60 MINUTES - PAY ATTENTION THIS TIME
Pelley: You and Senator Obama propose cutting taxes in different ways. But in the last few days the federal deficit broke all records.
McCain: Yes.
Pelley: It's now $400 billion that the federal government is in the red. Is it smart to cut taxes for anyone in this economic emergency with that kind of a deficit?
McCain: Well, number one, Scott, the worst thing you could do is raise taxes on anybody. And I don't know which iteration we are talking about of Senator Obama's. He's had four or five different positions on which taxes he would increase, which ones he wouldn't. I think the major point here is that spending got out of control. How many Americans know that the size of government increased by 40 percent in the last seven years? We Republicans for six of the eight years presided over the greatest increase in government since the Great Society. Republicans came to power to change Washington. And Washington changed us.
Pelley: But how do you cut the budget?
McCain: Oh, easy. Look
Pelley: That much.
McCain: Look, if you were able to increase the budget and the size of government by 40 percent, don't you think you could cut some of it?
Pelley: What are you gonna cut?
McCain: I think we'll frankly, you can eliminate so many agencies of government that are outmoded. Obviously I would scrub defense spending. Obviously we would look at every institution of government. I would stop these protectionist tariffs. I would stop subsidizing sugar.
Pelley: Did I just hear you say you’re gonna cut the defense budget?
McCain: I think there's areas in defense where we can save a lot of money in cost over runs.
