MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining me now is the DCCC chairman, Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.

Chris, good to have you with us tonight.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD), CHAIRMAN, DCCC: Ed, great to be back.

SCHULTZ: A lot of talk about how you guys are dead in the locker room, you don"t have any momentum, all your fans have left the stadium and everything else. I want to know, do you really think that the Republicans will shut down the government and go after the president?

What do you think?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, you have to take their own word for it. As you pointed out, that"s what Michele Bachmann, that"s what a lot of the Republicans in Congress are saying that they would do.

But let me say this, Ed--the point you"re making tonight is the essential issue, because the American people need to take very seriously what the Republicans say they would do if they were in control of Congress. And the good news is they"ve actually started to tell us.

John Boehner, he gave a speech in Ohio the other day and he started to lay out what their plans would be. And people need to take it seriously.

He has already said that they would repeal the Wall Street reform. You know, a lot of lobbyists spent a lot of time and money trying to defeat that, and John Boehner saying we"ll put Wall Street back in charge, who cares what happens to Main Street.

He has said that there would be no new regulations even after what we saw in the Gulf, after the miners accident, after all of that. And in Ohio the other day, he said that part of their plan for the economy was actually going to be to cancel about 60,000 contracts and awards, some of the contracts that are being let with recovery money that has not yet gone out the door but that"s obligated (ph).

That in itself is a job-killer. That will snuff out the beginnings of the recovery, the very fragile recovery. And then in the long term, as you pointed out, what"s their plan?

SCHULTZ: They have no plan.

VAN HOLLEN: They want to add--well, it"s worse than nothing. They want to add $680 billion to the deficit. They want to give the top two percent big break even if that means that your children and grandchildren and everybody that"s watching are going to have to foot the bill and pay the price of a bad economy that will get squeezed by these big deficits.

SCHULTZ: Now, you got some--

VAN HOLLEN: And they need to know that. We"ve got to the paint that picture very clearly because they"re telling us what they would do. There"s no excuse anymore for anybody to have any doubts as to what they would do.

SCHULTZ: Do you think the Democrats are going to be able to hold the line and not extend the Bush tax cuts?

VAN HOLLEN: Look, it"s very clear, yes. And here"s what they"re proposing.

SCHULTZ: You think you can convince the other 98 percent of the American people that they won"t be affected and this is the right thing to do?

VAN HOLLEN: The other 98 percent, not only will the 98 percent get their tax relief, but if we provide a tax break for the top two percent, the other 98 percent are going to be hurt in two ways.

Number one, they"re going to be subsidizing the tax breaks for the folks at the very top because we"re going to have the $680 billion bill added to our deficit. That"s not my number. That"s the nonpartisan CBO.

SCHULTZ: OK. I got you on that.

VAN HOLLEN: And everybody has told us, Ed, that in addition, the impact of the deficits is to slow down economic growth and to slow down job growth.

SCHULTZ: What are you going to do to get your mojo back? I mean, we all watch all the shows. The righties are everywhere.

I know the Democrats are back home trying to tell the story, but how aggressive are the Democrats going to be all over the media when they come back to Washington? I mean, if it were me, I"d say let"s not get anything done, let"s just sell the American people on what we"re going to do when we keep the majority.

Isn"t that it?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, Ed, we"ve got to push for the bill you just talked about to provide small businesses with credit. I mean, it"s outrageous the Senate Republicans are holding that up. It"s a politically crass move.

But you"re right, we"ve got to get out around the country. And the president has got to get turbocharged. He"s got to go out and make it very clear what the stakes in this election will be. And the question is going to be--

SCHULTZ: Are Democrats in the House telling him he"s got to get turbocharged? Because that kind of leads me to believe that you think he hasn"t been.

VAN HOLLEN: No. I think he"s been laying the groundwork. He"s been drawing the contrast.

And I think that he knows better than anybody between now and November 2nd, when people are really going to be paying attention, he"s got to be all over the country making it clear what the choice is, and the choice we talked about here. Not just what he will do, but the consequences to the American people of what the Republicans would do.

And now that they"re telling us, we"ve got no excuse. Take them seriously, because that--as bad as it sounds, they are planning on doing it.

SCHULTZ: Congressman Chris Van Hollen, good to have you with us tonight. Thanks so much.

VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.

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