NBC "Meet the Press" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Steny Hoyer
Interview
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CHUCK TODD:
And joining me now is the House Majority Leader, Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Congressman Hoyer, welcome back to Meet the Press, sir.
REP. STENY HOYER:
Thanks, Chuck. Glad to be with you.
CHUCK TODD:
All right. Let me start with that last -- Mick Mulvaney said just now, you heard him, the president is taking concrete wall off the table. If that's not, if that's not evidence that he's trying to compromise, then he doesn't know what is. Do you take that as a, as a good faith offer?
REP. STENY HOYER:
It is an offer he made, and it'll be discussed. But the fact of the matter is you used Mick Mulvaney's quote, but you've got Senator John Cornyn who says, "I don't think we're just going to be able to solve border security with a physical barrier, because people can come under, around it, and through it." Lindsey Graham said, "The border wall is probably not a smart investment." Mike McCaul, the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the last Congress said, "You have to understand, too, that a 30 foot concrete wall is a very expensive proposition, and there are a lot of other things we can do -- be doing technology-wise to make it a smart border that's more effective and more cost-efficient." So this is not a Democratic position. This is a pretty broad position that this does not make sense. What we ought to do is open up the government first. And that's what we're going to do. We passed legislation last Thursday that would open up the government. I would hope that Senator McConnell would take the responsibility as the leader of the coequal branch of government, the legislative branch, and send this to the president. That would open up government. Would start serving the American people.
CHUCK TODD:
Do you regret not taking the deal that Vice President Pence offered? The ask for $2.5 billion? And maybe you could've said, "Here's more money for border security." You guys call it border security and all this, and you would've reopened the government?
REP. STENY HOYER:
Look, we were ready to take the deal that the vice president offered, and Senator McConnell took that offer. He passed a bill --
CHUCK TODD:
No, no I'm talking about- - he didn't pass that one, I understand.
REP. STENY HOYER:
No. No. Senator McConnell did pass that bill in the last Congress. He sent us a bill. And the Republicans in the House of Representatives rejected the Senate bills, the Republican bills. And when you have, "Have we compromised?" We have voted for and are prepared to vote for Republican bills. These are all the Republicans bills from the last Congress. And as a matter of fact, Chuck, as you know, we're going to make every effort to open up the government next week. We're going to offer two bills to open up the financial services, which will make sure that taxpayers get refunds. We're going to open up Ag to make sure that people get food stamps. We're going to open up HUD in order to make sure the housing vouchers and the interior so people can use their parks.
CHUCK TODD:
Let me ask you this: When is enough enough? I want to play a clip from a guy named Steny Hoyer to you from 2011. Take a listen.
REP. STENY HOYER:
Okay.
[BEGIN TAPE]
REP. STENY HOYER:
There does come a time when the American public expect us to be able to act. Gridlock is not what they voted for. The priorities that we have agreed to in this resolution are not my priorities, but we have reached agreement.
[END TAPE]
CHUCK TODD:
Basically, you've said you have supported things -- you have had to vote for things you haven't supported before.
REP. STENY HOYER:
And let me --
CHUCK TODD:
And it'll happen again.
REP. STENY HOYER:
Chuck, let me reiterate, what we voted for last Thursday were Republican bills. All Republican bills. No Democratic bills. And we took them as they were passed the Senate. We're going to do the same thing this week. The difference is we'll do it bill-by-bill so we can help taxpayers, we can help people who need food assistance, we can help people who need housing vouchers, people who need flood insurance. We'll do it one-by-one. I would hope that Mitch McConnell, as the leader of the United States Senate, would represent the Congress of the United States, the coequal branch that says, "We believe we ought to open up government." Mitch McConnell believes we ought to open up government.
CHUCK TODD:
At the end of the day, you need a presidential signature, right? At the end of the day, you need a presidential signature to open the government.
REP. STENY HOYER:
Correct.
CHUCK TODD:
You may not like any of the ways that the president has conducted himself, how he's conducted these negotiations. You can claim they've not been in good faith. When is it --
REP. STENY HOYER:
That's pretty close to a -- characterization.
CHUCK TODD:
Fair enough. But when is it, when it is your responsibility to say, "These federal workers got to get paid, and I may have to eat this."
REP. STENY HOYER:
We are -- we don't think the wall is a good technology to do the objective. This is a substantive argument. The reason I read these Republican views that say the wall is not the technology we ought to pursue is because this is a difference of substance. We ought to have that argument on the substance and not be held hostage. 800,000 federal employees, millions of people who need food stamps, millions of people --
CHUCK TODD:
I understand that, but what is your threshold, here?
REP. STENY HOYER:
They're holding them hostage.
CHUCK TODD:
He may be doing this. You may believe this --
REP. STENY HOYER:
We're, we're --
CHUCK TODD:
At some point, don't these people need to get paid?
REP. STENY HOYER:
We are for strengthening border security. And as a matter of fact, one of the positive things that happened in the meeting with the big eight, as it's called, was Senator Durbin brought up the fact that there was insufficient dollars in the homeland security bill to have the technology to have the electronic ability to see what's in all these trucks that are coming across our border every day. We're prepared to negotiate on that.
CHUCK TODD:
Are you willing to give them --
REP. STENY HOYER:
Now let me say--
CHUCK TODD:
-- anything on a fence?
REP. STENY HOYER:
Chuck --
CHUCK TODD:
If it's a steel fence and he doesn't call it a wall, can you accept that?
REP. STENY HOYER:
Chuck, let me say: We've done fencing in the past, as you know.
CHUCK TODD:
So you'll do it in the future, what you're saying?
REP. STENY HOYER:
We've done fencing in the past. However, what is happening today, and hopefully the administration will come -- the administration has not come up with any specific plan as to how they're going to spend this money. Now remember, understand it was the last Congress. The president said to Mitch McConnell, "I will sign this bill." Mitch McConnell signed a bill. He sent it to the House. We were prepared to vote for that bill, but the Republicans wanted to shut down the government. We need to open up government and then negotiate, not the other way around. Because we're prepared to negotiate, and we're prepared to have the homeland security bill approved for a short term so that we have to negotiate.
CHUCK TODD:
Is an impeachment process inevitable?
REP. STENY HOYER:
No. I don't think an impeachment process is inevitable. And that's not what we're focused on. We're focused on substantive bills. Now, we gotta focus on getting the government opened. That's our primary, first responsibility. We have 800 --
CHUCK TODD:
You think the impeachment talk's a distraction?
REP. STENY HOYER:
I think the impeachment talks right now are distraction. We'll have to see what the Mueller report says.
CHUCK TODD:
Okay.
REP. STENY HOYER:
Nancy and I have both said that. We have voted that way on the floor of the House of Representatives. What we want to do is concentrate on our substantive agenda. We want to make sure that we get some reforms done on redistricting, on campaign finance, reform on voting rights. We want to make sure we get ethical reforms.
CHUCK TODD:
All right.
REP. STENY HOYER:
We want to make sure we get focused on wages and health care, all those issues that we campaigned on.
CHUCK TODD:
Steny Hoyer, I have to leave it there. The House majority leader -- the new House majority leader. Or, new again. Congratulations.
REP. STENY HOYER:
Well, I'm hopeful --
CHUCK TODD:
Thanks for coming on.
REP. STENY HOYER:
-- as I said, that Mitch McConnell, as we pass these bills, will send them to the President and we will continue to negotiate on making sure that our borders are secure.
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