Sen. Ayotte Attacks Senate Republicans for Trying to Defund Planned Parenthood
RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
BRZEZINSKI: “And with us from Manchester, New Hampshire, Republican senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. As we mentioned earlier, senator Ayotte has sent a later to senator Ted Cruz asking him how exactly he plans to defund Planned Parenthood. In that letter she writes, since we only received 53 votes on the previous vote to redirect money away from Planned Parenthood, what is your strategy to succeed in actually defunding planned Parenthood? How do we get to 60 votes? And if for some reason there were 60 votes, how do we get to 67 votes in the Senate to overcome a presidential veto?”
SCARBOROUGH: “Senator Ayotte, I remember during the last government shutdown, pulling my hair out as a Republican, watching our approval ratings go down. I remember you actually being one of the first Republicans to stand up and confront Senator Cruz in a caucus meeting. Are we going to get to that point again? Or do you think we actually may be able to avoid losing 10, 20 percentage points on the GOP's approval rating?”
AYOTTE: “Joe, I hope we can avoid it. That's why I'm asking the question now. I think we've seen this movie before. We know how it ends. It doesn't end well. And in fact, what it does, it ends up costing us more money, disrupting people's lives with no result. That's why I asked the question. I didn't get an answer last time in 2013. So I'm asking it again. What's the strategy for success here? I just don't see it.”
SCARBOROUGH: “What is the attitude around the Senate and also around the house this time compared to last time? Have senators, have congressmen, congresswomen, have they learned their lesson from the last shutdown?”
AYOTTE: “Actually, I think in the Senate there is a lot of discussion about how the last shutdown did not achieve a result. And if you think about it also disrupted people's lives. And so I hope we don't want to go down that road again. I think it's a fair question. And I've seen -- I saw governor walk over your show before. I guess the question is, after the president vetoes it, what's next? Seems to me that we have to be in a position, and if you're running for president, what's your strategy for success here? Because shutting down the government is not good for the country. Especially if you're not going to achieve a result. “
BRZEZINSKI: “Right. Senator, to your point, your question, your letter raises really good questions. And it almost -- you know how this ends. You guys have sen it before. So what do you think this is about? If it's going to end the way it's going to end and we've already seen that, is this about Ted Cruz? What is it about?
AYOTTE: “You know, Mika, I think actually I'm tired of the political games on both sides of the aisle. I want to focus on solving problems. So what this seems to be about is that obviously people pushing a position, but with no strategy for success. And it seems to me as a leader that we have a duty to the American people not to shut the government down. How are you going to achieve a result? What's your plan for the country that is actually achievable? How are you going to bring people together to get things done for the country? That's what I want to focus on. That's why I'm asking this question. Maybe I'm missing something here on the votes. But we had a vote. We got 53 votes to redirect the money. There aren't 60 votes, much less 67, to override a presidential veto.
PETERS: “Good morning, senator. It's Jeremy Peters. I've heard a lot of Republicans say they don't feel like they paid all that much of a political price during the last government shutdown because fast forward a year and you picked up seats in both houses of Congress, you took control of the Senate. What do you say to those Republicans who feel that way, who think there will be little price to pay if the government does shut down this time?”
AYOTTE: “I think we should look at what happened. First of all, as Joe mentioned, certainly in terms of the numbers, our numbers went down. But that said, we didn't achieve a result. We ended up spending more money. We ended up disrupting people's lives. And there was no result. And I think people want us to focus on actual results. So when people say, last time nothing happened. Suddenly we won these gains in 2014. I don't think the gains we won in 2014 had anything to do with that. I think it had to do with frustration about president Obama. Also unsuccessful rollout of the health care law that people were able to run on. And wanting to make sure that there was a voice that really brought common sense in terms of some of the policies of the administration that were hurting our ability to grow the economy."
