MSNBC "Hardball With Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

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Let"s turn now to Democratic congressman Adam Smith of Washington state, who says he"s leaning yes for Sunday"s vote, but he"s not yet certain. I think he wants to make some news on HARDBALL. At least I hope so. Congressman, what"s your position?

REP. ADAM SMITH (D), WASHINGTON: I"m definitely leaning more closely in favor. I am looking at the reconciliation language that came out. Looks pretty good. I"m leaning in that direction. I got to have a couple more conversations on some substance, a couple of minor issues.

But I agree very strongly with what Mr. Hoyer said. First of all, we"re going to have a vote on this. Everyone"s going to know whether or not you voted for health care reform or not. We have a health care system that"s been in need of reform for years and years. And part of the reason that it hasn"t been reformed is because it"s a very hard, very controversial issue. It should not be surprising that it"s controversial. But to a certain degree, that"s all the more rebound to have the courage and the leadership to step up and try to get us a better system. And that"s where I want to be, and I"m reasonably confident I will get there.

SMERCONISH: So of what significance was the president"s personal lobbying in your case? I understand you had a meeting with the president within the span of the last couple of days.

SMITH: No, it was a couple of weeks ago. You may have me mixed up with someone. I went in with part of a larger group. Really, not much at all. What really got me was the substance of the issue. I"ve been speaking with the health care policy experts at the White House, people like Zeke Emanuel, to get an idea of the substance and to go back and forth on some of the issues that have been raised.

Look, we"ve got to cover more people and we"ve got to get costs under control. And the second one is the one that I"ve really emphasized from the beginning of this debate. It"s why I was so reluctant to vote for the House bill. I didn"t think it did enough. I think the Senate bill does more. And the CEO--the...

SMERCONISH: The CBO numbers?

SMITH: ... CBO numbers that came out sort of show that. Now, I will say and some people have said, yes, but you know, future Congresses have to keep the cost curve going down, as well. I completely agree. But if we don"t start, it"ll never happen. We have to do it. Future Congresses have to do it. There"s a lot of tough decisions going forward to make health care work. But we"ve got to start. If this goes away, we"re nowhere.

And I think one of the most telling facts, the only bill the Republicans have ever put out on health care reform was last year. And one of the facts of it was it actually increased the number of uninsured. Getting more people covered is tough. This bill takes a stab at it, and I think we need to get headed down that road.

SMERCONISH: What extent are you hearing from constituents, the way in which I, as a talk radio host, am hearing from people who have process concerns, that the look and feel of the way in which the vote will go down Sunday is troublesome?

SMITH: You know, I"m hearing almost exclusively about substance, frankly. People are concerned about a lot of different pieces of it. We are hearing a little bit about process. I don"t think that has any place in this debate. I think the Republicans and those who oppose this bill are trying to basically raise a red herring.

We"re going to vote on this bill. Good luck to any member of Congress after this vote on Sunday who tries to go back and say, OH, I didn"t really vote on the bill. The bill became law. You voted on it. And I think Majority Leader Hoyer described it perfectly. We"re going to vote on the Senate bill and say we want these changes to it. We"re going to vote on the Senate bill, no doubt about it, and we"re going to have to, you know, stand or fall on our support or opposition to that bill.

SMERCONISH: What do you think becomes of the Stupak concerns that exist relative to health care?

SMITH: I don"t know. And that"s always been a weird issue for me. I agree we should not be changing the Hyde rule in this legislation. I"ve seen Congressman Stupak"s language in the House bill. I"ve seen the language in the Senate bill. And frankly, it"s kind of a Rorschach test for me to figure out the difference. They both seem to state very clearly the Hyde amendment will not be changed by this legislation. There will be no federal funding of abortion services.

But you know, Bart Stupak has been more involved in that than I am, and they will try to work out the language. But both bills seem to get you to the same place.

SMERCONISH: And Congressman Adam Smith, thank you very much for being on the program. We appreciate it.

SMITH: Thanks for the chance.

SMERCONISH: And coming up: Assuming health care passes, which wing of the Democratic Party wins? And what does it say about President Obama?

You"re watching HARDBALL, only on MSNBC.

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