Related:
CBS THIS MORNING, CBS
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi discussed the possible solutions to avoid the fiscal cliff in an interview with co-hosts Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell that was broadcast live today, Dec. 12, 2012, on CBS THIS MORNING on the CBS Television Network (7:00 AM – 9:00 AM). Watch the interview in its entirety below!
Below is the transcript of the interview:
ROSE: Where are these negotiations, because when they were bargaining over the grand bargain, you gave the President, and your caucus did, room to go in there and negotiate. He has that, I assume, again, so he can put spending cuts and entitlement cuts on the table.
PELOSI: The President knows our views, shares our values, we respect his leadership, and there's a recognition that he may need our votes.
ROSE: But there's no red line for you and Democrats in the House. You want the President to make a deal and lay out what he can do.
PELOSI: That is true. However, we want what happens to be fair, and we want it to be able to work. And one of the things that we object to is raising the Medicare age.
ROSE: But it's not a red line for you.
PELOSI: Well, it is a-it's something that says don't go there, because it doesn't produce money. In other words, what do we need here? We need resources, we need cuts, and we need growth. High tax cuts for the wealthy increase the deficit and do not produce jobs. Raising the minimum wage-excuse me-raising the retirement age does not get you that much money, so you're doing a bad thing when it comes to seniors, and you're not achieving your goal. So we're saying does it work, is it fair, or is it just a trophy that the Republicans want to take home whether or not it achieves-contributes to reducing the deficit and creating jobs?
O'DONNELL: Leader Pelosi, I know there's been a lot of talk about increased revenues on the Republicans' side, but there's also a burden on the Democrats, which is that what entitlement cuts are you willing to make? You wrote an op-ed, you said no way on raising the Medicare eligibility age. What are you willing to offer in terms of entitlement cuts to get this deal done?
PELOSI: First of all, we already have made entitlement cuts. Republicans criticized them, but in the Affordable Care Act, we have over $700 billion in savings from Medicare, which we plowed right back into Medicare to extend its life and to increase benefits now. The President, in his initiatives, in his budget to be specific, has over $400 billion additional revenue-not revenue-entitlement changes that's over a trillion dollars. Over a trillion dollars in reforms in Medicare, just as a down payment. So we've already done that, in addition to $1.6 trillion in cuts, which we've already voted on. We're almost $1.6-$2.6, $2.7 trillion in cuts in spending and entitlements as a down payment. We need to see the revenue.