PoliticsTV Interview w/Sen. Reid - June 22, 2007

Transcript from PoliticsTV's June 22, 2007 interview with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):

PoliticsTV: Senator, the energy bill passed the Senate on Thursday, but without the proposed tax increases for oil companies. How do both the victory and the setback impact the push for greater energy efficiency?

Sen. Harry Reid: The victory was significant, we're so happy we're able to pass that. For the first time in 25 years we raised the fuel efficiency of automobiles. The automobile industry has been fighting this, saying that if this raise in efficiency standards came to be, we would love jobs, it would close plants, they would lose market share. Well, that's all happened. Simply, they're not believable anymore, and that's why the Senate, by a very nice margin, vote to increase CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards on cars and trucks - they will both be 35 miles a gallon in the next few years - very important legislation.

Now, on the other part of the legislation that the Republicans stopped, in the next ten years, oil companies will make a trillion dollars in profits. This bill to allow more fuel efficiency, to allow renewable fuels, would have cost 34 billion dollars. 34 billion out of a trillion seems the least that the oil companies could do to contribute to solar, to wind, to geothermal production of energy. But they were able to stop it because this Congress has once again responded to big oil and to the automobile manufacturers and not to the American people.

PTV: How should supporters of stem cell research respond to President Bush's veto?

Reid: The President, once again, took away the hope of hundreds of thousands of Nevadans, millions of Americans, in vetoing stem cell research. We need to do this - to cure diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, spinal cord injuries, and the President, with his narrow ideology, defeated this, taking away hope of millions. Such a shame.

PTV: What is the next step for immigration reform?

Reid: We're going to take up immigration next week. It's a better bill than the one that was pulled because of the Republicans killing it, in effect. They want it back; we've got it back. It's the President's bill and the Democrats support it 80%, the Republicans support it 14%. They have to make a decision whether they want immigration reform. It's up to them. We want it.

PTV: What obstacles does the Employee Free Choice Act face, both being approved and in implementation?

Reid: Well it seems only fair to me that if a majority of the employees want to be organized, they should be able to do that. They should be able to have a vote, but this administration's fought that. If there were ever a sense of democracy being turned away, it's this. It's Democratic to have a majority of employees say we want to be able to form our union.

PTV: Fred Thompson has suggested you are pandering to bloggers who he calls "fringe anti-American elements" who think that 9/11 attacks were an inside job, and that you're also encouraging our enemies. What's your response?

Reid: Mr. Thompson should get real and understand what's going on in our world. It appears he's very old fashioned and isn't in tune with the modern wave of communication.

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News & Politics

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[ladebbie]

I can't wait 'til the Democrats control the House, Senate and the Presidency! Go Senator Reid!!