MSNBC "Hardball With Chris Matthews" - Transcript

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MATTHEWS: Welcome back to HARDBALL and to this special edition of HARDBALL. Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is the Democratic whip. He is one of the top leaders of the House. And he was sitting there. Congressman, thank you for staying with us tonight and giving us your thoughts.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC), DEMOCRATIC WHIP: Thank you.

MATTHEWS: You were in the room. We weren"t. Was there any special feel - were you surprised at the partisanship, the civility, what? What did you get struck by as you sat there and watched and felt what we couldn"t see really?

CLYBURN: Well, I was particularly struck by the substance that came from people like Sen. Coburn. I think he just was right on with his understanding of what we are confronted with and with the reasonable proposals he laid on the table.

Sen. Enzi - I always have a problem with his name. I thought he was just absolutely good with his comments and proposals. I really believe that there was a good spirit in that room. Now, every now and then, it got punctuated with some disagreements because there are some significant disagreements between Democrats and Republicans on how to treat insurance companies. But aside from that, I really was pleased with the way things went today.

MATTHEWS: Looking ahead, Congressman, as a leader, do you think it"s doable? I suggested that something - well, it"s based upon some reporting today - I hope good reporting -that what"s going to have to happen to get this bill through is the Democrats in the House and the Senate are going to have to put together a bit of a choreography, if you will.

They"re going to have to decide that the Senate is going to make some adjustments through reconciliation through a majority vote or with the help of the vice president, even a 50/50 vote and get something done over there to rectify the difference and that your side of the hill is going to have to pass the Senate bill as part of that to get it all done. Is it doable?

CLYBURN: Yes, it is doable. And I think it"s very important for us to understand that the will is in the House to get this done. Now, this whole question that"s floating around as to who goes first - that"s not important.

What"s important is to make sure that the final product does not have those special deals in there that the House finds so offensive that we have a very appropriate and fair way to pay for this and I don"t think the House members will worry about who goes first with the vote so long as the process is one that will guarantee that we have a bill very close to what the president is proposing.

MATTHEWS: Well, that"s news, Congressman. Let"s listen now to a Republican leader on your opposite side. Republican Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia had a printout in front of him of the Senate health Care Reform Bill stacked on top of his desk at today"s summit at Blair House. And that became a point of contention with President Obama. Let"s watch and listen.

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