MSNBC "The ED Show" Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC "The ED Show" Interview - Transcript

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REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD), CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL

CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE: We did.

SCHULTZ: But now you‘ve got to get these Blue Dogs squared away. Did he connect with the Blue Dogs, and do you think he recruited some of them to the cause tonight?

VAN HOLLEN: He did. I think what was really important about this speech is that Democrats are united in the goal of getting health care reform done this year. But we still have our differences, and what the president did tonight was left every Democrat in the room leaving, saying, we are going to get it done.

I spoke to Blue Dogs afterwards. I spoke to progressives. People have a new energy. This speech was delivered at just exactly the right time in order to get the process jump-started.

And this was the opening bell in round two, and we‘re going to get it done. We‘ll get the bill to the president‘s desk by December. I think there was a really great feeling in the room that now is the time to bring ourselves together, just get the job done.

SCHULTZ: Did he give enough definition, in your opinion?

VAN HOLLEN: He did. I mean, look, he did a couple of things. First of all, he put to rest, I hope once and for all, a lot of the myths that are out there.

SCHULTZ: I‘m glad he did that.

VAN HOLLEN: I mean, he just went...

SCHULTZ: I mean, I‘m just—I‘m sick and tired, the Frank Luntz stuff that‘s out there.

VAN HOLLEN: Exactly.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

VAN HOLLEN: I mean, the Republican talking points that have created so much misinformation out there, that have been a deliberate attempt to mislead people, he set it straight and he was firm about that.

He says, you know, listen, I‘m not going to allow you people to mislead the American people on these issues. But then he very clearly laid out why this was good for the American people, both people who have health insurance today and those who don‘t, and how we‘re all in it together.

SCHULTZ: What about Ted Kennedy? I mean, he played on the legacy of Ted Kennedy. There were tears across the country tonight. My wife was in tears.

VAN HOLLEN: Right.

SCHULTZ: It was a jerk moment for me, too. I mean...

VAN HOLLEN: It was.

SCHULTZ: ... it was a grabbing moment. It was beyond giving a good speech. It was really to the heart and soul of who we are as Americans.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, that‘s what he did, Ed. You know, he spent the first part of the speech laying out in some detail why we needed to do this.

SCHULTZ: A moral issue.

VAN HOLLEN: But then he ended the speech—he ended the speech by bringing us together on a much larger scale and a much larger sort of sense of purpose and who we are as a people that we have to rely on personal responsibility but there are some things we have to pull together and get done as one people.

SCHULTZ: Chris Van Hollen, here is the key question, I think, for the Blue Dogs. Are you willing—as a Blue Dog Democrat, are you willing to go back to your district and tell your constituents, I have to vote my conscience, I have to do what is morally correct for this country, and I have to vote with the president on this and support him and give him what he wants on this?

Do you think they‘re willing to do that? Do you think there are Blue Dogs that are willing to say that to their constituents, not worried about the results of the next election but to move health care reform forward?

VAN HOLLEN: Yes, I have no doubt that the Blue Dogs are prepared to do it. I think that they are even more prepared after the speech to come together. I think there are some on all parts of the spectrum within the caucus who were saying, you know, I had to have it 100 percent my way, who now are saying, look, the president has now come out, he has provided a way forward, I‘m not going to get 100 percent of what I want on any particular issue. but the president has sort of set forth the path here.

And, as you said, the president is going to be meeting with the Blue Dogs. They‘re going to be a number of meetings today. The Democratic leadership met with the Progressive Caucus, with the New Democratic caucus. Tomorrow will also be meeting with the Blue Dog caucus. There will be other meetings.

This is the time, you know, to really get together and merge those three House bills, all of which have a public option.

SCHULTZ: Chris Van Hollen, great to have you on tonight. I appreciate it. One detail you and I are going to have to talk about, that is how to pay for this. He talked about the savings in Medicare and Medicaid. But personally, I don‘t know how you‘re going to do it without repealing the Bush tax cuts. That‘s a story for another day.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, that‘s another issue. And we‘ll get to that.

SCHULTZ: All right. Thanks, Chris.

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