Host: Wolf Blitzer
CNN's The Situation Room
March 5, 2009
BLITZER: Meanwhile, the $410 billion spending bill passed by congress includes some 8,000 pet projects added by lawmakers to benefit their districts or their states, and that's drawing a ton of criticism. But one lawmaker definitely is not backing down.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Joining us now from Capitol Hill, Republican Congressman Peter King. Congressman, you disagree totally with your friend, John McCain, over these earmarks. You support the earmarks, he opposes them. He says that these earmarks are an outrageous insult to the American people. You and some colleagues from New York, you support about $218 million in this current spending bill. Why is he wrong and you are right?
REP. PETER KING, (R) NEW YORK: This is a very honest disagreement between me and John McCain. I believe that responsible earmarks are an absolutely essential part of my job as a member of congress. Because if I don't earmark for my district, some faceless bureaucrat in the administration, and a democratic administration, is going to be deciding how money is spent in the third congressional district. I believe as the elected representative I have a much better feel and knowledge as to what's needed. I will defend every earmark that I've gotten from my district for the state and for the region. Now, there's no doubt there are earmarks that are wrong that are bloated and they should be exposed. There are abuses every. We have abuses in the defense department. We won't stop all defense spending. I will stand by my earmarks, I think they're essential. They're in transportation, they're in health care and they're really vital.
BLITZER: Do you agree with him or disagree with Senator McCain? He teamed up this week with Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to come up with a new line item veto that would allow President Obama to go through these spending bills and veto line by line some of these earmarks. And they think they have a new way to do it that would past muster with the U.S. Supreme Court. Should the president have this line item veto?
KING: I have very serious doubts about that. I believe that we are giving the president too much power over the legislative body. If you have a president who was doing his job, yes, he may be able to spot areas of abuse. On the other hand, it gives the president extraordinary power to intimidate and in fact shake down a member of congress, saying if you don't support me on this bill, I'm going to knock out the hospital for your district or knock out the health care facility or knock out the school aid for your district. So I'm very concerned about giving the executive that much power of the legislature. And to me it really does violate the separation of power. So I have real concerns about it.
BLITZER: All right, so in other words you disagree with Senator McCain on -- even though you supported him for president, all of us remember.
KING: Absolutely.
BLITZER: Let's talk about health care for a moment. You oppose the president on his economic stimulus package. Are you ready to work with him to reform the nation's health care system?
KING: First of all I believe we have to work with the president. We have to find a way to work with him. I have great regard for the integrity of President Obama. I probably have serious differences about where he wants to go. Having said that, I believe on issues like health care and others, we have to sit down at the table and try to work with him. I believe the president might be more agreeable to that than the democratic leaders who certainly with the stimulus bill tried to ram it through just by having it done themselves. But no, in the end it may be hard for me to agree with President Obama, but let's give it a try, let's sit down and try to find some common areas, especially in New York, where we have real Medicaid issues, we do have serious health care issues. Again, I want to find a way to work with him, maybe improve his bill, find some way to find common ground. I think we make the mistake as republicans, if we try to demonize the president.
BLITZER: Do you hope he succeeds or fails? KING: I hope he succeeds in bringing the country forward, I don't want him to set up what I consider a European social democracy. But having said that, I want the economy to come back. I want us to win in Iraq, I want us to win in Afghanistan. And unlike democrats who opposed President Bush and Iraq or republicans who opposed President Clinton in Bosnia, I think as Americans, we have to make sure, do all we can to make sure that the president succeeds. Because if he succeeds, the country succeeds and that's where I have a disagreement with Rush Limbaugh and the terminology he uses.
BLITZER: What about this commission of inquiry that Senator Leahy, Senator Feingold, some other democrats in the senate, some in the house want to review some of the more controversial decisions of the Bush administration, especially interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay. Do you think it's important to go back and review all that right now to learn from the mistakes?
KING: Well I'm actually opposed to it. In fact if anything I think we can learn from the successes. Let's face it, I've been to Guantanamo. I think the president's making a mistake in shutting it down. The reality is, we have not been attacked in seven and a half years because of the measures that President Bush enacted. Listen, if we want to have some differences and change policies, I think we can do that behind closed doors.
Rather than letting our enemy know what our tactics and procedures were, I think Senator Leahy was wrong. Even using a term like Truth Commission, that sort of compares us to South Africa where 20,000 people were killed. The fact is, as far as I know, you have three people water boarded and that saved the lives of thousands of thousands of Americans. I think we did the right thing in doing it.
BLITZER: Are you going to run for that senate seat in New York state in 2010 against the democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand who took over for Hillary Clinton?
KING: I definitely would have run against Caroline Kennedy. I will very likely run against Kirsten Gillibrand. It's a question I will decide by the summer whether or not I believe I can raise the money, it will be about 35 to $40 million. I think she's very vulnerable and I would love to make that run, yes.
BLITZER: Congressman thanks for coming in.
KING: Thank you Wolf.
