MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript: Economy

Interview

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REP. KEITH ELLISON, (D) MINNESOTA: Hey, Ed.

SCHULTZ: You bet, brother. Your thoughts on Paul Ryan`s budget that repeals Obamacare and offers no replacement.

ELLISON: Well, I mean I`m not surprised at all. I mean all along the way, they had the opportunity to talk about what they would do to improve healthcare for Americans. They have failed utterly in every single step. Now they Paul Ryan unveils his budget which by the way cuts about three million jobs over the course of by 2017, you know, we`re not surprised. I mean, at the end of the day, I think Americans are beginning to see that the Republican program of cutting things that they need, of cutting jobs, of not prioritizing Americans, it just won`t work for America and so I`m hard on to try to get people to see that and they`ve seen it everyday and all over this country.

SCHULTZ: You know, you want to talk about a jaded opinion. We just play the clip of Brit Hume on Fox News saying that he`s not sure if people are going to go to the polls and vote for the Democrats because of healthcare.I just want to point out tonight that the Democrats and the liberal movement of this country didn`t do this to get reelected. They didn`t do Social Security because they wanted to get reelected. They didn`t do Medicare because they wanted to get reelected.

ELLISON: Right.

SCHULTZ: They didn`t do this health care reform. They did it because it`s a moral component that we have in this country to helping our neighbor and to make sure that insurance companies can`t butcher somebody`s life financially and take away their chance for life. That`s what this is about and the Democrats can`t be afraid to answer these critics just like that. This budget is a fraud. What do you to make of Paul Ryan playing around with the savings of ObamaCare and saying, "Well, really not going to happen."

ELLISON: Well, it`s just phony numbers, it`s fraud, it`s dishonest budgeting and we`re going to call it out and we`re going to hope that great journalist will asking in the tough question, "How do you collect and take in the savings of the Affordable Care Act and then repeal the Affordable Care Act?" I mean, but that exactly what`s he`s doing and he needs to be called out on it. But like you said, Ed, if you go back to the debates in 1968, they did not want all Medicare, they cried socialized medicine, they didn`t want Social Security in the 1930s. They have been against Medicaid.

So every step along the way, they have stood in the way of progress and now that we got 7.1 million people signed up in my own state, we got nearly 170 thousand and we were low on insure at state. I can tell you now, I wouldn`t want to be one of those governors who refused Medicaid expansion in the next round because I think people are going to remember who hurt him and who helps him.

SCHULTZ: Are these numbers verifiable?

ELLISON: Of course.

SCHULTZ: I know the answer to that. I mean what is the feeling on Capitol Hill today about the pushback that the numbers are phony?

ELLISON: Well, you know, I guess that what else can they say, right? I mean they`re left with just flat-out being, you know, what do you call them? Healthcare Deniers?

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

ELLISON: They`re left with little more than that but, you know, pretty soon the real life stories are going to be emerging.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

ELLISON: And they have been emerging already. People say, I`ve got healthcare for the first time in my life and I`m gratified about it. Those real life stories, need to get put out and emerge because we know they are real life stories of people not getting healthcare, being denied, had been revealed as false several times over.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, we got to have you back and talk about the Progressive budget because of the American people saw what you guys have on the table. I think that`s going to move some folks. Good to have you with us tonight, Keith. Thank you so much.

ELLISON: Thank you, sir. You got it.

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