Fox News "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BREAM: Coming to us now from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is one of Mitt Romney's earliest supporters and a name that many suggest would fit nicely on the Republican 2012 ticket, Senator John Thune.
Welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

SEN. JOHN THUNE, R-S.D.: Good morning, Shannon.

BREAM: All right. We'll get back to the ticket in just a minute. But before the break, you may have heard us talking with Senator Feinstein about the situation, JPMorgan losing $2 billion this week on credit derivatives.
Now, you voted against the Dodd-Frank bill and, in fact, had signed on to the repeal of that bill. Senator Feinstein is among those who think if it was fully enacted and if the regulations have been enacted, it would have prevented a situation like this.

So, why shouldn't Washington empower the regulators to get involved?
THUNE: Well, first off, I don't think we know all of the facts about this. This was something that was detected by the company. But JPMorgan Chase is a company that has been well-respected in the industry. The whole issue of Dodd-Frank impacts not just systemically risky institution but also a lot of community banks across South Dakota, which is why I voted against it. It piles a lot of compliance, burdens on smaller banks across this country.

But I think with respect to federally insured, systemically risky institutions, like the big banks, it is important that we make sure that we got some good safeguards in place, but that we do it in a way that doesn't impair or limit their ability to mitigate risk and to protect themselves and their balance sheets as well. So, I think this issue is something that will be talked about probably for some days ahead here. But at least for right now, I think we need to make sure we've got all of the facts before we jump to any conclusions about the need for greater and further regulation.

Dodd-Frank was a sweeping far-reaching regulation, much f which are still trying to be interpreted by the regulators, and I think we need to give them an opportunity to do the job before we reach any conclusions about moving forward with additional regulations which could make it more difficult for financial institutions to do their jobs.

BREAM: All right. Let's turn to another big headline this week, gay marriage. The president now saying he does support the right of gay couple to get married.

I want to give you a poll from "USA Today" and Gallup. It was taken after the president's announcement. It shows 51 percent of the Americans approve of his position compared to 45 percent who say they disapprove. Thirteen percent of those surveyed said that his announcement will make them more likely vote for him.

He also had this to say to fundraisers this week, quote, "It was a logical extension of what America is supposed to be. Are we a country that includes everybody and gives everybody a shot and treats fairly? Are we welcoming to people who are not like us?"

I want to ask about Mitt Romney. You endorsed him early. He's clearly in favor of marriage between one woman and one man. How does he address these concerns so that he isn't portrayed as being unfair or unwelcoming to fellow Americans?

THUNE: I just think that for -- this is an issue, Shannon, in which there is great difference in the definition, like so many other issues on the campaign. I think Governor Romney's position has been very clear from the time he was governor in Massachusetts. It's not -- it's something that hasn't changed. The president obviously has changed his possession more than once from the time he was a state senator, at the time he was running for federal office, to what we heard this last week.

And I think the view that Governor Romney holds on traditional marriage is a view that's held by a lot of people across this country. There are more than 30 states, who either by statute or constitutional amendment, have defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.

THUNE: But that's one of many issues that's going to be discussed during the course of this campaign, and one of many differences. But the biggest difference I think is the view that the president has and that Governor Romney has with respect to how to fix the economy, how do we get the economy going again, how do we get people back to work. And to me, that's the issue that's one the minds of most Americans.

And if you look at the economy -- the economic record that this president has, you've got 39 straight months of more than 8 percent unemployment. You've got massive amounts of debt. You have fuel prices that have doubled. Health insurance costs have gone up 25 percent. College tuition has gone up 25 percent.

That's the economic record that I think most people are going to judge this president by after three and half years.

Governor Romney obviously has a different view about how to lead this country, one that's based on the power of freedom, as opposed to the power of government. And I think that's going to be a bright line that delineates and defines these candidacies as we head into the November elections, and the issue I think that's going to compel most Americans to come out and support Governor Romney.

BREAM: Well, the president firing (ph) zinger at Congress. He says you guys aren't getting anything done on the economy, specifically he says Republican policies are behind the sputtering economy. So, he's giving you a to-do list.
Here's part of his weekly address this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We tried their ideas for nearly a decade, and it didn't work out so well. We can't go back to the same policies that got us into this mess. We've got to move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BREAM: All right. The first item on the president's to-do list for Congress involved tax credits for companies to help encourage them back to the U.S., offsetting that by cutting the tax breaks and incentives that companies get to cover the cost of moving overseas.

Now, your Republican colleague, Senator Chuck Grassley has said Republicans wouldn't go along with the second part of that, cutting the tax breaks that helps those who are moving businesses out of the U.S. Why not?

THUNE: Well, I mean, I just -- the question I think you have to ask Shannon in response to the president's speech last week is, you know, where was he three and half years ago. He's had three and a half year to put prescriptions in place that would get the economy back on track. All of the sudden now, with the 11th hour, he comes out with a to-do list for Congress.

Now, frankly, it's many of his policies that have gotten us into this ditch and we need to get out of the ditch. And the way to get out of the ditch isn't to double down on the things he's already done. This has been the most massive expansion of government that we've seen literally in the last half century. And we need a very different vision for the future of this country and it starts with ending some of the policies that this president has put in place, which is why we came out with a stop list.

He had a to-do list for Congress, and we came out and said, look, you need to stop these job-killing regulations that are strangling small businesses. You need to quit proposing tax increases that are going to make it more difficult and more expensive for small businesses to create jobs, stop blocking the Keystone pipeline, which would help end our dependence upon foreign sources of energy and put people to work in this country, and stop this divisive class warfare rhetoric which is so counter productive when we are talking about trying to grow the economy and create jobs.

I think the president's ideas, they're all fine and good, most of them are sort of a rehash of things we heard before. But more importantly, where has he been for the last three and half years and we have 39 months, consecutive months, now of unemployment above 8 percent, record amounts of debt, record amount of spending, record amounts of expansion of government at a time when we ought to be trying to create jobs in the private economy.

That is the Obama economy and the Obama record, and why I think Governor Romney has such a great opportunity to make a different case to the American people about a different direction for this country.

BREAM: The White House, though, will say Republicans are obstructionist. That's part of then reason that nothing is getting done on Capitol Hill.

So to that point, I want to talk to you about a primary election this week involving Republican Senator Richard Lugar. He was defeated in his primary by a Tea Party-backed challenger Richard Mourdock. Following his defeat, Senator Lugar released a very lengthy statement criticizing Mourdock's, quote, "unrelenting partisan mindset," and predicted that if he's elected, he won't get anything done.

Having a hard right candidate in that November election, do you worry about losing that Indiana seat in the fall?

THUNE: I don't. I think he's going to win. He's somebody who's run statewide. We are very confident about our prospects in the state of the Indiana and our prospects around the country for many of the reasons I just mentioned.

I think people in this country are voting on the economy and jobs, and what they see in the U.S. Senate and today led by Democrats is something that you mentioned earlier, and that is the fact that we haven't passed a budget in three years. It's become very dysfunctional and more recently a place where the presidential campaign has sort of been litigated, they sort of move the presidential campaign to the floor of the United States Senate. We continue to have votes that are about nothing but political messaging, talking about the Buffet tax rule, this last week about the interest rate on student loans which we all agree needs to be addressed and they want to do it in a way that the Republicans can't support.

And so, at the floor of the United States Senate, the reason it's not functioning today is because it's been converted into something that's about political gimmicks rather than about solving problems. And I think that people who are running across the country, including Mr. Mourdock are talking about spending, they're talking about debt, they're talking about jobs and talking about the economy -- which are all things that are on the hearts and minds of the American people.

And we need people who come to Washington that are serious about addressing those challenges. Many of us in the United States would welcome the opportunity to be able to vote on a budget that actually does something about entitlement reform, does something about tax reform, deals with these big and fundamental challenges. But frankly, that's not happening today.

I hope we get an infusion of new people in November who will help us to retake a majority of the United States and help us set an agenda that will take us in a different direction for the future of this country, and work with a Republican president who is intent on solving and fixing problems rather than just running for reelection and using campaign gimmicks to distract people from his economic record.

BREAM: Well, here's what Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said about the proposition of Mourdock coming to Capitol Hill. He criticizes the far right, Tea Party wing of the Senate, and said, "Now, that's we need in the Senate, more people who are willing to do nothing but fight."

Is there room for compromise in the U.S. Senate today?

THUNE: Of course there is. And that's what we are going to have to bring the two sides together. But we have to recognize and define what the problem is.
The Democrats in the Senate seem to believe that the problem is that we don't have enough revenues. Republicans believe that the problem is that we spent too much, and that the way that you get people back to work and grow the economy is to empower the small business and the private economy, make it less expensive, less difficult for people in the private economy to create jobs.
And what we have seen out of the president and his allies in Congress is, you know, their desire seems to be to continue to grow and expand the size of the government.

And I think that we have to recognize we have fundamentally first is a spending problem. We are spending more as a percentage of our entire economy, almost 25 percent, than we have spent at any time since the end of World War II.

This is a spending problem. We have to acknowledge that. We have to recognize that's what's driving spending -- Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, food stamps and the mandatory part of the budget is really what has to be addressed. And if we are going to save Social Security and Medicare, we have to reform them and get them on a trajectory that will put us on a more sustainable fiscal path. That really is the way that we're going to get this economy and this country back on track and our fiscal house in order.

I think that's what a lot of these candidates across the country are talking about. There is room for compromise, for negotiation in the United States Senate. But we have to recognize that fundamentally, we a spending problem, not a revenue problem in this country, and that's what got to be addressed.

And we are hoping to get some leadership out of the White House and that's why we are working hard to get Governor Romney elected.

BREAM: Well, you did endorse him very early on, back in November, before there was a single primary vote cast.

And here's what one political expert says about you, "He's got solid unquestionable conservative credentials. Where Romney is perceived by many conservatives as not conservative enough. That's a good for Romney to have Thune on his side, so they balance each other out pretty well."
Will they also make a good ticket, Senator?

THUNE: Well, look, you know, now that Governor Romney is the nominee, going to be the nominee of our party, he and his team have put in place a process whereby they will look at various people. I have high level of confidence. I've seen him and his organization. He puts good people around him. They'll have a number of good people to choose from.

What I have said and I mean this sincerely is I respect that process, but I want to work a president, Shannon, who is serious about solving this country's problems and getting us back on the right track. We can't stay on the track that we're on right now, or we are headed toward Europe. And that's why we need a new president and hope we can get the majority of the Senate with him, to really focus on solving this problems.

I hope to be a partner with a President Romney and his administration in the United States Senate to get serious about putting this country back on track, both toward a growing economy and creating jobs, but getting spending and debt under control.

BREAM: If he called you and said you were the one who could make that happen by being the number two, would you say yes or no?

THUNE: Well, look, I don't you ever -- you never rule out opportunities or options when you're involved in public life and you say you want to make a difference. If you're serious about, obviously, you don't close those options.
But in my view, I have a job to do in the United States Senate. I like what I'm doing. I think I can make a difference there. And I think working with a Republican president, that we can do some really good things for this country.

And so, that's my job. That's the job I have. I don't aspire to anything else. Obviously, the Romney team, his campaign team are going to carefully vet some folks that they're looking at. We've got a lot of good options out there, and I just hope to contribute in some way to the success of this ticket this fall. And not only for the presidency, but as I said in the United States Senate where I think a lot of the battles are going to be fought in the years ahead.

THUNE: If we can get some new leadership in this country that will lean into these problems and not run away from them and try to distract by talking about all kinds of issues that really have nothing to do with what's -- what's really ailing this country and what needs to be fixed if we're going to create a brighter future for our children and grandchildren.

BREAM: All right. Let's talk about another potential match-up that could put you head-to-head with President Obama.

No secret around town you're quite an athlete. We actually have some footage of you playing in a tournament, a basketball charity tournament at Georgetown. We're going to watch as you drain one.

All right. So if you and President Obama went one on one, who'd win?
THUNE: Well, I think the president's got a pretty good game, Shannon, but, frankly, I'm still waiting for my invitation to play with him. I haven't received it yet. I don't think that's coming anytime soon, but I would welcome the opportunity, as always, to lace 'em up, and obviously it would be a great privilege to play with the president of the United States.

BREAM: All right. Keep us posted. Senator Thune, thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today.

THUNE: Thanks, Shannon, great to be with you.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source