CQ Transcriptwire

SPEAKERS: SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY.

STEVE DOOCY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR

[*] KILMEADE: It’s very controversial, and so far, Republicans not happy with Obama’s proposing in the stimulus package. It’s pretty big.

Senator Mitch McConnell is the U.S. Senate minority leader.

Senator McConnell, what -- what bothers you about the biggest stimulus package in the history of this country?

MCCONNELL: Well, the way it’s looking in the House, at least, a number of things bother me about it. I think it’s probably going to fall well short of the mark of what the speaker just said a year ago, the principle that ought to apply to stimulus: Temporary, timely, targeted.

KILMEADE: Yes...s

MCCONNELL: A lot of this is going to spend out over a very lengthy period of time, not have much of an impact in the short-term. And most of my members, including myself, believe if you want to have a stimulative effect, (inaudible) taxpayers rather than have the government spend it. And it’s -- the taxes are not tilted. You know, there’s not a very significant portion of it in taxes.

DOOCY: Do you -- and, in fact, you kind of touched on the Congressional Budget Office saying that less than 40 percent...

MCCONNELL: Yes.

DOOCY: ... of the discretionary amount of money would be spent in the first 18 months. We want it all spent immediately, I think a lot of people would say, to get things going. But are you confident, Senator, that this is going to work?

MCCONNELL: No, I’m not. But I want to be -- you know, I want to be open minded about it, because we haven’t actually drafted it in the Senate...

DOOCY: This isn’t a final deal.

MCCONNELL: Yes, we haven’t actually drafted it in the Senate yet. I think the House package looks pretty bad. I mean I don’t think...

DOOCY: What do you hate the most?

MCCONNELL: Well, you know, everybody agrees, oddly enough -- this is unusual -- everybody agrees we need to do something big, we need to do it now. Conservative economists, liberal economists...

DOOCY: Kitchen sink -- throw it all at it.

MCCONNELL: Right. The question is, what do you do? And I think most of my members believe that if you put money straight in the hands of individuals and businesses...

DOOCY: Right.

MCCONNELL: ... it will have a quicker stimulative effect... DOOCY: Tax cuts.

MCCONNELL: ... than having the government spend it on projects, particularly ones that are likely to spend out, you know, in year three and year four.

KILMEADE: And you’re talking about $100 billion for state’s special education; you’re talking about projects where they’re talking about putting up -- setting up a brand-new grid -- the way this country is given -- given energy.

So, would -- overall, overall they -- tell you the truth, Barack Obama doesn’t need you, Speaker Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid doesn’t need you. Just two Republicans (inaudible) in the Senate. Why is the president so focused, supposedly, on getting Republican support?

MCCONNELL: Well, I think the president would like to govern from the center. The question is whether the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate will let him. They have majorities in both the House and Senate; they’re going to pull him to the left. We’ve been offering suggestions. If you want a quick answer to the question of what would I do, I’d have a payroll tax holiday for a year or two that would put taxes in the hands of everybody who has a job, whether they pay income taxes or not. And, of course, businesses pay the payroll tax too, so it would be both a business tax cut and individual tax cut immediately.

Number two, I would make the grants -- the money to states alone rather than a grant. Otherwise, you’re going to see a lot of mob museums and water slides and Lord only knows what if you just send the money to the states and say, “Have a nice day.”

Everybody at the state level has been making their list and checking it twice, and we’re going to end up with some very embarrassing expenditures.

DOOCY: What do you think about the president of the United States -- apparently, when he was talking to some of the congressional leadership, Eric Cantor in particular, where he said -- Eric Cantor was being critical of the stimulus plan and Barack Obama said, “I won; I’m the president.” And then he also said, “You know, you can’t listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.”

MCCONNELL: Well, I was sitting there as well. I think probably I wouldn’t have said that if I were him. But look, you know, the president enjoys great popularity...

DOOCY: Sixty-eight percent approve.

MCCONNELL: Yes. People want him to succeed. I’m not prepared to sort of nitpick over every comment here in this beginning. We’re looking at the substance of this. And at least the substance, as defined by the congressional Democrats at the moment, seems to fall well short of what a stimulus package ought to be.

KILMEADE: Banks going to need more money? MCCONNELL: That’s what I keep hearing. We haven’t had a specific proposal yet, but that’s what I keep hearing.

DOOCY: What about the fact that when George Bush was the president of the United States and times were tough, some -- I don’t remember anybody ever accusing him of talking down the economy. But right now, when you listen to some of the message coming -- messages coming from Democrats, it sounds like they’re talking about -- you want things to be hopeful, but it sounds like they’re saying things are bad, they’ll probably get worse before they get better.

KILMEADE: Well, here’s the quote: “There is no good news.” This from Joe Biden.

According to Speaker Pelosi, things are: “Dark, darker, darkest.”

MCCONNELL: Well, I think there’s a political goal there, which is to make any kind of improvement, no matter how marginal, appreciated. And make...

KILMEADE (?): Take credit for it.

MCCONNELL: ... and make it look like the new administration, you know, got it done.

It’s a little bit like the rooster taking credit for the dawn. At some point, you know, this is going to get over with.

DOOCY (?): Right.

MCCONNELL: And the issue in the short-term is, can we, the government, do something effective to help make that shorter?

KILMEADE: Sound childish. I thought we were getting past the childish part.

(LAUGHTER)

MCCONNELL: Well, I don’t think we’ve repealed all the laws of politics here.

(LAUGHTER)

DOOCY: All right. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have anything to talk about.

MCCONNELL: No.

(CROSSTALK)

DOOCY: Senator (inaudible), thank you very much.

END

.ETX

Jan 26, 2009 9:40 ET .EOF

Source: CQ Transcriptions

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