MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript
Interview
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Joining me now is Bernie Sanders. I love having this man on this program because he tells it like it is. I think he knows the answer to all the questions I asked you tonight in this commentary. But I`ll have to ask
him again.
How can we turn this around, Senator? How are we going to do it?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: First of all, I`m going to text you right away, Ed, and tell you, yes, corporate greed is running this country. Corporate greed is destroying the middle class. And corporate greed is destroying the dreams and aspirations of millions of American people.
I think what these Wall Street occupation effort is all about, and the reason that it is hitting a nerve, is that people are catching on that there is something profoundly wrong when the top 1 percent today earns more
income than the bottom 50 percent and when the wealthiest 400 people own more wealth than the bottom half of America, 150 million people.
Ed, in a recent 25-year period, 80 percent of all new income went to the top 1 percent which is why the 99ers are getting a little bit upset. Now, you`re asking me, how do we move this country forward economically?
First of all, we have to understand there has to be a sense of urgency about the economic crisis that`s out there. Unemployment is not 9 percent. It`s truly 16 percent -- 25 million people unemployed or under-employed.
I don`t think it`s terribly hard to come up with the ideas as to how you put our people back to work. We have an infrastructure which is crumbling. That`s our roads, our bridges, water systems, waste water
plants. What about rebuilding those, that information, putting people back to work? We`re on the verge of a revolution in energy which we desperately need if we`re going to combat global warming.
What about the radical idea of making sure that our homes and our factories and our buildings are weatherized? Put people to work doing that. And how about building solar paneling and wind turbines right here in the United States?
SCHULTZ: Well, I`m going to do this story next week because China is eating our lunch in both those categories while we sit idle with politicians bickering at one another in Washington. Some of you really
want to do something, but we know who the obstructionists are.
Mike Huckabee is blaming the Democrats. Let`s take a look.
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HUCKABEE: If the president wants to pass it, he can pass it in the Senate. Why doesn`t he? Because he doesn`t have enough Democrat votes in the Senate to pass it.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS: He failed it in its existing form.
HUCKABEE: That`s exactly right. I think that`s total nonsense. He keeps blaming the Republicans. But the Republicans can`t stop it in the Senate.
And the fact is if he`s serious about it, lay it on the table, get Harry Reid to put it out there on the Senate floor, let the Republicans and Democrats all be on record. Let it go to the House. I think John Boehner
would let it go up for a vote.
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SCHULTZ: What`s your response to that, Senator?
SANDERS: I`m not quite sure what Huckabee is talking about. We need -- because of the Republican filibuster, we need 60 votes to pass a jobs bill. To the best of my memory, we haven`t gotten one Republican vote yet to put our teachers, our cops, our firemen back to work. We`re going to come up with another plan to put money in infrastructure, I hope will get some Republican support, but at this point, we haven`t.
So, Mr. Huckabee should understand how the Senate works. And that is you need 60 votes because of consistent Republican obstructionism.
SCHULTZ: And I want to point out, correct me if I`m wrong, it wasn`t long ago that there was a bill coming out of the Senate that would have given tax breaks to companies if they brought jobs back to America, just
like the story I was talking about tonight, and the Republicans were against that as well. Were they not?
SANDERS: Yes, the Republicans have been against virtually every effort to create the millions of jobs we desperately need.
And the fact is if he`s serious about it, lay it on the table, get Harry Reid to put it out there on the Senate floor, let the Republicans and Democrats all be on record. Let it go to the House. I think John Boehner
would let it go up for a vote.
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SCHULTZ: What`s your response to that, Senator?
SANDERS: I`m not quite sure what Huckabee is talking about. We need -- because of the Republican filibuster, we need 60 votes to pass a jobs bill. To the best of my memory, we haven`t gotten one Republican vote yet to put our teachers, our cops, our firemen back to work. We`re going to come up with another plan to put money in infrastructure, I hope will get some Republican support, but at this point, we haven`t.
So, Mr. Huckabee should understand how the Senate works. And that is you need 60 votes because of consistent Republican obstructionism.
SCHULTZ: And I want to point out, correct me if I`m wrong, it wasn`t long ago that there was a bill coming out of the Senate that would have given tax breaks to companies if they brought jobs back to America, just
like the story I was talking about tonight, and the Republicans were against that as well. Were they not?
SANDERS: Yes, the Republicans have been against virtually every effort to create the millions of jobs we desperately need.
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