MSNBC - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC - Transcript

MS. MITCHELL: And for more on the president-elect's green team, New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. The senator sits on the Committee for Energy and Natural Resources.

Of course, you are familiar, presumably, with Lisa Jackson. Is she the right person for the job? She comes from New Jersey.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, she's definitely the right person for the job. This entire team is, I think, a green dream team, and -- but also very pragmatic, too. I think that Lisa Jackson knows all the different elements of the Environmental Protection Agency, where she served for 16 years. Here in New Jersey, as our DEP commissioner, she has had to meet the challenges of open space, cleaning up toxic waste sites. She led the effort for a regional compact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

So she's very well versed in -- and she also brings science to this background. She's an engineer. So I think she's uniquely poised to be a great EPA administrator.

MS. MITCHELL: While I have you here, Senator, can you bring us up to date on what is happening with the car deal -- on/off, how is it going to be restructured? When is it going to come back the floor?

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, I think it's just largely at this point in the administration's hands. I don't know whether it will come back to the floor. I think that they are looking at their balance sheets, at their burn rates. I think they are looking at what gets them sufficiently into the next administration for a significant commitment to restructuring. And they're looking at TARP monies as the way in which they access whatever assistance they're going to give them. But they clearly have to give them assistance soon because, if not, this economy will take a body blow that it cannot afford at this time.

MS. MITCHELL: Senator, beyond coming out of the TARP, though, the money from -- that was previously set aside for the financial sector, when you come back in the new Congress, don't you have to do something more substantial in terms of looking at the auto industry?

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, certainly. First of all, you know, the TARP was written in such a way that even though its focus was the financial industry, clearly we envisioned other possibilities in the context of the turmoil in this economy. And it is clearly written in such a way that the administration has the power to access it for this purpose.

Having said that, a new administration is going to have to deal with the auto industry in a way in which there is a major restructuring along the lines of what we did in '79 with Chrysler, where, as significant assistance was given to Chrysler at the time, there was a major restructuring. And at the end of the day, they not only repaid all of the money the government gave them, but they also made $300 million in interest, the government did, and they did it seven year earlier.

So it is possible to do, but it is a significant challenge that can't be done in the time frame, I believe, that is needed to try to avoid them from going into an unprecedented bankruptcy and precipitous bankruptcy. So that's the challenge for the administration right now, getting them past this time frame, getting them to a next administration that will clearly sit down and put a major restructuring together.

MS. MITCHELL: Now, right now you have -- when you look forward to vacancies in the Senate, you have in Illinois and coming up in New York vacancies that are being -- that have to be filled by appointment. And a lot of political fallout obviously in Illinois, but you've been beginning to see some significant fallout as well in New York over that seat.

Is Caroline Kennedy the right person to be appointed to Hillary Clinton's seat?

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, Andrea, there's a deep bench in these states, and we're lucky as Democrats that we have such exceptional talent. Caroline Kennedy would be one of those individuals who has exceptional talent, a great accomplished record on her own, and I think would be a great senator from New York.

There are others, as well, both in New York and in Illinois. And so we will look forward to the process as it moves along. We've made it very clear to those governors that we'd like to see someone who ultimately can represent those states' interests and be able to win the seat as they will have to in two years.

MS. MITCHELL: Has the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee -- have you had any contact with Governor Blagojevich about who should be appointed from Illinois and about how that process should work? And are you concerned about fallout, given this scandal --

SEN. MENENDEZ: Right.

MS. MITCHELL: -- in Illinois on Democrats in general?

SEN. MENENDEZ: Well, I did have a brief conversation before this all came about. And it was basically along the lines of what I just said, you know, to any governor that we've spoken to who has a vacancy, which is, we need a quality person, someone who shares the values of that state, and at the same time someone who has the ability to win -- not a caretaker, but someone who has the ability to win the seat two years down the road so that we can continue to work for the president-elect to make the change that he has called for in this country. And that was the extent of our conversation.

MS. MITCHELL: Can you tell us when you spoke with Governor Blagojevich and what his response to you was?

SEN. MENENDEZ: It was a couple of weeks ago. And I think basically, you know, he acknowledged that -- the need to have someone who could be elected. And that was basically it.

MS. MITCHELL: Did he ask you for anything, Senator?

SEN. MENENDEZ: (Laughs.) No. He didn't ask me for anything, no.

MS. MITCHELL: (Chuckles.) Okay. Thank you very much, Senator Menendez from New Jersey.

SEN. MENENDEZ: Thank you.

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