STEPHANOPOULOS:
Let's get more on this and all of the big issues remaining in the
surprisingly packed lame duck session of Congress with New York Senator
Chuck Schumer, [who] joins us this morning from the Capitol-
SCHUMER: Good morning- good morning, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning. Senator, I want to get to a lot of
different things, but let's begin with this report from Senator Coburn.
He says there are hundreds of billions of dollars of waste. Do you buy
that?
SCHUMER: Well, there's lots of waste in the government- that's true-
but Senator Coburn never mentions the outstanding things that we do in
the government that senior citizens, soldiers, veterans depend on. And
you can't just use a meat ax- you have to use a scalpel, and that's what
we're trying to do.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And you are- looking like you're going be [there] until
Christmas, doing an awful lot of work during this lame duck session of
Congress. I know you were critical of the President's negotiating in
this tax compromise, but decided to vote for it. You've also now passed
the 'don't ask, don't tell' [repeal], the food safety bill, and you seem
to have a breakthrough on something you've been fighting for for years,
this several-billion dollar bill to get health benefits to emergency
workers for 9/11. Are you confident now that you have the votes to get
this through the Senate, and will the House stay in session to make sure
it gets passed?
SCHUMER: Well, I believe we have the votes, and Speaker Pelosi- I spoke
to her last night again, and she wants to get- do everything we can to
get it done. We now have the votes. We made some modifications that some
of our Republican colleagues requested, and if no one does undue delay,
just stands up and delays and delays and delays, we will get this done,
and that's my plea to my colleagues in both the House and Senate.
Please don't delay this bill. Let it come to a vote, and we will win.
One point, George: the people who rushed to the towers after 9/11-
they're our heroes. Just like veterans, they volunteered and risked
their lives for us at a time of war. American tradition is we don't turn
our backs on them, no matter what state you're from and no matter what
party you're from, and I see at this last moments the Congress coming
together along those lines.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why did this take so long?
SCHUMER: It took so long for a number of reasons. First of all, for the
first several years, we didn't realize the kinds of terrible illnesses
people were getting. The glass and soot that accumulated in your lungs
those fateful days after 9/11 didn't begin to bring out the cancers 'til
several years later. And then, of course, to figure out how to do this
exactly right took a while. The House passed it in September. We're
working on it now. It's not too late, but it will be if we don't do
anything, because thousands will die because they didn't get adequate
medical care.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator, I also want to ask you about the President
pushing very hard for the START nuclear arms reduction treaty with the
Russians. It's going to take 67 votes in the Senate. You saw the two top
Republicans in the Senate announced yesterday they will not vote for
it. Can you get the 67 votes you need to ratify?
SCHUMER: I believe we can. The President is working really hard. He's
burning up the phone lines on this. Yesterday, [Senator] Thad Cochran,
who was a vote that we weren't sure of, said he'd be for it. We do need,
of course, nine or ten Republican votes, and I think we will get them.
It's going to take- it's going to be a real slog- you know, sort of
house-by-house combat, if you will, but I think we'll be there.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, you know, I wonder what you make of how the
President is handling Congress and his agenda, in the wake of the
midterm losses. As I said, you were critical of the President
negotiating- his negotiating style on the tax bill. You got that
through. Yet, the spending bill for next year crashed and burned during
the session. What does that say about where Congress is going in the
next year, and what's the single piece of advice you have for President
Obama as he faces a Republican majority in the House?
SCHUMER: Well, first, let me say this: we in the- we Democrats in the
House and Senate know we're joined at the hip with the President. He
does well, we do well, and vice-versa. So, we're working as a team. We
have our differences. I would have pursued the tax bill differently, but
once the President made the decision, you saw large unity, particularly
in the Senate, and I think you'll see that. My advice to the President
is, compromise when you can, but when people are being unreasonable- and
we have hard-right people who seem to be wanting to move us back to the
19th century- draw some lines in the sand and fight. So, try to
compromise first, do everything you can, but don't give up your
fundamental core principles, and I think the American people will
respect that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay. Senator Schumer, thanks very much for your time this morning.
SCHUMER: George, nice to talk to you. Merry Christmas.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you very much. Happy holidays.
