Chris Wallace to Fiorina: "But if I may, what about the 30,000 American jobs that you laid off?"

Amerigo Vespucci

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Mon Jun-14-10 04:35 AM
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Chris Wallace to Fiorina: "But if I may, what about the 30,000 American jobs that you laid off?"

The following is a rush transcript of the June 13, 2010, edition of "Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace." This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

FIORINA: I think this election is about the direction of our state and of our nation. And in particular, it is about the direction of our economy. We are destroying jobs in California.

So while Barbara Boxer comes to California to tout the impact of the stimulus bill, the reality is that the unemployment situation in California has deteriorated since the passage of the stimulus bill.

We now face 12.6 percent unemployment. We have 2.3 million Californians out of work, hundreds of thousands of them for more than six months. Hundreds of thousands of Californians have quit looking for work.

We're not just going through tough economic times in California. We are destroying jobs. And we're destroying them because of a government that is too big, taxes that are too high, regulations that are too thick. So this election is about jobs, but it's also about out-of-control government.

And the reason I am running for the Senate is because so much of the Senate's work impacts every family and every business in California and, indeed, in our nation. The Endangered Species Act...

WALLACE: But...

FIORINA: ... the health care bill, taxes — all of these things are helping to create an economic situation that is getting worse in our state, not better.

WALLACE: But, Ms. Fiorina, if the issue is jobs, Senator Boxer says your record is what you did as the head of Hewlett-Packard. And the record shows, according to her — and it's not just her; the facts are that during that time you laid off more than 30,000 American workers, and many of those jobs went to India and China.

FIORINA: It is true, I managed Hewlett-Packard through the worst technology recession in 25 years. And in those tough times, we had to make some tough calls.

It is also true that, net-net, we created jobs. We doubled the size of the company from 44 billion to 88 billion. We tripled the rate of innovation to 11 patents a day. We quintupled the cash flow. We improved the...

WALLACE: But — but — but...

FIORINA: ... profitability in...

WALLACE: ... but if I may...

FIORINA: ... every product segment and ...

WALLACE: ... what about the 30,000 American jobs that you let — you laid off?

FIORINA: You know, every family and every business in California knows what it means to go through tough times. And every family is cutting back, and every business is laying off right now.

I don't say that with delight. I say that with sorrow. But yes, it is true that jobs are being taken out of California. By the way, China fights harder for our jobs than we do. Texas fights for our jobs. Nevada fights for our jobs. North Carolina fights for our jobs. We have to start fighting for our jobs in this nation and in our state. And what does that mean? It means something really basic, like let's give a tax break to bring manufacturing home. Let's make sure that agriculture remains a good credit risk. It has become a poor credit risk because of the impact of no water as a result of the Endangered Species Act.

Let's make sure that when we turn up wind factories in Texas the wind turbines aren't manufactured in China, which is what's going on now. The truth is in California you can't build a new manufacturing facility, and businesses are leaving in droves because of bad government policy.

WALLACE: All right.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,594522,00.html