CBS "Face the Nation" - Transcript: ACA and Government Shutdown

Interview

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SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, Senator, I am going to thank you for joining us this morning. I don't see you coming off your position right now. So let's go to a Democrat in Springfield, Illinois, the number two Democrat in the Senate, Richard Durbin. Senator, thank you so much for joining us too. Well, you just heard Senator Paul. What do you -- what is going to happen here?

DURBIN: Well, I am afraid, Bob, that we know what is going to happen. Tomorrow the Senate will come in session. The House position, which is basically the same one they sent us the last time, is going to be rejected again and we are going to face the prospect of the government shutting down come midnight Monday night, Tuesday morning. And that is sad; as you mentioned 800,000 federal workers will be the victims of this Republican shutdown strategy, but even more important, it hurts our economy. For goodness sakes, we are just starting to recover and create jobs and strengthen the economy and the leaders in business tell us, don't do this. Don't shut down the government, don't fail to pay the government's bills with the debt ceiling, and that is exactly what the Republicans are hell-bent on doing.

SCHIEFFER: Well, do you think the government is going to shut down? At this point, do you think that is really going to happen?

DURBIN: I am afraid I do. I watched what happened last night --

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DURBIN: I do. I watched what happened last night in the House of Representatives. I was waiting for at least some Republicans to step up and say this shutdown strategy is going to destroy our party and its image. Look at this, Bob, 75 percent of Republicans across America reject this Tea Party strategy of shutting down the government, 75 percent of Republicans. And if they do, imagine, as you can guess, what the larger population feels. This is a terrible, destructive strategy, totally unnecessary.

SCHIEFFER: Well, let me just ask you this. Some of the things that we just heard Senator Paul say. He said the president by fiat himself postponed part of this program, and, you know, there is a lot of concern out there that this program really isn't ready yet, that the penalties for employers, that still is to be worked out. There is likely to be more problems within the system. What if you came up with a kind of compromise that said, OK, we won't postpone it for a year but three months, six months? Does that have any appeal to you?

DURBIN: Bob, it does, and I will tell you, not to postpone it, don't get me wrong on that, I don't want to postpone it, but to sit down and talk about the future of healthcare reform, obviously, we should do this. But look what we have to work with on the other side. Almost 45 times now the House Republicans have voted to abolish ObamaCare, not to change it, not to come up with any specific change. The closest they have come is with this medical device tax. But if there is to be a construct conversation about the future of healthcare reform, it's going forward, I fully support that. But let's sit down in a bipartisan and calm way, not with the prospect of shutting down the government or shutting down the economy.

SCHIEFFER: What about his -- Senator Paul's suggestion that you form a conference committee and sit down, would you go for that? To keep from shutting down the government?

DURBIN: Conferee committees are the normal course of action. We have been trying for more than six month to get the Senate Republicans to agree to a conference committee on the budget. They refuse a conference committee when it comes to our budget. When it comes to healthcare reform there should be an orderly process. We are going forward with healthcare reform. That is a good thing for America. So that many people currently without health insurance will have it for the first times time in their lives and the policies that all of us the buy are going to be worth more, they won't reject kid for preexisting conditions for example. That's a good thing.

SCHIEFFER: What about repealing this tax on healthcare devices? These -- what about that?

DURBIN: Isn't it interesting, Bob, that...

SCHIEFFER: Medical devices.

DURBIN: ...the Republicans -- yes, medical devices. Isn't it interesting, the Republicans which talk so much -- who talk so much about deficit reduction have sent us over an amendment which adds $30 billion to the deficit and takes it right out of the healthcare reform act. That is the height of irresponsibility. We can even talk about the future of that tax, let's do it in a responsible way with replacement revenue. I predict that the Senate is going to reject this House overture that was sent to us last night.

SCHIEFFER: Well, I mean, but wouldn't that be kind of a popular thing to do away with a tax on wheelchairs and things like that? I mean, that seems to me that in the kind of environment we are in what might be something you could get together with them on.

DURBIN: Well, I support taking a look at the medical device tax. Keep in mind, though, that we anticipate millions of more patients using medical devices with some profit associated with it to the medical device companies. That is why the tax is there. But I am willing to look at that. But not with a fun to my head, not with a prospect of shutting down the government. That is what the president said, that is what we have said. There should be a constructive, positive bipartisan conversation. Bob, after the junior senator from Texas took the floor for 21 hours the other day, this last week, Senator John McCain followed him for ten minutes. There was more wisdom and common sense in what John McCain said than anything I heard in 21 hours. He said the president won the election.

SCHIEFFER: What do you do next? Let's just put all of the arguments, why it is a good thing or why it's a bad thing, put it all aside, what can be done at this point to not shut down the government?

DURBIN: We have sent from the senate a clean CR, no strings attached. We didn't demand the immigration bill passed or anything like that, a clean CR to keep the government in business and not hurt the economy. Ultimately, that is what we should do. And I hope when it comes to the debt ceiling we will do the same thing, extend the debt ceiling without endangering the economy. Then if the Republicans want to sit down and go into serious good faith negotiations, over any aspect of government, that is how it should take place.

SCHIEFFER: All right. Well, Senator Durbin I want to thank you for joining us this morning. And we will stay tuned. Thank so much. We will be back in one minute with more on the budget impasse.

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