CNN The Situation Room-Transcript

Interview

CNN The Situation Room-Transcript

BLITZER: A lot of other outside experts agree that there could be even more chaos in the region -- not only Iraq, but in the region -- if the U.S. were simply to pull out.

What do you say to that charge?

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: Well, you know, in the balance of his statement, he also said that it was the responsibility of the Congress to act quickly and, in fact, act on sending him exactly what he asked for.

Too often, I think the Congress has been on the sidelines, has not offered its policy judgments as it's required to do under the Constitution of the United States. That's what we're doing this time. We want to see success, Wolf.

The president is correct when he said in the State of the Union, none of us voted for failure. I certainly did not. I want to see success.

In terms of the chaos, there is chaos there now. We're now four years into this war, entering our fifth year. We have been there longer than World War I, World War II and Korea. And we still see chaos on the ground. We still see the failure to bring security to Baghdad.

And we now see the president is proposing a fourth surge -- this is not the first, this is not a change in policy -- the fourth surge. And whether or not it's successful, we hope it is.

But what we're going to be seeing in our legislation is there need to be timelines and there need to be requirements for the safety of our troops and the equipping of our troops.

BLITZER: But you don't have the votes in the House and the Senate to get this legislation passed. You may have the votes in the House, but in the Senate you certainly don't.

HOYER: Well, that may be the case. But it is our responsibility in the House of Representatives to act as we see the best policy to act on. And that's what we're going to do on Thursday, Wolf.

We think that we're giving them -- all the money that the president has asked for -- we're giving it to him. In fact, we're giving some additional resources for Afghanistan and in addition to that, we're giving some additional monies for the health and treatment of our soldiers and sailors and Marines who are coming back from Iraq and those veterans who are needing of health care.

So we're addressing what the president has asked us for. But in addition to that, we are saying, Mr. President, first of all, the Department of Defense needs to meet its guidelines for training and equipping of our people and how long we lead them in theater and how long we give them a rest. If you don't feel that's appropriate, then you can waive it.

So we're not demanding the president follow that, but he has to tell us why he's not following those guidelines -- yes?

BLITZER: You know the base of the Democratic Party, the more liberal, leftish side, they're very frustrated that the leadership so far is not delivering -- is not delivering on what they saw was a mandate for getting out of Iraq last November.

HOYER: Well, we're setting, in this case, a time line for participation in Iraq and guidelines for what we ought to be doing while we're there.

This is a very significant step forward and in our own caucus, for instance, Maurice Hinchey, who voted against the authorization and has spoken strongly about getting out of Iraq, is a member of the Get Out Of Iraq Caucus, says that this is the best that we're going to possibly pass in terms of moving in a new direction.

I think he's right on that. I think a consensus of left and right hopefully are going to be accomplished and we're going to pass this piece of legislation.

BLITZER: I want you to listen to what former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney said over the weekend at the anti-war rally here in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: It's sure hard to believe, but now the Democrats are full partners in George Bush's wars. And by funding his wars, the Democratic Congress is explicitly complicit -- complicit in war crimes, complicit in torture, complicit in crimes against humanity, complicit in crimes against the peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What do you say to former Congresswoman McKinney?

HOYER: Well, we certainly don't agree with that, obviously.

The fact of the matter is we are doing what we can do, given the -- the votes in the House, votes in the Senate, to try to move forward on a rational basis to try to give us a policy which will both encourage the protecting of our own troops, but also giving timelines to the Iraqis and saying you have a responsibility for the security in your own land. You need to step up to the plate.

The president has set various benchmarks. We're saying if those benchmarks aren't accomplished, then we're going to start redeploying our troops. We think that we can get the votes for that. We think that's a way forward. We think it's a change of direction.

And I want to say something, Wolf, because the criticism of the Republicans and the president have been that we are somehow micromanaging the war. That is not the case. There are no commanders on the ground, nor General Petraeus, who will be constrained in tactics or strategy to protect our troops and seek success.

But what it will say is that we expect certain benchmarks to be accomplished by the Iraqis. We expect certain efforts to be successful. And if they're not, that another year of deployment is enough.

BLITZER: Steny Hoyer is the House majority leader.

Mr. Leader, thanks very much for coming in.

HOYER: Thank you, Wolf.

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