Schieffer: Nothing seems to change in Washington
At the Washington Navy Yard on Friday, President Obama urged employers to hire more veterans. He also said this about the federal debt crisis that was resolved at the last minute Tuesday:
"Let's be honest -- the process was divisive, it was delayed. We've got to be able to work together to grow the economy right now and strengthen our long term finances."
CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley spoke with Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer about Democrats and Republicans working together again in the post-debt limit bill atmosphere. A transcript follows:
Pelley: Bob, the president says Republicans and Democrats have to work together.
Schieffer: I don't think you'll get any argument on that. The question is 'How?' Everybody says we have to build confidence in this economy, but this parade of partisan foolishness that we've been treated to in Washington in recent weeks did nothing to increase anyone's confidence. I think if anything, it made all of us more doubtful that Congress and the White House can do anything together.
If the president has said it once, he has said it a hundred times: 'We're going to focus on getting people back to work.' But Washington seems to have lost its way in the span of 18 months. We've gone from spending nearly a trillion dollars on a stimulus to cutting over a trillion from spending. But whatever they've tried, nothing seems to change.
I guess you can say things are getting back to normal in one way here. The president went off to a fundraiser the day after the debt crisis was resolved and Congress went on another vacation. So on that front, it's business as usual.
Pelley: Do you see any of this changing, Bob?
Schieffer: You know, frankly I don't. And I don't think it will until both sides find some things they can work on together to make it better. But I'm still not sure either side is ready to put aside the politics and do that. How bad is this? When people were saying today it's good news that unemployment has gone from 9.2 to 9.1 [percent]? That just tells you how deep this hole is where we find ourselves. It's pretty bad when 9.1 percent unemployment is going on, and that's hailed as glad tidings.
