CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript

Congressman Hoyer joining us now from Capitol Hill.

Congratulations.

REP. STENY HOYER (D-MD), MAJORITY LEADER-ELECT: Thank you, Wolf, very much.

BLITZER: How would you describe your win today? HOYER: Well, I think it was, the caucus spoke with a strong voice -- let me say that -- that they thought the leadership that I'm providing, and the team of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer together, creating the kind of unity we had in our caucus, is one they wanted to keep, now that we have won the majority.

We promised the American people we would take the country in a new direction and bring change. In order for us to do that, we're going to have to be united.

And I think that is really what the caucus' vote...

BLITZER: But...

HOYER: ... was about.

BLITZER: ... how awkward is that Nancy Pelosi supported John Murtha, your opponent, to become the majority leader?

HOYER: Well, that was yesterday. And I don't mean that facetiously.

I mean, Nancy and I are committed to the same objectives. And, if we're going to be successful in accomplishing those objectives, we need -- we not only need to work together. Very frankly, we want to work together. We want to be successful.

I said to the caucus after the election I wanted to work as their majority leader to make Nancy Pelosi the most successful speaker in the history of the House, not only the first woman speaker, but the most successful.

And I sincerely meant that, because that's what we promised the American people. They want to see us working together.

BLITZER: It's...

HOYER: And we will put this behind us.

BLITZER: It's a huge win for you, as Nancy Pelosi points out, but it's also her first loss as the incoming House speaker.

And that must make -- must have made it tense in that closed-door room when the secret balloting was going on.

HOYER: Well, it's always anxious in that room, when the closed balloting is going on.

Frankly, I have been in -- as you know, in a number of leadership elections. I have lost one to Nancy Pelosi, lost one prior to that.

So, I understand that tension. We were pretty confident today, because, in talking to the members of the caucus, they thought that the leadership I had provided and the work that I had done with Nancy Pelosi was work they wanted continued. And we're going to move on very quickly. I know that sounds surprising to some people, but I have great respect for Nancy. Nancy and I have known each other for over 40 years. We worked together for a U.S. senator from Maryland in our early 20s. We have known her family. I have known her father. And her brother is a good friend of mine.

So, we're going to work closely together.

BLITZER: She's originally from Baltimore. You're from Maryland as...

HOYER: Yes.

BLITZER: ... as well.

What about John Murtha? You know, he's -- in the -- in the last few days, he suggested that he was being -- quote -- "swift-boated," because of the Abscam tapes from 1980 coming back during this moment, as he was running for majority leader.

And there was some suggestion -- at least I guess some of his supporters saying, well, where are these -- where is all of this rumoring, with swift-boating, if you will, coming from?

What do you say about that bitterness he apparently feels?

HOYER: Well, I hope that we would put that behind him, as well.

I indicated today that I thought Jack Murtha was going to continue to be a very significant leader in our caucus. He's going to be chairman of the Defense Appropriations Committee. Obviously, he's going to play a huge role in Iraq, in our policy in Iraq, in our dealings with the administration on we transition from a policy that we believe is failed, to one that will transition the United States'...

BLITZER: Are you and...

HOYER: ... responsibility out of Iraq.

BLITZER: Are you and Congressman Murtha on the same page, basically, when it comes to Iraq? Because he's been outspoken, as you well know, calling for, in effect, a timetable to redeploy U.S. troops over the horizon, if you will, to get them out of Iraq.

HOYER: Yes, I have not signed on to a timetable, have not projected a timetable.

But Jack Murtha and I, as well as Nancy Pelosi and the other leaders of the House and Senate, signed three letters to the president in July, September, and October, urging a change of policy, urging a policy that would effect a transition of our troops out of Iraq in the foreseeable future, and not the long-term future, consistent, obviously, with the safety of our troops and the stability of Iraq. We're going to have to work that out. But I think that the Democratic Party can be and will be on the same page. We will create a consensus.

And we will try to work with the president. We're certainly going to look to the Baker-Hamilton report to see what they have to say, and see what effect that has on the president, and see whether we can come to some agreement.

BLITZER: One final question, very quickly, because we're almost out of time, Congressman.

James Carville, here in THE SITUATION ROOM, yesterday, very bitter, very angry at Howard Dean, the chairman of the DNC. He says, if they would have used the money that they had, you might have been able to have another 10 seats, another Democrats, in the House of Representatives.

You want to react to that?

HOYER: Sure.

There's not a time for bitterness.

(LAUGHTER)

HOYER: Nancy Pelosi said today -- we were talking about where we were going to meet.

We have a small meeting room in the Capitol, HC-9. And then she caught herself, and she said, "By the way, we can meet in any room we want to."

So, there is no time for bitterness. We have won a victory. But we have also won a responsibility. We have been given a responsibility by the American people to move this country forward, to move it in a new direction, to solve our problems. And that's what we're going to do.

BLITZER: Congratulations once again, Congressman.

HOYER: Thank you very much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Good of you to come into THE SITUATION ROOM. And...

HOYER: You bet.

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