The White House may have to waterboard its congressional allies
to compel enough Democrats to support the health care bill and Congress will
definitely have to raise taxes if the bill passes, CBS's Bob Schieffer insisted on Monday's The Early Show. [Audio available
here.]
As liberals focus on extending coverage to millions of uninsured Americans,
Schieffer departed from the liberal talking points by pointing out that the
current bill would definitely force Congress to raise taxes.
"These Democrats don't know yet how much this bill is going to cost, they
don't know exactly who's going to pay the taxes-there is no question some taxes
are going up on this," he said.
Schieffer also said he doesn't see how the White House can be so confident
this bill will pass.
"I think that's going to be a tall fence to climb because they are really
going to have to twist some arms," he said.
The full transcript, from the March 15 Early Show, which aired at 7:07 a.m.
EDT, is included below (emphasis mine):
ERICA HILL, "Early Show" co-host: Harry, thanks. It is make
or break week in Washington for health care reform. President Obama is heading
to Ohio today for another campaign-style rally while Democrats are doing their
best to secure enough support to pass this bill, possibly with a vote later this
week. Joining us now is the host of Face the Nation and Chief Washington
Correspondent Bob Schieffer. Good to see you this morning, Bob.
BOB SCHIEFFER, "Face the Nation" host: Thank you, Erica.
HILL: I know White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was on your show
yesterday saying he believes this is going to pass. No real surprise there that
he would say that, yet the top vote counter, Democratic vote counter in the
House, says 'look we still don't have the votes.' Is the White House overly
optimistic at this point?
SCHIEFFER: Well, Jim Clyburn, the Democrat who said that
they don't have the votes yet, I take him at his word. I don't know any
independent vote counter who thinks that they have the votes now. Now Speaker
Pelosi, and Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod from the White House are all saying by
the end of the week they will have the votes. I think that's going to be a
tall fence to climb because they are really going to have to twist some arms. I
mean it might take more than arm-twisting with some of the Democrats who voted
against this the first time around. It may take waterboarding or something of
that nature, but they, they seem confident that they can do that. I think we're
just going to have to wait and see because Erica, these Democrats don't know yet
how much this bill is going to cost, they don't know exactly who's going to pay
the taxes-there is no question some taxes are going up on this. And until
they get a clearer outline of exactly what's in this bill, I just don't think
you can say whether or not they're going to be able to get these votes. We'll
find out later in the week, but right now I just don't think you can say.
HILL: So much depends as you mentioned, on getting those numbers from the CBO
and also on finding out exactly what is in this bill. When it comes to
Americans, to American people though supporting the bill, most of the polls show
that overall as a giant measure they don't really support this, though some
elements of it they might. Is it smart for the president to keep pushing on
this, uh, so strongly when we know that there could be huge ramifications come
November?
SCHIEFFER: Well, uh, there could, and that's what the Republicans are really
pumping. The Republicans are saying you're going be worse off if this bill
passes because it's going to cause a revolt. What you have to remember while the
polls show that people don't like the process that Washington is going
through-they don't like this particular form of health care-as you point out a
lot of people and polls do show that people do want to make health care better.
So it's going to be a very very difficult thing to get this done. Uh, they may
be able to do it. At this point I think we're just going to have to wait and
see; this is something you just cannot make a prediction on right now.
HILL: It's going to keep us all busy with the guessing game
throughout the week. Bob Schieffer thanks.
-Alex Fitzsimmons is an intern for the Media Research Center.
