MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Amy Klobuchar

Interview

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WALLACE: These senators want a voting rights bill passed this summer, but they also know that all Democrats are not yet on the same page. So, how do they overcome this? More importantly how far are they willing to go to do so?

Joining our conversation, Minnesota Senior Senator Amy Klobuchar is here, chair of the Rules Committee.

Senator, thank you so much for making time for us.

KLOBUCHAR: It`s an honor.

WALLACE: I wonder -- it`s great. Look, we`ve covered this issue every day in the afternoon, and it`s really a privilege to get to talk to you. And I wonder if you could pull the curtain back.

The Democratic legislators feel optimism. They feel they`ve conveyed to all of you they don`t need the whole package. They just need something. Is that -- has that focused efforts in the Senate?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes. And your first speaker you featured was Trey, who I consider a friend from Texas. Those legislatures and really legislatures from across the country have come to Washington just as they did in the 1960s asking for salvation. They can`t get this done in their states because as Reverend Warnock pointed out in the clip you featured, some people don`t want some people to vote.

And that is really, really put in stark focus in Georgia where their laws literally say the runoff period where Warnock and Ossoff won and registered 70,000 people, they changed the law just a few months ago and said you can`t register people. You can`t vote on weekends during the runoff, and you can`t give water from non-partisan volunteers to people who have stood in line for five hours, six hours like the people we met when we were down there for a field hearing.

So, what the For the People bill does and your question is can we focus it on what really matters in these states to get at all of these heinous things that are going on to stop people from voting? My answer is yes. And that is what we`re doing right now with Senator Manchin.

And let me be very clear, he has publicly said that he supports the Disclose Act to focus on the dark money in our politics, the gerrymandering, and then also what I am working on right now is to make sure that all of the voting rights from mail-in balloting to early registration to making sure that what happened in Georgia, which will be a new part of our bill, that you can`t have state legislatures usurping the power of local election officials.

Those are the things we`re talking about, and we are very close to getting an agreement on a final bill.

WALLACE: An agreement among whom, though? Because from the outside -- and please correct me if I have this wrong -- it looks like you`re still corralling Democrats and even if you get all of them locked in, there`s no appetite for doing away with the filibuster. Then what?

KLOBUCHAR: OK. First of all, corralling Democrats is never easy. We have a broad party and we have a group that`s working on this from Senator Merkley, who just saw, to Senator Padilla, Senator Schumer, and, of course, Senator Angus King who serves on the rules committee with me and many others.

So, what we`re doing is we`re putting together legislation, and we`ve already voted to proceed. It was the Republicans that stopped us. Once we get that legislative package, then we will deal with first of all can we get any Republican support? I honestly don`t think we can. But one must always try.

And then the second thing is what can we do with our procedural rules in the Senate to stop this evil?

[21:30:01]

And there are things, Senator Manchin has indicated a willingness to look at a standing filibuster. I personally think I would abolish the filibuster myself. I think it`s being used to stop all kinds of things we need to get done.

There is Republican support in immigration reform. We can`t get it done because of filibuster. There is Republican support on climate change, 60 votes. Those things were set up in another time in another place and it has always changed over time and it is time to change it again.

And those are the discussions we need to have. But my obvious focus right now is getting an agreement that will make a difference, not some small ball thing that won`t help but will actually make a difference for these kinds of voter suppression efforts that are going on across the country.

WALLACE: I know you see this the same way the folks on the front line see this. Are you confident that all of your colleagues in the Senate see it that way?

KLOBUCHAR: Yes. They have heard from Reverend Senator Warnock, as I love to call him, who when I was down in Georgia spoke to his congregation and said vote is really a prayer for a better world, for a better America.

They have heard from people like Jon Tester, who`s a strong supporter of the bill and campaign finance reform because he`s seen the changes they`ve made in Montana, which once had much better election laws, or people like Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, who saw her own voters standing in line in makeshift masks in garbage bags in the rain in the middle of a pandemic just to exercise their right to vote.

And so I think that makes a difference. And so that`s the kind of discussions we`re having. I know that we will have unity on a bill. And if I don`t, I`ll come on the show and say, sorry, I failed. But I know we will, Nicolle. I know we will.

But from there, we have to figure out the procedure and how we get this done. And I just refuse as so many people in the past in American politics whether it is civil rights or other efforts that have advanced our country, it seemed impossible at the moment. But then we found a way to get to the right place.

And that`s where we need to get because we simply can`t deny people the right to vote and tell them they can`t get water in line and tell them that, oh, no, you can vote on the weekend sometimes but you can`t vote on the weekends. And oh, by the way, people of Georgia -- and they did this -- you need to put your birthday on the inner envelope. Your birthday. Not the day you`re casting the ballot, your birthday, which they know will lead to nothing but confusion.

This is wrong. And this is, I believe, against the election laws. But I believe that the vast majority of Americans would agree that no matter who wins, Democrat or Republican -- and, by the way, we have strong support for this, both parties that we have to have election laws that make it so it is safe for people to vote whether they`re in the middle of a pandemic or not, they can vote how they want, they can cast their ballot how they want. That is the freedom of America. That is our democracy.

WALLACE: Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, it is a real pleasure to get to talk to you about this issue. I`m really grateful that you had time to come on tonight. Thank you so much.

KLOBUCHAR: Thank you, Nicolle. See you soon.

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