STEVE INSKEEP, Host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, Host:
Good morning, Senator.
CHUCK GRASSLEY: Good morning. Glad to be with you.
MONTAGNE: Now, the president spoke last night about, and I'm quoting him, "ending the tax breaks for the corporations that ship our jobs overseas." What's the likely Republican response to that?
GRASSLEY: But I've been involved in looking at corporate loopholes, for probably the time I was chairman for six years and now helping Chairman Baucus that the Democrats are in the majority in the very same way, and we've brought in a lot of revenue. But we also want to make sure that until we reduce our corporate tax rates - and even Democrats support that - down to about 25 percent so we're more competitive, we're going to have to make sure that we don't hurt the things that make us uncompetitive.
MONTAGNE: Well, that would be a point of conflict it would seem then, because ending certain tax breaks would tend to mean companies pay higher taxes.
GRASSLEY: Yeah. But here's what we would do in the process. If you reduce the marginal tax rates you generally broaden the tax base. So closing loopholes would not be something that would be different than we have, like with individuals, when - if you remember the '86 tax bill, we reduced marginal tax rates we very much broadened the tax base for individual income tax.
MONTAGNE: Now, the president also, as you're bringing this up right now, also repeated his campaign pledge to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to reduce the deficit. Are any Senate Republicans likely to accept that?
GRASSLEY: You know, in the 2003 and 2001 tax bills, if you would take Congressional Budget Office projections for ten years ahead, from 2002 to 2012, and then look at what actually came in after we reduced marginal tax rates, you would find $758 billion more coming in the years 2003, 4, 5 and 6. And I know what - even when I hold town meetings in Iowa, and you talk about reducing marginal tax rates, bringing in more revenue - it just doesn't sound reasonable to most people because they think you raise tax rates, you bring in more revenue. But quite frankly, that doesn't work that way.
MONTAGNE: Now Senator Grassley, we have time just one more question. It would seem to be a big one, but let me see if I can get you to give us a reasonably short answer. Do Democrats and Republicans share any common ideas on how to deal with some huge looming expenses like social security and Medicare?
GRASSLEY: Well...
MONTAGNE: We're projected to lose money eventually.
GRASSLEY: Well, let me - you know, I think that you're asking a question that comes from the cynicism a lot people - that everything in Washington is partisan, nobody works together. Just last night at 6:00 I finished the weekly meetings that I have with Chairman Baucus of the finance committee. He and I have been working together - either myself as chairman when Republicans were in the majority, he is now chairman. You know, most everything that comes out of that committee is bipartisan, and when it isn't bipartisan - we surely have friendly disagreements - but almost everything that comes out of our committee is bipartisan. So yes, we will share this. And yesterday the discussion was working towards the healthcare reform that the president was talking about last night in his speech.
MONTAGNE: Senator, thank you very much.
GRASSLEY: Okay. Goodbye. Thank you very much.
MONTAGNE: Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa. He is the ranking Republican at the Senate Finance Committee. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.