractionary fiscal policy in a time where we need fiscal stimulus.

SHARPTON: Now, a lot of this, as you alluded to, is backloaded and will come in after the Bush tax cuts expire. Won"t some of those funds come in and deal with some of the needs here?

ELLISON: You know, because of this super committee, which can deal with everything, nothing is real certain. I guarantee you this. You know, these extreme Republicans who force this horrible bargain on the president, they"re not going to go away. They"re going to try to extend the Bush tax cuts again. I mean, there"s no foregone conclusion. That"s another fight we have to have.

So that"s why I"m telling every progressive and every political centrist out there, you better get your political shoes on and get ready to fight because these guys are not playing with us. They mean to dismantle everything since the Roosevelt administration, and any progressive or any person who"s liberal or even in the center who thinks they can rely on important government programs that make America great, I don"t think that"s a safe bet. I think we need to get busy and active and engaged, and we need to get rid of these people who forced this horrible bargain on our president.

SHARPTON: I think we should have been busy. That"s another question.
ELLISON: We better get busy now. You"re right.

SHARPTON: Let me ask you this: Vice President Biden met with House Democrats today. Take a look what he said after the meeting.

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JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They expressed their frustration, which I"ll be frustrated if I was sitting there as well. We keep on taking it down to the wire like this. And so, what they want to know is they ask questions specifically about the proposed legislation. Excuse me. I"m sorry. The proposed legislation. I thought it was a good meeting. I feel confident that this will pass.

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SHARPTON: Did Vice President Biden"s speech turn some no votes to yes votes?

ELLISON: I think what the most important thing that Vice President Biden is he reassured us that the White House is definitely on our side. They don"t want these deep cuts any more than we do. They felt like they were backed into a corner and did the best they could with what they had.

That"s pretty much, I think, what he did. I don"t think he took --
SHARPTON: On that line, "Politico" reports that the vice president said that the Tea Party Republicans had, quote, "acted like terrorists."
Now, the White House is denying that report. Did you hear him say that, Congressman Ellison?

ELLISON: I did not hear that from the vice president, no.

SHARPTON: All right. Do you think Republican members of the Tea Party have acted like terrorists?

ELLISON: I think Republican members of the Tea Party acted like hostage takers. I mean the T word is loaded politically, so I don"t want to use it. But I will say that they--I felt like they sent a ransom note which said give us all the cuts you want or you"ll never see your economy in --

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