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SPEAKERS: SEN. DEBBIE STABENOW, D-MICH., CHAIR, STEERING AND OUTREACH COMMITTEE

MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC ANCHOR

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC ANCHOR

[*] SCARBOROUGH: With us now, let’s bring in the chairman of the Democratic Steering Committee, Michigan’s Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow .

Hey, Senator, great to see you.

STABENOW: Good morning, Joe, Mika, hey.

SCARBOROUGH: Tough times for Detroit on Capitol Hill. It seems that Detroit’s losing the P.R. battle right now. Why?

STABENOW: Well, it has been a very tough week. But I have to tell you, I keep going back to the focus that we’ve talked about before, which is, this is about real people and real jobs. It may be a tough week for us, but it’s been a tough number of years for the people in Michigan and across the country, where they’re downsizing.

Everybody here is talking about, they should right size, they should restructure, they should down size. We’ve lost 400,000 jobs in Michigan because of downsizing. I’d be happy to give you a tour of downsizing in Michigan.

So, what we’re dealing with is people talking about an industry of years ago, rather than the industry of today. And I understand people’s frustrations about bailouts and so on, but we’re talking about 4 percent of $700 billion -- $700 billion -- 4 percent to keep 3 million people working. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

BRZEZINSKI: Weren’t you against the bailout -- the Wall Street bailout?

STABENOW: I was originally because I didn’t think it was focused in the right place. It wasn’t focused on housing and jobs.

BRZEZINSKI: All right.

STABENOW: This is. I mean, we’re talking about a loan, and I think it’s also really important to focus on the fact that, yesterday, Canada announced they’re going to be helping the automakers in Canada. European Union...

BRZEZINSKI: Yes.

STABENOW: ... have been asked, including Toyota...

BRZEZINSKI: But...

STABENOW: ... to provide $56 billion. So this is a worldwide global financial crisis.

BRZEZINSKI: It is, but Senator, yesterday CEOs were on Capitol Hill asking for help again...

SCARBOROUGH: And -- and, of course, Newsday...

BRZEZINSKI: ... didn’t go well. SCARBOROUGH: ... yes, Newsday, yes, Newsday has a headline here talking about how all three of them flew their corporate jets to Washington. Mitt Romney in the Sunday New York Times wrote this: “The need for collaboration will mean accepting sanity in salaries and perks. In American Motors, my dad cut his pay and that of the executive team. He bought stock in the company, and he went to factories to talk to workers directly. Get rid of the planes, the executive dining rooms -- all the symbols of greed and resentment among the hundreds of thousands who will also be sacrificing to keep the companies afloat.”

STABENOW (?): He put that out Sunday.

SCARBOROUGH: Mitt Romney put that on a Sunday, and yesterday we find out all three of them flew in a corporate yet. What -- what message would you send to the CEOs of these three companies?

STABENOW: Well, first of all, I’d say fly commercial. I mean, they certainly shouldn’t have done that in the midst of all of this.

But I would also say, with all due respect to Mitt Romney, when his dad had American Motors, we were not in a global economy. We were not in the kind of situation that we’re in today with international competition. It was a very different time.

And secondly, the things he’s talking about -- talking to workers, the worker concessions, the downsizing to eliminate capacity -- it’s already happening. The contracts now, within the next couple of years, will be comparable, if not the same, to Toyota and Honda and other contracts.

So, it’s a different world. The auto industry today is not the auto industry that is being talked about on Capitol Hill. And that’s what’s so frustrating for those of us who have watched the pain or felt the pain of going through all of this restructuring.

SCARBOROUGH: All right. Hey, thanks a lot, Senator.

BRZEZINSKI: Senator Stabenow...

STABENOW: Thank you.

BRZEZINSKI: ... thank you very much for coming back on the show.

Who’s next Joe?

SCARBOROUGH: And good luck there.

STABENOW: And thanks.

END

.ETX

Nov 20, 2008 9:38 ET .EOF

Source: CQ Transcriptions

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