ABC "2une In" - Transcript

Interview

End Moratorium To Unleash Ripple Effect Of Job Creation
Cassidy: "If you look at who is unemployed across the nation, it's typically men without college degrees. We know in this state that if you end this moratorium -- which, by the way, the government scientists said a blanket moratorium is not the answer -- if you end the moratorium you create prosperity for families with those jobs on the rigs, on the pipelines on the barge, on the supply boats. It just ripples across. I just read in the paper today that the oil and gas industry accounts for 12 percent of gross domestic product of Gulf Coast states and more for Louisiana, about $28 billion in total. Twenty-eight billion dollars means a heck of a lot of jobs, and let's get those folks working, not only for the jobs, but also for our country's energy future."

Administration Replacing Declared Moratorium With De Facto Moratorium
Cassidy: "The Administration has said that the moratorium is over. It is unclear to us as to whether or not that is true. Bromwich made a statement yesterday -- the head of their Bureau of [Ocean] Energy Management (BOEM) -- that they were not slow walking any moratorium. My office though knows that there are steps before final approval that they are still walking. We're trying to get that so we can make it public. So it's anyone's game right now. Clearly the president's party is making a decision to slow down -- again, despite the fact their own engineers say that is not indicated, that is not the answer."

If We Raise Taxes, We Are Going To Destroy The Ability Of Job Creators To Create Jobs
Cassidy: "Keep in mind when we say the Bush tax cuts what we really mean is in January one of two things will happen: your taxes stay the same or your taxes go up. That's what going to happen. In a recession, when folks need their money to (1) pay their bills but (2) to create jobs if they're a small business owner, I don't think it's the time to raise taxes. The power to tax is the power to destroy. Right now, if we raise taxes, we are going to destroy the ability of job creators to create jobs. I'm in favor of extending them for everybody. Let's get people back to work."

To Lower Health Costs, Repeal New Health Law & Replace With Patient-Centered Reform
Cassidy: "Well, of course, as you know, I've worked at Earl K Long. I still work at Earl K. Long, and saw patients yesterday morning. So the issue means a heck of a lot to me. If Republicans take back the House, we will attempt to do something significant. The bill that was passed is already increasing costs. It is already disrupting peoples' health care plans. It is already pushing costs upon small businesses to comply with the regulations, which again is distracting from the ability to create jobs. What Republicans would like to do is to replace this kind of top-down, bureaucratic approach to health care with a bottom-up approach in which the patient is put in control of her healthcare dollar. We think we can achieve the same result but at a lower cost. We will definitely push for that."

Source