FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT:
Here with us this morning, a leading Republican in the Senate , the senior senator from South Carolina , Lindsey Graham . Happy new year , Senator , welcome back to MEET THE PRESS .
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you for having me. Happy new year .
MR. GREGORY: So the president talks about a new year's resolution to get the economy back on track. He will face a more Republican Congress . Will he find a partner in the new Congress with more Republicans there?
SEN. GRAHAM: I hope so. I -- well, why did the economy get off track? The policies the president has pursued over the last couple of years with his Democratic colleagues -- the stimulus bill, Obama health care -- I think has made economic recovery more difficult. He'll find a partner if he'll come our way when it comes to creating jobs and controlling spending. The mandate of the last election was pretty clear to me that the Democratic policies from 2008 to '10 were rejected by the American people because they created too much debt and they grew the government too much. So if you want to reduce the size of government , I think you'll find a willing partner in the Republicans .
MR. GREGORY: Well, where do you see the economy right now? You know, holiday spending was pretty good in terms of shopping. But you look at the housing market , it's still a mess.
SEN. GRAHAM: Right.
MR. GREGORY: Prices coming down, interest rates going up.
SEN. GRAHAM: Right.
MR. GREGORY: Do you think economic recovery is still going to be stalled?
SEN. GRAHAM: I think what got us into this mess was the collapse of housing , and it's very -- some bad numbers came out recently about housing . The one thing with extending the tax cuts for two years helped a bit, but the Obama health care is a real burden to small businesses and large businesses. There's been 200 and something waivers. I think one of the best things Republicans do to help the economy is give business certainty, really go after, hard, the Obama healthcare bill, redesign the stimulus bill to make sure it goes to the economy , not to the government . I think it's going to be a, a slow recovery . And 2011 will be a continuation of 2010 , probably unemployment still above nine percent.
MR. GREGORY: Let me break that down a little bit. You mentioned housing . You know, back in 2008 , Republicans , including Senator McCain and yourself...
SEN. GRAHAM: Yes.
MR. GREGORY: ...were talking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , the big housing giants...
SEN. GRAHAM: Yes. Right, right.
MR. GREGORY: ...that now the government took over as being responsible for the crisis. That's a debatable point. But they now basically support the housing market in this country . Are you with the same Republicans , including your own views, that those should be wound down and privatized?
SEN. GRAHAM: Yeah, they should certainly be reviewed and reformed because they pushed mortgages out to people who couldn't pay their mortgages. The mortgages became exotic, security interests -- instruments sold all over the world . And the financial regulation bill really left unattended Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . And when you have government entities this large who own this much of housing , who've been pushing mortgages on people who can't afford to pay them, and you do nothing about it, it's pretty hard for me to say you've reformed the, the problem that got us into this mess. So yes. Meet the Press FULL TEXT transcript for Jan. 2, 2011
TEXT and VIDEO CREDIT: www.msnbc.msn.com/
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