This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," July 11, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: As deficit reduction talks continue in Washington, Democrats have been ramping up their efforts to scare the American people into supporting this deal. Now, the left's doomsday rhetoric would have you believe that if Congress does not vote to raise the debt limit by August 2nd, the American economy would crumble.
And on the Sunday shows, tax-cheat Tim Geithner, he stuck to that script. Let's watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY, ON "FACE THE NATION"/CBS: There has to be a deal. Failure is not an option.
GEITHNER: There's no credible argument. No responsibility leader would say the United States of America for the first time in its history should not pay its bills, meet its obligations. That would be catastrophic for the economy.
GEITHNER ON "MEET THE PRESS"/NBC: This is a grave moment for the country.
GEITHNER: You're going to see catastrophic damage across the American economy and across the global economy. It's not something (INAUDIBLE), failure is not an option. And the leaders to their credit, leaders to their credit understand that. And let me just say, there is no credible way to give Congress more time.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
HANNITY: Now, the Republicans are catching on to the administration's scare tactics and sounding a different alarm. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tells Newsweek, there is no need for the U.S. to increase its debt, and said a depending deadline, quote, "It is not the apocalypse."
Likewise, Minnesota congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann calls the left's doomsday scenario, quote, "smoke and mirrors."
And joining me from Washington with his take is Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Did you hear the great words of Dick Morris?
(LAUGHTER)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, R-FLA.: Yes. What is wrong with the job I have now?
HANNITY: For the record, I said it first. But we won't put the pressure on you about that tonight. You know, it was interesting to watch the tax-cheat Tim Geithner go, quote, "there is no credible argument, no responsible leader would say the United States of America first time on its history should not meet its bills or obligations." Well, there was a guy just back a couple years ago that was then senator by the name of Barack Obama, that said it would be irresponsible to raise the debt limit, not live within our means and pass the burden on to our kids and grandkids, and he voted against raising the debt ceiling. So, was he talking about President Obama or the current members of Congress?
RUBIO: Well, you are right. When the president was senator, he didn't vote to raise the debt limit. But look, I think that we need to understand what the problem is here. At its core, the problem is not the debt limit, the problem is, that we have a federal government that spends one-and-a-half trillion dollars more than it takes in. Basically, it borrows 40 cents out of every dollar that it spends. That's the fundamental problem. And that's what led to the debt situation that we have, this debt crisis. And the debt crisis is not that difficult to understand. We spend too much money and we don't take enough money in. And how do you deal with the first part of it? Spending too much money? That's where you need a spending cap, some spending reductions and a balanced budget amendment.
And now, what do you do about not taking enough money in? Well, that's where the president comes in and says, we need to raise taxes. That's what the rest of us who understand and saw this coming and say, what we need to do is grow our economy. And you can't do that if you are raising taxes.
And so, these taxes that the president wants to raise, not only do they do not solve the problem. Because all this, you know, all this class warfare that he's using, the jets and the oil companies and Hedge Fund managers, it doesn't add up enough money to even put a dent in the debt. But what it will do is kill job creation which is what we need.
You want to know why this government doesn't generate enough money to pay its expenses? Because there are too many people that are unemployed, and there are too many people who are employed but are not making as much money as they once made. Hence, you're not collecting as much in taxes that you can use to pay down your debt.
We need jobs in America. And you are not going to get them as long as the president of the United States has this tax obsession.
HANNITY: Yes. Well, your quote was, "we don't need new taxes, we need new taxpayers."
Now, the president to pass his stimulus package said, we would face a catastrophe, and unemployment would go to nine percent if we didn't pass a stimulus plan. Those are his words. Now the president is saying we need to get a debt deal within 10 days. Now, this is the fourth time they have set this artificial limit.
Is the president misleading the American people? What happens August 2nd, if there is no deal?
RUBIO: Well, there's a lot of dispute about that. And clearly, there's revenue still coming in. The government, they'll have to prioritize which bills to pay. And it shouldn't get there. They are being stubborn about this. This president knew, this is not a surprise. This didn't sneak up on us in the last couple of weeks here. We've known about this since the day I got to Washington. I've been talking about it. I think they deliberately let this thing go along because they were hoping to get to a last minute situation where they can force us into a take it or leave it proposition like they tried to do with a government shutdown earlier in the year, like they did with the stimulus package back in February when he first took over.
The reality of it is, none of these policy prescriptions the president has written has worked. Every aspect of life in America today is worse than it was when he took over. Unemployment is higher. Interest rates. Everything is worse. The only thing that has gone down in America over the last two years is the value of your home. And that's unfortunate. This president has mismanaged this economy. He has been incompetent in his management of this economy. And now, to add to that and to all of that, he's offering these tax increases that are going to kill any chance we have of growing our economy and getting people back to work.
HANNITY: All right. I like the idea that is being pushed in Congress, if it is done right, cut, cap, and balance. But cut -- when they say cut, it's got to be now, not five years from now, not 12 years from now. When they say -- and no new taxes got to be part of that, none, zero, zip, we are overtaxed already. When they say cap spending, cap, I want a real cap on what they spend in Washington. And the third thing is, I think the country right now is ready. I think state houses all across the country. I think we can get the balanced budget amendment to the constitution. Do you support it? And is that what you need -- would you need all three of those to go along with raising the debt ceiling?
RUBIO: Well, I actually think we need to do more than just those three. We do need to cut spending now beginning this year and moving forward, and real cuts, things that solve the problem. Number two, is we need to cap future growths in spending. You can have a government that's growing faster than your economy. We need a balanced budget amendment. We need tax reform not tax increases. Tax reforms means lowering the rate, simplifying the rate that encourage people to invest in the American economy. We need to do something about regulations. Regulations are killing the job creators. If you go out there and talk to people who start businesses or growing existing businesses, one of the things you'll hear over and over and over again, is that these regulations are making it impossible to start businesses and hire people in America.
HANNITY: All right. I know you are a freshman senator, I know you hate this question, but I've got to ask you, because I am asked this often myself, that a lot of people say that whoever gets the Republican nomination, your name comes up again and again and again as the first choice of people to be the vice presidential selection. You will be at the top of that list, whether you like it or not. And I got to ask you, if that moment ever came, would you give it deep consideration?
RUBIO: You know, Sean first of all, I'm honored that people would think about me in that way. I think they mean it as a compliment and that's a positive thing. But I really believe that, especially right now, I've got to be focused on this job that I have as senator for Florida. At this time in our country's history when we need I think more voices committed to this cause than I think you and I are united by. And so, if I start talking about anything else, it makes it even more problematic. So, my answer hasn't changed. I'm not going to be the vice presidential nominee for the Republicans. But I take that as a compliment to you and Dick Morris and everyone else who says that.
HANNITY: All right. There's wiggle room there.
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: I don't think so.
HANNITY: But because I know I'm not going to get any further, I'm going to say thank you for being on the program.
RUBIO: Thanks, Sean.
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