MB: Congresswoman, good afternoon. isn't this actual sequester, let's be honest, exactly whatrepublicans like paul ryan have been longing for? i mean, you know that he's put together multiple budgets that would slash everything from meals on wheels to transportationservices for the disabled . this sequester, it just gives him the chance to see all of these services cut to pieces and he sits back with clean hands and an impure heart. is that not true?
EBJ: Well, sure it's true. the unfortunate thing is that this is not about obama. it's not about the president. it's about the people of this nation. it's about the future of this nation. we cannot afford to cut off all of our future because of the threat of sequester. we cannot go forward unless we do some forward thinking and planning. we cannot do that when we're cutting off all of our research and development , when we're cutting off all of our military jobs. texas, for example, stands to lose over 90,000 jobs. now, these are jobs where people make more than minimum wage and they're part of the middle class . if we lose 100,000 jobs just because of sequester, that is just the tip of the iceberg .
MB: And that is one state. that is one state.
EBJ: One state. one state.
MB: Congresswoman, my colleague, the reverend al sharpton , just interviewed the president on the radio. i'd like to you take a listen to what the president said about these cuts.
EBJ: They would prefer to see these kinds of cuts that could slow down our recover over closing tax loopholes. and that's the thing that binds their party together at this point.
MB: Do you agree that republicans are in a sense enjoying this fight because what it's doing by default is unifying them over something? because they're clearly in disarray following november, but here is a fight where they can basically agree.
EBJ: They seem to be agreeing, and it's unfortunate because, you know, just to be sticking it to the president is not the answer. this is not the president's responsibility at this time. it is the responsibility of this congress. and we will be held responsible. this down slide started back in 2001 . it has continued, and, yes, we've got to do some cutting. but we cannot continue to cut jobs. we've got to create jobs. when you have two of the longest wars in history and big tax breaks , there is no way to get around it. we've got to reverse that. we have already --
MB: But, ma'am, the irony here appears to be that republicans who have spent the last four years telling us they're committed to job creation and national security are happy to head towards a sequester where national security will be threatened and jobs will be lost, not created according to some estimates. 800,000 jobs.
EBJ: Indeed. because it cuts off all of the research money, all of the innovation money, all of our universities' research, medical school research, all of that creates jobs, and it creates break-throughs. that is the future of america. this does away with our future. we will just be a third world country watching the rest of the world go by when we don't look out for our future. unfortunately, there were people in the past who did look out for our future and that's how we did so well. but unless we look out for our future now, there is no future for this country. we've got to educate, we've got to innovate, we've got to create jobs. we cannot continue to just cut jobs. it does not do anything positive for the economy to keep cutting jobs.
MB: Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, thank you for joining us.Watch the video at MSNBC
