Calif. Gov. worried about debt crisis
CNN’s Candy Crowley sat down with Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA), in his first national interview, to talk about a tax increase put into place by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Washington’s debt crisis and more. Tune in on Sunday to CNN’s State of the Union with Candy Crowley at 9am/noon ET for this exclusive interview. A preview is after the jump.
MANDATORY CREDIT: CNN’s “State of the Union”
Highlighted Excerpt
THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, CNN’S “THE SITUATION ROOM”: He’s a veteran of multiple battles between the executive branch and the legislature in his own state, and the California governor, Jerry Brown, is deeply troubled by what he is seeing in Washington right now.
Our chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, sat down with the governor a little while ago, she’s joining us now live from San Francisco. So what was the headline? What did he have to say, Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, HOST, CNN’S “STATE OF THE UNION”: Well, lots to say, as you know, I’m sure you’ve interviewed him before. This was a man who doesn’t need much tempting to tell you exactly what is on his mind.
We started out, as you mentioned, talking a little bit about what the whole debt ceiling debate looked like from California as he watched Washington. And there is one word, I think, that I would use to describe Jerry Brown when he is talking about Washington, and that deeply worried.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JERRY BROWN (D), CALIFORNIA: The Washington of today is suffering and experiencing a governability crisis. America can’t govern when you have two parties so diametrically opposed. We are a very powerful if not the most powerful country in the world, and if the country cannot make decisions about how it spends money or how it deals with basic problems, but squabbles with the scapegoating, finger pointing and blaming, I think that is an ominous sign going forward.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: In the interview, Wolf, I ask Governor Brown for a little advice on how President Obama should run his reelection race. We talked about that.
We also talked about the California budget. As you know, he just went through a bruising battle of his own where Republicans here flat out refused to allow even voters to vote on whether they would allow to continue a tax increase that had been put into place by Governor Schwarzenegger. I asked Governor Brown, who had to come together on a budget without any revenue increases, whether he could live with the budget because it cuts things like help for the mentally ill, help for the elderly and the poor, and he said thing, I will tell you one thing I’m not going to do is I am not going to bust our budget, I’m not going to allow us to continue with these budget deficits. So he has made some very, very tough cuts here in California.
I have to tell you, just standing out here, people recognizing CNN, we’ve had a few choice words for Governor Brown. Somebody just now said, you know, ask him about my student loans. So they have gone through very much in California what they have gone through in Washington. Governor Brown making no apologies, but saying that he is going to insist that the idea of revenue increases goes on the ballot in
2012 because he thinks without revenue increases there will be draconian cuts here in California in order to balance the budget, which he’s determined to do, Wolf.
BLITZER: And when you use the phrase “revenue increases,” Candy, in effect what you are saying is tax increases on people in California.
CROWLEY: Absolutely. Yes, yes. And he would like to continue the ones that they have.
BLITZER: Candy Crowley will have a lot more of the interview and a lot more Sunday morning, 9:00 a.m. Eastern on “STATE OF THE UNION.” Candy, thank you. Thanks very, very much.
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