Fox News "America's Election HQ" - Transcript
Interview
MS. BANDERAS: So what's the Obama campaign's strategy to close out this election? Maryland Representative Chris Van Hollen joins us now.
Congressman Van Hollen, thank you so much for coming on.
REP. VAN HOLLEN: It's great to be with you, Julie.
MS. BANDERAS: We just heard Joe Biden call McCain Bush's "sidekick." And you know, I sort of just kind of looked and that and I thought, you know, this is coming from a guy that said that he'd be proud to run alongside John McCain. So how would a guy like Joe Biden come out and bragging about running with John McCain before actually being picked as a VP then turn around and criticize McCain on national TV and have any credibility?
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Well, because I think if you look at John McCain's record on the economic issues -- and those are the issues that the American people are focused on right now. We're feeling a squeeze in every part of this country. And the facts of the matter are that when it comes to those issues, John McCain has been voting with George Bush right down the line. And when you listen to what he's proposing he'd do as president, it's really no different than what George Bush was doing.
There's no question about the character of John McCain. But when it comes to his position on the policies, there's also no doubt that he would continue in the Bush tradition. I mean, he's essentially laid out an economic agenda for the next couple of years which is the same as the economic agenda we've seen for the last eight years.
And what the Obama-Biden team has put forward is something very different. And so I think that is the fundamental question for the American people going into this election, which is, do you want to continue the policies of the last eight years, or do you want to change?
MS. BANDERAS: But Barack Obama says that he's for tax cuts, too. My question is, what is going to happen when Bush's tax cuts expire? What's Barack Obama going to do with those?
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Well, Barack Obama has said he's not only going to maintain the tax cuts that went to the middle class but he is in fact going to increase tax relief for the middle class. The only difference between the two plans is who gets the breaks. And what Barack Obama and Joe Biden have said is, look, middle-class Americans have been ones taking a pounding for the last eight years. The tax policies have disproportionately benefited people at the very, very high end of the income scale. So now it's time to give middle America a break. And that's why they've proposed the plan that they have.
MS. BANDERAS: So it sounds to me like Barack Obama's plan is very much like President Bush's with one little 5 percent exception.
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Well, what Barack Obama would do is maintain, again, you know, child tax credits. He would maintain the provisions where we eliminated the marriage penalty. But he would also provide additional tax relief to people in the middle. Which is why, as he stated, 95 percent of working Americans will get a tax break under his plan and why independent analysts have said that his tax plan will give middle America a larger tax break than what John McCain's offered.
John McCain's plan does give some big tax breaks. But the big tax breaks go to people who got the big tax breaks under the Bush plan.
MS. BANDERAS: I want to ask you one more thing before we run out of time because I'm getting a wrap so then we'd be done at this point.
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Sure.
MS. BANDERAS: But I just have to ask you regarding Pennsylvania. Today, McCain is in Perkasie, Pennsylvania where, you know, Joe the Plumber territory really is what you're talking about. And right now, Obama is barely leading in North Carolina and ahead in Florida. But McCain is gaining among the working-class population. When you talk about the economy, the working-class population, the abortion opponents, the non-college-educated men. So basically, a win for McCain in Pennsylvania could potentially offset his losses in Republican territory.
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Well, I mean, if McCain were to pull off an upset in Pennsylvania. But the fact of the matter is, if you look at the polls in Pennsylvania, Barack Obama continues to have a substantial lead. And that's, again, because when people actually focus on the facts of his policies, on the economy, they see they're getting a much fairer deal, a better shake under Barack Obama than they would under John McCain.
And so when they focus on the issues and don't get sort of focused on these other issues that the McCain has brought up -- as Joe Biden said, I mean, there's been a real effort by the McCain campaign to divide Americans, to run a nasty campaign and divide Americans.
And at the end of the day, I think the American people are not going to be fooled. They're going to come together around a policy platform, especially on the economy, that is good for middle America, not just another eight years that's good for the folks at the very top, the folks on Wall Street who are already getting government help.
MS. BANDERAS: We're out of time. Congressman Van Hollen, we appreciate you coming on.
REP. VAN HOLLEN: Thanks, Julie.
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