Monday, February 22, 2010

Rendell To Washington: 'Don't Play Games'

By Brian Friel  

Gov. Ed Rendell (D) prescribes a little less conversation and a little more action for Washington. In an interview with National Journal on Saturday, the Pennsylvania governor -- who was in town for the winter meeting of the National Governors Association -- urged lawmakers and the Obama administration to take action on jobs, health care and the environment.

Edited excerpts from the interview follow.

NJ: I wanted to start with a sort of theme that's going on at the NGA today that Washington seems out of touch with the needs of people outside the Beltway. Do you think that's true?

Rendell: I think that's true to a little extent. It's not so much that they're out of touch; I just don't think that they listen. Right now I think the American people, more than anything else, want our government to work together to try to get things done. And the attitude we find in Washington -- and by the way, we don't have clean hands, the attitude in Harrisburg and Sacramento and Albany and Springfield's not a whole lot better -- but the attitude in Washington is, who can get over on the other side to gain points for the next election. And the people are finding that to be just flat-out repugnant. And they want change. They want some people to work together and get something done.

NJ: I ran into you on the Hill the day after the Massachusetts Senate election, and you said that at the time that Democrats should force Republicans to filibuster.

Rendell: First effort should be one more time: Guys, is there anything we can do? Can we be responsible? Can we carve out a good portion of the health care bill and go forward? Failing that, and I don't believe in my heart -- I hope I'm wrong -- but I don't believe in my heart that any Republican wants to see the president pass a health care bill. And that takes precedence over everything else in their mind. But I hope I'm wrong. But the president should try one more time, and he's going to. If he fails that, then I think it's time to play by the rules.

NJ: It's been a month since Massachusetts, and Congress hasn't done anything on jobs.

Rendell: I thought the jobs bill, what my own folks did, what the Democrats did, was regrettable. You had a jobs bill that was agreed by everybody -- it wasn't a perfect jobs bill, $85 billion in my judgment is far too little -- but it was bipartisan. Pass it. Don't play games about "Well, we'll maneuver this and we'll maneuver that." Pass the bill.

NJ: Some governors on the other side of the aisle sort of complain about two contradictory things: one, that the stimulus isn't creating any permanent jobs, and two, that it's going to end at the end of this fiscal year.

Rendell: When the president says that the stimulus has saved jobs, he's dead right. They've saved jobs in Pennsylvania, because without the $2.7 billion in my budget, we would have had to lay off 30,000-plus jobs. So that's 30,000 jobs that were saved. And saving a job is as important as creating a job during a recession. So that's what they're talking about. The president wants to give us six more months of enhanced Medicaid. That will give us a longer bridge to the time when the economy recovers.

And everyone says, well, what's the use of spending more on a stimulus, because it will end. Well, sure, but the stimulus was always intended to be a bridge during -- at a time when the economy wasn't doing well.

NJ: There's a lot of talk about deficit and debt reduction in Washington right now, and obviously there will be a temptation to look at programs that affect the states to take a hit. Are you worried about any programs in particular?

Rendell: No, I just think states are going to probably live with a little less aid in domestic programs over the next five years for sure, and states are going to have to come to grips with that.

NJ: Does that mean raising taxes?

Rendell: Possibly. It also means getting leaner and meaner. One of the things it's enabled us in Pennsylvania to do, what I think are terrific substantive things we've done -- the gains we've made in education, the economy, energy -- is that our administration took a billion and three-quarters annually out of the cost of operating the government. Governments are going to have to do that. And raising taxes in America is very, very difficult. And it's one of the real problems facing the country. We've gotten so obsessed with the deficit that we're not going to do any investment that's needed to keep us in a position where we can generate economic competitiveness and the revenues we need to have a balanced and thriving economy.

NJ: You've been a big promoter of an infrastructure bank. Do you see momentum building for that?

Rendell: Yeah, I do. Whether it will be included in the jobs bill -- which would be my wish -- or not, I'm not sure. But I think before the end of the year, the Senate will pass, and the House will as well, an infrastructure bank. What it will look like, where it will be housed, I'm not sure. It's a way of getting private dollars into the infrastructure battle. And the days of the massive federal program seem not to come around very soon again. So we've got to find creative ways, and one of the creative ways is leveraging private dollars. And the infrastructure bank can do just that.

NJ: There seems to be a shift toward using the regulatory approach to climate change rather than a legislative push to promote alternative energy. Is that a problem?

Rendell: I think we do need comprehensive climate change legislation. But I also think you have to be politically realistic. During a recession, you're not going to get it. So what I would urge the White House to do is to turn their cap-and-trade bill -- don't abandon cap-and-trade, but for this year turn it into an alternative and renewable energy bill.

NJ: If the election were held today, do you think that Pennsylvania would lose House Democrats?

Rendell: We'd lose some seats, there's no question. But again, the election is almost nine months off, and in politics, nine months is light years. You tell me what the unemployment rate is, tell me what the GDP is, tell me what home starts are, tell me what automobile sales are in the middle of October in 2010, and I'll tell you how the election's going to turn out.

NJ: So Democrats kind of have to cross their fingers a little bit, right?

Rendell: Not just cross their fingers. We have to do things to affect those statistics. And I think we can. And I think a jobs bill is one of those things that we can do.