Press Conference with Rep. Boehner (R-OH); Rep. Blunt (R-MO); Rep. Cantor (R-VA); Rep Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV); Rep. Putnam (R-FL)

Interview

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REP. CAPITO: Thank you. I'm Shelley Moore Capito, representative from West Virginia, and wish you all a very nice Christmas when we finally get there -- holiday season.

I would just like to echo what the leader said. When we started this Congress with great promise, I was on that bandwagon, having just served with Adam two years on the Rules Committee, where it gets pretty angry. If any of you all have ever been to one of those committees, sometimes it's very partisan. And we were heavily criticized for the heavy hand and some of the rules that we made.

And so my jaw dropped when the very first moment that we came out with the six for '06 or whatever it was, all the closed rule, all the heavy-handedness.

And so I'm thinking to myself, "Okay, I'll cut you a break here. You're getting started. Maybe, you know, just to get it off the ground here you need to pull it -- tighten the rules." Although I honestly can say I could not believe that we weren't allowed amendments, we weren't allowed discussion and we weren't allowed even the ability to read what we were going to be voting on after we'd been so criticized for it. But this pattern continued, sadly, all the rest of the year.

And I think that's been a disservice to the people who are -- the constituents around the United States who changed leadership because they thought this was a pattern we'd fallen into and that they didn't like. And that pattern not just continued, it got worse and worse. And I think you saw that on the floor with some of their membership then not beginning to vote for their rules, which is always a tough vote because it's pretty much a party line vote.

So then we come down to the Alternative Minimum Tax that we're going to be voting on today, thank goodness. But my question is, what's taking it so long? Why all the acrimony? This is a bipartisan -- we've passed it every year I've been here, I'm in my seventh year. We -- I don't even remember there being much controversy attached to it. There's 47,000 West Virginians who could be paying this tax if we don't pass it, but the most important thing, I think, for West Virginians as we look at this season where we're all -- and I'm including myself in this in terms of going to the mall and using your credit card -- a lot of people are going to be really anxious to get their tax refund right after the first of the year or certainly several weeks after the first of the year. And it is going to be delayed by four or five weeks because of the delay in this Congress. And I think that's unconscionable, because we're talking about -- you know, you hear all the talk about -- we've got to help the middle class, we've got to help the wage earner.

The wage earner counts on their tax refund to go on summer break, to pay for their Christmas bills, to pay tuitions, to pay their doctor bills. And because it's going to be late, it's going to result in really some very upset people. And I'm sorry for that. And so I think this delay has been way beyond what it should have been, and they're going to have to answer for that. And I really think that that, to me, is one of the largest -- an act that has been -- you know, foisted on the American public that's going to be tough to explain. And we also have people every day -- what are you going to about gas prices? I'm not sure we've done anything about gas prices. So there's lots of important issues out here besides closing down every rule, besides maintaining or having a very partisan attitude and trying to score political points whenever you can.

So hopefully the new year will have good new resolutions, start anew and get that breath of fresh air that we all need, I know, including you.

Thank you very much.

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Q This question is for Ms. Capito. You talked about your experience on the Rules Committee --

REP. CAPITO: Yeah.

Q -- and talked about how you're disappointed in not being able to see bills -- (off mike).

(Off mike) -- you said -- you seemed much surprised when you've seen how you got criticized when Republicans were in control. If you felt that way, how come you didn't push harder, as a Republican on that Rules Committee, to open up that process to Republicans?

REP. CAPITO: Well, I tell you, it's a very stacked committee. It's nine to four. It's tough, and you know when you get on the committee that it's a leadership committee, and your expectations that you're going to work with your leadership to follow through.

But if you -- the rhetoric of the then-minority Democrats were there are no open rules -- we did not shut down any discussion on presenting your amendments before the committee. We didn't pre-decide -- preprint the rules before our colleagues came before our committee to present their arguments. And so I believe we had a bit more of an open mind, and I'm readily (sic) to admit we didn't have as open one, and I think that was part of our problem when the American people saw us as too heavy-handed.

But when you come before the committee now and the rule's already preprinted out in front of the people -- you know, the 13 members of the committee -- when my chairman, Chairman Frank, promises another member -- a minority member from our Financial Services Committee that his amendment will be heard on the floor, and he gets shut down in the Rules Committee, to me, that is a signal that heavy-handedness is not only the rule of the day; it's just getting heavier.

And I think -- and I could never understand, when I was on the committee, why don't we debate this in front of the American people? What are we afraid of? And we were criticized for that.

And I think the American people want to see civil debate. They want to see open debate. And you know, may the best man or woman win, in the end. And hopefully the American people will be the winner.

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