MTP Transcript for Nov. 19

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: No, and I, I strongly believe that, that it’s the most important country—issue facing our country. We have corporate profits at an all-time high, wages salary—and salaries at an all-time low as a percentage of our national wealth. And it’s sort of a three-tiered problem, a very difficult problem; it’s going to take years, years to break it down.

The first is, what is fair trade in the, in the age of globalization? We can talk about free trade agreements, but when are, when are they not fair?  China’s the best example of that, where we have a situation now rather similar to what we were seeing with Japan 20 years ago, but much more dangerous in terms of its size and our—and the issues of national security, where you have a devalued currency that is enabling them to bring goods into this country at a very low price. And at the same time, they’re using that money to help finance our national debt. We’re becoming dependent on them.

The second is, what has happened to the American workers in, in this environment. Because when you look at the movement from GATT toward the WTO, the American workers, the workers around the world, were not addressed as an, as an issue in terms of fairness. So we have situations here, a different type of, of economic and governmental system, where does—where do you pay health benefits? Where do you pay retirement benefits in the different countries? What’s equality of condition on a workplace that all goes to the worker?

And then the third is, who is benefitting from the bene—you know, from the, from the larger benefits of globalization? It’s not getting down to, to the workers. And that can be addressed, in my view, as a—at a starting point through corporate tax loopholes, there’re many of them; through how the tax code is structured that—in a, in a way that benefits the, the, the top 1 percent.

But this is an issue, it’s not just rich and poor anymore. It’s an issue of what is happening to workers worldwide and how the American worker fits into it. And that is my number one priority as a senator.

MR. RUSSERT: Jon Tester, do you share that concern? And would you be willing to roll back the 1--tax cut of the Bush administration on the top 1 percent and look at trade agreements?

SEN.-ELECT TESTER: Well, I, I think we do need to look at trade agreements for some of the reasons that Jim Webb just talked about. You know, as I go around the state of Montana, you see more and more people working more and more jobs, trying to make ends meet, and I’ve got story after story about folks who are really having trouble making their, their, their budget balance.  And, and it ends up, you know, where we have a society where there’s no middle class, and, and the working poor aren’t being addressed.

And I think we do need to address, I think we do need to address it in the tax code, make sure we have a tax code that works for the middle class, small business, working families, family farms and ranches, and make sure that those people are empowered to move our economy forward. Those are the folks, really, that, that brought us here, was a vibrant middle class, and they’ve been forgotten about over the last many years, and it’s time to show them some attention.

And when you look at, look at the tax cuts from the Bush administration, let’s look at it from the middle class. Let’s look at those tax cuts that empower the middle class and move forward. And I can’t agree more with what Jim said about the, the trade, free trade vs. fair trade, devalued dollars and workers’ rights in other countries. We’ve got to make sure these trade agreements work for us and other countries so we’re not continually pushing jobs out of this country.

MR. RUSSERT: It’s been quite interesting watching both your campaigns and reading about your backgrounds. Here’s the cover of The Weekly Standard magazine, Jon Tester, where you’re in front of a truck with a shovel and considerable girth, which doesn’t make you a bad guy, I know the feeling. Are you a new kind of Democrat? Are you different than some of the national Democrats the country’s heard from over the last decade?

SEN.-ELECT TESTER: Well, I don’t—you know, I don’t know. My, my focus really is on what I talked about, the middle class, and, and, and the people who have really built this country. I think Democrats have been focused on that in the past, but it really is a priority of, of mine. You know, as I look out my window here in Big Sandy, I see more farms than aren’t lived in than what are lived in. We really need to have some policies that, that, that move forward, that work for production agriculture. We’ve got to have some policies that work for the middle class. One of the reasons I am a Democrat is because I think the Democrats have focused on the middle class, and I hope they put more of a priority on it into the future, and, and it’s one of the things that I feel very, very strongly about. It’s, it’s where I come from.

MR. RUSSERT: You said when you walked into the Senate—in the Senate chamber for the first time, it was like walking into your barn. There was no other place in the world quite like it.

SEN.-ELECT TESTER: Well, it’s—I mean that from a very positive standpoint.  The barn was built by my grandad nearly a hundred years ago and it’s a very, it’s a very special place for me, as was the Capitol, very, very impressive, and it’s a place where I hope to be able to do some really good work, working on both sides of the aisle, finding the common ground to help move this country forward and the state of Montana forward, both domestically and in a, in a—from a foreign affairs standpoint. So, it’s, it’s a marvelous place, you know that, Tim, and I really look forward to the challenges that are presented to me over the next six years.

MR. RUSSERT: Jim Webb, you had this comment in The Washington Post which caught my attention. “Webb said he will model himself after former New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D), whom he described as someone ‘who had government experience that was shaped by the intellectual world.’” A man I knew well, described as independent, maverick, iconoclastic. Do you see yourself along those lines?

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: You know, when this campaign started and people were saying I didn’t know how to do soundbites and debates and this sort of thing. And I sat down one day and I said, “Well, who is my prototype here?” And it would be Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Someone who had government experience, but who was shaped through the intellectual world and who cared about where you measure society, which is at the base, rather than at the top. Where is the health of society. And yeah, very much look forward to, in many ways, following in his footsteps.

MR. RUSSERT: And sometimes got in trouble for his writings.

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: And I, you know, it’s—I—I’m really looking forward to, to trying to do the—some of the same things that he did in terms of putting, putting my experience in the intellectual world onto the problems, the practical problems of today.

MR. RUSSERT: Jim Webb and Jon Tester, congratulations to both and we look forward to covering your tenures in the Senate.

SEN.-ELECT WEBB: Thank you. Appreciate being here.

SEN.-ELECT TESTER: Thank you. Thank you, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: Coming next, insights and analysis on the war in Iraq and the relationship with Iran from Ted Koppel, who just spent three weeks reporting from the region. His new Discovery Channel documentary airs tonight. And author and Washington Post columnist Robin Wright will be here as well, coming up right here on MEET THE PRESS.

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