'This Week' Transcript 4-30-23: Rep. Steve Scalise and Sen. Chris Coons
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, April 23, 2023 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC ANCHOR: Democratic Senator and Biden Campaign National Co-Chair Chris Coons joins us now.
Good morning, Senator. Great to see you.
I know --
SEN. CHRIS COONS, BIDEN 2024 CAMPAIGN NATIONAL CO-CHAIR & (D-DE): Good morning, Martha. Great to be with you.
RADDATZ: I know it is a very big week, but – but let’s get down to it. You just heard Mary there. You’re facing some pretty difficult poll numbers. That NBC poll she references says 51 percent of Democrats – Democrats – don’t think Joe Biden should run again.
COONS: Well, Martha, the numbers we’re going to be talking about are the 12 million jobs created in the first two years that Biden’s been president, the lowest unemployment in 50 years. The 850,000 new manufacturing jobs. And I'll remind you, our president often says, don’t compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative.
When folks get polled on a head-to-head if Donald Trump should be the Republican nominee again, he wins, and he wins decisively because, two years later, President Biden is stronger. He has an incredible record to run on. And the former president is weaker. He’s been indicted. He spent years just relitigating 2020.
I look forward to talking about the numbers based on what we’ve gotten done with President Biden in the White House, on infrastructure, manufacturing, prescription drugs. It’s a great record to run on.
RADDATZ: And he’s been talking about that record since he became president.
COONS: Yes.
RADDATZ: He talks about it again and again. There are, obviously, some things he didn’t get passed, an assault weapons ban and things like that. But I want to go back to the polls. I know -- know polls are not the thing you really want to talk about. But in that same poll, 48 percent of those polled said they didn’t want him to run again -- no elephant in the room here – because of age.
COONS: Yes. And you were with me at the White House Correspondents Dinner last night. And many of – there were thousands of folks in the room. And, Martha, he was fast on his feet. He was agile, he had great delivery. You saw the State of the Union Address, nearly an hour and a half. He was faster on his feet than most members of Congress. I think Joe Biden is agile, is capable. His record of leadership both at home and abroad makes him imminently qualified. And we should be focusing some on the wisdom and experience he brings to the job, in addition to the accomplishments he’s had these first two years.
RADDATZ: I know you cite the State of the Union. He had good comedic timing last night. I will give him that. A lot of that’s on teleprompter, and people have seen him stumble. These are people they talked to. Forty-eight percent said it’s age because they’ve watched him. The president says, watch me. And some of those people have watched him and still have doubts. So – so what would you say to them about those stumbles, about ramblings sometimes?
COONS: Martha, I’d say, compare him to the alternative. Recognize the value of experience and seasoning. Recognize that his values align better with where we want America to go. And in my meetings and conversations with him, in public, in private, I'm more often the person that goes, um, you know, the new senator from Missouri, than he does. Joe Biden is fit, capable and ready to serve another term.
RADDATZ: So, what will this campaign be like? Obviously the last one was during Covid. He didn’t have to go out a lot. Do you see him going out a lot? How will he handle this and the general election debate?
COONS: Joe Biden loves campaigning. He loves going to a coffee shop, a union hall, a fire station. I've seen no one in Politics in my time who’s more energized by connecting with voters, with average people, than Joe Biden. His campaigns aren’t generated rallies with a plane with his name on it behind him. They’re connecting with average people. He, frankly, complained in 2020 that he didn’t like being disconnected from folks. On the day of his inauguration, the fact there was nobody there because of a pandemic made him feel like I want to get out there and connect. He’s been doing that as president. He’ll be doing that as our candidate.
RADDATZ: One of the things in that video, and Mary mentioned, is the spotlight being on Kamala Harris, that she will be front and center on major issues. What took so long?
COONS: Well, the vice president, like many vice presidents, has struggled to get positive press coverage and to get the credit she deserves for the hard work that she’s been doing.
I had a great opportunity to Travel with her on a recent trip to Ghana and was so struck by how easy and engaging she was, by the speeches she gave, but also the significant meetings with national leaders. And I saw that this week again as we did a campaign kickoff event.
The vice president’s ready to run and ready to be president should that ever happen. I know our president has great confidence in her, and so do I.
RADDATZ: OK, I want to turn to the debt ceiling. The House vote this week, passing their debt ceiling bill, which, of course, would raise the debt ceiling by $.5 trillion but, of course, cuts key parts of President Biden’s agenda. What should the Senate be doing now? He says he won’t really negotiate this. He wants a clean debt bill.
COONS: We can’t default. Martha, you know what the consequences would be for your viewers and our country if we were to default. And that’s what this is really about. The Republicans are demanding hostage negotiations where they will crash the full faith and credit of the United States. That would raise the rates that your viewers are paying on credit cards or student loans or mortgages. It would throw our country into recession and hurt us globally.
President Biden has said he will meet with Speaker McCarthy about the things we should be discussing, the annual spending, the appropriations process. We’re underway with (INAUDIBLE) –
RADDATZ: But he wants no spending cuts. No spending cuts. That he will not negotiate?
COONS: Well, let’s look at their records. He actually has reduced the deficit by $1.7 trillion. His predecessor ballooned the deficit with record tax cuts. The Republicans want to make those permanent.
RADDATZ: But let’s go forward. What are you going to do now?
COONS: Look at what just passed in the House. It would cut veterans' Health care. We just passed landmark legislation to fund the Health care for burn pit victims. They’d cut that. If you apply the cuts across programs that they’re talking about, 30,000 state and local law enforcement officers would be laid off. We’d see hundreds –
RADDATZ: So, you would let the debt – you would let us default our debt before –
COONS: No, I would not default.
RADDATZ: Before – and before – no before any spending cuts?
COONS: No, I’d be happy to negotiate. What’s the mix of revenue increases and spending cuts that make sense going forward. Look at President Biden’s real record the last two years. We have reduced the deficit.
RADDATZ: OK, thanks very much for joining us this morning, Senator Coons.
COONS: Thank you, Martha.
RADDATZ: We appreciate it very much.
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