CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Executive Order on Immigration and Student Loan Debt

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Let's talk now to a leading Republican about immigration and more, the governor of Florida, Rick Scott, joins us for his first national interview since getting himself reelected the other day.

Governor, first of all, congratulations on your re-election. Thanks very much for joining us.

What's your reaction to the breaking news that the president will announce tomorrow night he is unilaterally going to use his executive authority to change the immigration status for 3 million or 3.5 million, maybe 4 million people living who are here in the United States?

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Well, Wolf, first, I hope you hurry up and move to Florida. It's a lot warmer down here than the cold in Northeast.

Look, the president, you know, it's frustrating. He hasn't secured our borders. We have a humanitarian crisis on our borders this summer, with all of these undocumented children coming over. They've sent them into states like Florida without any -- telling us what to do.

And now, without working with Congress, he's going to take executive action. We can't comment until we know exactly what we are going to do, but I can't do that in Florida. I work with my legislature. I don't get exactly what I want. I work with them to make the best decisions possible. I'm surprised the president doesn't want to work with Congress for the benefit of all Americans.

BLITZER: But as you know, he's been waiting 16 months. The Senate in a bipartisan fashion did pass comprehensive immigration reform, your Florida senator, Marco Rubio, Republican, he voted for it, John McCain voted for it, but it's been sitting in the House of Representatives for well -- for more than a year and the speaker hasn't allowed it to come up for a vote. And the president says, you know what, he can't wait forever. Does he have a point?

SCOTT: You know, Wolf, here's what I do. If I want something to pass, I sit down with the leadership in the House and in the Senate, and I find out what their needs are to try to come up with something that everybody is OK with, where we can get the votes to pass something. I don't sit there and say, well, golly, you didn't pass something so I'm going to do something by myself.

You sit there and you find out what the needs are, what the concerns of their citizens, their constituents are, and you try to come up with something that fits everybody. The president needs to, first off, secure the border and then sit down with everybody and say, how -- what can we get done? And maybe the right thing is a comprehensive package. But do what you can get done.

That's what I do in my state. I've got taxes 40 times, I've got regulations. I've done things on education. And that's why we have 650,000 more jobs because I work with my legislature like he should work with Congress to say, what's the most I can get done today and what is the most I can get done tomorrow. Every day, he should be doing that.

BLITZER: Governor, I want you to stand by. We want to continue our conversation. We'll take a quick break.

Much more with Governor Rick Scott of Florida right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're back with the newly re-elected governor of Florida, Republican Rick Scott. Governor, as you know, the student loan debt in the country is a huge problem right now. More and more Americans are graduating from college with mounds and mounds of debt. The CNN film "Ivory Tower" tackles that topic.

I want to play this little clip from the film that will air here tomorrow night. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rise in student tuition is unsustainable. We can not continue to charge significantly more year after year after year without running into some kind of a brick wall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: College tuition has increased more than any other good or service in the entire U.S. economy since 1978.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Earlier today, I spoke with "TIME" magazine's Rana Foroohar. She told me she thinks this rise in student debt nationwide could lead to the country's next economic crisis. Do you agree?

SCOTT: Wolf, it's a significant problem. I grew up in a very poor family. After high school I went to the Navy and got the G.I. bill. But my wife and I both had to pay our own way through school.

And you look at what's happening to these children today, our students, the debt they are ending up with is unsustainable. So, here's what I've done. We have 23 state colleges with four-year degrees and now they have a total tuition for a four-year degree for $10,000.

I stopped the tuition increases. They were going up 15 percent a year in Florida. I stopped that after we came in. We reduced that for the prepaid, if you want to buy one for a newborn, it went from $54,000 to $27,000 this last year.

I'm going to continue to hold the line on tuition. On top of that, we have performance funding for universities, talking about what it costs for a degree, do you get a job when you walk out and how much money do you make. So, get the universities to focus on where the jobs are, what's a cost to get a degree, and how much money do you make.

BLITZER: Is it worth it for everybody to get a college degree or is there a better alternative for some young people out there?

SCOTT: Well, clearly, there are better alternatives but students need to understand, they need to understand, if you go get this degree, what is the chance you're going to get a job? What are you going to make? And what's the long-term opportunity?

And so, what we're doing also in Florida is we're giving our students that information starting as early as 7th grade. We are giving our students that information so when -- if they decide to go on, whether it's to a state college or a university or someplace else, they know what the option is.

Why -- what is it going to cost me? Do I get a job? How much money do I make? So they can make a logical decision. It's based on a return on investment. If you are going to invest your time and money, what happens?

BLITZER: Governor, good to have your thoughts. Thanks for joining us. We'll, of course, continue our conversations.

SCOTT: Thanks, Wolf.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source