Maria Bartiromo interviewed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. The interview was printed in the USA Today on Monday October 18, 2010. Bartiromo says that "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says the U.S. unemployment situation should end debate on the Bush tax cuts and that they should be extended for everyone for a few years. The hard-charging governor, who has been cutting programs aggressively in New Jersey to cut expenses, tells me the U.S. can balance its budget over the long term but must encourage businesses to invest and hire workers first. Less than two weeks before the mid-term elections, Christie says it's time for his party to put up or shut up. And he says Obamacare needs a second look by the new Congress in January. Following are excerpts, edited for clarity and length."
Q. What is it going to take to get the economy moving again?
A. The job numbers were obviously really discouraging, and I have real concerns about a federal government that continues to talk abou raising taxes in light of numbers like these. The number should probably end the debate and discussion about whether or not we should be raising taxes on anybody, because obviously this economy has not recovered up to the extent that it was promised it would recover by the president.
Q. So do you favor tax cuts?
A. I would extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone at least a couple of years. I don't believe that in an economy where you're shedding private-sector jobs that you raise taxes on the private sector. That's just counterintuitive. Unemployment at 9.6% is intolerable.
Q. You've been aggressively cutting expenses and programs to cut New Jersey's deficit. How can America, at the federal level, balance its budget?
A. You have to make sure that everybody has a seat at the table and that there are no sacred cows. Everybody's got to look at everything that you spend money on and how you have to justify it. The principle of how you attack that problem is for everybody to have a stake and be willing to join in shared sacrifice.
Q. What is to be done with entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare?
A. It's a very difficult question because you have these entitlement programs growing significantly, but you also have a significant percentage of Americans who really rely upon those programs for their well-being. We have to look at ways that we can buttress those programs and make them solvent. I would not be a proponent of trying to reduce those programs significantly at this point because of how difficult the economy is. But there's going to have to be sacrifice for everybody at some point. We also don't know what effect this Obamacare is going to have on all these things and whether that's going to drain ever more money out of the economy.
Q. Do you support repealing health care reform?
A. Yeah, I did not favor Obamacare in the first place. I thought it was too big a grab by the federal government for our health care system. It should not have been voted on in the form that it was in the first place. Business folks are very concerned, and they're sitting on a lot of capital because they're just not sure of how much more cost the government is going to load onto them not only through Obamacare, but through the higher taxes the president is talking about.
Q. McDonald's hinted it won't pay for health insurance for some workers. What if more do that?
A. There's grave concern out in the business community. I hear it all the time, about the fact that this was jammed through and was not completely thought out. And whenever that happens, there are often real ramifications. It certainly deserves a second look by the new Congress.
Q. What will it take to get businesses to create new jobs?
A. Certainly in terms of the costs that government foists upon them. I'm seeing positive things in New Jersey so far in our first few months because the business community knows that I'm going to stand up and not raise taxes, that we're lowering regulation so that their costs can be either stable or maybe reduced a bit. That's going to encourage people to invest more. Right now, it's the uncertainty what government will cost business that is causing business to sit on its capital and not create new private sector jobs.
Q. How do you cut taxes and still get your arms around the deficit?
At the federal level we're talking about maintaining taxes where they are, not cutting taxes. I'm not advocating additional tax cuts. But I'm certainly opposed to tax increases that the Obama administration is advocating by allowing the Bush tax rates to increase. There's no way you're ever going to solve the deficit without economic growth. To get economic growth, we have to provide a stable marketplace for business. Government cannot continue to increase the cost on business and expect that business is going to hire more employees, raising their costs even more.
Q. What are you expecting from the midterm elections?
A. I've said to my own party that if we do take over the House or the Senate, and any of our gubernatorial candidates that are elected, it's put up or shut up time. We've talked about getting spending under control, reducing the size of government. We lost our way as a party during some of the time of the last decade, and we now have to deliver on what we've talked about. So I think it's put up or shut up time for the Republicans if we're elected in November. You'll see them taking some very aggressive action to put America back on the right track from a fiscal perspective.
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