Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Schweitzer To Dems: Do Your Job

By Alexis Simendinger  

Gov. Brian Schweitzer

Montana Democrat

"Only the United States Senate could come up with a rule that says 40 people or 39 people can dictate what 60 people do." That's what Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana told National Journal on Sunday at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. Schweitzer discussed how government can be run more efficiently, why Congress is broken, and why Democrats should not shy away from their agenda in the current political climate.

Edited excerpts follow.

NJ: I wanted to ask you at the outset here, how do you see the disconnect that we're talking about between Washington and the rest of the states?

Schweitzer: I believe that the way of doing business in Congress for both Democrats and Republicans over the last 50 years is effectively to bribe people with their own money. And members of Congress get re-elected because they're able to brag about this stretch of road or a new pipeline or new roof over the top of the school or a new program in a school. Folks back home are cutting back. Folks back home are saving money. Folks back home are saying, I've put off my purchase of a new pickup; I've put off my purchase of a new bathroom. And they expect their government to do the same thing.

NJ: Senator [Evan] Bayh, as you know, has announced that he wanted to retire, and one of the things he was saying was exactly this -- Americans want Washington to show that it's making some tough choices reining things in at the same time that they're trying to help the economy. What's your advice to members of Congress and Washington in general about how you can do that -- be honest, make tough choices and still...

Schweitzer: Montana is in a rather unique position. Montana is one of those couple of states that actually has a large budget surplus. And of course we don't have a sales tax. And so we are in a position where -- we're still cutting back. In fact, we have one of the largest budget surpluses in history, but the mood of the people is, deliver government more efficient. I think that the mood of the country is they're expecting their leaders to challenge expenses.

I carry a couple of things in my pockets at home. One is a palladium coin, and it's worth about $400, and I'm going to give that to the Montana citizen that gives us the best idea for delivering a more efficient government.

The other thing I carry in my pocket is a $2 calculator. It isn't actually a $2 calculator. It cost $1.13. I bought it online. And every time I see a program that's spending too much money, every time I see that three people are doing the job of two, every time I see someone renting office space for the state and it's $30 a square foot instead of the normal $10 or $12, I present them with a $2 calculator. Federal government hasn't adapted yet. We're expecting the federal government to find ways of delivering government more efficiently.

NJ: Do you think partisanship is a problem in Washington? Is that an essence of what needs to be fixed?

Schweitzer: Well, absolutely. I think that what's happened is the Republican Party, which is in minority, they've said, well, we can stop everything by just saying no. And on the Democratic side, they've said, we'll try to bring you into the process. But they haven't done the next thing, which is to say if you don't want to be part of the process, we have the votes to deliver.

I don't know why the Democrats haven't delivered on health care, haven't delivered on an energy bill. They have the votes to deliver. But they say well, we're going to hold back and make sure that we can gain some Republican votes. Well, you won the elections. The people trusted you to do the people's work, and if they don't like the work that you provide for us, if the outcome is not good, then we'll find somebody else to serve. But do your job right now and worry about elections some time in the future.

NJ: If this wonky thing called reconciliation and using 51 votes can move health care forward, what you're saying is go, go. Just go.

Schweitzer: Most of the United States is saying, "What?" You mean, you have a body that doesn't work on 50 percent plus one? The whole world works on 50 percent plus one. Look, only the United States Senate could come up with a rule that says 40 people or 39 people can dictate what 60 people do. You won elections. Deliver for the American people, and if you deliver the wrong package, we'll throw you out and give the other side a chance. But you can't just spin the wheel for two consecutive years saying "oh, we had some rules around here, we didn't want to hurt any feelings."

NJ: What is it that the Democrats have been getting wrong in the last year on the messaging that you most want to see them correct?

Schweitzer: If the Democrats want to be successful in delivering a message, here's something that everybody can agree on in America. We need to create an energy system that is cleaner, greener and American. Who could be against that?

The second thing that the Washington, D.C. contingent haven't been able to successfully explain to the people of this country is that we pay more for our health care than any of the rest of the industrialized countries, and the result is 37th best in the world. Now, somehow in the health care debate, that got off track.

NJ: What is it that Washington could deliver that's on your wish list for Montana that would be most helpful to you right now?

Schweitzer: They could truly invest the money that they're talking about investing in carbon capture and sequestration. We could have hundreds of millions of dollars spent right now capturing carbon dioxide from existing coal-fired plants and pumping that into the earth, proving to the entire world that we can capture carbon dioxide.

We can build transmission lines so that the wind energy of Montana can make it to the coast. Harvard University recently released a study that showed that Montana has enough wind that we could provide the energy to run every car, light truck and SUV in America if they all had a battery that could run the first 40 miles before they switch to gasoline, and we would break our addiction to foreign oil. What we don't have is transmission capacity. The Obama administration has said we take transmission very seriously. We need to get those dollars on the ground. We need to start hanging those wires on those poles. And we will run electric cars in this country and export that technology all over the world.

CORRECTION: The original version of this post gave an incorrect date for the interview.