MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

Interviewer: Ed Schultz

Joining me right now is House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Steny, great to have you with us tonight.

You‘ve got that smile on your face because you know you‘re winning on this deal, don‘t you?

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: Well, I know you‘re as delightful and interesting as always, Ed. That‘s what I know.

SCHULTZ: Well, you know, we‘ve been banging away at this for a long time. The American people want this. I think last night and today we really saw some positive steps forward.

HOYER: Ed, I think you‘re absolutely right. And I think we need to remember this—some people say, gee, this is sort of being popped up in a short period of time.

During the last year, 2008, John McCain, Hillary Clinton and President Obama all talked about health reform being a major objective of their administrations should they be elected. So, every one of the major candidates said this is where we ought to go. It wasn‘t that they agreed on every facet of every bill, but they said we must have health care reform. And that‘s what we‘re doing.

SCHULTZ: Senator, are you going to get any Republicans in the House on board with this?

HOYER: I‘m not sure that we are. I met with Republicans today, some of the moderate Republicans who, in my opinion, want to see health reform. They want to see some changes made in the bill.

As you said, we in the House are going to have a markup of the Energy and Commerce Committees. It‘s probably going to take four or five days. I‘m sure a lot of amendments are going to be offered by Republicans and Democrats to perfect this bill.

So, the answer is, they‘re going to be at the table. They‘re going to have an opportunity to make their case. And hopefully they‘re going to join with us in doing what John McCain said was necessary, Hillary Clinton said was necessary, and President Obama said was necessary. And he pledged he would do that for the American people.

SCHULTZ: Steny Hoyer, majority leader, with us here tonight on THE ED

SHOW.

Now, Congressman, do you feel empowered that recent polls are out there showing that 58 percent of the American people are willing to see the wealthy in this country pay more? Is that the direction you‘re going? And are you comfortable with it?

HOYER: I am comfortable with the proposal of the Ways and Means Committee, yes. And I‘m pleased that the overwhelming majority of the American public want to see health care reform.

They know it‘s not for free, although we‘re going to make over a half a billion dollars in savings from the present system. So, this is not simply additional revenue, it‘s also savings, looking at waste, fraud and abuse, looking at how we can act more efficiently in our health care, but primarily wanting to bring costs down, but wanting to include all Americans in access to affordable, quality health care. And that‘s what Americans voted for in the last election.

SCHULTZ: So, as far as the president is concerned, in the House President Obama is going to get what he‘s asked for all along? There‘s going to be a public option, and if there‘s no Republicans on board, that‘s just tough cookies?

HOYER: I believe that‘s the case, yes.

SCHULTZ: All right.

HOYER: We want to have Republicans on board, but if they won‘t join us, the American people want this, and we want to pass it.

SCHULTZ: OK.

And finally, can you guarantee a public option?

HOYER: I can say there‘s going to be a public option in the House bill. We‘ll have to see what happens in conference, see what happens in the Senate. But the president is for a public option, we‘re for a public option, and we‘re going to pass a public option.

SCHULTZ: Well, I know you‘ve worked hard on this, but one final thing I want to point out. And I got some calls on this today.

There are a lot of small businesses that are very nervous about what this is going to do to them. If you can speak to the issue of the fee that they‘re going to have to pay, and are they going to have to do mandatory coverage?

HOYER: Well, we are going to have mandatory coverage, but small businesses have a real problem. We‘re very sensitive to that.

It started out in the draft bill of accepting businesses who had payrolls under $100,000. That was very low. It‘s now $250,000 and graduated up to $400,000. And they would pay less at $250,000 than they would at $400,000. But there‘s a sensitivity to small businesses.

SCHULTZ: OK. All right. So, that‘s going to be massaged as it goes through the House?

HOYER: It will be. We‘re sensitive to the challenge that small businesses are confronted with.

SCHULTZ: All right. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Great to have you with us tonight, my friend.

HOYER: Thank you, Ed. As always, good to be with you.

SCHULTZ: You bet.

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